multitude monday

Here's my continuing Multitude Monday post, which all started a while back, right here.

"One Thousand Gifts":

1284. free ER consultations that come to you
1285. sunshine on fresh snow
1286. a thawed out van door just in time {it had frozen shut in the rain/ice/snow storm last week and finally thawed out before I had to leave the house with the kids -- my other option was to load them all up through the drivers door and I wasn't sure how I would haul that baby seat up and over 2 rows of seats . . . not fun, I'm sure!}
1287. 9 hours of sleep {in a row!}
1288. seeing my kids discover more and more the joy in giving {and the birthdays that give us the practice}
1289. finding a lost item you've been searching for {and all the cleaning that gets done as a result of the hunt}
1290. two pair of sisters all cuddled in bed reading together by lamplight
1291. lifelong friends
1292. Anna Grace {happy 3rd birthday, sweet girl! When she woke up this morning she told me "it's Anna day!" . . . that's right. It sure is!}
1293. visible evaporation
1294. kids playing nicely
1295. a nearly full {11 of 12 seats} van on the way to church yesterday morning


Alrighty, that's it's for now. Tune in next Monday for the next installment.

Weekend in review:

Friay::

Friday was the long-awaited, month late celebration of Lydia's birthday. She decided instead of having a few friends over for a birthday party, she would pick one friend and go to the Mall of America for a few rides, time at the American Girl store and a treat {DQ}. Without any hesitation she picked her best bud, Frances {just like last year}. Fran, Lydia and I headed to MOA after lunch on Friday and spent the afternoon having a great time. As we approached the mall, the girls were really excited and Fran said, "Look I see the beautiful star with the red and blue ribbons coming out of it." Can you tell neither of them spend a whole lot of time at the Mall of America? They were so excited. Who would have ever thought the symbol of for MOA {a star with red, white & blue ribbony things coming out of both sides} would be called beautiful? Only by a pair of 7-year-old girls, probably!

While we were at MOA, Jacob and Rebekah {and Joe, a little bit} had a lemonade stand on the corner again like they did last Friday. They brought in just under $20 this week and were disappointed, since last week they brought in over $35. I told them I thought $20 was still pretty good and they got over their sorrow pretty quick.

Here are Fran and Lydia ready for the roller coaster:

Best Buds!

Waiting for their 2nd trip on the log chute
{Fran didn't get very wet the first time, so they had to go again and switch seats}:

They are in the right two seats. See 'em?:

Friday evening::

This is what happens when the bathroom door gets left open:

Superman rides again:

Joe's slightly dirty feet after a fun afternoon outside:

Saturday::

Rebekah in her 1st race of the day (200M Medley relay).
I know it looks like she's smiling at the camera, but really she's racing, Kirb just happened to capture the picture right as she came up to breathe and it looks as if she's looking and smiling. I don't even think she knew he was right there or that he was taking a picture. Funny!

After one event, with her supportive, mohawked big brother:

{If you didn't see the video of her in the 25M Freestyle, click here or scroll down a little to the next post}

Sunday::

On Sunday we went to Ava's baptism and subsequent party. It was a great day . . . would have been absoluetly perfect if we weren't all missing Ava's grandma so much. She would have loved to be there.

She was pretty cooperative, I'd say:

With the pastor, her parents and godparents {Russ & Michelle and David & Melissa} after the service:

We were super, super busy but had a great time over the weekend. Hopefully we'll have a teeny bit of down-time this week to help with the recovery!

the sleepover

since there was no school on monday, we indulged the girls in the sleepover they had been begging for for quite some time! it's so nice to have our girls best friends be sisters too! it makes life just a little simpler. so sunday night the fun began. there was so much fun to cram into the time they had together, so they got at it right away. there was much american girl love goin' on. kit, molly, molly, kirsten, elizabeth and bitty were just as thrilled to be together as rebekah, lydia, fran & ev! they even all went to bed pretty cooperatively and weren't even up that late.

they woke up extra early, ready for more fun! kirbs took the boys (and anna) to the Y in the morning, so we had lots of fun girl fun. we made valentines that will eventually end up some local children's hospitals for kids who won't be able to attend any fun valentine's day festivities. i think we made nearly 4 dozen! fran and rebekah were especially into it.


we made some nummy puppy chow. luckily there were just the right number of ingredients that everyone got to be in charge of their own. plus then everyone got a turn shaking the bag to make sure it was well coated with the powdered sugar!


kirsten, kit, molly & molly (fran's molly is wearing the fancy dress and the molly in the t-shirt is lj's) watch the puppy chow-making.


a fun time was had by all and kirb and i even got a decent night's sleep . . . even better than some nights recently. amazing, since there were 7 kids in the house! friends are the best!

flashback friday

since it's been an evelyn kind of a week i thought i should include her in flashback friday. here is part of the orange city soccer team from the summer of 2006. fran (evelyn's sister) is on the far left, evelyn is next and that's rebekah holding the ball on the far right. i can't believe how much they have changed and grown up in just over 2 years!

have a great weekend!