Another one bites the dust

It's been a long week; better in many ways than the last few for sure.

The earthquake in Japan and the resulting tsunami has been on my mind all day. The students and I watched snippets of news footage on Friday. It really puts things in perspective.

My thoughts and most sincere prayers are with the families of the those killed and the hundreds of injured or missing.

Things in the Creel "house" are quiet this evening. My parents, sister, and her boyfriend came to visit and babysit on Friday. They took the twins swimming and did an excellent job of tiring them out post dinner. It was nice to hang out with them.

Our hotel reservations are through the 28th at this point. We aren't sure when we'll be able to move back in the house, but it will be a lot of time and effort to pack everything up and move out of the hotel when that time comes.

The kids are amazing. They're growing so rapidly. They just LOVED the daylight savings time change. NOT. Who knew an hour could make all the difference??? Today was full of whining and crying. Josiah seriously cried from 9 am until 4 pm (did not take his nap) until we ran out to do errands. Siiiiigh. WHO said parenthood was every easy?

Lilly is THIS CLOSE to walking. She is so tentative about every step, but we've managed to wrangle a few independent ones out of her. She is the sweetest little girl in the world. Josiah is the best kind of monster. One of my favorite things about him is that he wants to go off and play but then always comes back several times for hugs. So precious.

On Saturday we met Steve's parents and sister Lauren at Sweet Lucy's, a bbq restaurant in Philly. You should have seen the food Josiah put away. This kid is a BIG eater. Good thing he's always on the move. Lilly loved the cornbread and brisket, but was actually not a big fan of their homemade mac and cheese which was weird. I think she was too distracted by all the people using the soda machine.

Tonight, the twins had their first taste of Chinese food. Of course, they inhaled it. They had steamed long green beans and chicken in brown sauce. I sampled a few bites and it was pretty delicious. I may have to find my own variation for them. They also had frozen grape juice for dessert.

I know my blog post is disorganized, but I wanted to get one in before the end of the weekend. Thank you again for the continued prayers and support.

Wishing you a restful evening and happy dreams...