Sick Baby

I knew something was wrong with Rachel this morning. She is usually very active and running around 100 miles a minute. But she was very cranky this morning, and kept grunting at me to pick her up. So we rocked in the recliner for awhile, and she just snuggled in and let me cuddle her. Odd for her because normally she will NOT sit still! Then she was up for awhile, but she decided to lay down in the middle of the living room floor, and the next thing I knew she was snoring! She slept for about an hour or so.. wish I would have gotten a picture of her. She was in her signature pose of sleeping with tummy down and tushie up in the air ;)


She hardly ate any breakfast or lunch today.. so that just confirmed that she wasnt feeling good. We lounged on the couch most of the morning, and we watched "Full House" (i have all the seasons on boxset :) I have gotten Caleb into that show, so we watch that whenever we want to lounge around but I am sick of the kiddie cartoons! We also got out a big pile of books from Caleb's room and read for awhile. All the while Rachel nestled down in my arms, content as can be. I felt her forehead and she was burning up! I took her temp, and it WAS a slight fever, so I gave her some tylenyol. I dont care for the thermometer we have thought.. its temporal and doesnt always give accurate readings.


She was a trooper for the rest of the day, including going to pick up Brooke from school. But she was just so pitiful :( When we got home she took a long nap in our bed.. she was still snoring at dinner time! She didnt even touch her dinner,and even turned down a grape popsicle I offered her :-/ I have no clue what she even has.. hopefully just a cold or something simple. I hope she is feeling better tomorrow.. I hate to see my babies sick!

Pitiful baby lounging on daddy. Holding her puppydog, Mindy :

Happy Birthday Grandpa!!

Wanted to wish my Grandpa Guy (my mom's father) A very Happy Birthday!! Today he turns 79. I am so blessed that he has been in my life for this long, and that he has gotten to meet and spend time with my kids.

Grandpa lives alone.. my Grandmother died when I was 8. He has been one of the most active men I've ever known. Worked up until the point they basically made him retire. Since then he always keeps busy doing something or another. I have lots of great memories with him. Ever since my Grandma died, every Wed. night he would come over to our house to have dinner and visit for awhile. We also have a big family Christmas get-together at his house every year, even now.


I know he wont read this.. but.. Happy Birthday Grandpa!!! Next year will be quite the milestone birthday!! :)

Grandpa and my brother, Alex, at Rachel's 1st birthday party last June

Party like a Rockstar!!!

Saturday was pretty busy for us, we had two birthday parties to go to. But first we went to my parents' house to pick up Rachel (she had spent the night since Arnold and I had gone out the night before). Then we went to Walmart because we had some time to kill, and let the kids pick out their prize. We have a chart system going on right now, and its too long to explain.. but the main point is that the kids get a small prize after 7 stars, and after 28 stars they get a trip to Chuck E Cheese. So it should take them about a month to earn enough to go there, but they miss out somedays because they just decide they do not want to behave at all!

Anyway, we went to Amy's house for Kenzie's 6th birthday party. She had a Luau theme.. it was very cute. There were even some people wearing their tropical apparel.. and there were leis for everyone to wear :) Unfortunately it rained that morning, so they didnt get to do the party outside like they had hoped. We had pizza from CiCis, and another yummy cake from a bakery near their house, that they get all their cakes from. I dont have any pics from the party because I forgot to take my camera.. and Amy hasnt posted any yet!!


Later that afternoon we went to Malachi's 5th birthday party. Malachi is in Brooke's class at school and you all have probably heard me talk about him alot. Him and Brooke are inseperable.. they are boyfriend/girlfriend (they even call each other that! ;) Anyway, they had it at their church. They had an organization called CLAWS come out and do a presentation. They brought some live animals with them for the kids to see.. a raccoon, skunk, owl, snake, bearded dragon.. it was really neat! I learned alot too ;) They let the kids get up close and personal and touch the animals. Of course my daughter was the first one up there ready to pet the snake.. while most people were squirming in their seats when they brought him out! and at one point all the kids were petting the skunk (very roughly I might add.. poor skunk! Dont worry-- he had been ripped of his stink-spraying abilities :) I was happy they brought the owl.. I love owls! It was neat to see one up-close. Oh and another awesome thing about the party was that I got to see Karen!! She was my freshman roomate when I went to WCU for a year. I hardly ever get to see her because she lives several hours away. Sooo.. the party was really neat and the kids had a BLAST.. but we were definately ready to get home and get everyone ready for bed that evening.. the kids were in bed just before 7pm.. very early for them, but none of them had naps that afternoon!!

The beautiful owl!

Checking out the snake

Petting Mr Skunk :)

Malachi even shared a hug with the skunk :)

Date Night

I had been wanting to go shopping for some new clothes ever since we went got our tax money. I have NO problem shopping for tons of clothing for my kids, but I can never seem to find the time to get out and buy so much as a new shirt for myself (sounds like a Mom doesnt it?! Anyway, I definaetly didnt want to go shopping with the kids, so Arnold and I decided to go out and make a night of it. After we dropped the kids off we stopped by Sonic and got a quick dinner. Then we went to Kohls. I had a 15% off coupon and a Kohls Cash I had earned a few weeks ago, so I knew I could get a better deal there. I went around grabbing all these tops I liked and went back in the dressing room to try them on. Arnold went with me too.. he actually went in the room with me. I know that that might have looked bad, but I can guarantee I was just trying on clothes and he was just helping me make quick decisions. i am the worst at deciding on clothes! So i would try something on.. hed say yes or no, and that was it. Quickest shopping Ive ever done ;) I found several new tops that i LOVE.. including one purple one, that I plan to wear for our family pics next weekend. I also found a dress I loved, but I didnt want to spend that much so I didnt get it.. might go back for it some other time, though. We also stopped by the jewelry and I found some earrings, a necklace, and a new watch. It felt AWESOME to shop for myself.. I forgot how fun it was ;)

Here I am wearing one of my new tops

And Here is my new watch. Love the band.. it will be harder for me to break. I am the worst when it comes to accidentally breaking my jewelry.

After we left Kohls, Arnold suggested we stop by Coldstone. I have never been there before (I know, shocker, right?!) My friends all rave about it.. so I was ready to go. I got CAKE BATTER icecream, and let me tell you-- it was delicious! I also got it in a waffle cone bowl, and we both got the medium-sized. Big mistake.. that was too much sugary-goodness for one night.. I couldnt finish it. Oh, and if you are wondering, Arnold got the oreo cream filling icecream.. and it was good too (he let me taste a bite ;)

This is what my icecream in its bowl looked like.. except the icecream was a different flavor. Yummy, right?!

After the icream we headed to one more store, to pick up a birthday bag and a card for a party we were going to today. And then we went back and picked up Brooke and Caleb (Rachel spent the night with my parents). It was SUCH a nice evening.. Arnold and I dont realized how stressed we are until we get a night out ALONE. :)

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!

So earlier this week (May 2nd to be exact) Was Dr. Seuss' Birthday! I think I may have mentioned it before, but Caleb is obsessed with Dr Seuss, and we have almost all the books. We read them over and over again, especially Green Eggs and Ham. Some nights he even tells me thats what he wants for dinner :)


They had a week of celebrating at Brooke's school. They had hat day, tye-dye day, wacky sock day, twin day, and book character day. She took a hat on hat day. And she did Wacky sock day, too. But we didnt have anything tye-dye! And the book-character day was a wreck! Brooke's favorite book is "Llama Llama, Red Pajamas" and I wanted her to wear red pajamas on that day. But she didnt have any (she had plenty of pink, though!) I even went out thinking that surely theyd have some clearanced red pjs somewhere. But i didnt find any. So she went to school wearing a regular outfit.. but I dont think she even seemed to notice, since maybe all of 3 kids in her class were dressed up.


Here she is wearing her wacky socks. She got two pairs in her stocking from my mom, and she wore one of each!

Isnt she styling??? Haha :)

Last night at Brooke's school they had "Literacy Night". I wasnt quite sure what it was, but we decided to all go as a family. First we went to the gym and the chorus preformed a few songs. Then each grade level got dismissed to certain classrooms for activities and book readings. Brookes grade level got to the 1st classroom and it was Eric Carle-themed (we love those books!) The reading was "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" (classic) And they had a few activities and crafts. Rachel went wild in that classroom.. thankfully one kind teacher brought out a bucket of blocks for her, and that calmed her for temporarily :) Then they moved on to the next room, and it was Dr-Seuss theme. A few games, and more stories. Lastly, we went to the cafeteria for a snack.. juice and cookies. They happened to have a drawing for a door prize and Brooke won for the Pre-k! They let her choose a prize at school, and they had several nice, hardback books to choose from, or little junky things. What did she pick?? a ball! Her teacher told me she tried her best to get her to choose a new book but she wouldnt. Oh well.. cant win them all! I told her it broke my heart though, since we are a book-loving family ;)

The other night in honor of Dr. Suess, we read ALL dr suess books before bedtime. I read ELEVEN of them. Man let me tell you, i was spitting all over the place. There is certainly a lot of tongue-twisters and rhymes in his books, and Arnold gets so frustrated that he has been known to give up in the middle of a book ;) But we got through it, and the kids loved it of course.

A few of our reading selections that night..

Rachel & Grayson's Date

My friend Lauryn has a son, Grayson (who is absolutely adorable by the way ;) And we joke all the time that him and Rachel are boyfriend/girlfriend. Lauryn and I get together alot so the babies get to see each other alot. (I call Rachel a baby, but really shes not anymore :( They are so cute together, both of them having blonde hair and blue eyes.. people have thought they were twins before!


Anyway, we went out on Wed. We met up at Kohls and did a little shopping. I was mostly there to exhange some clothes for a different size.. My mother-in-law had gotten the kids some cute outfits but most of them were the wrong size. So after getting that taken care of we just browsed around.. Here is Grayon and Rachel sitting side by side in the clothes section, picking out Grayon a new pair of jammies ;)





After that we went to Target, to pick out a birthday gift for a party we are going to this weekend. We were looking for a pollypocket playset and some nailpolish. So we get to the checkout line and the pack of nailpolish is no where to be found (and im looking everywhere) So i just decide to get the playset and get out of there.. I figured Rachel had just thrown it out of her stroller.. she likes to hurl things out of there on a daily basis. (.. guess what turned out last night? The nailpolish.. which I guess makes us theieves ;) But we will be returning it to Target tonight, I promise. I try to be very honest!)




Anyway, then we decided to go to lunch. The kids did pretty good, considering they are used to eating early, like around 11:00. But maybe that had something to do with all the snacks Lauryn had brought for the kids.. Caleb loves her for her un-ending thoughfulness everytime we get together ;) We went to El Paso. I had never been there before.. surprised considering I LOVE mexican! We got 2 highchairs and Rachel and Grayson sat at the end of the table together. They "jabbered" over chips and tea. Several times Grayson tried to steal her sipcup, and drink it. Which didnt seem to bother Rachel, at all. He also took a chip from her.. so cute. guess its a "man thing" because I know of lots of men who like to steal food from their women ;) Together the two of them made quite the mess on the floor.. I always feel sorry for who-ever cleans up after my kids! I do try to get the big stuff up before leaving though, and leave a good tip! Caleb got a cheese qusidilla and rice, and Rachel basically inhaled his rice.. thats one of her favorite foods. And I tried the "Nachos Grande" which were soo good. I was stuffed when we got out of there. The kids had a great time and are already planning next weeks' get-away! ;)



Here are the little ones enjoying their lunch :)

Random Thoughts

I dont have anything specific I can think to write about today, so I am just going to write about some random things from recent times. (got this from a friend, Abbey)


1. I cant believe it is the first day of March. already? I am seriously counting down the days until Spring.

2. I was going to go to IHOP tonight w/ Arnold and the kids for the free pancakes.. but figured it wasnt worth the huge crowds. I can have pancakes anytime.

3. I am currently reading "The Lucky One" by Nicholas Sparks. so far it is very good. I read all his books. I am doing good on the 12 books I bought from B&N lately, too.. finished 2 of them already.

4. I am so proud of Brooke. She is doing great in school. At her parent-teacher conference the other day her teacher told me that she knows a lot of things, has a great vocabulary, follows directions (most of the time) and is very social, and has made a lot of friends.

5. I cant stop thinking lately how fast my kids are growing. I just wish I could freeze time! Dont know if its that Rachel is fastly approaching 2 yrs, or that Brooke will be in KINDERGARTEN this coming year, or what. But it has found me emotional on several occasions!

6. I love spending time with my friends. They have been very supportive and wonderful through hard times, and I just really enjoy my time with them. Lauryn and I go shopping or have lunch most weeks, and I have started to really looking forward to that. And these girls' game nights every month have been awesome.. a time just to get a break from the kids and share some laughs. Cant wait for scrapbook night I have planned later this month :)

7. Money goes fast..... Our tax money is quickly dwindling. I hate that, but at least we were able to pay a bunch of things off, and get a lot done. It feels fun being "rich" for a few weeks though ;)

8. I am starting to plan a baby shower for one of my very best friends, Jess. I love planning showers or parties, or whatever the occasion is. I am so excited to meet baby Hunter this summer!

9. Last week I cooked a nice dinner for Arnold and even did all the extras like brought out the nice napkins, and even bought some dessert. I think he really was surprised and enjoyed it. That was a big deal for me, because I am not a good cook,and dont enjoy it.. so he cooks most of the time and I clean up! But when i saw how happy it made him, i may just have to try harder..

10. I can wait until yardsale season-- and its fastly approaching! I have so much fun every year getting up early (which is the only time i like to!) and getting together w/ friends or my sister-in-law.. and heading out. We somedays find some really great stuff. But even if we dont, its fun just hanging out. And we usually squeeze breakfast in there, too.

11. OWLS--they are my new thing! Lately it was turtles, because of a family joke.. and that was even Rachels bday theme last year. But owls are the thing this year. I love finding the girls' clothes w/ owls, or any other cute things. I even got Brooke owl bedding. And YES, Rachels bday theme this year will be OWLS, i have already decided :)

12. Found out that my cousin, Stephanie, is getting married. She just got engaged a few weeks ago. I am very happy for her. She is getting married in Sept, in Charleston. My family wants to attempt to make the weekend trip, along w/ our kids. I am dreading the trip part... but id love to go!

13. I am still in the process of weaning off my anxiety meds. My afternoon pill is down to 1/4. I am pretty proud of myself. I am supposed to be moving to the next step very soon, but I may postpone. This has been the toughest step thus far, and I am experiencing a lot of anxiety in the evenings recently. I even had my first panic attack in over a year.. the other night.. and it was absolutely horrible. I never want to go back to that place.

14. I re-arranged the girls' room last night. Looks pretty good, still figuring some things out. Sometimes a change feels good. I am planning on shopping for some cute decorative things to go in there, too.

15. Did i even mention that I hate whining, and tantrums? well i do. And Caleb had a horrible one yesterday, ALL the way to school to pick up Brooke. I didnt think hed EVER stop crying. And what was it all over? His shoes. Gotta love 3-year olds!