Bedtime Snuggles

Love them.

Making Lemons Into Lemonade

Our week has been rough. What we thought was Makin's teething turned out to be some kind of virus, we think started with Brad (but we didn't notice a fever with him) and ended up hitting all of us. Just a low fever with achy body and fatigue. Not a good thing to have going around the house, especially when Brad can't take a sick day for me to recoup since he will miss all next week...so we survived. Lorelei had it mostly Wednesday and I had it mostly Thursday, so we had lots of veg time.

Then this morning started out with Makin waking up at 5:38 and as I was trying to get him back to sleep Lorelei started screaming and Brad was in the shower so I had two kids screaming that I knew needed to get back to sleep...eventually they did for about 30 minutes. I still didn't feel great, but was much better than the day before. However Lorelei, whether it was from just getting over being sick, or in anticipation of what she knows is coming up with us leaving, was having a record-breaking melt down morning. She would cry at the drop of a hat. Sooo it was quite a rough morning with all of this combined. But I had to run some errands that got put off from Thursday (and we also had to cancel a park play-date and supper play-date! grr!) and the errands went better (minus spilling coffee on myself) as we dropped off library books, turned in my papers to the court the dismiss my ticket, and even got Makin's hair cut! (Which was a super-cute moment. He sat perfectly content while she used the clippers. Wonder if it had to do with the lollipop I let him have? :) Then both kids, with lollipops in hand went over to a bench and sat together when we got outside. So fun.)

So by the time we got home it was beautiful out (high of 71 today!) and we decided to have a picnic lunch in the playhouse.


Then after nap we got more outside time. Makin's latest favorite game is for me to stand at the bottom of the hill so he can roll the ball down to me. I find it hilarious when I throw it back up to him and he closes his eyes with a big smile. He knows his mom has a tendency to manage to land the ball right on his head at least once! :)


And the highlight of my day was right before bed time! Lorelei and I came up with a fun plan for us to take some books out with a flashlight and read in the playhouse. :) Oh so fun to see a three-year-old react to being outside in the dark. Something so simple like this is just so much fun through their eyes. :) Loved it.

Stocked Up

On mushy stuff to take on our trip. Not liking that we are traveling right after the surgery and not knowing what Makin will want to eat, so got a little bit of everything. Thank goodness there are so many new "inventions" when it comes to this healthy snack stuff...really saved us here for sure! Thanks Gerber! (Well, maybe I should save my thanks until I know he will eat it...)

And yes...I'm dreading it. 3 weeks of mush. Seriously? Yuck.

My Crazies

Outside as early as they possibly can. Even though it is TOO COLD! I send them out on their own this early and they usually only last about 10 minutes or so, but its worth it to just send them out so I don't have to hear whining to go outside. Right now Lorelei just says, "Its light out!" as soon as she wakes up...meaning...that means I can go outside right? :) And of course, little brother will never be far behind. And I also noticed she really likes his company. :)

"Myself" Break-Through

Well, Lorelei is independent about many things, but lately I have been pushing her some things I had been slacking on...like getting herself dressed, and some others that are on the new chore chart! However, I intentionally did not put the "get yourself dressed" on the chart because it is a BIG frustration point at our house. She gets very, VERY frustrated that she can't do it perfectly and quickly, and while I'm trying to show her how she should do it, she ends up throwing things and screaming...so I thought I'd wait to add that to the list later. Well, much to my surprise, she stated she wanted to get dressed herself this morning. I helped her pick out pants to match the shirt she chose, and then left the room. Heard a few "ughh!!s" and "eeeehhh!s" and offered to help but she said "not yet" and then eventually marched out fully dressed (and pants even on the right way!) and quite proud. And she admitted, "I did get a widdo (little) bit mad though." In between all my gloating. :) So anyway, we are very excited to take a step in the right direction...and hope it continues to get even better! She even got her own socks on too...another point of contention as they are not so easy to get on, but I found out she will need it for gymnastics so wanted her to feel comfortable putting them on herself. Now, on to her own coat and own shoes! :)

2012 Here We Go

After church (where Lorelei again did not want to go to Sunday School...and she claims its because a little boy pulled on her dress last time??? so we will try again next week now that we prepped her with what to say if he does it again and will probably tell Alyssa to keep an eye out) we started the completion of the swing set. Brad even let me use the power tools! (Only because its easier for me to fit underneath the playhouse!) It was done with plenty of time for a little swinging for a very excited young lady. Makin, on the other hand, was very grumpy as he is working hard on getting those "canine" teeth in. Yuck.


Ahh... I think my life just got a little bit easier. So much fun they will have. And sooo glad it will not be freezing next week as Lorelei asks to go outside the second she wakes up!

January Family Picture

Try as we might, Makin was just toooo cranky from teething to give us a good picture, so I guess this just shows the day we had! :)



Excited to look back through each month at the end of the year!