This week

We've had some clear weather lately, so it's nice to get out of the house! The animals are always more lively and fun to watch when it's not hot hot outside.

 Evelyn enjoys the swings, and thinks it is especially fun when Violet pushes her.

 Luke and Evelyn making Santa beards in the tub.

 The kids all had dental appointments, and did fantastic as always. Cora went back later to get sealants on her deep groovy teeth. Violet was pronounced 'dentally advanced' for already having lost some teeth, and the dentist said she would probably get her 6 year molars when she is 5. Luke was the superstar and let the dental assistant do both sets of x-rays and teeth-cleaning and everything! The dentist was very impressed and said only about 10% of 3 year olds will do that. Way to go Luke! He was so excited to be just like his sisters, look at that smile!

And if you didn't think it could get bigger, here is proof it can! 

 We borrowed a neighbor's pizzelle maker and spent an afternoon making yummy Italian cookies. 

 For Cora's unit project she had to pick a country and pick one if their festivals, make a poster and do a presentation. I went in to hear her presentation, and she did a great job!

 Luke was invited to a princess party by a girl in his playschool group. We borrowed a knight costume and here is our dashing knight in shining armor! He had a lot of fun finally getting to go to a birthday party after watching Cora and Violet going for so long. 

One morning the fire alarm started going off. I thought it was just a battery dying, but called Kevin so I didn't have to hear it all day. He came home to help me change them, but in the meantime I decided to try to do it myself. When I opened the basement door I could smell gas strongly and the CO2 light on the basement alarm was blinking, so we got out of the house (of course it was a lazy morning and none of us were dressed yet!). Kevin could even smell the gas in the garage. But the firefighters said the readings were normal and it was just the batteries. I was worried I just freaked out for nothing, but my neighbor said he could smell the gas in the garage too, and the alarm was going off, not just chirping. The pilot light was out (happens when it is super windy, what a pain!) so maybe when it blew out the gas kept going for a bit for some reason, set off the alarm, but cleared out when the basement door was opened for a few minutes. Now why there was enough gas to set off the alarm (unlike previous times when it has blown out) is a bit of a mystery, but at least it did dissipate quickly. We spent a half hour watching a movie in the van parked across the street from our house. The firefighters were so nice about it. We'll need to look into a high wind vent for the topper on the roof and see if that helps.