Whew, last few days have been a home repair whirlwind! We woke up Thursday to a large burp behind the master bathroom wall. Suffice it to say that by the weekend we were one water heater richer, with one more hole in the bathroom wall, $660 poorer, and the lucky recipients of a recommendation for a $3k tub replacement project. Tell you what, I am SO glad that I now have an expansion tank, and my gas line is now 3 feet from the shutoff valve instead of 3.5 feet. Thanks to GA state plumbing codes, I can rest easy.

My home is 14 years old, so I was expecting to have to get a new water heater soon, but MAN does it suck when we have to shell it out. I am so glad that I bought the home warranty, without that it would have been $1200+! Also a microscopic crack in the garden tub is causing an (unrelated) leak. I think I might just slap some caulk on it and call it a day. At this moment I cannot recall why we ever stopped renting.

Friday (Day 15) was the first day of new semester of swim lessons at Atlanta Swim Academy, which we love. We met another ex-Pat british lady whose son is in WM's class, so we enjoyed chatting to her and had fun with the kids as they waited for each other's classes to finish. Next week I will be more prepared with Homework for Miss Sugar and Spice, and maybe we can bring the Build a Bear sewing project to finish. We had a Mexican meal and some VERY sleepy children.

Playdates for Days 16 and 17 were fun but the kids were super exhausted from getting out of their routines. I did play with them some, and some at home, but was only peripherally engaged in the play.

Yesterday, SNS was home for MLK day with her daddy. Not much time for play with dad after making up the weekend's sleep deficit...we actually had to cancel another play date because we thought she was getting sick. They DO have little sniffles, but I think whe was (hopefully) just tired. I did cuddle Wee Man after I returned from work and we talked about the baby on Ice Age. I was in a great mood because I had just found out that the check engine service on the hybrid was COMPLETELY covered by Honda Warranty! Yes !! I could use a break after my projected gazillion dollars on plumbing and medical bills (unrelated, by the way).

Oh, and SNS got to Skype with her grandparents in Scotland for the first time. The netbook is almost worth it for that. I never would have thought there was much of a difference between videoconferencing vs. just a phone call, but it really is a totally different world for her to see her grandparents and vice versa. I think the video holds the kids' attention better than a phone at this point in their development. I've included a pic taken with the Skype camera in celebration of our new method of communicating!

Today is Day 19 and I am pleased to report we are back on track - today the Scot and I played upstairs after Sugar and Spice requested a playtime (they are getting the hang of it!). He played in the tent with them and then SNS got out the doctor set to cure her American Girl of whatever she had. Must have been bad, she needed 5 shots before we saw any improvement.