Action-packed weekend

Steve took Thursday and Friday off this week to use up the last of his vacation days that he would otherwise lose on the 31st.  It's been so nice having him home so much this last month!

First off, some pictures from last week I missed:

Nails for the girls for St. Patrick's Day: rainbow and a pot of gold.

Emilia reading The Cat in the Hat to Mira.
(She is wearing a leprechaun hat she made at school.)
Cecily felt she must be a part of the fun, too.

Our St. Patty's Day meal. Orange and green? Yes. Irish? No.

I can't remember anything happening Monday and Tuesday.  Wednesday, Steve had Ben and our friend Jason over for LOTR card game. Then Thursday he let me write for a while in the afternoon and he had his regularly scheduled game night.  Friday, Emilia didn't have school, so we had planned a trip to the Dinosaur Museum with Megan, Cari, Febe, and Nana.  This is like our 7th time going, so it's no longer new, but I enjoy each trip. Dinosaur bones are so fascinating and thinking about what it would be like if they were still alive like in Jurassic Park or Primeval (the movie and TV show respectively).  I also ponder each time I'm there the idea that these animals were supposedly alive on Earth billions of years ago--and we have evidence of them through their bones and eggs and footprints and fossilized imprints--but at the same time I believe in what the Bible says--that God created this earth and Adam and Eve were our first parents who probably lived about 6 thousand years ago.  I imagine there is a good explanation about how those can both be correct and I look forward to asking God about it when I have the chance. :)

I love Emilia's face in this picture.  They were in a "cave" looking at fossils.

Cousins making things fly in an air tunnel.

Friday evening, Grandma and Grandpa Watts took the two older girls for a sleepover and Steve and I took Cecily to Barnes & Noble for a date night.  We didn't buy any books, but I always love wandering through the stacks.  I've always had a great love of books and that hasn't changed as I've aged. Maybe someday I'll have a book to add to the collection!

Saturday I went to a writing conference from 8am-4pm.  I didn't feel too awful about it because G&G Watts had the older girls until after lunch, so Steve only had to watch Cecily for most of the time. I enjoy going to writing conferences, but I always come away just a little discouraged. Getting a book published the traditional way is a daunting task.  After I got home, Steve and I discussed the conference for a while and then fed the girls dinner.  I really enjoy being able to discuss literature and other media with my husband.  It's one of my favorite things about our relationship.  We learn from each other (or at least, I learn from him) and we understand each other better as we talk intelligently about deep things.

After dinner, I got in my head that I needed to complete something this weekend that Steve was home, so I painted our garage.  I was glad it only took me about 80 minutes because that was about all the time I had before my light ran out.  And it turned out so good! I'm excited to show you once we get the shutters up.  Maybe we'll finally get around to it next weekend. Cross your fingers for me.

I also had to get our house cleaned Saturday night because we were hosting the birthday dinner for Mira, Dylan and my mom today.  Then this morning before church, I busted out some pizza sauce,  baked sugar and double chocolate chunk cookies, and frosted the sugar cookies, including a large one with a picture of Elsa from Disney's Frozen on it. I'm a little crazy, I know.

Not a culinary masterpiece, but pretty good for me!

Dylan and Mira looking slightly less enthusiastic than me. :)

Nana Frohlich made these Anna and Elsa dresses for the girls. 
They LOVED them. Mira walked around like she was the bees knees
for the rest of the night.

 We had a good time hanging out with the family.  The kids play so well now that they are a little older.  It was fun to watch Mira and Dylan hug each other and follow each other around as they played Frozen.  After the family left, we had our neighbors over to play a round of 7 Wonders (a board/card game) and a short game of Oh Heck (or Big Bertha). It was a great way to end the week.

Some pictures of Cecily I took the other night after the other two were in bed:

She's pulling up to standing like a pro and starting to try to walk along furniture.  Often she'll think she has a handhold when she doesn't and she will face plant.  She has so many bruises on her forehead! It's kind of sad.

This is what pictures of her usually look like.  Such a little busy body!

Emilia took some pictures with my phone.  She can be quite artistic sometimes.  My favorite is this one with the upside-down cars.

She told me her blankie was making a smiley face.