I don’t know what we did this week.  But then, I never do when I sit down to write a blog post.  My camera helps me remember.

The Young Women did a photo scavenger hunt at the new library on Tuesday night.  Savannah and her advisor had my camera, so I have a lot of great pictures of them having fun at the library!  Megan says her pictures are better, but alas, we may never know.  We don’t know about Sarah’s pictures either!  But we do know that the library is a great place to be!

As always, Ben gets a lot of photo attention.  Lately, he loves to cook.  Since he has already made eating dinner nearly impossible, now he has made cooking dinner a near impossible feat, as well.  With the end of good weather, I can’t send him outside at this time of day, anymore.  Oh buddy, what am I going to do with you?

We’ve gotten used to cleaning up the chaos Ben makes at the dinner table, but on this particular night he started to show some architectural flair.  There may be hope for the boy yet!

He is also very sweet when he has his bottle and his favorite blanket.  Then both his hands are occupied.  Ever inquisitive, he still needed to check out whether Cheyenne could use some help with her piano practicing.  He just sat and watched! He can be so sweet!  We love that boy!

 

On Saturday, we had rain all day, but when I went to pick up Savannah from work, the sun broke through the clouds at the horizon just enough to light up the tops of the mountains.  Savannah stopped in the middle of her recital of how things went at work to remark on how beautiful it was and when we got home, went straight for the camera!

So, when I got the camera out on this Sunday evening, I decided to document everyone’s current activities to give you a reality TV moment.  Kevin left us Thursday morning for a big conference in Toronto and won’t be back until later tonight.  Cheyenne and Calianne wanted to make him some snickerdoodles that he could have when he got home.

Sarah was working on friendship bracelets.  She is making one for each of her friends for Christmas.  She has been working on them all week.  She likes to listen to a book on her ipod while she works.

And so we come to Savannah.  This is where we usually find our dear girl when she is home.  Yes, she is facing the wall.  There is a heater vent there, so she turns the chair around to get the most heat and reads all the good stories she can find on the computer.  She loves fanfiction.

Mariah helped get the cookies off the cookie sheet when they were done cooking.  She didn’t want to smile, but then I asked her if she wanted me to help her get rid of her hiccups again (I am ever helpful) and the smile just jumped out!  (While we were in the kitchen getting ourselves lunch before church today, Mariah had the hiccups.  She kept saying, “Mom!  I have the hiccups!  I can’t get rid of them!  Mom!  Do something!”  So I was just gliding around the kitchen singing a lovely rendition of the song we had been singing in choir that morning, but just to help her out, as I passed by her I leaned over and screamed, “AHHH!”  She didn’t have the hiccups after that!  In fact, if everyone in the family had had the hiccups right then, I would have cured them all.  It was pretty funny.  See?  Even when my children think I am not listening to them, I really am!) Now, doesn’t Megan look lovely?  Straight out of a Jane Austen novel – in a dress, her hair in a bun, AND she is PAINTING!  How 19th century of her.  She needed to catch up on some watercolor painting for art class, so she brought it home.  She says she doesn’t like art class, but I think she might have a knack for it.

We did do other things this week that I didn’t take pictures of.  Afterall, we are in basketball season here at the Skinner house.  The twins played twice last week and either they are getting better or I am just getting used to how 1st and 2nd graders play basketball.  In any case, I am starting to have fun, too!  I’m even starting to like the boys on my team!

Sarah and Megan’s team played their first games this week.  They played Tuesday and Wednesday nights and they had a tournament Saturday morning.  Kevin is coaching them and they are looking really good.  He couldn’t be there Saturday, of course, (Toronto, remember?), but they are having a good time together.   I’m really impressed with how hard they play.  Their games move fast and they are fighting for those wins (and those loses)!

My goodness, this post has something about everyone except Bethany, my little princess.She continues to play with little girls whenever she gets the chance.  Cali was sick Friday and stayed home from school, and Bethany had the best day ever playing with big sister all day all to herself!  Today I came to nursery during church about the last 20 minutes because I had to change Ben’s diaper.  Beth saw me and said, “Oh, Mom, I’m almost done.  I have to just sing some songs with my friends.  Can you go back to your class for just a little bit?”  There is one self-confident little girl!   We love her to pieces, too!