Busy days

We skipped church tonight--Josiah's got a cough, and we're supposed to get some nasty weather. The two older kids and I went this morning, which was nice, but it's also nice to be able to stay in tonight (and hopefully get to bed early!).

The past week has been busy busy with lots of time spent with family. My sister and family are visiting (it was really neat how God worked it out that they were here at the time my Grammie died, so we have been able to have lots of good family time!) and we have been doing lots of fun stuff. Yesterday we went to a farm and took a sleigh ride. Unfortunately I didn't realize that our camera batteries were both dead, so I only got a few pictures before it refused to work anymore. However, both my dad and Jo were taking lots, so I will hopefully share some from them eventually.

I have also been enjoying lots of time holding my newest nephew, Elliott. Here he is with his mommy, my lovely sister Jojo. :) Don'tcha love those chubby cheeks?!!The kiddos have been doing lots of sledding on our driveway. Hardly a day goes by that they don't go outside for a while. Here are a couple pictures of Julia and Josiah from one day last week:
The coming week looks busy, too. On Tuesday, we are having some other ladies and kids over for a tea party . . . on Thursday, my friend Lori will be visiting, whom I haven't seen in about 2 1/2 years . . . and hopefully on Friday, Jo and I will do something for some sister time--out to lunch, shopping, etc. Somewhere in there we will hopefully fit in some school time (last week we managed to squeeze all the week's work into 2 days).

I've got to brag on my sweet husband for a minute. When we walked in the door at lunchtime, I smelled a most delicious smell. The table was set with a tablecloth and nice place settings, and there was a pile of bacon on a plate . . . and then Jim pulled a pan full of large fluffy pancakes out of the oven, where he had been keeping them warm. They were super yummy--he found a recipe online for whole wheat pancakes, and doctored it up a bit with extra cinnamon and nutmeg. He had even cleaned up the kitchen. What a guy!! :)

I'm not sure how I've done on the eating from the pantry challenge. This month has been so crazy that I haven't kept good track of my expenses. I need to go through and tally up all the receipts that I can find--hopefully I can find them all. :) I'm pretty sure that I've already gone over $150, but I think we'll at least be able to keep it under $200, which is good. I ran out of more staples than I expected, and had to buy some extra ground beef, too. I think that I'll be able to keep expenses fairly low through February, though, so that will help.

Well, I suppose I'll close this rambling post now, since my brain is a little fried. :) Hope you've all had a lovely weekend!!