Snow! Beautiful Snow!

Look at the beautiful girl in the beautiful snow.  She was done with it rather quickly & had no interest in going back outside. Too cold for this chick.

Conleigh loved the snow the most! She ate a lot of it today. It was beautiful snow. It was different than what we got last year. This snow was light & fluffy. Real snow in my opinion.  I wish I had a picture or video of it, but these two drove the golf cart up to the golf course hill with a laundry basket, and asledding Conleigh went.  I think it was a great time.  Our big track wheels on the golf cart sure came in handy today.

Proof 1 that she ate a lot of it today.

Doc diagnosed flu yesterday but he hasn't had a lick of fever today & has plenty of energy. He gave sledding a whirl but she wiped out on the first try which made it the only try.

Boo! Peter had planted some of his vegetables already.  Start again.

Our home in a winter wonderland.

And we're down!

Alex has the flu. Type B in case you were wondering. It seems to be the question of the hour around here. Total bummer. He started having chills and then was hot, so I made our fourth doctor's appointment of the year.  Check the date. We are only 3 days into February!  We are going to be done spending our flex health spending account before the end of March at this rate.   He has felt pretty good all day actually.  Good enough to set up an entire army vs three cowboys and indians.  (Blah! Blogger won't let me upload a picture of Alex & his army).

Conleigh & Campbell are hanging tough. We went to swim lessons tonight. I am so thankful Conleigh liked it. When she first put her bathing suit on, she said, "It will feel good to get back in the pool."  That was so nice to hear.  She spent about 2 minutes in the pool and they realized she was way past the level she was starting at, so they zoomed her up to Level 2 right away. I know that made her feel good too.  Campbell worked hard at her station, but I don't think she was promoted to the next station yet. I think they can spend 7 lessons on one station before they step in and take a 'get it done' attitude.

School started two hours late this morning. The reason given was to assist with power conservation. Yesterday there were some rolling power outages in the city. What a lame reason to start late. No power outages today. Now we are starting two hours late tomorrow because of the possibility of snow & ice. I really hope the girls have school. I'm not excited about the kids wanting to play in the skimmings of snow tomorrow.

Conleigh & Peter are set to go to the Girl Scout Father/Daughter dance on Saturday night.  Wash hands. Sanitize, Don't spit on each other. That is the Hardin mantra right now. I really don't want the flu to fly through our house.

Have a good weekend. We'll be staying warm by our fire.

What is going on Wednesday?

End of January Wrap-up

I think it was January 20th before I realized it was already January.  This month flew by faster than most January's, I think.  Work has already been at a fast pace. That usually doesn't come until mid-February.

Playing Jenga with Grandma

Here's a wrap up of our January activities.

Conleigh began a hip-hop dance class.  She likes it which is wonderful.  Alex is in the throws of basketball and enjoying it with a couple of his good friends and Peter as the coach.  Campbell is still doing ballet/tap each week.  All three kids are starting swimming lessons.  Campbell is going to be about a month shy of the age cut-off for swim team this summer, so I want to try to get her up to 6&under speed, so they may let her swim on the Sharks team. She was tortured last summer having to spend time at practice & meets.

Aside from activities, all three kids have made trips to the doctor's office.  Alex had strep throat, Conleigh an ear infection and Campbell - nothing, but I panic'ed last Friday when she seemed lethargic and didn't want to go into a weekend with her sick, so I took her. She was fine.  Nice fast start to using our health flex spending account this year.

Alex & Conleigh with the berets Grandma & Bepaw brought. These belonged to Susan & me when we were young. Dad brought them home from one of his trips to France.

Dad sanding my 'project' table.

My mom & dad came to visit us last week, Thursday - Saturday. I loved having them here. I bought an old table at Goodwill while Conleigh was in hip-hop class last week. Peter joked that I bought it so my dad would have a project while they were here. Well, dad took the table and made it a project for himself on Friday.  He was out in the beautiful weather sanding away. Thanks Dad!  Now to figure out the perfect paint color for it.

Peter painted Conleigh's room this month.  Sweet girl was very patient with waiting. She chose the color at least two months ago.  I like it much more than I expected.  It is definitely not a little girl room anymore. Pictures forthcoming.

Here's to a great start to February for everyone, and that time slows down just a little bit!

24 Hours

That's how long we made it before busting into the

Girl Scout cookies.

Conleigh sold 10 boxes. She has 33 total to sell

and we bought 2 of those 10.

Alex's choice: Lemonades

Mommy's choice:  Thin Mints

Random Tuesday morning thoughts

I've been in a blogging funk.  Not sure why. I think about a topic and how it would be nice to write about, and then the thought flees and never returns.

Alex started feeling bad at the park yesterday about 4:30.  By 1:00am he had a full fledged fever, and by 6am he has a deep hacking cough and really high fever.  Dr. appt at 11:30.  In the meantime, Campbell will go to dance. She enjoys her dance class and is quite the performer at home lately.

Watching Dr. Laura on the Today show right now.  Has she had a face lift?

Work is so busy. I made my goal for 2010 with a last minute order with just minutes to spare. Really within the hour of almost not shipping for the year. I've never felt that way on NYE in the 14 years of doing my job. Not fun.

Yesterday was my blogoversary. I'm starting my 4th year of blogging about our family.

Tomorrow Conleigh gets to start selling girl scout cookies. Want some? I spent last Saturday night at overnight camping training for girl scouts, so her troop can go camping in April.  Our family is trying to plan a family camping trip between soccer & baseball seasons. What an idea to plan ahead. I would prefer to stay in a cabin. Peter prefers a tent.

Today is Inauguration day here in Texas. Rick Perry will be sworn in again.  They are having a big BBQ luncheon on the capitol grounds.  Over 10,000 plates have been sold. Sounds kinda fun to me.  Some say he may run for senator next year since K Bailey Hutchison has announced she will not seek reelection.

Conleigh started taking a hip-hop dance class. She really likes it which is wonderful because she doesn't really like much.  I'll take her to that this evening and follow it with a children's programs meeting at church.

I'm ready to go back to sleep and it is only 8:30am.

Home Sweet Home

I am beyond happy to be back with my family.  I left last Monday, 1/3 for my sales meeting in Phoenix.  It wasn't over until Friday night and we were allowed to leave on Saturday, 1/8.  LONG meeting.  The kids were very happy to have me back & Peter is too.  Thank you to Granny for coming to Austin to be transporter and cook for the kids to activities and school last week.

This morning after I showered to go to church I realized that I left my hair dryer in Arizona. Lovely.  So, Campbell & I bolted to Walgreens before church. She chose a beautiful pink hairdryer for me and some glittery, purple fingernail polish for her.  Then I walked into church wet headed and went to the restroom to dry it.

It was a cold, wet, dreary day today, so we hung out at home.

Today we played with our Wii.  Conleigh got a great game from Santa, Just Dance 2.  It has great music and you mimic the moves on the screen. Great fun.  We also got Toy Story 3 through our Blockbuster subscription. It was so much fun to hear and watch Conleigh & Alex laughing it up together today.   Campbell was busy painting my fingernails green and yellow.

The troops went to bed hours ago and I have taken all the ornaments off of our very dead Christmas tree.  Thankfully, we had gotten all the other decorations down before I left town. I'll take the lights off tomorrow and let Peter haul the tree out as I follow  him sweeping up needles.  It was a wonderful Christmas season. I will have to post some pictures of our celebration soon.

God Bless America. The craziness of the shootings in Arizona the day I left are just very sad. I pray that peace will take hold of people's hearts.