I am learning a lot of patience when I let Vivian help me in the kitchen...it's a little messy :)
Here are some of the pictures that Jonathan and Aaron took last weekend while in Breckenridge, Colorado.
Last weekend while Aaron was on his ski trip, we had a visit from Granny and Papa Gene. They came from Lucama, NC to see us! They arrived on Friday afternoon to play with Vivian and Kate. We all went out to eat that night, and had breakfast together on Saturday morning before they headed back home. It was great to see them and we thank God for their health.
Vivian and Kate love these tunnels that my parents have at their house. They jump up in the middle and yell, "pop goes the weasel!"
I caught some pictures of Vivian eating a popsicle last week. They were not feeling well that afternoon, so we ate popsicles and watched Sid the Science Kid.
We had a weird stomach bug last weekend. It went through all of us :( Kate was the only one with a fever, though. 
The strange (great) thing was that we all got better so quickly. It only lasted a few hours! 
Unfortunately, we passed it to several others who didn't get over it so quickly (sorry Papa and Gramme!).
I have been trying to store funny things that Vivian says in the back of my head so that I can do another one of these posts. She is at that age when the things that come out of her mouth can really make me laugh!
Computer is up and running now!! Sorry for the long pause between posts, but hopefully I will have lots of time this weekend to play catch-up. I hope I don't forget all the things I've been wanting to share with you all!
Aaron left on Wednesday to go to Colorado with Jonathan for a big ski trip. We have really missed him, but we know he has had a lot of fun! They are on their way back today. They have many more pictures, but this is the only one that the computer is letting me post. It was taken on Thursday while they were taking a break for lunch.
He loves to ski!how much fun you could have a Burger King! Two years ago I never would have thought about it. But yesterday we went with our friends and the girls had so much fun, which makes it really fun for me, too. 
The little ones had their own fun...napping :)
We moms stayed on the defensive the whole time.
Great day at BK! :)
Thank you for working so diligently and excellently to teach our children :)
(we may need to do a refresher course at home on the sign language for faithfulness and gentleness. I was laughing when I went back to look at the video!)
Last week we enjoyed Mama Dot and Angel's company for a few days! We saw them a lot while they were in Salem visiting, mostly at meals :) Thanks Mama Dot for cooking so much for us! 
Playing with Angel proved to be the most fun. She moves so fast, the girls don't know what to expect next, and it thrills them. It was so exciting.On Saturday we had an overnight guest! Baby Caleb came to spend the night and Vivian enjoyed playing "mommy". He is about 3 months old and cute as can be. He is an easy baby to take care of!
She insisted on holding him whenever possible. Thanks, Zach and Ashely, for letting us play with your sweet little one!On Friday I ran lots of errands that had been piling up while Mattie came over to watch the girls for me. They had so much fun with her! She took them outside to paint because it was so warm. 
Mattie told me that Kate was really into it and loved every second.
Vivian, on the other hand, got pretty upset when the wind kept blowing her paper, and she couldn't handle the stress.
We love Miss Mattie! 
So tired for her nap :) Hope she doesn't swallow any stink bugs with her mouth open like that!!
Speaking of stink bugs, we have them all over the house. It's so frustrating for everyone except Kate, who has a distinct love for them. She can point them out in any room, and always greets them with something like, "Hiiiiiieeee, bug!" and blows them kisses. She gets in their face, but never touches them, and talks to them. Weird!
Sharing a snack after naps while Mommy does laundryA couple Thursday nights ago I went out with the girls of our small group to Outback to celebrate the January/February birthdays. I haven't laughed so much in a looonnngg time. It was a hilarious night. 
So glad we had the special birthday head gear for the pictures! These lovely birthday ladies celebrated well with all of us :)
My dessert! We ate a lot, talked for hours, and thanked our husbands for holding down the fort at home. We are continuing to grow in our encouragement toward one another because we are getting to know each other better all the time.A couple of Sundays ago I had the pleasure of accompanying Carissa to a bridal brunch and expo at the Hotel Roanoke. It was a lot of fun and a very impressive show. The coolest part was that I felt like I was walking around with a celebrity...Carissa used to work in the wedding industry in the valley and has kept those contacts, so many of the vendors knew her and treated her like a princess bride. 
Here she is being serious with one of the vendors. She was probably pretending to be interested, because she almost has everything planned for her wedding (at the end of April), but she had to visit every booth in order to qualify for a drawing of a grand prize. So we saw and spoke to every vendor there! It was a full afternoon but very interesting. I don't remember being so organized about my wedding planning (I wasn't).
This was the grand prize that she wanted so badly: a sapphire and diamond ring from Fink's. It is a replica of the ring that Prince William gave to Kate for their engagement (so I learned while we were there).
She had to participate in a bouquet-toss to win the ring, but there were too many brides and she didn't catch it :(
Mother of the Bride!
We had a fun, fancy day! It was an honor to be a part of it.
The same kind of dress or outfit, but just different colors or patterns. 
These were the past two Sundays. They are not doing well with attempted photo shoots (and when I say "they," I mean Kate...she is too busy to be still for a picture).