The neighbor girls are back today, so all is right with Accalia and Cole's worlds. Personally, I was doing fine without their constant presence, but Accalia and Cole missed having them to play with each day. I wonder if it will be this hard for them when school starts or if, since they'll know the girls will be back at a certain time, that they'll be able to relax and focus on other things instead of just waiting for their mom's SUV to appear.

The hardest part (at least for me) when they return from being gone a few days is how demanding they are as playmates. Rather than missing their own house and own things, they seem to miss everything of ours that much more. It works out fine when they're able to come inside and play, but there are times like tonight when it just doesn't work. They rang the doorbell and all were happy playing outside for a few minutes. But, as soon as Ella showed she was ready to fall asleep, they were at the door asking to come inside. When I explained that Ella was trying to fall asleep and they wouldn't be able to come inside right now, the youngest instead stood at the back door directing Cole to bring out certain things. She wasn't satisfied with anything he was bringing, though, and this was keeping Ella from falling asleep. We finally got everything straightened out - all playing outside happily and Ella asleep - but it seemed to take forever.

The weekend has been a pretty ordinary weekend. Accalia was thrilled yesterday when her new Build-A-Bear Workshop friend, a dog named Sunshine, arrived. She used some of her birthday money to create her online. I thought maybe she wouldn't be as happy as when she was able to go to an actual store to do it, but she was beyond excited. At one point yesterday she told me that she thought her and Sunshine even looked a little alike.

I continue to struggle with feeling just not satisfied or settled or something. I don't know exactly what it is. It might just be knowing the baby could be here in less than two months and knowing there are so many things I want and need to get done. Maybe it's a sign that I'd like to start nesting, but that feels almost impossible right now. Warm summer days where everyone is running in and out and wanting to go all over to do all sorts of things just isn't very conducive to settling in to do things. It also really does seem to make a difference to be preparing for a baby with three children rather than just two. I didn't think it would, but it really does affect how much time you can spend focusing on the new arrival and getting into that place mentally and physically to do so. Maybe this is just my way of freaking out. I'm not freaked out about going through labor again - that really has barely registered in my mind - but maybe there's a part of me that's really worried that I won't be able to manage with four children.

On a less anxiety-ridden subject, I'm really enjoying the current issue of Mothering Magazine. I think I stopped subscribing around the time that Ella was born simply because I just wasn't finding the time to keep up with it, but I picked up the current issue because Ani DiFranco is on the cover and I love her. Gosh, I miss reading this magazine on a regular basis. Anyway, there's a great article titled "Mommy Rituals" that has all of these ideas on how to center yourself and bring back the joy and mindfulness to everyday life. That's definitely come at a needed time. It's too bad that article isn't up on the Mothering website yet, but hopefully it will be once there's a new issue.

Okay, I need to start doing something around the house. So many things to do.

Today seems to be going more smoothly than yesterday with just a few bumps in the road. It probably helped that everyone seemed to sleep better last night, although I still woke up feeling tired. I think that's just part of late pregnancy, though. It's heating up and will probably just get warmer over the next few days. We have yet to turn on the air conditioner for the year, although that may change soon. I'll see what Cory wants to do when he gets home tonight. I feel warm but not that uncomfortable. Cory's usually the one who wants the air turned on before me.

We went to storytime at the library this morning. Last week Ella wanted to sit through it all, but this week she wanted to stay in the children's section. We came home with a stack of books to add to the stack of library books still waiting to be read.

After lunch we walked over to the nearby school's playground but didn't stay long. The play equipment is right out in the sun, and the kids were ready to get out of the sun before long. So we went home and turned on the sprinkler. During this time, though, Cole just started to melt down. He's fine now. Out of the three kids, he's the most unpredictable with his moods. One moment he's the happiest guy in the world, and the next he's screaming and crying. It's not that he's constantly changing moods, but I don't see the warning signs as easily as I do with the other kids.

Cory will be able to take Accalia to swimming lessons tonight, and then he's meeting with another counselor that he's doing supervision for to help her with her licensure. After that, though, he'll be home.

It definitely feels like summer as we have the last day of spring. It's so odd that I've been seeing ads with headlines like "End of the season sales!" for things like patio furniture. Guess we don't even have to get to the start of summer for that to happen. Of course, considering we're going to have school supply sales starting right after July 4th, it makes sense.

This weekend will be a pretty typical one for us at home. No big plans and Cory will be putting in time delivering pizzas.

I think I'm just going to give up on being able to accomplish anything this week or have everyone be in good moods at the same time. It just doesn't seem to be happening. One of those weeks, I guess. Ella's sleep has been so screwed up for the past couple weeks, and that's definitely not helping. I could just blame it on the ever popular developmental development reasoning, but I have the feeling that she's sensing there are big changes afoot and doesn't know what to make of those. Considering this baby will probably make its arrival at some point in the next 9-10 weeks, I don't blame her. I'm starting to think it's a good thing I've had a baby before; otherwise, I would be completely unprepared.

This morning Accalia was up early (but not as early as Cole and Ella who were up way too early) because she went to a party planning/cooking class put on by the rec department. She was there all morning and had a very good time. This was one of the activities she had been looking forward to since signing up for it in April.

Today was a rare day of not seeing the neighbor girls at all. I personally enjoyed not having the doorbell ringing constantly or the girls yelling for Accalia or Cole from outside or the constant requests for things from children who apparently are deprived of many things in their home, but Accalia has been very unhappy and mopey. I think that, as soon as she realized the neighbors weren't home to play with this afternoon, she came to me with slumped shoulders and said, "I'm bored." Nothing seemed to interest her, so she's been this way much of the day.

I guess this is one of those weeks were everyone is unsettled and out of sorts. I would love to feel settled and at peace and feel as if I'm accomplishing the things I want to before this baby arrives, but it won't be happening this week.

Yesterday just came and went so quickly. We were all still low on sleep. Ella took a late nap after we dropped Accalia off at gymnastics, but it apparently wasn't long enough and didn't do a thing to help her mood. It also kept her awake until 12:30 a.m., which was not so great for me. All the kids are still sleeping, though, at 9:15 a.m., so maybe they can start out the day with less of a sleep deficit.

Accalia is extremely excited about going to the library this afternoon for her second Buggin' Around program. They're going to be using digital cameras today, and they asked that children bring their own if possible since the library doesn't have enough for each child. We were able to get our old digital camera working with a new battery, so Accalia should be set. Accalia also has swimming lessons tonight, which is equally exciting for her. Cory has an appointment at that time, so Cole, Ella and I will take her. That usually works out fine. We'll just sit at one of the poolside tables, and Cole and I will play with his Pokemon cards. Ella's content as long as she has a snack from the vending machines.

Back to our weekend...

On Friday, everyone made it out to the campground by mid afternoon. My mom and sisters-in-law were going together to have Friday's supper, so everyone gathered around for that. It was really nice to have one meal taken care of by somebody else. Cory went with his dad to a town about 35 miles from Yankton to pick up our nephew Chandler (11) so he could camp with us for the weekend. They were gone until later in the evening because Chandler was participating in a fishing contest.

Our loop was fairly close to the campground's amphitheater, and both Friday and Saturday were family movies (30 minute long movies about animals) along with free popcorn and freezer pops for the kids. Almost all of us went to both nights of that, and all three of my kids loved it. I think a big part of it for my kids was just being able to sit with their cousins and friends and watch a movie together, something they really don't get a chance to do.

Saturday started off early because it just happened to be the Young Flyers program out at the Yankton airport where local pilots volunteer to give children ages 8-17 free airplane rides. Accalia did this last year, too. Accalia, Chandler, cousin Elijah and friend Chloe were the only kids within that age range, and they all wanted to do. When I was signing Accalia up, though, I overheard one of the workers tell another parent that a younger child could go up if it was okay with the pilot, so I signed Cole up, too. Cole always talks about how he flew in a plane when he was in utero during our trip to Disney World, but this was his first airplane ride that he remembers. Someone had to fly up with him since he was younger, so Cory's dad offered to do that. He said Cole held his hand and was very quiet for most of the ride, but by the time they came back, Cole couldn't stop talking about how much fun that was.

In the afternoon, almost everyone went swimming at the lake even though the water was still rather cold. Then Accalia opened gifts, and all of the kids took turns trying to break open the pinata. Accalia had wanted pizza for her birthday supper, so Cory, Myron and I went back into town to pick up pizza and the birthday cake. It seems as if the meal was a success. There was more swimming and some fishing after supper, but I stuck back at the campground with a few others during that time. By Sunday, I was really feeling all of the activity over the weekend and knew I just need to sit down and put up my feet for a while.

On Sunday, Myron made french toast for everyone, and my brother Jeremy contributed eggs. It was an early morning for everyone, and you could definitely tell that energy levels were low. Everyone left by late morning, although I talked with my parents about how we (them and us) should try to stick around and have lunch together next year depending on how exhausted the kids are. Ours were definitely ready to collapse by that time and were getting a bit weepy about the campout being over.

So there's another campout in the books. We've been doing this since 1999 when Accalia was just weeks old. We did miss a couple years in there, but now it seems to be a well established routine.

I should probably get ready for the day. I have a feeling the neighbor girls will be ringing the doorbell before long.

Our annual Nelson-Greve camping weekend and Accalia's 9th (!!!) birthday were successful. The weather was ideal for camping, and everyone loved the loop of eight sites that we reserved. It was so nice having an area just for us at the campground. It cut down on a lot of traffic, although there were still people who would drive or bike through the loop. I think sometimes they were just exploring the campground, but other times they thought they could get to the lake through our loop and discovered they were wrong.

Yesterday we were all completely exhausted. All three kids started to fall asleep on the short ride back into town, and Ella fell asleep deep enough that I carried her into the house and laid her down in bed for a nap. Cole fell asleep for a short time in the afternoon. I had really been hoping that the neighbor girls wouldn't be around yesterday - maybe spending Father's Day with their respective fathers? - because I knew how much Accalia and Cole needed that time just to decompress and do their own their. It wasn't to be, though, but Accalia did an awesome job of just telling the older girl she didn't want to play when Accalia just wanted to stay inside and do her own thing. Two of the gifts we gave Accalia were yoga related - this and this - and at one point Accalia, Cole and the two neighbor girls were all outside on yoga mats using them.

I think Cory had a nice Father's Day, too, although it was rather hard for him to just relax since we had to unload and clean up in the camper a little. Everyone agreed that we should try to get the same camping loop for next year, so we'll try to do that when we can first make reservations in November. I think we might try to avoid the actual weekend of Accalia's birthday, though. Next year Accalia's birthday and Father's Day will both be on the same day. It was kind of hard to be able to just focus on Accalia's special day or Cory's, for that matter, while so busy camping, so it might be nice to have these things on separate weekends.

I'll try to post later to share more details because there was a lot going on, including Cole's first airplane ride. Cole and Ella are up now, though, so I'd better get to them.

This week has proven very difficult for being able to sit down at the computer and blog. Part of it is everything going on this week with preparations for Accalia's birthday/our family campout as well as a lot of Accalia's summer activities starting. When there's free time, we either seem to be outside or the neighbor girls are inside, and that's usually not conducive to being able to sit down at the computer.

Accalia and Cole are still outside playing with the girls. Lately the oldest has been constantly asking if she can come camping with us or sleep over, and tonight she said she just really needed to get away from both her mom and dad (who are not together). That's really sad to hear a 7 or 8 year old say that.

Today was a day of buying most of the supplies we'll need this weekend, and Accalia went to the first day of a program at our library for elementary age kids. There were a ton of kids there, partly because a daycare brought in a bunch of them. Or maybe it's not called a daycare if it's school age kids. Anyway, the kids walked down to the nearby creek, collected mud and brought it back to look for bugs using magnifying glasses or microscopes. Accalia really enjoyed it, and Cole and Ella and I just hung out in the library while they did that. Then Accalia had swimming lessons tonight.

Monday was the start of the summer session of dance, and Accalia had both gymnastics and ballet. She couldn't stop talking about gymnastics. It was also the kick off party for the summer reading program. I took Accalia and Cole, and Cory stayed at home with a sleeping Ella.

Tomorrow afternoon Accalia has tap, and I need to go through our camping supplies to see what needs to be added or replaced. The forecast for this weekend looks really good, so I'm hopefully we'll steer clear of rain or very hot weather.

So things keep chugging along. Thirty weeks pregnant is pretty uneventful so far. I had someone tell me I looked beautiful the other day, which was a very nice change from disbelieving looks and the comment "You're not due until when?"

You know, I'm not that knowledgeable in the automobile department, but I'm pretty sure that new alternators are supposed to last more than 50 miles. Cory called after being at work for an hour or so and said the battery light went on in his car and that he was bringing it home so he could switch it with the van. Tomorrow we'll drop it off at the same place, and they had better take care of the problem for free.

Other than that, it's been a good day for the kids and myself. What a complete turnaround from yesterday! Yesterday was stormy most of the day and extremely humid when it wasn't pouring rain. Humidity and my pregnant ankles/feet are not friends, and for some reason it's my left side that seems to take the brunt of the excess fluid retention. No, yesterday was full of kids who just could not get along, most likely because they were experiencing yet another day of rain and having to stay inside the house even more than usual during rainy weather. We also didn't have a vehicle, so we couldn't even get away for one of our drives that seems to refresh everyone.

Today, though, has been sunny and breezy and not humid. Yay! There hasn't been a drop of rain either so things are finally starting to dry out. Accalia had her first art class of the summer session and is in a class with three other girls, all of whom are homeschooled, I think. She worked on weaving today. She and Cole also had new packs of Pokemon trading cards, something that is one of their favorite things to play with as of late. When I take Accalia to swimming lessons, Cole and I sit there and have Pokemon battles, which is rather funny since I really don't have a clue of what I'm doing.

No, today the kids were in love with the world and our house and our yard and each other, so all was just lovely. We played outside and drew with sidewalk chalk and Ella put on roller skates and stood in the grass purposely falling on her butt again and again.

Ella is now asleep and I am properly caffeinated enough to take on the task of picking up around the house without dragging my butt too much.

Being a vehicle owner really sucks at times. Unfortunately, relying only on mass transportation isn't an option where we live. Cory called me as he was getting ready to leave Sioux Falls after his meeting. Then he called a little bit later to say that the battery light kept going on and off in his car and that he was hoping to make it to Beresford (about 45 minutes from Yankton) to restart the car and see if it was just a short. I didn't hear from him for about an hour, so that made me happy, figuring he was getting closer and closer to home. Then Cory called to say he was at a gas station just a few blocks from our house and that his car had completely died. So I gathered up the kids, sent the neighbor girl home and headed over to get Cory. Thankfully his breaking down happened in an extremely convenient location, but he still had to have the car towed. Hopefully our auto club benefits will cover that completely. So we grabbed a quick supper and Cory headed off with the van to deliver pizzas. We think it's probably the alternator, which will hopefully be a relatively quick and inexpensive fix. It's just horrible timing considering we just spent nearly $2000 having the transmission rebuilt on that car. Grr...

The rain held off last night so we were able to go to the Chamber of Commerce deal. Accalia and Cole had been hoping to run into certain friends there, and we did. Accalia was most eager to get to the kids' art section, so after she waited in line to get a balloon puppy I took her there. Cole and Ella were so busy playing at the playground that by the time Cole made it to the balloon animals there were no more balloons. He was pretty devastated by that. He asked me through his sobs why I hadn't gone earlier to get him one, I said it was because he told me he didn't want one. "You should have surprised me, Mom!" was his reply. In some ways life would be so much easier if I could just read minds.

Accalia and Cole spent much of the rest of the evening playing outside with the neighbor kids, which is good because it looks like today is going to be rainy all day long. Accalia's sandals broke last night, so she wants to go out to get a new pair today. Cory's up in Sioux Falls for a meeting, and he's delivering pizzas tonight so we won't see much of him.

The kids are all still asleep, so I should get ready before they wake up.

This entire week is supposed to be rainy. Yesterday it rained for part of the morning and then didn't rain again until the night. It's overcast and cool today, and we're all hoping the rain holds off until after the annual picnic that the Chamber of Commerce is holding tonight. We're planning to go after Accalia's swimming lessons. There are free pony rides, clowns creating balloon animals, a kids' art fest with lots of different crafts to do, plenty of food, etc.

Right now Ella is napping and Cole and Accalia are playing outside with the youngest neighbor girl. They're birdwatching. This morning we had a few errands to run, including voting in the presidential primary. It's been an exciting year for voters in South Dakota because, with the Democratic race, we're actually relevant this year! I don't recall ever having candidates visit South Dakota so many times before a primary. I don't think the Democratic candidates even bother since this is such a big Republican state. Yesterday Hilary was here in Yankton, but we didn't go to see her because we had other commitments at that time. It would have been neat just to do that, though. Obama's headquarters is about a block from our house, so that's fun, too.

Yesterday had its share of ups and downs. Ella was out of bed by 6 a.m. and had been awake since about 5 a.m. Thankfully she slept in a little longer this morning. Good practice for the baby's presence, though. And yes, Rachel, I did use "she" when referring to the baby in a recent post, but you should also know that my mom is now convinced we're playing psychological mind games with her regarding the baby's gender. Hee, hee, hee. She told me right away that she didn't want to know if we found out, but she was convinced that this baby would be a girl. Then she decided the baby would be a boy. Now she's back referring to the baby as a girl but does so with a giggle. So, keeping my mom's mental state in mind, take it all with a grain of salt.

Anyway, back to yesterday. After the rain stopped, we went to the Lewis & Clark Visitor's Center that overlooks the Gavins Point Dam. On the way, we saw a wild turkey. The kids had fun looking around the center. Cole's favorite was definitely the model of the dam, power plant and surrounding area. When we were back home, he started to recreate it in our sandbox.

Accalia had a haircut yesterday and had her below the shoulders hair taken up to chin length. She's much happier. It's the last time we'll be going to that stylist, which is unfortunate because Accalia's gone there for a while and is comfortable. She's fine with going to the person who does my hair, though. The reason we're no longer going there is because, over the past few visits, we've had to wait longer and longer despite having an appointment. Our appointment yesterday was for 3 p.m., but Accalia didn't get in until 3:30 because her stylist was giving somebody a manicure. I was furious and just about ready to leave when she finished up. Cory said I should have left anyway just to make a point, but Accalia was looking forward to it so much. I don't know if this stylist has gotten into the habit of double booking or always ends up taking walk ins when it's close to our appointment time, but I'm not going to continue going to a place where we're not going to have our appointment time honored. Besides, it's not at all fun to try to entertain three children in a hair salon for an hour.

After the haircut, we hurried to the chiropractor. Then we all headed home. Cory did some gardening outside later on, but otherwise it was a pretty quiet night. The neighbor girls came home around 8:30, and Accalia and Cole ran outside to play with them. It didn't last long, though, because the oldest came to the door to tell on Cole for saying something, and two minutes later Cole was collapsed on the ground crying because she had said something to him. Cory suggested we call it a night and try again when everyone was well rested. Surprisingly, Accalia and Cole were just fine with that. They were really tired.

So that's the last couple days.

I am so, so tired right now. I started off last night (or actually this morning) with a sleep deficit by not getting to bed until after 1 a.m. Ella, too. I stayed up to wait for Cory to get home from work and to talk with him for a while, and Ella's earlier-in-the-evening sleeping was interrupted by the storms and she was still hanging on at that point. We had both slept for about 2 1/2 hours when Ella woke up crying and wouldn't stop. I got up with her and went downstairs and she started holding her ear. So we were downstairs for about an hour while she nursed and I held a warm rice pack to her ear and massaged along the back of it. We went back upstairs and slept fitfully for about an hour before Ella woke up crying and we headed back downstairs again. We ended up sleeping in the recliner for a couple more hours before I got up for the day and Ella slept a little longer on the couch. Ella's been asleep since a little after 6 p.m., so hopefully she catches up on a little sleep tonight.

The neighbor girls have been playing here all day. They were already up and outside riding their bikes in front of our house by the time Accalia and Cole woke up around 9 a.m. We took a break from the playing when we went out for lunch and then to the carnival (all three kids had a blast). Then we had another hour break when the kids and I went to the store to pick up a few gardening supplies. Accalia and Cole are really getting tired but just can't stop playing quite yet.

I forgot to mention something I put together for the kids yesterday that they really seem to like. I had read an article a few months ago in Wondertime about going on archeological digs with children. The article also had ideas for making your own dig kit, and I knew Accalia and Cole would love something like that. I ordered kid size fanny packs on Amazon to put everything in, but I'm not sure if I'd order the same packs again. The pockets are really small. If you want to put a regular sized paintbrush or knife in them, they would be too long for the pockets. It worked out fine for us, though, because we already had mini brushes and knives from other things. Ella doesn't actually have an interest in using the pack as a dig kit, but she wore her pack for the longest time.

I really need to do some dishes before all motivation slips away. Tomorrow we'll go grocery shopping, but there's not much more that we need to do tomorrow.

The rainy/stormy weather this week has ruined a lot of our plans, ranging from Cory wanting to mow the lawn on Tuesday to our going to the carnival yesterday as well as a state park program tonight. Last night we had severe thunderstorms and weren't able to go to the carnival, so we're going to do that tomorrow afternoon. Tonight I was going to take the kids to a program about wildflowers in our state parks, which Accalia was super excited about because there was a craft, but severe storms moved into the area as we were supposed to leave for that. The kids are having a good night so far, though, playing with the neighbors and having new Pokeman trading cards.

I had a prenatal appointment this morning, and all is well. I don't have to worry about gestational diabetes or high blood pressure at this point. Everything looked fine with my bloodwork and urine, and the baby's measuring exactly where she should for 28 1/2 weeks. And I definitely have no problem gaining weight. Yikes! I've had a little swelling in the ankles and legs today, but I think that's mostly because of the humid day.

I really need to sit down and pay bills, but that's such an unenjoyable way to spend the time.

It stormed or rained much of last night, and this morning everything is a soggy, muddy mess outside. It's supposed to be in the upper 70s, though, which includes a chance of severe weather tonight. For the kids' sake, I really hope it dries out and stays storm free so they can have fun at the carnival.

Ella woke up but fell back to sleep, and she's still sleeping at nearly 10 a.m. Accalia and Cole are up in their room organizing their collection of Spongebob figures. Anne has tagged me, so I guess I'll answer a meme while I have the chance.

What were you doing 5 years ago?

Five years ago I was mothering a nearly four year old and a baby. We were settling back into life in Yankton after moving back from Mitchell about nine months before. We had no idea that the next year would see Mary being diagnosed with cancer and fighting that for nearly a year until her death.

What are five things to do on your to do list today?

I probably need to make a to do list, don't I? Uhm, I'd say the regular duties such as 1) laundry 2) dishes 3) sweeping the floor multiple times. I guess I'll also need to 4) take Accalia to swimming lessons (unless Cory has no appointments and does that and 5) go to the carnival. If all works out time wise, Cory and I are definitely sitting down to watch the season finale of Lost.

What are five snacks you enjoy?

Popcorn, dark chocolate, lately Kashi Cinnamon Harvest cereal, gummy bears, iced coffee.

What five things would you do if you were a billionaire?

Pay off all of our debt, move to a different house or possibly move closer to family if Cory's not dependent on having his current job, donate to charities working to cure cancer, donate to our church, travel so the kids can go to places they've always wanted to visit (Disney World would probably be at the top of the list for them.

What are five of your bad habits?

Biting my nails, procrastinating, not planning ahead enough, buying too many books and not reading them, being too optimistic.

What are five jobs you have had?

Waitress, home health care, newspaper reporter, daycare provider, piano teacher. I had to go back to late high school, early college days for some of these since I had Accalia right after graduating from college and have been at home with the kids ever since.

What five people do you want to tag?

I tag Rachel, Jessica, Shannon (password protected blog), and Mel because they don't post nearly enough for my liking. Alicia posts plenty, but I still want to read her answers!

Today our niece Lizzie (Anthony and Kathy's youngest) celebrates her fourth birthday. Happy birthday!!!

It was another cool and cloudy day, although it was about 10 degrees warmer so we made it to around 60 degrees. Poor Cory has been freezing at work because they turned on the air conditioning last week, and right now his office is below 60 degrees the majority of the day.

Today I spent timing cleaning up our guest room, which is also where Cory sleeps when all three kids are in bed with me. It's also where we have several bookshelves and a growing pile of boxes filled mostly with artwork from the kids. I still have to go through the boxes to get rid of some of it and then figure out where to put the rest. We've definitely run out of storage space in our house, but if we managed to declutter a bit and add on some shelving that would help a lot. Cory's delivering pizza tonight, and when he called a bit ago I said I was cleaning up our upstairs landing area. "Oh, so you're nesting!" was Cory's reply. I told him no, I was just tired of walking through the mess. I really do hope I do some major nesting before this baby arrives, though. Unfortunately, that's not something I usually do, at least as far as major cleaning and organizing. I do always want to read as much as possible and pare down the magazines and books that I'm not interested in keeping. I guess that's how I nest, huh? It's too bad that there isn't as much time to read as there once was.

Tomorrow Accalia has swimming lessons again (she seems to like them so far) and then we're going to take the kids to the carnival that sets up in the mall parking lot twice a year - at the beginning of summer and at the end. I think they're all really excited about that.

Okay. Time to get Cole the snack he's asking for and pick up one last pile upstairs.

Our Memorial Day was cool and rather windy. By the end of the day, Accalia and Cole were wearing jackets while playing outside with the neighbor girl. Accalia and Cole both asked what Memorial Day was about, and it wasn't particularly exciting for them to learn that it's a day set aside to honor and remember those who have lost their lives in wars. I told them we usually visit Grandma Nelson's grave on this day, but that didn't happen this year because Myron's plans with his new lady friend kind of screwed up our plans to visit Lake Wilson. Anyway. Truth be told, even growing up Memorial Day was never a day we spent attending services or finding other ways to honor soldiers. Looking back, it seems rather odd since my dad is a Vietnam veteran, but at the same time there are other ways my dad has always included that part of his life in our world.

So, our day mostly consisted of doing things around the house. We did look around at bunk beds but didn't find a great selection right here in town. There's one more store to check out, and maybe the kids and I will do that this afternoon. We have to go out anyway to return a movie to the library. Cory also put the final coat of paint on in Accalia and Cole's room. We've put a few things back, but we're not going to go overboard since hopefully we'll have bunk beds soon and can get a better idea of just how much space they'll take up and what the kids will want included in their room.

It's cold today; the high is only supposed to be maybe 50. So we're mostly just hanging out inside and taking it easy. Accalia's emptying the dishwasher, Cole's watching cartoons, and Ella's running around naked. They all seem ready to head out, though.

We've had a pretty quiet, at home Memorial Day weekend so far. Cory has worked Friday, Saturday and Sunday delivering pizzas. Yesterday it was as if we went from our cool spring to the hot, humid days of summer right away. I think I'm going to be rather miserable over the next 11 weeks or so if our summer consists mostly of hot, humid days. Actually, it's the humidity more than the heat that bothers me, and thankfully we have air conditioning. We just didn't use it yesterday. Today, though, is starting out cool and breezy, so hopefully it continues like that.

Yesterday the kids and I picked up paint for what will be Accalia and Cole's room (currently Accalia's room), and Cory was off early enough yesterday that he decided to paint last night. Accalia and Cole had picked out a green that they saw in a Land of Nod catalogue, and we found pretty much the same shade at the store. Cory's already put two coats on, but it's going to need another coat and we'll need to buy another gallon. I had thought that covering the light pink walls currently in that room wouldn't be a problem, but Cory, the experienced painter, tells me it's usually more difficult to cover light shades.

Today Cory has the entire day off. Yay! So, we'll need to get that gallon of paint, and we're also planning to shop around for bunk beds. I'm not sure if we'll actually buy one today or not, but Accalia and Cole are very excited. It's really too bad that we don't have the money to right away buy the new bedding, curtains, rugs, etc. that the kids would like, too. It could end up being a rainy/stormy day, but there are a few outdoor things that would be nice to get done, too, if we could. We have pepper plants to plant, and we also have a mixture of sunflower seedlings (from storytime) and seeds (from The Great Sunflower Project) to plant.

This could be a slightly frustrating summer for Accalia and Cole when it comes to having the next door neighbors around. Yesterday the youngest girl was over here for most of the afternoon, which Cole loved but Accalia would have liked having the older one around, too. The girls have different fathers and therefore different visitations, and it seems that the older one is gone more often. Maybe the older girl's father lives out of town.

Lately I've had a really hard time thinking of new things for the kids to do, so if they come up to me saying they're bored, I usually don't have too many exciting ideas. So, I bookmarked a bunch of sites that have ideas for summer fun, including this one that lists a different thing to do each day.

Even without my help in the ideas department, the kids have been quite busy. Ella has recently discovered how much she likes computer games, although she just sticks with a Playdough game that's relatively simple to point and click to get results. She sits at our old computer playing that a lot. She also wants me involved in a lot of pretend play, but it's usually in the role of me just sitting where she points so I can watch her.

Cole is just so eager to be outside and work in the garden. If we're able to get outside to do that today, he'll be in heaven - especially if he's out there with Cory. We can tell that Cole has been missing Cory a lot because on the rare nights that Cory is actually home, He'll just follow Cory everywhere and talk and talk and talk. He does that with my dad, too, when they're together.

Accalia is spending a lot of her time preparing for future events, whether it's the baby or all of the activities she wants to do this summer. Right now she's just excited to get out and get bunkbeds and put the new room together. This week she starts swimming lessons on Tuesdays and Thursdays and can't wait to do that.

All of the kids are up and about and wanting this or that, so I'll end this entry.

Today was definitely a better day in most ways. We all seemed to be in better moods. It was a cool, windy and rainy day - not exactly summery weather for the last day of public schools in Yankton. We took two shopping trips today - the first to pick up a few necessities and the second for Cole to pick up another Ben 10 action figure because he discovered he had enough money to do that.

On the downside, all of us (except Cory) seem to have a little bit of a cold. Accalia was the first to show symptoms, and now we're all kind of sniffling. Poor Ella and Cole are having the hardest time with it tonight, though. Just like last night, Ella fell asleep early but was waking up every 45 minutes or so. Now she's up and fairly content. Cole fell asleep early, woke up for a short time and is up in bed fast asleep. He must be feeling pretty poorly to have fallen asleep early.

Cory was home tonight, and you could just see how much Cole has missed having him around every night. He was by Cory's side most of the time and just talked and talked and talked. We have some pepper plants to put in the garden (put in some tomato plants Tuesday), but it was too wet today to want to get out in the garden.

Tossing in some pregnancy talk, I've noticed in the past week that the baby's movement has slowed down quite a bit. There are still really active times - usually right away in the morning or late at night like now - where I'm feeling the baby, but otherwise it's pretty quiet. Just a sign that there's not quite as much space to move. I'm curious what the next few months will be like. I remember with both Ella and Cole how active they were the entire time. I don't really remember with Accalia what it was like toward the end, though.

Cory will be working a lot this weekend, so we don't have any big plans for the holiday weekend. We might try out the new Mexican restaurant on Saturday. For the past couple years, our Memorial Day tradition seems to have been going to Lake Wilson so the kids can fish with Myron. When Cory asked about it this year, though, Myron said he might have plans with Joannie (we met her at Easter). So, I doubt we'll be going that way. The thought of not traveling on Monday is actually a nice one, especially when it costs nearly $70 to fill up the van. What we might do if we're in town on Monday is (if we get the paint picked out) paint Accalia's room in preparation for it becoming Accalia and Cole's room. We might also shop for bunk beds.

I'll close for now since the girls and I are going to head to bed soon.

I truly do love spring for the warm weather after a long, cold winter. I love being able to open up doors and windows and let the house breathe. I love being able to walk outside without putting on a jacket or even shoes for that matter. I love seeing everything around me green up and all of the beautiful plants and flowers appear. I love seeing how excited the kids are about all of the summery activities they are able to do now, whether it's playing at the park, running through the sprinkler or camping.

Honestly, though, I'm an even bigger lover of summer winding down and fall coming on down. I'm exhausted by the end of the three months and can't wait for school to start and for our days to become more focused on being indoors. I've always thought I'm a little odd for feeling this way, but I really do think it's my introverted self coming through. There's only so much of the doorbell ringing and kids running in and out to play and trying to get past my childhood memories of my dad insisting that if it's nice outside we should be outside and not sitting inside "wasting" our time before I just want to shut all of the doors and windows and curl up somewhere with an interesting read. Of course, this isn't really practical with a household of three active kids who love playing with the neighbor kids and love nothing more than to be able to run inside and outside with them all day long. So it seems that my introverted self and this season of warmth and outdoor activity are going to have to work out a compromise in order for my sanity to remain intact.

Or maybe it's just because I'm pregnant and am not really looking forward to trying to keep up this activity level for the next three months. In much warmer and more humid weather to boot.

Yesterday was not a pleasant day. There are some day afters when we return from a trip where the kids are so happy to be at home that they're relaxed and joyful and busy with all of the things they were separated from for a few days. Yesterday was not one of those day afters. We were all tired and had to make trips to two different stores for groceries. I told Cory that I was never setting foot in XYZ store with the three kids again. Ever. Of course that won't happen, but I sure wanted it to after leaving the store yesterday. Then, in the other store, I decided it wouldn't bother me much if I just left them all there to live for a year or three. Of course I didn't really mean that either. But I felt like I did at the moment.

So, by the time Cory got home, I told him I was going out to get myself a ginormous iced coffee as a reward for surviving the day. I did, but it contributed to an awful night of sleep last night. I woke very frequently and kept having brief dreams involving the Sex & the City ladies. I've never watched the show but was thumbing through a magazine filled with stuff about the television series and the upcoming movie. I really could have used a more restful night of sleep, but that just didn't happen. Thankfully all three kids are in much, much better moods today.

The trip to Mankato was fun and quick. When we weren't at my brother Anthony's open house or my cousin Matthew's wedding, we were going to parks and trails. I'm a little concerned about how I'll hold up during activities in a month or two as my pregnancy advances because this weekend wore me out.

So, I'm 27 weeks (almost typed months) and still doing fine as far as I know. It's a good thing this baby doesn't need my constant attention to grow and thrive because I would really be failing right now. The only things we have figured out for sure are that we have someone lined up to be with the kids (still don't know what the kids want to do, but that will probably wait until I actually go into labor like it did with Ella), we have my doctor and planned place of delivery set, we have a doula, and we have first names and one middle name figured out. Haven't even thought about that other middle name yet. Honestly, all of the other stuff isn't necessary for us to make it once the baby is here, but it would definitely help make life easier or at least more organized.

Tonight we have to run out to pick up Accalia's soccer pictures, but that's about it. This whole week is basically full of nothing needing to be done, and then next week activities start picking up again. And that is about it.

We've had construction on our street most of the week. It looks as if they're doing something with water lines and the gas meters. We haven't heard that they're going to tear up the street, although that would be nice to have a new street and curbs. The biggest inconveniences for us have been parking in back and Cory not being able to mow on Tuesday because of the construction equipment in our yard.

Today we've been busy packing and doing a bunch of other things to prepare for leaving for the weekend. We're going to take off after Accalia's art class in the afternoon, so we won't make it to Mankato in time for Anthony's pinning ceremony. I think our time in Mankato is going to fly by, and I think this may be one of our last visits to Mankato before the baby arrives. Family is coming out to Yankton in June for our annual camp out, and the kids and I are going back to Mankato in July for a family reunion, but that may be it. I guess our church is having vacation bible school the first full week in August, but I don't know that we'll make it. That's going to be when lots of summer activities are winding down, and frankly I don't know if I'm going to want to sit in a vehicle to travel that far at that point. We'll just have to see.

On Tuesday the kids and I went out to the Gavins Point aquarium out by the lake. The displays rarely change from year to year, but the kids still love to see the albino catfish, the huge snapping turtle, the endangered pallid sturgeon, and the buffalo fish (nicknamed sucking fish by the kids). When we went there, a school bus pulled in ahead of us, so we drove over to the campground to check out the loop that we'll be camping at in June. It's very nice and spacious. The bus was still at the aquarium when we went back, but it wasn't nearly as crowded as we thought it might be.

Cory's brother Mark stopped by to say hi yesterday. My heart skipped a beat when the highway patrol car pulled up in front of our house, so I was relieved when I saw Mark get out. He and the canine officer were patrolling Highway 81 (great drug running road), and they stopped in Yankton for lunch. Mark gave Accalia and Cole a ride in his patrol car, which they thought was pretty cool.

I think the kids and I are kind of going through an in between phase right now. We all seem restless and not sure what to do. I think Accalia told me she was bored three times yesterday, which was mostly because she wanted to play with the neighbor girls but they weren't home. I'd love to feel motivated to do things now because I know these three months before the baby arrives will pass so quickly. Hopefully that nesting instinct kicks in at some point! I know that no matter has lazy I feel right now during these last months, there's no way I'm going to want to do any of these things after the baby arrives.

Speaking of pregnancy, isn't it fabulous that I share a due date with Angelina Jolie? Considering she's expecting twins, though, I think she'll probably deliver well before me. Nearing 27 weeks, I'm still having relatively few complaints. Every once in a while I'll have painful sciatica, but it makes a huge difference after getting adjusted at the chiropractor. Our chiropractor was talking with me about how he'd adjust his wife when she started to swell and the swelling would be gone the next day. So far I haven't had to deal with any regular swelling, although there are times when I notice it starting on my left ankle especially. Taking a break and putting my feet up seems to take care of that, though. Lately, as it gets later in the day, I'll sometimes get sharp pains really low in my pelvis. That's not fun because it's really painful to walk, but at least it's not around constantly. Some women seem to deal with feeling faint a lot during pregnancy, but I usually only have one or two instances of that. One of those instances happened this morning when I was upstairs in the bedroom getting dressed. My heart was really racing (that doesn't happen very often either) and I started to black out. Thankfully I made it to the bed and only had to lie there for a minute before I felt fine.

I should get busy with some other things that I really need to do before we leave.

A belated happy Mother's Day to all of you mothers out there! Since Cory was scheduled to work from 10:30 a.m.-7:30 p.m., there wasn't much of a chance for me to relax or be pampered, but overall it was a good day. Before Cory left for work, he and the kids had a few things to give me. Accalia had made a card and then presented me with a box that turned out to be empty. "It's a box full of hugs!" she said as she gave me one. Cole's speciality lately is cutting out snowflakes, and he gave me one that had heart shapes in it. For a while now, I've wanted/needed something to serve as a night stand on my side of the bed, and that's what I got. I also received one of how many books on my wish list, Dr. Robert Sears' The Vaccine Book.

The kids and I went grocery shopping in the morning, and it was amazing how many dads were there with their kids. Cory actually ended up coming home for a couple hours in the afternoon because it was so dead at the restaurant. For supper, Cory delivered food to us. So, even though he couldn't be there to take us out or cook for us, he still managed to find a way.

Ella just went down for a nap and was very unhappy to have the neighbor girl ring the doorbell just as she was falling asleep. Ella may not get quite as long of a nap as she'd like, though, since we have to be at the chiropractor's in about an hour. Tonight I think Cory has to do a little supervision with a fellow counselor who is working towards her license, but otherwise he'll be at home.

The cold, rainy weather today has cancelled Accalia's two soccer games. It was actually announced last night after her game. That means Accalia is done with soccer this spring. There is one more game next Saturday - a make up game - but we'll be in Mankato for Anthony's graduation and my cousin's wedding.

Yesterday Ella was in an absolutely awful, awful mood. It came on so suddenly, too. One moment we were dropping Accalia off at the art studio and taking about going to look at the fish at the store, and suddenly nothing is right with the world. I tried to get Ella to nap, but she wasn't interested. Thankfully being outside and running around at Accalia's soccer game kept her mood happy for that time. I thought it would be a disaster, though, before the game even started. The field we thought Accalia's team would be playing on was closest to the playground, and Ella and Cole ran over there right away. Then we found out that they were actually playing on the field farthest from the playground, so I had to go over and get the kids and drag them halfway across the park. Thankfully there was a big baseball diamond nearby, and Ella and Cole ran around with a few other kids for most of the time.

So today it's just the LLL meeting this morning. Guess we'll see if anyone shows up! Cory does work tonight delivering pizzas, but we'll have the majority of the day together. Tomorrow Cory works all day (10:30 a.m.-7:30 p.m.) delivering pizzas, so I'll definitely be putting my full mothering skills to use on Mother's Day. I'm sure Cory would have taken the day off if he hadn't already taken most of the past week off for Accalia's recital and his trip.

Guess I should get some diapers in the dryer before everyone else wakes up and I forget about it.

My friend Karine sent a few pictures of Accalia on stage during her ballet performance. Here are a few of those:





Cory made it home yesterday from his meeting in Sioux Falls. It was very nice to have him back, and the kids were very excited to see him. Otherwise, yesterday was a pretty quiet day. On Wednesday, it was the last day of storytime for the spring session. The kids had a lot of fun, and even Accalia took part in the activity of planting sunflower seeds to bring home.

Cory hasn't gotten a call yet about his car and the new transmission being finished. Hopefully he'll be able to pick it up before tonight since we're assuming he'll have to deliver pizzas. Accalia is supposed to play soccer tonight as part of a weekend soccer festival, so it could be interesting if we only have one vehicle. We'll get it worked out, though. Both tonight and tomorrow (Accalia has two soccer games then) it's supposed to be rainy, so maybe she won't be playing as much soccer as she's scheduled to do. I have LLL in the morning and need to come up with a plan for that.

Wow, I really wouldn't mind a quiet day very soon. It seems that the weekend being filled with so much has just continued over into the week. We're all surviving, though, and most things are good.

Cory delivered pizzas on Friday and called a couple hours into his shift to say that the check engine light in his car had gone on and wasn't going off and that I should be prepared to pick him up if he got stranded. Thankfully he made it through the rest of the night and took the car in right away the next day. Unfortunately, the computer diagnostics showed that it was the transmission, so his car was out of commission for the rest of the weekend until we could get it into a transmission place on Monday. We did and were told what we were expecting - rebuild the transmission to the tune of nearly $1800. Ugh. It certainly doesn't make the $1000 worth of repairs we're waiting to do on the van any more pleasant. The positive in this situation is that, while Cory's car is in the shop for most of the week, Cory is up in Sioux Falls for a department meeting and using a state vehicle. That means we're not struggling to figure out working around only one vehicle.

Cory's birthday was Saturday - 36 - and other than taking his car in to the shop, we spent a lot of time (more than four hours) at Accalia's two recital run throughs. I went to the one in the morning and Cory went to the one in the afternoon. My parents arrived in the early afternoon, and we spent the time waiting for Accalia to finish her second run through taking walks around the neighborhood and playing at a park. My parents took us out for supper that night to celebrate Cory's birthday, and then we went to the hotel they were staying at so we could swim in the pool. My parents decided to get a hotel instead of stay with us just so the kids would be able to go swimming in a pool, which I thought was very sweet. I was pretty exhausted after getting home, though, because I spent a lot of time climbing up and down the pool ladders following Ella around. There's nothing like being in the sixth month of pregnancy to realize how much energy your two-year-old has throughout the day.

Speaking of pregnancy, I had a prenatal appointment on Friday and everything is fine. I've gained around 28 pounds so far, which is unfortunately not much different than other pregnancies. Next visit will include testing for gestational diabetes and anemia.

The day of the recitals was pretty packed. It also happened to be the day of the art show at the art studio Accalia has gone to for the past few years. We ran over quickly after lunch and then raced home to get Accalia ready for the first recital. Both recitals went really well and Accalia really enjoyed herself. My parents took Cole and Ella home about half way through the first recital since there's no way they would have done well sitting through four hours of dance recitals. We already have Accalia's professional pictures back, so I'll have to scan those to show what her costumes were this year. Accalia was also very happy to be finished and just relax that night. She and Cole were talking about all the good things that had happened, and Accalia said this was "the best day ever!" (There are a lot of those around here.) Cole replied, "Yeah, except for the dancing!"

I was really hoping to catch up with stuff on Monday, but the youngest next door day came over a little after noon (she goes to preschool in the mornings) wanting to play. She (and later her older sister) ended up being here more or less until around 8 p.m. I think the only break was when Cory came home from work and we took his car to the shop and had supper. Now that Ella is older, it's not as easy to do things inside the house and keep an eye on the older kids outside because Ella won't tolerate being inside if everyone else is outside playing. She was going strong after everyone else had gone inside because she wanted me to jump rope. I'm sure that was an amusing sight to see, although I'm glad to know I'm still coordinated enough at this point in the pregnancy to be able to jump rope.

Today really didn't have any more of a chance to play catch up. We had the van (Cory took it to work Monday), so the first thing we did was go to the store to pick up some things we had run out of since we hadn't had a chance to grocery shop over the weekend. Then the phone didn't seem to stop ringing most of the day. Sometimes it was Cory in Sioux Falls. Or there were LLL helping calls or calls from people around town. I was on the phone a long time on Monday, too, talking with a friend who likes to talk quite a bit. For someone who just is not huge on talking on the phone, I think I'm worn out partly from that alone.

Tonight Accalia had a soccer game. We had a thunderstorm pass through earlier in the afternoon, and it was growing dark again by the time her game was supposed to start. The girls started playing and played nearly a quarter before the game was called off because of lighting. We never actually had another storm, and the lightning and rain stayed to the south. They must have policies, though, about getting off the field after seeing so many lightning strikes Hopefully this weekend will be a bit better for soccer since Accalia has a soccer festival and plays one game on Friday and two on Saturday. I have my LLL meeting on Saturday morning, so I'll have to miss one of her games.

Okay, that's a brief rundown of the past few days. Hopefully I can catch up with things tomorrow and get back to normal.

It's been a beautiful day today - 70s, sunny, a little windy. I could do without the wind, but you get used to it in South Dakota. The kids have been playing with the neighbor girls the past couple days, and today there were a few extra kids in the backyard who were apparently staying with the neighbor in the basement apartment for a little bit.

Accalia had a lot of fun at her soccer game last night. She was in the middle striker position, which means she was able to run all over the field and not be limited to staying in back by the goal or just on half of the field. Accalia loves to get right in there to try to kick or block the ball, although she's definitely not an aggressive player. Cole and Ella had a lot of fun running around with a boy who was sitting next to us. The next game is next Tuesday, but Cory won't be here for it. He's going to be in Sioux Falls for a couple days next week for a department meeting.

Cole is thrilled because it finally clicked with him how he could swing on his own without me needing to push him. He'd kind of had it figured out for a while now but didn't know that he was able to get himself started. What clicked with Accalia last night at nearly 11 p.m. is that she can tell time. She knew that there were 60 minutes in an hour and basics like that, but last night she realized that each number on the clock represented a five minute interval and exactly what that means when she looks at the clock. It's neat to see these moments when knowing how to do something finally becomes important to them and they do it.

Tomorrow Accalia has her tap dress rehearsal and will end up having to miss soccer practice since they're at the same time. I need to pay bills, which is always a thrilling task. Other than that, I guess I'll just keep trying to keep/put the house in order for this weekend. I also need to buy eggs so we'll be able to make Cory's birthday cake on Friday.

This morning Cory had a dentist appointment to take care of a small cavity between two teeth. His appointment was at 8 a.m. and at about 8:10 a.m. he called to tell me he forgot his wallet and asked if I could bring it to the dentist so he could pay. I told him we would be there in about 15 minutes. What I didn't tell him was that his phone call woke the four of us out of a dead sleep, so I'm pretty proud of myself for getting all four of us ready and out of the house and across town to the dentist in 15 minutes.

I'm at a point right now in this pregnancy (24 weeks along) where I crave sleep. Some nights I feel as tired as I did during the first trimester and nothing seems as glorious as crawling into bed. Sleeping in is so nice, too, and all three kids always seem to sleep in most of the time, too. Right now our general sleep routine seems to be staying up until about 11:30 p.m. (Ella will depending on if she napped). I'll wake up anywhere between 7 and 9 the next morning, while all three kids tend to sleep in until at least 9. I do enjoy having time to myself in the morning, but the idea of more sleep usually wins out. Thanks to us not needing to be up early every morning for school, the kids have been able to let their night owl tendencies shine through. I'm much, much more of a night owl than I was when Cory and I first married. I'm enjoying this sleep routine now because I know in less than four months that I'll be waking and sleeping according to this new little one's routine.

Accalia had her ballet dress rehearsal yesterday. I think dress rehearsals are rather agonizing to sit through because so much of the time is spent figuring out the lights and going over all of the details. It probably didn't help that I was trying to keep Cole and Ella entertained the entire time. We'll be doing this again on Friday for tap, but at least her dance is the first one so we don't have to sit through any other dances.

Tonight is Accalia's soccer game. It's the warmest day of the week so far, although that means it's around 60 and windy. It might be a little cool sitting out there for an hour. Accalia's really looking forward to getting out there.

Grocery shopping fell to the kids and myself today since Cory is working. It was a pretty small trip since we have limited funds at the moment, and it went fairly quickly because Ella decided she'd enjoy riding in the cart the entire time. Accalia and Cole helped me out by crossing items off the list, and we were in and out in no time.

This afternoon I cleaned our upstairs landing to remedy the toy explosion that took place up there sometime in the past week. Last night I helped Accalia clean her room per her request, although she still wants help cleaning up her closet.

With my parents coming this weekend (and Myron for a short time on Sunday), I have a few more cleaning things I need to do:

- clean both bathrooms
- vacuum stairs
- clean our bedroom (or just shut the door if I don't accomplish that)
- clean off top of art cabinet (The art cabinet is an old (probably antique), wooden cabinet that I won by luck of the draw when I was working at the paper here in Yankton. It has sides that can fold down, and the two doors open to reveal lots of drawers. Similar things are probably not used at newspapers quite as much anymore since so much more is digital, but it's what advertising departments would use to store the various proofs of ads, etc.)

Here's what the week is shaping up to look like:

Monday: ballet dress rehearsal for Accalia
Tuesday: soccer game for Accalia
Wednesday: storytime
Thursday: tap dress rehearsal for Accalia
Friday: prenatal appointment; art class for Accalia
Saturday: run throughs for both dance recitals (2 hours each); parents come; Cory's birthday
Sunday: dance recital

I think Accalia will be pretty happy to be finished with dance at the end of the week. She loves both dances she's doing, though, and is so excited to be up on the big stage. My parents are staying at a hotel when they come because they thought the kids would like to go over to the hotel and swim. They'll definitely like that.

Now I have to do a couple things before I forget what I wanted to do.

My friend Shannon is a graduate student and is requesting participants for an online survey as part of her coursework. She's looking for women ages 25-44 who have given birth to a child who is currently under the age of three. The survey is about breastfeeding practices and attitudes. If you fit that description and want to take the survey, here's the link: http://s-2e033-44452.sgizmo.com.

Today seems to be passing very quickly. The four inches of snow we received yesterday is basically all gone, although Cory says we could get snow again tomorrow. Cory's delivering pizzas today and will again tomorrow, so we won't see much of him this weekend. Next weekend, though, he's taken off Saturday and Sunday. Saturday is his 36th birthday and Sunday is Accalia's dance recital.

It's shaping up to be a pretty quiet night around here. Accalia's in the tub, and Cole and Ella have just taken baths. I'll start washing diapers once Accalia's bath has run. That's about it! I wish Cory were at home so we could just hang out and watch a movie together, but I guess that won't be happening tonight.

Before I get too tired and just conk out at the computer, I'll get to that blog entry I said that I wanted to get to earlier. We "enjoyed" a spring snow storm today. I think Yankton probably only got 2-3 inches, but places north of us got more than a foot of snow. Mitchell had over 14 inches tonight. They always seem to get hit with the worst winter storms. It seemed that way when we lived there, too.

Because of the weather, public schools here called off classes at 1 p.m. Since schools were called off, Accalia didn't have art. I expected that she wouldn't have tap either since their policy is to close when schools do. However, today was a rehearsal at the theater where the recital will be held, and Accalia did have her rehearsal. She was so excited to get back on that stage. We'll be there again Monday, Thursday, Saturday and then next Sunday's recital. Whew!

I had another ultrasound this morning because the tech had forgotten to get pictures of the spine two weeks ago. Everything still looks fine. Baby's gender hasn't changed, although baby's position has. Two weeks ago the baby was transverse, and today the baby was head down. I kind of expected that because last night I could feel these huge shifting movements - such a cool feeling - and knew the baby was moving around. The other kids all seemed to turn head down during the middle of the pregnancies and stay that way. We'll see about this one. Nothing else too notable to report other than the baby's feet measure about two inches right now.

The rest of the day hasn't been too eventful. Cory is out delivering pizzas tonight and is crazy busy since no one wants to go out and get food. He's also dealing with emergencies at the prison, so it's a rather stressful night for him.

I'll have to write about what the kids are up to last on. I'm just too tired tonight to keep going.

I thought I had posted this on Tuesday, but I guess it never made it out of the drafts. Enjoy the belated post! I'm going to try to post again today.

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Happy Earth Day! It's a beautiful day here in Yankton to be outside, so we'll be able to get out and actually do some things that help the earth. When the weather is nice, we usually go for at least one walk a day, and Accalia and Cole suggested bringing along bags to pick up garbage we find along the way. We are by no means the most earth friendly family out there, but we do try in a lot of small ways to make a difference. We've always recycled, and we'll bring our glass to Mankato when we visit because there is no glass recycling here. We also have cloth diapered since Accalia was around 9 months old, although we have used disposables when we travel. We've also switched over all lightbulbs to compact fluorescents, and since we did that we've only had a couple CFLs burn out. There isn't a local place where we can recycle them, though, so we're hanging on to them until we do find one. Don't want to add any extra mercury to the water and ground! I guess we also try to make sure that we buy phosphate free cleaning products (laundry detergent, dishwasher detergent, etc.) And, while none are us are vegetarian, we usually eat at least one meatless meal a week. A book I love that has great ideas for greener living around your home is Better Basics For The Home.

One thing I'm absolutely horrible about is making sure I have reusable bags along when shopping. I need to just keep them in the van, and I need to get more so I'd have enough for our big grocery shopping trips. While we don't throw away the plastic bags (we bring them back to the recycling bins at stores), that still means we're continuing to encourage the production of those bags. I've also read that the bags in those recycling bins are just thrown out, so that doesn't do much good.

What sorts of things do you do to help reduce your carbon footprint?

Cory is up in Sioux Falls today for a conference, and I'm not sure if we'll even see him before he returns home and has to go to work delivering pizzas. This is his last Tuesday doing that, though. He decreased his availability there because he needs to make sure he has more availability for private counseling. They've finally gotten in with several places as network providers and have already been getting more calls as a result.

Yesterday we our appointments at the dentist. We go twice a year since our insurance covers most of it. Accalia loves going to the dentist, which Cole is a little unsure yet. He hates toothpaste and doesn't want them to use it on him, which they were fine with once I explained his hesitancy. We all had good visits. No cavities except for Cory having one small one between his teeth. Cole's six year molars are coming in, and I wouldn't be surprised if he starts to get some loose teeth in the upcoming months.

Cory took off yesterday since the dentist took up most of the morning, but he spent nearly all afternoon working on brochures to hand out to these new network providers. Then he had a couple appointments. Accalia had her last regular ballet class last night. Now they'll just have rehearsals for the recital.

The summer rec schedule came out today, which I have to tell Accalia about since she was so excited about seeing the offerings for this summer. Now I think we're going to head out on that walk. I have to check with Ella to see if she wants to keep on the Spiderman costume or change back into her regular clothes.

We survived the picture taking marathon yesterday! Hooray! It all went very smoothly even though we only had about two minutes to change Accalia's dance costumes and hair. The older girls that help out with class do such a great job, too, and that makes a huge difference. I was so glad to have Cory at home with Cole and Ella, though, because there's no way I would have been able to move as quickly as I did.

One of the moms with a girl in Accalia's ballet class was there with her three-year-old son, and she was in an awful mood. She was constantly scolding/yelling at her son to be still, which is really helpful in a crowded dance studio with kids and parents all over but also understandable that the son wanted to run all over with the big, open spaces in parts of the studio. Cole and Ella would have wanted to do the same thing if they were along. Then, when we were all crowded in the small changing room and I was helping Accalia into her soccer uniform, this mom was there yelling at her son to be quiet, yelling at her daughter that she was nearly nine and old enough to put a sock on by herself and yelling at both of the kids that she couldn't talk to Daddy on the phone when they were both talking to her. Then she asked them what they wanted to eat for lunch. I'm thinking it would have helped out a lot if they had been able to eat before getting pictures taken since it was past 1 p.m. at that point.

I've known this mom since Accalia started dance and her oldest was in the same class as Accalia. At that point she had two girls and was such a different person in public. Now, whether it's the addition of a third child, that the third child is a boy who seems to have quite a different temperament than his sisters, or whether it's something completely unrelated to the children, she's definitely changed. That's what happened a little after our sister-in-law Shannon had her third. It honestly sent her over the edge a bit, and I think that - at the time - they would have liked to reverse their decision to add on to their family. There have been times this pregnancy where I've wondered how well I'll be able to parent four children, especially when there are days where I feel as if I'm definitely not up to par. Of course, I also had those thoughts when I had just one child and then two children.

Anyway, back to pictures...

Accalia was so relieved to make it to her soccer pictures on time, and I think that's what she was most worried about missing. Of course we ended up parking on the wrong side of the huge park since they hadn't told us where the pictures would be taken. How hard it is to say the east side near the middle school? We ran about half way, but I had to slow down to a walk, me being pregnant and out of shape.

Cory did have to work yesterday afternoon and evening. The kids and I went on a walk, went to two parks and hung out in the backyard during much of that time. It was such a nice day yesterday. Today is supposed to be even warmer, but I wonder what will happen since it's been cloudy and overcast since I woke up. The first warm days of spring are always a great time for the kids because everything outside is new to them again. The swingset, sandbox, all of the outdoor toys - it's as if they're going to a different park each day.

Right now Cory is doing a bit of grocery shopping. It's so nice to have a week where the kids and I aren't going out and doing that. He'll probably be home soon. I think I'll see if the kids want to get dressed and have something to eat.

Ella was walking around here just a couple minutes ago with a soaking wet washcloth on her head. I have no idea what prompted that, but it's made her very happy. That's a good thing since it's nearly 7 p.m. on a day without a nap.

I'm trying to psych myself up for tomorrow when Accalia and I attempt to have three different pictures of her taken in the course of an hour - three different costumes and not all pictures taken in the same location. The good news is that she'll get her ballet costume on at home so I don't have to struggle to try to put a decent bun in her hair in two minutes. Unfortunately I will have to change her hair between pictures, but it won't be that complicated.

I've also packed up everything she'll need for the second dance picture and am in the process of drying her soccer uniform so that will be ready to go. What's going on tomorrow makes me so glad that our lives aren't constantly at this frantic, rushed speed of going from one thing to the next. We all love our days of not having much scheduled. These next few weeks just won't allow for that, but I'm sure it'll make us very happy to go back to it.

So, that's really the most important thing going on this weekend. It's supposed to be really nice, so hopefully we'll be able to spend plenty of time outside, too.

Our scanner is working just fine now, so below is your first glimpse of the newest Nelson sucking what looks to be a thumb.


All still seems to be going well at 22 weeks along. Over the past week I have noticed more aching and pain as my ligaments are stretching and making room for this expanding person and space. I've also noticed that I really feel it if I'm on my feet too much. I hate to think that at 22 weeks I already need to make sure I'm taking the time to stay off my feet for a while each day, but I'll just listen to my body whether I think it's too soon or not.

Ella's probably toward the end of a long afternoon nap. She went to bed earlier yesterday and was up before 7. Cole really, really needs to take a nap even though he hasn't done that in years. We had to be up and out of the house earlier today to take the van to the repair shop. We need the door handle replaced on the passenger side sliding door because it broke off and we can't even open that door from the inside. We also have an exhaust leak, but I'm not sure if we'll get both of those repaired at the same time. Depends on how long it would take. We walked home from the repair shop - probably under a mile - and Ella insisted on being carried basically the entire way. I was planning to take the stroller, but of course it rained overnight and of course I left the stroller outside.

Today we made banana bread, and all three kids painted once we discovered we had big jars of power tempera paint still sitting around from when Accalia was much younger. Ella, of course, painted much of herself, but she does like to wait for me to help her to the sink to wash off so she doesn't leave paint prints everywhere.

It's a cool, cloudy day, and Accalia has soccer practice tonight. I have a hair cut after that. Cory was supposed to have a counseling session after work but rearranged his schedule when he realized it conflicted with the hair cut. Nice guy.

I think Accalia wants on the computer, so I'm going to sign off.

So, this week has been warmer. It's also been extremely windy, which makes it rather difficult to have an enjoyable time playing outside. Yesterday, after lunch, we went to a park. It was around 50 degrees, but with the wind it felt a lot cooler. The kids still had fun. The first thing Ella went for was the tallest, swirliest slide which, of course, she insisted I go down with her. My thought was that this is going to get a lot harder the more pregnant I am. But, for the rest of the time we were at the park Ella was going down slides and climbing all over rarely asking for me to join her. Go figure. There were a few other little kids there for a short while, and their dad just happened to be one of those parents who keep a constant chatter of instructions going: "Be careful of the little girl! No! Wait your turn! Okay, sit down now. No, don't go yet. Okay, you can go. Let's go to the other slide. You can go down twice. Okay, let's go to the swings. Okay, we have to go now." And on and on. After the park, I got each of the kids huge ice cream cones. Ella dumped hers all over the car seat by the time we made it home, but amazingly enough it stayed in one unmelted lump for me to do easy clean up.

Cory had a couple appointments after work, so I took Accalia to and from ballet. I think this was probably the first time since I started showing that I've taken Accalia in and haven't been wearing a jacket or a big sweatshirt. All of the moms started exclaiming about me being pregnant.

Last night Ella fell asleep a little after 7 and actually was in bed until 7 this morning. She fell asleep for a nap around 12:30 and is still sleeping two hours later. She's wearing Cole's footsie pajamas and no diaper, so hopefully she doesn't wet the bed.

Not much for tonight. Cory doesn't work, so we're going to grill and just hang out. Gotta watch American Idol, of course.

Ella drew on the tip of her nose just a little bit ago -- with permanent marker. We usually don't have permanent markers within her reach since she doesn't know the difference between those and the washable ones that she can draw with all over herself. Cole has been using the permanent marker lately, though, and no one saw that they hadn't been put up. Ah well. It's not as if we have anything going on that requires no permanent marker on the face.

I wanted to expand on what I had written about Cory's aunt Pat earlier since I talked with Cory and he seemed to know a few more details. While we have no idea how successful the treatment could be, a lot of it depends on the organs affected by the protein since this protein basically harden whatever it attaches to. Unfortunately, Cory told me he believes it's affecting Pat's heart. Depending on which organs are affected, the life expectancy is usually 1-3 years. Pat has always seemed larger than life - so active, so social, the one planning events and keeping everyone in touch. She and Mary were probably fairly opposite since Mary was always quieter and didn't want to cause waves. I don't want to sound as if I'm writing her obituary already because she might have years and years left. We just don't know.

I'll end this brief entry on a slightly less serious note. How about something I'm grateful for tonight? I'm grateful for my pregnancy-induced stuffy nose that keeps me from smelling nasty diapers. Apparently Ella had one tonight that spread throughout the house. Diaper are washing right now so that will be taken care of, but it's nice to not have to smell it in the meantime.

Lately I've been waking up early but not getting to sleep very early. Today it's starting to take its toll. I don't mind getting up early at all because I've missed having some quiet mornings before all of the kids are awake. Perhaps my body is already trying to get me prepared for the odd hours of sleep I'll get once we have a newborn in the house again.

Yesterday no one showed up for the LLL meeting. All three kids stayed home with Cory this time (usually Ella goes with me), so I sat for a while waiting to see if anyone would come and was able to read a magazine article that I've wanted to for a month or two. After lunch, Accalia and Cole wanted to spend their money, and Accalia picked out a Littlest Pet Shop VIP stuffed animal which allows her to access a virtual world for her pet. She's been loving that all weekend. Cole wanted to get a couple Ben 10 action figures, and he's kept them close to him all weekend, too.

Yesterday was a cold, windy day, but today we can see that the spring warm up is finally here. While it struggled to get to 50 degrees, it was sunny and a nice day to walk around the neighborhood and poke around the yard to see what is growing. We can see the buds on George, our willow tree. We can see the tulips and lilies popping up in front and along the side. Accalia and Cole keep asking when we can plant the garden, but we probably won't do that for at least a few more weeks so we're past the danger of any more freezing/frosty nights.

This past week has been rather rough for Cory's side of the family. His brother, Mark, is a highway patrol officer in Mitchell, and on Friday he was working during snowy, icy conditions. He was about 30 miles west of Mitchell responding to two semis in the ditch. While he was talking to the other truckers, another semi went into the ditch. Then, as he was headed back to his vehicle, he could see another semi coming and losing control. He saw that the semi was headed right for him, so he jumped in his vehicle, stood on the gas, and managed to get moving. The semi hit him, though, and spun him 180 degrees into the ditch and blew out a couple windows. It's amazing that there was so little damage that he was able to drive back to Mitchell. Also, thankfully, he wasn't seriously injured. He's pretty sore, but as far as we know wasn't more seriously hurt. That semi driver did get a ticket for overdriving the conditions, though.

The other bit of bad news is that Cory's aunt Pat (Mary's sister) has been diagnosed with primary amyloidosis, which is something I'd never even heard of before. It's a disorder where protein is deposited on tissues and organs. It's extremely rare - 8 in a million, I've read - and there is no cure. It is life threatening. Pat is being treated at the Mayo Clinic, and it sounds like the treatment consists of chemo in pill form. There are some forms of amyloidosis that are heriditary, but this kind isn't, so Pat is very thankful that her children won't have to be tested and worry that this is something they may develop and pass on to their children, etc.

So that's what's happening in some of our extended family. We'll see how this coming week goes. The weather should be nice enough that nothing should have to be cancelled because of the weather. I think Accalia's a bit bummed that she'll miss her first soccer game on Saturday because dance pictures are at the exact same time, but the pictures have been planned for much longer than the soccer game. Accalia also has soccer pictures that day, and it may be a challenge to get there from the dance pictures. It rarely happens that so many things end up coming together at the same time like this, but that is just one of those days.

Tomorrow I'm sure we'll enjoy the outdoors more. Other than Accalia having ballet, that's about it for planned activities.

The lack of spring weather is taking its toll on the start to Accalia's soccer season. Her game for tomorrow has been cancelled mostly due to the extremely wet fields. We had close to an inch of rain and then an inch of snow yesterday. We're getting a little bit of snow today, but it's nothing much at all. Just lots of wind and cold temps. I think Cory is glad the game is cancelled since that means he and Cole won't have to sit out in thirtysome degree weather to watch it. My LLL meeting for tomorrow should still go on as planned, though. I just have to get ready for it today.

This morning was my ultrasound, and the baby was very cooperative and photogenic and active. The ultrasound tech even got excited at one point because we could watch the baby sucking his/her fingers and thumb and could even see the sucking motions of the jaw. So sweet. Yes, we did ask about the gender, and the tech told us that's she's about 80 percent sure of the gender. We don't have plans to share that news before the birth, although if one of the kids lets it slip it won't be a horrible thing. This is the first time we've found out beforehand, and I'm so hesitant to think of the baby in terms of a specific gender. That's probably because of all of the people we know who were told they were expecting one and were surprised with the other. So we'll definitely have boy and girl names decided on.

Soon Accalia will head to the art studio and later to tap, but that's about it for our Friday. Cory works tonight. Last night our one remaining fish died. Accalia asked if we could just flush it right away, but Cole wants to have a proper burial outside, so we'll do that tomorrow or Sunday when the weather's a bit nicer.

Ella wants to watch a movie on the computer, so I'll end for now.

I can't believe tomorrow is already Wednesday! The days have just flown by since I blogged last Friday.

I'm trying to remember what happened on Saturday. Cory worked most of the day, Cole helped me haul some junk to the front curb for this week's junk days pick up, and Cole and Accalia picked out new sandals. After Cory got home in the evening, we just hung out and watched Saturday Night Live.

Sunday was Cory and Accalia's big trip to Pipestone to watch Grandpa sing in a group called the Al Opland Singers. Accalia was so excited - new outfit, movies picked out to watch in the car, backpack filled with things to do. Grandpa took them to McDonald's after the concert. She seemed to enjoy the day even though the concert was probably not the most exciting part for her. While they were gone, Cole, Ella and I went grocery shopping, watched a movie, hung out, and ate Taco John's for supper (probably the most exciting part for Cole since Accalia never seems to want to eat there if we go out). While it certainly wasn't quiet with Accalia gone, you could definitely tell the difference in the noise level once she returned. Accalia and Cole were so happy to see each other. They hugged and sat in a chair together to talk about everything that had gone on that day.

On Sunday I really felt like another cold was hitting me, and it has. I'm so sick of feeling this way! I've spent most of this pregnancy with a stuffy nose, which isn't an unusual pregnancy thing, and I know for some people being sick seems to happen more easily during pregnancy. Hopefully no one else follows suit with a second cold. I woke up around 4 a.m. this morning with my left ear throbbing. I had been up just a couple hours earlier to use the bathroom, and everything felt fine. It's strange that the ear ache came on so quickly like that. I was up for an hour or so because the pain was too unbearable to lie down and sleep. So I took some homeopathic belladonna, kept a heated rice compress up to my ear and massaged along the back of my ear. It seemed to work because I was able to fall back asleep within two hours without a painful ear. My ear's been a little tender today, but it hasn't been anything major. Guess this is just a nasty part of this particular cold.

Monday wasn't too exciting of a day. We all went to the chiropractor in the afternoon, and then I took Accalia to ballet. I had her informational recital meeting for that class and was finally able to see her costume and watch her practice this dance. It's a very classic ballet look - bun, long skirt, etc. It's really beautiful to watch.

Accalia was supposed to have soccer practice yesteday since they had to cancel last week's, but she missed it since it was at the same time as dance. She had another practice tonight, though, and had a great time. She was very excited to be back. While she was at practice, Cole, Ella and I had fun vacuuming out the van. That was way overdue.

I guess Ella has decided that she isn't going to be down for the night. She fell asleep around 7:30 but is back up and not in the best mood. Better get to her.

Here's my 20 week belly. Accalia took the picture. I hadn't asked her to keep my head out of the picture, so I apologize to those who wanted to see my face, too.


I had all three kids with me for this appointment, and it ended up being a much longer affair than it needed to be - not because of the kids, though. We had to wait a half hour in the waiting room, and then once we were back in a room, we waited another 20 minutes before Dr. M came in for a grand total of 10 minutes. It wasn't that she was trying to rush me through once she got there, but I just didn't have any questions or concerns at this point to eat up her time. Everything is just fine. I've gained a total of 20 pounds so far, but I've decided to just ignore my weight at this point. For whatever reason I gain more than average during pregnancy, but I also lose the majority of it without any effort on my part, so I'm not going to get too concerned. I'm also measuring where I should be at 20 weeks. Next Friday I have my ultrasound. Beyond that, though, it will hopefully be an uneventful month until my next appointment.

Since the appointment ran longer than expected, we had to hurry home, grab lunch and take Accalia to art. We found out that Accalia didn't win a prize in the bird art show that has its reception tomorrow. When I asked Accalia if she wanted to go to the reception, she didn't seem too interested, so I think we'll skip it. Accalia had tap later in the afternoon, and that basically brings us to this evening. Cory is working tonight, so it's just the kids and me.

Unfortunately, Cory works most of the day tomorrow, so it'll be just the kids and me once again. We'll haul out a few things for next week's citywide junk days, and Accalia wants to go out and buy sandals or flip flops since we haven't gotten around to it yet.

I should wrap this up. The dishwasher needs to be loaded, the laundry needs to be taken care of, and approximately a whole crapload of stuff needs to be picked up off the floor. What I'd really like to be doing is to sit down and read the book I'm in the middle of, but every time I've tried to do that Ella has jumped into my lap and started hopping up and down.

Accalia and Cole managed to pull one more April Fools trick on Cory when he came home from work yesterday. Accalia had gotten together all of her soccer uniform (shirt, shorts, cleats, socks, shin guards) and was using pillows and long foam sticks to assemble a dummy of herself. She hadn't even thought to use it as a trick when I said it might be funny to set it up on the couch and cover up most of the body with a blanket so Cory would only see the shoes sticking out. We did that, and Cory had no clue it wasn't actually Accalia under there.

Today we took advantage of the free printer cartridge refill that Walgreens had today and had one of our color cartridges filled. Went to story time, too, where one of the librarians told me I've really "blossomed" and asked when I was due. When I told her, she commented on how huge I'll probably be by then. Gee, thanks. Accalia took a picture of my belly today, which I'll have to post so that you can judge for yourself just how big I am.

I thought there were other things I wanted to write about, but now my mind is blank. Oh well. I think Ella is falling asleep. Tomorrow our excitement will be taking the van for an overdue oil change. Hopefully it will be nice enough so that we can walk around downtown rather than sitting in the waiting area. That place just isn't designed for three energetic kids.

Happy April Fools Day! Accalia and Cole have been trying to think of tricky things to do since the weekend. Last night they put a stuffed snake in bed so Cory would discover that, and I ended up warning Cory ahead of time (so he could let out a big scream for the benefit of the kids) since I had no idea which snake they used. Turns out the warning wasn't necessary since it was a huge snake. Yesterday Accalia and Cole were also trying to trick me with tales of giant bees and owls upstairs, so I played along with that. Today I printed out these mazes I found online that can't actually be solved and gave those to Accalia and Cole. I hesitated before doing that because I wasn't sure if they'd get too frustrated or actually enjoy the trick. They took it well, and that has been the extent of our April Fools Day so far.

Yesterday we had a spring snow storm that derailed our plans for the day. We received about five inches of snow and another inch of rain. When I woke up in the morning and saw what was happening outside, I called to reschedule my prenatal appointment for this Friday (third time in a row I've had to reschedule due to weather). I had no idea if the snow/rain mix also included freezing rain, and I had no intention of driving a half hour on country roads just to find out. Thankfully Cory didn't have to drive anywhere for work. He spent the afternoon watching the Cubs season opener, which included two rain delays. Unfortunately the Cubs lost in the 10th inning.

Accalia and I headed off to her ballet class only to discover the studio closed. I hadn't even thought to check on closings due to the weather mostly because we've had worse winter weather where things have remained open. It turns out schools closed yesterday along with a few other things.

Accalia's soccer practice for tonight has been cancelled since there's snow on the ground and it's only in the mid 30s. I still have to go to pick up her practice and game schedule. We did go out today and pick up new soccer cleats for her, though. I was really hoping her shoes from last fall would still fit after only two months of use, but they were too narrow for her. Apparently her feet have widened over the winter. So we consulted with the sales person who told us brands that have more room than others. Adidas and Puma are roomier whereas Nike is quite narrow.

Cory doesn't work tonight, so I'll go off by myself to get the schedule and stop at the store to pick up a few groceries. One trip to the store with all three kids seemed to be enough for all of us today.