Grandma Swisher

Iain's grandmother died at the end of March. She was 102 years old and had a pretty amazing life! She was very gracious to me from the time Iain and I met and I even went out there for a long weekend once sans Iain and we had lots of great conversation and laughter. Iain, the kids and I went to San Antonio for the funeral and had the great opportunity to see his family while we were there. Here are a few pix, including Kai sleeping in a dresser drawer (the hotel didn't have a crib).

Audrey's Jack-O-Lantern apple

She was very proud of this. She also set up a picture studio on the porch and I took their pic. =)

Fun in New Orleans

We went to New Orleans to visit Ava, Emma & Sophie at the end of February (we also saw their parents). =) I was woefully terrible at using my camera while we were there, but here's a shot of all the kids, and also a pic of our girls and Mim on the way back home (a random stop off the interstate to use the little pink potty, which turned out to be a beautiful place)!

Snow Day

This winter was a bust. Snow on only 3 days and there was never any snow on the ground by the next morning. But on President's Day, there was some snow about an hour southwest of us so we drove to find it. Mim was visiting and we had a great time! We stopped at the perfect sledding spot ... a little church with a playground. So by the inevitable time that our children were done sledding, there was a playground to use!

Audrey's 5th birthday

Yes, a little late, but I'm going to try to get my act together (again)! She had a gymnastics party with a few friends from school. Very fun! For her actual birthday at home, she requested donuts and that we sing Twinkle, twinkle instead of Happy Birthday. =)

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Avery, the Announcer

We are in New London, CT this week while Iain attends a conference. Yesterday, we were walking around an empty auditorium at the Academy and Avery went up onstage and did a little tap dance for us. This is not abnormal. I asked Audrey if she wanted to go dance. She told me no, so I tried to think of something else she might like to do on the stage. I told her she should pretend to be hosting a conference and she could take questions from the audience. She went up there and asked for questions. Iain asked a question and she answered. Then she asked if anyone else had a question. Avery walked to the microphone on the floor and said, "Yes, thank you very much for that question. Next we will be having a dance and then we would like to invite everyone to a birthday party tomorrow. Have a GREAT day!" It was hysterical. We can only guess that she's been to lectures before and knows how to transition from one subject to another well. =)

My little clone

A few weeks ago, I was asking my mom if I liked to play with dolls when I was small, since both my girls do. She said, "no, you liked to make lists." Sounds really fun, right? =) Well, last week, Audrey found a small piece of cardboard. She came to me and said she needed to use it to make a board for writing. "Like a clipboard?", I asked? She said yes. So I got her a chip clip. She put it on the top, got some paper, clipped it on, and then told me she needed to sign in. And diligently, for 3 days in a row until we left on vacation, she put the date and signed in each day. Hilarious. The following day, she was sitting at the top of the stairs with a pad of paper, and asked me what our problems were for the day. "Problems?" "Yes," she said, "I'm making a list of our problems." So I think I might have another little list-maker on my hands. =)