All of this blogging with baby boys just didn’t seem fair! So now the girls get to be here too. Here are some basic stats on each kid:

Kayla is going to be 12 in the near future. She is in 6th grade, taking High Math and High Reading, and playing clarinet in the school band. She thinks most boys are weird and annoying, she loves to read and play with Legos, and I think she recently had a growth spurt. She might be taller than her Great-Grandma – I’ll take a picture of the two of them next time we are out that way.

Ashley is going to be 9 in the spring. She is in 3rd grade, and playing the piano so well that sometimes you have to look to see that it is really her. I will try and get some video of her learning her new challenge song. Then you guys will hear the evolution of it. It blows us away! She adores Taylor Swift and drawing. She likes some of the boys just fine, and enjoys playing with her gymnastics ribbon. She got her braces off (round 1) a few weeks ago, and will have her new retainer tomorrow – glow in the dark tie-dye.

At the end of winter break, we took the kids for a surprise overnight stay at Key Lime Cove. It’s one of those hotels with the indoor water park for use by guests. We didn’t tell them anything, just packed them bags when they were sleeping and stashed them in the trunk. Then we met Kevin in the parking lot. It was great! The girls had an awesome time! Here are some pictures.

Two excited girls in the hallway of the hotel

Daddy found two little fishies.

Mommy and two water-logged kiddos!

  Over that weekend, it was slightly snowy and the temps were in the 20’s. But not inside! It was a balmy 84 degrees! Right behind us in the last picture you can see what looks like a giant orange bowl. The park calls it the Vortex, but in reality, it is just a water park version of a toilet bowl. You ride an inner tube down, swirl around the bowl a few times, and get flushed out the bottom. After the trip, we had to watch “Flushed Away” for the hundredth time. Too much getting flushed “down the loo” made us need to see singing slugs!

Yesterday, it was 60 degrees here and rained something fierce. Right now, it is in the 20’s and we have an inch of snow. By Friday, the high will be 11 degrees. Gotta “love” Chicago weather – you get to experience multiple seasons in one day!