There you go.

I've been getting some not-so-subtle hints that I should post more often. So, here are a few new posts for your enjoyment.

Our weather independence

Several weeks ago, Megan published a post on her blog about declaring independence from the weather. She mentioned going to the zoo in January, going to Arches in the snow, and having a picnic next to the snowman. Well, my little girls have today declared their independence from the weather. As soon as it started raining, my little Anna went running out to dance in the rain. She had to put on a dress to make the dancing more glamorous, and she was barefoot. Sophie did not want to be left out, so she took her dinner outside and danced on the deck with Anna. Picnic and dance in the rain. It couldn't be any better.

Josh thought that perhaps it wasn't a good idea because Anna is still getting over pneumonia, but they were having so much fun. I convinced him it would be okay if we got them into a warm bath as soon as they were done. Hopefully I'm right and we're not back at the doctor by the end of the week.

Better late than never

Emma had a birthday over a week ago. She is 9. I can't believe it. She is wonderful. We love her. Her celebrations started on Saturday with a birthday party with her friends. It was an ice cream party and she found the idea and helped carry it out.

We decorated party plates with colored paper. We played pin the cherry on the sundae. And we had a treasure hunt to find all of the toppings for our wonderful sundaes. They were really quite tasty. She got some great craft projects from her friends, including scrapbooking supplies, sandart, paperoni, and foam shape crafts. Her friends are good to her.



On Sunday we all stayed home from church sick. It gave me plenty of time to decorate her cake. I was surprised that she didn't want her fancy cake for her friend party but wanted to save it for her grandparents. But that eased my stress considerably, because I could focus on one thing at a time.

Anyway, on Monday we woke up to very sick kids. I had to take Anna to the hospital for chest X-rays and found out she had pneumonia. We took her to the doctor for a new prescription (she had been on one and had an allergic reaction to it). While we were there I had the doctor look over the other kids too. They found Sophie's ear infected. Emma was really not thrilled about spending the day running to the hospital and the doctor. Luckily, she got to play with Trevor instead of going with us to the doctor. As soon as we got back from the doctor we got to have cake with Grandma and Grandpa Rawlins. Then Emma got to go on her birthday date with me to Build-A-Bear Workshop. We had a blast. She got pajamas and a blanket and pillow for her dog. I think it turned out to be a good day, even though all the other kids were miserable.

I couldn't ask for a better daughter! We love Emma.