Kate is a jokester. She likes to play this game with me, especially in the car. When I turn around to look at her and make a funny face, she tries not to smile. She tries so hard! I can always break her, though. It is hilarious and makes me genuinely laugh.

Our little Kate has been fighting an ear infection in both ears for more than a month. She has been on antibiotic three different times, trying to get rid of the same stubborn infection that just wouldn't go away. I have learned a lesson...next fall I am really going to be paying attention to symptoms of ear infections, and insist that it goes away the first time so that we won't have another drawn-out winter of irritability!Thankfully we will be done with this daily routine in two more days! She is doing much better and we are dealing with much fewer weeping/tantrum sessions.

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.

Check out those beads. I think I've posted on this before, but if you didn't catch it...the explanation is simply that my mom has loads of these plastic bead necklaces at her house that she's collected from Mama Dot, and every time we're over there, they wear them proudly!!

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!

A 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.