I've sort of followed through on my goal to get out of pajamas. I've moved up to sweats. ;)
It has been a mild winter (not much snow), but it's still winter (cold and ugly), and I'm getting so excited for March--just because it's that much closer to Spring, which is that much closer to Summer!
Today Olivia and I went to Target, and she picked out a package of fake nails. I figure that's four bucks that I could have spent on a Happy Meal, and this is less fattening, more lasting entertainment.
Katelyn is getting better at driving. Showing off turned out to be the ice breaker. For the first couple of months, it took lots of cajoling to get her behind the wheel for a spin around the block. But then one day, a friend walked home from school with her and dared her to drive him the rest of the way home to his house. So she (we) did. Then, after he showed up for an after-school ride about 3 more times, I told Katelyn this was not cool anymore. Let him bum a ride off somebody else! Anyway, it was a good way to get her more comfortable behind the wheel. And I think I'm a pretty chill Mom when Katelyn is driving, if I do say so myself. (She doesn't like it when I laugh, but I tell her it's better than if I screamed, right?)
Emily has gotten more, not less, obsessed with horses after a year-and-a-half of volunteering at Courage Reins (a nearby therapeutic riding stable). She spends one or two afternoons a week, plus most of her Saturdays there. I think it's 99% a wonderful thing that she's doing. The 1% I dislike is the smell of her boots when I pick her up from that place--P.U.!!!
Lauren recently participated in her school's story telling festival. She wants to do this every year, and it is somewhat puzzling to me, because memorizing is not her strong suit. But I guess that tells you just how much she enjoys performing for an audience--especially if she can get them to laugh. I am really proud of Lauren for doing this. First of all, she works really hard to memorize and practice her story, with voices and feeling and all that. Secondly, it is intimidating to be in the spotlight, no matter what you're doing. Even Lauren must feel a little bit nervous about that. So I'm really proud of her for doing it anyway.
Hannah lost one of her top teeth in California on January 1st. The other one is loose, but not that loose. So while her first permanent top tooth grows in, I can see that she's never going to have that big gummy gap. Instead, we've had a couple of months of snaggle tooth grins from her, and that's pretty cute too.
Doug has made a deal with his friend Ryan. They both have weight loss goals, and whoever loses their weight first gets to have the other guy mow his lawn this summer. I sure hope Doug wins, because Ryan has a big yard, and we don't have a riding mower. I guess that would be a fitting consequence. If Doug doesn't meet his weight loss goal soon, he'll probably lose it by mowing Ryan's big lawn with our old push mower all summer long.
