You Don't Know How Good It Is Until It's Gone!

This past week James has been at a leadership training conference in Switzerland...what a sacrifice, huh? Anyway, that left me at home alone with the girls for the week...in a foreign country, with no family around to visit, and did I mention Ella was out of school and Macie's school was optional? Well we were going to make the most of it. I "opted" for Macie to go to school so that I could get some good one on one time with Ella for 5 whole days. And you know when you make plans they always turn out just as good as you planned...right?!?! So like I posted already, Macie had been asked to do this television show. That took up all of Tuesday and Wednesday...no alone time and physical exhaustion at the end of both days. Thursdays are our weekly grocery shopping day with another family here, so Ella and I did that, and then I deep cleaned their room because there wasn't much time left for fun before we had to get Macie. So that left Monday and Friday for me and Ella. Monday we ran a few errands and then today we went to a mall because she had seen a drawing book she wanted to use some Christmas money to buy. We had a fun time. We had coffee/hot chocolate at a coffee shop and she drew and I studied some Polish personal pronouns...sounds simpler than it really is, trust me! Then we wandered around the mall some and had lunch together and then wandered some more and found a super cute outfit for her for Easter. So it ended well. Also...I can't believe I am disclosing this secret I have kept...I have been reading the Twilight series. The past 3 nights my teammate and friend, Traci, came over and we watched the first 3 movies. It was fun to have girl nights.

All in all, it was a good week. Now I have realized how much I take James for granted. He does a lot more than I give him credit for. I realized this in the evenings and some in the mornings but mainly in the evenings. I was having to fix dinner and entertain kids, clean up after dinner and entertain kids, give kids baths, get them ready for bed and all the stuff cleaned up from the day and in the mornings get everyone ready, lunches packed and breakfast made and cleaned up and everyone in all of the cold weather gear we all must wear. It was a lot more work and took a lot longer without an extra set of hands. So it took James going to Switzerland for the week for me to appreciate all he does. :) Here are a few pictures from our week.

Re-alphabetized all of our DVDs to include the new ones we have gotten since being in Poland...don't judge. You can easily find a movie when they are in alphabetical order!  

James suggested a waterproof case for my Kindle so I don't drop it in the bathtub and ruin it. 

Macie dropped her cute snowman she got from her friend Karolinka and it broke and was not repairable. We had much tears over this!

Ella made a friend at the TV studio.

She also got creative with the shoes in our entry way and made a "shoe lift" as she called it...this was while I was cleaning and reorganizing her room. 

Ella had gotten a Barbie hair thing for Christmas that you design the hair on a website and print it out on the hair things that came with the Barbie. We finally did that. They had a blast.

I made 3 new dishes this week. I made homemade baked fishsticks. I thought they were pretty good. The girls were not impressed and told me they liked the "real" fishsticks better. Ha! Also I found sweet potatoes at our grocery store. I was so excited because Ella LOVES sweet potatoes and they are hard to find. It didn't matter that I paid about $3 a pound to see the excitement on her face as she at an entire potato! I made eggplant parmesan for the first time...it was my first time to even eat it. And I must say it was quite yummy! Ella liked it too...Macie wasn't quite sure. And finally we had to have something sweet. I made Cherry Coke Chocolate Cupcakes. Yumm-O!!! They were so moist and not as sweet as I thought they would be. 

Ella in her new outfit. This picture does not do justice to the cuteness it is. And can we talk about how grown up she has become? Hello...where did the time go and how is ok that she is almost 9? Good night!

So this was our week in a nutshell. I survived...well almost. James doesn't come home until tomorrow late afternoon but pretty much we are good! I can't wait to have him back!!!