Each week is a blur, and nothing seems to slow the time down. Bill has been travelling almost every week anywhere from 1 night a week to all 4 nights, so some weeks are better than others. I think the good weeks have been when I have been able to play tennis during the day. Now that the weather is getting better, I should be playing even more, so I am hoping for some happy weeks. I also recently bought a book titled, How to Raise Kids You Want to Keep, which I thought was an apt title. I am hoping it helps to decrease those ugly weeks. The girls took the last 2 months off of some activities, just to get a break from the daily running around, but we are all ready to get back into the regular routine.

Lauren has decided she wants to try karate, so that is starting this week. She can't wait to learn to hit and kick like Po in Kung Fu Panda, but I am hoping it helps her listening and obeying skills. Lauren has been listening and dancing to her iPod Shuffle all the time, and it is great to see her loving the music so much. She does have a habit of listening to songs repeatedly, so it is hard to introduce her to new music though. I have also tried to tape a few clips of Lauren singing and dancing, but she has pleaded with me that I won't post anything to Facebook. For such an outgoing girl, she is so uptight about what others think about her. Lauren has also been on a kick to get a 2nd American Girl doll. She had to save up 1/2 the $, and we would pay for the rest. She just got it this weekend, so she is loving Claire, her look a like doll, and she even made a bunk bed for her. We shall see how long she plays with her since she was never a big doll player. Lauren is also the absolute worst with clothes, in that all of her clothes seem to have holes in them. I guess Alexa will be happy since she will have to get new clothes, since not much is going to get through once Lauren is done with them.

Alexa is a huge doll player, and she seems to come to me everyday for help changing her doll Haley's clothes. She also loves to work on puzzles, so we keep working on harder ones and she is so proud that she can do 5+ puzzles all by herself. Alexa also loves to play on computer and can get to everything she needs and wants to all by herself. Alexa does seem to get into a lot of trouble though. One night, I sent her up to her room after already being in timeout from cutting her hair, pinching her sisters multiple times (they are terrified of her since she hurts so badly), almost breaking our Wii and I am sure a few more things that I am now forgetting. Alexa proceeded to go into Kaitlyn's room and take a colored sand container and dumped it all over Kaitlyn's and her own carpet. She also got some bath gel and body lotion and got it all over her carpet. Not a fun night for her or me. I decided to ask Kaitlyn what she thought Alexa's punishment should be, and she said no electronics for a week. It was 1 long week for everyone, but I think it taught Alexa a good lesson.

Kaitlyn is getting ready to go on a 3 night trip to Savannah with her Girl Scout troop, so she is so excited. I can't believe she is old enough to go away without us, but I am also very excited for her. Kaitlyn is hoping to start piano lessons soon. The 1 teacher we wanted to get is booked up, so we are having a hard time finding an opening for her. Hopefully soon... I am hoping to get Kaitlyn to work on cooking with me as well since she doesn't seem to like any food except hot dogs and chicken nuggets. Kaitlyn does have some great will power. She decided to give up candy, cookies and ice cream for Lent, so I am quite impressed with her. Kaitlyn asked her dad to give up beer for Lent, so he did along with coke since she gave up so much. We will see how they do these 40 days, but Kaitlyn already had 2 Oreos after lunch that the restaurant gave her yesterday. An honest mistake that we realized just when she was finishing her 2nd cookie.

We just ordered pictures from all of 2011, and it was amazing to see the girls from 1 year ago. Of course, Alexa is the one that changed the most since her hair has grown so much and her face has gotten older, but the other 2 have changed as well, whether it is Lauren losing teeth or Kaitlyn's hair growing a little bit longer. Well that is just a little bit going on in our lives here.