School Days

Mary and Kate can be so serious when they are working hard at school. They tend to stay pretty close to eachother which warms our hearts. Notice Mary's concern - she doesn't like when the crayons get broke. Thanks to Aunt Chrissy for the matching sweaters - everyone said they looked so adorable and we agreed!

The Great Pie

Tim made a delicious apple pie today - I think he is preparing to give mom and dad (Meyer) a little competition in the cooking contests.

Ice Station Zebra (a bit of trivia for the movie buffs)

St. Joe has made national news by being the recipient of a major ice storm. Luckily, we had some notice so we were prepared. My husband who is always preparing for the revolution goes into hypermode during these opportunities. Filling gas tanks, water cans, checking flash lights, and stock piling milk. He loves it. Mary and I spent the the day putting the finishing touches on the Christmas tree while Katiebug took the finishing touches off the Christmas tree. All-in-all it was a great day. Tim baked "the great pie" (a bit of trivia for you cartoon fans) and we had a day of bonding with one another at home watching the ice blanket the world outside. According to the local electric company, they have 45,000+ customers and 35,000+ were without power. We have been lucky so far but we are keeping our fingers crossed hoping we don't get hit again this week - we will keep you posted.

Julia

Julia Machados lives down the street from us with her husband, Marco, and their four sons. She is a wonderful friend and an inspiration as a mom. As I said she has FOUR boys under the age of ten (Miguel is pictured here with Katiebug) and still manages to make time for her husband, her friends, and (most importantly) herself. Julia inspires me and all of her friends to keep working out even when it is the last thing that we want to do. She has also been a life saver in emergencies - like when we had to run Katiebug to the emergency room and Julia took Mary so we wouldn't have to put her through what could have been an ugly night.

Music Class

We have been taking music class with the girls once a week since before Katiebug was born. Their teacher, Jill Robinson, has a masters degree in music therapy and she does a great job stimulating their brains with exercises we can do at home. The girls' favorite part of the class is when they get to play with all of the different instruments - there is always a mad dash for the drums.

Tumbling class

Mary has been going to "dance" class for several months now. She normally has a ball unless the teacher makes her put her stuffed dog on the side of mat. Mary is a lot like her mother - she doesn't hide her emotions well as you can tell from the pose she is striking in the last picture.

Bathing beauties