Happy Leap Day

To celebrate, we did something that truly only happens about every four years: two fun activities in one day. We went to the park with the Stringhams (no pictorial proof of this since the battery on my camera died). Then we toured the renovated State Capitol with Robbie's cub scout group and the Stringham cousins. I feel like Ainsley looks in this picture from yesterday afternoon—tired! She is WAY too busy to be bothered with naps, although she really still needs one. Most of the time I try to keep her up and put her to bed early just because she usually wakes up so grumpy, but sometime by late afternoon it's not worth the fight.

February showers, May flowers

It is 52 degrees outside, and feels so good it might as well be seventy. We are sick of winter! Our snowbanks are no longer taller than I am, and I don't need four wheel drive to get into my driveway. Today was my day to be the parent volunteer at Ellie's preschool, and the girls and I walked there. On our way back up the hill to our house, Ellie saw the water running down the gutter and asked why it was there. I said, "Well, it's warm outside, so the snow is melting, and when snow melts it turns into..." "SPRING!" she shouted. I haven't checked the forecast, but it sure would be nice if the snow was gone before Easter, which is ridiculously early this year.

Speaking of preschool, Ellie loves it. My friend Mandy started it last year, and she is amazing! This month's theme was Friends & Communication, and check out the post office that Mandy made for self-selected activity time! They've also covered rhyming, beginning sounds, polite language, being a good friend, graphing, using the mail, body language and sign language within this unit. Plus, we had a great field trip last week to the post office.

Ainsley was thrilled to get to come, and Ellie (hopefully) has years to go before she's too embarrassed to have her mom at school. For me it's a great chance to play with the girls, watch them interact with the other kids and sneak a few photos. It was a good day for the Marsh girls.

The Tooth Fairy has returned from vacation!

So Joey has been working on getting his second front tooth out for at least a week, and finally succeeded in pulling it on Saturday, to the complete disgust of Robbie, who would cover his eyes and say "I can't look" every time Joey wiggled it. Robbie would let his teeth dangle until they fell out on their own, to the point of swallowing one in his sleep. Rob offered to buy the tooth for five dollars, but Joey wanted to hold out for the tooth fairy. Robbie advised him that the tooth fairy would bring more money on Sunday night (no idea where he got that) so Joey waited and put his tooth under his pillow on Sunday night. However, the (slacker) tooth fairy was apparently on vacation Sunday and Monday, but finally returned last night, and Joey was excited to find two dollars under his pillow, with no regret for passing on Rob's offer. We're going to have to work on the concept of money.

This is only a test

When Rob started his blog back in October of 2005, he tried to talk me into starting a family blog. I laughed, not only because of my frequent calls to the technical support for idiots hotline, but because I could barely keep up with kids, dishes, and (insert any other basic function here). Besides, what was the point really? What would I blog about—how many loads of laundry I had completed that day? (Check out the sidebar if you want to see the cumulative number.) I still don't know if this will be worth my time, so this is only a test. If it turns out that this makes me a better wife/mother/person or entertains/educates/impresses my kids, I'll keep it up. If not, I'll try some other productive activity that I'm currently neglecting (like flossing). Either way, the adventure is sure to continue.