Happy Thanksgiving 2010

We had a good Thanksgiving this year - busy but good. It started that morning when we went to my parent's house for a brunch for those of our small group that were here for Thanksgiving. It was really fun to sit and chat with friends in the morning like that! The picture to the left is me and my friend Michelle that morning. Unfortunately, I didn't get pictures of everyone else and only realized as I downloaded my pictures that I didn't get any of my parents! Need to do better with that. (Never did see the parade - first time in YEARS!! Must not be Christmas since I didn't see Santa enter!)

After the friends left, my mom got busy putting together the side dishes she was making to take to my aunt and uncle's house that afternoon. I put Ellie down for a nap and Ian, Josh and I sat down for a game of Scrabble. My parents ended up leaving us at their house to head to my aunt and uncle's while we finished our game and let Ellie finish her nap. They ended up starting to eat without us. I finally woke Ellie up so we could go before the food was gone! We had a nice evening with my dad's side of the family. All of my girl cousins and both aunts and uncles from that side of the family were there. (Pictures to the left are me, Ellie and Aniston - my cousin Jocelyn's daughter and my cousin Kristin with her hubby Robert). It was a nice relaxing way to spend the day. We had a little fire in the fire pit, munched on food and just enjoyed some time together. It really was nice getting to be with family for the holiday. All of the food was fabulous but I feel pretty good about the fact that I don't feel like I over ate. So much to be thankful for and really realizing what it means to be thankful even when things aren't going the way I would want!

Me and the kids - Thanksgiving 2010

Hey, Y'all - Date with Ian

Ian and I have, on occasion, watched the Paula Deen cooking show. Since we now live so close to her restaurant, The Lady and Sons, we've talked about going. Well, most of the time there is a line around the street to get in so we haven't done it, but with Ian being out of school this week I thought we should give it a try. Yesterday Ian and I headed down-town and arrived around 11:15. Not only did we find a parking spot on the street on the same block as the restaurant, we were able to walk right in and get a table! Thank you, Lord, for arranging it all for us! We had a table on the third floor so we had a view looking down at the street and did a little people watching. Saw quite a few people with cakes go by, still have no idea what that was about! Anyway, we debated on what to eat. We looked at the menu for a while to see if we'd rather get something from the menu or just have the buffet. We finally both opted for the buffet. (Next time, though, I think I'm going to try the chicken pot pie - it looked really good). It was just good ole Southern cooking and I really enjoyed the creamed corn. Ian was so funny as he got two salads!! I said, "Ian, you know all they had to do was chop up some veggies for your salad, they didn't cook anything." He said, "The blue cheese is homemade!" With the buffet you got bread (they bring you a plate of a hoecake and cheddar/garlic roll as soon as you sit down) and dessert (they bring out a platter with different ones and you get to choose). I had the peach cobbler and Ian had chocolate chip gooey butter cake. He loved it - it was pretty tasty. After our lunch, we went to the shop to see what all was there. We had fun just looking around. (OK, I did buy a Merry Christmas, Y'all ornament). Then, after that Ian wanted to walk around down-town a little because it was such a nice day. So, we looked around City Market a little then decided to head to Toys R Us to see if we could do a little Christmas shopping. On the way to Toys R Us we stopped at a couple of antique stores we happened upon. We were only at Toys R Us for a little bit then made our way home. Unfortunately, we got stuck in traffic on the way home which put a little bit of a damper on our day but other than that it really was a good day. One I don't think he or I will forget! Ian with the bread they bring out.Ian and I at our table.Me with some yummy sweet tea we shared.Chocolate chip-gooey butter cake.Ian in front of the store door.

Ian with the tree in front of City Market.

Princess on Ice Show

Yesterday Ellie, my mom and I had the opportunity to go to the Disney Princesses on Ice show. Ellie wanted to wear a pretty dress and I decided to let her wear a dress I'd gotten for her a couple of weeks ago. You can't see them in any pictures but part of the reason I let her wear this dress is because she wanted to wear some sparkly gold shoes that I'd gotten for her. She looked adorable. She made me wear a dress that had a sash around the a-line, just like hers! Unfortunately, I never got any pictures of her with the signs for the show, but I did get a couple at the show. She sat for the whole thing and just seemed to take it all in. She said her favorite parts were Cinderella, Snow White and one other that I can't recall right this second. During the intermission we got a cute Cinderella "stein" that had a snow cone in it. Well, as yummy as that snow cone might have been, it was probably the wrong thing to get because when we went back in for the show, we were freezing! I sat her in my lap just so we would be warmer. It worked, thankfully, and we enjoyed the rest of the show.
After the show we went to the Tea Room in Savannah. It was cute that they set the table for Ellie with kid sized plate and silverware plus cup and saucer. I ordered her a pot of decaf french vanilla tea and she drank the whole thing. My mom and I shared a pot of a white tea called White Christmas and it was pretty yummy. One of Ellie's favorite things at the tea room was teddy bears that were placed around the room. She enjoyed picking them up and moving them around. She also really liked the orchids that came on our plates - that's why you'll see pictures of each of us with the orchids behind our ears! We had a fun day just being girls and doing fun girly things. (I have to say I think it's funny that Ian's still upset with me for not taking him to the show. I told him I didn't think he'd be interested in Princesses on Ice and he said, "Mom, it's on ICE!! I love ice!") Oh, well, he was in school anyway!

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Halloween Fun 2010

Although Halloween is technically tomorrow, our county chose to do trick-or-treating on Saturday. I kind of like that it was tonight so that we were able to not be rushed. Ellie was a fairy thanks to cousin Gracie lending us the costume! Ian was a pilot thanks to Uncle Jon buying a flight suit for Josh a few years ago! So, I was able to get away without buying a costume this year. They both looked great and I made another scrapbook of todays festivities to share.

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I hope everyone else has a fun and safe holiday!

Pumpkin Patch 2010

We made it out to a pumpkin patch today and although the "patch" itself wasn't what I was hoping for, it was good and we had fun. I made a Smilebox to share pictures from the time there. Ellie really enjoyed playing with all the playground stuff and although I know Ian is starting to get a little big for some of it, he's a good sport and had fun. Josh wasn't a fan of the heat and tried to stay in the shade as much as possible. There was a corn maze that looked like it would've been really good but they said that up until last week, they hadn't had any rain so the maze was pretty short. The boys did do it though (after convincing Josh that he should do it with his little brother!).

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My story of pain

Most of you may know by now but I decided perhaps I should blog about what's been going on with me the last few days. It has truly hit from out of know where. A week ago Thursday I went to my Zumba class like normal and during it my stomach started acting up. I made it through class and headed home. On the way home I began having some sharp shooting pains that almost made me want to pull over. I didn't, though, I stuck it out. The pains continued for most of the day but I made it through. Friday the pains let up a little but I didn't quite feel right and the same for Saturday. I had dinner with my friend, Michelle, on Saturday. She had her gall bladder removed last Christmas so I asked her what kind of pains she was having before that. She said, "Uh, oh. Tell me about your pain." We talked some about it and we kind of came to the conclusion that I should wait 7-10 days and see how I felt. Well, Sunday I was feeling better and by that evening felt fine. So, the week started and life was back to good (other than the fact that Ellie was sick and had strep). Wednesday I had a good day getting some work done in the house in prep for some friends coming to crash here that night. They didn't arrive until a little after 1am and I had to be up with Ian for school Thursday morning so I was a little low on sleep but feeling good. Thursday night I went to bed feeling fine. However, I woke up at 4am feeling uncomfortable. I tried to go back to sleep thinking, "If I can just get back to sleep, I'll feel better when I wake up." It's worked other times, why wouldn't it work this time? Well, try as I might, I could not get back to sleep. Ellie was in bed with me and I didn't want to wake her up so I finally got up. I came out to the couch and found that I felt best in child's pose (for those of you unfamiliar with that position it's a fetal position lying on your stomach, face down). After a while of doing that, though, my leg was going to sleep and it wasn't so comfortable anymore. I was hurting through my abdomen and around to my back (upper back). Ellie got up around 6:15am and came looking for me. She found me on the couch and lay on top of me. I was feeling a little better so I told her let's go back to bed because it's still early. So, we went back to bed. As soon as I lay down, though, the feeling was worse again. I tried to sleep but after about 20 minutes I got up and called my parents because I was just in pain. I talked to my dad and I finally made the decision to go to the ER. I don't like going to the doctor so for me to make that decision was a hard one! My parents came and my mom stayed with the kids while my dad took me to the er. Thankfully, I was seen right in and shown to a room. They ran blood tests, urine test and ordered a CT scan. All of my tests came back great - much to the doctor's amazement. He said everything looked so good he was almost hoping for something to not look so good so he could figure it out! The only test that showed anything was the CT scan and it showed early pancreatitis. What does that mean?! He finally decided to have an ultrasound done to see a little more detail. Guess what?! They came back clear! (Oh, and by the way, it's just not as fun to have an ultrasound looking for something to be wrong then it is when you're seeing your baby!) So, he released me but told me to follow up with my primary care manager on Monday or if my pain got worse or I had other symptoms (ie - fever, throwing up, etc) to return to the er. Never in my life have I wished for a fever just so I could figure out what's going on! He did give me a prescription for pain meds and nausea. So, I spent the rest of Friday on the couch. I ended up falling asleep on the couch around 7:45pm and woke up when Josh got home from work around 11:40pm. He asked me if I was going to stay on the couch or go to bed. I told him I'd go on to bed. I slept until about 7am. I got up, had breakfast and was feeling good. Ian and Ellie had spent the night with my parents and they were going to Ian's fall festival at his school. It was a beautiful day and I was feeling good so I decided to join them. Josh and I met up with them around 11am and we were there until about 12:30pm then we decided to go get some lunch. After lunch, we came back to the house and put Ellie down for a nap. I was still feeling good. Ian got invited to have a camp out in a neighbors back yard so he was busy and Ellie didn't get up from her nap until about 5pm. Then, we were trying to decide what to do. Originally (before all the not feeling good started) we were going to head into town for first Saturday activities but that didn't sound so good at this point. We finally decided to head to the mall (I had Gymboree bucks I wanted to spend). We got to the mall and Josh and Ellie were hungry. I was still feeling full from lunch so I didn't get anything. While they finished eating I went to do my shopping at Gymboree. That took longer than planned then we did a little more looking around. We ended up not leaving the mall until about 9:20pm. We were walking to the car and I started not feeling so good. It went down-hill from there. When we got home, Josh got Ellie ready for bed (with her crying almost the whole time) and I was trying to feel better. I went to hug Ellie and tell her I was going to bed, too, and that seemed to help her stop crying. I decided to take some of the pain meds and finally, while lying in child's pose again I went to sleep. When I woke up a little bit later, I was feeling okay and was able to change positions and slept the rest of the night. I got up Sunday morning thinking I would make it to church and I got Ellie ready but was running a little behind myself. My parents came to get the kids and take them to church. I did take a shower and was getting dressed but realized I really didn't feel that great and should probably just stay home. So, I did. I sat on the couch most of the day (did a couple loads of laundry) and was feeling okay. Not great but okay. Around 10:30pm I headed to bed. While I was laying there I started having pains through my chest and upper abdomen. Not fun. Couldn't sleep. I tried to wait it out (did I mention I don't like taking medication?) but finally around 2am I took the pain medicine again. I lay there trying to sleep and could feel the pain numbing but couldn't sleep! Last time I looked at the clock it was a little after 4am. I must have finally fallen asleep after that because the next thing I know I hear the front door open and Josh leaving for work. I got up at 7:11am (I thought the time was funny, don't ask me why) to see how Ian was going getting ready for school and have been sitting on the couch pretty much since then. I called my PCM and have an appointment for tomorrow morning. This just isn't fun. Other than the pains that creep up out of nowhere, I feel fine! I feel like I'm failing because I'm not taking care of my kids but I just don't feel good and there doesn't seem to be an explanation! Again, I'm almost wishing for a fever just so I could prove to the doctors that something isn't right. I've never experienced anything like this before and really hope it goes away soon. I'd like to get back to life as normal! Brian and I were talking about trying to see God's purpose in this. For me I think it's just a reminder that I am in His hands and life is precious! Plus, I'm really having to lean on Him during my times of pain because otherwise it's easy to feel very alone.
So, that was long and drawn out but now you know (probably more than you wanted to) what's going on with me!

Decorating for Fall

To get ready for fall, I decided I wanted to do something different with my mantle. Here's the "before". I can't really explain why I love these stars, but I do. I got them when visiting my friend Amy in Texas. I originally got them for Ian's room but they've ended up in our living area in the last few houses. A lot of people who like "country" like the stars and although I don't consider my style "country" I do love the stars. Although the stars did look good over the mantle, I decided that there's a big empty space up over my back door/windows that the stars would look good in so I moved them there. I also had a gold mirror that I decided to paint black. (Imagine that!) After I got the mirror painted, here's what I put together on the mantle.

Josh helped me out with it and I'm pretty pleased with how it came out. It's muted with pops of orange. Just right!

In the Mood to Re-do!

Okay, so I know that I haven't blogged in FOREVER and here I am blogging and it's nothing about the family! I have gotten a decorating "bug". I got it before we moved from North Dakota but wasn't really able to do much about it. Now that I'm finally about as settled as I'm going to be here in Georgia for now, the bug has come back! I've been visiting some amazing ladie's blogs like the Nesting Place, The Inspired Room, Altar'd, Less than Perfect Life of Bliss and the list goes on. These ladies have inspired me to want to tackle redo-ing some furniture (like our cracked tile-top table) BUT before I take on a big project like that, I decided to start with something small like my spice rack. I've had this spice rack since we got married. It was something I'd wanted (because my mom had one and I figured I must, then, NEED one) and we'd found it (unfortunately I can't exactly remember where). I was so excited to have it and I've just left it the way we found it which is this:

Well, as we were moving in and I unpacked it, I told my hubby we should paint it black! He said, "Like right now or can we wait until we get moved in?" I decided, "Okay, I won't have you paint it right now." That was now almost four months ago and it has been sitting in my kitchen still looking like the above. I finally got it in me to do something about it today. I took all the spices off and headed outside with it. (It helps that the weather has cooled off a little and it was only in the mid 80's!) I got out my spray can of black paint and here's the finished product:

The lighting isn't the best so it's not a great quality but I think you get the idea!

Any idea what the bottom cubby's are for? Here I've had it for 12 years and never have been able to fit anything in them! I tried fitting the small spice bottles but they don't fit either. Oh, and in case you're wondering, it has taken me quite a while to get all the jars to match. In fact, what I've done is save the jars with the black lids and washed them. Then, I took the ones that still didn't match and switched them to the jars with black lids, added a label and voila - they are all matching jars now!

So, what I want to know is - do you enjoy redoing things you already own and giving them new life or are you one to just purge and buy something new?

Share with me your stories or pictures of things you've done, I'd love to see!

Guess who got their first haircut?!

Yes, Ellie finally got her first haircut! I guess now that she's three it was time but I've been a little hesitant to do it because it's so cute long. BUT, it looks so cute now that I'm really glad I took the plunge and got it cut. Here are some pictures:
Here's the before:

During:

After front:

After back:

One with her big brother, Josh, that went with us:

For the record, yes, the hairdress curled her hair with a curling iron - those are not her natural curls but how cute is that?! What a big girl - a big girl that have I mentioned is completely potty trained and was by her 3rd birthday?! No pull-ups or anything anymore. She still occasionally has accidents (like when she sleeps in a little) but is doing great. I'm so proud of her! Now if I could just get her to go on her own without coming to get me first! Because she was doing so well, we did actually paint her fingernails for her birthday. That was the first time she'd had them painted because our agreement was that she could paint them when she was completely potty trained. Here's a picture of her cute little fingers on her birthday.
I am still planning to do a little photo montage, just haven't gotten there yet. It will happen soon!

Ellie is THREE today!

We have been busy moving in so it's really snuck up on me, but my little girl is three today! I would like to make a little photo montage, but for now I'll just post a picture of her from this morning in her new rain boots. She's been wanting a pair for a while now and I found these the other day and thought they were pretty cute.

So, here's the birthday girl in her nightgown and rainboots - with boxes around to show you that we really are moving in still! Will put together more details about Ellie and her birthday later and share them. Happy Birthday, Eliana, we love you!

Trip to Georgia

We've been home from Georgia for almost two weeks now and while I'm sitting in the TLF (temporary living facility) while Ellie's napping and the boys are at the airshow, I decided perhaps I should post pictures from our time there! I know I posted a few but I thought I'd share the rest of them. While we were there, I went and picked Josh up from college at PBA. It was nice and warm down in southern Florida and this girl that's been living in ND for the last couple of years got a little warm! BUT LOVED IT!!! Okay, I didn't love the sweat but I loved the feeling of being warm and having the sun soak into you. Getting hot just thinking about it! Anyway, after getting back from getting Josh we enjoyed some time at the beach and at my uncle's pool. It got so warm during our time there that the pool actually got a little more on the swimable side although I refrained and watched the kids this time! Here's a little scrapbook of pictures from Georgia.

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What we're up to

Well, right now we are in the middle of move mode. The packers started this past Wednesday and finished Friday evening. Monday the driver will come do inventory and then Tuesday our stuff will be loaded on the van. I decided yesterday while I had some time that I should take some pictures. I always forget to and wish later that I had, so.... here they are!

Here's a partial view of the kitchen

This is the playroom
This is our "dining"area

This is definitely NOT my favorite part of the move but, hey, at least it's not ME packing all those boxes! We're very blessed to have someone else come in and do that for us! It's funny, though, because the packers never believe us when they first get there and we tell them we have a lot of stuff and it WILL take at least a full three days of packing. They always seem to think they'll be faster or that we don't really have that much stuff. Until it's 4 o'clock on Friday and they're really wishing they were done already! One of the packers said to me, "You knew all along didn't you?" I said, yep! This isn't my first rodeo!

An Almost Perfect Day

I keep thinking about it and I have a moment so I wanted to write about a great day we had last week (a week ago today exactly). It was the day before Brian got home (although the kids still thought he was getting home on Saturday) and we had MOPS that morning. It was our last MOPS and it went really well and was almost surreal. Then, we came home and had a picnic lunch (in the living room - it was chilly and dreary outside) and watched some Schoolhouse rock videos. I put Ellie down for a nap then Ian and I had school time and it was a good day. Ian was in a good mood and it made school easy and fun. Then, Ellie got up and we enjoyed the afternoon playing. It's funny I can't even remember what all we did just that the kids and I were all in good moods and it made it an enjoyable day. That night when I put Ian to bed we finished reading "Little Britches" and both ended up crying. We had a good chat and prayer and it was a great way to end the day. It's funny, isn't it, that I didn't have to plan anything extravagant or spend lots of money to have a perfect day with my kids!

Look who followed me home!

One day last week I went out for a run at my parent's house. After my run, I walked around my parent's cul-de-sac to cool down and was nearing their house when I noticed something out of the corner of my eye. I turned to see what it was and was surprised to find a mallard walking along in the grass beside me! He kept walking until some dogs in a house across the street started barking and then he stopped and looked around like, "I'm not going any closer." I said, "I completely understand" and kept walking. Well, I'd gone another few feet when I see a commotion out of the corner of my and look to see the mallard landing right next to me again. Well, he proceeds to walk the rest of the way with me to my parent's house and then walks up to the front door with me! I ran in and told Ian to grab a piece of bread and come out to see a friend of mine that followed me home! I grabbed Ellie and brought her out and the mallard kept pecking at my shoelaces and untied them. He didn't seem really interested in the bread but did keep pecking at it. At one time it looked as though he was trying to go in the front door and I had to tell him he didn't want to do that as we have two dogs inside that might want to do more than make his acquaintance! My dad said maybe he thought I was mom and I said, "Well, Brian does tell me I waddle!" Here's a picture of my mallard friend (sorry he didn't want to face the camera)!

Here's one of Ian trying to feed him and him going for Ian's toes instead!

Georgia trip

We've been in Georgia for almost two weeks now. I haven't taken a lot of pictures but thought I'd share the few I've taken. The first pictures I took were almost as soon as we arrived in Georgia. I wanted to go to Chick-fil-a. If you know me, you know how much I love it and have missed it being in North Dakota! So, we had just left the airport and I looked up the closest one in the GPS and we went. Well, it was only after we'd been there a while and were amazed by the fact that it had a sit-down full-service section that I finally realized we were sitting in the ORIGINAL one! The sit-down section had waitresses that would come and take your order and it was more like a diner than a Chick-fil-a: you could even order a hamburger (don't tell the cows). Anyway, here are a couple of pictures!

One of the things Ian has really enjoyed being able to do while we've been here is go fishing anytime he wants (within reason). My parents have a couple of little creeks and all around their house that has a plethora of little fish willing to take his bait! The other night he and my dad had a contest - Ian was using hot dogs for bait and my dad was using lure. Well, Ian caught 19 and my dad caught 0. So, I think Ian won that one! Now they're saying they have to switch for the next one. The following are a couple of pictures of one of the fish he caught a few days ago. He came in to get me so I could see it.

Boston Trip 2010

Our trip to Boston a couple of weeks ago was AMAZING!! I found a WONDERFUL hotel that I HIGHLY recommend to anyone going to visit the Boston area. It was in Cambridge, MA, on the campus of MIT and it's a renovated fire station. Breakfast is included (a prerequisite for our family) and so is parking (also quite handy in the Boston area). There's no pool or fitness center at the hotel, but you do get free passes to a center around the corner. We didn't have time to use it so don't know much about that! It's the Kendall Hotel and we really enjoyed our stay. Another nice thing about it is that you're literally a block from a T station which makes it really EASY to get into and out of the city.

Our homeschooling this year has focused on American History so we were really excited to see the sites in Boston of things we've read about. One of the projects I had Ian do was a "brochure" of things he wanted to see in Boston. Almost all of what he wanted to see was along the Freedom Trail so we tried to do as much of that as we could. The weather really cooperated and it was beautiful! We had a lot of fun and enjoyed seeing Brian's parents as well as enjoyed that Josh got to come join us for most of our time in Boston. It was good to be together as a family.

Here's a slide-show of pictures from our trip. Enjoy!

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My Little Prankster

A couple of weeks ago some things happened that made me go, "Hmmmm" and then I figured them out! One night, we had just gotten home and I realized all of the blinds all over the house were up and we don't usually do that. I didn't think a whole lot about it until I was in my bedroom and we have one little window that I NEVER open the blinds on and they were open and I said to Brian, "Did you open the blinds?" He said, "No." Then I had a thought and called Ian into our room - "Ian did you open the blinds throughout the house?" He thought about it a second almost trying to decide how he wanted to answer then decided honesty might be the way to go and said, "Yes, ma'am." I asked him why but at the moment I can't remember his answer.

A day or two passes and we come home from the gym one morning and Ian's pointing to a couple of things that hang in the hallway and one was completely off the wall and the other was at an angle making it look as though someone had been in a hurry through the house. Ian asked me, "Do you think someone was here?" I just answered, "Maybe Daddy was home and was in a hurry." Again, I didn't think much about it.

Another day or so goes by, we are heading to the gym and I needed to fill up a water bottle to take with. I turned on the water at the kitchen sink and got completely soaked! Ian just starts laughing!!! He had pushed down the handle on the sprayer with rubberbands so that when I turned on the water, it sprayed out through the sprayer. He told me he got that one from AFV (America's Funniest Videos).

Well, after that incident I got to thinking about it and realized it was Ian doing all these things. I called him in and asked him if he'd done the pictures in the hallway a few days ago. He told me that, yes, he had. I asked him why and he said, "Mom, you get such a funny look on your face!!" Oh, MY! Now, I have to be ever watchful to see what might happen next!

Brian's Birthday

We celebrated Brian's birthday last week. I felt pretty good that although I didn't have a "gift" for him, I had arranged some things! He had been gone the week before his birthday so I called his office and talked to Don (his right-hand man) and said, "This may be a little unorthodox but Brian's birthday is next week and I was wondering if I could arrange for him to have the day off." He said, "Oh, yeah. I can work it. I'll talk to the boss and get back to you." So, later that day he called me and let me know that it was a go. Then came the task of deciding when I would tell him. I decided to bring in a cake to his office the afternoon BEFORE his birthday and tell him then that he had the next day off. Plus, I had arranged a babysitter for that night (the night before his birthday) so we wouldn't have to worry about him getting up to go to work the next day. He was genuinely surprised not only by the cake but also by having the next day off. It was fun to have time together in the middle of the week like that!

So, first we celebrated by taking cake into his office around 4pm the day before his birthday. Everyone really liked the cake. (Ian helped pick it out - cause he's been eying it for a while in the cake book at the commissary).

Then, he and I had a date night. We went to the Toasted Frog for dinner. We don't get to go there often because you have to be above 21 just to enter so we can't take the kids!

We were going to go to a movie but decided just to do some "shopping" - able to just look around without kids in tow! For a birthday treat (early) Brian wanted to go to Coldstone.

The next morning we were both surprised when Ian brought breakfast to Brian in bed. He made oatmeal, put some grapes in a bowl, had a hard-boiled egg and juice - not to mention planes to accompany the breakfast!

He'd also changed Ellie and put on her "I (heart) dad" pajama shirt and a pair of matching pants. Plus, two bows that matched.

From there, I got to go to the gym by myself and when I got home Brian had made waffles! I know, pretty neat that he made me breakfast on his birthday! After that we got ready to go out for a hike at Turtle River. It was a good little hike and we enjoyed it (well, at least Brian and I did). Ian did think it was cool that we came across a spot where there was blood all over the snow - like a predator/prey incident had happened there.

After the hike, Ellie and I did a little sledding at the good hill there. Then, we headed home. We put Ellie down for her nap then the rest of us watched Escape to Witch Mountain. It ended right in time for us to head to Wednesday night stuff at church. We got the kids to their classes then we were able to have a little time to ourselves and did some furniture browsing. Then, we came home, got the kids to bed, watched Psych and called it a night! All-in-all I think he had a good day!