Happy 6 Months House!

And celebrating with the campaign the realtor gave us half a year ago. ;)



Cheers to loving more space and lots of great memories so far...and hopefully getting a lot more done around the house the next 6 months! :)

Makin' Cupcakes!

To celebrate "Real Food Day" tomorrow!!!!! Soooo excited!

This morning during breakfast when I told Lorelei that Makin could eat real food tomorrow she said "I want to go to sleep right now!" (So when she woke up it would be tomorrow of course.)

We made cupcakes tonight and it was very fun having a little extra help. She even counted the eggs in the picture accurately and told me how many I needed!

Tuesday Play-date

We have skipped story-time these last few weeks since it is right before lunch, so today we headed over to the Hughes girls house and enjoyed lots of playing and lunch. (Since Mary can make mushy food too!) We started out at the park a block from their house, and then headed to play at the house while she made lunch. Lots of fun for the kids. Plus they all got a great case of the giggles while eating together at the picnic table. :) Helped our last mush day fly by much faster! :) And we moms have lots of fun plans for February...can't wait!

And how sweet do our little ones look together? Makin and Morgan got some time together at the playground since the big sisters were busy off playing their own thing. So sweet!

Gymnastics

We found an outstanding deal for 8 weeks of gymnastics on Groupon and could not pass up a chance to let Lorelei take a class. She was sooooo excited. (Mom too!)


Getting ready: She warmed up by stretching before we left. :) She kept saying "I have to tell my teacher..." (Very excited about this whole teacher concept.) And her thoughts on her leotard? "It kinda small." :)

The class only had three kids in it today. There are a couple more that come but didn't make it this time. One girl left crying and didn't want to do it, which I understand is becoming a regular habit. I thought three was PLENTY and I would not want to see him try and manage six at a time! :) Lorelei had a ball and was not the least bit shy. (Big surprise) Not surprisingly Lorelei needs to work a bit on her listening and following directions, but not too bad. She listened a bit better than one of the other girls! And she was the youngest! :) She had no problem telling Coach Bret everything she was thinking and was excited about. :)

Pictures from top left clockwise: warming up, bars, pushing a mat as part of a relay they had to do (did this part of pushing it up and back without him reminding her what to do), chin up on the bar (held for 10 seconds...he was impressed!), walking up the mat to do flip around bar (lots more trouble with this one, not too comfortable with the flip!) They also did the trampoline, but it is in an area we couldn't really see. That was probably her favorite part.

And Little Brother's take on the whole thing? WHY IN THE WORLD DOES MY SISTER GET TO DO THIS WITHOUT ME!?!?!?! Hoping next week goes better when I can bribe him with snacks...















Survived her first mom-free class! So excited for next week and wants to go back tomorrow rather than wait a week! :)

We stopped for a special drink at Sonic on the way home since a certain mom forgot to pack a sippy cup. :)

After class she talked to both Grandma and Nana about her experience. One of her remarks was "I can do everything my teacher do!" And made sure to tell both about her highlight of the trampoline.

Looking forward to more fun Monday morning gymnastics!

Hear That?

It is the sound of children playing contently.

30 minutes of sanity on a chilly morning. Water...suggested to anyone who needs entertainment. Thanks for the idea Melissa!

The Only Thing We Will Miss

About the mush diet...

Is having ice cream faces

Or pudding faces

EVERY afternoon. :)

Playing Together

I looked into the living room to see the kids discovered the perfect game to play together. Lorelei gets to be a dog and Makin gets to throw things...genius! :)

Checking Out Preschool

Thursday we went for our first (and maybe only) preschool tour. It is at the church we went to for MOPS (the few times we went) and we know one mom who sends her daughter there and also helps in the classrooms. It is one of the FEW places I have found that have it as JUST SCHOOL and not trying to pass of daycare as preschool. And its just under 15 minutes away! They are only there Tuesdays and Thursdays and go from 9-2. (Thats the only part I don't like, but seems like they all do that around here.) If you want to see more about them this is their website: http://elc.crossridgelife.org/

Registration is Feb 7th, so we are probably going to be there and hopefully get her signed up to start in September. (Yay they wait until after Labor Day!) Assuming we don't see anything else we like before then! :) But I like it a lot. Sort of that small, home-town preschool we would send her to if we were back in OK or NE. Plus it has a Bible story every day which is also great.

Of course, Lorelei loved it. (As if there was ever any doubt she would love any school we visited?) After we got home and I was telling her about what all she would need for school (nap mat, lunch box, etc) she added, "And coffee, for teacher." :) Guess we will have to find out her teacher's favorite Starbucks drink! :)

I am still in total denial that I have a girl old enough to start preschool. But, I did start thinking how fun it will be to have some Makin and Mommy time a couple of days a week!

Got a couple of cute shots of Lorelei with her two favorite boys. :)

Our Rainy Day

The "monsoon" started yesterday afternoon, went through the night and will last throughout the day today and some tomorrow. And what great timing for a little boy who has decided the last few days to wake up before 6 am? When does daylight savings kick in again??? :)

Despite the early wake up time, it was a great start to our morning...Me drinking coffee while Makin cooked in his kitchen (he plays pretend soooo well!) and listening to the rain pound and seeing him react to a little thunder too! :) Love getting a little time just the two of us.

We listened to Toddler Tunes while playing with Play-Doh later that morning and heard a song we know from story time! Makin was excited to get down and do the actions (Lorelei did before this too) and I just HAD to catch him attempting to stand on one foot. So cute!



Survived the day but boy was it long. :) We did some more dancing and songs in the evening too...going to have to remember to do this more often! :)

Lots Of Outside Time And Friends Visit

Today was wonderful! It is pretty difficult to go out and about with Makin's limited eating options, so we are staying close to home for these couple of weeks. Thankfully, the weather was gorgeous, and we even had friends who came over to play! Amazing how much easier the day staying home is when you can get outside and also have visitors. :) The Hughes girls loved the new swing set as well as the sandbox. Hours of fun!

And despite our best efforts of "peer pressure" when all the girls ate applesauce, Makin still did not follow! :) The girls ate tons of it, and they all liked the mac and cheese after though!

Woo Hoo!!!

The ugly scab finally fell off tonight! :) So glad to have our boy looking more like himself. :)

Bummed

After a morning running around and being excited for Lorelei's first gymnastics class, we got to the door and found a note saying the teacher was sick. Seriously? In this day and age? Ready to call and make sure they have our phone number for next time...Lorelei took it surprisingly well. While Makin napped a little extra in the car she ate some animal crackers...a non mushy snack! :) This Mom wanted to drown her sorrows in Starbucks and a donut...so guess its a good thing we are on the mush diet to save money and calories! :)

Lorelei's L's And More

She is finally willing to practice her L's!!! :)



I have seen a big change in her willingness to practice and learn new things lately...huge relief to this "teacher" mom. :) Not that she wants to sit still and do much...but at least we have some more moments like this than we used to!

As usual...been jotting down notes for over a month or two now so wanted to share a few...

Lorelei was playing with something invisible on the table and she handed it to Brad, said "Here Daddy" and then he promptly pretended to eat it. Then she yelled,
"No! Those pennies! Don't eat that!!!" :)

Lorelei was talking to Brad and as he tried to close the door, she caught the door with a, "I'm not done talking to you." Yeah, life with her is just like that car commercial with that little girl in the backseat yacking while the dad gets out etc...

When she tries to say waitress it comes out "oye tress" :)

Me: How many more bites do you think you should take? And don't say three.
Lor: One.

Me: Why do you look guilty?
Lor: I can't tell you because I'm gonna be in trouble.

And some things stay the same...her love for stuffed animals. :) This picture is her with T-Bone all dressed up along with her. :) They are her favorite things, that is for sure!

Watching her falling more and more into her big sister role makes me smile each day. She is becoming more and more the protector, watching out for him, along with a little bossing on the side...a few stories with that...

Makin was running away from us while I was talking to a manager in the grocery store and she took it upon herself to run after him, catch him and tackle him to the ground until I got there. :)

She will plant a juicy kiss on his forehead.

If he starts playing with the remotes she will simply move them to a higher spot where he can't reach...usually with some yelling in the process. "Mom! Makin have mote!"

A week or two before leaving for his surgery she softly asked me, "Mom, is Makin gonna be okay?"

I was getting frustrated at him hitting me one day, and she pointed out, "Maybe he is giving you high five?" Sure enough. Anytime I say anything positive he is very ready with his high five...even if I don't realize what I said. She looks out for him and thinks a lot about what he might be doing/feeling etc.

"That's my boy!"

"I'll keep an eye on him."

And my favorite was the other night as they were getting ready for bed she made a point to tell him, "I had fun with you today."

Oh and I cannot forget to mention her obsession with footsie jammies. At the fall/winter sale I intentionally did not try to get her footsies thinking they would be more difficult for her with bathroom, etc and that she may have outgrown them. Well, no way. We had one pair of footsie jammies and she would have a melt down as we tried to talk her into her other pajamas. In light of us being gone, I wanted to get some extra pairs to help with bedtime for the grandparents. Then Grandma got a couple more pairs on sale...so now the girl has like 10 pairs of pajamas...anybody want a pj party!? :) Only if half of you prefer non footsie, though. :) Can't complain too much as she is easy going with all the rest of her wardrobe!

Our sweet girl is growing up so fast! Loving age three!

Eatin Mush

We have settled into a pretty good way of making the "mush" diet work...not ideal long term, but we can handle it. 10 more days! :)

Right now we make sure to keep the pantry door closed at all times, and hide anything, especially bread, that we know Makin would want to eat. Many lunches etc in the corner of the kitchen where I can hide from the high chair view! Not looking forward to this full week on our own and not being able to be out much because of snacking/lunch, but again only temporary!

Makin's Mush Meal-plan ends up being...oatmeal for breakfast (finally got him to try it after I ate a few spoonfuls!)...which he had TWO PACKAGES of this morning. Then pasta/potatoes for lunch/supper. And the usual afternoon popular snack is melted ice cream. He does not like it cold, so he has ice cream soup. We continue to try applesauce and smoothies, but so far they are a no go. He used his smoothie today to paint his high chair tray. Definitely not making me happy on the health spectrum, and again causes problem with our usual outings since he won't eat the portable fruit etc...

Hoping we can keep these smiles coming for the next 10 days!

The Latest Favorite Game

Blowin Bubbles

It's still the favorite activity...even if we need to bundle up to do it! They both looooove it!

Thank You Grandma and Grandpa!

Grandma and Grandpa with Lorelei and Makin at Babe's...which is probably going to become a regular when they visit. :) They both did great and Makin ate his weight in mashed potatoes. :)










Well, we cannot thank you enough for all your help the last two weeks. We are so thankful that you made the trip to take care of Lorelei so she could stay at her own house and have as little change as possible while we had to be away. Thanks for giving her lots of extra love and keeping her safe!

Thanks for all the extra help our first week home when we dealt with an unhappy boy who does not want to eat only mush. What a huge help to have meals cooked, dishes done, and daughter entertained during some stressful days first getting home. Not to mention an amazingly organized garage we cannot wait to fill up even more and get more organized! :)

We are so blessed to have you and cannot wait for a FUN trip the next time we see you, with everyone feeling 100% :) Love to you both from all of us!

Practicing Bike

Grandpa aired up her tires and Lorelei decided the garage was a great place to practice...no hills! :)

Bubbles and Giggles with Grandma

Amazing weather gave us a great chance to be outside. Lorelei was especially loving blowing bubbles with Grandma and laughing hysterically. :)

Studs

These are our "studs" in the family (Grandma and Grandpa) who are trying to find studs in the garage in order to help get us WAY more organized. The finished product is AMAZING and lets me breath just a little better. Organization is so good for the soul!

This plus a place to hang brooms etc in the pantry...not to mention countless other handyman jobs I only dream Brad could get done over a weekend (and then I'd be on my own with the kids even if he could) got done on the Stahl's second week here. Thank you thank you!

Golly Gump

Brad's favorite book from his childhood was Golly Gump Swallowed a Fly. Lorelei pulled it out of her bookcase recently and Grandma mentioned that Grandpa read it many, many times to Brad. So, he is back on Golly Gump duty. :)

Fun At The Mall

For my first trip the Grapevine Mills mall, Grandma went all out. They took Lorelei to The Rainforest Cafe while we were gone, and mentioned that Lorelei kept saying "I should show Mommy this" when they would do things she was excited about. (Yeah, melts my heart!) So we decided to head there and meet Auntie Di one more time while Grandma was here and enjoy some fun on a chilly day.

There is a small train that drives around the mall! Both kids loved it!


Rainforest Cafe was a fun place to eat lunch. There were live fish, and some electronic animals that would "go crazy" about every 15 minutes. Makin loved their mac n cheese! I made the sisters try out these bar stools. I think I want some for our kitchen! :)


And what mall trip would be complete without the beloved carousel ride? This was actually Makin's first ride since going when he fit in a car seat carrier. :) And of course Grandma had to get them the special punching balloons. They loved them!

Mac N Cheese With Katsup

For breakfast...and lunch...and pretty much all the time. This is the most substance he gets on his "mush" diet. He is done with all my attempts at applesauce (and the like) and is pretty much only eating this, pasta with Ragu, and mashed potatoes...gonna be a carb-loaded two weeks left! We are already planning the party on February 1st!







In light of a 45 minute morning melt down along with many others, I have conceded to a very soft spoon for "The Silverware King"...this is him snitching mashed potatoes in between playing.

Oh. My. Word.

Our flights home were horrible. Pull your hair out, need-to-buy-everyone-in-the-plane-a-drink horrible. Makin was grumpy, we were exhausted.

This is our layover in Denver where we could plug in the DVD player for a few minutes to catch a sanity break...before trekking the opposite way across the airport after finding out our gate changed of course.

If this is how our ride to Virginia had been, I would have been walking home. Torture.

Okay now I will try and be reflective...at least he slept for a part of the 4 hour flight so I got to have a warm cookie. :)

And as for getting home, Lorelei was so sweet. Ran to us and gave us hugs, was very worried when she saw Makin and worried he couldn't talk (as he was seemingly speechless to see his big sister again) and then rubbed his back as she was talking to him, before finding TWO dogs at the airport. Only my kids. :) So glad to be home. And no more airplanes for a while...

Richmond Children's Museum and DC Hotel

We decided to break up our drive to DC by stopping at the Richmond Children's Museum on the way up. It was a very welcomed stop after a very rough morning of an understandably grumpy boy. It was just the distraction he needed! And our top four exhibits were...the little farm. Dropping the eggs down the ramp. And then the water play, of course, was a huge hit. He loved the fountain.






And we loved this tree. First you picked the apples (red balls) and then brought your basket of apples to dump into a machine, then you watched them go up the machine into the top and then fall back down into the tubes to be "picked" again when you went back outside the tree!

And probably Brad's ultimate favorite was ....the scarf machine?! Probably should have taken notes on what these were called. These tubes had air going through them and you could open valves to make the scarves shoot out of different places. And of course, Brad wouldn't be Brad if he didn't feel the need to stuff EVERY scarf into it at once. It got jammed a few times, but he did get them all out eventually. Men. Makin loooooved when they would shoot out and rain over his head. He also loved just throwing them.



After picking out a few fun toys from the gift shop to take home to Lorelei (who we were missing like crazy by now) we drove the rest of the trip to DC, settled in and ordered supper to eat in our room. Makin was very happy to have macaroni and cheese, even though that was the most "nonliquidy" thing he had had yet, so I was a nervous wreck. Sure made him a lot less grumpy though! We also let him open his new cars from Chase before calling it a night.

And had to show you Brad's thrill of the trip. His dream rental car (which we got for a steal btw) was the Dodge Charger. I have to admit, it was pretty fun. :) So glad he got a chance to drive it for 6 days! :)

Big Thanks

To the Bonfiglio family for taking us in after the surgery. You were so helpful through the rough couple of days after and made it so much easier on us. And so glad we finally got to see Brian with his long hair! ;) Can't wait for your visit to Texas!

Just had to share this picture of Leah...the girl loves shoes so much she even has to wear them with her footsie jammies. :) Made me smile. :)

What A Difference 24 Hours Makes

Almost exactly 24 hours after surgery, Makin was playing outside with a beach ball. Amazing.

After not-too-bad a night and some rough not-wanting-to-eat-mush moments Makin was raring to get out and enjoy another beautiful day. He kicked around a ball and played a bit before we headed out to see a new playground addition to Mt. Trashmore. He had a blast going on lots of slides and climbing all over. The two boys stuck together most of the time and the girls usually weren't far behind. And cute fact...the jacket Makin is wearing used to belong to Chase. :) They grow up so fast!

Can't say it enough. Amazing.

"We'll Take Good Care Of Him"

That is what the anesthesiologist who had to take our sweet boy away said as she scooped him up to head down the hall. I just kept running that through my head as we waited and tried to keep busy. Makin's surgery lasted about 2 1/2 hours, and of course it was rough seeing him right after, but amazingly enough he was able to go home just a few hours after coming out of surgery. This picture was taken about 3 hours after I saw him...so he is looking a lot better. He held onto his Elmo while watching Happy Feet while Brad went to get the car to leave the hospital. So, so thankful for our amazing doctors and nurses who took such good care of our brave boy.

He was groggy the rest of the day, but did do a little bit of playing and eating that afternoon before going down for the night at around 5:30 pm.

The Bonfiglio's were gracious enough to let us stay a couple of nights at their house while Makin recovered. The kids did amazing with this, even though, as you can tell, it would be a bit rough to see Makin like this for little ones. Chase even wrapped up a few of his cars to give Makin.

Virginia Beach Friends

Oh how we have missed them! The only thing that helped get us through this trip was getting to see the friends we had not seen in a year. After the doctors appointment and beach, we headed to the Bonfiglio house followed by the Check house. And what fun to see how much all of them had grown up in the last year!

Makin and Leah being a bit shy, but had to get a picture to show how much they have grown up. :) They were just little babies when we left!

The Check girls welcomed Makin right in. Emma and Makin enjoyed playing in the kitchen together. And as you can see, these babies have grown up too! :) But, they are about the same height! And boy did Makin fall right into place with Lily. You could tell he felt comfortable with her just like he does his big sister. Glad the Check girls still love to hug on this little guy just like "when they were little." :)

As you can see, Makin had lots of fun, such a great time and such busy day. And I think so many things packed in the day before surgery kept me from getting too sad. Soooo thankful for our friends. We miss you dearly!

Makin's Trip To The Beach

The last time this little guy saw the beach he was about 3-4 months old, in a car seat carrier, covered with a blanket. I was so, SO excited to let him get to the beach.

And he loved it.

Loved the sand, loved the seagulls, loved the water...and tried it but it was COLD. So thankful for this day. Sorry, I took about a million pictures. :) Will be counting the days till our next beach visit someday, with big sister along! :)