Friday

Today we were busy. I woke up and could tell I was getting sick, so I figured I had one good workout left in me. So I hurried downstairs and did legs and back with Tony. Towards the end, Mason and Ella came in and cooled down with me. Here's Mason and Ella finishing the workout with me and getting a few pull ups in:

Here's Ella doing her Karen Pot Stirring Stretch:

Here are some pull ups:



I had a new cleaning lady come at 9 to help me out with the housework. It's a little silly since I've survived the past 23 weeks without any help, but when a friend of mine found a 'putzfrau' that was very reasonably priced and did a great job, I couldn't resist. So, she came for the first time yesterday and was wonderful!! She did a fabulous job, and although she doesn't speak English and I speak very little German, we were able to communicate and figure out what needed to be done. Four hours later, my house was sparkling. How long did it stay that way? About 30 seconds. But those 30 seconds were wonderful!! I went to parent teacher conferences at 10 and 10:30 at Colton's and Ella's schools. I met with Mr. Johnson first, who had nothing but positive and glowing things to say about our 9 year old. He said Colton is doing great, works hard, and is progressing well. Nothing needs to be fixed here, so I was off to Ella's conference. This, I admit, I was a little nervous about. See, Ella can sometimes be a little, shall we say, strong willed? Opinionated? Defiant? I was concerned she may have displayed some of this behavior at school, but, lucky me, she reserves it just for me at home and is awesome in school. Mrs. Waldrup had only positive things to say about Ella. Yah!!
I put Jaxon to work for a little bit, cutting back the rose bushes outside. I thought he would enjoy using big dangerous shears to chop something. He was fine until a rose branch whacked him in the face, resulting in numerous cuts. Ouch.


The boys had piano lessons this afternoon so we took off for downtown Lanstuhl, which has become one of my favorite places.


All within walking distance are my favorite places: European Country Living, Parisenne (cool Parisian store with awesome clothes), my new hair salon, and a fabulous German toy store. So, while the boys had piano lessons, I ran into ECL, spent way too little time inside as I quickly picked up a Christmas present for a friend, oh, and a cool canister set for me that was 40% off (thanks Sean for the early Christmas present). Then I dashed into Parisenne for a fabulous scarf for a friend. Then over to the Toy Store for an advent calendar for my nephew. Here are Ella and Mason leaving the toy store, of course with a little present for each of them:


Then we went to get Ella's hair cut at my hair salon. She LOVES sitting in the big chair and getting her hair cut. She loves the way her hair smells afterwards.




After a hair cut, we met Christy in the parking lot so I could grab her boys and take them to the movies, but it was sold out! Bummer! So, we took everyone home and let the kids run around crazy with Nerf weapons. All in all, a successful day.