you say good bye and i say hello.

We love the sister missionaries.  We feed them once a week simply because we love having their spirit in our home.  Sometimes I feel like I hog them from the ward... but I feel good about it.  (How's that for honesty...)

My kids get super attached to some of them.  Especially Jayne.  This sweet Sister was in our ward for about 6 months.  She is as adorable as they come.  She and Jayne had a special bond because they are both red heads.  This was her last meal with us.  

Jayne noticed that she was taking a lot of pictures and then she got really quiet.  She came up to me and asked, "Is she gonna leave?"  I told her, "Maybe." (because we didn't know... but had a feeling she would be transferred.)  As soon as they left Jayne burst into tears and said, "Why do they always have to leave?!"  Poor girl.

There was a wicked snow storm out of the blue and a lady in the ward suddenly had two extra tickets to Joseph.  I decided to risk it and snatched them up and surprised Gracie.

We had the best time!  This girl is so sweet when she wants to be.  I love her to bits and cherish any time I get with her.

She liked the show a lot... but said, "I liked it but I didn't love it like you."  At least she's honest.

I came home to this note from Jayne... To Mom- Can we go to the mall?  Love, Jayne

Graham did his homework outside because the weather was nice.  Then he forgot to bring his binder inside and it snowed.  That was awesome.

These two were done grocery shopping...

The girls are very into Frozen (as are most girls their age across the globe).  One afternoon they decided to put on a full production of it.  It was amazing.  They made tickets and everything... I'm surprised they didn't make popcorn and sell concessions.

six months.

This kid is six months old today!  Crazy!  He is still such a joy.  He has the sweetest little personality.

He is off of his reflux medication and is almost sleep trained!  He recently found his little tongue and it's adorable.

He had his check-up with the doctor yesterday and was all smiles and giggles until it was time for the shots... then he was sad, sad, sad.

He was unhappy the rest of the day... unless he was sleeping.

I let him fall asleep in my arms which is a huge no-no since we are training him to go to sleep on his own.  He was just so sad!

Six month stats:

16 pounds 2 ounces = 26th percentile

25 inches tall = 19th percentile

surprise trip!

Jeremy and I decided that it was high time we take our kids on a little trip.  We wanted it to be so fun for them... and we didn't want to visit family (love you guys!) -  because that's what we always do when we go on trips.  After doing some research we decided to book a room at Great Wolf Lodge during the middle of March, hoping to avoid all of the Spring Break madness.  We packed their suits and some of our favorite road trip/hotel food while they were at school the day before. 

When they woke up in the morning we told them that they had a snow day (no sign of snow at all... but they totally bought it... thank you Cleveland weather.)  We had a family meeting to decide what we should do for fun as a family that day.  After hearing their ideas (the zoo, chuck-e-cheese, a movie...) we asked them if they would like to go to an indoor waterpark and stay in a hotel.  There was lots of cheering and excitement and we loaded up in the car and went on our way.  So much fun to surprise them like that.

This little guy slept like a champ during the hour and a half drive and was so happy when we arrived.

We decided to introduce them to the beauty that is Five Guys rather than Wendy's or McDonalds.  Only a few of them were disappointed.

Pure. Bliss.  I wish we were back there right now.

He was so wiped out after playing so hard all day long.

They were so excited for cable!

He kept his hand up like that a long time after I took the bottle from him...

Some of us were more tired than others...

There were all sorts of fun things to explore in the hallways of the hotel.

Eating out was a treat.  Our kids felt so spoiled.

The hotel had an arcade.  We spent some time there one night.  Lincoln and Peter are masters at Fruit Ninja.

There was this huge Chuck-E-Cheese type creepy character display in the lobby that came to life at night to do a bedtime story.  Cree-py.

The water was fun... but I really enjoyed the snuggles with this baby of mine.  He is the best.  Actually... his shoulder dimples are the best.

Graham loved the hot tub the most.

I think Gracie had the most fun out of everyone.  It was so nice to see her so happy.

This kid went down all of the slides by himself at least once.  He would only go down the "green slide" more than once because he didn't have to go all by himself.  He could not get enough.  He would go down once and then say, "Go down green slide?"  and we'd make the trek back up to the slide.

They had this Magic Quest thing that you could do.  You bought a wand and did all of these quests throughout the hallways.  The kids loved it!

They missed two days of school while we were off playing.  I guess I neglected to tell them that they would have extra homework when they got back...