Good Idea!

Ughhh! It’s been so long since I updated I don’t even remember what I want to talk about. I’ve been sitting here for 20 minutes looking at pictures trying to narrow them down so it doesn’t take me forever to upload them. We’ve had a crazy couple weeks. When is it not crazy around her though? Here we go!

Kami’s Kudos: Kami is MOBILE!!!! That's right, she is crawling. OH NO! What am I going to do? Ok, so she isn’t a marathon crawler, but she’s moving. She’s gone about a foot now. I’ve noticed that she is super determined when she sees something she wants. And, why is it that she only wants the things she shouldn’t have?
This is not a kudo, but rather a story of our weekend. Kami decided I didn’t have enough worries so she added a few more last week. We were leaving Hadley’s soccer game and getting ready to get in the car when she pukes all over my mom. We could tell something choked her up, so we didn’t think much of it. Then, while eating dinner she pukes again. I take her temperature and it’s about 101 degrees. She falls asleep easily and sleeps for a while until she pukes again. Now, her temperature is up around 102. Oh boy. We give her generic Tylenol throughout the night and in the morning I took her (with the other two girls in tow) to Express Care. By this point her temp has gone down but you can tell she doesn’t feel well. I was convinced she had a urinary tract infection so I bought my little collection bag and cup so I could give them a sample of her urine. The analysis came back negative though. The doctor went ahead and wrote a prescription for an antibiotic just in case the culture (which can take three days) comes back positive. By the time we get her home her temp is 103.6 which is really starting to freak me out. I call her regular doctor and they tell me to keep an eye on her. Are you kidding me? She was still taking her bottles and keeping them down, so they told me not to take her to the ER yet, but to watch her very closely for any changes. Needless to say, I didn’t do much other than stare at her all afternoon. Her fever finally broke but it took until Sunday. Tuesday morning she woke up with a rash all over her belly, back and neck. Hadley had Roseola when she was little so I was pretty sure that’s what it was. Brooke had a speech appointment at 8:30 at Koke Mill which is where our doctor is, so we went up and had a nurse look at her and yep, that’s what they think she had/has. By the time you get the stinking rash you aren’t contagious anymore.

Brooke’s Blessings: Brooke’s new phrase is “Good idea!” She loves saying it. If you tell her we are going to do something, she says it. If you ask her if she wants to do something, she says it. If Hadley is doing something she wants to do, she says it. It’s so cute when she says it but sometimes you have to ask her if it’s really a “Good Idea.” For example, Brooke are you sure it’s a good idea to climb on the table? Brooke is it a good idea to jump off the arm of the couch? Hey Brooke, I’m going to go put the clothes in the dryer. She never ceases to amaze me. We’ve also noticed that she is starting to answer questions more appropriately. I asked her how she slept at Grandma and Grandpa’s and she answered “good.” Brian asked her what she was doing and she said “doll” (she was playing with her doll). We absolutely LOVE our new speech therapist. She has made more progress in the last few weeks than she has in the last year. We are really working on strengthening her facial muscles (cheeks). She loves seeing Cheri and doesn’t get upset when she has to work. Cheri has a dog puppet that Brooke loves feeding. I am so excited to see her progress throughout the summer

Hadley’s Hoorays: Hadley is finished with pre-school for this year. She bought home her first report card. She knows her shapes, colors, body parts, letters in her name, all but 3 of her letters and most of her numbers. She received satisfactory marks in most areas except one – attention while completing a task. Hmmm. That’s a surprise! We were supposed to have an end of the year picnic on Thursday, but the weather was cruddy. They rescheduled it for Friday, but Kami was sick so we didn’t make it. I actually didn’t even tell Hadley they had rescheduled it, because I didn’t want to make her upset that we couldn’t go. I lied to my child! I feel really bad about that but I would have been a worse mommy to take Kami to the park for a picnic when she wasn’t feeling well. Grandma Patti broke her foot a couple weeks ago and has to wear a boot until June 1, where they will do another x-ray to check her progress. Hadley was convinced that her foot would look “broken” so she didn’t want Grandma to take her boot off. Once she saw that it was still Grandma’s foot she was fine. We went over to keep her company the day after she broke it, and Hadley was so cute. We had been talking about how Grandma wouldn’t be able to move around as quickly and that there might be some things that we can do to help her out. Hadley bounces in the door explaining that we are there to help do laundry, pick up, etc… So, Hadley goes into the toy room and “picks up” or moves all the toys so there is a path to walk. What a helper.

The Tweryon Train

Kami Lu showing off her smile

Here is Brooke with her friend Maycee. This is Maycee's chair and Brooke was not going to let Maycee sit in it without her sitting on her lap. Thank you Maycee for keeping Brooke entertained. :)

We took Hadley and Brooke to the Art Fair downtown on Saturday. I remember doing this as a kid, so we thought we would give it a try. The day was cruddy but we went anyway. They have a tent just for kids. Everything is priced either 4, 5, or 6 dollars. No parents are allowed in the tent. We didn't know if the girls would go with their helper or not, but they went willingly. We told them they could each get a picture and "something pretty." They were in there for about 5 minutes and I was really excited to see what they would come out with. When I was little, (and yes my mom and dad still have it) I picked out a picture of a bug that said "I'll never stop bugging you." Quality art here people. I would have loved to have been a fly on a wall in there.

So, here they are walking out of the tent...

Hadley picked out a beautiful dinosoaur picture (because it was pink)...

Little background here -- All morning Brooke had been saying "eeh, ahh, ahh" which is how she says monkey. She is obsessed with monkeys right now. Hadley told her we might see a picture of a monkey, but we had no idea... Brooke comes out of the tent saying eeh, ahh, ahh and look what she found. Don't you love it? Where am I going to hang this???

They each picked out a little coin purse as well. We had lunch at Robbie's and came home. It was a little wet to walk around too much. We got a dinosaur and a gorilla, what else do we need?

Have a great week! I am so excited to get the pool out next week! Come on Sunshine!

"Mommy, That Makes My Heart Smile!"

This Mother's Day was extra special. It started with a Mother's Tea at Hadley's school. The children sang a little song and served cookies and lemonade. Hadley also painted a flower pot with a delicious cake baked inside. Being a teacher I have helped kids make gifts for the mom's many times, but it was so sweet to get my very own -- and let me tell you, it's by far the best flower pot painting I've seen in a long time :) I had so much fun at my first Mother's Tea and can't wait for many more.

The girls being silly at the end of the tea.

Hadley with her flower pot.

We had Brooke and Kami dedicated at church on Mother's Day. (Hadley has already been dedicated.)

Mommy and her beautiful girls

Mother's Day evening we went to Grandma and Grandpa Tweryon's for dinner. Nana and Papa Blade were there too. The girls made a handprint flower pot for Nana, Grandma and Granny. (INSERT PICTURE HERE) Oops. I have picture of grandmas opening their gifts, but none of them are looking at the camera. I didn't get a picture of the girls with their Grandma and Nana so we will stage one at a later date. I also found these frames from Hallmark where you can record a message and decorate the frame. Hadley said "We love you ________" and Brooke added her touch by saying "Bubba" They are too cute. I just wish I had bought one for myself.

Becoming a mommy is the best thing that has happened to me. I love my girls more each day! I am so thankful for them (even when they try my patience). The other day Brooke did something silly and I laughed at her and told her I loved her. With a pretty pathetic voice Hadley asked if I loved her too. I told her, of course. Well, she was upset because I didn't tell her I loved her too. She then started asking all kinds of questions like -- how does your heart love all your girls, do you love us even when we don't listen (you can imagine the questions Hadley can come up with)... I told her that my heart got bigger each time I had a baby so now my heart can hold enough love for everybody. She looked at me with a huge grin and said, "Mommy that makes my heart smile" Hadley, Brooke and Kami --You make my heart smile a million times a day!! I love you to the moon, and back!

I hope you all had a wonderful Mother's Day, too.

Cozy Creek Farm Field Trip

On Saturday May, 8th, we went to Cozy Creek Farm in Waggoner, Illinois for a Fun Shop field trip. A few retired teachers opened this farm so school children would have a place to visit. It was a really fun morning, minus the fact that it was 50 degrees and the wind was blowing like crazy. It made for a very cold trip down on the farm. Because of this, Kami stayed with Nana and Papa. We started by taking a hay ride to feed the cows. After the hay ride you are free to wander around. We saw bunnies, turkeys, dove, chickens, ducks, pigs, cows, miniature horses, goats, etc... You know, the normal farm animals. The big girls had a great time. Here are a few of our pictures from the day. Well, I uploaded them backwards, so let me start with this one.

We surprised Granny with a visit after we left the farm. The farm was only about ten minutes from her house so we stopped and ate our lunch with her. She was super surprised to see Hads and Brooke knocking at her door.

They had a really tall slide that the girls had to try. Brooke did ok until she actually made it to the top. It took a little convincing to get her down.

Feeding the chickens
Hads was able to grind corn to feed the chickens.

Brooke feeding the goat -- it took about 4 tries to make it to the goat's mouth without dropping the food. Thankfully the guy helping was very patient. :)

Hadley feeding the goat.

Brooke got a big kick out of the sheep talking to her.

This calf was only 10 days old. It looks just like it's mom!

Thankfully, Hadley and Brooke have a pretty smart mommy who thought to pack hats. I wish I had packed one for myself.

More to come tomorrow! For now, I'm going to bed.

Where Oh Where Have My Nappers Gone? Oh Where Oh Where Could They Be?

Phewwww! I apologize for the tardiness of this blog. I thought about updating it all last week, but my “to do” list was calling me louder than the blog. It doesn't help that my beautiful daughters have decided that napping is a thing of the past.

Here are a couple random happenings from the last two weeks…

The girls and I have been taking advantage of lazy mornings, and we feel kind of bad for Daddy. A few days last week, we were ALL still sleeping when poor Brian was leaving for work. Although I did feel bad, I didn’t feel THAT bad. It was kind of nice.

We have owned our car for one year, and during that year we only put 10,000 miles on it! That has never, ever happened to me in my 15 years of owning a car. We figured out that when I was teaching at New Berlin I put at least 9,000 miles on my car just driving to work. That didn’t include any driving that we did outside of going to work. Yikes.

Last week a big recall of Tylenol, Zyrtec, Benadryl and Motrin was announced. We went through our cabinets and diaper bags and found 13 bottles of recalled medicine. 5 of them have never even been opened. I have tried to call the company, but haven’t been able to talk to anyone yet. I hope they replace them, because that’s a lot of money sitting on my counter right now.

Check out this video of Hadley showing off her hopscotch skills. Notice how she holds her leg when she tries to jump on one foot. Does that help?

Rochester High School's Prom was Saturday. We took the girls to the Promenade again. This year, their dates were Grandpa Bill and Grandpa Clark. They got flowers to wear on their wrists and even gave their grandpas boutonnieres. Here is the formal picture we had taken (on my camera). We don't have the official one yet. I haven't cropped it yet either , but you get the idea.

Here is a picture of the girls last year at prom.

We watched the couples walk across the stage, saw the coronation and the highlight of the evening was... Hadley and Brooke got to walk across the stage, just like the big kids! They announced their names and there they went. We weren't sure what would happen. I pictured them getting about half-way across and freaking out. NO! Exactly the opposite. They were so cute! Brooke was waving. Hadley was holding her hand like a super big sister. It was really special for them. Thank you Amy and Jamie! You made my girls day. I'm just afraid that we have created little Prom monsters :)

This next picture cracks me up. We asked the big girls to scoot back a little and here they are scooting back a lot. Kami doesn't have a clue and is just having a happy time.

Hadley’s Hoorays: Hadley has two hoorays for this blog. She is proud of herself because she has been “in charge” of Kami. Brooke has therapy on every other Monday and Thursday and it’s Hadley’s job to “babysit” Kami. She picks out what toys she and Kami will play with and I let them go to Hadley’s room. It is so cute to watch her interact with Kami when she thinks no one is watching her. She really is very good with her. Hadley earns one whole dollar for each time she babysits. Hadley’s second hooray for the week is “she helped Brooke walk across the stage.”
Here are a couple funny Hadley stories: I was getting lunch ready one day and I asked her if she wanted yogurt or pudding. She tells me she wants yogurt. As I’m opening the fridge to get the yogurt, she comes around the corner and tells me “Actually, yogurt is spanish for pudding, so I want pudding.” Dora would be so proud!
We were watching Nick Jr. the other day and there was a commercial where parents were talking about how great Nick Jr. was for their kids. Parents were telling what their children had learned from watching this channel. One dad says “she told me she couldn’t go to bed because she was nocturnal.” Hadley turns to me and says, “I can’t go to bed either because I’m not a turtle.”

Brooke’s Blessings: Brooke is becoming quite a daredevil. She likes to put pillows on the floor and jump off the ottoman. She is climbing on things that really shouldn’t be climbed on. She is walking down stairs by herself. She finds things that she can walk on like a balance beam. She even likes to say “WHOA” when she is about to fall. With her new daring side, come a few new bumps, scrapes and bruises. I joke that we show up for Hadley’s soccer games each week with a new battle wound. Please don’t contact the authorities, she’s our clumsy child. We were on our way back from Wal-Mart today while Hadley was at school. I got to Route 29 and if I turned left we would go to Hadley's school. I turned right because I wanted to run the groceries home first. Brooke is screaming "Hadley, Hadley, Hadley!" from the back seat. I told her I wanted to put the groceries away and she quietly said "Oh!" as if to say, I get it I'll stop screaming at you.

Brooke’s funny moment of the week: We were at my mom and dad’s for dinner on Sunday. Hadley was pretending to plant blueberries and Brooke was bugging her, as usual. As Hadley was attempting to tell on her, Brooke grabs one of her “blueberries” and throws it off the deck. She then turns around and laughs at her. Brian had to handle this one because I was too busy laughing at Brooke.

Kami’s Kudos: Kami is now reaching for people when she wants them. If you are sitting on the floor with her, she will attempt to pull herself up to you. She is also getting ready to crawl. She has the position down, she just needs to move forward instead of backwards. Her smile is still super contagious and her laugh is even more contagious. She cried pretty much the entire way through Wal-Mart today, but I was not leaving. Brooke was even trying to stop her from crying. It's not easy grocery shopping while holding a 7 month old and pushing a cart full of groceries. I felt like crying!

We are still doing a weekly family picture. The last two are somewhere on my little camera and I can't find them. I don't know if they were saved to the internal memory, but they are missing for the time being. I will get them up as soon as I find them. We hope you all have a great rest of the week. Happy Mother's Day to all of you wonderful mother's! I get to go to my first Mother's Tea at Hadley's school on Thursday. We are also having Brooke and Kami dedicated at church on Sunday, so there will be lots of pictures to share next week.