Week 4

Swimming in January....on one of the coldest days in a really long time???  Sounds crazy, but that's just what we did on Sunday.  Despite the subzero temps, the five of us headed to Goldfish Swim School to partake in the family swim in their indoor pool.  The water was warm, crowded, and full of fun pool toys that the kids enjoyed!  Daniel really loved the water and cried when he had to get out.  He hasn't been swimming since the summer, so it was fun to see him get so excited about it.  He liked riding in one of the baby floats and sitting on "the duck" (a duck-shaped hard foam board).  After we swam, we capped the weekend off with dinner at Bagger Dave's.  We think we've found a winner....kids meals are half off on Sundays, and they have grilled PB&J, which both our pickies ate!  (Daniel sans jelly, of course.)

Monday I had the pleasure of volunteering in Megan's classroom, listening to the kids read me the fairy tales they are writing.  It's been awhile since I've been in there, so that was fun.  Megan writes circles around those other kids in her class :)

The not so exciting news of the week is our need for a new furnace.  Had a whole house humidifier installed Tuesday, and while checking the furnace over, the tech found cracks in the heat exchanger.  Our furnace is 17 years old....too old to sink money into for this kind of repair.  Had two estimates done this week and are still waiting to hear back from the second company so we can make our decision.

It was a short school week this week....the girls were off Thursday and Friday so the teachers could have professional development and do report cards.  Thursday we hung out and baked chocolate chip cookies.  Both the girls were great measurers, stirrers, and pourers.  Rachel seems to especially love helping me in the kitchen.  Later, the girls went out sledding by themselves in the afternoon.  Friday, we went to the library in the morning.  It's the one place the girls both beg me to visit!  Then after lunch we journeyed up to Allendale (with a brief stop to visit Bill at work), to meet up with Grammy and her friend Karen at the Sleep Inn.  They were having a girls' getaway and wanted us to come and swim at the pool there.  The water was cold, but the girls didn't mind.  Even Daniel enjoyed it, after some initial reluctance (although he asked to "get out" long before the girls did, and was then heard saying, "Wan go HOME.").  We had a somewhat treacherous drive home, as it had snowed several inches in the few hours we were there.

Today, I had my usual Saturday piano lesson, and I graduated from the first lesson book.  My teacher is so sweet; she even wrote me a certificate, which was very cute.  I am still really loving it and only wish I had more time to practice so I could progress faster.  It was a banner day, as my teacher told me that I played one of the pieces in my book the best she's ever heard a student play it.  Never too old to enjoy such ego boosting compliments!  :)

Today we all went to a Grand Rapids Symphony Lollipops concert, a performance of Hansel and Gretel.  Shortly into the performance I realized that we had actually seen this one already in years past, but I don't think the girls noticed or cared.  All three of them were captivated and seemed to have fun.  This afternoon Daniel experienced his first true walk in the snow!  Due to our sporadic snow this year, illness, and frigid temperatures, he hadn't been able to play out in the snow before today (and last year, he wasn't walking yet, so only experienced it sitting on his sled).  He really loved walking around in the snow and being pulled on the sled by his big sisters (who were delighted to lead him around by the hand as well).  His fun was a little short lived, because when he went down the hill on the sled with Bill, he got snow in his face and somehow lost a boot.  We didn't notice the boot right away and the poor boy was standing in the snow in his sock for a few minutes!  No wonder he was crying.  That was the end of that.  Oh well, it was nice to have an excuse to snuggle with him under a blanket once we got inside.