A fun day with my girl!

We have quite a little artist on our hands at the moment! She is coloring, cutting, pasting, and painting up a storm!

I was lucky enough to get to attend chapel with Libi's class today. They ask for parents to come, but thus far it's only been me in the chapel time. It's really cool to see how the kids react to Susan's questions about God

Today I added a little bit of life to my bulletin board. It needs a few more things to really make it pop, but stay tuned-- I have big plans for this little board!

Always leaving school with a smile...

you gotta love this girl!!!

For lunch we decided to hit up Sam's Club-- not only is it a cheep lunch but you can get the fruit you need to make more smoothies there! Libi is totally addicted to my smoothies at the moment and we were completely out of frozen fruit!

The creative play just keeps getting better! Libi is rediscovering old toys (thanks in part to Elyz coming over last week and unearthing some old things). Today she had a lovely birthday/tea party for some of her dolls-- complete with a move when the weather got bad! She has a great imagination!

New and old...

I asked for Bento boxes for Christmas-- I didn't get them, but I got a ton of Bento accessories. Earlier this month I treated myself to a few boxes and today I finally put them to use. Today I sent Libs to school with half a bagel with cream cheese, carrots, grape tomatoes and ranch dressing. I put the cutest little lion pick in there-- which Libi used as a serving utensil. I'm going to have lots of fun with these!

Lou is always so happy when she comes out of her classroom at the end of the day. Today she was so proud to show me her name (embellished with flowers) and the letter D which she cut out all on her own.

We often stop by the church office on our way out to say goodbye to Miss Tracy and Rev. Susan. Today Libi showed off her new CareBear which one of her classmates gave to her since it was far too girly for him!

In the evening we finally got back to Pop's house. He was sick last week (and so were we) so it was nice to get back into this groove!

Libi still loves all the dolls, instruments, and Play-doh here that she's been playing with for years!

As a special treat tonight she sang a song for Pop that she learned in Chapel!

Am I crazy?

Sunday school rocked today! The younger kids made noisy tambourines...

the older ones had a hot chocolate discussion time, and we tried a new chapel format.

Then we had the annual meeting...

where I was nominated to be and voted into the Vestry for the next three years. Several folks (including my Mom) think I'm crazy, but I'm really excited to help get lots of new, young families into our church. I want so badly for it to grow and become "the" place to be in the valley!

A very busy day...

Libi is totally my daughter-- she has been addicted to puzzles lately! She and I spent the morning doing puzzles and relaxing while Daddy was proctoring the SAT.

We then drove across town to that awful play place owned by a rat to celebrate one of our favorite boys who was turning 4!!!

Libi (and all the kids at the party) were so happy to play here-- all the parents simply tolerated the noise and craziness!

Libi and Jude did lots of rides together...

then Libs hit it rich on the Elvis Presley machine...

She won the bulk of her tickets for the day on this one machine!

Jude was a darling birthday boy!

We love this family!!!

Ron showed up at the very end of the party, so we had to get one family shot!

Libi and I were again Daddy-less tonight as he went to chaperone Winter Formal. I almost forgot how good he looks in a tux!

Friday Night Spaghetti Supper

For J share today Libi took Jasmine and jelly beans to give to her friends.

Tonight we hosted our first Friday night spaghetti dinner. Here is the back story:

Years ago when I was in MOPS one of the Mentor Mom's said that every Friday was pasta night at her house. She said that everyone knew about it and just dropped in whenever they were around-- especially all her kids friends. I tucked that away for when we had kids-- since I wanted our home to be the cool house that everyone wanted to come to.....

This year Ron and I made a little resolution to connect more with our friends and we recalled this idea. We decided that every week was a bit much for us right now, but that once a month would be perfect! We picked the last Friday of the month as our date and decided we would give it a try.

My idea for "marketing" this event was to call a few friends and see if they were available. Before I was able to even call one friend my darling husband created a Facebook event. He invited 270 of his closest friends to our home for dinner and I freaked out!!!!

Needless to say that none of my friends were invited by me-- I just hoped that Ron got a few of them into his invitation...

All's well that ends well-- it was a lovely evening!

We had pasta with three kinds of sauces, garlic bread, salad and wine (for those of age!)

It was a great group of friends....

and we enjoyed lots of good conversation!

We saw folks we hadn't seen in a long time...

and some we hadn't seen in a few months.

Ron's party animal parents didn't miss it....

and neither did some of Ron's former students. A good time was had by all! Hopefully you can join us next month :)

Is this week over yet?

Mommy is exhausted-- see the bags under my eyes!!! I need all these meetings and stresses to be done for a bit so I can get off high alert.

Libi's school does such amazing things-- today I found them excavating dinosaurs!

The teachers filled loaf pans with dinosaur toys, rocks, beads, and other treasures then froze them with colored water. The kids then donned goggles and used eye droppers filled with water to get them out. I so wanted to knock one of the kids over so I could take their spot, 'cause it looked so cool!

Gorgeous weather!

Today it was hard to believe that we are in the middle of winter! It was gorgeous and warm-- perfect weather for playing with friends at school.

Lots of Libi's friends have January birthdays. Today for Luke's party he gave everyone a cupcake with a ring on it. Libi was ecstatic to get the only Ariel ring available!

Coincidentally a few days ago I found Libi and Luke holding hands on the yard. I know at this age that it is sweet and innocent, but it still made my heart ache a bit. Someday all too soon she will be holding hands with a boy she likes, going on dates, and being very grown up. I'm hoping that this doesn't happen for a long, long time!

I ran some errands tonight at Target before a preschool meeting and this is the beautiful sight that was laid before me. I simply love living on this side of the SCV-- it is perfect for me!

Basketball with Grampy

Tonight we went to the West Ranch basketball game-- and we went prepared with a V Reader for a diversion!

Grampy came with us which added to the fun!

He gets just as into the games as I do-- so it was fun to have someone join me in cheering and bellyaching!

Ron was working the shot clock so we didn't see much of him, but we did take a moment to get a group shot!

I would love for Libs to be on the girls team some day!

Basketball is such fun to watch!

Taking a sick day...

Libi had the worst night last night!! She was up at one with a tummy ache, in our bed until 2. Up again at 2 with another tummy ache, back to our bed. A nose bleed at 6:30 and then sleeping in until 8:45.

So due to a very tired Mommy and a still questionably feeling girl, we decided to take a much needed sick day! We spent the day cuddling, watching Phineas and Ferb, and taking it easy!

By dinner time Libs was feeling much better! So much so that she insisted on breakfast for dessert-- and Mommy was happy to oblige!