Well, I can breathe a sigh of relief! We had our big unannounced survey at work last week. We were due in the spring, so it's been a waiting game. I really had hoped that they would come while I was gone to San Diego, but no such luck. I'm not easily stressed, but I must say that by the second day of the survey I felt physically stressed. It all went well, and the surveyor was very complimentary in her report. I expected no less, but it's still such relief to be done with it!!

I really should be blogging more than once a week - I'm afraid I miss a lot in the middle. Let's see... My former co-worker Mary's daughter gave birth to Mary's 3rd granddaughter - Sophia Marie. Mary sent pictures, and I'm just tickled by all of Sophia's red hair - you know me, I'm a sucker for redheaded little girls :)

I was able to sit in on 2nd interviews for a new position at the hospital on Friday. It's for a nursing administration assistant. I felt honored to be included in the process, and also glad that I was on the asking side of the table rather than the answering side. Much less nerve-wracking.

We had our annual employee awards banquet on Friday night. It was a great way to end the week and celebrate the fact that our survey went well. Grandma Diane and Papa Roger picked up the girls and they went to Great Grandma Leota's church for their fall bazaar. We had a very nice evening, and enjoyed sleeping in, almost as much as the girls enjoyed spending the night camping on Grandma and Grandpa's living room floor with them. I am amazed at how much cleaning I got done on Saturday morning in the two hours with no help.

Chris went to help finish the playground at daycare on Saturday morning. I must say that he has suffered the gamut of weather as far as the playground has been concerned. We worked a few weeks ago in the pouring rain, and this Saturday they worked in the cold and snow that had accumulated on Friday. Actually Friday was our first real snow storm of the year. It started out with rain and sleet and then moved on to full blown snow globe. Luckily it cleared up by mid afternoon. It made for a really beautiful scene - wouldn't have been quite so lovely if I would have had to have been out in the midst of it - but driving home, the trees were covered in snow. The wind had blown with such fierceness that everything was coated in winter wonderland like fashion.

Chris went out for some quality time with Brian this morning. Okay - they call it squirrel hunting, but I'm pretty sure it has more to do with the quality boy time than the squirrels as they usually don't come home with any squirrels. We went out for pizza and shopping this afternoon. We hit the bookstore with Olivia's gift card from her summer reading program. The girls both had fun browsing the books and picking out their favorites to take home. Aside from the bookstore and pizza, our trip to the big city was pretty much a bust. We had stopped at Sears in hopes of getting a replacement part for our vacuum and a water filter for the refrigerator. We came up empty handed on both quests. It seems that they no longer have their repair/parts place at the back of the store. Now you have to go online for everything. We also stopped at Target - they had something in their ad that I knew was on our Christmas list. Of course - the shelf was empty. Suppose I'll have to go online for that too!!

Skipping back - we had Olivia's conference at school on Thursday. I really like her teacher Mrs. Epley - I think she does a great job. She went through the report card that had come home earlier in the week - along with her reading and math scores from the testing they have done. I was amazed by her reading scores. We've always known that she was a good reader, but I didn't know how good she was. She's been in the third grade reading group this year, and her scores on the reading tests surpass what the goal is for ending third grade. Wow!! Aside from that, we had the usual stuff. Gym is never her stellar subject - I'm afraid that she's inherited my coordination. We encourage her to do her best and keep trying. She also needs to work on sitting up in her chair, and not fidgeting so much, and to continue paying attention - even when she thinks she knows the material. It seems that she would much rather be reading at times when she should be paying attention. Chris said that in ways it was like re-living his second grade conference. I guess he was a doodler when he should have been paying attention. All in all a very good conference, we are very proud of our daughter.

We watched the Wizard of Oz last night. I waited because I wanted to be sure that we weren't going to scare the tar out of Olivia. Somehow I didn't have the same concern with Elliott. I think Olivia was at least 5 1/2 before she was able to make it through a Scooby Doo video. First she would turn off the sound, and then she would have to turn off the picture, and then she would be glued to my leg for the rest of the afternoon. Elliott has been in love with Scooby from the get-go. I guess she will be the one of us that can actually ready suspense novels!!! I did worry about the movie holding her attention - as it's not animated - but she was completely enthralled from beginning to end. She spent a good part of the day cackling today. I'll get you my pretty - and your little dog too!!! Chris and I both enjoyed it as much as the girls did. I think that one of the beauties of having children is getting to re-live some of the quintessential childhood joys.

Have a great week!!!