False Alarm

No big storm here after all which is fine by me. I had a good friend a few years ago who loved, loved, loved storms and rain and whatnot. I can't really relate to that, I'm a sunshine kind of girl. Above are some photos of the girls doing some rainy day art at the table.

Sorry I haven't been posting much - I'm not in the pit of despair, so don't worry, but we just haven't ventured out much in this weather so I have no new adventures to report.

Today my hairdresser, Olivia, came with her husband and took Rico on a 45-minute walk!!! Yay!!! That right there is some provision from the Lord because I can't even begin to tell you how guilty I feel when those big brown puppy dog eyes beseech me to play with him every time I pass a window or open a door. We have lots of windows in this house so he just follows us and plops down outside wherever we happen to be in the house--right outside the window just waiting to see if we acknowledge him.

Last week we went to Johnsonville to participate in some "homeschool swimming" classes. We were there for hours as I signed all four girls up and they were in four different classes separated by a half an hour each. It was an indoor pool, of course, but even so it was freezing in there! Ellie jumped in, jumped out and flat out refused to do her lesson. Reasoning with a blue-lipped shivering 3-year-old is not my forte so I just let her get dressed, but I was worried, we had hours to go and I hadn't brought any back-up entertainment. I did have food, so I tried to make lunch last as long as possible. The challenge there was keeping her from eating the food I'd brought for her sisters. The rest of the girls managed to survive the frigid waters by alternating swimming in the pool with time in the jacuzzi. That extra dollar each was totally worth it! They all did well, all were the youngest in their groups, and now I am shopping for wetsuits. I just ordered one for Ellie for $10 from the New Zealand equivalent of ebay but I couldn't find them for the other girls. I think the jacuzzi will be cheaper for them anyway!!! The only wetsuits I saw in shops online were $80 each. We're going to try another week without them.

The other thing occupying all of my spare moments, both of them, is my current project of uploading all our home videos onto my new computer so I can then burn them to DVD and the girls can watch them on tv. I am almost done and sadly I seem to only have a random sample of the videos we've made over the years. I have hours of footage of Meggie between birth and 18-months-old, but Katie's birth and first months are mysteriously missing. We catch up with her at around 6-months-old. Then I do have Josie's birth and early footage, but none of Ellie. In fact the only video I have of El is what was in the camera when we arrived. Oh dear. They will probably need counseling if I can't find the videos!! Some of it is quite adorable and I will try to post snippets here somehow, it just may take a little while.

Ok, I must go read bedtime stories so Daddy can do Bible and prayers. . . talk soon!!