Lots of updates

Mardi Gras Girl! Ella wasn't able to go to a birthday party for a friend in her class but his brother came to Ben's party and gave her these party favors. She told me she was Mardi Gras girl and if she zapped her hands at me she could throw me around the room. I suggested she zap her hands and make the house be clean.

Max and MT with one of the toys he got from his party. Nerf guns with vests to mark their targets.

Because Mark Thomas's birthday is on December 1st, putting a party together for him is always so difficult for me. The time of year is just so busy for our family so this year we decided to do a combined party with Ben, since his birthday is at the end of January. The store I work at owns the only skating rink in town so we booked a private party for two hours and they each invited several friends. They had a great time and I'm thinking it was one of the easiest parties I've ever put together. So maybe this will become a yearly event.







The boys took this picture of Whiskers and thought it was so hilarious that her eyes were green. They laughed and laughed, to the point of it not being funny to the mom in the house.

Mark brought home some interesting gifts for the kids this time. He visited a store where he could purchase custom made scrubs and lotions so Ellas was dying to try hers out. Quite the beauty huh?

While Mark was gone working on his doctorate we had many eventful days. I was sick the first week he was gone. So thankful that I had taken a week of vacation from work because all I did was lay on the couch. The second week went better but it was pretty crazy getting all 4 kids out the door each morning and getting everything done in the evening. One evening I went to get into the program on my computer where I keep all my financial info and realized that the file wouldn't open. I spent almost an hour online with a Quicken rep only to discover that my files had somehow been corrupted so all of my data was lost. I was nearly in tears. I got up from the computer and turned the corner only to discover that while I was lamenting over the programing error, Max had made dinner for everyone. He can really be such a help when he wants to.

Ella went to a Build a Bear party two weeks ago and came home with "Mini Ben". Out of all the girly things she could have chosen, she picked a dog and dressed him up like a boy scout and named him after her brother. She even had Mini-Ben put on his birth certificate. When I asked the other two boys how they felt about not having him named after them they looked at me and said, "we don't care." Such kindness in their hearts.

Mark went to his first youth lock in and slept the better part of the next day on the couch. Isn't he so cute?