Monday, March 31, 2008

A Breath of Fresh Air

I love picking Shanna up from school and watching the school explode with kids when the bell rings. These smiling little people come running from the school, excited to be free. You never see adults running from the office at the end of the day with a smile on their face, enjoying the sunshine and breeze. It is fun to see the world through the eyes of a child. I wish everyone could have that much energy and enthusiasm!

Now that's an onion!

Check out the size of this green onion from our garden!

We've had a busy Monday morning, first a bike ride with Tyler (my belly sure is in the way now!) and then our walk to help at the school with Robyn. I hope Kaci is ready for a nap, because I sure am!

Shanna has her science fair project due on Wednesday, so we have been working on it. I am trying to teach her that waiting until the last minute is NOT the way to get things done. Since she is not able to dance today, we'll have all afternoon to work on it.

Sunday, March 30, 2008

Our Fun Night

We had fun last night grilling hot dogs and hamburgers. Then, Tyler played Boy Scout and started a great fire in our fire pit. We took turns telling stories, listening to the frogs croak, roasting (burning) Girl Scout cookies and marshmallows and watching the dog try to catch the embers that popped out of the fire.



Here's Kaci telling her story


Shanna with her dog


Shanna telling her story


And a frog we found in the yard (We saw 3 last night!)

Boo-Boo Day 3


Here's the ankle. I can't believe how bruised it is. She is putting weight on it now, so I guess it is getting better....

Saturday, March 29, 2008

Happy Birthday Mom!


Happy Birthday to my first and favorite girlfriend! You've not only been the best mom in the world, but I truly consider you my friend. We have had so many good times together and you have done so much for me! You are a beautiful person and an inspiration to me! Happy Birthday Mom, I love you!

Friday, March 28, 2008

Baby Notes

I don't mention this (growing) bump very often. Maybe an update is due. I am now 30 weeks along... 9 weeks left! Holy Cow.

At my last appointment, she was laying transverse (sideways) That means her head is under one of my ribs and her bottom under the other and her feet are down, playing with my bladder and other sensitive organs.

She moves around like crazy, we can feel little bony parts sticking out and moving from one side of my belly to the other. My belly button has thankfully stayed in this time (I had to have the hernia caused by Kaci fixed when they took my appendix out and they said it would probably pop out again) The girls love to pull up my shirt and kiss my belly. Kaci likes to tell baby to "party" when I put them to bed. (Does she think if she starts now, she can teach her little sister to have more spunk than her?)

I think I have most things ready for her, probably about as ready as I will be! The next few months will go by quickly with all of the dance recitals coming up and Shanna's summer break from school sneaking up on us!

Busy Friday

It has been a busy day... and it's only half over.

Shanna's ankle is sore, but she'll live. I kept her home from school, so she is enjoying her game/tv couch time. It's pretty swollen and bruised, but considering it is her first major injury, it isn't too bad.

We had playgroup in our backyard this morning. It is always fun for Kaci to have friends over and have everything be about being 3. She tries so hard to keep up with Shanna and her friends, it is nice to just play on the playground and trikes every now and then!

I have been vacuuming and cleaning and making beds.. I miss having a 7 year old maid to boss around. She really does help out a lot on a normal day. I'm sure she'll be doing more than her fair share when the baby comes.

Since we had playgroup here with lots of little kids, Tyler took the dog to his "playgroup". He'll be nice and worn out when I pick him up tonight! (That sounds so wrong, having to go pick up your dog from a play date.)

Now, a quick lunch and then naps all around! Happy Friday!

Thursday, March 27, 2008

My Afternoon


Ow.

Luckily after a couple of hours at Instacare, we found out it is just sprained. She was playing doggie at recess, and she slipped in the grass when someone threw the ball for her. Yes, we had to tell that story several times this afternoon! It was pretty hard to keep a straight face. The last time a nurse asked what happened, I simply said "she tripped in the grass at school."

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Quote of the Day

"Your life is an occasion... rise to it"

~ From the movie Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium (we bought it on vacation and watched it over and over and over again!)



Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Crazy Hair Day


Would you let your daughter go to school looking like this?? It was kinda fun putting tangles into her hair, instead of brushing them out! I don't look forward to this afternoon when we have to make her hair nice for dance!

Great Grandparents


Just trying my luck with the pictures again... here are my Grandparents with the girls.

They had so much fun with them. Shanna was really sad that they left yesterday and asked when I picked her up from school if I would take her to Nebraska instead of dance.

"When I'm the Mom"

It has started early. Everyone has thought about what they'll do different when they are the parent. Kaci let me know one of hers yesterday:

"When I am the mom, I will bend over to pick things up for my kids"

Will she still do that when she is 7 months pregnant and it hurts to bend over??? Aren't I a mean mom?

Monday, March 24, 2008

Happy Easter!

We had a fun Easter weekend! On Saturday, we had a neighborhood block party with breakfast and an egg hunt, then my Grandparents joined us for Easter dinner and fun yesterday! The girls were so cute in their matching dresses and lots of fun hunting eggs. I will try to put some pictures on later, I can't get them to upload this yet. It is a Monday, that's for sure!

Friday, March 21, 2008

Here Fishy Fishy

What are 7 kids to do on a warm Friday afternoon? How about catching goldfish in a backyard pond?

Girl Power!

Warning: This post is all about "tooting my own horn."

That being said, I am so proud of myself! Let me give you a little background: I used to think you had to take your car to Jiffy Lube to get more windshield washer fluid put in.

Yesterday, with my girlfriend's help, I replaced both windshield wiper blades and front headlights. I felt pretty cool, but Kaci's reaction was even better. She was so excited that we had done that, and was so cute helping hold the directions and screwdrivers! I guess when she flies her own airplane someday, she can change the lights herself.

By the way, I will still always take my car to get the oil changed.

Thursday, March 20, 2008

Synchronized Sleeping

I love watching the girls sleep. The best part of daylight savings time (maybe the only best part) is that I wake them up now instead of the other way around. This morning when I went in there, they were snuggled up next to each other like little spoons. (Shanna on her edge of the bed and Kaci snuggled up to her back.) They always look like they plan exactly how they will sleep and are perfectly synchronized.

When I woke Shanna up, they both moved the same arm at the same time to stretch, and then went into a series of moves to wake from their sleepy night like it was a dance they perform every morning together. I wonder what song I could set to it?

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

10 weeks to go!

Oh.My.Goodness.

10 weeks left!

My emotions go from being so excited and anxious to hold this next sweet little baby with a pink bow on her head next to me and hear her sweet baby noises, to feeling completely overwhelmed about how I am going to manage being the mother to 3 kids!

When I was pregnant with Shanna, I was so excited to become a mom. I only saw motherhood through rose colored glasses. I enjoyed every part of my pregnancy and was excited for every part of motherhood. Once she was born, I enjoyed every stage that she went through and didn't mind never getting sleep and always having to hold her.

When I was pregnant with Kaci, I felt so blessed that I was actually going to be able to have another baby. I knew that there would be hard times, but I didn't expect the first few months to be so demanding and exhausting. I felt like I was on Survivor, with each night getting less sleep and each day having more responsibilities. Eventually, I learned how to manage it. (I won't say when exactly that was though!)

This time, I am obviously excited and anxious to meet princess #3, but I am terrified too about how I am going to manage it all. Shanna will be out of school, dance will be on break, I will be recovering from a c-section with little sleep and 3 kids to take care of during the day (and keep entertained in the hottest part of the summer) Yikes.

I better start getting extra sleep now. And keep buying cute baby girl clothes. That always puts my mind back on track with the rose colored glasses.

Softball

Softball season started again tonight for Tyler. Why is it that game nights are always so crazy? Not crazy because of having a game, crazy because of work/dance/dinner/bedtime/life. Anyways, he is now sitting on the couch, icing his knee, the girls have washed all of the sugar and red dirt off (those two mixed together are NOT a pretty sight) and they are on their way to bed... and it's 10:00. But, it's still fun. Tyler looks really good out there, had some good plays and the girls had fun chanting "let's go Daddy, let's go" even when he wasn't doing anything!

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Upcoming Recitals

I know that most of you who would be interested in these recitals are already planning a visit in June, but I thought I would let you know of the girls' upcoming spring dance recitals.

April 19 - Shanna's Super Stepper Recital (This is where they are presented in formal dress by their dads, and perform every dance they learned during the year) This is also the kite festival

May 17 - Shanna and Kaci's ballet recital. (Shanna will be performing with her ballet and tap class, Kaci will be performing with her ballet class and be presented with flowers on stage by Tyler)

June 7 - Kaci's recital for tap and ballet (yeah, I know, bad timing for me... but Tyler has already said he will get her ready and take her to this one! There should be at least one grandma here then too!)

Let me know if you would like to come to any of these, the tickets should be available soon!

Productive Monday

I love it when you can say you were productive on a Monday. All of our carpets are clean, the laundry is (mostly) done, I got my walk in, and there is food in the fridge! That might not sound like accomplishing much, but lately, it is. This little princess in my belly is wearing me out! It is getting hard to bend over, turn over, pick Kaci up, etc.. June sure seems a long time from now, but I know it will be here before I know it. I am in my 3rd trimester, final stretch... I can do it! It is hard to imagine in just a few months there will be another little person in our house!

So, yesterday I worked, today, I nap! (In between playing chauffeur and mommy, of course!)

Sunday, March 16, 2008

Good to be home

It is always nice when you get home from vacation, get unpacked and feel like you're happy to be where you are. Our vacation was great, but it is a comforting feeling being back in your own house, sleeping in your own bed and having your things around you.

Here are some highlights from our trip. We got to do so many different things. We went to Sea World, a kids museum, a wildlife botanical park, the world's largest rotating tramway, a navy ship with planes on it, saw a wind generated power plant, the ocean, let the kids play at the park and swam LOTS! We ate really well, usually cooking on our own, but we also had great steak, Chinese and pizza.

We had some extreme weather, everything from hot hot summer 90s down to 27* at the top of the tramway, a day of gusty wind and snow on the way home!

Cocoa was happy to see us, he is obviously worn out, but seems to be recovering well. The girls are in bed, the suitcases are unpacked... I think it is time for me to head to bed too!

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Tuesday

It has been a great vacation. We have worn everyone out everyday, and are having a wonderful time. We are in Indio, which is close to Palm Springs. We have had fun shopping, swimming and playing at a children's museum. The girls had fun painting an actual VW Bug, getting to play store and pizza chefs along with lots of other fun activities. I will post some pictures of it all later.

Today, we are spending the day at the pool. They have several different ones here, one is a lazy river. Somehow with these two little monkeys, I doubt it will be a lazy river ride, but I am sure it will be fun. Both girls swim like little fish.

We had a surprising call yesterday morning, it seems that a dog at the dog resort went after Cocoa's neck on Friday and he ended up in the vet hospital yesterday because the puncture wound got infected. He is doing better, but he still has a drain in his neck. He is back at the dog resort and is being taken care of in the office until he is feeling better. I guess if it isn't one thing, it's another...

Two things we have learned this week: The spray kind of sunscreen eats hair bands when sprayed into hair (Both girls lost theirs yesterday, so we did an experiment last night, and sure enough, it eats them right up!)

Also, for the past 7 years, Shanna has thought that a "dump truck" was called a "dumb truck." Ha ha... you never know what they're going to say next!

Friday, March 07, 2008

Sea World

Our first day of vacation was great! The weather is beautiful and we are worn out. We spent all day at Sea World and the girls had so much fun seeing all of the animals. (Is that what you call them, or is it mammals, or fish??)

Shanna was excited to see the penguins, since they have been studying about them at school. We watched the dolphin show, the Shamu show and the seal show, where Shanna was picked to be the "helper" and got to shake the seal's hand. It was cute! Kaci had fun feeding the dolphins (she showed up her older sister and had no fears about touching dead fish.) They both touched the dolphins. (The little girl who helped at the dolphin show described them feeling like a "hot dog!")

We are doing some more sight seeing around San Diego tomorrow and then driving to the Palm Springs area for the rest of our vacation. We are trying to wear the kids out these first few days, and then are hoping for some relaxing time by the pool for the rest of the trip!

I will post more pictures later in the week, we have the laptop hooked up to Tyler's cell phone, so it is taking f-o-r-e-v-e-r to upload them!

Thursday, March 06, 2008

One of "those" talks

Shanna's dance recital is coming up in April. When they present the girls at the beginning, the dads escort their daughters onto the stage, both wearing formal clothes. It is a fun tradition of taking her to find a fancy dress. We were talking about what kind of dress she wanted last night, and she described a strapless gown. I told her that she needed to have straps so that it didn't accidentally fall down when she was on the stage.

She said that teenagers wear that type of dress all the time to prom and she would be ok. I told her that teenagers sometimes had something to help them hold up the dress. She looked puzzled. I said "when you get older, your body will go through some changes." She turned bright red, put both of her hands over her face, and said "MOOOMMMMM..... that is in the future. We don't need to talk about that right now, ok?" Then she said that a dress with straps is what she wanted.

One point for Mom, one less fight in the dress shop!

Let's go fly a kite

One of the things that I love best about Tyler is how much fun he has with our girls. When he got home from work yesterday, he took Kaci outside to fly her new kite. She was so excited and proud when they got it up and she was flying it all by herself!

Tuesday, March 04, 2008

Look What I Can Do!


I was just telling Tyler yesterday that we needed to teach Kaci how to write her name. I don't know if she heard me, but she was playing around and said "want to see me write my name?" In the past, that means a few scribbles, but today my jaw dropped to the floor when she very carefully wrote each letter all by herself!

Daisy Head Mayzie


This is Dr. Seuss week at Shanna's school. They were supposed to dress up as their favorite character from a book today. Here is our Daisy Head Mayzie!

It's off to ballet for Kaci and me... last week I got the time mixed up and we missed it. (I am having problems with lost brain cells lately.)

Happy Birthday Dad!

Monday, March 03, 2008

Happy Monday

It has been a good Monday.

Shanna got ready so well this morning. I made her a checklist, and she was able to earn tickets for meeting certain time goals. She got dressed, then got undressed and put her pajamas back on, because it said to be dressed by 8:00. (She didn't think it would count if she was early!) She earned all of the possible 5 tickets and I didn't have to tell her to "hurry up" once. It was great. Oh, and Tyler handed me the sleep mask this morning and gave me an extra half hour of sleep. That will make any day start better!

Robyn and I had a great bike ride. My legs feel so happy! Then I washed both my bike trailer and my walking stroller and they are drying in the sun. (It's always a happy day when the sun is shining and warm!)

Isn't this the sweetest baby hat you have seen? Thanks Mom, she will look beautiful in it!

Then, here are my favorite flowers, from my favorite person. I lov eyou Tyler!

I said earlier that I pulled some BIG green onions from the garden this weekend. Can you believe these? They were so good in the guacamole last night!

Saturday, March 01, 2008

A better day

I am pleased to say that today went much MUCH better than yesterday. I woke up to a bowl of sweets on my driveway, (you're the best, Robyn) then my Mom called me, (Mom, you still can make everything seem better, even now) then we had a busy, productive day!

1. We got a ton of yard work done

2. I got the baby car seat cleaned up and ready to go

3. I got some junk cleared out of the garage

4. I went to a baby shower

5. Everyone has some new summer clothes, including baby (We got to experience buying clothes for 3 kids for the first time! Ouch... just wait until they are all teenagers!)

6. I now have some comfortable maternity clothes.

7. Shanna seems to be learning her lesson, thanks to an extensive list of consequences.

8. We had an amazing dinner out tonight

9. I pulled some onions out of our garden that are HUGE (I'll post pictures later... I have never seen green onions so big!)

10. It's Saturday night! (It might just include a locked door, a movie and some chocolate cake!)