All in a Day's Work

Ellie is running this funky virus where she has a headache, stomach ache and sore throuat, but only has a fever at night.  I kept her home Monday, and she dosed on the couch for an hour with rosy pink cheeks, then did great the rest of the day, only to falter and feel bad again last night.  I sent her to school, even though she had a fever last night, against my own will, but she was doing ok this morning and she has missed so much school from her asthma.  The nurse called and said Ellie had no fever, but a stomach ache, and she just wanted to let me know, but it is in Ellie's best interest to keep her at school.  So I did.  And I hated that feeling.  When I picked her up, she asked why I  didn't come get her. I had to give her the "That's Life" talk.  Somedays you just don't feel great, but you just have to get your "game on" and keep on.  She was ok with that.  :)  This picture is Ellie working on Math (she did school with me all day, since I had to teach the girls), and she learned to tell Time.  She had a blast, it was so much fun!  This age is great, because you are learning new things everyday that seem so monumental to them.  So neat. 

Whenever I need to make Erika happy, I go to www.deepspacesparkle.com, and find a project for her.  Today she needed something to look forward to after math, so we made these very cool oil pastel portraits from http://www.deepspacesparkle.com/2009/01/modigliani-inspired-self-portraits/.  We watched a beautiful video of some of his paintings, and some were nude, so we had the discussion of lots of artists paint nude paintings.  The girls were so grossed out.  Erika asked, "Why are they all women?"  I look at her and say, "They're all men that feel they need to paint nude portraits..."  Just food for thought :)

This was the quietest night I remember in a long time.  Kind of nice, it was raining out, and we had a long, but fun, evening at their yoga class at the Y, then Ellie's Theater class at Dancekids.  The girls are on their 7th and last book of Harry Potter, and I had to capture this moment of them both reading at dinner.  I have to tell them to stop reading, when they are punished, they are banned form their books, the other day, Emily played hide and seek with some friends and hid so well just so she could read and she knew they wouldn't find her...  I have no idea what will ever keep their attention as much as these books, thinking about C.S. Lewis.  We'll have to see. 

Mommy's shoes, skyping and Wacky Wednesday

Can you believe that is my shoe Ellie is wearing? !  My girls are obsessed with walking around the house in my shoes.  They love playing school and house in them.  Today Ellie decided it would help her write better when we were doing her homework.  Too cute!

Testing various juices with iodine to see if they contain Vitamin C at our Science class.

Working on drawing realistic pictures

Emily finally got to skype with her friend that moved last summer to Canada.  She misses her so much, but seeing and hearing her on skype helps.  The conversation was priceless.  They talked about the weather and time differences, school, and Ellie came in and showed them how her tooth was loose and wiggled it for them- her face was up against the computer, she showed her the dresses they were going to wear to the Father/Daughter dance they have tomorrow night.  It helped Emily feel reconnected- sometimes they would just not say anything and just smile at each other. 

The girls had Kayla, their cousin, spend the night and they set up a spa. They dimmed the lights, had battery-operated candles, played classical music and rubbed me all over- heavenly!

The girls gave Rob a little more "rough" back massage- they were a bit more wound up for him!  They did have fun rubbing lotion on him and putting hot compresses on his head.  It was hilarious!

It was Wacky Wednesday this week for Ellie at school.  She was soooo excited and went all out!  I was proud of her, because my other two were a bit more reserved on their Wacky days in the past.  Right before I dropped her off, she squatted on the floor of the van, and said, "I can't do it- I can't go in!  What if nobody else is dressed up, what if they tease me?"  She was so nervous and I just told her if anyone says anything just smile and tell them it's Wacky Wednesday.  It was only for her class, so others were not wacky as she saw them outside walking in.  She bravely stepped out, and gave me the cutest smile ever.  When I picked her up, she started bawling.  There were only two others in her class that did it and they were just wearing a hat.  Even her teacher didn't dress up.  Ellie said she would never dress wacky again, even if it was Wacky Wednesday.  It broke my heart.  One of the disappointments and learning experiences of growing up....

Daddy's Quick Birthday Moment

The girls wanted woken up early so they could see Rob before he left for the rest of the week.  It was his birthday and Ellie had made him a book that she had been working really hard on.  I loved watching them interact so early in the morning and sharing such a sweet moment together.  (Considering that was the only gift he got on his birthday)  He had a long day on the road: he drove to Columbus, Kentucky and then Chicago all in one day, and on his birthday! 

February Fun

Ellie entertaining Rob with a game of "In a Pickle," after his knee surgery.

We were able to help in Ellie's classroom for the Valentine's Party

Ellie's teacher, Mrs. Englert

Erika went on a Wyldlife retreat with some Academy friends for a weekend in February

3rd Annual overnight at Emily's Academy teacher's house

Air Force Museum with Dad for an Indian Princess Outing

Since I haven't written in a while, and I feel like if this sun didn't come out like it did today, I was going to curl up into a ball.  But it did, and I'm back at it.  Maybe I'll be more motivated to take some more interesting pictures.  There are so many moments that go by that I think to myself, "I wish I would've captured that...  "  I'll try to be better!