Hello friends!

Busy times here at our house (as usual).
We've had lots of fun stuff going on lately.

Last Friday Matt and I went out for the evening with the friends. As in went to dinner AND out to a bar after. This was the first time that anyone other than us has put the kids to bed. Mom said the kids did great and didn't give her any trouble! (Hooray! Can we get a sitter every weekend, now?) It was such fun! The bar we went to was having an 80's band play and there were lots of *interesting* dancers to watch. We had a lot of fun with our good friends, Mary and Craig.

Saturday we went to Pittsburgh to have lunch at an Ethiopian restaurant with some other families that have adopted (or are adopting) children from Ethiopia. Lunch was a 3 hour event and a lot of fun. I really enjoy this group every time we meet up. The families are committed to helping the kids keep a connection with their heritage. The man who owns the restaurant is always so welcoming to us all. It's a just a great group and we really appreciate having them in our lives.

Sunday we went to Matt's folks' after mass and spent the afternoon visiting with them. We hadn't been down to their home in awhile, so it was nice to hang out there all afternoon.

Monday evening my women's group had our first cooking venture together. One of our members had surgery that morning, so the rest of us got together to make some meals to take over to her the next day. We made enough to take her 3 casseroles and an apple pie, while the other 3 of us got 2 casseroles and some apple turnovers out of the deal. It was great! We had been talking about getting together for some super-cooking, but this was the first we'd actually done it. We really had a good time cooking together and it was so nice not to have cook or plan a meal for 2 nights that week.

Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday Matt was off, and though I can't remember much of what we did, it seems like we were hardly here. We did have a couple of my cousins over for injera Thursday night. That's always a good time.
I do love the days when Matt is home. Last night he started what I call the crappy week. He does a 3 day weekend (12 hour night shifts), is off a day or two, then back out for 2 more night shifts. That is the schedule every other week. I hate it. I dream of the day he can maybe switch to dayturn. So what if it's probably 3 years or more away ... a girl can dream, right?

Anyway, a pretty quiet weekend here. A little bit of shopping, laundry, and cleaning planned, but not much else. Oh, I am going to take Eliana to the local Spanish mass on Sunday. We haven't been in so long, I feel terrible. I think it's been like 10 months (right before we left for Ethiopia) since we've been. I can't juggle all 3 kids there without Matt, so just Eliana and I will make an appearance and then hopefully resume regular (once/month) attendance.

Here are some random pictures from the past week or 2:

First painted toenails

(playing) Sleeping Beauty

Rockstars

I love these girls!