Okay, not so lucky today in how I was awakened. Instead of a little John Lee song, I was startled by loud, excessive coughing that began at 5:15 and culminated at 5:30 when India yelled for me. Despite the fact that there is a white noise machine beside her crib, Kate's supernatural hearing (as a friend used to say, Kate can hear "a gnat fart in the attic") picked up on the commotion so she arose as well.

Wednesday is Playgroup day and I love Playgroup. We have anywhere from 10 to 20 moms, each of whom have 1-2 children, so it is loud, crazy, at times overstimulating, and did I mention loud? But always a good time. Playgroup is like a cocktail party minus alcohol (although there was that one time someone served mimosas...and another time there was sangria...but I digress). The hostess is responsible for snacks and coffee, and all the mothers sit and chat while the children play. Very nice, and when the girls were very small and I was feeling insane, playgroup was a little oasis for me. Still is.



After naps my friend Susan and her two girls, Ellie and Anne (Anne is my goddaughter) came to play. A great time was had by all, as you can see from the pictures. Now it is time to get these girls to bed and begin packing for our anniversary trip. We will be traveling to Richmond tomorrow afternoon for a stopover with my parents, then leaving Friday morning for Stuart. Tracy's parents will be taking care of the girls while Tracy and I have some time alone! We had planned to camp but the weather is looking iffy, so we may just stay at my grandparents' home in Galax. We are planning to go to Chateau Morissette Winery (El, remember our Kibler Valley camping trip and visit to the Winery in the snow?), and thanks to Delane's suggestions plan to go to Floyd Saturday night for dinner and acoustic blues music. Should be great. Have a wonderful weekend, everyone, and I'll be back on Monday!