And life rolls on

Wow, what an exciting week and a half we've had since my last post! Well, not really. But it would have been fun to write about it if we did.

It has been COLD, so we've mostly been staying indoors. It's weird that the temperature can go from being like summer in December to the polar opposite (really polar!) in January. The past three days haven't gotten much above freezing. A big waste...since there was no snow. Georgia gets five days a year like this and we've already wasted three of them with no snow on the ground to play in. It did blow around like a snow globe off an on all day yesterday but didn't land anywhere. That was an ugly way for the weather to act, I thought. (On the plus side, there weren't any accidents related to icy roads. A silver lining!)

We've made our own fun, mostly at home. Last week we did the usual things- gymnastics and church on Wednesday, playgroup here on Thursday, dinner at Rebecca's that night, then Friday my folks came up for the weekend. Dad, James, and Daniel met at the office for awhile about camp stuff then we had dinner here at the house.

Saturday morning James and I picked up Brad and Erin Raffray's horse. Nearly a year ago they took on a rescue case, a mare who was about 400 pounds underweight with two really nasty wounds from a splintered fence post. She's healthy now, and hopefully she'll work out for camp. We enjoyed our two kidless hours together.

Sunday morning we went to church, and that afternoon my folks left. Amelia and I went out to the barn and I took a ride on our new horse. She hasn't been worked in a long time, but was did pretty well considering.

So far this week we've had one of those stay at home weeks the kids dread. Every morning they get up saying, "Where are we going today?" We did have a thrilling time at the grocery store Monday, our one outing for the week. I had to make sure we had our milk and bread in case we got snowed in for 7 hours, like has happened before. That, and we were pretty much out of everything.

Today we went to gymnastics, and then I had yet another eye doctor appointment. This time I managed to get out of there in under 2 hours. The rest of the week should be fairly quiet too. This weekend we'll head to McDonough to see Nanny and Granny and PaPa. James will be doing the first of several upcoming camp fairs to promote Strong Rock, one in Atlanta on Saturday and in Greenville, SC on Sunday. It gets busy from now until the summer with staff interviews, more camp fairs and camper recruiting, getting programs ready for the summer, and hosting weekend groups at camp.

Here's some of the fun that was had at the Himstedts this week.

The kids love to put on their footie pajamas and "luge" down the stairs as fast as they can. That's the only time they wear them. They don't sleep in them for some reason, but they sure are slick on the steps! When they turn around on their bellies- I make them go feet first since we don't have stair sliding helmets- I swear they can get to the bottom in less then two seconds.

Another safe landing.

I really just thought Avery looked cute this day. He walked all over the place with his hat and his gun.

Today he only had one gun. Sometimes he carries up to three at once. Should we be worried?

Soon after I took this one Shannon knocked him down, he cried, and I reminded Shannon to apologize. So Shannon said, "Sorry, Avery," kissed him on the head, and skipped away. Avery said, "Wait! A hug!," and ran after him toting his gun. When he realized he couldn't catch him he said, "I shoot you!" The many faces of Avery.

Stair sliding was followed by an impromptu dance party. Word to your mama.

A classic Amelia outfit.

Shake it like a Poloroid pic-cha. (A little Black-eyed Peas, for those of you not hip to the lyrics. Like me. I am hip. Right on the cutting edge of today's music.) I believe the song that was playing was actually either "The Birthday Be-Bop" or "How Much Wood Could A Wood Chuck Chuck" off of a Silly Songs CD.

Shannon has the makings of a real serious dancer.

I can't even remember what this was about. Avery is so two right now. He has fits of frustration over the smallest things. In spite of the fact that the sound which accompanies this face has gotten pretty old, this still cracks me up. I wish I had taken a picture of him in Shannon's Power Ranger mask, stomping around with great purpose saying, "I'm Spider Ranger!" Shannon sighs and corrects him, "Avery, it's not Spider Ranger. It's POWELL-RANGER!" There's a lot of the blind leading the blind around here.

A few cuties from Thursday's playgroup. Elizabeth (7 months), Sophie Raffray (four months), and Tozer Hicks (6 months).

Sophie and her mom Erin.

Elizabeth is really into tags these days. I haven't met a baby yet that didn't go through a tag loving stage. She finds them on blankets, toys, clothes, whatever she grabs. Note the high-tech toy besider her...a bulb suction for icky noses. Nothing but the finest for our daughter.

This tag is delicious! I always get cracked up by this particular tag, which says, "READ BEFORE EACH USE," then lists all the things a Boppy pillow is not to be used for. Before each use? Talk about covering yourself!

Another playgroup highlight, Amelia and Elliott cutting a rug.

A.K.A., future blackmail.

One day this week I was folding laundry on the bed, and I look up to see Amelia putting a hanger on her head and quietly singing to herself, "I'm the laundry fairy..." Man, could I use about a half-dozen of those!

On Monday I had talked with her about the significance of MLK day and what Martin Luther King, Jr. did. When I asked her later what it was about she told me it was about everyone being treated the same, then said, "Did he tell all the black people?" I said yes, and all the white people too. Then she said, "He must have been tired after that!"

Last week Rick our camp maintenance man/property caretaker extraordinaire took down a big, dead tree in front of the cabin below our house. While my dad was here over the weekend he split some wood to take home. The boys went to "help."

All the pictures I took of them with their Grandad didn't turn out right, as there was some kind of sunshiny haze all over them. My dad naturally exudes sunlight. I hadn't noticed that before.

So here they are helping Andrew (Rick's son) load his truck.

James and Rick figured it was a shame to waste a perfectly good giant stump, so Rick made a chair out of it!

So there you have it, random snippets from our life once again. I'm off to bed....

Bye!