Baby Shower

Jill's Baby Shower was on Friday night and everything went great - She got tons of gifts for Connor!! And everyone seemed to have a real good time. Hallie was in town and it was awesome seeing her!!

Cutie Pie

Poor man's playpen ;)

"My babies"

So how long is too long??

Ella is still sick,
She is making improvement everyday, but overall she still has a low grade fever, congested and lays on the sofa way more than a four year old should, but is that enough to warrant a doctor's visit?? On one hand I feel like we are at the tail end of this whole thing, but on the other hand I feel like - four days is too long??

Consummate Homemaker?!?

Well, I am the complete stay at home package now.
I am an official Avon lady!!
So pass the word and send in your orders. You can get catalogs from me or if you have regular things you like just let me know!! -- As most of you know I am a little anal (oops I mean organized-- with stuff like this not my house) so I'll take care of what you want!!

The "campaigns" run every two weeks so I'll post deadlines for ordering on the blog, you can just email me the product number and page number and/or a description of the product, and I'll place the order. You can usually get stuff out of older catalogs too - so just call or email!!

Campaign #5 ends tomorrow -- so get in touch if you want anything!!!!!!!!!!!

PS: Just browse the products on the avon.com link on the right of my blog, but order from me :)
Just give me a brief description of the products you want - and I'll make sure to go through my catalogs and get it for you at the lowest price!!

Sickness

Well we have been dealing with sick kids for the last few days, Benjamin starting running a fever after plans were set for our weekend with my friend Ingrid and her kids visiting. He pretty much kept to himself which was good for the other kids but I feel bad that he essentially "missed" the visit. He started feeling better on Monday and we had a little bit of time outside in the snow that only stayed around for about 25 minutes!!
Monday evening Ella started feeling bad and is still getting over it. No real symptom overall, just fever and achy! But a few comments both of them made cracked me up. During the night Benjamin's fever spiked to 103 and we put him in a lukewarm bath, but the only thing he was concerned with was making sure his sister knew he was sick and getting more attention than him!! "Wake her up and tell her I am sick" Then the next day when I let him eat his sandwich on the sofa he yells "Ella, being sick is cool -- you get to eat on the sofa"
Then Ella when she was feeling particularly bad says "I can't take it anymore" - It was such a grown up statement it broke my heart. So far Maiya has had no signs of being sick, I hope it stays that way!!
My Mom is also experiencing her fair share of illness too, she is on day four of a horrible kidney stone -- You are in our thoughts and prayers Mom!!!!

Snow, or something like it...

All by himself

For those of you who know me well, this whole "teeth falling out" thing has been one of the most dreaded areas of motherhood that I must travel through. Teeth in general gross me out - I think any form of dentistry would be in in the top tens jobs I could never have. So I wasn't happy when Benjamin decided to start working fervently on his tooth at 1 this afternoon - hours before Kyle would get home. In fact as we were walking in walmart I had to beg him to leave it alone - I thought he was going to pull it out right there. He then proceeded to explain to Ella how "wiggly" it had become and that he could get his tongue almost all the way under it. FULL BODY SHIVERS for me!! Then as I am unloading the groceries into the fridge - I hear cheers of joy and I was like a kid afraid to turn around and look. And sure enough there he was bloody grin and all - He looked like he had gone a few rounds with Mike Tyson. So three down - how many more to go???? More than I would prefer to count!
Now onto Maiya's teeth, it appears that she is trying to work on all four front top teeth simultaneously, either that or her "canines" are going to come before her front teeth - is that normal?. None have broken through yet but all are so close her gums are almost transparent. Is this some cruel joke - that I have to face the whole gamut of teeth issues at the same time.

Crying...

Aunt Beth has been visiting with us since Tuesday, and we have really enjoyed the visit. I liked the company during the day, the kids loved having someone else to talk too and Kyle and I got a Valentine's dinner out. This morning when she left the kids were sad and the tears flowed as Ella and I waved good-bye. When Benjamin walked in from school Ella says "Aunt Beth had to go home, she said good-bye and I cried on the inside AND the outside"

Kyle's mini-Christmas

Kyle has been anxiously awaiting his Steelers gear which he ordered seconds after the Steelers won! Now he can't wait for casual Friday at work :)

Cellulite is so adorable!!

I know what Valentines is for...

This morning Benjamin was so sweet. I made everybody a Valentine's breakfast - "pink" waffles with strawberry topping. Afterward Benjamin came up to me and said "Thanks for the waffles, that was so sweet of you to do mommy" - I told Kyle that was cute what he told him to say, but he said " I didn't even tell him to say anything" - its cool that Benjamin is sensitive even though his hyper nature over-rules it by the afternoon. Then on the way to school he said "I know why we have Valentines" Why is that Benjamin? "Because Jesus says we need to love everybody"

Weird animals

Kyle and I have told people before but not everyone seems to believe us. Since we brought Popper home he has at random times nursed on Zeke. Four years later he is still doing it though not as often. He'll lay facing Zeke's chest and just suck away, lifting up little tufts of hair - Zeke almost always obliges - such a sweet dog ;)
I finally got a picture of them doing it when Popper was especially amorous the other day!

Peer pressure

Nerves of steel
"Almost done"
little pink flowers (yes mom they are 14K)
"So Pretty"



Well Ella informed me sometime this morning that she was ready to get her ears pierced. "Yeah I am ready now I am a big girl" -- Well I didn't take her too seriously until she brought it up at dinner and when I laid Maiya down after dinner she said again, "Ok let's go get my ears pierced". You see our neighbor's daughter had her ears pierced about two months ago and just recently she started wearing "dangling" earrings and Ella has been fascinated. I made sure not to sugar coat anything. "Its like a shot, there might be a little blood, it will hurt for a few days, your ears will be a little sore, you have to clean them every morning and every night" So as we drove in the van I went through the entire spiel again fully expecting her to back out and for us to enjoy a lovely little stroll in the mall. But no, she was determined, only a couple minutes of crying before the second ear was done, but all was fine as soon as she was handed the mirror.
I didn't do it when she was a baby because I could hardly handle the vaccines as it was I couldn't bear volunteering my baby girl for more pain - I wanted it to be her decision. I never would have expected it at four. If I had guessed I would have said ten or maybe eight at the earliest. But she was ready and willing. The lady that did it said she was amazing especially for her age.

In the swing of things...

Here they are...

such concentration...

Ella is definitely flourishing at preschool. She loves it. I on the other hand I miss my morning buddy. I enjoyed our lazy mornings, now by time she gets home I am officially in the groove. But she is so proud of herself and even though she is only there for two hours it takes her all day to tell me about it.
Check out her preschool's website, they update it weekly and there are a couple pics of Ella -- they are under "PM" which is a mistake but just scroll down and you'll see her. I tried to move the pictures here but it wasn't working right.

http://www.techcenter.vbschools.com/Childcare/PreschoolWeek.htm

Prune Juice anyone?

Maiya seems to like it, or she likes the concept of her food being mobile like she is! She crawled around with it in her teeth.

Come up for air Ella...

I started officially "carpooling" for preschool today. Friends from church live one street over and the plan is that I will bring their daughter Kylie in the morning with us and her dad will bring Ella home. This will be great for me since I have been interrupting Maiya's morning nap each day to go pick Ella up. Well this morning Benjamin and Ella were absolutely thrilled to have company with us in the van. As soon as Kylie sat down the kids started talking her ears off. The following comment is one full stream of commentary from Ella as best as I can remember it. Now please note she did not stop at all during her ramble, not to breathe, swallow, nothing just talk, talk, talk.

"Kylie, I am going to preschool too we are going to ride together the baby is not here she is at home with daddy he doesn't feel good so he is not going to work on the computoors he is at home babysitting Maiya I didn't feel good once I was sick and I threw up did you ever throw up (at which point Kylie tries to answer but Ella doesn't stop to let her) My Me-maw was sick I miss her because she died and they buried her by flowers but not here it was far away (random subject change at this point) I got lots of make up for Christmas, it was like a million pieces but I lost it (voice raises) mom I can't find my makeup what did you do with it I was a flapper girl for Halloween oh yeah mommy said we can't talk to each other at school because we are (finally getting out of breath......) supposed... to ...be ... learning."

Now she finally pauses to breathe and while she is sucking air Benjamin starts talking, by this point I figure Kylie is missing a quiet ride with her dad. Then Ella starts crying, "Benjamin wont' be quiet, I need to talk to Kylie some more" No Ella I think you have done enough talking...

Happy Birthday Aunt Beth

"To me, old age is always 15 years older than I am."

Bernard Baruch

love ya!

Scrub a dub dub!

"All Clean"

I told you they were buddies.

We had a fun weekend celebrating Grandma and Aunt Beth's birthdays!

Awwwwww... Poor Sweetie

To help speed recovery she had an accupuncture session.