This should be my last post from my parents' house!

I went to do a load of laundry Monday morning and discovered that our washer and dryer were not working. We have a stackable washer and dryer and none of the buttons I pushed on them would turn on. There was a time when I would have been annoyed that we would have to spend money on getting them fixed instead of spending the money on something fun, but now I am just so grateful that the washer and dryer quit working when we have money to get them fixed! A guy came to look at the washer and dryer on Wednesday and he said a new control panel needed to be ordered, so we are waiting to hear back from him. I have been putting off doing laundry this week, so here I am today at my parents' house doing laundry. I could be here until midnight! The kids, except Noah, are here with me. Matt is home waiting for the cable guy to show up to install our internet. SO EXCITING!

Zach, Kate, Noah, and I went to playgroup on Tuesday. I took this cute picture of Kate happily pretending to feed Victoria's cat.

Tuesday evening, I took Zoe and Emily to Friendly's for dinner after Activity Days. It was fun being out with them and we enjoyed our delicious food. Zoe and Emily managed to stuff dessert in after their dinner.

I teased them that they looked like lovebirds sharing a drink together.

Wednesday evening, I went Christmas shopping with my mom. We also ate dinner at The Weathervane, which was fun! We spent some time figuring out if our server was a male or a female. Our server looked like a man, but talked in a high voice, wore earrings, and we thought our server's name was Allison. We decided Allison was a man and when we looked at the receipt, we saw that his name was Ellison.

Matt bought a new pair of clippers, so Noah got a buzz cut while I was out shopping. Matt has been wanting to buzz cut the boys's hair for awhile now, so Matt was delighted to cut Noah's hair. I took a picture of Noah's buzz cut and Kate's cute pigtails Thursday morning before we left for the Children's Museum.

It has taken me awhile to get used to Noah's hair. He looks too grown up now!

Kate made friends with a bearded dragon at the museum.

Usually the reptiles are sleeping or hiding, so it was fun to see the bearded dragon interacting with the kids.




I used to be able to get rid of red eyes on my pictures here very easily and quickly, but now that my parents have a new Windows program, I don't know how to edit the pictures quickly and I never have time to figure it out.

Here is a picture of Zach steering "Don's boat".


They have a new exhibit about the inside of toys that is really neat! I thought of you, Steve when I saw this toy.

The exhibit was more hands on than I expected. It was a lot of fun for the kids to push buttons and turn cranks to make the toys work. I'd like to bring the older girls to the exhibit because I think they will enjoy the inside of the toys more than the younger kids did.


Noah could have played with the tennis balls and this ramp the entire time! Every time I go to this museum, I think about bringing each child separately so they can stay at the activity they like for however long they want to. I hate making a child leave an activity they are really enjoying because another sibling is ready to move on. Matt took Zach by himself one time and they had a lot of fun!

This was a week for picking sick kids up at school. Zoe came home early on Wednesday with a stomach ache. I got a call on Thursday afternoon at 2:35 (when school gets out) that Emily was feeling too sick to ride home on the bus, so I went to pick her up. It's one thing to just get yourself ready quick to pick up a sick child from school, but getting yourself plus 3 kids into the car quickly is not fun! Emily was home for about an hour when she threw up (yay for throwing up in the bucket!).

I noticed this a little while later.

While I was in the kids' room relaxing and reading while Noah played, Eleanor taped all of the class pictures to the ceiling so we could see them better at dinnertime.

Zach got a buzz cut Thursday evening.


This is too cute!

Zach put his kitty in the corner for being naughty.

Matt and I went out to Bugaboo Creek last night and then we did some shopping. It is fun getting Christmas shopping done early! We got off to a late start since we were both waiting at different locations for each other, but when we finally met up, we had a fun evening.

The kids had fun watching the new Tinker Bell movie in the afternoon and then they watched a new Scooby Doo movie in the evening. My mom said the kids were extra good for her. I think having a movie that they hadn't seen before helped.

So, the next time you hear from me, it should be from home! Matt and I are looking forward to watching "The Office" on the computer this evening! Our computer is going to be complete again. :-)