Valentine's

We had such a great Valentine's weekend. We switched off babysitting with our friends, the Gowdy's, and took each other's kids for the night. Jessica had the idea of doing that for her husband for Christmas and I thought it would be the perfect gift for Scott as well. We had been looking forward to our entire night alone for weeks! We realized that we haven't left the girls overnight since they were born so that means it had been 2 1/2 years since Scott and I were completely away and alone together for that long. With baby #3 on the way soon we had to take advantage of this little window of time before I begin all the newborn/nursing etc.

Friday morning we dropped the girls off at Jessica's and headed to the West Side market in Cleveland. It was a fun experience to walk around and see all the different vendors from meat to pastries to falafel. We decided to try a little of lots of things so by the end we had gotten an empanada and enchilada, falafel, a ham and gouda cheese crepe, 2 packs of blackberries, a chocolate covered strawberry, and a gigantic apple fritter (Scott's favorite!). It was definitely fun. There was a little area you could sit up above the market and watch it so we sat and ate and enjoyed having each other's full attention. It is inside this historic building and was a fun experience. Our camera is still broken so still none of our own pictures! We even tried to get it fixed or get a new card for our old one before we left, but neither option worked out!

After the market we went to the Art Museum but it turned out that the majority of it was closed for construction. There were only a few exhibits open because they are doing some major renovations, but we still enjoyed walking around and just being together. We stayed at a hotel downtown and went and relaxed for a few minutes before our show that night. We went to Lord of the Dance at the Palace Theater and it was such a treat. It brought back a flood of memories from my Irish dancing days, and it was so fun to see. All day it felt like Scott and I had stepped back in time 5 years to our BYU dating days with folk dance, museums, going out to eat anytime without kids etc. The palace theater is a beautiful old theater in Playhouse Square. We loved it. We headed to the Star Restaurant next to the theater for dinner after the show. It is one of those restaurants that is fancy enough you wouldn't normally try, but we enjoyed it. Have you all heard of restaurant.com? You can get $25 gift certificates to various restaurants with online codes for only a few dollars. Anyway, we had such a fun day together and it was a welcome treat to be alone with Scott and out doing something fun together. There is no one I'd rather spend my time with! Thanks so much Jessica and John!!

The next morning the girls came home and we took Ellie and Cade for that day and night so John and Jessica could have their night out. The kids all had fun together and the girls thought it was exciting to have their first real sleepovers! We went to the library, ate pizza, and rented some princess movies (picked by Ellie and the twins of course) Cade was a good sport! Scott kept saying, "Cade is my kind of guy. He's so chill you know?" I think he is very excited for a little boy, and hopefully one that won't add to all the girl drama at our house! We took all four kids to sacrament meeting in the morning and I have to say that I felt pretty good about getting everyone up, dressed, and out the door on time! Though we were all a bit exhausted by the end of the meeting, it was a success. We had fun hanging out with the Gowdy kids and are grateful that we were all able to enjoy some couple time as well.

The girls were spoiled with Valentine's this year as they got packages and cards from lots of their family. They get so so excited when something comes in the mail. They jump up and down and scream excitedly until we open up the package to find what surprise has come for them! They were really into Valentines day because they truly love anything that has to do with PINK (especially Bella), hearts or anything else girly. Dad gave them each a pink rose and they are still telling everyone we see about it. They are really into the whole concept of princesses and princes lately, so all day long we talk about when "the prince" (dad) will be home and how they want to put on their dresses and dance with him. Dad has to sing the "Once Upon a Dream" song from Sleeping Beauty while he dances with them. It is definitley cute.

It has been a bit of a long week because the girls have been sick. They have had fevers and coughs and runny noses and aren't very happy! They have literally been laying on the couch for days and all they want to do is watch movies. They are up every few minutes coughing in the night so they are totally exhausted as well. I'm going a little stir crazy in this house and am hoping they will get over this soon! It has been long enough!

Scott is taking his Pediatric exam today and then he begins a new internal medicine rotation on monday. I'm starting to feel anxious about the baby coming soon so I think I've hit that whole nesting stage and am trying to clean and organize our house and everything else. After a couple day reprieve from snow and freezing temperatures last week we are back to the cold. If we can just hang on a few more months this winter will pass right?

Don't Complain

I've learned my lesson not to be ungrateful. After I complained last week about our house issues this week it only got worse. The gutter on the front of our house completely fell off and took out the porch light, some of the roof, and the bushes below. The weight of ice that had built up did it in! The same night a pipe broke and is leaking underneath our kitchen sink. Remember how we had to have a policeman break into our car after I locked the girls in there with the keys? Well, now the door won't open from the outside. After all of these events I keep reminding myself that this is just "stuff" and it doesn't REALLY matter in the scheme of things right?

On a happier note, I'm sitting here listening to Maddie and Bella giggling hysterically in their beds. I put them to bed a half an hour ago, but as the nightly ritual goes they sing songs and play for a while until they actually go to sleep. Tonight they are pretty crazy up there though. I can hear one of them saying, "No, no we don't get out of our beds." I love listening to the silly things they talk about and the games they play with each other. Maybe when they are teenagers I'll secretly hide a monitor in their room and then I'll be able to get the scoop on what they are really up to!

My other sweet Maddie and Bella moment for the day was on the way to church we were listening to this eternal family CD that my mom gave us. It has primary songs sung by little kids. There is a new song called "The Family is of God" and it is the girls' favorite. We have to put it on repeat over and over. There are few things sweeter than listening to two little 2 year old voices singing this... "God gave us families to help us become what He wants us to be. This is how He shares His love. For the family is of God." If you haven't heard this song yet, it is beautiful. I got all teary listening to their innocent little voices. I love those girls SO much- though I'd better go enforce bedtime. It sounds like they've moved on to jumping on the beds!

An interesting week...

We had a "fun" few days this last week. It started out with the refrigerator AGAIN. When we moved into this house in July the fridge wasn't working. It is only a few years old, and luckily we have a home warranty company that covers a lot of repair costs. It took a couple weeks before we had a fridge by the time they ordered parts and got out here. We learned quickly that no fridge is quite a pain! We thought it was taken care of but then a couple months later the same problem started again. We went through the whole buisness of losing all the food and being without a fridge and all that again and finally had it fixed by a guy who was sure it was taken care of! 3 weeks later, we were back to square one. By this time it was getting really old to keep rebuying all the condiments and salad dresssings and all that stuff that you don't realize is in your fridge every month. Well, the day before we were leaving for Christmas vacation it started making the dreaded noise. We knew there was nothing we could do about it at that point, and expected for Scott to come home to a broken fridge so we cleared out all the food once again. When Scott came back from Utah it was of course broken, so yet another repair man came to "fix" it. We hoped that it was the final time or that our home warranty would just replace the darn thing for us. Well on tuesday it began AGAIN. It is absurd that it has broken this many times- we've only lived here since july! Well so luckily this time right when the noise started happening we called and got someone here before the food went bad. We're learning after this happening six times in 7 months. I had to wait around all wednesday, but finally someone came and I am PRAYING that this time it is fixed for good! Okay, that was way more detailed than any of you cared about, but it is just such a frustrating process!

So thursday rolled around and to our dismay our roof started leaking in a few different places. We have these major icicles outside the house and as they were melting the water was coming in the kitchen and our little office area. After some wet floors, ruined paint, and a door molding that is falling off, I waited around again for yet another repair man. We were informed that to fix the problem we'd have to put some waterproof something on the bottom 6 feet of our roof under the slate and then put all the slate back on. Pricey! Besides that, nothing can be done until some of the snow and ice melts anyway. We're keeping out the buckets for a while! We have loved our house and are so grateful for it, but wow our eyes have been opened to the "joys" of an old house, and the fact that we aren't renting so we actually have to take care of the problems ourselves! We are grateful though, that we have a good warm place to be, and that for the most part it has been wonderful for us. It is so spacious and fun to decorate your own place. We got Maddie and Bella twin size beds this week with new bedspreads and everything. It turned out so cute and makes me realize that they are so big! They love them. We also have been getting the nursery all set up and it makes me excited to have Nathan!

Friday I went to my friend Cathy's to teach the Achievement Day girls some line and square dancing. Cathy has a little girl Maddie and Bella's age so I brought them along to play. The activity was fun and went great. I had that calling in Kirksville and loved it! The girls are so fun. Anyway, the activity ended at 5:3o so I was packing the girls up to head home. I buckled them both in the car and threw the keys on the front seat like I always do, so I don't lose them. This turned out to be a bad habit because somehow I must have hit the lock button and I couldn't open the door. I've never locked my keys in the car before, let alone locked my kids in the car with the keys in artic temperatures! I was grateful that I wasn't too far from home and ran in to use the phone to tell Scott to bring over the spare keys. I was grateful that he was already home! Well, after calling him about 500 times over and over he wasn't answering the phone. The girls were screaming in the car and couldn't figure out why I wasn't getting in and why I wouldn't open their door. I kept trying to yell into them that I was locked out and was trying to get help. They couldn't reach up to unlock the door since they were buckled in. Finally we called a neighbor in our ward who ran over to the house to try and find Scott. He had been out shoveling and hadn't heard the phone. Unfortunately the spare keys were no where to be found. By this point I was feeling like the absolute worst mother in the world and getting so worried that the girls were getting frostbite in there. It was dark and freezing and they were really worked up! Finally we just called the police and they said someone would come over soon. Well it was probably only 15 minutes later, but it felt like an eternity when the officer finally arrived. He got out his little tool to break in the car, and it wouldn't work. He kept trying and trying and finally said he'd have to call a different officer who had a more up to date tool. I was praying so hard to PLEASE just let the door open so I could rescue Maddie and Bella. Thankfully after a few more minutes it did. By this time, it had nearly been an hour and I was so relieved to get them home! They were alive, weren't actually frozen, and I'm sure aren't permantely scarred from the experience. I felt so bad though that we hurried home, bundled up in mom and dad's bed and watched Strawberry Shortcake and ate Pizza. Luckily kids are forgiving! Needless to say that a new spare key is of high priority on my to do list!

A few days this week and weekend Scott has been working the 4 pm to 2 am shift on his pediatric ER rotation. It is nice to have him around in the day, but I prefer him home at night when I'm tired and ready for some help with the girls! We did have a fun outing saturday morning though to the Natural History museum. The girls enjoyed all the "stuffed" animals and the planetarium. Maddie was so excited to see the big dinosaur bones before we got there and kept talking about how she wanted to give him "Hugs and Kisses." When we actually saw the big dinosaur though, she wouldn't go near it and started crying everytime we tried! It was a fun little place though and it is great to have some good spots to visit during the cold months!

A little more good news for our interesting week is that the SUN was out today and it was 40 Degrees outside! I never thought I'd be so thrilled for 40 degrees but it hasn't been near that temperature forever and it is so refreshing!! I hope it lasts a few more days!