Jillian's Friends Party

Jillian celebrated her 10th birthday with a friends party at home. She invited her friends from school: Morgan, Evelyn, Reese and Kiera. They walked to our house after school and did lots, including a pictionary game with clay, pizza and brownies and ice cream, and hide-and-seek.

Anna's Recovery

 Ava came down to play with Jillian and Bridget went up to Aunt's to play with Harper.  They had fun running around and then I asked what they did that I could get a picture of.  They wanted a picture of them exercising.  They are already in good shape.

This is a rare picture since Anna was a small kitty.  Bridget has always been able to pick up Anna and carry her around until the last few months when Anna became very anti-social.  We didn't know it until she got very ill,  but she had abscesses on her side.  Since she had them removed, she is getting back to her old self and at first played with Bridget's hair.  Then she cuddled up and took a nap right beside her.  This made Bridget very happy.

Jillian's 10th Birthday Party!

It was a packed house to celebrate Jillian at double digits. Mommy made soups and other items were brought in, so we had a nice filling lunch to start. Then, Jillian blew out the candles on her Mommy-made cake, quickly since she knew Tor was ready to beat her to it. When opening presents, she was thrilled about her new fluffy pillow that Bridget had made (with Grannie) for her, so that made Bridget's day. She ended up receiving lots of big girl things ... another sign that our little Sweetie-Pie is growing up.

Sledding Finally!

 This is Jillian's favorite pastime in the snow.  She loves to throw snowballs at anyone and anything.  Here's she's pretty brave without gloves or a coat but she rushed outside as soon as she got here.

 Bridget liked to roll the snow into big balls and she almost made a snowman but rolled the head so big that she couldn't lift it onto the body, so it sat beside the body.  Of course, Tor took his light sabers outside to attack any snow that was on the trees.

 All last year Bridget was content to make snow angels whenever it snowed and never did go sledding.  She wanted to try it this year and she was much braver going down the hill and she even crashed a couple of times (but wasn't going very fast.)

But Jillian was her daredevil self and would ride her sled clear to the bottom fast.  The dogs, Mocha and Bo, had a great time running around the sleds.

 They were all afraid last night that it would rain and the snow would disappear before they got a chance to go sledding.  Jillian woke up really early, before it got light, and took a flashlight outside to see if the snow was still there at 6:30AM.  (Papa saw that on his outside security camera.)  So as soon as I woke up this morning they were ready to go sledding even before breakfast.  They were out quite awhile, came in, had breakfast, and then went out for some more playing in the snow.

Boy's Night

Here's a selfie of Tor and Daddy, in the family room at home, laying on the floor in Chewbacca and Kylo Ren sleeping bags, watching the Lego Hobbit video game on YouTube. The girls chose to have a sleepover at Grannie and Papa's house (so they could go snow sledding in the morning).

Late Night Snowman

Longview schools announced a late start tomorrow, and it snowed a bunch in the evening, so Mommy took the kids out at night to build a snowman.

Outside!

The sun was out so Tor was ready to go right away.  He dragged out the bouncer and used up a lot of his energy bouncing. Yay!  He got a play snake and his light saber and had a ball. 

Valentine's Day

The kids had their Valentine's Day parties at school today, plus they got some goodies from Grannie and Papa. These pics show them reading their cards (Jillian & Bridget) and opening their gifts (Tor) from Mommy and Daddy.

School of Torture

Tor put some time in at Grannie's School of Torture tonight. He worked on the Sam and Pup book.

Successful Dentist Visit

All of the kids had their dentist appointments today with Dr. Pond, and there were no cavities! We asked about ortodontia for Jillian, but were told we'll have a better idea about it on the next visit.

Aunt Julie's B-day Party

The festivities began at Kyoto's, and the kids enjoyed the show put on by the chef. They ran for their lives when the chef created the big fireball, but the rest was tamer. Aunt Julie convinced Bridget to join her for the cha-cha birthday dance (see pic).

At Castle Rock, the kids helped with singing and opening presents.

Spring-like Weather

The kids went bike riding for the first time this year, thanks to some warm and clear days.

Focus

 As soon as Tor came he got out this Civil War set and set it up.  Later he added a Play-doh mat set  to make trees and other attachments.  He sat and played with it for at least an hour and a half.  I was amazed. He finally put it away.  I guess you could call it a history lesson.

Then while Jillian was at basketball, he got it out again with Bridget and she added a new dimension to the playing. And this session went on for a long time too. I believe she took one side and Tor took the other.