Yesterday morning we had to say our weekly goodbye to Ryan. I always miss him, but after such a good weekend with him and the kids I was really bumming. :( This week instead of New Carlisle, he had to drive 8 hours to Richmond, VA with just him and this 40 yr old lady from the Ohio office that he doesn't know very well. Needless to say he wasn't too excited about it, but I told him maybe this will make his usual Wed evenings of hanging out with his boss's kids and grandkids not seem so bad. :) He gets back late on Thursday in Dayton so he will just stay up there and we will meet him in Cincinnati. Which that means once again I get to pack everything up by myself and get our house ready for our open house. yay me! :) It's really not too bad, especially since our house is pretty clean since we thought our open house was last weekend. I just like the sympathy. :P

Last night I did my exercise video again with the kids which has become a fun weekly activity. I am not very motivated to do an hour video during naps when I only get about 1 1/2 hrs so I figured out a way to turn it into family fun time and the kids so far have actually bought it! :) I usually bring the musical instruments in and they are my band and I also give them a snack or dinner and they watch a video on the little tv. They love climbing up and down the step and trying to do the moves. Hannah's favorite are the push-ups and last night she was getting pretty good at the squat kicks. They were not happy that they could not play with my weights and sculpting stick, so a few weeks ago I got the divine inspiration to roll up construction paper and tape it and make them their own "weights". They each have 1 long one and 1 short one so they can also have a stick. It is hard sometimes to not to stop and just watch them lift them over their heads and Caleb likes to give a little grunt sometimes to really work those muscles..it's actually quite fun and motivating since they actually look forward to it. Caleb found this wavy stick thing that goes on our exersaucer last week and ever since will go over to the tv and say "mommy ex-cer-shise" (he pronounces every syllable). He wants me to exercise so he can use it as a weight. He got to use it last night, but didn't seem all that impressed with it. oh well!

After a dinner of tortillas and carrots (Hannah's favorite as of last week according to a poll taken at her school), we played hide-and-seek. Ryan had warned me that the game has progressed from actually counting and hiding to Hannah and Caleb counting with their eyes open and then Ryan would chase them and say "why are you counting with your eyes open!?" and they would run and squeal. And lo and behold that is what happened. And then Joshua just runs around laughing trying to figure out what's going on. It was a lot fun and I also really loved that Ryan had an inside scoop to something about the kids that I didn't. Sometimes I feel bad since I am with the kids so much more lately that he feels left out on what's going on so it was great that they had a special game they play.

Oh and speaking of the favorite meal poll at Hannah's school....Hannah often comes home and tells us how this kid named Ben was mean to her. I guess he will stick his tongue out at her and make goofy noises. We try to explain that he is just having fun, but she is apparently not amused by it. I pray that will be the worst anyone ever treats her! So you can sort of imagine what this little boy is probably like...a little rambunxious and probably a fun one for the teachers. Well Hannah brought home this list where the teacher had asked everyone what their favorite foods were and then wrote them down. Most kids had some sort of dinner food (spaghetti, mac and cheese, etc) and maybe a fruit or veggie. Well what foods were next to Ben's? Blueberry muffins and strawberry cake. I think that explains it all! :)

Watched American Idol last night. Wow what a complete disappointment that was! It was Lennon/McCartney night which should have been amazing and only a few people did anything worth listening to again. It was fun talking to my dad during commercials though critiquing everyone. We always have fun chats about music. Shakesi (sp?) is the one that took me by surprise. Where did he come from?! He did a great job. I also loved Brooke White's let it be and David Cook's song. David Archuletto was a huge disappointment, but the poor kid had so much pressure on him that it was probably good that people see that he's not a superhuman. Jason Castro, one of my favorites, did a decent job, but nothing like his song last week, Halleluah. Wow that song was amazing. I then discovered a version of that song by Allsion Crowe. It's been my favorite song lately. I honestly don't really understand what exactly the song is about, but it seems to be about the life of David from the bible and it just brings on this feeling of complete brokenness in the presence of the Almighty! Here is the link if any one wants to watch it.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=vIMOdVXAPJ0

Well for those of you who have actually taken the time to read my "books" the last few days..thanks! Sorry they are so long, but it's been fun actually getting down what goes on in my days. Have a blessed one!