February 13, 2006

Well, I was hoping it would last longer, but our luck for weather has run out. The day Emily went back to preschool, it snowed! Luckily not enough to cancel school....but, it has snowed on and off all weekend. We had school Friday and church yesterday, of course because I was teaching the lesson, but school is now closed for today. So here I sit at 7:45 am with three little wide awake children asking what are we doing today? (After all that slave-driving to get all their Valentine cards written so they could be turned in today....there is not much to do.) So, we'll make cookies, write Bradley and hope somebody can play today. Well, we now have 2 three-year olds. Ok, just temporarily...Emily doesn't think it's fair that Jake is 3 while she still is three. Jake had a great birthday. His friends weathered the snow storm and came to his pirate party. We started out with the kids coloring their treasure maps. Then played pin the eye patch on the pirate. Following that, we walked the plank (good thing Gene had several 2X4s to share....we blew up the wading pool and the kids walked along and then jumped into the pool as we blew bubbles)...all the while listening to Robbie Rotten sing "you are a pirate" from the new show Lazy Town. Tara said that was her favorite part. Then we threw gold coins in a bucket and hunted for a treasure chest (filled with beads and chocolate gold coins). Finished up with cake and icecream and then everyone went home in exactly one hour. I must say I thought everyone had alot of fun, was well behaved and it was worth all the effort to get it together. We now have play groups at the church on Weds. mornings. They started getting smart about the use of time and the moms can now put together fhe kits while the kids play. Emily and Jacob are both doing well there with the other kids their age. Of course, there is this one boy who just loves to push Jake's buttons and gets him upset alot....infact one kid tackled Jake and both went to the ground, he got right up, brushed himself off and went on......I thought for sure he'd turn around and slug the kid, but he just carried on as though everything was ok. So, things are better. He still has a hard time speaking....his "dea' dup" is ketchup and Jacob. He kept saying as he opened presents "I tant bweweve it, toowl" I can't believe it , cool. It's cute but frustrating for all who can't understand him(everyone but me). We are all healthy at the moment and seem to be doing ok. We'll keep you updated.