Child-free for a week!

Starting today, Jamie & I are child-free for a week. WOW! It still hasn't sunk in yet. We don't know what to do with ourselves! There are so many things I should be doing, but it's nice to just do nothing. We are going down to Las Vegas for the week, so the girls are staying with family. They are staying at my sister Rhonda's until Monday morning, then she is bringing them to daycare by Garfield before she goes to work. Jamie's sister Jill will be picking them up at daycare after work on Monday, and they will be staying with her for the week but going to daycare during the day while she is at work. We are very fortunate that Jamie's Mom's cousin who has an in-home daycare had space to take Olivia & Violet for the week. She is a very sweet lady and we have no doubt that the girls will have a blast!! My Mom will have them on Friday night, then she & my sister Nikki will be bringing them back to our house on Saturday. We hope the girls aren't too much trouble for everyone. I'm sure they will have a lot of fun!! We certainly appreciate everyone's willingness to help out. We are definitely ready for a vacation!! Although I'm sure we will really miss the girls as we get toward the end of the week.

Jamie is actually going to Vegas for a work conference, so I decided to tag along since his plane ticket and the hotel room are paid for. I have nothing planned while we're down there, so I look forward to relaxing. He will have the evenings free, so we might catch a show. We do want to head downtown since we didn't make it down there last time we were in Vegas back in 2003.

My brother-in-law Brian came down last night for a home and garden show, so he was kind enough to drop the girls off at Rhonda's house on his way home today. He brought his three kids with him, so we had fun spending most of the day with them. We all went to the park across the street from our house this morning. We bundled up all five kids and headed over there. It was nice to get out of the house, and the kids wore off some energy. Jamie & Brian went to the home and garden show after lunch, so I had all five kids myself. Whew! All of the kids napped for the majority of the time they were gone, so it was not a big deal at all.

Last weekend, my sister Terri & her husband Aaron came up from Madison, WI for a visit. They brought their golden retriever Brinkley, whom the girls absolutely love. They look at pictures of him in their scrapbooks, and they get excited and point at him in the picture! It is cute. It was fun to spend the weekend with them. I was able to see the house they have a purchase agreement on, it is so cute. The owners really kept everything updated, and there is a beautiful cedar three-season porch. They will be moving into their house in June, we are extra excited since it's only 3 miles away from our house! Terri & Aaron also babysat the girls on Saturday night so Jamie & I could go to a movie. We saw "Slumdog Millionaire," and we both really liked it.

Otherwise, not much else is new! The girls have been battling colds for most of the week, but they are getting a little better each day. Olivia says "nana" (banana) quite often now. At lunchtime today, I asked her if she was hungry and she said "nana" (which I took to mean yes). They know a few more animal sounds now. Olivia does a frog where she sticks out her tongue. It's pretty funny.

Here are a few pictures from the weekend. Hope you have a great week!

Alex, Olivia, Maya & Violet in their pajamas:

Olivia, Maya, Violet, Alex & Evan (in back) after getting home from the park: