Didn't Mean to Have Such a Hiatus!

So, once again I fell off the blogging wagon! I guess I found it much easier to keep up the blog in the winter months when we are at home, versus during the nice weather, when we are out running around constantly!

Just a quick catch up...everyone in the Wright house is doing well. We have been enjoying our summer, with lots of pool days and fun visits with friends. We had a wonderful family vacation at the end of June to Hilton Head Island, SC and loved every minute of it! Although the drive down & back was quite interesting, with lots of screaming from poor Hayden, who did not want to be in his carseat for 12+ hours (and we found out when we got home that he is cutting his 2 yr molars--ouch!), the rest of the trip was great. We spent most of our time going between our pool and the beach and of course enjoyed ice cream every night!

The kids and I have been continuing our Y trips in the morning for Mommy to work out and the kids to get to meet up and play with their friends. Abigail and Mitchell have both been involved with T-Ball this summer and we have had fun going to games and watching them enjoy themselves and improve their baseball skills. We have also been spending time at my parent's new farm and the kids have had such a great time learning about their chickens, gathering eggs, helping plant the garden and just loving the country living.

Hopefully, I can get back to the blogging world and keep everything updated with pictures and keep posts up about the life of our little family! We are gearing back up for school, with Abigail entering 1st grade and Mitchell in 4 year old preschool and of course Hayden hanging full-time with Mommy! I am sure there will be lots of fun to report back!

Happy Anniversary to Us!

I know I did an anniversary post in November, but that was for our decade of being together. This post is in honor of our wedding anniversary, 8 years today! March 6, 2003 was a memorable and amazing day on a beautiful, tropical island with an intimate wedding ceremony where we became Mr. and Mrs. We both still have such fond memories of our wedding away and wouldn't change it for the world! We went against the grain and did not have a big wedding at home, but instead escaped all the chaos and wed in the Caribbean and it was everything that we wanted and more!

I love this man more than I can even put into words. I am beyond amazed at the life that we have created together and the three beautiful children that have turned our family of 2 into a family of 5! I was lucky enough to marry my best friend and very happy to say that after 8 years of marriage, he is still my best friend and the absolute love of my life! I can only look forward to many more anniversaries to come and thank God every day for sending Stephen into my life!

Fun Evening with Friends and a Surprise!

Steve has been super busy at work and that is a good thing, but it has left the kids and I with some free evenings and tonight we thought what better way to spend our evening without Daddy, then at the mall with friends! We met Mrs. Yvonne, Mary and AJ at the mall for some McDonald's and then some playtime at the playcenter in the mall and had such a fun time! The kids were so excited to see each other again and always play so well together. They are all old enough (minus Hayden) now to remember each other and look forward to spending time together, they are friends! Yvonne and I got to enjoy a relatively low-key dinner, where we were able to chat, while the kids had their own conversations. Then we ventured over to the play area and let the kids burn off some energy. It was a great time!

Now for the surprise! To my total shock, Abigail got her ears pierced!! Again, Abigail does not handle pain well. I have been asking her to get her ears pierced for over a year now and everytime she would respond with "No way, I am not going to put holes in my ears!" So, I had pretty much accepted the fact that I was most likely going to miss out on this experience and she would do it when she was 16 and out with friends, and that made me sad! While we were leaving the play area, we walked by Claire's and I half-jokingly asked her if she wanted to get her ears pierced and she responded with a very enthusiastic "Yes!" I thought she must not have heard me correctly, so I asked her again and the response was the same. Yvonne and I looked at each other with wide eyes and very hurriedly made our way to Claire's before she could change her mind! I made sure they had two piercers available, filled out the paperwork, and got Abigail all set. She picked out a pair of purple studs and although she looked nervous, she did not waver in her decision. Mary held one of her hands and I held the other and Mitchell stood in front of her telling her what a big kid she was now. It was all very sweet and special and I know I will never forget it!

Getting ready to pull the trigger!

Pretty girl with pretty earrings!

So, our night of fun with friends, also turned in to a monumental day in Abigail's life (or at least in her short almost 6 years) and definitely was a moment that I will always remember!

First Tooth Fairy Visit

After many weeks, if not a couple of months, Abigail finally lost her first tooth! She was so anxious to get the very loose, wiggly tooth out and to our surprise, she even asked if we would pull it! Now, if you know Abigail, you know that she is a little timid and does not handle pain very well, much like her mother, so we were so shocked when we practically begged us to pull her tooth! We tried for two nights and neither of us could get a good hold on the teeny, tiny little tooth and Abigail was frustrated. She wanted her visit from the Tooth Fairy and she wanted her name on the "First Tooth Lost" chart at school, very important things to a five year old!
Finally, this afternoon, after Nana tried a few times to pull it out, I was able to get hold of the tooth with a napkin and gave it two good pulls. On the second pull, it popped out! At first Abigail was a little startled and started to cry, but as quickly as she started she stopped and then ran to look at her new smile. She was so impressed with the gaping whole that now was part of her smile and we were teary-eyed at just how big our little girl is getting!

Some Warm Winter Days!

In the midst of all of our sickness last week, we were able to steal away to our neighborhood park to enjoy some sunshine and warmth in February! It has been such a long and cold winter, that when we saw temperatures in the 50s and 60s and some sun, we knew it was just what we needed to get out and enjoy some fresh air! This was also Hayden's first trip to the park as a full walker and he enjoyed all the activities that were new to him!

Hayden just standing and taking it all in!

Loving the slide!

Mitchell swinging and learning to pump his legs!

She is getting to be such a little lady!

Hayden getting some swinging action in too!

We also enjoyed some time outside of the house, getting out some outdoor toys that haven't been played with in months! Abigail was very eager to get on her bike again and Mitchell just wanted to dig in some dirt! It definitely gave us all some spring fever and we are all looking forward to our fun that we always have outdoors in the spring and summer!

Abigail taking a break from her bike riding

Mitchell doing what he does best...getting dirty!

Hayden ready for a wagon ride!

The Sickies

What is worse than your child getting a virus and being miserably sick?? How about the entire family getting the virus and being miserably sick! This is what happened to our family last week and we are just now getting back to some sense of normalcy!

Poor Abigail was sent home from school with a high fever and a horrible cough, so off to the pediatrician's office we went, only to be told that she had a virus that usually morphed into something else, but at this point there was nothing they could do for her. She continued on with her high fever and cough and then 2 days later, Mitchell and I were down with the same symptoms. It was a long weekend, with some even scary times for this experienced Momma, as Mitchell's virus morphed into croup and he was having a hard time breathing, very scary! Five days after Abigail's symptoms first appeared, we were back at the pediatrician's office, this time with Hayden in tow, as he had also begun the high fever/cough fun! At this appointment, the doctor discovered that Abigail now had pneumonia and had to get on some high-powered antibiotics but that Hayden was still in the beginning phases of the dreaded virus. I still felt miserable, but had to continue with my regular, daily routines, which had also been altered to taking care of some very sick kiddos. As last week progressed, Steve ended up contracting the sickies and we had to take Hayden back to the doctor, where we then learned he had broncholitis and also needed to be treated with some major meds. I was finally on the uphill as was Mitchell, and after a few days of the antibiotics both Abigail & Hayden were feeling much better. Poor Daddy was the last one to get all the germs and he ended up with a sinus infection that he too had to take antibiotics for!

A very sick little girl, taking a nap in Mommy & Daddy's bed!

Hayden falling asleep on Mommy before heading to the doctor!

We have had plenty of sickness run through our family over the years, but I have to say this is the first time that we have all been hit with something at the same time. It is one of the hardest things to do, to take care of your children when you are feeling so sick and miserable. But, as parents, we just trudge through and make the most of it. We had lots of TV time, all snuggled under blankets, with our box of tissue handy and I was okay with that! And I am very relieved that we are all back to 100% and enjoying our little family once again!

Our Little Valentine's

The amazing man in our life that deserves so much more!

The kids and I decided that Daddy needed some special Valentine gifts this year. He has been working so hard at the office to provide for our family and has had to deal with extras such as my surgery and recovery, that he definitely deserved something to brighten his day! So, we bought some wooden frames, paint and stickers and the kids went to town decorating them for their special Valentine. After the frames were painted and decorated with lots of heart stickers, we found a picture of each of the kids with their Daddy and it was the perfect accent to the beautiful frames that were made with 100% love for such an amazing man. Daddy was beyond thrilled with his gifts and said that he would display the frames in his office with pride, which of course made the kids ever so excited!

3 specially made Valentine picture frames

I remember when Valentine's Day was all about Steve and I, going out to dinner and getting each other little gifts. We still get each other a little candy and a card, but now we get to enjoy this fun holiday with our kids and it is so much fun to see their excitement at sharing their love with their family. They also were both very interested in passing out Valentine cards with suckers to their classmates this year. Abigail and Mitchell worked very hard at signing their names to their Barbie and Toy Story 3 cards and then carefully attaching a heart-shaped sucker.

So, all in all, we celebrated Valentine's Day with some fun crafts, school Valentine cards and enjoying the love of our little family...perfect!

The joy of reading!

I love to read! Anyone that knows me, knows that I almost always have a book somewhere on me, whether it be a borrowed book from the library or on my new Kindle (thanks to my mom for a great birthday present last year!) I am usually reading multiple books at a time and it is truly one of my favorite past times. So, you can only guess my delight, when from an early age, my daughter seemed to develop my same love of reading. I can remember her being less than a year old, holding a book and "reading" to herself or anyone that would listen. Abigail has continued this over the years and has been so excited as she learned her letters, their sounds and what they looked like. And now that she is in kindergarten, she has really taken off and is learning the phonics and sight words, that she has only looked at for years. She has been making such progress since school started in August.

Abigail & Mitchell both reading when she was about 3

This afternoon, I was fixing Abigail's hair before we went out and she grabbed up one of her books to "read" while I finished the very familiar task of making braids. She had a page opened and was just making up her words and I noticed that some of the words were her sight words that she has been learning. I pointed this out to her and she read a few, then she started at the beginning of the sentence and started sounding out the words that she did not know. Before we knew it, she had read the 5 words sentence all by herself! She was so proud of herself, as was I. So, she quickly and eagerly flipped the page and read another 5 or 6 word sentence on her own. Abigail was so thrilled that she was finally reading, something she has longed to do since she was a chubby toddler!

Abigail cheesing with some new books for Christmas

I cannot begin to describe the amount of pride that welled up inside of me, as I watched my firstborn take just another step toward growing up. She will read many words in her life, but none will sound as sweet to my ears as those first, sounded out ever so technically, words. I know what an amazing world opened up to me in the pages of books and I am so excited that she will share this same love and passion for reading as I do. Our night time routines will start to change over the next few months, as Abigail continues to grow in her new-found reading skills and she will start reading to us instead of the other way around! I know watching our kids grow up can be difficult at times, but it is also an amazing journey that I am so privileged to travel along with them!

Friday Night Dates

It's funny how things change so completely when you have kids. Steve and I use to go out all the time, to dinner, the movies, out with friends and all on a whim. Now, we have to plan well in advance to go out to dinner with the kids and we have to go somewhere kid-friendly, that will be able to handle the noise of 3 young children and have food that they will want to eat. We have found all that in our Friday night family date to Qdoba!

Gone are the days of fancy dinners and quiet restaurants and in its' place are early dinners to beat crowds in places that you order your food and then find your seat yourself! We have found that Qdoba offers kids eat free Friday nights and we think this is a great idea and have been capitalizing on it, doing just that tonight. The kids are always full of excitement when we tell them we are going to go out to dinner and if we tell them we are going to the "Quesadilla Store" then they are even more excited, they love the place! And maybe it has something to do with a Coldstone Creamery right next door, but whatever the reason, it is a place that we all enjoy and makes for a wonderful family date night.

I love creating memories with our kids. I know that we only have so long in their childhoods that they will actually want to go out on a Friday night with their Mom and Dad to eat dinner, so I am going to relish every moment that I can. I like the conversations that we have when we are sitting at Qdoba eating our yummy Mexican food and seeing the smiles on their faces, pure joy that we are eating out and just being together. We do most things as a family and it is all our kids know and I think that is a great quality to have in a family. They expect spending the majority of time all together and I hope that is something that we can continue to build on as they get older, something that we can just instill into their beings. I love our little family and although it can get quite insane at times, I will always look forward to our Friday night family dates or any other time that we are together!

My Girl in Curls

I am so blessed with my three kiddos and I love getting to experience having both a girl and boys. I get all the rough and tough aspects of having boys, with their constant need for dump trucks and getting dirty, but then I get to experience the life of having a little girl and oh do I have a girly girl!! My mom wasn't so lucky with her girl, I was a tomboy to the core. I did not want to wear dresses or have my hair done or help her cook in the kitchen, I was more into sports and wearing basketball shorts and having my hair in a ponytail. So, this life I find myself in now, with such a girly girl as a daughter, is very new territory for me! But I am learning to embrace it.

Last night, was one of the times that I embraced all things feminine and spent some time with my beautiful daughter, who is growing up so quickly, right before my eyes. Abigail has long, thick gorgeous hair that is straight as a stick, just like her Momma's. So, to get any curl in it and for it to stay, we have to use sponge rollers. We had small sponge rollers from when she was younger and when we tried to use them several months ago, they made the curls much too tight and it resulted in a tangled mess of hair. However, Abigail has been begging me for months to please put the curlers back in her hair and I explained to her that we had to get some bigger rollers to make the curls the right size and avoid the disaster and tears that followed the tight curls. Finally, we were at Target last week and I remembered to get the new rollers and she was ecstatic and squealed with little girl delight. The next night was shower night and she was the first to jump in the shower, just so she could have her hair put in rollers!

I want to cherish these moments with her because I know they are fleeting. Abigail was so happy to sit at my feet while I rolled each section of hair and made sure it was just right. She opened each clip and would hand me the pretty, pink roller at just the right time and we chatted during our hair session. We talked and talked, not about anything in particular, but just chatted in a way that I hope we always will. After we had all 21 rollers strategically placed on her little head, she popped up, gave me a kiss and then ran into the bathroom to check out her head full of rollers. She was so proud and was even okay with sleeping in them all night, no complaints at all!

Rollers are all in!

This morning when she woke up, she was eager to see the results and we removed each roller ever so carefully and there were all her curls. She loved the way they bounced and swayed and when she looked in the mirror she said she looked and felt like a princess and was pretty. Something so simple and small and it was such a wonderful experience with my daughter, something that just the two of us shared. I love her so much and I love that she is so girly, even though it is something I am unfamiliar with. I can learn to be a mom of a princess and even a cheerleader, if she so chooses. I just love being her mom and all that it entails. She brings me happiness and joy and I look forward to all the other girly fun we will get to have together!

And the beautiful results and my always beautiful
little girl!

Happy 4th Birthday Mitchell-Pear!

Mitchell enjoying Chuck E Cheese!

Today, our oldest son, turns 4. I know it is very cliche to say, but it doesn't seem like he should be 4 already! Mitchell has always been my biggest Momma's child and I feel like he is still that little toddler that loved to cling to my leg and just be with me and no one else. But here he is, turning in to such a little man, enjoying his first year of preschool and just trying to find his place and explore his likes and dislikes. I would definitely classify him as my "spirited" child, very stubborn and strong-willed, but also the sweetest, most loving child. He is the first to give out a random "I love you" or to run in to your arms for a big hug.

Somewhere along the way, his nickname became Mitchell-Pear. I think it was Abigail that came up with this when she was about 3 and he was a year old. She just started calling him Mitchell-Pear one day and it stuck, with all of us. I love having little nicknames like that for the kids, they all have one and we use them frequently.

Right now at age 4, Mitchell is very much in to Hot Wheels, Toy Story 3 and his Geo Trax. When he can be outside he loves to play with his dump truck and hauls dirt everywhere. He is not so much in to sports right now, but would much rather push his truck all over, collecting whatever he can find. Mitchell is not afraid to get dirty! He likes to be rough and is definitely all boy, and he is very much looking forward to the day when he can wrestle more with his baby brother. He likes to always know what Abigail is doing and most of the time will change what he is doing just to be with her. He loves to color and is actually very good at it, not like most little boys. One of the workers at the YMCA actually commented on this and said she could not believe how well he colors!

We had a small family party for him yesterday, with a Toy Story 3 theme. He had one of his best buddies, Noah, over to celebrate and they had tons of fun running around the house and building some train tracks. They also chased or ran with Abigail and her friend Reaghan, the laughter and screeching in our house was wonderful! I loved to hear my big kids having such a fun time and even Hayden got in on the excitement!

The super cute cake!

Tonight, just for some added birthday thrills, we took the kids to Chuck E Cheese and met their friends Mary and AJ, along with their mom and dad, for some games and pizza. Mitchell was so elated to get a trip to Chuck E Cheese, as I am not a big fan and we don't go often. But to my surprise, it was not as bad as I had feared and we all had a great time. The pizza was good and we followed all the kids around as they tried out all the games they could with their cup full of tokens. And by the end of the night, they cashed in their accumulated tickets and chose their special prizes, which in our case was some rubber spiders and frogs! Oh, the small items that make kids giddy with joy!

So, this is a very big happy birthday to our Mitchell-Pear, who always keeps us on our toes and is our little comedian. We get so many laughs from the crazy things he says or does and we love that God blessed us with this sweet little blonde-haired, blue-eyed boy 4 years ago today.

Momma Is Back!

After a grueling 4 weeks of recovery, I went to the doctor today and was completely released! I was shocked! I had anticipated being released to start doing some lifting and to be able to bend again, but I was no way prepared to hear him state that I was released to go back to doing everything I was doing pre-surgery!

The doctor had informed me at my 2 week post-op appointment that I appeared to be ahead of the recovery schedule, but we still needed to wait and see what the next 2 weeks would bring. So, I followed his orders to perfection and continued to stay "down" for another 2 weeks, all through Christmas and New Year's. When he checked everything today, he said that I had continued to stay ahead of the recovery process and that he was extremely pleased with how well my recovery had gone. He said that due to the fact that I was in such good shape going in to the surgery, my body just sped through the whole recovery and healed much faster than even he had expected.

My very first order of business when I got home this evening was something that I have missed so much, I got to pick my baby up again and hold him! I had tears in my eyes when I held my arms out to Hayden and he tentatively toddled over and held his arms up, then I scooped him up and held him close. He looked at me with a bit of confusion, since it had been a month since I had last held him. He had been coming up to me for my entire recovery, holding his arms up for me to take him, and I would have to tell him that "Mommy had an owie". It broke my heart each time he would do that! Feeling his chubby body up next to mine and getting to nuzzle his little face made everything better for me!

Although I was released and will not have to see the doctor for another 2 months, I was still instructed to take it easy on certain tasks, including running the vacuum, carrying too much weight and also getting back to my gym routine. I tend to go at everything full force, so it is hard for me to hold back, but I do not want to jeopardize anything that has healed, so I will make sure to take things slow and ease back into my full routines. But it is a wonderful feeling to be taking care of my family again and regaining my role as Mommy, my most favorite job of all!

New Year's Eve Scavenger Hunt

I think as you get older, going back to do things that you enjoyed as a kid can be really fun! As an adult, you worry less about what people think or what your peers are doing and just set out to have a fun time. This is what Steve and I did for New Year's Eve this year. We hadn't stayed up to see the ball drop since the year before we had Abigail, so that would have been 2004! We were invited, by a group of friends, to participate in an adult only scavenger hunt all over town and since I am still recovering from my surgery and am still limited in my activities we decided this sounded like something I could actually do and something that would be interesting!

A group shot with the organizers, at Starbucks, for one of the challenges

We met at a friend's house that had organized the event and everyone paired up with another couple to make carloads. We were given a sheet of paper that had 45 items that we could collect and 45 items to take a picture of, all worth different point values. Some of the things were just plain crazy, such as collecting unmelted snow, a receipt for exactly 30 cents in gas and finding the smallest bottle of wine possible! We had 2 hours to accomplish our mission and make it back to the starting location, hoping to have the most points accumulated. 

Steve in a port-a-potty for a picture challenge!

Steve and I were paired with our friends Scott and Nancye and we had so much fun racing all over town trying to obtain as many items and pictures as we could. There was tons of laughter and good times and although we didn't win, we all had a great time!

Steve and Nancye on a slide for a picture challenge!

Scott posing with Boy Boy for a picture challenge!

There was a party afterwards, that unfortunately Steve and I were unable to stay for, due to the fact that my mom had graciously offered to watch our kids for us and we didn't want her driving home too late. So, we instead opted to skip the party and come home to our quiet house, where the kids had all been bathed and put to bed, and we were able to snuggle in our warm bed and watch the ball drop at midnight. It might not have been the craziest New Year's Eve we have ever had, but it was something fun and different, and ending it kissing the love of my life at midnight, made the evening perfect!