Weekend Recap

We had a fun weekend, despite lots of coughing! Here are some highlights... Bennett and Ainsley were able to celebrate cousin S's 1st birthday with him for a little while. Here they are posing with him before eating some of his tasty birthday cake.

They got to see Grandma E. at the party as well!

One of the favors Ainsley received at the "farm" birthday party was a new bandana. Here she is modeling it for me! Nice smile...


Other little cousins were visiting and the girls were thrilled. They went swimming in Grandpa C and Grandma D's basement together. Here they are taking a break after a dip in the pool.

While the kids swam, some of the grown-up "kids" had a ping-pong tournament. It was a lot of fun, especially since we had an old Milli Vanilli cassette to rock out to during the games.

Last but not least, Bennett's silly tooth FINALLY came out! She'd been wiggling it since the beginning of December and it had turned gray and then pink. It just would not come out, but finally, after praying about it, the tooth loosened up and popped out! God does answer prayer, even simple things! The tooth fairy at our house, however, failed to show up and forgot to swap the tooth for some cash. I'm glad that Bennett believes in God and not the tooth fairy. She was cool with it when I just aplogized and gave her the money. Anyway, congrats to Bennett!

V-Day

The girls had a great Valentine's weekend, even though Dad was out of town and Bennett was battling a cough. Here are just a few highlights... We enjoyed dressing up for a fancy lunch at an area tea room. The girls were very lady-like, but poor Bennett coughed and coughed. She still had a nice time. Grandma D., Grandma E. and Aunt B. went with us.

Bennett and Ainsley were showered with cards, gifts and treats from many aunts, uncles, grandparents and friends. Here is Bennett with a bag of goodies from Grandpa C. and Grandma D.

Every year we make Dad a homemade Valentine. This year we made him a love robot.

Since Dad was gone and Bennett was sick on Valentine's Day, the annual father-daughter date had to be postponed a few days. Midweek, the girls got all dolled up and enjoyed an evening out with their special guy!

Bedroom Remodel...It's About Time!!!

I bought some bedding on 75% off clearance for Bennett a year and a half ago. It wasn't until this week that I finally got around to getting it out. Dad was out of town for a few days and that left me with some spare time, so I decided it was time to repaint and redo Bennett's room. She had never liked the lavender walls (I can't blame her) and so she was thrilled that we were finally going to get rid of them! Bennett's walls are now "wading pool" blue. She has a tropical quilt and a grass bedskirt. We framed and hung some of her artwork from school. It is a drawing/painting of various suns, each with a different facial expression. The photo doesn't do it justice...it's really cute and well-done in person!

Long, long ago, Dad also designed a metal surfboard to hang on her wall, once the bedding was on. We painted it a bright orange, like the orange in her bedding, and hung it right away. She just loves it! It's pretty cool. Good job, Dad!

Ainsley's Art

Ainsley has been drawing quite a bit lately, and the practice is paying off!

Her drawings are getting more advanced...

This bottom is a self-portrait, I'm told. I LOVE the eyelashes and the flower in the hair!

Amber Alert!

Randy has gone missing, complete with ransom note!

Sledding

Well, we hit the slopes at a family for the first time this season. Bennett and Ainsley were so, so thrilled! Dad and Ainsley are preparing to take off down "Knicky-Knack Hill."

Here is the view from the top. This is such a great sledding hill because it's large enough to provide thrill, but it's managable for young children to climb. It's also relatively safe. However, there was a layer of ice under the snow this time, so it was really slick and fast! It was a good thing we took regular sleds instead of our toboggan. That would not have been safe!

What a beautiful winter day! It was in the upper 20's with absolutely no wind and the warm sun was shining! Check out the blue skies in the above photo...

Bennett and Mom at the bottom of the hill. We took quite a ride, quite a bump and quite a tumble! Bennett was laughing so hard she "peed her pants a little!"

As we packed up the sleds to return home, Bennett wanted to show off her snow-packed stocking hat!