Wintery Trip to the Dentist

Rachel sleeping in the car on the way to MN.

Rachel sleeping on the couch with Uncle Dan.

Two weeks ago when we went to MN for the pedeodonist they decided they needed to do some work on Gabie's teeth. We knew this was coming, that's why we went to the specialist. They scheduled her to "go under" Friday the 27th. Whenever there is major dental work on a child under 5 they automatically put them out for it. What was going to be a quick trip back turned out to be a bit longer.

They had been predicting a bad storm coming through all week and it was scheduled to hit during the night Wednesday night. So as we tracked it throughout the day Wednesday we decided to leave after Ash Wednesday services instead. I arranged for a sub which was unnecessary since school ended up being cancelled Thursday due to the weather anyway.

We arrived at Dan and Amy's @ 1:30am Thursday morning. We were so glad we did! It snowed like crazy - 2 inches/hour (at least at Dan and Amy's house). It was beautiful, but not really 'wanted' - ha! Other then the late hour, our drive was great, we stayed ahead of the storm.

On Friday Amy, Gabie and I left for her 'surgery' and all went well. Then the guys (plus Elie and Rachie) met us in St.Cloud and we had lunch and did some shopping. It was quite a calm day all things considered. Then we had so get up and go Saturday morning to get back for church for Mark.

So that was our crazy week - all things considered it was good. Unfortunately I didn't get my camera out at all - I only have two pictures from the whole week - both of which Mark took (thanks hon!).

Definitions

I about fell off my chair the other day when Bridget told me that my daughter had used the word 'sexy' in a conversation with her:
Bridget: Elie, would you like a piece of gum (holds out a pack of gum that has red and pink pieces in it)
Elie: Sure
Bridget: which color do you want?
Elie: I'll take the sexy red one.
Bridget: Excuse me.
Kirstie and Elie together: the sexy red one.

Oh dear. Bridget then asked them where they heard that word before, they both answered the name of another child they go to school with. So then she asked them what it meant and they replied, "Duh, it means red."
Earlier this year the same child had been teaching them the word popular, to which they had decided meant you had blond hair.
Since then we've had the talk about words that are appropriate and words that aren't.....I'll just hope no one offers her any red gum at church on Sunday.....

Saying Goodbye

Gabie's Best Friend

Gabie LOVES dogs. She loves any and every dog. Angel is a snuggler more then Max is and so she enjoyed extra snuggles whenever she sees her. Max also was thrilled with an extra playmate for a couple of days.

Lovin' the Grapes

Our Junior Battler Cheerleader

For anyone out there wondering...a Battler is a muscular bunny. The cheerleading was very adorable. A couple of moms in the community decided to get a little junior cheerleading squad going. Eliya was SO EXCITED! They been practicing for a few weeks. They did two cheers, a dance and a little pyramid. It was pretty cute. I got a video of the whole thing, we'll see if I can get it uploaded as well. They performed during half-time of the basketball games on Thursday night.

More Valentine's Day

Random Pics from MN weekend

Wow - new dolls!

Gabie and Rachie trying out the Dora beds at grandma and grandpa's house.

Gabie's playing with toys.

Elie's enjoying being right-side up again after going up-side-down behind the TV to pick up a toy that went back there.

" Talk to the hand uncle Kyle"

Jump

Rachel has decided that she can jump now - she is so cute when she does this - sometimes when she gets all crouched down she will just fall on her bum in which case she just lays back and laughs. What a cutie! The end of the video is of the girls making valentine cookies with grandma, they had a lot of fun!

Up Close and Personal

Adorable

I just love this picture.

Valentine's Party

We celebrated Valentine's Day early at preschool and daycare today. The girls had matching shirts and cute faces - what a great pic!

Updating

Here's the scoop from the past few days.
* Saturday was the prayer service for Jim, it was very nice.

* Sunday we had a praise service at church. We also had a guest preacher so I had invited the pastor, his wife and grandson to dinner afterwards. Then we went back to church for the funeral while they got on the road back to Sioux Falls. We got home from all the funeral stuff around 5:30. Thankfully I was able to get a babysitter for Gabie and Rachel during all that. The church was packed and overflowed downstairs - somewhere between 300-400 people came. It was so nice so many came to show their love and support for the family. After we got home I realized that we were having our Valentine theme this week at school and that I had 'assigned' the kids to make a valentine box for an exchange. Knowing we probably wouldn't have time later in the week I got really brave and let Kirstie (who came home with us from the dinner) and Eliya make their valentine boxes. I helped very little and they were cute (I'm pretty sure next time I find the camera there are pictures on it of them).

* Monday we had preschool and afterwards our daycare lady, Rachel was having a surprise birthday party (her birthday was Sunday). From there Mark took the girls home and I went to the public school board meeting. A lot of stuff has been going on and they had to make some major personnnel cuts and they were doing a presentation about it. I didn't get home till after 11pm. Wow was that a long night!

* Today - trying to catch up from some busy days and didn't accomplish much. Oh well, there's always tomorrow! In the meantime we have been getting inches of rain and snow which is making a lovely mess on the streets with the temps are hovering in the low to mid 30's. Yuck!

We're hoping to get out of town this weekend and visit Mark's family in Minnesota so we're praying for good weather and healthy bodies to make the trip.

The Valentine Boxes

Tea Party

Rachel takes after her sister's in her desire for a tea party. She did this whole arrangement herself while they were playing out in the snow. She even told me all about who was "done" and who needed to finish their tea - too cute.

Look What I Found!

I was cleaning out cupboards and Rachel found some ba-bas (as she calls them) she was so excited to see them she was cheering like crazy :0)

It's Melting

Two 40+ degree days in a row had the girl's playing in the snow today because it was finally warm enough for them to enjoy it. We made a quick trip to Pierre to visit and good friend's mother that is in the hospital down there, I think it cheered her up some to have little girls running around her room. Then we came back and spent a couple hours at Amy's house with the family. Kirstie came home with us and spent the night and I told them they could play out in the snow until it got dark which made their day! They were so excited to actually enjoy the white the stuff for a change.

The Rest of the Story

Jim passed away peacefully during the night last night. Mark was able to be there with the family and the funeral is planned for Sunday afternoon. We are very sad, and yet thankful that he didn't have to suffer for a long time. Thanks for your prayers for the family.

I have decided that children once again bring the true faith home for us in two stories -

The morning after he had his stroke Mark and I were talking about it in our room and Gabie came in and sensed something was wrong. When she asked us we told her that Kirstie's grandpa Jim was very sick and we were sad. She looked at us all confused and said, "But mommy, Jesus hold him and rock him and love him - he be fine." As she says it she acts like she's rocking a baby doll in her arms.

Yesterday, Kirstie asked Bridget when her grandpa would be coming home and Bridget told her that he wouldn't be. Kirstie was a little confused by this and asked why and Bridget told her it was because he was going to go to heaven instead, expecting her to get upset. Kirstie instead got all excited and said, "You mean he gets to see Jesus' face?! He gets to actually see his face?!" Bridget said well yes he would. Bridget's father passed away the same time we were moving here almost 5 years ago and Kirstie said "So both my grandpas get to see Jesus' face and be in heaven together - I bet they'll like that."

Wow - the faith of a child. What a good reminder of the way we all should be.

Snack Day

It was Elie's turn to bring snacks to preschool today. She had some crackers from ice cream sandwiches (minus the ice cream) so they frosted them and the kids loved them!

Bed-time

The girls had lost interest in the game stuff so they went to Hannah's room to watch a movie - I thought they were so cute all lined up there - and then it was too precious how Hannah and Rachie fell asleep all snuggled - it was hard pulling her out of there!

Super Bowl Party

We had fun watching the game for the most part. I was pretty upset by the number of personal fouls there were in the game. There was a lot of punching and all I could think was that there are a lot of younger players out there learning from the example set before them tonight....and I also was thinking that winning without integrity isn't really winning at all. But I love a close game that keeps you watching and that it was. Rachel was just hilarious - she wanted to put bracelets on her head so they gave her a little pony to hold them on there for her. She was a little ring-toss unicorn!