It has been a few weeks since we have posted. Several projects at work haven’t left much time after the girls go to sleep. For all our talk of not watching TV, the Olympics have crushed that habit. There have been many late nights watching swimming and gymnastics. E got over her sickness pretty quickly, but she is nervous about having nightmares. She got up 3 or 4 times last night. The net effect of this is that I tend to fall asleep while we read books.
We have also been lucky enough to have a great set of visitors to Urbandale. Pete, Paula and the girls came from July 24th-26th. Steve, Jacqueline and B came from August 8th-10th and we were all able to go to the Iowa State Fair. This last weekend Matt, Becky and K stayed for a Midwest fun-filled visit. Matt was a bit freaked out by all the fruit that I just picked off the trees to eat. Some of it wasn’t 100% identified. The peaches have been ready for a while. The pears and apples are almost ready. We saw lots of animals. They did not get to experience a thunderstorm, but plenty of mosquitoes. Above is a pic of the girls playing dress-up Sunday morning.
It has been a very long time since I’ve posted a movie. I’m going to try to catch up over the next month. Here is one picking up where I left off. It is the time spanning the move.
We had a great weekend in Madison, visiting for the Quinceañera of A, the daughter of our good friend, Dora. We saw a few old United Way friends and really enjoyed the beautiful celebration. A Quinceañera is a special coming-of-age celebration for 15-year-old girls in Mexico and other parts of Latin America. It started with a church service, and then there was a reception with dinner and dancing. It was a really nice party.
E was completely enthralled by A… she looked exactly like one of the princesses from one of E’s books or movies. E repeatedly asked to dance with A and to have her picture taken with her. Many of you know that E generally hates to have her picture taken… so this was REALLY special for her.
J enjoyed getting dressed up, too, and showing her moves on the dance floor… J is very big on jumping these days. She crouches down for quite a while in preparation, then liftoff!!! She wears a very proud smile after successfully completing her jumps.
E enjoyed showing some of her new moves, too. She danced with a bunch of A’s little cousins. One, in particular, made a great partner for E. They were doing a lot of the same kinds of dancing moves that I remember doing with my sister at family parties when we were little….
E woke up at 3:30 on Sunday morning in our hotel with a fever and night terrors… the combination is not good, in case you were wondering…. We had a rough couple of hours early on Sunday morning. She has had a low-grade fever off and on since then. We got her checked for any of usual culprits (ears, strep throat, etc.)… just another random virus, it appears. I am home with her today and she seems to be at about 85% well. I expect she will be well enough to go back to school tomorrow. She was supposed to start in the 4-year-old preschool room today, but that will have to wait until tomorrow….