January 26, 2015

  Five days after the snow storm, it's 70 degrees and the snow has all melted.  This is where the snowman once stood.

Can you spot his sad remains?

January 24, 2015

And suddenly she was four. Or "fouy," as she would say.



January 22, 2015

  When there's a potential snow day, I'm always torn between wanting the snow day so I can sleep in the next morning, and wanting the kids to go to school so we can have the day off in April that's designated as the makeup day.  Can't we just have both??






January 18, 2015



 I think they're hooked.  Luckily I'm not required to play.




January 17, 2015

  After Erik's birthday party last year, I vowed to never do a December party again.  People are just to busy.  January, on the other hand, is a great time for parties.  Especially if you host it in the black-light mini golf place in the mall.  People love dropping their kids off for a party while they go shopping in the mall for a couple hours.




January 16, 2015

What goes up must come down.  We just had to wait until a warm enough day to do it.



January 14, 2015

IHTBB again
  While the other kids were at school, Bailey tagged along with Jeff and me to the library, which is about her favorite place.  From there, she and I went to the Discovery Center to kill time while Jeff was in a meeting across the street at the hospital.  We nearly had the place to ourselves since most kids were in school.  Following Jeff's meeting was lunch out.  Don't tell our other kids how spoiled she is.






January 13, 2015

 Much to Jeff's delight, Erik has developed an interest in football.  He'll sit and watch games with Jeff, asking questions all throughout.  I guess he has aspirations of being a kicker because I find him outside practicing drop-kicks often.  Today Shelbi helped him out a little.





January 12, 2015

First day of ballet.  This is going to be fun.

January 10, 2015

  As I vacuumed the upstairs this morning, Bailey pulled out this toy vacuum we acquired at a garage sale in Michigan.  It makes a terrible noise, which I think has Bailey convinced that it's an actual working vacuum for kids.  She meticulously vacuumed this hallway.

January 8, 2015

Lego Duplo, a definite favorite Christmas gift.


January 4, 2015

  I'm not sure how it came up, but at dinner tonight I declared this to be the week of Jodi.  I would pick my favorite dinners all week.  These delicious rolls were part of tonight's dinner.
Now you're asking what else made the list of dinners for Week of Jodi.  Since you asked:

Monday:  Cream Cheese Chicken and Vegetable soup and leftover rolls from last night.  
Tuesday: Meatball sandwiches
Wednesday:  Chicken taquitos
Thursday: Mexi-chili casserole (chosen for its ease of preparation)
Friday: White chicken chili and cornbread
Saturday: Pizza (delivered)

Now all the kids want to have their own weeks.  I told them they'd have to come up with six meals that aren't just different versions of mac and cheese.  

January 3, 2015

  It's a good day at the Foster home, and not just because it snowed last night. Today was Erik's baptism.  The whole thing came together rather quickly.  I spoke to the ward mission leader at church on Sunday to get a date set up and before I knew it we were having the baptism on Saturday. It worked out well because Erik got to share his baptism date with his best friend from church. 
 On the way to the baptism Erik said the snow was like a gift to him today.
 This is one good boy. He's been looking forward to being baptized for a long time.  He really has taken it seriously and wants to do what's right.
I ordered this cake as a special dessert for tonight.  Yes, believe it or not, a "professional" did the writing on the cake. 

January 2, 2015

Today it really is hard to be Bailey.  Under her eyes and nose are raw from being wiped with tissue.


January 1, 2015

 Definitely the best part of New Year's Day is snacking on finger foods all day instead of actually cooking a meal.