Family Day

This Saturday was the first time in a long while that we were together all day! Between snowboarding trips and birthday parties, it seems we've been running in all directions for so long on the weekends. It was nice to have a day to sleep in...

Oh, wait. Did I say, "sleep in?!" Oh, no! We will have none of that! Our family day began at 6 a.m. with Tobin screaming to be let out of his room!! The boys' antics got out of control last night, so we shut their door. There is a safety cover on the door knob so they can't get out, and that usually makes them settle down to sleep. Unfortunately, it also makes for a difficult start to the next morning if they wake before we do! So much for getting some extra sleep. The boys have been waking early more often than not lately, so we're hoping that the time change tonight will benefit us greatly.

Charis slept through the ruckus, waking around 8:00. The boys managed to play semi-quietly while Ted and I did our quiet times, and then we began breakfast. Charis joined us while Ted showered, and we did our Bible story and memory verse review as is our usual breakfast custom. Then Ted "took over" watching the kids, who played together quite nicely all in all, while I retreated to my stamp room to prepare projects for my April demos. What fun! I even did a two-page scrapbook spread to show, the first scrapbook pages I have done since maybe early January! They also used up all the pictures I have available to scrap, aside from the ones that will go in our D.C. album. Guess we need to start sorting through our 16 months' worth of pictures that are ready to be printed! Our "to be developed" file is huge...

After my work time we polished off some leftovers for lunch, then drove to base for the third day in a row. Thursday I had a doctor's appointment, and Friday we met Ted for a BBQ lunch with his squadron.

I'll take a moment to brag about my hubby here...he was selected as the Flight Commander of the quarter (Jan-Mar) from his squadron!! He just found out yesterday. We also found out earlier in the month that he made the majors' list, so he'll be Major J sometime in the next year. We'll find out next month I believe exactly when his pin-on date will be. He got a pretty good line number, so we'll see.

Anyway, we drove to the base theater, which had an afternoon showing of Curious George. Kids 6 and under are free, and adults were only $3.50, making this possibly the cheapest outing we've been on in a long time, not counting the free events we try to take in! This was the boys' first time in a movie theater. Charis went last summer with Ted to see a re-showing of Jonah (the Veggie Tales version) for a kids' summer promotion at our theater in Maryland, but that's been it. We're pretty protective when it comes to movies and our kids. The reviews I had read of Curious George made it sound quite harmless, and it did end up being entirely appropriate for our whole family. The only thing that bugged me was that the man in the yellow hat was searching for a giant idol in the jungle. If they had referred to it as a statue, no biggie, but the idol thing got a bit old. My kids know what idols are from their Bible stories, though, so we did have a little discussion about it on the way home. Other than that, it was a fun movie, and it kept everyone's attention, which was good. We had two major popcorn spills, and I was afraid that Arden might become captivated by trying to rescue the morsels on the floor if he got bored with the movie, but that did not happen, thankfully.

The movie began at 1 p.m., so by the time we got home it was definitely well into nap time. I was tempted to skip nap time altogether, but Ted insisted the kids should lie down at least a little while. I decided to try napping in bed with Tobin (who naps on our bed), and we actually both fell fast asleep within minutes! Ted woke everyone up at 4:30, and I made a simple dinner of soup and sandwiches.

After we had cleaned up dinner, Charis asked to make number cookies. She had spotted the set that Grandma K gave her for her 5th birthday--we had never used them, and I couldn't think of a reason to say no! So all 5 of us gathered around the island in the kitchen and whipped up a batch of sugar cookie dough. Then the kids took turns cutting (or pounding, depending on which kid you're imagining) numbers and shapes. We have a nice assortment of numerals 0-9, plus a delicious collection of triangles, pentagons, hexagons, circles, and stars. Only one square made it to the cookie sheet.

While we were waiting for the dough to be ready to roll out (it had to sit in the freezer for 15 minutes), I decided to see how tall the kids are, thinking they could eat their height. Charis is 42", Tobin is 40", and Arden is 36 1/2". Wow! It's been a long time since we measured them. I wish I had a growth chart for them, but it's not been something I've made a huge priority.

After the first batch came out and we tasted our first cookies, Ted began bath time with the kids while I continued baking and cleaning. Then it was time for stories, prayers, and singing, and now the kids are in bed. Ted just finished his book, so I'll close here and spend some time with him.