Happy Birthday Justin

What a welcome week of normal life. Outside the house the wind is wailing. Sounds like the wind is upset about all the super cold weather we are having. We had snow, sleet, high velocity wind, rain, and sub freezing temps all week long. Consequently, most of the week we spent inside waiting for the weather to turn bearable again. No such luck yet!

Monday we left our warm house for dentist appointments. Everyone got their teeth cleaned except Evelyn. Justin stayed a little after he was done to hold Evelyn while I got my teeth cleaned. Everyone has a clean bill of health...except me. Darn my soft teeth, I have one tiny cavity in one of my molars. The kids were very excited to visit the dentist! We left with new cool tooth brushes. Afterwards I had three newborn boys to photograph. Since I had my studio out I invited over my neighbor and her 5 day old son and a less active member and her 6 day old son. Right after them I had a paying session. By 3 pm the boys dirtied a large pile of blankets! My afternoon session came back in the morning on Tuesday to finish up with family photos. By Friday all the photo sessions were edited and Christmas cards completed as well. Phew. I am burned out. Between October and November I racked up 31 photo sessions. Time to close until March. Time to clean out all those closets, nooks & crannies, and enjoy a snuggly winter with my kiddos.

Evelyn is walking around like a champ. I would say she walks more than crawls now. My favorite is when she tries to dance! Her legs are too short. Evelyn also loves to throw clothes, blankets, towels, up onto her head then walk around. She looks pretty silly walking around with undies crowning her head. Her feet FINALLY grew! She is now wearing a size 2 shoe. We are still waiting for more teeth to come, she still only has two bottom teeth. That does not stop her from eating table food.

Justin celebrated his 39th birthday on Saturday. He took Friday off to sleep in, work on his truck, and stay home. He put on Star Wars for the boys at naptime. The kids were so cute piled on Justin as they watched. Ironically, I fixed an R2D2 shirt I made for Phillip (he ruined it 10 minutes after wearing it for the first time) by cutting out the applique and fixing it to a new shirt for Everett. The boys were arguing about R2D2's name. My favorite variation was RD22.

Saturday we drove to Sterling in the snow to get a new locking tool chest for his birthday gift. I tried to buy him a new rifle for his birthday but all the red tape was too overwhelming and he acted blase about my idea. A new tool chest will keep curious little boys from spreading his tools everywhere! Maybe. We arrived home in time for the afternoon matinee of "Big Hero 6." I hired Alia Jones to sit with Evelyn while she napped at home. The movie was pretty awesome. Everett lost his monkey binky (terror and delight at the same time) at the theater. Must be a sign to help him get rid of it. After bedtime I actually went back and tried to find it with no luck. We ended the day with brownies and mint ice cream. We sang happy birthday a couple times to our birthday boy and listed reasons why we love our Justin.

Justin spoke in Cheyenne this morning. I went to church solo...actually made it to church in time too. That was a miracle. Next week the kids have their primary program. We are very excited to see it!

Amelia got to present the morning show this week at school. It rotates through grades and schools throughout the district. She was excited to be filmed and broadcast all week. She also read 4 books this week! One was a new Cornelia Funke book about a blue genie.