A Whirlwind Week

Wow, what a whirlwind of a week! (That's a lot of alliteration in one sentence.) Here is the overview. Feb. 16, Photo #47. Amanda had the entire week off of school for mid-winter break. She came with me to work for a couple hours and then we spent the rest of the day together. We had a lunch date and then did a few errands and shopping. This photo is showing off her first official purchase with her allowance. Check out the pink polka dot shades! Mom would not buy them, but she was able to spend her own money to stay trendy. The allowance is working out great. She is becoming more responsible in the morning and she is learning how to save and spend.

Feb. 17, Photo #48. Amanda spent the morning at tennis camp. I told her she could play the Wii because it was vacation and she had exercised. The bribe also included participating in picture-of-the-day with a prop. So Cute! (I know, I'm terrible.)

Feb. 18, Photo #49. Nicholas was home from school today. He normally doesn't have pre-school on Wednesday and the 2 kids went from playing to fighting to laughing to running to driving me a little nutty. After lunch they had the choice of 15 minutes of reading in their separate bedrooms or 15 minutes of a quiet activity. Guess what won?

Feb. 19, Photo #50. All I did was drive around today. First I drove to work, then home, then to the Dr. in Birmingham, then home, then to get Nick at Franklin, then to kill time we went to Panara, then to Catechism, then home to dinner, then to pick up Amanda......... UGH! We had 25 minutes to waste before arriving at church so we stopped for snacks: bagels, pastry, and hot chocolate loaded with whip cream. Amanda thought it was cool that it looked like she was drinking coffee. I can just see her as a teenager ordering her tall, low fat vanilla latte. Double UGH!!

Feb. 20, Photo #51. Happy Birthday Amanda! I can't believe it has been 7 years. Do you remember this? Here she was 10 days old and still in her isolette in the NICU. It is amazing how much she has grown.

In other exciting news.... on her 7th birthday Amanda FINALLY learned how to tie her shoes! I've always bought Velcro or elastic shoes. Well.... big girl tennis shoes come with laces so...... the time had come. It was difficult to explain how to make a bow and the loop and push it through. But, VOILA she did it! You go girl! (followed by lots of smiles and high-fives)

Feb. 21, Photo #52. The nightmare cake. It came out much cuter than how it began. I wanted to order Hannah Montana, but Amanda had faith that I could make it. Next year I'm going to order it. It was very time consuming.

Feb. 22, Photo #53. The family birthday party. I am so happy Amanda loved her party. She liked the decorations, the cake, the guests and most of all the presents. Check out the festivities.

This is going to be another busy week. We are off to Chicago for Steve's induction into the Northwestern Hall of Fame on Friday. It is going to be a lot of fun and I'll have a lot to post. In the meantime, I'm once again exhausted. Steve and I stayed out too late with friends playing cards. I hope the baby doesn't keep me up tonight.

Finally, I read another book this week. Nights in Rodanthe by Nicholas Sparks. It was very predictable and a quick read. It was even a little cheesy, so why was I crying at the end? I'll blame it on the hormones :) I hope everyone has a great week. Until later..............