Beautiful Sunday!

Was everyone loving yesterday's weather? Wow! It was so incredibly nice outside. We didnt even put the kids in coats when we left for church. We went to church, sane church we have been going to for the past several weeks and cant wait to join! It was the last week on a series of sermons about finances, and next week starts the series on relationships and marriages, I am really looking forward to that. After church we stopped by Bojanges to get some food and headed over the the park near our house. We ate at a picnic table and then let the kids play on the playground. Brooke and Caleb ran off and climbed and were sliding with the other kids there. Arnold took Rachel to swing. She loves it.. each time she swings up she says Weeeee. So cute :) After she swang, Rachel kept sticking her head up the slides trying to see what the big kids were doing.. had to move her because she almost got trampled a few times, poor kid :P She also sat in the sand and kept picking it up and watching it fall through her fingers.. its so sweet to watch an innocent child play, with no cares in the world! Must be nice :) After they had played for awhile we all took a walk around the track. Wish we would have brought the stroller, because after awhile Rachel was really holding us up.. the kid loves to walk with us but makes many stops... and lets face it, her little legs just cant carry her that fast! But the kids had fun, and it was just so nice to get to enjoy the beautiful weather. I cant wait until spring and its weather like that every day!



That evening Joanne had invited Jackie and I over to her house for a movie night.. she wanted to have one last get-together before Ben gets here and things get a little crazy for her :) I left a littler earlier, and met Jackie at Once Upon a Child. I sometimes am able to find things there, and sometimes not, just depends on the day. i didnt find anything for Brooke this time, but lucked out on Caleb, which surprised me because I have a hard time finding boy clothes I like. I found the cutest outfit, new with tags, and I also found a dressy top that im pretty sure is going to be part of his Easter outfit. It is blue and green.. now I am going to try to find the girls easter dresses with green in them and have them all match! That will be cute. Anyway, Jackie rode w/ me down to Joannes house and I was glad to have her company. Especially here lately, where I am still weaning off my anxiety meds and have times when i feel sort of anxious or jittery, and I dont like to be alone on the road. We got down there around 5pm.. just on time! The movie we watched was "Dirty Dancing." I know its INSANE but i have never seen it! I used to LOVE the soundtrack when I was a kid, and remember singing all the songs. Guess i just never got around to watching the movie, though. I loved it. Pretty sure I would though, because I love all movies w/ lots of dancing and good music. My favorites are Grease and Mama Mia ;) We had some pizza for dinner, and Joanne had gotten some "Eclipse" Valentines day cupcakes for dessert. They had the characters on them.. but no Jacob! Boooo.. thats the one i would have picked! They were still yummy though ;) After the movie we hung out and talked.. mostly about the kids.. never fails! I am so excited for Joanne.. only 11 more days before she goes into the hospital to have baby Ben! :)


So after a movie night w/ Arnold and the kids Friday night, a trip to Boone w/ my hubby saturday, and church, the park, and a movie night w/ friends on Sunday, its safe to say that was a pretty awesome weekend and I was sad to see it end! Its only Monday.. and rainy.. and I am already wishing that this weekend would hurry up and get here!

Movie Night

Yummy Eclipse Cupcakes

Day Trip to Boone!

Saturday Arnold and I went to Boone for the day, for our anniversary. Thats where we went for a few days for our honeymoon, so it was sentimental to go back, too ;-) We dropped the kids off around 10am then headed up the mtn. We had a gas giftcard that could be used at a Shell Station, and we figured we would find one on the way, but never saw one. Eventually our gas light came on, that REALLY bothers me, but Arnold is pretty laid back and he was calm. But as we went up the mtn. it made it worse and it got looow really quick. So we kept looking and looking for a gas station-- ANY gas station at this point and it wasnt looking good. At that point we were like PLEASE God let us make it into town! We barely did, and pulled into a Hess station and got some gas. I would have been mad if we had cut our day short waiting for a towtruck to pull us off the side of the mountain!


Anyway, we went to Applebees for lunch. We had wanted to go to the restaurant we went to on our honeymoon, Canyons, but we passed it while trying to find gas and didnt want to stop. So anyway, I had a chicken faijita rollup and Arnold had steak and shrimp.. even shared a few of the shrimp w/ me ;-) I felt silly snapping pictures of everything that day, some people were probably making fun of me, but i had to document our day! ;) After lunch we drove downtown and put some change in the parking meter, then walked around. We went to the Old General store and looked around, they had a lot of cute things in there. I thought about buying something but the line was pretty long. Outside on the sidewalk I dropped our camera.. Im glad its ok, I have the WORST luck with dropping things.. I know it bugs Arnold! Anyway, then we got back in the van and drove down to the Tanger Outlets to do a little shopping. They have a lot of great stores there-- Gap outlet, Gymboree Outlet, Carters Outlet, Osh Kosh Outlet, and some others.. But i was mostly there for the kid stuff! I got Caleb a new pair of guitar pjs (which he was so excited about by the way-- that kid loves clothes as much as a girl ;-) And i also picked up a few other things including another little outfit for Joannes baby thats due any day.. Im a sucker for tiny baby clothes! :) in Gymbroree I found Brooke a dress that will be perfect for Valentines day, and Rachel a watermelon romper for this summer-- i REALLY hope it fits by then, i guessed on the size. Too cute to pass up! We had a great time and I could have spent a LOT more money if i could have, believe me!



We had thought about going walking at a park or going to a movie, but it was still pretty cold up there (there was still snow on the ground!) and we didnt know where the closest movie theater was. So we just ended up going to the Boone Mall. I found some cute things in Old Navy-- they were having an awesome sale. New shoes for Rachel, and a hoodie that was on clearance. And a KEROPPI shirt for Brooke--i was SO excited! Remember the Sanrio characters.. there was a frog? Well that was my favorite character from my childhood and I still have a stuffed frog that I got when i was a kid. I was excited to see a shirt in Brookes size and had to get it for her-- says "Green is my favorite Color" and has Keroppi in the middle. Perfect shirt for my kid.. love how you can push your loves and interests on your kids when they are still young ;) Anyway, we also stopped by Walden Books.. I hate that the one at home closed! I found Dr Suess floor puzzles, that were after some of the popular books.. so cute! Picked up 2 of the Green Eggs and Ham puzzles.. one for Caleb (might save it for Easter-- is it crazy that im shopping that far ahead?!) and one for a birthday party gift.



Lastly we stopped by a chocolate shop.. they had lots of yummy looking treats in there. I love me some chocolate! Arnold and I were both browsing and trying to decide what to get. I picked a white chocolate pretzel.. it was $2 just for that, pretty pricy for what, all of 3 bites? But i figured what the heck, its a special day. And then I see my husband pick this square-shaped weird looking nut cluster bar thing? I have no way to describe it. Drizzled in caramel. Looked so gross. And then i saw the pricetag-- $6!! Ridiculous! The girl beside us' expression was priceless. Then she said "WHAT are you going to do with THAT?" LOL! that thing was huge. And Arnold enjoyed it at first but it was a lot of work. He said man am I going to have to have dental work after this-- it actually made his teeth hurt. Nice choice, honey ;-)


So around 3ish we headed down the mountain. About halfway home we realized that the radio wasnt even on! We had been actually *gasp* TALKING. we realized how easy it is to carry on a conversation when there arent 3 kids in the backseat screaming, whining, singing, asking a million questions.. you know how that goes. We were definately sad to see the day end. We were SO relaxed the whole day, and it was just an awesome time. Wish we could do that more often, but I wont hold my breath. Will have to wait for the next special occasion ;)

Getting dangerously low on gas!

Ready for lunch

he caught me laughing..

Downtown.. caught him in a weird look?



Downtown

That nasty afternoon "treat"

Beautiful view! miss it already!

Stopped at the restaurant from our honeymoon. Just to take a pic :)

The Boys got Haircuts

I have been bugging Arnold forever to cut his hair. He has had his hair all different kinds of ways.. long (when we first met) which was really, really cute.. but then he got mistaken for a woman once so that changed that! Buzzed short which is how i like it. completely bald (that freaked his family out) and in-between whch is when I call him a mushroom head! haha. He has so much hair, its so thick its crazy! It had gotten to that stage where its just unmanageable and all over the place and downright fluffy.. so he decided to cut it. He buzzed it down and i think it looks pretty good now. The kids watched him cut his hair and were really into it.. and then on a whim we decided to buzz calebs hair, too. He has never had a buzz cut, so im still getting used to the look. He looks a lot "tougher" and maybe a little older now, but its cute! He *really* looks like his Daddy now! After that hair-cutting session we were ALL covered in hair and had to take showers because we were itching.

Calebs hair Before

Getting the cut

After!

Arnold starting the cut

After. I can see my hubbys face now :)

Update on Brooke: Diagnosis

We took Brooke to her appt at the neurologist this morning. Arnold was able to go with me and I am so thankful, my Mom was able to watch the two younger kids so we could go together. We followed the directions they gave us, but somehow ended up at another building, and I found myself just staring at the signs and finally a man asked me if i was lost. He told me it was the NEXT building down. so we got into the car and drove. We found the building number but not the name of the place, so we went in and I was so frustrated by then and asked the lady at the counter where it was. She said "you're here! you made it!" so thank goodness for that!



Anyway, we only sat in the waiting room for a second, it was really quick. The nurse took Brooke's weight/height and all that.. she is now 47lbs and 45 inches.. she has grown AGAIN! i swear that girl is going to be 7 feet tall ;-) Anyway, then we went back to a room, and finally the dr came in. I really, really liked him. He was kind to Brooke and very informative to us. He talked a mile a minute like most doctors, but he didnt mind me butting in every so often to ask questions.


Basically he told us that Brooke has epilepsy. They said she has had one seizure so far, that we knew of. Thats what happened in school when she blanked out and wet herself and all that. He said that there were unusual spikes in her brain waves, and there is something going on in her right quadrant in her brain. Hes not sure how severe/serious it is right now, so he wants her to get a brain MRI to get it checked out. He said some people have things wrong, or maybe that area didnt even develop right. No way of knowing right now. He said we will have to wait on the results from that before we make any more decisions. He said if it comes back abnormal, OR if she has another seizure that we notice, she will have to go on a daily medication. The meds are used to help prevent the liklihood of more seizures occuring, but it wont cure it. He said that otherwise, its our choice if we want to have her on the meds. So right now we are just watching, waiting and going to see how it goes. The dr said that thankfully, 70% or so of kids outgrow this.. and go on to be normal teens/adults. He said she has a good chance of being ok, which was reassuring. He also said that in the mean time we should keep an extra eye on her when she does things like swimming, bathing, climbing, etc.. things where she could slip, fall or hurt herself when blanking out. We were given emergency meds for her, in case she had one of the bad seizures, where you lose control and they want it stopped as soon as possible so they dont hurt themselves. Theres a good liklihood we wont even have to use it, which is what im hoping. He said that sometimes the problem in a certain part of the brain can spread to other parts and become a bigger problem. But we will pray that wont be the case!



So now we have a diagnosis. I know its a common occurence in kids, but its still tough to hear a Dr validate your worries and suspicions about something being wrong with your child. I just hate to think she has to go through this, and at SUCH a young age. I just hope and pray she is one of the lucky ones able to outgrow it. Maybe even so lucky that she wont have to take meds, that would be awesome. Its a little scary, but its also so new to us. The drs gave us the info about the National Epilepsy Foundation. numbers we can call if we have questions for nurses, and there is also a website to learn more about it. I am the kind of person who likes to learn ALOT about things, so im sure ill be looking into that.




They will call us soon after they set up the appt for Brooke to have her MRI. She will have to be sedated with it. I hope everything will go well with that.. she has never been under before. Anyway, when we left the nurse let her pick out a pink sucker and a few books.. i really thought that was neat. I really loved the people working there, they seemed very nice and knowledgable, and I feel like we are in good hands. Thanks to everyone for the kind words and messages during this time. Most of you know Im a huge worrier! Especially about the well-being of my kids. We appreciate any prayers you can spare for Brooke and our family in the upcoming months. Thanks :)

My Teriffic Kid!

Brooke got the teriffic kid award from school. They had told us the ceremony was going to be today, and we were afraid we wouldnt make it in time, because we were going to be at the dr. with Brooke. But we got lucky and got out just in time! We took Brooke back to school and they were waiting to go to the gym, so we got to watch the class in action for a few minutes, it was really cute. The kids all hugged Brooke when she came in, she has some good friends, even at this young age :) Then we went to the gym and Brooke sat with her class and Arnold and I sat in the back row. we were able to get a pic of her getting the award too, but it turned out a little blurry/grainy. The terrific kid awards were given out first thing, so we literally ran in and ran out.. Arnold had to get back to work. Along w/ the award she got a few neat little prizes, a pencil, coin, and 2 coupons for free kids meals or foods at local restaurants. I am proud of my girl!

The No-so-Happy Stuff

I thought I would also post another list, of not-so-pleasant things! Can you tell I am a little bored today? Better write it before Brooke gets home, when things get crazy around here ;)


~Things that make me Not so Happy~


-finding crayon drawings on the wall
-having to change wet bed sheets
-an embarassing tantrum in the middle of a store
-snot, throwup, spit or any other bodily fluids
-someone I care about having a hard time
-weaning off medication
-people who drive wreckless on the roads, or cut you off
-abortions
-Obama.. just sayin
-the gas prices right now.. crazy!
-the ugly "old-fashioned" coat Arnold insists on wearing. he loves it. i hate it!
-bullies
-having an argument with Arnold
-foot cramps in the middle of the night
-having a stressful day with the kids
-crumbs all over the floor that I have to pick up
-People who talk like they have no sense.. Bad slang, etc
-when someone doesnt RSVP- just doesnt say anything at all!
-The smell of onions.. and onions in general
-That time of the month :-/
-burning my mouth on hot food
-uneven numbers (yeah I am weird)
-Popping bubbles (gum) I hate the sound
-When my pen dies in the middle of writing something
-medical bills
-paper cuts
-The Backyardigans.. I cannot stand the songs
-When i have a song stuck in my head when Im trying to sleep
-nightmares that seem SO real
-Losing someone I love

What makes me Happy

I dont have anything important or "exciting" to write about today.. So i guess I will do another one of my lists :)


~Things that make me Happy~


-Freshly washed sheets on the bed
-Icecream.. in a cone!
-Warm towels right out of the dryer
-holding a newborn baby
-reading the kids bedtime stories
-getting a surprise or good news
-Rachels "woodchuck" face
-hearing Brooke talk about her day at school
-Brooke's drawings of faces, that look like aliens :)
-reading interesting blogs
-taking pictures of the kids
-Spring evenings
-listening to music from my childhood
-snuggling up to Arnold at night
-awesome comedies, like Modern Family and The Office
-someone complimenting me on being a good Mother
-a good book that i cant put down
-owls and turtles
-kids' consignment sales
-Yardsaling with my Sister-in-law and friends
-the occasional date night with Arnold
-the crushed ice at Sonics
-planning a birthday party
-finding the perfect gift
-getting unexpected cards in the mail
-dinner out with the girls
-playing cards with Arnold
-going through the carwash
-finding a great deal
-Target
-a good hotdog with mustard
-going to concerts in the summer
-blasting music and dancing with the kids
-watching Rachel sleep- with her butt in the air and snoring!
-How excited kids get over things
-Facebook
-when Arnold rubs my back
-getting my hair or nails done
-pretty sunsets
-listening to the rain fall outside your window
-Tax time and having extra money
-Outlet stores
-The color GREEN (can you tell??)