Busy Week

This week is flying by. We ended last week with Pi day and a wonderful church service. Going Long is a great sermon series. I look forward to hearing part 3 soon.  And the picnic and weather after church were terrific.

Monday we were so excited that James was coming home. We went to the library in the morning. Then after naps, we planned to meet friends at the park before picking James up at the airport. As we pulled out of the driveway, I noticed that one of the windows in the truck was completely shattered and missing. I called the police because I thought someone must have done that but the police couldn't find any evidence and thought it just happened. Thankfully our friends came over for some playtime here while we waited for the police to arrive and time to go to the airport. Because it is hard to wait alone!

We got to the airport with homemade welcome signs

 Finally Daddy arrived- lots of excited kids!

Kids were all about Daddy- wanted to cuddle, read books, sit, ...

Tuesday was a beautiful day full of lots of four square, catch, and t-ball in the backyard while I rested on the couch. Then James took the kids to gymnastics/ dance while I got the truck window repaired, a hair cut, and (shhh) a milkshake all by myself!!

Wednesday morning the kids were so excited to go to Hobby Lobby to pick out a craft to do with Daddy. And then Wednesday afternoon my parents got here. Exciting day!

Thursday morning, I had preop and James had a DA photo. Afterwards, the nine of us went to lunch at Joe's Crab Shack- eight of us went there six years ago right after KG was born.  Here's the link to last visit.

This time BG beat James at Tic, Tac, Toe.

 I'm not sure who won but looks like fun

 And more games

 We had a good afternoon of naps, trips to Dollar store, sewing, baking, bath taking, followed by an early birthday celebration for KG!

 KG and her dolly wearing their new sparkle clothes from Nana and Papa!

And Lady Bug Girl and Butterfly Girl wearing their birthday suits!

A wonderful week and ready for big day tomorrow!

Pi Day Part 2

We have really enjoyed Pi day the last few years- starting with 2013 and 2014 in Baltimore. I can't believe I didn't blog about Pi day 2013- maybe it was being busy with new baby who isn't so new anymore:) anyway, we've had fun with Pi day. In 2013, we went to the Maryland Science Center- we had a good time doing the activities but the highlight was probably the pie from Dangerously Delicious Pie. We were glad there were five of us so we could get one of each pie- the Baltimore Bomb was our favorite!

Our 2013 Apple Pie


In my search for ideas for pi, I found that we started our Pi celebration sooner- from Facebook post 2011 "enjoyed a good pi day- we stayed in PJs until 1030, made a blackberry pie, green shamrock cookies, and lots of bread, read about history of pi tonight."

I'm not sure how the shamrock cookies fit Pi day but I'm sure they were good!

I didn't know until today that Pi day became an official US celebration in 2009 so we've been celebrating most of the years. Today we started off our day with Pi pancakes. I didn't get copies but the kids had 3.14 and Pi before circle pancakes.

 For lunch we had egg pie (quiche). K made some neat pics for Pi day. This shows some of his favorite pies.

 for dinner we had chicken pot pie and then the highlight of pi day- s'mores pie

 Our pi on the floor- C wanted to do one in the air but I didn't want BG to fall down.

 K and KG both made Pi with our math blocks.

 KG

I didn't get videos of our fun songs like

We wish you a happy Pi Day

We wish you a happy Pi Day

We wish you a happy Pi Day

To you and to all

Pi numbers for you

For you and for all

Pi numbers in the month of March

So three point one four!

These were our favorite videos Lose yourself in the digits and A Long Long Time ago

and of course everyone got their turn to say pi. 

A little tasty fun before James gets home!

Weekend

We began our weekend on Friday with a trip up to Chapel Hill hospital to see the pediatric rheumatologist. We had a nice trip except for the crazy traffic in Chapel Hill. We all enjoyed listening to Mrs. Piggle Wiggle. We heard cures for all sorts of childhood diseases like "don'twanttogotobeditis" and "don't-want-to-take-a-bath-itis". When we got to the hospital, the parking lot was full. But the kids (and I) were like champs in our 25 degree dash from the Acute Care Center. We didn't have to wait long to see the doctor and loved our good news that KG's joints all look great! She doesn't need to go back until August! Praise God for healing!

 On the way home we stopped at Hugs and Kisses Consignment sale and found this carseat for baby boy plus some cute clothes. BG was very happy to get some new shoes too!

 Saturday we mostly hung out at the house but in the afternoon we got to go to a free tennis clinic hosted by Methodist University. It was super. The kids all loved it. There were as many coaches (players from the MU men's and women's teams) as kids so no waiting around just lots of shuffling, hitting, and playing tennis games! BG even could have played- but she wanted to stay with me and cuddle which was great bc it started getting chilly!

We have lots of countdowns right now like 8 days until Daddy's home. And Saturday night we put up our countdown to Easter. 28 days! BG helped C and KG make the countdown for Easter.

 Sunday afternoon was so nice out that we went for a short walk and then the kids got out water guns, spray bottles, and slip-n-slide! Is it really still winter?

Beautiful Days

What a crazy weather week we had this week. One day we had rainy 30 degree weather and the next sunny 60s, then another 40 degree day, then 78! Definitely nice that we can often rearrange our days to take advantage of the nice days so Wed afternoon we enjoyed fun sunshine at the park with friends- we had such a good time I didn't take any pics. Then this morning we decided to make one last hike in the woods before baby boy's arrival. This time I thought taking the stroller would be better than carrying BG on my back. the kids were excited to ride in the truck to the trailhead and then take the bike trailer. They were great help with pushing the stroller, steering over/ around water, helping BG not get wet. She did not want to ride in the stroller much but the little that she did made me glad I'd taken it. 

This entrance brings back so many memories of walks in the woods with Kelly and kids

Back then KG was in my belly!

The Hello Kitty backpack from Uncle Steven helped BG hike!

You can find neat things out in the woods!

I'm glad we got one last walk in the woods before baby's birth. The kids are hoping to get back out there with Daddy when he gets home in 10 days! (well not that day but sometime!)

Happy Half Birthday

So a few years back, we started celebrating half birthdays. It started because we were at Sonic with a friend and it happened to be her girls' half birthdays so we decided to get ice cream and start celebrating. It stuck and we've enjoyed it ever since. We don't do anything fancy- usually a cupcake even if it's not Sunday- and we sing happy half birthday.  but the kids all really like it. T's half birthday is 29 Feb but we've decided not to make him wait for leap years :) 

We've been listening to the Green Ring Conspiracy on Adventures in Odyssey and kids have been excited about making a carnival. On Monday (the day we decided to celebrate T's half birthday) a friend watched my children for my doctor appointment. I came home to a carnival setup. They had fun and set up a snack table and games and had big plans for later. 

We had to make it through a couple very important parts of our day before the carnival (lunch, naps, and school) but then everyone was ready! and we were blessed with a beautiful day outside. We started with cornhole 

 and football toss.

 I was again blessed that my friend brought dinner! After dinner, we enjoyed yummy half birthday cupcakes

 and then we were ready for more games. I didn't get a ton of pics but we have nerf gun shooting at cups, bingo, guess the spice, find the spice, unfreeze the bracelet, and a couple more

 Then I was treated to a back massage and hair combing by C. BG was happy to join in the picture taking!

We had a fun half birthday for T and are excited that Daddy will be home in less than 2 weeks!

Soup Night

we've been having tons of soup here-love our Ninja! so nice to come home from somewhere to a hot meal or (more often) to let the slowcooker do the cooking at dinner time while we school, or rest, or play, ...

a few of our favorites- I was going to include to recipes but we've made so often I don't really use a recipe any more.

Taco soup
White Chicken chilli
Split Pea Soup is a new favorite- since a friend brought over a ninja full and we all loved it

Thursday night soup night: I found this "recipe" today and love it- I have a better name now for leftover soup.

I did make this recipe for potato soup the other day- we liked it without the cream too

I'm going to try some of these recipes