Today

We dropped Austin off at school at 8:30 and headed over to the Dr's office to get a record of Olivia's immunizations. We lost our Child Care Benefit b/c they didn't have her updated file. The Child Care Benefit is the amount the govt pays for Olivia's preschool (which is $47/day, $22.85 out of our pocket after the govt portion is paid). Anyway, since she is not completely caught up, they might not pay until she is. I sure hope that is not the case. I am playing the "We just moved here from the States" card on this one. We'll see if it works.

Once we had that, we came home and fed the baby while Olivia watched a bit of Aristocats, her current favorite. Every time the scene with the Eiffel Tower comes on, she says, "Mom, is that where you and Daddy lived?" because Jared once told her that we'd been there. Then she hits me with a barrage of 20 questions all related to the tower, where it is, why were we there, when did we get back, will we go again and can I go too? Etc.

I got the girls "booked in" at the gym so I went at about 10:30. I don't get the way that they do it here, you have to schedule it. You can't just turn up, like I did in Provo. They are only open from 9-12, which is really annoying in itself, but there are only two sessions a day 9-10:30 or 10:30-12. I don't understand why they limit it this way. What if I only wanted to work out from 9-9:30? They could get another person in there for the rest of that session, but they don't. If I reserve it, I must reserve it for the whole hour and a half. ????? Confused? Me too. But the good news is, I got them in and could work out. I usually go early but Jared is out of town for ten days so it's this or nothing. On my way out I booked them in for next Monday and Tuesday, which was quickly filling up, I might add. It's like you have to plan your workouts two weeks in advance.

Tomorrow is Yoga and I am really looking forward to it. I have to say, I could do a whole different post on Yoga alone b/c I really love it. It's strange b/c before I tried it I thought it looked boring and was just a bunch of chanting and stretching. The thing I love about it is the strong warrior poses and the balancing poses. It really works your muscles and I feel such a difference afterward, all over and through my body.

After my workout I came home and put the girls down for naps. Ashley didn't sleep long, which was annoying b/c then she was tired all day. We went to a park after school with a friend I met, Helen. Her little girl is in Austin's class. She is from Samoa and has 8 kids. Amazing that she is not Mormon, really. I respect her so much b/c she is so calm and always smiling. I think if I had 8 kids I would be grumpy and stressed all the time. I guess I have a lot to learn. I am trying.

We came home and had dinner. I then took the kids to Jared's cousin, Mike's house, just a few houses up the street from us. Mike's daughters were going to babysit for me, but Hayley was sick and Sophie didn't want to come alone. So I took them there so that Debbie, Mike's wife, could help Sophie with the kids. They have been there quite a few times so they went, no problem. I needed babysitters b/c my Thai class was tonight and Jared is gone and Jared's parents are in Melbourne.

We made the BEST Red curry dish tonight, I will have to post the recipe tomorrow. It was SO good and I couldn't believe how fast we made it. We were done like an hour early and just had to wait for the rice to cook so we could eat it. Delicious. Unfortunately, she also made the worst Phad Thai I have ever had. Everyone else was saying, "Oh, this is so good", so I had to eat it too... but I could not believe how bad it was. Weird. I won't be ordering that at her restaurant.

I should get to bed, it's 11:15, but I have to watch the Pride and Prejudice DVD b/c it's due tomorrow. You might think I should just NOT watch it, but I am ashamed to say this is the second time I have rented it b/c I didn't watch it last time! Pathetic, I know. I just don't really have time for TV, it seems. Oh well. I'm not getting up to go to the gym at 5:45 so I guess I can stay up. Maybe Ashley won't wake up at 3am. I can only hope.