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!