poor Brie

 So the poor Gabriella baby had a fever all weekend. Then she crumped Sunday afternoon. Tons of snot, coughing, wheezing and just plain feeling icky! By Sunday night she had petichie showing up on her face from coughing so hard! the poor little thing could hardly look anymore miserable, talk about tugging on your heart strings!

I took her in this morning and she has an ear infection and a viral wheeze affecting her lungs. A steroid shot given, home with antibiotics and nebulizer treatments all day long. Temp has remained under control this afternoon and she seemed to be turning around! (though these steroids are making me practice my patience!)

She even felt well enough to do a few puzzles on her own!
Unfortunately by 730 she was asking to go to bed because she was feeling pretty tough again. No fever though so that is a positive! I am hoping for an uneventful night and catching some much needed zzz's.  We are also crossing our fingers for a return to school tomorrow!

snow days + grma = a great weekend

We ended up with some snow on Thursday and Friday and so there was no school. It was a nice unexpected 4 day weekend. It got even better when we my mom came in and stayed for the weekend! The kids had a good time playing with her all  waking hours! Pete and I were able to sneak out a couple times and spend a little time alone. We always LOVE having her in town and the kids so enjoy her company. Thank you for visiting, cleaning, babysitting and all the other benefits of your stay!! We love you very much!

Girl Scout outting

Makayla had the chance to go see the exhibit at the local museum. The Brownie scouts were also taught about instruments and we allowed to try a few out. They were also taught a dance. A nice time was had by all the girls.

50 degees = Zoo yes please!

 So we went to the zoo and I tried SEVERAL times to get a group shot and I got at least one kid looking decent in each picture. But I could not get all four looking great in any one single picture. uggg......

 I think each of us had a great time. We commented how many times Brie has been to the zoo, not nearly as many as the older ones had by age 3. I did not realize how many times the kids went to the zoo but the girls really know there way around.

 It was a gorgeous day out 50+ degrees and full sun. We had a nice walk and fun time together!

 Our close up shots are way too sunny however they are good pictures of the kids so I wanted to include them.

Theses two pictures are just neat of PJ and Brie I think from an artistry view. Unaware anyone is watching and lost in their own thoughts. Sometimes the non posed pictures are really the best ones.

Valenitine's Day 2013!

 PJ and Brie had a great Valentine's party at school! They both came home with loads of candy, I totally feel like Valentine's became the new Halloween at our house this year.

I asked PJ and Brie to pose for a picture and Brie says: "like this PJ" and she promptly flung her arm around his neck and pulled him in ! so sweet!! these two are quite a pair

The girls posed for a quick picture prior to school, they were excited for the Valentine's parties at school.

After opening several gifts and cards for Valentines and adding to the kids already overflowing treat boxes the girls got to open one final gift from Pete and I.
We gave the girls Taylor Swift tickets to her upcoming concert. I just love the hugging picture, true, pure happiness!

I think we had a successful Valentine's Day at this house!

Girl Scout cookies

We are busy selling girl scout cookies from this house. If anyone is in the need of cookies let us know! we are happy to fulfill any requests!

3 years ago....

This blog came to be 3 years ago yesterday. I cannot believe how quickly the time has gone. I do not regret one minute of time spent on our family blog. All the highlights and not so high lights captured and put into a book that I can treasure a lifetime. I have printed one year at a time and it is so enjoyable to look back and remember when.... I hope that I will be able to keep up the pace of recording our families memories over the next three years. I just glanced at the statistics and I have posted over 500 entries and the blog has had over 15,000 views, apparently I am not the only one enjoying these random ramblings. I hope one day my kids will enjoy having some of their memories captured as well as the day to day things that are easily forgotten. Thanks to all of you faithful followers and supporters. Who knows what the next three years will bring but stayed tuned, I will try to keep you updated!

Girl Scout cookie time

Makayla is selling Girl Scout cookies again this year with her Brownie troop. If you do not have a favorite scout to buy cookies from just email, Facebook, text, or call and we can provide you with your favorites! We have actual cookies starting Feb 12 thru Mar 22, instant gratification!

Baby Jesus

So Brie's little 3 year old classroom has a baby Jesus. Each weekend a different student gets to take Him home and journal about what you did. Brie took her responsibility VERY seriously. Brie already totes around more things than a bag lady! always by her side are "my cow, my teddie, and my night nights".Well baby Jesus was added to the mix this weekend, so all weekend Jesus' basket was the holder of all the things. Brie was also quite excited that she too had "homework" to do along side the girls. We had to journal about Jesus weekend, we decided to draw a cake and a picture of Jesus beside it. Brie shared her birthday with baby Jesus.  I am happy to report baby Jesus made it back to the classroom to await His next adventure.

Brie is THREE!

 Our sweet Brie cheese is three today! It is an extra special day as this is her one and only Golden Birthday as well.
She was able to help Pete make her cake yesterday, only the mixing, the decorating is totally up to daddy! no help needed.

 Here is the big three year old posing with a very cute cake, created with love by daddy! We had a Lalaloopsy party, thanks to a present from Granny and Pop at Christmas. The way Brie says it is too cute! It ended up making a very fun birthday for her! Jill made Brie a tutu from tooling that matched her shirt, it turned out very cute and quite puffy!  For the past year Brie when asked how old she was her response was "I'm 3!". Then Jill found this shirt with a frog to boot, Brie's top favorite animal, I could not pass it up!

 She is so proud to be having a birthday party.  In the end having Brie sit on the table with her presents made the cutest pictures.

 This present had some tough paper, she thought gritting her teeth may make it easier to open.

 A very sweet snuggle with her Godfather Brad.

 Granny and Pop gave Brie a plasma car and some rain gear. The coat, shades, and umbrella with Hello Kitty were perfect for her! She LOVED all of her gifts!

 A new plasma car to add to the one we received at Christmas led to plasma car races in my kitchen! A good time was had by all! They even got grandma to give the car a try!

 Brad had PJ on the back, they broke the steering wheel trying to take the corner too quickly. No worries a few bangs with the hammer and the car was as good as new.

 Of course Holly and the girls could not be left out. No true winner was ever declared but certainly we were all very entertained!

A huge THANK YOU to all who sent birthday wishes and presents and calls. THANK YOU to Brad, Holly, Addy, and mom for coming out to celebrate with all of us. 
Sweet Brie cheese it is hard to believe that you have been here 3 years already. Time has gone by very quickly this past year. We look forward to the next year and how you will keep us entertained! Love you baby girl, I hope you have sweet magical birthday dreams tonight!

projects

 I forgot to post this a while back. My sister and brother in law came into town and helped us in the kitchen you could say. My brother in law is very handy and he put in a new microwave and garbage disposal for us. The weekend was also to include a new stove as well but it did not come in on time! (so the store had to put it in when they came and delivered it). The guys were able to go to a movie and take in the local hunting stores. We were also able to enjoy eating out with my aunt who lives here in town as well.

 The boys were busy doing their boy things I had projects for Coke and I to do. We were to come up with some inexpensive games for an upcoming event. Through some creative ideas and cheap cardboard and of course the red solo cup we developed 5 unique games, sure to keep kids entertained for a little bit.

Coke and Jeff thank you so much for coming into town and hanging out. We all enjoyed having you and hope you will return again someday!!! Thanks for all the work that you all did as well. We really appreciate it!! Love to you both from all 6 of us here!!

one tooth, two teeth!

 We took Maggie to the dentist in 2012 just before her 5th birthday. The dentist took x-rays and said "oh the tooth fairy is going to be busy this year! looks like you are about to loose a lot of teeth". Maggie's teeth did not seem loose to me but ok we will believe the dentist. We in the fall we noticed maybe a couple teeth had a little wiggle to them. Around Christmas I noticed her permanent bottom two teeth were coming in behind the baby teeth. She also had 4 teeth that now wiggled. I have been trying to get her to pull the bottom ones out since. I was scared this may cause some time of permanent damage or something. Well Tuesday night after having been in bed about 15 minutes Maggie comes bouncing down the stairs and into the living room to announce proudly she had lost her first tooth!! Makayla had pulled it! She was pleased as punch with herself. I looked and sure enough that big tooth can now come into the spot it has long desired. I felt the other bottom tooth and it too seemed pretty loose. I said well tomorrow night you can work on the other one. She giggled and up the steps she went. It wasn't 5 minutes later and she came running down the steps again to announce yes indeed Makayla had pulled the second tooth as well, without any pain!! whohoo! We put the teeth in a dish and explained no more teeth pulling tonight!! The tooth fairy was able to leave a $2.00 bill and 2 fifty cent pieces! Maggie was quite proud to show me when I got home on Wednesday night how she got two kinds of "special money!"

I have to add that after reading another blog I am feeling much better about having 4 teeth where only 2 should be. Apparently it is common for kids to get permanent teeth along side their baby teeth. The new tooth missed the root of the baby as it was pushing up. No worries as the permanent teeth should be just fine! whew! thanks Karen!

skating skating and more skating

My mom and I had the joy of attending the US National Championship Ice Skating event. We had the weekend pass so we attended Friday night, 3 sessions on Sat. and the Sunday session as well. We made sure to capture at least one picture a day of the two of us! We had a great time and seeing the ice skating in person was fabulous!! It was amazing to be so close to so many people who have filled our t.v. with entertainment over the years. Our section was 14 rows up from the ice, just enough to see all ends of the rink. It also seemed to be the section that skaters just kind of hung out. Paul Wylie sat just a couple rows ahead of us for the majority of the time.

The top 4 in the pair ice dancing division.

Some of the better known skaters including this pair Merile Davis and Charlie White.

Ashley Wagner was the women #1.

Then of course mom and the girls had to take their turn at ice skating as well! Looking pretty good ladies!! funny how each of you is able to hold the same pose so well! Each of you is a Smuckers star!!

The girls were able to join us on Sunday and we had the chance to go into the "Fun Zone". The girls stopped to pose in front of the rings here.
So there is the ice rink where all the adult competition happens. Then there is a warm up and cool down ice rink. Then there is yet a third ice rink set up for the juniors and intermediate competitors to skate in front of judges. Wouldn't you know as we walked around here were 9 to 12 year old little girls doing their ice routines. My girls walked right up to the each and watched in amazement! no one told them to move back so we let them enjoy the close up view.

Frank Carroll is a famous ice skating coach and he had a couple of people he was coaching over the weekend.
Scott Hamilton among others were around all weekend. It was very fun to see all these people in person.

This is little Tara Lipinski who won gold back when I was in high school. She is all grown up now, crazy!

So all in all I had a great time, seeing the event, spending time with my wonderful mother, and having a "mommy break". We could not have had better seats and better weather for being the end of January! This was a common look on my mom's face all weekend so I think she too had a good time!