We're having technical difficulties tonight, and I'm very close to giving up and trying again tomorrow. I have a new slide show for this week and Picasa is causing me considerable frustration. Moving on to our news . . .

I forgot to mention last week that JB was recognized at school for participating in a national competition called "Reflections." Students can submit creative writing, drawings, and other "creative" methods of their reflections on a selected theme. This year was the theme "How Can I Make a Difference" and JB submitted a drawing. The school held a breakfast to recognize students who participated in this event and Joel was able to attend and snap a photo of JB receiving his certificate and ribbon from his principal. We are of course crazy proud and I'm further annoyed that the slideshow isn't up and running so you can see the delight in JB's face. (I know, I need to let it go.) Anyway, we think it's a great event and were thrilled that JB came away from it with a positive feeling.

Joel's dad is home again with Erich and family and is recovering well. Thank you to everyone for their prayers for his health. Oh, and I looked it up - and I did spell it wrong. It's stent, not stint. I sort of knew that at the time, but this blog doesn't have spell check. It wouldn't have caught stint anyway. :)

We had a pretty normal week, but boy did we ever top it off with a load of events! We all went to Joel's game on Friday night to watch him in action as a referee. The kids LOVED that! (Did I mention the slide show's not working? When it is, look for the guy in stripes.) And the kids decided to round out Friday night by having a "sleepover" in the girls' room. What that means is that they invite their brother to sleep in their room on the floor - and apparently this is appealing to him. To a degree. The kids have tried this many times before and inevitably JB calls the whole thing off about an hour into it. Well it's been a while, so they gave it another shot. And just as before, JB wanted out when the novelty wore off. But we called his bluff and he muddled through enough to enjoy himself. They all managed to stay up too late, and thankfully slept in on Saturday morning.

Saturday brought skating and lacrosse again and those activities are still going well. On Saturday night we all went out to eat dinner at our brand new Chili's because our friends are working there and we were able to catch Valerie's shift. I had some gluten-free soup and everyone else had a glorious gluten-filled meal complete with dessert. Sugar rush - yeah! After dinner we came home and had movie night and the kids chose to watch The Incredibles since we haven't seen that in so long. It was a fun time and everyone crashed after the movie.

This morning, we had an extra blessing in church of listening to Emma's choir sing. And we took the afternoon slow before heading out to separate events. JB went to my parents' house and watched football with Grandpa without the annoying interruption of sisters. He loved that. :) Shannon and I headed to our friend Carly's birthday party this afternoon - a Fairy Tea Party. What a blast!! Dress up, make up, tea, cake. And little fairies running everywhere. What could be more fun? Shannon had a great time and was still talking about the party when I last saw her. Emma and her dad enjoyed some Daddy-and-Daughter time at Build-a-Bear and then by having dinner together. From the report I got, it sounds like they had a terrific time together and I know they each treasured their day.

The kids are off from school tomorrow and so Nana and Grandpa are hosting a sleepover tonight with some fun events tomorrow. I think the Science Center. ?? I hope they take photos! Joel and I dropped the kids off and headed to a movie for some "us" time to finish the weekend before heading back to work tomorrow. Date night is always a shot in the arm for me.

But even though it's a national holiday tomorrow - I do indeed have to work and it's a doozy of a day ahead, so I need to call an end to the weekend. (It is almost midnight after all, and I usually call 9:00 my bedtime!) I'll enter the ring with Picasa again tomorrow. C'mon, it gives you a reason to check back another day, right? :) Wish me luck!!