Extended Hiatus

Sorry about that folks! I was wondering when I would ever get back to this blogging thing. Ok, I am going to fill you all in on the past four days, with much detail forgotten, I'm sure.

Thursday November 10th
This was the day our friends came over to watch Harry Potter #1 with us. We cleaned up and got ready for them and the girls all played while the mom and I watched the movie. There were many starts and stops, but we finished it in time for them to go. She enjoyed it and we are going to watch #2, and possibly #3, tomorrow. A got into the bucket of K'Nex I bought years ago on sale and we made a hand drill together with them. That was fun. I wondered when they would be noticed and played with. We had a few words about gears and translation of power from one axis to another. She wanted to do more when we were done, so I am sure they will stay out on the table for a while. I showed the girls the Egyptology book I had ordered. It was beautiful and lots of fun exploring. Our Exploraganza next week is on Egypt, so it came just in time.

Friday, November 11th
Happy Veterans Day! I am a veteran and so are a couple moms in the group, so I made sure to thank them for their service when we met Friday. One of my rare patriotic moments. It was our Music Making Exploraganza, where the kids were free to make musical instruments out of boxes and cans and other random stuff. I brought along our huge homemade rainstick to share, even though most had already seen it at our house. Some hadn't known what it was, so carting it all the way there was worth it! The family who hosted have a firetruck in their back yard and the kids all had a blast playing on that. They also have a trampoline and I had a blast jumping on that! Oh, yeah, the kids had fun, too. I need to get one, but probably not until after Christmas at this point. If anyone reading this (who I am related) to wants to get one for us for Christmas, be sure it is one where the net goes inside the spring area. Much safer. Shameless plug for gifts, sorry! Anyway, the kids did make some little drums with cans and balloons and had fun with that.

Saturday, November 12th
I had asked C to give me some "office time" to get group business and other stuff done this weekend. He got up with the kids and before I even got out of bed, they were off to the park. They had a nice time and I got some of my business done. When they got home, C and I ended up in a heated debate about Christmas plans and that ate up all the rest of my time before I had to leave to get my massage. When I called to say I was heading home afterward, C told me the tadpoles had arrived! I had the bottled water we needed to put them in their tank in the van, so they were waiting on me to get home. We got them settled in and they seemed ok after their shipping adventure. They are cute little buggers and the girls were thrilled to have them here finally. We could not feed them yet, so they were very anxious for the morning to arrive when the first feeding would occur.

Sunday, November 13th
C wanted to get out to get some exercise by hiking at Red Rock. I was not up for it since I had so much stuff left to do, so he and the girls went without me. They were gone most of the day and had a great time hiking and exploring a new trail we had not been to before. He was very impressed with how good a climber E has become. The girls climbed up on some rocks he says he could not even get up on. I got tons done and enjoyed my little break, which extended into the evening even after I got home since C played with the girls all evening. They had a nice time with Daddy this weekend and I appreciated the chance to get caught up. It was good all around. I did miss the girls after so much time without being the "on call" parent, so I made sure to reconnect with them both as we lay down for bed. We made plans for tomorrow and talked a bit. They were pretty wiped out so they fell asleep rather quickly.