Ady

Isn't she the cutest little girl in the world?

Family Dinner

Last night we did our usual bi-weekly shopping trip, with dinner out.  :)

This time, it was Culvers.  We had a great time, and the babies loved eating frozen custard after their kids meals.  :)

Icy Cream

Last Sunday on our way home from DeWitt, we told the kids that we would be stopping for ice cream!  They were so excited!!!  But, they fell asleep before we got there.  So, Z and I got a couple of ice cream cones and continued to drive home.

About 10 miles away from home, Jack and Ady woke up.  Jack said:  "Where is my icy cream?".  Whoops.

Thankfully we had M&M ice cream cones at home, and as soon as we walked in the door they opened the freezer to enjoy their afternoon treat.

It was a mess, but they had fun....and that is all that matters.  :)

Play Doh!

I have been dreading the day when my children discover Play Doh.  I could just invision this HUGE mess, that I would be stuck cleaning up.

Well, the day for Play Doh came last week.  It was cold, rainy, and the kids wanted to try it.  I gave in.

But, much to my surprise, it was relatively pain-free!  I put a piece of tin-foil as a place-mat in front of them, and then gave each one a cup of Play Doh.

They stayed busy for over an hour, making all sorts of creations.  Ady was more imaginative then Jack, he pretty much just stuck with the cut-outs.  :)

Ady had me help her make a spider!

Jack loved to use the alphabet cut-outs!

Ady made a "castle".

Jack's pepperoni and sausage pizza!

Bad Little Bug!

Last night, we put Ady to bed.  Tucked her in, gave her a baby, kissed her little baby head.....and then, not 5 minutes later she started crying (which is REALLY unusual for her, she generally falls to sleep quite easily).

So, I walked up there to check on her.  She was sitting in her rocking chair, crying her little eyes out.  I calmed her down, and asked what was wrong.  A bug hurt her, she said.  :(  Poor baby was so scared of this little fly that was flying around her room.  She would jump back into my arms whenever the bug came too close.

I called Daddy in (the expert bug killer), and had him deal with exterminating the bug (which didn't actually happen because the bug disappeared shortly after Z entered the room).  So, we retucked her in, gave her a baby, and kissed her little head, and all was happy in the world that revolves around Ady.  :)

Oh, How Things Have Changed

Here is my Princess at birth....

 

11/16/2009

And here she is today.....

11/16/2010

Unreal.  Seriously.  Isn't she adorable?!?!  :)  Happy Birthday My Little Aders.

Madelyn's Birthday Letter

Madelyn,

My first daughter.  My second baby.  My love.  My world.

You are the best little girl I could ever ask for.  You might be a lot a little messy, but the "oh my gosh this is good" look on your face makes is totally worth the spaghetti sauce styling gel you are currently sporting.

I love how you tilt your head to the side when you are trying to be cute (but, really...when aren't you cute?!?!).  My favorite thing is the little baby curls that cover the top of your ears. 

You are simply adorable, and we couldn't imagine our lives without you.

Happy 1st Birthday Baby Girl.  My Princess.  My Angel.  My 1 year old.

Love,
Mommy

Blog Awards

Sara, the sweet woman over at 8aplenty, has given me a blog award!  YEAH! 

I love blog awards, and she was so sweet to think of me.   :)

 (These will also be located under the "Blog Love" tab!)

Do you know what I love best about blog awards?  It is that you get to pass them on to blogs you LOVE to read!  :)

You are suppost to pick 15 blogs, but I haven't recently discovered 15 blogs...oops!  So, I thought I would share with you 9 of my most recent favorites.  :)

• Cleveland Rocks
• Funky Mama Bird
• The Ohnemus Family
• Our Precious King
• Life As I Know It
• Bringing Up Bronwyn
• Life from Pippy's Perspective
• Taking It One Step At A Time
• The Ish Blog

There are a couple rules to accepting this award:

• Thank and link back to the person who gave you the award.
• Share 7 things about yourself.
• Pass this on to 15 (or 9 *grin*) other great bloggers you recently discovered.
• Contact the selected bloggers and tell them about their award.

Hmm....7 things about me.  *Taps Fingers*  These are always so difficult to come up with.  :)

• I once dated a man 27 years my senior.
• I am addicted to "The Real Housewives of ....." anywhere.  Serious drama!  I will say that I don't care for Atlanta, but I haven't really given it much of a chance.
• My favorite movie(s) is "Father of the Bride", both 1 and 2!
• I once had a dream that The Teenager will marry a blonde wearing a blue shirt, and I am now convinced it will come true and we will be the best of friends.  HAHA!
• I HATE Thomas the Train.  I hope Jack (or Ady) never starts to like him, because I will go NUTS!
• I wish I was more crafty, and I desperately want to learn how to decorate ADORABLE cupcakes.  :)
• We will be ordering my new computer this week (I have been without one since MAY!), and I couldn't be more excited.  It is going to be red.  :)

Well, it looks like that is all for me.  :)  Hope you are having a wonderful Wednesday.  And thank you again Sara!

Our Weekend

Oh my goodness.  We had an interesting weekend.

We left Saturday afternoon to head to Peoria, IL to stay at Embassy Suites (a hotel which we normally LOVE), but as soon as we got there my "mini vacation buzz" ended.

We checked in and received our room keys....proceeded up the elevator (which freaked Jack out!) to our room and slid the little key in the slot.  The second I opened the door I was overwhelmed by the smell of cigarette smoke.  YUCK!  I don't have a problem with people smoking, however if it directly effects me I will let you know! 

So, I called down to the front desk.  I waited on hold for more than 10 minutes just to talk to someone who didn't know ANYTHING, so I asked to speak with the manager.  While waiting to speak with the manager Z walks in and asks if I changed Jack or Ady's diaper.  I said, "no I haven't"....then he said "well, let them know there is a dirty diaper in one of the trash cans."  SICK!  That is totally gross.  How hard is it to empty the trash can? 

Anyway the manager, finally, came on the line (another 5-10 minutes).  I told him about the dirty diaper and smoke filled room.  He apologized profusely, especially for the diaper, and offered to switch our rooms.  Well duh!  He also gave us a $25 gift certificate to the cafe downstairs, something we will never use.

Needless to say, I will be giving them a call this afternoon (I should have done it yesterday, but I didn't feel up to it).  Hopefully we can get this situation resolved.

 Lauren

 

The View

 The Teenager, Lauren, and Ady

 Zach

Jack

Ugh, anyway.  Overall it was a nice weekend.  We enjoyed spending time with Lauren and The Teenager, and the kids LOVED swimming.  :)

We left the hotel Sunday at about 11am.  We drove for a little bit, and I stopped to get a sandwich at Subway so I could have something to eat before I started my 24-hour fast before my colonoscopy.

The prep for the colonoscopy wasn't as bad as I imagined, and neither was the procedure....but, the cramps that followed were awful!  I was crying in the car because they were so bad.  So, I googled some ways to help with the cramping (they pump you full of air and this causes you to feel bloated and crampy).  I drank some warm beverages (apple cider and hot chocolate) per their instruction, and it seemed to help.  Thank goodness!

They discovered one polyp (which they removed and sent over for a biopsy) and one hemorrhoid, and I have an appointment next week to discus in more detail the results.  We shall see.

Anyway, how was your weekend?  Hope all is well!

A Milestone Has Been Reached!

Last week my darling little lady mastered the art of walking.  :)

Oh, and PS....sorry about all the toys strewn about.  Well, I guess I shouldn't apologize....this is what my house look like 90% of the time.  

Hope you are having a great day!  What accomplishments have your kiddos been up to lately?

Make Your Own!

Yesterday was the first time one of my kids needed an ice pack.

Madelyn accidentally shut Jack's fingers in their bedroom door.  It was not pleasant.  Jack was in pain, and Ady didn't understand what she did wrong.  Anyway, Jack needed an ice pack.  However I didn't really have one that would work for his tiny little fingers.  I had frozen veggies, and solid ice packs, but no frozen gel packs.

So, I started to brainstorm ideas on what to use.  And then it hit me.  Baby Oil Gel.  HAHA!  Don't ask me how I thought of it, but I did.

Our pediatrician suggested we get some for Ady's cradle cap as a new baby, and we had nearly an entire bottle left.  So, last night I put the tube of baby oil gel in the freezer and waited for it to harden up, but it never did.  :)

Thus my frozen gel packs.  As you can see (below) I made them child-sized, perfect for when my precious little ones get a boo-boo.  :)

This is what you will need (the food color is optional, and doesn't work out the best....do you have any suggestions for dyeing the gel?)

I then poured the gel into the sandwich bag.

Then, I added the blue food coloring to the gel.

I mixed the food coloring in, and this is what I got!

Red, white, and blue....you know, because we are patriotic.   :)

Is this the best solution for a ice pack, umm...no.  Probably not.  But, out of need comes creativity.

What solutions to problems have you come up with?  Are you going to make your own freezer gel packs?

The Long Weekend

This Labor Day weekend wasn't much of a vacation for us.

Z worked both Saturday and Monday (yeah for overtime!), which meant I was home with our kiddos....doing my normal everyday stuff.

We did get to enjoy our evenings though.  We rented 2 movies from Redbox:  When In Rome, and The Bounty Hunter.  Both of which are great movies, however my favorite was When In Rome.  It is a super cute, and classic, chick flick.  Totally up my alley.

Anyway, we had a family reunion at a park across the river for Zach's side of the family.  Our kids had a pretty good time, however they were exhausted by the early afternoon.  Jack hadn't fallen asleep until 1am the night before (yes, I know.  He is crazy.  I have no idea what is going on with his sleep schedule.), and they had to be woken up in order to get to the reunion on time.  They both did really well for being so exhausted.

What did you and your family do over the holiday weekend?  Did you get an opportunity to relax?  I hope so!

Chicago Bears

Remember the other day when I mentioned I was going to try and fit a "photo shoot" in with my kiddos?

Well, I was able to snap a few pictures.  Do you know how hard it is to get two babies.....21 months and 9 months, to sit still long enough to get a good picture?  I think that task is nearly impossible.  And, if you can do it (without using photoshop!) let me know and I will let you photograph my kids.   :)  They really are cute subjects, no?

Man.  I love my kids more and more every. single. day.  They are truly my world, and have brought so much joy and meaning to my life.  I hope you enjoy seeing their smiling faces as much as I do!  :)

PS - Sorry some of the photos are cut off.  I didn't want to go back in a adjust each one, so you will just have to deal with it.  :)  What can I say, I am lazy.  ;o)