Nick's checkup

I don't know what on earth I was thinking when I made Nick's checkup at 0820 in the morning. We had to get up pretty early to get them all dressed and fed and get to the appointment 15 minutes early. Nick was a trooper though. He got two shots and didn't even flinch :) He weighed 31 pounds and was 33 1/4 inches tall.
Now that we're back home and working on schoolwork, the kids are having a hard time staying awake and focusing. All three girls have dance class tonight. I'm thinking that by the time we get home at 8, they will all be ready to crash. I sure hope so. They have been staying up late and sleeping in way too late for the past month or two. I'm hoping that we'll be able to make the switch to an earlier schedule now - so that Andy and I can actually have a moment of peace in the evening before going to bed.
Well, I need to go help Kate with her math ...

My new best friend

So, I got myself a treadmill. It is too cold for walks here during the winter and it's just too hard to take all of the kids very far from the house during the summer. Now I don't have an excuse - and I can even use it while I'm pregnant. I used to have a comfy chair in front of the TV. That was moved to Ellie's room and my new treadmill has taken its place :)

Isn't he cute?

What a difference wind makes!

Today it was only 3 degrees out - which normally doesn't feel too cold. I wouldn't even bother put a coat on if I was only outside for a couple of minutes. Something was different though. There was actually a wind blowing. What a difference that makes. It felt SO cold out to me today as we were trying to get from the car to the store. I was wishing that I had put my mittens and hat on :)
The warm weather we had this past week made the roads especially icy today. I thought I was driving on an ice skating rink. I must have passed 5 people in the ditch on the way home from dance. We were taking it very slowly on the highway and I still could feel myself slipping around. I think tomorrow I will cut through post (which is longer, but the traffic is slower going and safer in my opinion).

Lexie, our little ballerina

Lexie started dance class and a yoga/gymnastics class this past week. She just loves them both!! No shyness there - she jumps right in and joins the class. Here is a picture of her before dance class this week. Today was her first "Happy Frog Yoga" class. When I picked her up after the class, the teacher asked "she's been in gymnastics classes before, right?". I told her no, but that she has older sisters and she must have picked something up along the way :)

Bad Guy Car

Ellie giving Nick a piggyback

Lexie, the big helper

Lexie was a big helper yesterday and was shoveling off the deck with Daddy. Something was going seriously crazy with my camera though - notice that their legs and bodies don't match up!!!

Our Poor Old Snowman

Our snowman has taken it pretty hard. He's still standing, but he's aged quite a bit with the extra snowfall and being weathered outside :) He even looks hobbled over! We may have to build him a newer, younger friend. The problem is that the snow that fell just doesn't stick together - you can't even make a snowball out of it :(

A Day Spent Outside :)

It is 30 degrees out today (ABOVE zero) and so we skipped church and played out in the snow with our new sled instead. It's amazing how warm 30 degrees can feel when you've been at at least 40-50 degrees lower than that for so long. Everyone has had hot cocoa and marshmallows and is now playing inside. Andy is busy making an apple pie :) Here are some pictures from today's adventures....

Blanket of Snow

We are now under a thick blanket of snow. We woke up to about 10 inches of new snow a couple of days ago and it's snowing again now. Our poor snowman that we made a couple of months ago is starting to look very distorted and the trees are drooping low with the weight of the new snow. The weather here has been warm (above 0) and I think we might actually be able to take the kids out in the yard to play this weekend :)

Queen Lexie

Busy

I know I haven't posted in a while. We've been pretty busy. Andy just got back last night from a TDY to Ft Lewis (he was only gone a few days). The kids were so jealous that he got to visit Grandma and Papa Thornton. He was about 6 hours delayed on his way back (he was stuck in Juneau). But, he made it home by about 11:00 and was up by 5 to go to work in the morning :( So, we haven't really gotten a chance to see him much yet.
It looks like we are going to be busy with all sorts of classes for the next few months. I figure we'll take some time off from everything during the summer so we can enjoy the sunlight and good weather, the new baby, and Andy before he deploys.
Ellie is going to be doing swimming, gymnastics, ballet, highland dance, acting, violin lessons, and maybe jazz.
Kate will be in pre-ballet, swimming, gymnastics, and Girl Scouts.
Lexie will be in dance class and yoga.
We're also doing a homeschool PE class twice a week and a homeschool club twice a month.
Add in doing schoolwork for 4 hours every morning and trying to keep track of Nick and Lexie during the day and I have absolutely no time left :) I did get myself a treadmill though - which I will be picking up from Sears today or tomorrow. I'm hoping to find some time in the mornings to start walking.....
I am definitely starting to feel pregnant now. I can feel the baby moving around all over the place. I'm in that really frustrating middle stage right now. My regular pants are too tight, but the maternity pants are falling down on me. I'm stuck in sweat pants for the next month until my belly pops out some more :)
Well, I need to go and help the kids out with their math. I will post some pictures later today.