Tuesday, November 11, 2014

Terrific Tuesday

Tuesdays and Thursdays are becoming my favorite days of the week. I like that Harper gets to go to preschool and that we’re busy so much of the time, but I’m really beginning to appreciate the days that we just hang out at home.

Landon seemed to be coming down with a cold yesterday so I let him stay home from school today. It’s the first day he’s missed this entire year and although it started out as a “sick” day it slowly became apparent that he would have been fine at school. So, instead of a sick day, he had a mental health day which was probably a good thing for him anyways.

The first thing the kids wanted to do when they got out of bed this morning was play with the dollhouse. It’s in Dakota’s room so we didn’t even make it downstairs until after 8am! That’s late for us!

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When we tired of the dollhouse we went downstairs so that Dakota could do her breathing treatment and I could get breakfast going. (Landon spent all his extra time in bed on his iPod!) As soon as Dakota finished her treatment she started pulling out the play food from their kitchen set. She asked me to lay out a blanket for a picnic and the three of us played with the food for what felt like hours.

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When Dakota found a little set toy keys she asked if she could drive the car. I figured the next best thing would be for me to bring in her little red car for her to drive. She drove around for a bit and then started giving her baby dolls rides around the house.

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Since Landon was home and feeling pretty good, he decided to pull out his old marble track. Harper was happy to help build the track and while they didn’t get far, they had fun working on it together.

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Around 10:30am I decided it was time to get outside and enjoy the warm weather. It’s supposed to get cold this weekend so I figured we’d better get out while we can! We went on a fall leaf walk. I found a cute project on Pinterest (like where else would I find something?) using leaves so we had to get out and get our supplies.

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Here’s Landon trying to remember what that “little thing is that hangs off of a turkeys face”. I told him it was called a wattle…but I don’t even know if that’s right! Guess I better look it up! You can see Harps and Kota in the background consulting about their leaves.

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We ended up walking all the way down to the park where the kids played for a few minutes before we headed back home. We were out for about an hour and then we came in to make our leaf project and have lunch.

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I’ll have to post the results of our fall turkey craft tomorrow…I forgot to get pictures and I’m absolutely too lazy to get up and do it right now!

Building the Shed/Sick Dakota

After our big party on Saturday, Tony, Landon and Brandon headed straight outside to begin putting our new shed together. Brandon wasn’t feeling great (coughing, sore throat) but he stayed until it was dark and time to quit for the day. They got a good bit of it done, but there was going to be plenty left over for Sunday.

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That night Dakota woke up around 10pm wheezing and congested. I brought her into my bathroom and ran the hot water to get some steam built up and it seemed to help her get through the night, but the next morning she was still feeling yucky. She told us her tummy hurt (and then showed us her tummy hurt) and after a nice warm bath she cuddled on the couch with me to watch Barney. She’d only been watching it for about 20 minutes or so when she leaned over to rest on my shoulder. I pulled her down to lay in my lap and she almost immediately fell asleep. I knew that she must be feeling pretty bad to do that and I was worried. She only slept about an hour or so and then woke up and wanted lunch. She insisted on a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, which she ate and was able to keep down, and then she wanted to go out to play. I was hesitant, but sometimes it doesn’t seem worth the trouble to argue with a 2 year old, so I let her go.

She happily played outside for about 45 minutes but when she came in, I heard wheezing again and decided to go ahead and take her to the doctor. Our appointment was at 3:15pm but we weren’t even called back until after 4pm. I was more than a little upset about the long wait, but once we got in the room it wasn’t long before things were moving. They checked her out and said that her oxygen was low so we did a breathing treatment (nebulizer). She did great with it and they ended up sending us home with one so that we could do it for the next 10 days.

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She’s done really great with the treatments so far and it seems to really help. She’s been feeling good again and she’s back to her self for the most part. I can remember this happening when Landon was younger too, and he must have been nearly the exact same age.

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*The above pic was taken Sunday. Since then the roof and doors have been put on. All that’s left is putting the shingles on and painting the trim…and filling it up of course!

Monday, November 10, 2014

Mema’s Surprise 70th

This past Saturday my mother-in-law turned 70. Since it is such a big birthday, I thought it would be fun to throw her a surprise party. About 3 weeks ago I sent out invitations to her family and friends and nearly all of them were able to come. Of course some couldn’t make it, but it was great that so many people were able to come and help us celebrate.

Tony and I tossed around the idea of having it catered, but in the end we decided to just make the food ourselves. Instead of doing dinner, we chose to have the party around lunch time, and we had a make your own sub station and vegetable soup. We had a few appetizers and sides to go with it and it worked out well. We made sure to pick up Mema’s favorite cake from Costco and served some ice cream with it. Nothing fancy, but it seemed to go over well with everyone.

Getting Umpa here for the party was the hard part, but once we had that figured out, everything went smoothly. Mema showed up just as we’d planned and when she walked through our front door, I can honestly say she was surprised! She didn’t have any idea what we were up to and it was great to see her so happy!

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Harper was so excited by all the people and commotion and he was the first to run to her and give her a big hug! Dakota was a little nervous about all the people and commotion so she hung out on my hip, but she did give Mema her hug once things settled down a bit.

This isn’t a very good picture, but with everyone taking pictures it was hard to get a good one. I just want to remember how excited Landon was about the whole surprise element to her birthday! He could NOT wait for her to walk through that door!

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Zoe, Mema and Brandon

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Diane (Mema’s friend), Chris and Mema

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Mema and Umpa

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Lauren and Lori

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Mema’s helper

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Lea

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Lauren

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Opening Gifts

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Zoe had to leave a little earlier than everyone else because she had to work, but it was awesome that she got to be there!

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As everyone left, I tried to get pictures of each of them with the birthday girl.

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This is Mema with her two siblings, Herman and Martha.

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Mema, her brother and his wife, Judy.

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Mema and her BFF Diane.

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Dakota and Lea

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Dakota, Lea and Harper

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We all had a great time at the party and I’m thrilled we were able to pull off the surprise! It was great getting to see so many people and we’re already thinking about having another get together in the not so distant future.

Happy Birthday, Mema! We sure love you!

Wednesday, November 5, 2014

Gray and Yellow

I love the colors gray and yellow together. My comforter set is that color scheme and it is now also the colors in my main floor bathroom.

The latest project in my house started with a trip to Target…

I was just casually browsing the aisles when I saw a lovely bathroom towel. I had to have that towel. So, I bought not just one towel, but two. And, since I had those awesome towels I decided to buy the matching rug. I’m wild like that.

Ok, now fast forward about one year and my mom and I are once again in Target. This time we happened to walk by the paint/wallpaper and something caught our eye…something gray and yellow. It was a sassy yellow and gray striped wallpaper and it was pretty much exactly what I wanted to put up in my bathroom, only it was more expensive than I wanted it to be and I‘m kind of afraid of hanging wallpaper.

But then my mom started admiring the paints and said “why would you try to hang striped wallpaper when you could just paint the stripes?” and an idea was born. We bought the stuff to make over the bathroom and drove home in a fluster of excitement over yellow and gray paint!

Well, our excitement was pretty much over once we realized what a pain in the ass it was going to be to paint the bathroom. (When I say “we” here, I really mean my mom because she did nearly all of the work.) But, mom ripped that bathroom apart in as long as it took me to pretend to be busy doing something else and she was painting away before I knew what had happened. She decided to start with the beautiful yellow, and she also decided she didn’t like to use a roller and wanted to use a brush for the whole thing. Using a brush is dandy, but using a roller is much more handy…or quick, but that doesn’t rhyme. So, two coats of paint got slapped on the wall and it was still looking yucky and that’s when I stepped in with my handy dandy roller and got the last coat on. As soon as that paint was dry, mom started putting the tape on the wall for the stripes.

She was about ready to tell me that she loved the bathroom in all yellow when she finally got the hang of what she was doing and got all those strips of tape on the wall. Then, with a little baby roller, we rolled the gray paint on the walls…and that’s when it hit me that I hadn’t taken a single picture of this momentous event.

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So, there are some beautiful stripes and some not so beautiful tape pieces.

And, here are some finished product pictures:

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I like how the black cabinet and hardware stand out against the yellow and gray!

Because mom is full of great ideas, she also thought to jazz up the little square shelves I have in there.

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Cute, no?

So, as you can see, my mom came up here for a visit and then ended up working the whole time she was here. She loves a good project though and my house just seems to be full of them.

Thanks mom, I love you!

Tuesday, November 4, 2014

Morning at the Park

Since today was election day Landon was out of school. I warned him that the two little kids and I were going to a park for the morning because we were going to have nice weather, but he chose to stay home to sleep in and play video games. It made me a little sad that he didn’t want to go because it wasn’t all that long ago that he too enjoyed playing at the park. These pesky teen age years can be such a bummer sometimes…

A few of the families from Harper’s preschool class were planning on meeting at a park I hadn’t ever taken the two little one’s to, so I thought we’d go. We got there right around 9:30am and when the two of them saw people with their dogs at a dog park, they HAD to check it out. We watched the dogs play for a bit and then they were ready to play at the park.

The two of them were so happy to be outside playing, and Harper was in heaven getting to play with some of his friends from school. They played in the sand and on the equipment and then ran out to play in the fields just beyond the park area. Three of the boys, including Landon, were out there playing “bad guys” and my goodness were they having a great time! I don’t think they’re allowed to play that at school, so this was a major deal for them! Dakota joined them out there for a bit, and she was happy to run around with her big brother and when she got tired she came back over to the park to play in the sand. The kids had fun and it was nice to be able to talk to some of the other mom’s outside of the few minutes we get at school.

As crazy as it is, I didn’t take a single picture today. I just wasn’t in the mood and for a good part of the time we were out at the park, my phone was in my van because I forgot it and didn’t want to walk back to get it.

I think tomorrow is supposed to be a nice day but then Thursday I heard that a cold front will be moving in with rain, so I’ve got to be sure to get those kiddies out tomorrow afternoon after school. The more exercise we all get the better, and with those cold days ahead we better get all the outdoor time we can!

Sunday, November 2, 2014

Halloween Night

As if Halloween isn’t enough commotion, mom and I were trying to get the bathroom finished before she had to go the next day. Somehow, and now that it’s over I can’t even remember, it all came together. We were done painting and ripping the tape off the walls before it was time to head out with the kids. It was craziness, but it was done.

As soon as I could, I got the kids dressed and out the front door for pictures before it got too dark. They weren’t terribly cooperative, but oh boy they were cute!

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Tony gave Harper some binoculars and a whistle to play with and that whistle was so much fun for them! They very nicely took turns with it and challenged each other to see who could blow it the loudest.

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Once everyone was ready, we headed out to ring some doorbells.

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For the first several houses, after Harper and Dakota would get a piece of candy, they’d come running to me to show me what they’d gotten. They were so surprised people kept giving them candy!

We all (Tony, my mom, Chris, Lori, Lea, Harper, Dakota, Zoe, Brandon and I) walked for quite a while but my feet were killing me from being on the go all day so mom and I headed back to the house to hang out with Landon while he scared the crap out of people handed out candy. Everyone else kept on going and I was surprised at how long they were all gone. Dakota and Harper were so happy with the whole thing and Dakota even walked the majority of the time. Tony said Harper wanted to keep going but their buckets were full and it was getting quite cold out, so they came on home around 7:15 or so.

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He just loves to sit out front and freak people out every year. He put a “take one piece of candy” sign on the cauldron, got the fogger going and waited patiently for people to get their piece and then “AHHHH” he’d scream at them! It was pretty darn funny! He didn’t scare the youngest kids, but if they looked big enough, he’d do his best to scare them. One time, he didn’t say anything, he just reached out and touched the kids hand as he got his candy and that kid didn’t know what the hell had happened. He just kind of looked at Landon and backed away slowly. Another funny one was a little girl came up by herself, got her candy and then casually said “bye” as she walked away (she had no idea Landon was real). Landon heard her say bye and decided to say “bye” back…she stopped and looked everywhere trying to figure out who’d said it! She just couldn’t figure it out! It was hysterical!

We had a great night and the kids have plenty of Halloween candy to get through to next year. (Except Tony and I packed up two entire grocery bags for him to take to work and give away.) We still have a ton of candy though and I’m sure it’ll take a LONG time for it to be gone.

Can’t believe we’re into November already! Happy Sunday, everyone!

Harper’s Halloween at School

As I mentioned in my last post, Harper had a Halloween costume parade and a little performance at his preschool on Friday morning. The kids all marched out in their finery and then recited a few poems and sang a few songs for us. It was adorable and I’ve never seen Harper so animated amongst his peers and in front of a crowd. It was terrific!

I made sure to record as much of it as I could and while they aren’t the best videos, they’re definitely worth sharing. And, instead of recording one monstrously long video, I did several shorter ones. Enjoy!

I hope you enjoyed those as much as I did! I cannot believe how much more animated and engaged he is now that he’s four! Last year he barely sang any of the songs and this year he was great! I sure love that cute little army guy!

Saturday, November 1, 2014

Monday-Friday Review

My mom flew up here last Monday and left this morning. It was a quick and very busy visit. I never seem to find the time to blog when she’s here, we’re always so busy, so here’s a quick re-cap of what I can remember.

Monday- I had a busy morning because I had to work at the preschool. It was as fun as usual and Harper is always happy that I get to go to school with him. They made a really cute skeleton craft using q-tips.

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My mom’s flight didn’t come in until 8:30pm, so my two littlest one’s were in bed when she got here. The airport was slammed when I got up there and I sat in traffic for a good bit before finally moving. Mom’s plane took forever to deplane and I told her to just text me when she got outside. Of course she texted me right after the traffic started to flow again and I had just passed the Delta waiting area and had to do a loop before getting her. Luckily, after the loop, the traffic was still light and I was able to pick up her right away. We didn’t get  to bed until late that night and boy was I tired the next day!

Tuesday- The two little’s, meme and I stayed home for most of the day. I did have to go to Target for a couple of things in the afternoon though, so mom and I headed out once Tony got home. Somehow we ended up looking at the wallpaper and paints that Target carries and we got the bright idea to spiff up the bathroom on the main floor. (I bought a rug and towels nearly a year ago as color inspiration for the bathroom then never did anything about it. Go me.) As soon as we got back that night, Meme started pulling the bathroom apart so that she could start painting the first coat of yellow.

Wednesday- I had to get Harper to school and since I planned to come straight back to the house, Dakota got to stay at the house with Meme while I went. When I got home, I kept Dakota busy while mom worked on the bathroom. (The paint we got at Target didn’t seem to be the best as it took three coats to cover the old color. The old color was a peachy/brown and we thought two coats would have done it but it sure didn’t. After mom used a brush for the first two coats I went and rolled the third on and finally it was covered.) At about 11:10am  we all got in the car, picked Harper up from school and then met Mema for lunch at Chick-fil-A like we usually do. From Chick-fil-A, Mema took Harper to Rolly Pollies and the rest of us headed home so that Dakota could get a nap. That afternoon and evening were spent painting the bathroom and figuring out how to tape it off to create the stripes we had in our minds. (There were several trips to Lowe's during all of this but I cant even remember when those happened now!)

Thursday- As soon as Landon left for school, the rest of us hopped in the van and went to Lowe’s for more stuff. We got what we needed there pretty quickly then I dropped mom off at the house and took the kids to the library. The weekend prior we had made a trip to Costco and the entire time we were there Harper sat in the cart looking at a gigantic book about dinosaurs. I decided I wanted to go to the library to find him some more dino books and boy was he excited when we checked out a bunch! We also found a few super hero books so it ended up being a really good day for him! Dakota wanted a Barney movie so we got a few of those too. Everyone was happy. Mom got one wall taped that night and we hit the sack so that we could get up bright and early for Harper’s last day of school for the week which included his super awesome costume parade.

Friday- The morning was a blur getting everything and everyone ready for Harper’s parade. We got to the school with a little time to spare and then we all waited outside while they prepared to come out. They came out and showed off their costumes and I’ve never seen a cute bunch of kids! There were princesses (3 Elsa’s, 1 Sleeping Beauty, I think), ninja turtles (3, all Leonardo), a panda bear (representing the new baby panda, Bao Bao, at the National Zoo) a bumblebee, a duck, an Incredible (Violet), a squid, and the cutest little army guy I’ve ever seen.

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They sang us a few songs and recited a few Halloween inspired poems and then we got some hugs and they went to have a fun day at school while the rest of headed home. I hung out with Kota while Meme worked on taping more of the bathroom then Dakota stayed with Meme while I picked up Harper. I got home and we all decided we were starving, and just as we were walking out the door, Zoe came in. So, we loaded up and headed out to lunch. Once we were home it was quiet time and work on the bathroom time once again. Between Zoe, Meme and I we whipped that bathroom into shape and got it finished. Mom was set to stay home from trick-or-treating to finish it, but we were able to get it all done just in time for us all to go out walking with the kids. I have lots of pictures to post about Halloween and the bathroom’s finished look, but those will have to be my next posts because I’ve gotta run for now!

April Fools Pranks

The two little kids made me laugh yesterday morning.  I was upstairs getting things ready for school when I heard them talking about how ...