2017 Week 8

Sunday, February 19
Today was, quite simply, absolutely wonderful. Ellie woke up feeling much, much better, evidenced by her cheerful demeanor at the breakfast table. The weather was beautiful--more beautiful than it has a right to be in the middle of February, but we took advantage of it all the same. We headed out for treats for us all (iced drinks from Starbucks for me and Josh, and DQs for the girls), then headed to Detweiller, where we played and hiked and let the girls try out the camera. After a quick bathroom break, we stopped by the school for some more play, and then headed home for a snack and more time outside--burned our burn pile, rode bikes, and grilled out. It was a lovely, lovely day.

Photo credit: Elysia

Photo credit: Elaina

Monday, February 20
The girls didn't have school today, so Josh and I got our workout in a little earlier than usual. We got home with enough time for the girls to play outside again before dinner.

Tuesday, February 21

Today was our last forecasted day of beautiful weather, so we took advantage of it with bike rides and more time outside. I even let Winston in on it, and he was quite a happy little kitty. One of my favorite parts of the afternoon was spending some one on one time with Elaina outside. She showed me her soccer skills, and we discussed the very unusual and beautiful color of her green eyes.

Wednesday, February 22

Tonight I was amused by the various expressions Yuna had on her face at different moments. She went from falling asleep to annoying me with her rope toy in about 2 minutes, and then spent a good portion of the evening staring longingly at Chappu, who had ventured beyond the safety of the gate to sit on my lap.

Thursday, February 23

My day consisted of an offsite, all day meeting for work, but the nice part was having a little more time with Josh and the girls in the morning. When I got home, I found that Ellie's Scholastic order had been delivered, so I surprised the girls with several new Mo Willems books and Elephant and Piggie finger puppets. I'm really looking forward to when Elaina's half of the order comes in, too!

Friday, February 24

Knowing we were going out with Josh's folks for dinner tonight, I dressed the girls in the outfits Gramma Rita had bought them for Christmas, and since my day was offsite again, I was able to fix their hair before I left. After I'd gone, Josh took some pictures of them for me. They had good days at school and were quite excited for dinner at Chili's with Gramma and Papa.

 

Saturday, February 25

Today was busy--gym in the morning, a trip to the Asian store, Target, and Hy-Vee in the afternoon--so we decided to relax with a family movie after dinner. We introduced the girls (and Josh) to Toy Story, which they really seemed to enjoy--consider it prep for Disney! (They clearly took our movie viewing incredibly seriously.)

2017 Week 7

Sunday, February 12
After a very successful sleepover,  and a quick run to Peoria, we had a relaxing catch-up day at home. Loads of laundry washed, folded, and put away (miracle of miracles!), Trolls on the tv (second time for the girls in as many days), and heart-shaped pizza for dinner.

Monday, February 13
After dinner tonight, Elaina asked if she could do math homework with me, which I happily agreed to do. (She's in first grade and she gives herself homework. Amazing.) We worked on double-digit addition and subtraction, and touched on borrowing from the tens column when the second number is higher than the first. I don't remember when I learned that concept, but even if it was in first grade, I know for a fact that I didn't come home and ask to practice. She's an amazing kid!

Tuesday, February 14
Today was a day of excitement, as the girls had their Valentine's parties at school. They bounded off the bus with their goodies and insisted on dumping each card and trinket and treat out and telling me from whom they received their spoils. It was also unusually warm, so, after going through their bags, they headed outside to play (with only minimal complaining that mean ol' mommy still insisted they wear their winter coats). I even opened the windows for Winston, who cozied up in the kitchen while I kept a very interested Yuna at bay.

Wednesday, February 15
This afternoon around 12:30, I got a call from the school office. Mrs. Steiger said, "Elaina's okay, so don't worry...", which caused me to worry immediately : ) Turns out our sweet girl had been holding the door open for the second graders when the door came back on her foot and got stuck. She didn't cry, but it hurt an awful lot and she was sent to the office for an ice pack and bandage. I was really proud of her being brave, and for being such a good helper! After dinner the girls also enjoyed their first experience with FunDip and then later snuggled up on the couch together for an episode of My Little Pony.

Recounting the tale and showing her bandaid

Thursday, February 16
This morning, as I was heading out to warm up the car, I couldn't help but notice the beautiful sunrise, so I ran back inside to grab the camera. Turns out Mother Nature was in the mood to show off in the morning and in the evening, as the sunset was gorgeous as well.
Morning:

Evening:

Friday, February 17

Today was definitely a day of highs and lows. Josh and I wrapped up very busy weeks at work, we brought lunch to the girls at school, and we enjoyed gorgeous weather--I think the high was close to 70--we should be a couple months from that, really. The girls happily changed into short sleeves and spent a good part of their day after school outside, though not without some worry. Ellie complained of a headache at school, and later fell asleep while Josh was reading to them at the end of the night. We were pretty concerned (unfortunately so), but thankfully, the day was overall a good one.

Saturday, February 18

Poor little Ellers woke up Saturday morning clearly fighting the bug we'd been worried about the day before. She had a low grade temp, a low tolerance for any annoyance, and very low energy. But she claimed to feel fine, just tired, and a little ibuprofen seemed to perk her up. So we dropped the girls off at Rita's for some time with Gramma and Arcadia, went to Pearce, came home, showered, had lunch, and lazed around until around 12:45. When we picked them up, Ellie seemed to be holding her own, so we ran to Costco and Hy-Vee. Poor baby fell asleep on the way home, and I carried her to her bed, where she napped for about an hour and 20 minutes. Winston kept vigil while she slept. She woke up very slowly, but thankfully ate a good dinner. Another dose of meds and oils later, she went to bed peacefully, and we were optimistic  that she' be more herself the next day.

2017 Week 6

Sunday, February 5

On the heels of a busy Saturday, we had a relaxing day at home today, followed by a trip to Mario and Rita's for the Super Bowl. My disappointment in the end of the game was far surpassed by how excited I was for dinner:

Monday, February 6

Today Ellie had Jammie Day at school as a reward for her class filling up the marble jar. Unfortunately, she came home with a tummy ache, so I found a bucket just in case. Ellie decided it made a very fine hat as well. She ended up getting ever so slightly sick right before dinner, so she had crackers and fruit instead of the pasta the rest of us enjoyed. Thankfully, that was it for the night, and she went to bed happy and fever-free.

Tuesday, February 7

The girls and I enjoyed a quiet morning at home before school, and thankfully Ellie seemed okay. I sent Josh this picture to prove that he's not the only one who occasionally spoils with the iPad :)

Wednesday, February 8
Today we finally, finally got snow. It came down all day, sometimes softly, sometimes heavily, but consistently, until about 3:00. I knew we wouldn't have time to go sledding, and since the weekend forecast was calling for highs in the mid-50s, I knew our time was limited. So I met the girls at the bus stop with their sled and gave them a lift home. After a quick snack, we headed back outside, where the girls enjoyed playing on their playset with snow pants, and I got an extra workout for the week dragging them around the yard.

Thursday, February 9
Today we had a relaxing night at home. I tried my new Young Living diffuser for the first time, and Elaina soaked up the lavender scent. (She insisted I use PanAway the next time, since, according to her, it smells like bubble gum.) We also went upstairs for some 'Tendo time and let the girls take a bath up there. Sometimes the simplest changes to routine make them the happiest.

Friday, February 10
This afternoon, Josh got home from work and declared he was going to trim his hair and take a shower before dinner. He came out while I was washing dishes and hugged me from behind. When I turned around, I saw that handsome face that had been covered by a handsome beard since right after Christmas. He shaved it just for our date night on Saturday. Sweetheart.

Saturday, February 11
Today the girls had a sleepover at Gramma's to look forward to, so we kept the morning low key, just running to Peoria for some groceries. Elaina decided to get creative with her lunchable and and made a train. After lunch, Ellie decided to have some one-on-one time with Mama. Rita came and got the girls around 2, and Josh and I left for our outing about an hour or so later. We went to Peoria Brewing Company for some flights (had a 3030 stout that was really good), to the Book Nook for a quick look around, and to the new Sullivan's restaurant for dinner. I had my first taste of chicken and waffles, which I enjoyed, but their Irish nachos were disappointing. Win some, lose some. After doing some shopping, we headed home and watched Ixchanul, SNL, and went to bed, where we got to sleep in past the unheard of hour of 8am!