a little bit of this

preschool went quickly this morning, the promise of a walk to the park proved very motivating indeed. though the sun shone bright and warm, the wind was nearly knocking us over, and halfway there avery decided she wanted to go home. i went around the stroller and knelt down in front of ash. "you okay if we go home?" "park!" she yells. (a bit angrily i might add)

we somehow manage to get avery in the under basket of the stroller and continue in our pursuit of swings and slides. ash so very rarely gets to decide what we do, her eyes sparkle as she realizes that yes! we are still going to the park.

we make it and avery is a ball of whines and complaints. "it's too windy" "i don't want to play"

she stays in the stoller basket right under baby brother and ashton swings and goes down the slide one time and says "bye bye park". we were there all of 2 minutes.

but we accomplished our mission. we walked to the park. we got fresh air. and my legs and lungs and heart got the side benefit of pushing 75 pounds of kids up hills, against the wind.

it was good for us all.
good for ash to get her way.
good for avery not to.

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gg's are good sports, dressing like odyssey characters and hangin' on the stage.


every time i go into whit's end i feel blessed. old, grandparent-like people greet me with smiles and dote over my kids and hand us stickers. i get to fill a tiny styrofoam cup with free coffee and let my children roam the halls, watching movies, reading books, dancing on stages and doing puppet shows. free. free. free. free.
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chuck e cheese is loud and a little creepy. but i was suprised at how clean this one was. and how crowded it wasn't.

ash isn't quite sure about the mechanical mouse


grandpa gets crazy in front of the camera


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making valentines for a valentine/grandpa's birthday party.


we made the owls from here.

ours weren't even CLOSE to being how cute her's were. but they did say "from the hoo-hoo-houles" at the bottom. and i was super proud of it. so there's that.

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girls are staying the night at grandma's. i've got a date with David Andrew.
and now would be a good time to take a shower.