Wendy's Family

Levi's 1st Christmas Program

2009-12-21T21:43:00.008-05:00

Levi had his first Christmas program at the preschool last Thursday. This is the same exact Christmas program that Sienna did last year and the year before, when she was at the preschool. However, it certainly didn't feel like I was watching the same program. I was very concerned about starting Levi in preschool this year. He is a young 3 and still has behavior issues we're working on. However, his teachers tell me that he is their pleasant surprise this year. He hasn't given them any trouble so far. No fits of rage, no throwing, no hitting, no biting. He follows the routine and transitions well. Huh?! That is complete polar opposite of his behavior at home. I'm thankful that he is well behaved at school but he wish he would be that way at home too.

I think the teachers got a little taste of Levi's home behavior the day of the program. He was very excited at the begining. Somewhere toward the end of the first song, something went wrong. I think the jingle bells ringing was too loud for him. He covered his ears and that was the begining of the end. He stuck his tongue out at me, he yelled NO at his teacher, he sat down and refused to get back up, he yelled NO at his teacher again and turned his back on everyone. I kind of held my breath through most of the program afraid of what he might do next. Here's a few quick videos of Levi in action.

Sierra's 1st Band Concert

2009-12-17T15:26:00.005-05:00

Sierra joined the band this year and is playing the flute. This is the first year that band has been offered to her and she was very excited to join. She is doing really well at playing the flute, too. They had their first concert last week. I was surprised that they would have one so soon. They've been practing since the 2nd month of school but only at their recess time and just the flutes - not the full band together. For one month the entire 5th grade band has been practicing together. That's not alot of practice time for a concert, in my opinion. But they all did really well. There is about 50 kids in the 5th grade band. I wish I had more pictures to post but it is sooo difficult to get a good photo in the gym with my camera. Something about the lighting. In the pictures I do have, you'll find Sierra in the front row second seat from the left. But I did get some video too so I end with the video. Enjoy!

Another Mini Cheer Clinic

2009-11-23T20:37:00.007-05:00

Oh how I LOVE mini cheer clinic! It's the absolute best! The girls really enjoy it too. Maybe even almost as much as me! The mini cheerleaders stay after school with the 'big' (high school) cheerleaders and practice for a week and then they get to cheer and perform at one of the high school games. However, due to weather issues and scheduling conflicts, they did not get to cheer at one of the games this year. So they put on a show for all of the parents about 3 weeks after they originally practiced. They stayed after school for a refresher practice and then did the show.

Sierra had been out of school all that week due to H1N1 and this was her first day back (Friday). She did an awesome job and hit all of her moves but some of her zest wasn't there this time. She did a fantastically amazing job and then when you consider that she was still recovering from the flu, it's even more amazing. Sienna is so cute. She's at that age. And she's really good, especially considering she's only 5 years old.

The pictures didn't turn out so great. Something about the lighting in the gym forces you to use a night setting on your camera and then you have to be super still for the focus to turn out okay. So I'm just going to post a couple of videos. Sienna is in the front wearing pink shoes and Sierra is in the very back right in the middle, in front of a brown door. I'll leave you with a quick life lesson I have learned: the person recording video should probably not talk during filming. Enjoy!

Our Secret Language

2009-11-21T21:50:00.007-05:00

Levi celebrated his 3rd birthday in August. It's hard to believe he's 3 already! I started him in preschool this year. It's a year earlier than I wanted to start him but his speech delay is so severe that everyone (therapists, case workers, etc) thought it would be a good idea. I was hesitant but went ahead and did it anyway. Surprisingly, he is doing really well at school. He transitions easily and has no behavior issues at school. His only issue now is his speech. He has come really far and is doing sooooo much better than 6 months ago. He does talk and attempt to express his thoughts with words. But at this point, it comes out like a secret language that only him and I speak. It's actually kind of cute (and a little frustrating for us both). He will get a word or two (3 on a really good day) and the rest is sounds (his attempt at words that won't form yet) and lots of hand motions and actions. It's actually pretty amazing, for a boy that can't speak well at all, he expresses himself very well. He's discovering new words everyday. He said brownie (his favorite food) the other day and I just about came undone. That's the first two syllable word (mama and dada don't count) he's said! He says his name now even though it sounds like Wewi. Sienna is YaYa and Sierra is DD. I think he calls Sierra DD because he is attempting to say Sissy and as for YaYa, I think that comes from the last sound in Sienna's name. He is talking but it is our secret language (which is better than none)!

Hello Again

2009-11-17T23:32:00.005-05:00

Hello! Is anyone there? It's been such a long time since I've blogged. But I'm back online now and so thankful to be. So there's lots of catching up to do but I don't have time right now for a long post. So I'll just give you a couple quick updates on what's been going on with my family. This is a picture of the girls walking home today from their new bus stop. We bought a house! We just moved last Saturday so we're still getting settled in but we absolutely love it. It's not far from where we were before so the kids didn't have to change schools, thankfully.

The girls did a mini cheer clinic recently so I'll have some pictures and videos of that to post soon. Levi is doing fabulous at preschool, surprisingly so. His speech is still slow but it is finally starting to come. Sienna is loving kindergarten, naturally. And Sierra is having a good start to the fifth grade. She joined the band this year and is playing the flute.

I'll leave you with a quick video of Sienna and Levi doing an impromptu performance for me. I'll post more soon!

Our First Trip to the Race Way

2009-04-21T21:44:00.004-04:00

Having a son is so TOTALLY different from daughters. Levi absolutely loves cars, tractors, wagons, monster trucks~ pretty much anything with wheels. Well, we live about 5 minutes from a race park (is it still race track?). During the summer weekends you can hear the race cars at our house. They were giving away free tickets for the season opener last Saturday so we decided to take the kids. We had never been before so I had no idea what to expect. I was really concerned about what Levi would be like to handle. But he had a blast! We all did. We bought the kids earplugs and I later went back and bought a pair for myself too. They had jet engine cars there. I'm sure most of you know what they are. For those girly girls out there, like myself, who have no idea~ they are cars that have been adapted to be powered by an actual jet engine. (Yeah, just like it sounds. I still really didn't get it til I saw it.) They are incredibly loud! They make your ears vibrate on the inside. After the first two went by I immediately looked at Levi thinking he was going to be scared - he stood up clapping and yelled "Go Vroom Vroom Go Vroom Vroom!" He absolutely loved every bit of it. Sienna however wasn't feeling the loudness of the situation and asked if we go elsewhere. So Sienna walked around alot but she had a really good time too. Sierra had a really good time too. But she did have an older cousin (Dave's niece) there so that added to her good time. Don't you remember being a 'tween' and getting a chance to hang with your 'cool teen' cousin? Nothing better than that! We all had a really nice time (and it was FREE)!

Summer Preview

2009-04-05T18:51:00.010-04:00

A couple of weeks ago we took the kids to Kalahari for an over night visit. We had so much fun! Levi is a riot~ it took him a minute to absorb everything but once he did, he was off and running, literally. He was into everything. But he would not come down the slide. Sienna is just at that great age. Not to scared to do any of the age appropriate things but just scared enough to stay close by. The kid area was actually big enough that grown ups could climb on everything and go down the slides too. That was nice because Sierra could play with the little ones too. But she's big enough to go on all of the big slides and rides. so that's where she tried to spend most of her time. So after we had dinner and played for way too long in the arcade, Dave & Sierra went back to the waterpark to ride the big stuff while I attempted bed time for Levi (Sienna was my helper). So while Sienna & I were waiting for Daddy & Sierra's return we were watching the waterpark channel on tv. It's supposed to be a live feed and we were hoping to see Daddy & Sierra. Imagine my surprise when I saw myself with a small version of my girls!! The live feed wasn't running and instead they were playing their commercial advertisement videos. Years ago when the resort first opened and Sienna was just a baby, the girls and I went for an overnight visit with a friend and her nieces. We were told that day that they were filming for their advertisements so expect to see the cameras and crews. Apparently they got some footage of me and the girls riding a huge family raft. Sienna was sooo tiny she had to wear a life jacket. And Sierra still had long hair, looking quit a bit like Sienna does now. It was a neat surprise to see younger versions of ourselves on their video. We must have watched that video 50 times, just to see 5 seconds of ourselves!!

I absolutely love this picture! Levi is in there too~ I swear!! He's just so short all we can see is the very tip top of his head.

Believe it or not, this in the little kid section. I had already told everyone that we had to get pictures right away so I could put the camera and play too. Sierra started scanning for good places to take the photos. I thought she picked a nice spot.

I think Sienna could possibly be the most photogenic creature on the planet!!

Levi had so much fun. I was really proud of his bravery. Last summer at the rec pool, he wouldn't even get his face wet at all. At Kalahari, he was running through spraying water and dunking himself constantly. I couldn't believe it. But don't take your eyes off him long enough to blink cause he'll be gone! I was a nervous wreck the whole time.

The Ant and the Elephant

2009-03-22T19:51:00.003-04:00

Last Friday Sienna's preschool class had a field trip to see the musical adaptation of The Ant and the Elephant. They even got to ride the school bus. To say that Sienna was excited would be a major understatement. She talked about it all week long and had her outfit picked out days in advance. She would ONLY wear the dress that she wore for her birthday party. I had no problem with this. However, she also came downstairs wearing one of her many many princess crowns. And about 5 bracelets on each arm. I tried to talk her out of the princess crown. But she really wanted to wear it. So as I listened to her explain all of the reasons why she NEEDED to wear it, I realized just how big of a deal this musical production put on by community college kids meant to her. This would be like if I ever was able to go to the opera. A night like that complete with a fancy dress and a limo ride would make me feel like a princess. And that would probably be the one and only time that I could wear my princess crown. I finally gave in and let her wear it.

I had so much fun watching Sienna watch the musical. From the time we walked in and she saw the stage and the seating. Her eyes were huge just absorbing everything she saw. And she stayed that way right up until we left. Watching her face and her eyes as the characters moved and sang~ it was as though she was absorbing everything. It was a beautiful thing to see. It was one of the moments that you don't ever want to forget exactly how it felt. We had a really nice time. I only wish that I would have worn my princess crown too.

The Many Faces of Me

2009-02-24T10:07:00.003-05:00

I have a terrible habit of making the weirdest faces in pictures. They're actually pretty funny. But I'm wondering ~ Am I really this animated, constantly making all kinds of goofy faces or is my sister sabotaging me with her camera?

The Princess Party

2009-02-08T10:54:00.010-05:00

Sienna turned 5 last Tuesday and we had her party yesterday (Saturday). We invited all the little girls from her preschool class. Out of 9 invitations, 7 little girls came. They had so much fun. We all did. I was actually quite nervous. The entire party had to be planned, right down to the smallest detail. Even though I had been planning this party for about 2 months, I was still worried that I was majorly overlooking something. I had Shell and Maddie come down to give me a hand with things. And I sent Dave & Levi off to the vets to get the puppies their shots.

The party lasted from noon to 3:00. Shell had me a little concerned that it was going to be a bit too long for the girls. However, it was not. I think 3 hours was just about perfect. We played games, did a craft, ate, and they ran all over the house blowing party horns as loud as they could. Sienna was in her 7th heaven having so many friends over. She is always asking to have sleep overs but that's not very successful at this age. Sienna was an excellent hostess. I was afraid that she would pick one girl and want to play with just her. But she didn't. She played with all the girls equally. She gave each girl a hug as they left and told them thank you for coming to her party and for her gifts. Then her & Sierra continued to play 'party' for the rest of the night. They even included Levi. It was a really fun day for Sienna. And I think the party went really well. All of the girls really seemed to enjoy themselves. Here's some more pictures of the party in action!

This is the frog that I made for the 'Kiss the Prince' game. (Pin the Tail on the Donkey with a Princess twist). I'm not very crafty. I would like to be naturally crafty & creative but the truth is I struggle to make a decent stick figure! So this was quite the accomplishment for me. I don't know what I would do without the internet! This frog is still hanging on my wall and the kids are still playing Kiss the Frog.

Here's a couple of shots of the all the girls sitting together. It was actually kind of hard to get pics of all the girls together unless they were sitting down eating!

This is the girls playing Freeze Dance.

As the girls came in Sienna would take them over to the table to pick out their Princess Crown. Instead of party hats each girl got their own princess crown and earrings to wear. FYI: the earrings break very easily.

Happy Birthday Sienna Pearl!!

2009-02-03T21:13:00.008-05:00

I cannot even believe that my baby girl is 5 years old already! Where does all the time go? I know that we say it all the time, but really, why does it all go by so fast? And why doesn't it feel fast in the moment? It's just another reminder to me to love the people in my life with all that I am.

Sienna had a wonderful day. And I did too just being able to share her day with her. I woke her up this morning by singing happy birthday to her which she absolutely loved. Then she wanted a cupcake with a candle in it for breakfast. How do you say no to a cupcake on her birthday? She was very excited to get to school and see all of her friends. She just knew they were all eager to tell her Happy Birthday, I guess. To pretty much everything I would say she would respond with, "Cause I the birthday girl." Walking into school I told to her hold my hand because I didn't want her to fall on the ice. She said, "Cause I the birthday girl." Her class made her a birthday card and sang happy birthday to her. Then she got to pass out her birthday treat as her friends were dismissed. We made cupcakes and chocolate covered pretzel rods for her pass out treat. She was so grown up saying thank you and your welcome to each friend.

Later we did a little shopping and took her to McDonald's for lunch & play. Every person we saw she told them that it was her birthday and that she was 5 years old today. She was just so pleased with herself all day. After Sierra got home from school Sienna was finally able to open her presents. Sierra & Levi gave Sienna a new pack of diapers for her baby (Baby Alive~ it actually pees). And Daddy & Mommy gave Sienna the Princess Talking Kitchen. She asked for this for Christmas but didn't get it. I didn't want to get for her birthday either because she already has a really nice kitchen in her bedroom. However, she was very adamant that this was what she wanted. The video below shows her opening the kitchen and how excited she was.

We ended the wonderful day with a very small celebration with Grami, Mamaw, Aunt Shell & the kids. Sienna is having her birthday party this Saturday. She has invited all the girls from her preschool class. There's only 8 girls so even if they all come it shouldn't be too bad. Sienna is EXTREMELY excited for the party (and so am I). As Sienna was giving a treat to one of her friends this afternoon she said to her, "And thank you for talking to me about my party and kissing the frog." And they both giggled. Is that not so grown up of her? I almost cried, but I didn't. (Hey, there was alot of people at the preschool). And as for kissing the frog~ We're going to play Kiss the Frog Prince at her party. Think Pin the Tail on the Donkey but with a princess twist. She can't stop talking about that game.

She had a great day. I am so blessed and fortunate to have such wonderful and amazing kids. They make me every good thing that I am. Even when they're driving me crazy and I'm ready to jump out the window, it's because of them that I don't. Those smiles. Those giggles. It makes everything in life so worth it. So, to my amazing 5 yr. old Love Nugget I say~ I love you and I am soooo proud of you everyday. Happy Birthday Baby!! xoxoxoxoxoxo

Mommy's Day Out

2009-01-31T11:35:00.006-05:00

Wow!! Is it cold enough for ya?! Did you get enough snow?! What is going on here? I can't take much more of this. Seriously. This is not working for me. The kids got a couple of snow days a couple of weeks ago. We found ourselves on a 5 day stretch of no school. I did not leave the house from Tuesday morning (Sienna's last day of school) until the following Monday when I took Mom to the eye doctor. Isn't that terrible? It's just too cold for me. This is the first day that I've had internet for about 3 or 4 days.

Back to my topic, I drove Mom to the eye doctor a couple of weeks ago because she was getting her eyes dilated. So I left the kids home with Dave. After Mom's appointment we stopped at the Olive Garden and had some lunch. It was a nice afternoon. Except for Mom's eye looking like it was going to jump out and attack me from across the table. By the time I got home the kids were acting like I had been gone for a week. Everyone was alive and safe, including Dave. It was a good day. After the kids had gone to bed I sat down and looked through my camera, for no real reason. It was a nice surprise to see that the kids had been using the camera while I was gone. They often do this and sometimes that get some really good ones (and alot of not so great ones). This particular day it was full of lots of good pictures for me. The girls had spent the day with the puppies, doing lots of things that Mommy won't let them do.

Notice how these poor puppies have their back legs through the seat belts. I asked the girls about this to which Sierra replied, "Sienna told me to." Sienna didn't hesitate with her response of, "So they could be safe." As I continued to look through the pictures I asked Sienna if all the puppies had their own car. She said, "Two of them had to share."

4 Weeks Already!

2009-01-14T13:45:00.007-05:00

Can you believe the pups are 4 weeks old already? They are soooo cute. They are extremely mobile now. They run all over the floor and are very playful. I'm actually very surprised at how very playful they are already, not only with each other but also with us. Two of them were all over Sienna this afternoon. Biting at her pants and her hair. I started giving them solid food yesterday. It was gruel (ground up dog food & water) but they loved it. And Lola loved the fact that she got to skip a feeding finally. Sienna & I lost one of the pups for about 20 minutes yesterday. He had climbed out of the box and then went in between the couch and the wall but couldn't figure out how to get back out, so he just went to sleep. Here's some cute pictures of the kids and our rapidly growing puppies.

This is Sierra supervising the exploration of the doll house.

And here is Levi shooting the puppies.

And this is just Sienna loving loving the puppies.

Breakfast Time!

New Glasses

2009-01-10T17:53:00.002-05:00

Sierra was in serious need of a new pair of glasses. I finally made her an appointment and she was so excited. She said that she wasn't excited to see the doctor just to get the new glasses. She tried on every pair of glasses in the kid section. They were all too small for her face. They all made it look as if she was wearing Mr. Potato Head's glasses. We finally found this pair in the Hillary Duff collection. Since when did celebs start making eye glasses?! There was a Hannah Montana collection and a JLo (Jennifer Lopez) also. Is this really necessary? But, thankfully, we finally found a pair that we were both happy with.

The Royal Pups

2008-12-31T18:05:00.005-05:00

I can't hardly believe that the puppies are 2 weeks old already. They're getting so fat! They're just these little squealing balls of fat. They're so cute! We have 4 boys and 2 girls. When I was changing their bedding yesterday the girls decided to 'help' me. Which consisted of them playing with the puppies. Sienna refused to hold a boy puppy. She insisted that she hold one of the girls. And she found it hysterical that one of them was trying to get up on her lap. All of the puppies have their eyes open now. And they're starting to really get around. One of the boys is really a go getter. He's always scratching on their box and was all around the room when I took them out of their box. He seems to be much more active than the rest. Sierra has already started giving them names. Well, the girls that is. My girls seem to neglect the boy pups a bit. But the girls are royalty already. It makes perfect sense really. We've always said that Lola is a princess. She acts very regal. But Max, he's more like the jester. So I suppose it makes sense the girl pups would be princess like and the boy pups ~ well let's just say that they're not show any signs of regalness or royalty.

Singing and a Santa Visit Too

2008-12-30T21:29:00.005-05:00

Sienna had her Christmas program at the preschool. I know I'm a little behind getting these posted but hey~ better late than never. Right? She was so cute as always. Santa made a surprise visit for the kids. Sienna would not sit on his lap. He called her name and she went straight to Mrs. Clause. She said Santa was just too scary.

Merry Christmas to all...

2008-12-28T11:04:00.004-05:00

Merry Christmas everyone! As you all know by now, Christmas is my favorite holiday. And we had an excellent Christmas this year! (like always) The girls were spoiled rotten with to many gifts. (like always) They got everything they wanted from Santa except for a princess talking kitchen and a laptop. I tried to tell Sienna that Santa knew that she already had a very nice kitchen in her room so he probably wouldn't bring her a new kitchen. She still held out hope and was a little disappointed to not find a princess talking kitchen under the tree. And as for the laptop~ Sierra is very aware that Santa doesn't bring those kind of gifts until you have a NEED for it. This is the 3rd or 4th year that she's asked for the laptop. Sierra got busy immediately playing her new pink guitar. As for Sienna, she got over the lack of the new kitchen as soon as Daddy got her new doll house set up. She exclaimed, "Santa Clause is the best!!"

I don't even know where to start with Levi. He was so awesome. The morning of Christmas Eve I was telling the kids that Santa was coming tonight and they were getting really excited. I was wondering exactly how much Levi understood about what was going to happen. So I asked him if Santa was going to bring him presents and he responded with a very aggressive head nod. Then I asked him where Santa was going to put the presents. He ran straight to the Christmas tree and pointed at the floor. He knew exactly what was going on. He was so cute on Christmas morning. Some of his boxes were bigger than him and he was dragging them out from under the tree. He tuckered out and wasn't able to finish opeing the last few packages. But don't worry, Sienna made quick work of those for him.

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday. Here's some cute pictures of the kids opening their gifts.

Lola is a Mommy!!

2008-12-17T02:02:00.004-05:00

Lola had six puppies last night! AND SHE'S STILL ALIVE! She was so amazing. Momma and all the pups are doing so incredibly well. Lola is a really good momma. She looks sooo skinny now. The kids are so excited and doing really well about understanding that they can't touch the pups yet. Levi is trying to understand but he really wants to give them kisses.

Thank you so much to everyone who was thinking of and praying for us. I was terribly worried about Lola. I knew as soon as Lola got up yesterday that those babies were coming. She just wasn't herself and her belly had dropped. But even with that knowledge I still felt quite calm and peaceful. I had spent much time praying about Lola. I wasn't really sure if I could pray for a dog. Does God take those calls? God created all things (including dogs) and He is Lord of all things (including dogs). So, if He wanted to save and protect my dog, He could. So I asked God if it was ok for me to pray for my dog and He showed me (again) that I was praying for the wrong thing. I needed to pray (and mean it) that His will be done. I knew there was some sort of a lesson in the situation that God was trying to teach me. It was the first time in my life that I was actually able to resign myself to His will, no matter what the outcome. I was able to make peace with whatever was going to happen, before it happened. So through the delivery I just continued to pray that the Lord give Lola the strength she needed and to give me the strength that I needed, too. Through it all not only did I feel peaceful but Lola seemed to, too. Not once did she wine, yell out or even pant. It was actually a very amazing and peaceful event (and gross too). So here's some pictures of our amazing new additions.

"Jesus was with me!"

2008-12-14T18:13:00.002-05:00

Sienna is alot like me on certain things. She is terribly afraid of spiders. I called my mother once while trapped in my own bathroom because a HUGE spider was between me and the exit. Sienna doesn't like anything scary or spooky. There were several houses on Halloween that she skipped because they were too scary.

That being said, Dave LOVES anything scary or spooky. It could never be too scary for Dave. Dave has a couple of scary masks that he bought at Halloween time. Sienna (and Levi) absolutely despise when Dave puts the mask on. Even though Sienna totally knows that it's just Daddy wearing a mask, she gets totally freaked out. In an instant she is hysterical and I'm screaming at Dave. He pulled one of his masks today and the usual hysteria ensued. Many hours later, I walked in on a conversation between Sienna and Sierra. I heard Sienna say Jesus, and my curiosity was sparked. So I asked her to tell me what she had just told Sierra. So she says me (so seriously), "Jesus was with me." So I responded just as seriously with, "When?" So she proceeds to tell me, "When Daddy had that mask on and him scared me, I was soooo scared! So, Jesus was with me."

Before & After Part 2

2008-12-09T15:28:00.003-05:00

BEFORE: AFTER:

Do you want a time out?

2008-12-06T22:11:00.004-05:00

It's been a while since I've done a Levi post. So this post is all about Levi. He's a wild man. He reminds me of the 'class clown'. The biggest mistake you can make with Levi is to laugh at him. Once he gets a laugh out of the you, the behavior will never stop!

We're making good progress on the temper tantrums, too. They're not as often and not quite as intense as they once were. I've known for quite some time that my main problem with Levi was finding the right form of discipline. Levi seemed to be immune to any form of discipline. I tried everything~ spanking, hand smacking, time out, smiley/nonsmiley signs (therapist suggestion), take away favorite toys~ it just didn't work~ any of it. Actually, they all seemed to make the bad behavior worse. I was starting to doubt myself (I never thought it possible, either) thinking that I might never find an effective way to discipline him. Then one day in the midst of my desperation set off and sustained by Levi not listening AT ALL and basically just running wild, I just asked Levi if he wanted a time out. He immediately stopped the behavior and shook his head an adament no. I couldn't believe it. It was the first time he actually listened. Well, technically, he didn't listen- he made a decision. So now I am using this constantly and it's consistently working. It's almost as though he doesn't want to be 'made' to do something. He needs the decision to stop the behavior to be his own. I'm just so incredibly thankful that we've finally found something that will work.

My Lola Bola

2008-12-02T11:52:00.005-05:00

I hope everyone enjoyed the holiday! My was wonderful with lots of family. I'm putting up a picture of Sienna and Levi's tea party with Papaw just so my sister will stop complaining of my animal pictures. But this post is about Lola. Sorry Shell. Lola is pregnant and ready to pop at any moment. I'm very worried about her. She had some health concerns before getting pregnant but now I'm worried that the delivery will be too much for her. It's my own fault for allowing this situation to happen. I knew that Dave didn't want to get the dogs fixed and would still like to see them breed. He let me believe that I could somehow keep the dogs seperated and prevent them from breeding. However, it's still my fault for even listening to him. I knew what we both wanted was completely opposite from the other. I should have done my own research and came up with my own plan, instead of just using his 'keep an eye on them' plan.

But, whatever, my situation now is that Lola is going to give birth extremely soon. I'm scared. I don't know what to do. I've been reading the internet to get prepared and try to be knowledgeable on what to expect and do. However, that's making me even more scared. Things could go wrong. Lola could die. It happens with completely healthy and normal pugs, let alone one's that already have an issue or two. Or, Lola could give birth with no complications or problems and without needing my assistance at all. She could be perfectly fine. It's kind of like a coin toss. I feel like I'm holding my breath waiting for a coin toss to decide my fate. And yes granted, it's not my fate ~ it's Lola's. But it almost feels like it might as well be mine. Is that weird?

I'm an intense person. When I love, I love completely~ with every part of me and all that I am. I don't know how to half love or some love, it's all or nothing. And that includes my dogs. Dave isn't like that with the dogs. To him they are animals, nothing more. To me they are members of our family. Almost like my kids. (My kids do come first though). If Lola doesn't survive this, Dave will be a touch sad for the kids but he will move on, at the same moment that he finds out. But for me, it will be much different. I will morn her. I will morn the loss of her in my life and in my children's lives. And I will be terribly devastated by the role I played in it all.

However, I cannot focus on what could happen. I can only concentrate on now and what I can actually do. I can prepare the best that I can. I can be ready. I can help Lola be as comfortable and safe as possible. I can hope with all the love that I have that she is going to be just fine.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

2008-11-27T10:09:00.002-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!! I love the opportunity that today brings to share time with family and reflect on all the things I am thankful for. I hope all of you have a WONDERFUL day filled with lots of family and lots and lots and LOTS of love!!!!

Before & After

2008-11-21T12:34:00.011-05:00

Wow - I can't believe it's been 2 months since I started my Wellness Journey! But tomorrow is day 60, already. I feel like a completely different person. I've lost 27 pounds (I'm hoping tomorrow it will be 30) and 23 inches from my frame. That's including 11 inches from my waist and 10 inches from hips!! That is just absolutely amazing to me. I've gone from a size 18 to a size 12. My energy is so amazing. Not because I'm running around the house like a crazy person but because it's sufficient energy that lasts ALL day long. My body is different somehow on the inside, I think. I crave different things now. I actually made a special trip out to Berlin Heights yesterday just to buy some apples from Burnham Orchards. That might not seem very significant to some of you, but trust me, that's huge in my world. Before I never would have driven out of my way (especially to Berlin Heights) for anything, except maybe some chocolate or gravy-n-biscuits. I eat peas now!!! That's MAJOR for me! I have never in my life enjoyed any sort of pea prepared in any fashion. Now I really enjoy them.

I just feel really amazing! I feel like I have my life back. I'm putting up a few before and after pics for your viewing pleasure! :)

August 2008:

November 2008:

What would Tyra say?

2008-11-17T21:47:00.005-05:00

I know that I've been a total slacker lately at updating the blog. It's not that I haven't made any posts, because I have, but I have not published them. Sometimes blogging is incredibly therapeutic for me. I start a post about something and it ends up going in a completely different direction. However, those posts usually end up very personal and raw. And even though I feel good about whatever realization I have made I am usually not ready to share those thoughts. Anyway~ let's move on.

My house has been overrun by the flu for the last WEEK. Everyone (including myself) got the stomach flu. YUCK. But Sienna was hit much worse than anyone else. She missed all of last week from school. She started with the stomach flu but it then moved on to a terribly high spiking fever ~ we're talking 103 degrees. That's scary. But it get's weirder - when her fever would go away, vomiting would replace it. Once the vomiting went away, the fever came back. It was a very long week. She's still trying to get back to her usual self. She did go to school today so that's a HUGE improvement! Just before the very unwelcome visitor (flu) came to my house, Sienna and I had a little photo session. She loves to direct the photo shoots. We took a few fun pictures and I looked at those pictures all last week just to get me through. So I thought I would share a few.

Pouty Face~ Please notice Sienna's lip. I swear you could set a bottle of nail polish on it and walk away. My pouty face was a little lacking~ needed more bottom lip.

Crazy Wild Tongue Face~ Sienna looks awesome! Her eye is so intense. While I ended up with no top lip, a rubber chin, 2 lazy eyes, and a freakishly short tongue.

Sleeping Face~ Sienna looks like an angel in this picture. Don't cha think~ like a sweet little cherub?

????? Face~ I have no idea what this one was supposed to be. It looks like something might have gone wrong, tho.

Trick-or-Treat

2008-11-01T21:21:00.005-04:00

Happy Halloween! The kids had so much fun trick or treating. Levi enjoyed it much more this year than he did last year. He was pretty scary actually. Of course he refused to ride in the stroller. He RAN every step of the way. I was so thankful that Dave was home and able to go with us. I made him deal with Levi and they had to walk behind me and the girls. Only because I just could not watch Levi running on the sidewalk~ I caught myself constantly holding my breath waiting for the big wipe out. Luckily, it never happened. He did fall several times but somehow it was always on the grass. He really liked all the people giving him candy but he liked it better when he got to get his own piece of candy out of the big bowl. Sienna tuckered out early and decided to ride in the stroller. And as for Sierra, she decided half way through that she must be getting too old for trick or treating because it was actually boring.

We went trick or treating with Shell and Brandon on Thursday too. I'll leave that story for Shell to post on her blog. All I will say about that (for now) is that I was very proud of everyone!

Football Mini-Cheer '08

2008-10-15T10:15:00.004-04:00

The girls had their mini cheer clinic a couple of weeks ago. As always, it was a ton of fun. The only thing I wish was different is the placing of the girls. They're always on complete opposite ends. It makes it difficult getting pictures. Have fun trying to figure where the girls are in the pictures. Next year I'm going to figure a way to 'mark' them.

A quick update

2008-10-14T09:26:00.003-04:00

Sorry it's been so long since I've blogged! I've been busy, busy, busy. And I'm shrinking!! I've already lost 14 pounds and 19 inches of fat from my frame~ that's including 7 inches from my waist already!! Can you believe that?! And I feel absolutely amazing~ like a million bucks, to be honest! I never knew it was possible to have so much good energy. I can almost keep up with Levi now! If any of you are interested in hearing about the life changing program I'm using please contact me or leave a comment saying so on this post and I will contact you.

I've got some pictures and video of the girls doing their mini cheer clinic last week and I will try to get them up later! They were sooo cute (as always)!

The Battlefield

2008-09-29T09:04:00.004-04:00

As many of you know already, I'm making some changes. I've embarked on, what I'm calling, a 'wellness journey'. It started with answering, yet another, ad in the paper for a home based business. It turned into something else completely. Something about this company and the words they said awakened something in me. The company I am working with is in the wellness industry and we sell wellness products (weight loss or gain, more energy, and so much more). I have started with the weight loss program and lost 5 pounds and several inches after only 2 days! But it's more than just the weight. I feel sooo good! Before, I would wake up everyday feeling exhausted, as though I'd been run over by a truck. Now, I wake up and feel good! If I don't loose another pound it's worth it for me to just good waking up feeling good in the morning (and without the back pain I've endured for years). I'm on a mission now ~ to get my body and life healthy. To set a good example for my kids and to be able to keep up with them too. I've even started keeping a video journal so that I can blog about my wellness journey. I'm not quite ready to share that blog yet as I'm having some trouble getting some of the videos to upload. Hopefully, in a couple of days I'll have that up and running to share with you.

That one phone call changed my life. I've made that same phone call a million times before. This one was different. I really feel that God delivered a solution to a situation and a message ~ GET IT TOGETHER. Everyone knows I always use the 'get it together' speech on my kids, my sister, my mom, my dad, myself ~ virtually anyone. If I feel you need to get it together, I'll let you know. Well, I think God was tired of my spoiled brat ways (complete with temper tantrums and pouting spells). For a while now my soul has felt very uneasy, almost restless. Sometimes it will actually be very intense and overwhelming. I'm amazing when it comes to ignoring something and running from it. Which is pretty much what I've been doing. To try to settle my soul would mean change. Well, I'm done running and ready to deal with myself. When God tells you to Get It Together, that's serious. So now I feel like my soul is on a battlefield, which I suppose it is. I'm determined to walk through this and comeout on the other side with soul healed and stronger than ever. I was at church yesterday and asking God why my soul had to feel so troubled and stirred and wounded and almost terrorized. I swear He said to me so clearly, "Wendy, when you burn all your bridges you have to walk through the fire to get back." Well, I'm willing to walk through the fire to get back Home. It will only make me stronger when I get there. So, please keep me in mind and say a prayer for me on my journey. It's gonna be a good one!

Mamaw's Quilts

2008-09-27T23:17:00.003-04:00

My mamaw makes all of the grandkids a quilt. She made one for me and my sister and all of our kids too. This is the one she just made for Levi. Isn't it just too cute? I love the quilt and so does Levi. He always make it me lay it down on the floor and then he gets his cars and drives them all over it. Mamaw even made him a matching valence for his bedroom window. Thank you so Mamaw!!

Go Fly a Kite

2008-09-18T21:16:00.003-04:00

Before the wind became too intense last Sunday, we attempted kite flying. We have a wind advisory in effect so my family grabs the kites and heads outside~ that's normal, right? My only intent was to be the camera person but I ended up being the kite retriever. Since the wind was so intense it was super easy to get them going again. Basically all I had to do was pick it up and let it go. The kites flew with no trouble in the strong winds but they also took some serious dives straight down (point first). Since I had become the kite retriever I spent most of time directly in the path of the death kites (that's exactly what they looked like from my view). Strawberry Shortcake and Barbie were really cute until they were bearing down on me faster than the speed of light with a vengeance.

The girls enjoyed the kites. Sienna's ended up in a tree, sadly. But Sierra grew tired of hers and Sienna was more than happy to take over. Eventually Sienna grew tired of the kite as well and Dave was the only one left flying the kites (always a kid at heart). It was alot of fun. A few hours later our power went out (right in the middle of making dinner) and did not come back on for 20 hours!

Levi's Favorite Things

2008-09-05T08:21:00.007-04:00

This is all about Levi's favorite things right now. Alot like 'Oprah's Favorite Things' except it has nothing to do with Oprah and I'm NOT giving ANYTHING away for free. Levi is at such a fun (and challenging) age. His absolute favorite thing right now is his cars. By cars I mean his trucks, tractors, cars - anything with wheels. He plays with them ALL day long. He's even started refusing to leave the house without a hand full of them. As soon as I say "It's time to go bye bye" he takes off running to get his cars. I finally just gave him a small little canvas bag that he can carry his cars in for bye bye time.

The Disney Cars movie~ have you seen it? Levi LOVES this movie. He is slightly obsessed with it right now. He's never been too into tv until we watched Cars one day. Thank goodness I recorded it on the DVR because Levi won't stop asking to watch it. As soon as he gets up in the mornings he says, "vroom vroom" and points to the tv. So I ask him if he wants to watch cars to which he responds with "yeah,yeah,yeah" accompanied by extreme head nods and hand clapping. As soon as the movie goes off he makes me start it up again. Luckily, I don't watch any tv during the day so it doesn't bother me to let him watch it over and over again but the girls are getting a little tired of it. It really is a cute movie though. I'd rather have him be obsessed with Cars rather than Barney or, dare I say it~ the Doodlebops! (It makes me shudder just thinking about the Doodlebops!)

Horses~ Levi loves horses right now. It started this summer with Mom's firgurine horses at her house. Everytime we would go over Levi would point to them and cry for them. He could never play with them though. So, I finally bought Levi some small horse firgurines of his own. He loves these things. They always get to come out and play with all the John Deer tractors. He found one the other day that had been missing (the toy box has that affect) and he was soooo excited when he (Sienna) found it. He started yelling "Ma, Ma, Ma, Ma, ooooooh, oooooh, Ma, giggle, giggle, Ma" and he took off running through the house looking for me. I was in the pantry but came flying out to find him when I heard him calling for me by name. He usually just calls me DaDa (just like everyone else in the entire world ~ his dada obsession is nauseating.) So what a delight for me to hear him actually call for ME. I just about broke my ankle tripping over the broom trying to get out of the pantry to see what all the excitement was about. He loves the real horses just as much. He loves to see them out the van window. I'm slightly ashamed to admit that when he gets super fussy in the van I tell him to look out the window for horses even though I know there aren't any out there. Is that totally terrible?

The Melon Festival

2008-09-01T09:35:00.010-04:00

We went to the Melon Festival this weekend. The kids had a blast! I was really surprised by Levi. He wanted to ride EVERYTHING. I figured we'd be lucky to get him on the carousel, let alone anything else. But no - he jumped right out of the stroller and walked right up to all the rides. And he didn't get scared when the ride started up. He got a little impatient a couple of times waiting for the ride to start, but other than that, the rides were awesome for Levi. Do I even need to mention that Sierra and Sienna rode everything (and still wanted more)?

Levi wanted more rides too. This is a picture of Levi refusing to move away from one of the rides. I think all of the excitement was alot for Levi to deal with. He threw several fits during our trip to the festival. When David is home, Levi would prefer to be with him. This used to hurt my feelings because I had to be the one to deal with all of his fits, behavior issues, diaper changes (wrestling match) and then Dave would come home and get 'happy' Levi. But David got to see a different side of Levi at the festival. I think it was alot for Dave to deal with. Levi would scream and kick and hit and scratch each time he had to get back in the stroller. (this picture shows what Levi did when we tried to let him walk) It took Dave and I working together to get him back in his stroller. When Levi saw the van he started screaming GO which was accompanied by whatever thrashing he could accomplish in his stroller. He did not want to get in the van. Dave was so aggravated (and a bit frazzled) with Levi. I couldn't help but giggle a little to myself because I saw me 6 months ago in Dave's approach to dealing with Levi. There is no 'stopping' a Levi fit. Once the fit is started it must run it's course. It's almost like an entity of it's own. The more you try to talk to Levi the worse the fit becomes (even if you're giving in to him). The only hope you have is to be silent and do what you need to do and hope for the best. I give the fit ZERO reaction and somehow that helps me stay calm. This was not Dave's approach. Dave was exhausted when we got home from the festival and I felt like a million bucks. I think he was so whooped because he's not used to dealing with Levi's extremes. I felt good because I finally had a little help dealing with Levi's extremes. It's kind of like only doing half your workout. But even with his fits I still had a ton of fun with him. He LOVED the carousel. He's really into horses (and john deer) right now. Levi's good out shines his bad by far.

The girls love everything about the festivals. And they do pretty much everything. They were really good with Levi too. Especially Sierra since she's the one who has to 'hang on' to him. The last couple of things they did I decided to leave Levi in the stroller. Dave agreed when I asked him if he wanted to deal with putting Levi back in the stroller again. The girls were very patient waiting and helping Levi all day so I thought they deserved a couple fun things without having to deal with Levi.

I've got great kids and a great guy. Dave loves taking the kids to the festivals and he spoils them there from start to finish. Especially this year since this is the only one we've done (except the Basket Festival where they don't have rides so that kind of doesn't count). The girls wanted to make the sand art stuff and Dave couldn't say no. I was waiting hanging out with Levi and I looked over and had to get a picture of Dave. It was one of those moments where you know 'I love this man'. I won't mention that right after I took this picture everything got thrown to the ground to answer his phone. Still, I captured the moment.

We had a great time. Here's some more shots of the kids having a ton of fun!

The First Day of School

2008-08-26T09:40:00.006-04:00

The first day of school! Yeah!!! The girls were so excited this morning. They both surprised me by making some last minute wardrobe changes. I will admit that I was disappointed that Sienna decided not to wear the dress as planned. The dress is soooo cute (and casual). Oh well, when she does wear it I'm still posting a pic because it's just that cute. Levi insisted on being in the pictures this morning. This is unusual since normally he always turns away from the camera. But not this morning~ he came running in and jumped right in the picture and said cheese (a new word!).

Sienna walked into the preschool like an old pro. She found her new cubby and then found her name tag right away. She said hello and good morning to everyone she saw. We walked over and she found her book, gave me a hug and kiss and said goodbye. Almost all of the other kids around were SCREAMING and crying. They had ahold of their mothers around the neck with a death grip. One girl was screaming "Me don't like school!". The first boy we saw in the parking lot (as soon as we got there) was literally throwing himself down in the gravel and then thrashing while screaming. I couldn't believe it. It was like a mad house. I was afraid that Sienna would be a little scared of all this (since I was a little scared of it all) but she wasn't. It didn't phase her one bit. I just don't remember it being that extremely intense last year on the first day. When I left Sienna was sitting nicely on the carpet looking at her book with a returning friend from last year, one of the teachers (there's only 3) already had one screaming boy on her lap, another teacher was in the process of prying a screaming girl from her mother's neck, about 6 more parents were lined up with screaming girls and one parent was having a complete emotional meltdown in the parking lot. It was crazy!

Sierra had the nervous tummy this morning. She has a male teacher this year and is a little scared of that. We met him last night and he seemed to be a very nice man. Everyone we talked to at open house told us how nice and what a good teacher he is. She's still uncertain though. The first day is always a little scary. I reminded her that she felt this way last year too right up until she got into school. She said that she knew the feeling would go away after school started but that didn't help her much for right now. I reminded her how beautiful she looked and that was a slight comfort. :)

It'll be a great day for both of them. I can't wait to hear all about it. Here's a little video of Sienna doing something (I'm not sure what) this morning before school when we made a quick stop at Aunt Shell's.

Ready to Go!

2008-08-25T09:57:00.003-04:00

Tomorrow is the first day of school! Yeah!! My house is so excited! I am so excited! Tonight is open house at the elementary so the kids can bring in their supplies and find out where their room, desk, and locker is at. This helps the kids feel more prepared for the first day. It helps the jitters be more about excitement rather than nervousness. Sierra is so excited about the open house that it almost feels like some sort of premiere or gala rather than going up to the school. Outfits have been picked out, hairstlyes have already been tried out and approved, breakfast has already been decided - we are ready, to say the least.

A Fun Day in the Sun

2008-08-22T18:41:00.008-04:00

Summer is quickly coming to an end with only 3 days left until school starts! So today we went to the rec and we took Christen (Dave's niece) with us. The kids have so much fun with her. They all fight over her. I was so surprised to find that the rec pool was nearly empty. There was really only a handful of people there. It felt like we had the pool to ourselves. Well, right up until a little boy showed up who wanted to ball with Levi. Levi did not want this boy to touch his ball. Levi yelled at him and shooed him away. I finally just told the boy that Levi was not very friendly and didn't want to play. That boy looked at Levi like he was nuts! It was just a really fun day.

Levi's Birthday Party

2008-08-16T22:16:00.004-04:00

Press play.

Happy Birthday Levi!!

2008-08-14T00:45:00.006-04:00

Happy birthday to my handsome little man! I can't believe he's two already. The time goes by so quickly. It seems like just yesterday I was waddling around knocking things down with my HUGE belly. Levi teaches me so much everyday. He's such an amazing little guy. Everyday I watch him grow into his own little person. He is so unique and different from any child I've ever encountered. I love him so much and I am sooo thankful for him. Happy Birthday Levi!!

First Time Banger

2008-08-13T01:08:00.005-04:00

'First time banger' is what the stylist called Sierra yesterday. We did some school shopping and the first stop was the salon. Here's her before and after shots. I love the bangs (much to my surprise)!

Please Don't Go....

2008-08-12T09:38:00.003-04:00

Can summer already be approaching it's end? How can this be?! I'm no where near ready for summer to end. It's just not fair (that's my kids' favorite phrase, thought I'd try it out). Sierra's birthday has already gone by and Levi's is coming this week. School starts back up in 14 days. That's the only good part of summer ending - school starting!! It just doesn't feel like summer's been here nearly long to be leaving already. There's so much I still want to do ~ like swim everyday, take the kids to the zoo (although, I've been waiting for cooler weather) and the same for Cedar Point. I suppose that I can still those things (except for swimming) in the fall weather, it would be more comfortable. But that's not the point! I still don't want summer to end!

The Hannah Montana Concert

2008-07-28T00:44:00.004-04:00

The Hannah Montana concert was on tv Saturday night. If you have a tween daughter or know any tween girls or ever shop at Wal Mart then I'm sure you've heard of Hannah Montana. If not, then I'll tell you that she's a 15 year old girl (daughter of Billy Ray Cyrus, 'My Achy Breaky Heart' guy) that the money making machine known as Disney has morphed her into a tweeny bopper TV/Rockstar. She's all the 'rage' on the tween scene right now. Disney aired the concert on tv and it also featured The Jonas Brothers, which are a Disney tweeny boy group of three brothers (one of which has caused Sierra to fall in love). Wal Mart has been giving out free 3-D glasses for weeks in preparation for the big premiere. The concert was being shown in 3-D (probably should have mentioned that).

The girls were soooo excited for the concert. They talked about it all day. Sierra had a countdown running. We had bought Hannah Montana microphone headsets as part of the treat bags for Sierra's party and the girls were planning on using them during the concert. The concert started at 8:00 so at 7:45 the girls ran upstairs to change into their Hannah clothes. I had no idea that they had 'hannah' clothes so I was anxious to see what they were going to wear. As they changed I started the popcorn and ice cream floats that I had previously promised. The girls arrived in the living room in their Hannah attire.

The concert started and so did their screaming. For a second I thought Hannah Montana was standing in my living room. I had so much fun watching them. They were aggravated with the 3-D glasses. They wouldn't stay on. So, I got out my hole punch and some leftover curling ribbon from the party and tied them to my children's heads. FYI: FREE GLASSES WILL REQUIRE MOMMY'S CRAFT BOX. With glasses back on so was the concert. They screamed, they danced, they screamed, they sang, they screamed, they ate, they screamed. It was like they were actually at the concert. I can only imagine what it would be like to take them to a live concert. It was alot of fun just watching them have so much fun.

The BIrthday Sleepover

2008-07-28T00:15:00.002-04:00

Sierra's 9th birthday isn't actually until Tuesday but she had her sleepover party on Friday. The girls had alot of fun. Everything of course had to be Hannah Montana themed. I made so many water balloons that I thought the skin was going to fall off my finger. Sierra and one of her friends totally drenched me with water while I was wearing all of my regular clothes. Sierra thought it was absolutely hysterical. Why is it always so totally cool when you get a grown up soaked? The girls put on a fashion show for me. Well, actually they insisted that I be the photographer for the show. They had fun and were actually pretty well behaved.

The Big Day

2008-07-25T09:49:00.003-04:00

Today is the big day - Sierra's Sleepover!!! Yeah! She is soooo excited. She is having a Hannah Montana/Jonas Brothers theme. We're just decorating her bedroom rather than half the house. (Hey- it's a sleepover) I'm excited for the party too. The parties get harder as the kids older. I always thought they would get easier, but they don't. The party itself isn't hard it's all the pressure I put on myself to make it absolutely spectacular and better than the last. Won't I eventually max out on ideas? But I haven't maxed out yet and this party is going to be great!

A Dog-Gone Normal Weekend

2008-07-21T10:44:00.002-04:00

What can I say about this picture? This was pretty much how my entire weekend was. We didn't really do much but it was fun just the same. Max enjoyed his stroller ride and the girls loved the fact that Max would stay in the stroller (Lola would not). Levi thought it was pretty cool too. We had just a normal, relaxed weekend without any wild animal encounters (unless you count the small mouse Dave killed in the basement). Now we're getting ready for Sierra's Birthday Sleepover this weekend.

The Bravery Badge

2008-07-18T14:02:00.002-04:00

Levi gets the bravery badge today! Daddy made a fire for the kids last night with smores and hot dogs. Is it still considered 'a fire' without the smores? Levi held his first sparkler last night!! What a big boy! On the 4th he wouldn't even consider taking a sparkler. Of course, he wouldn't take the sparker from me. I had to give the sparkler to Dave and then Dave gave it to Levi. Almost as if he didn't trust me.

Why?!?!?!

2008-07-14T10:25:00.005-04:00

So, I know I've been a TOTAL slacker lately with the blog. I just haven't felt like it. There's been much I've wanted to say but just didn't feel like putting out the effort it would require. Isn't that just terrible?! LAZY! Normally, today would not be the kind of day I would pick to blog as I am feeling a little 'down' today. Last night, about an hour after bedtime, the girls came downstairs to let me know that there was a bird in Sienna's room. Everyone knows I don't like birds and they don't like me but at least they don't carry rabies, unlike bats. However, to no surprise, it wasn't a bird but actually a bat. My investigation led me to discover the bat hanging on Sienna's window blinds. Now, it was after dark and the girls had already seen it fly from the hallway into Sienna's room. Obviously, I was absolutely petrified. I closed the door, tightly and put a towel over the space between the door and the floor. The bat was now trapped inside the bedroom and I felt safer. I checked on Levi (who was already sleeping) and thoroughly inspected his room and all the other rooms for bats. After deciding that each room was bat free and pulled all the doors tightly closed and went downstairs to call for mental support. My brother-in-law, Brian the Bat Slayer, had to work so we were on our own for the evening. Needless to say, I decided the girls would sleep with me in my bed but I couldn't get them to go without me (also needless to say). At one point I did get brave and decided that I was going to go get the bat. I made it as far as the bedroom door and I could hear the bat on the other side flying around and squealing. Needless to say (again), my bravery left me and I quickly checked on Levi, resealed his door, and RAN back downstairs.

By 1:00 am, the girls were fast asleep next to me in bed. Sleep didn't come as easily to me. I kept worrying about Levi being in his room by himself. He made a couple of noises so I went in to check on him. He was fine, I covered him back up and turned to walk out of the room when I see a bat flying up and down the hallway. I quickly slammed the door closed and scooped Levi up. There was no question about it now, he had to sleep in my bed with the rest of us. Good thing I have a king size bed, but it still wasn't a comfortable sleep. Anyway, I grabbed Levi's blanket and threw it over top of him (as to shield him from the bat confrontation that I feared was inevitable). I peeked around the door and saw no movements so I was gonna make a run for it (you know that long run across the hallway - 2 steps max) but then I heard it flapping around on the steps just around the corner. So I closed the door back. Levi laughed at me. I peeked again and the bat was flying around the hallway again. I closed the door. Levi laughed. I peeked again but the bat was still flying. I closed the door. Levi laughed. This went on for about 20 minutes before Levi quit laughing and just seemed very annoyed. I was annoyed too and hot. Between having already turned off Levi's fan and the blanket I had covering Levi and the one I had thrown over my head, I was starting to sweat and had had enough of being trapped in this room. So, I called out to Sierra through the baby monitor hoping she could open the bedroom door and Levi and I could just bolt through. However, she could sleep through a tornado and never heard me. Again I realized, I am on my own. I peeked around the door and didn't see or hear it so we ran for it. Obviously, we all survived but it was a terrible night. I didn't get much sleep for obvious reasons. And the small bit of sleep I did get wasn't very restful.

So, today I am left with the realization that I have a bat problem. Here is my reality: bats have now entered the living quarters of my children, David works on the road so I am mostly home alone with my kids, I am terribly afraid and unable to deal with the bats, - which all brings me to the harshest reality of all - I have to find a way to either keep the bats from coming inside or find a way to overcome my fear. Which would be easier to do? At this point, I have no idea. Brian the Bat Slayer came over this morning and did a thorough inspection of the house from top to bottom and NO bats were found. Can you believe that?! Not ONE?! For real? They obviously know how to come and go as they please but this is ridiculous. I don't know what I'm going to do.

The Basement of Doom

2008-06-29T22:14:00.002-04:00

As much as I love our house I HATE the basement. And I have since day one. It reminds me of a scene straight out of Saw (if you've never seen the movie, I don't suggest it). It's yucky, creepy, gross~ I just hate it. The basement also happens to be home to my washer and dryer. So this totally sucks. I get totally creeped out every time I go down there ~ it never gets easier. Not only is my basement home to my washer/dryer, it is also home to the 'Animal Kingdom Gateway'. My family laughs at me and teases me because I enter the basement in a very cautious manner. I do a full eye sweep of every wall, floor surface, door, rafter, everything before I step into it. I have already encountered a bat, 2 birds (at the same time), a spider the size of my big toe, another bat (today), and another spider the size of my big toe (also today). This is a picture of today's bat. After the first bat encounter I now REFUSE to go the basement after dark. I really don't think this is normal. Dave (says) he did a thorough inspection of every spec of the basement and cannot find where they're coming in at. BIG BIG thanks to my brother-in-law, Brian. He came over today and removed my bat!! Words cannot describe my gratitude!

And here's a cute picture of Sierra with her hermit crab from Myrtle Beach, Angel. Just because I cannot make a post with only a nasty bat pictured.

Some Slip-n-Slide Fun

2008-06-26T10:11:00.003-04:00

What exactly is it about the slip-n-slide that is always so much fun? As a child I loved some slip-n-slide action. As an adult, I have no desire to throw myself down on a piece of plastic that is going to send me sliding while spraying water in my face. Knowing my luck these days I'd probably throw my hip out and loose a contact. But the kids LOVE it! Brandon and Sierra played on this thing ALL day.

Sienna was a little more hesitant with it. She wouldn't just throw herself down on it. She would get down on her knees and then kind of scoot to the end. Levi didn't even get to try or see the slip-n-slide. I don't feel bad about this one bit. I did not feel like going to the emergency room that afternoon. No matter what my 'ER Frequent Visitor Card' says, I don't enjoy visits to the ER.
Slip-n-Slide + Levi = Emergency Room

Finally!

2008-06-24T21:19:00.006-04:00

Summer is finally here!! Yeah! I swear, I thought it would never come this year. I'm not going to mention all the rain we've been getting because I'm trying not to complain and just be thankful for the warmer weather.

Today, we packed our cooler, picked up Maddie and Bub, and went to the rec for some swimming. Let me say, that water was FREEZING but that didn't stop the kids. I couldn't get in past my knees. They swam around that pool like little fish.

Sierra was very excited to discover that she is tall enough for the slide this year. Since she wasn't tall enough last year she had to pass a swimming test to go on the slide. She was very grateful to not have to repeat the test.

We had fun and I'm sure the fun will continue. I'm dying to get some good pictures of the kids in the water but it's a little hard when I'm the only adult. Levi can't be trusted for 2 seconds. I think I walked about 5 miles today just following Levi from one side of the pool to the other. Levi is my 'exercise plan'.

Myrtle Beach 2008

2008-06-18T20:27:00.009-04:00

It is sooo nice to have Sierra home!! She had so much fun on vacation in Myrtle Beach, even though she was the only girl. Luckily, Brandon was able to go on vacation too, so at least she had her homie with her. Notice how tan she is in this picture. Let me add that the two boys on the far right live in North Carolina. All the kids decided to buy boogie boards with some of their 'vacation money' and they had a blast riding the waves on these things.

This is a picture of the pool where they spent any time they weren't on the beach. Here they got to do lots of cannon balls and dives. And probably run off anyone else trying to use the pool! They even got to swim here a couple of times after dark. There's always something cool about swimming after dark.

Here's a few shots of everyone at the pier just outside of their condo.

Sierra and Brandon both had a wonderful time. They chatterboxed my ear off the entire way home from WV. I'm so thankful that they were able to make the trip with Dad and Hilde. I only wish Maddie and Sienna would have been able to go (Maddie had sport commitments and Sienna just wouldn't go without Mommy). I just wanna say thank you to Dad and Hilde for giving them such a great time and memories that will last them a lifetime!!

Welcome Home

2008-06-13T16:24:00.002-04:00

She's coming home!! Tomorrow's the day! I'm so excited I can hardly contain myself. This is a picture of 'Bonnie & Clyde' getting their thug on. We bought Sierra a prepaid cell phone for her trip and it was the best thing I could have done. It helped so much that she was able to call WHENEVER she wanted. And she called alot. I sent her picture messages of the kids playing outside and she would send me picture messages of her by the pool. But I am very ready to have my Sierra Rose home. It's just not the same without her. Thankfully, my van has been fixed~ the window and the air conditioner. YEAH!! It will be a much easier drive this time.

Oh the Drama!

2008-06-10T21:36:00.006-04:00

Summer is finally here! If you were in Ohio this past weekend then you already know that. It was HOT! As we all know, that is all I've been asking for. However, it was pretty bad timing for me. I took Sierra and Brandon down to my dad's on Friday. They were leaving at 6 am on Saturday for Myrtle Beach. As I was out and about on Thursday I discovered that the AC in my van wasn't working. That put a slight damper on a 7 hour drive in 95 degree heat, but I could deal with it. On Friday I arrived at the school to pick up the kids and leave immediately for WV. Upon arrival at the school I discovered that now my window would not go back up (of course I had it all the way down, my AC wasn't working and it was 95 degrees). This discovery had me a bit concerned but it wasn't going to stop me from getting those kids down there.

I got the kids to Dad and I made it back home, but it was one rough trip! We were soooo HOT! It was miserable. My arm (yes, just one arm) got sunburned and then night came. Suddenly, I was freezing! Of course I had no jacket with me. I was a mess. When we finally arrived at Dad's (12:30 am), I was exhausted and extremely thankful for a place to lay my head while bundled up under some blankets. Saturday morning came early and with the discovery that my hair would not be brushed before starting my hot journey home. All of that massive wind from the day before had left my hair in knots~ EXTREME knots. I only brought my big comb, which is usually more than sufficient, but not this time. I feared I would either break my comb or literally loose it in my rat's nest. So, I just pulled it back and went on my way. By the time I made it home my hair was beyond a disaster. Words cannot describe. I am still amazed that my hair brush was able to handle the mess.

We had some storms come through here last night. Lots of lightning and thunder to scare the crap out of Sienna and Lola and keep them glued to me ALL night. Imagine my horror when I awoke this morning to find that my phone had been struck by lightning. The bottom of my phone base was singed, my desk was singed, the phone jack was singed and my curtain was singed!! The phone had burnt/melted away from the phone and the entire line was black (not it's normal color of cloudy clear). I was horrified! It the curtains would have caught fire at 3am~ I can't even think about it. Thank God it was what it was. Things could have been dramatically different.

Overall, things are good here. Sierra and Brandon are safely in Myrtle Beach having a blast. My van window is fixed and the AC will be tomorrow, hopefully. I have a phone working in the house, for the most part (couple issues there to work out but it's coming). Sienna and Levi's health is doing much better than last week. I do think Levi might have pink eye again, but I still have some drops for that so I'm sure he'll be fine. My house is still safely standing. I know better days are upon us!!

Better Days, Please

2008-06-03T19:41:00.008-04:00

It has been a really rough couple of weeks at my house. My kids are sick and just won't get better. It started when Levi got pink eye a couple of weeks ago. Anyone who has ever had to do administer eye drops to a 21 month old boy can tell you, this is NOT a pleasant experience, for anyone around. The girls would actually ask me to wait until they could get upstairs before I got the drops. The pink eye recheck was upped by a couple of days when all the kids woke up with fevers about a week later. The doctor appointment revealed that all three of them had ear infections in both ears. About 3 or 4 days later Sienna turned around and walked right into the door jam in the kitchen. She ending up vomiting which led us to the ER to discover that she had a mild concussion.

Three days later we were back at the doctor's office for a recheck on the concussion and to investigate a new fever that started that morning. Her head was doing fine but her ear infections were worse than before which meant that the antibiotic was being ineffective. We started a new antibiotic, Omnicef, which led to an allergic reaction resulting in a pink polka dot rash all over her body. Oh~ I forgot to mention that her and Levi had this nasty cough. It was very shallow and dry and lasted ALL night, NON STOP. I felt so bad for Sienna. She had it much worse than Levi.

Luckily, the day that the rash showed up we already had doctor appointments scheduled for the recheck on the ear infections. (How sad is that?) This doctor appointment revealed that Sierra was good to go and back to normal. Levi and Sienna not so much. They both still had the ear infections and now had Croup (sp?), as well. If you don't know what Croup is, it is a cough that restricts and enflames the air passage. This results in a sound similar to a seal barking, according to the doctor. I never would have guessed that's what a seal sounds like, but hey, whatever. So, they were given a steroid to open the air passage and new antibiotics.

We are finally starting to show signs of improvement, but it is a very slow road. The rash is almost gone but still slightly lingering. The cough no longer sounds like a 'seal barking'. That's good. That means that the air passages are open and normal. Now, the cough goes deep in the chest and I can hear things breaking up. So, I suppose that's good too. But it's still hard to listen to your children cough all night.

As we all know, it's terrible and heart breaking when your children are sick. It's so hard to force this medicine on them telling them it will make them better, only to find out that's it not making them better at all. In some situations, it makes them worse. But, slowly, we are improving. And that gives me hope.

June is finally here and this is the last week of school! I am so ready for summer and HOT weather. I'm talking high 90's! Sierra is getting ready to go to Myrtle Beach with Dad. She leaves on Friday and will be gone for an entire week. I'm going to miss her terribly but I am so excited for her. She is so excited. We all have things to look forward to and sometimes that has to be enough to get me through the day!

A Long Weekend

2008-05-28T09:24:00.005-04:00

Whew! What a long weekend! Levi fell asleep during dinner Monday evening. This was the first time he ever did that. He was so cute and, obviously, tired. Please notice our new highchair. His other one was so raggedy and nasty. That was the same chair Sierra used as a baby. Brian (Shell's husband) found us this one at a garage sale for $4! Thanks Brian!!

Dave was home this weekend and he did ALOT of work on our yard. The kids spent alot of time outside this weekend. And Levi~ he's a maniac! He LOVES to play outside! If he didn't get to go out with the other kids he would scream and point at the door and scream some more. Poor little guy. The problem is that he just won't listen. He does what he wants. And what he wants is everything. He is all over the place. Sierra attempted to take him out with her and she agreed that she would stay with him the entire time and keep him safe. This was really nice of Sierra and I let her try. It didn't last long and she was exhausted. Levi ran her all over the yard. Finally, I had to go retrieve Levi when I heard them both yelling at each other in the driveway. Apparently Levi wanted to go to the front of the house and Sierra would not let him. So, he just sat down in the middle of the driveway and refused to move. It was kind of funny but not from Sierra's perspective, I'm sure.

This is a sandbox that was left here for the kids by the previous tenants. We cleaned it out but we haven't gotten the sand for it yet. It hasn't stopped the kids from playing on it. They love this boat. It instantly transports Sienna to the Caribbean. (Notice that both my girls have knots on their heads? Sienna's left her with a mild concussion and Sierra's left her with a half black eye. Everyone's doing much better today though.)

Sierra even got to spend the night with Aunt Shell this weekend! Does the weekend get any better than that? They even had a fire and made smores! Good times!!

Daddy Does a Field Trip

2008-05-25T21:31:00.003-04:00

Sienna's preschool had a field trip planned for this past Friday but Levi had an appointment with the specialist in Toledo already scheduled. Dave was supposed to be out of town working so Sienna wasn't going to get to go on the field trip with her class. This wasn't just any ordinary field trip~ she got to ride a school bus and bring a packed lunch to eat at the park (it was a nature park that had a very nice playground area). Apparently, the packed lunch was a very big deal. So, needless to say, she was devastated to not be able to go with the other kids, especially her BFF, Jasmine. I tried to explain to her that Mommy would take her and Levi to the zoo after the doctor (I cleared this with Sierra first). She didn't care about the zoo, she only wanted to pack her lunch and go with Jasmine. I told her we would pack lunches for the zoo~ it didn't help.

Daddy came home a couple days earlier than expected and he gave Sienna the choice between the zoo or going on the field trip~ WITH DADDY. She chose the field trip. I told her that Mommy was really looking forward to going to the zoo with her (because I was really excited to go to the zoo, for real). She responded with, "Well, me was really looking forward to going to the park with Jasmine." I said OK. I couldn't compete with Jasmine, even with the zoo. And she was sooo excited to be able to go on her field trip and pack her lunch. She made her own bologna sandwich and made sure that I didn't forget her drink (ONCE I forgot Sierra's).

She had so much fun, it was worth not going to the zoo. I am so proud (and surprised) of Dave for taking her. Not alot of dads will do field trips. As for Levi and I, we did not go to the zoo. We got lunch through McDonald's drive thru where a crack head tried to approach my van. I didn't put my window down for him instead I put Lola in the window and she tried to eat him through the glass. He didn't stay around. Then we ate our lunch in the park where Levi go to eat on top of the picnic table and feed Lola a hamburger and french fries. Everyone had a great day, except the crackhead.

A Day at the Zoo

2008-05-18T20:27:00.008-04:00

Sierra went on a class field trip this week to the Toledo Zoo. And I didn't get to go. This was her first time ever going to the zoo without me. She went to the Cleveland zoo in the first grade but I got to go on that field trip. Not this time. It was kind of sad (for me). But she had such a nice time! Her group consisted of all her little homies and the chaperon was a mother I like very much. The very nice mother even bought them all cotton candy from the gift shop.

We recently got a second digital camera by chance and at a really good price. I've had it put away (out of the girls' sight) saving it for Sierra's trip to Myrtle Beach. Since the kids were allowed to bring cameras to the zoo, I let Sierra take the extra camera. She took some really great pictures. Is this not the cutest picture of the monkey? He's kissing the duck! Too cute.

And here's some funky aquatic creature. Crab I'm thinking. It looks gross to me. But I still thought it was a pretty awesome picture.

And here's the back side of a snow leopard. I feel like I could just reach out and touch it's tail.

Sierra had alot of fun at the zoo. This is just another reminder to me that she is getting older. I am so proud of her. She is really a pretty amazing kid.

A Kiss for Grami

2008-05-14T22:19:00.004-04:00

This is Sienna giving Grami a kiss on Mother's Day. Notice the little heart sprinkles on her lips from her dessert? She was loving those sprinkles~ they instantly made her a star! She went to Jasmine's (her BFF) birthday party tonight. It wasn't anything big, just cake and ice cream with the family plus a friend (Sienna) for the birthday girl. Sienna was so excited. This was her first time going to a friend's house plus she got to take a gift! We bought Jasmine a Bratz doll with clothes and then we bought 2 little lip glosses and a nail polish. The problem I discovered was what to do with the small items when wrapping. I had one of those big curling ribbon bows so we ended up wrapping each item individually (Sienna's idea) and then I tied a curling ribbon to it and tied it to the bow. It ended up really cute. I was kind of (totally) impressed with myself. I wish I took a picture. Let me try to explain better~ we had the package with the big curly ribbon bow. So the front of the gift was tons of curly ribbon hanging and in the midst of the ribbon was three little gifts hanging. Does that make sense? Probably not. I wish I had a photo, you should've seen it, I'll toot my own horn-- Toot. Toot.

I've got to mention the gift my family gave me on Mother's Day~ the Shark Mop! Have you ever heard of this thing? It is sooooo awesome!! It is a steam mop that cleans your floors without any chemicals. You put the water in, plug it in and 30 seconds later you're blasting the dirt and grime off your floors with steam. I'm loving this thing so much that I actually pulled it out and gave Mom and Shell a little demonstration after dinner on Mother's Day. I even insisted (forced) them to give it a 'whirl' around the kitchen. So, if you've seen this and thought maybe, get it. LOVE IT!

For My Mamaw

2008-05-04T09:15:00.004-04:00

This post is for my Mamaw. She loves to tell me the stories of all the temper tantrums I used to throw as a small child. Apparently, I would just roll from one wall to another, screaming and kicking the crap out of each wall I came in contact with.

Levi has now entered the temper tantrum stage. His tantrums certainly remind me of Mamaw's stories of me. He's only done this a couple of times so far. Hopefully it won't continue. So far I'm using the same technique to deal with them that I did for the girls. I just ignore them and walk away (except for the day that I got the camera out). This approach worked wonderfully for the girls. Sierra threw one temper tantrum as a small child. I know~ only 1! Sienna I think tried it twice and figured out it wasn't worth it. Hopefully, Levi will realize he gets nothing but a headache from a temper tantrum and will stop too.

Here's a cute little picture of Levi sitting in the bottom of my stove. Why is he in there? I have no idea. Maybe he was trying to help with dinner. He likes to open the drawer and take out the cookie sheets but this time he decided to climb in. He also has a couple of cars in there with him.

BFF

2008-04-27T21:02:00.002-04:00

Sienna had her first friend sleepover this weekend. This is her best friend, Jasmine, from her preschool. Of course, all of her friends are a best friend. The girls were so cute together. Sienna waited all day for Jasmine to come. I tried to explain to Sienna that Jasmine wouldn't be coming over until 4 or 5 but the concept was lost on her. I tried every way I could think to help her grasp the idea that it would be a while before Jasmine arrived. After a while I finally accepted that Sienna wasn't going to get this concept today and started waiting with her. So, when I found her parked infront of the window at 10:30 am looking for Jasmine's car, I plopped down next to her to look out for Jasmine's car.

Oh the joy when Jasmine finally arrived! These two girls ran around the house like wild horses for a minute. The excitement was really too much for their little bodies to handle, I think. Then they were off to Sienna's room in the blink of an eye. Within all of about 10 seconds they had touched every item in Sienna's room (Jasmine discovering and Sienna showing) and had even both been on the top bunk and back down again. It was pretty amazing, really. They both had so much fun even though Jasmine decided to go home at about 10:00. I thought she did really well making it that long. These are 4 year little girls and it takes some time to stay away from home. I'm sure she'll be back soon (considering that Sienna won't stop asking for her to come over.)

"Shane and David gave me a cow."

2008-04-24T09:19:00.005-04:00

We watch alot of The Upside Down Show in my house. Anyone ever watch this show? It is aired on Noggin (my favorite children's network) and it's one of my favorite kids shows. The show consists of these guys named Shane and David who are brothers on the show. Like almost all preschool programs it is very interactive with the kids and they ask the kids to participate in different activities with them. What makes this show so great and different from the others is that it mostly consists of imaginary play.

As I've mentioned before, Sienna lives in an imaginary world. Her imagination is amazing. It is so intense and so real. We are constantly taking 'Abby' or someone else with us everywhere we go. Lately, she's had an entire posse following her around.

Sienna was watching The Upside Down Show this morning while I made breakfast. When everything was ready and Levi was in his chair I called the girls. Sierra came bouncing in with no worries. But Sienna was quite different. She came walking in very slowly with her head hung down and her arm stretched out behind her with her little hand closed in a fist (so I knew someone was with her). I said to her, "Sienna what is wrong?" She looked up at me with such a seriously disappointed face and said to me, "Shane and David gave me a cow." She continued to let me know that she didn't want the cow so I took the cow from her and put it into the pantry. She was satisfied with that but still very disappointed in the entire situation.

Bring on the Sun

2008-04-22T09:01:00.005-04:00

My beautiful Sierra Rose. Where do I begin? She is such an amazing person. Sierra has this amazing 'sponge like' ability that not many people have. I give her life information and she absorbs it completely. So much so that the next time she encounters a similar situation she applies that information perfectly. She also has a tendency to be mini-mom, especially to Levi. It's so funny to be in the other room and here her say something to Levi that I do all the time~ like, "You better get it together, Levi". I use the 'get it together' speech all the time. Sierra has taught me more about myself than anyone else in my life, and she continues to do so everyday. I can see alot of myself reflected in Sierra. If I've been snippy and quick to get irritated with the kids she shows the same behavior. So when I find myself telling Sierra to have more patience with the little ones I am reminded to have more patience with all of them. I acknowledge that to Sierra and we agree to work on more patience together.

School is approaching the year's end and Sierra is get really exciting for her trip to Myrtle Beach with Papaw. Dad and Hilde are taking all of the potty trained grandkids (his & hers) to Myrtle Beach for a week. Sierra has gone twice with them before so she is really excited to get to go again. Maddie isn't going due to sport commitments and Sienna says she doesn't want to go if Mommy or Daddy aren't going. So, it looks like just Brandon and Sierra are the only one's going from Dad's side, but both of them are super excited.

As for Sienna, Levi and myself~ we're just looking forward to summer. We're excited to go to the Rec pool again. I'm just sooooo ready for some super sun!! If I close my eyes right now I can feel the warmth from a hot sun on my skin~ the way it feels like your skin is soaking it all up. Yum. It feels so good and I'm ready!

A Little Taste of Summer

2008-04-08T14:11:00.015-04:00

Sierra, Brandon & I went to Kalahari last night. We had so much fun!! It was a little strange to only be the three of us though. Normally, I won't do one kid if they all can't go. How do you say yes to one and not all of them? I can't do it. But this time was different. Sierra worked VERY hard to sell enough Malley's Candies for the school to earn her Kalahari ticket. And Brandon received a Kalahari ticket from Grami as a birthday gift. These tickets are NOT cheap, let me say. One ticket on a non-weekend day will cost $39 per person!! Can you believe that?! I'm pretty sure that's more than a Cedar Point ticket. But anyway, you see why it wasn't really feasible for all the kids to go. But I still felt bad leaving other kids behind and thought about them the entire time.

Sierra has been to Kalahari a few times before but this was Brandon's first time going. Let me mention for those of you that don't know, Kalahari is an indoor water park and resort in Sandusky. I know that it's the largest indoor water park in Ohio and potentially the US since their recent addition. Even though I've been before this was my first time getting past the kiddie pool. I almost forgot how much fun a good water slide can be! My biggest dilemma for the day was 'how do I get any pictures'. Water and a digital camera is not a good combo. So we came up with the plan to head straight for the slides and larger activities and come back to the other things with the camera. I think the kids would have agreed to anything if it got them to the slides. Sierra and Brandon were exceptionally well behaved. I was very proud of them. We had a ton of fun. Here's a few pictures of the some of the things we did.

This is Sierra and Brandon attempting to hop across the lilly pads with the assistance of the over head rope. Not as easy as it seems, they discovered.

This is the one that I think they enjoyed the most. I never got a chance to ride it because you must have two people to ride. But they rode this one over and over and over. This was the ride that got the 'one more time'. It's called the Zip Coaster.

Here they are in line for the Zip Coaster, again.

I don't remember what this one was called but I'm calling it The Toilet Bowl. Because I think this must be what it feels like to be flushed down the toilet. It shoots you out of this tube and then swirls you around before dropping you into a hole. Notice the girl in the picture?

We didn't do this one though. The warning signs said you needed to be a STRONG swimmer and you're dropped into 6.5 ft of water. I thought that one might be a bit much for the kids. I'll do it next time!

And here's the Family Toilet Bowl. We did this one and it's pretty much the same idea as the other one except you're all getting flushed together on a raft. Please notice the raft in the picture. It's not small. It holds 4 people. It was heavy, very heavy and awkward. I didn't have the luxury to be scared about the ride because I was so exhausted from wrestling that thing up a million stairs that I would have rode it over a water fall just to stop carrying it.

It was just alot of fun. I want to say thank you to Brandon and Sierra for being the wonderful kids that they are. Thanks for a great time!

Here's a little video of the Family Toilet Bowl in action. Enjoy!

A Bus Ride and pizza too!

2008-04-04T19:16:00.003-04:00

Today was Sienna's first field trip riding a school bus. Her preschool visited a local pizza place which involved about a 10 minute bus ride. When Sienna got to school on Monday she discovered that the kitchen play area had been turned into the 'Preschool Pizza Shop' and the kids spent all week taking orders, making pizzas and exchanging play money. They even made a HUGE pizza out of cardboard and paper with a thank you note for the pizza place which was hanging beautifully on the wall. The kids got to make their own pizzas and then toured the restaurant. They were all so excited. It was a very nice field trip.

Sienna has a great group of girls in her class. They really make me laugh. They're ALL so outgoing! I've made mention of these particular girls before, in the post about Sienna's Thanksgiving Feast. Remember how distracting my purple nail polish was to them? I made sure to have no purple nail polish today. Today they all seemed to have tattoos to show me. It must be something in the air right now. Even Sienna is rockin' one on her leg right now. I've never seen an entire group (class) of children that get along so well with one another. I really think it's credit to the teachers and type of program that they use. I am very pleased with them. Big thanks to Pine House Pizza and to the Western Reserve Preschool!

The Power of Communication

2008-04-01T11:52:00.014-04:00

As I've mentioned before, Levi does occupational therapy every Thursday at Fisher Titus Hospital. He used to do physical therapy as well but has since mastered his physical milestones and is continuing to develop at a 'normal' rate. I was hoping that Speech would be the one therapy that Levi didn't need. However, he won't be skimping out on any therapy sessions. He needs some speech help. He says a few words~ Mama, Dada, Hi, Go and ever so occasionally Bye. Levi is 19 months old now and should be say more than this. He doesn't even say Uh-Oh. I talked to his occupational therapist about it and she agrees that Levi should start in speech therapy. However, there's a HUGE waiting list to get in Speech at FTMC. I think he is like number 27 on the list, right now.

I tried going through the Early Intervention program (which is the program we started on when Levi was 4 weeks old before being referred to FTMC for therapy at 10 months) but all they offer right now is group sessions. After going to one hour long speech group session, that felt an awful lot like an extended OT session, I couldn't bring myself to go to another one. I've been to alot of therapy sessions but that one was by far the most difficult to deal with. Some sessions are extremely difficult and tiring when Levi is in one of his moods. If he doesn't want to do it then he just won't do it. 'Just won't do it' doesn't happen at therapy. If he won't do something then the therapist and I physically hold him in the situation and make his arms and hands do the action we wanted. As you can imagine, Levi gets extremely upset about this and screams and hollers. But we tell him how wonderful he has done and I give him a hug and he settles right down and gets back to playing. On a real bad day we can have about 6 or 7 'fits' during a 30 minute OT session. However, we haven't had a real bad day in quite a while. Levi is even doing 45 minute sessions now instead of just 30. He hasn't even had a 'fit' for at least a good month now. Progress is finally starting show!!

So, we're still waiting for the speech to come through. But in the meantime, his occupational therapist gives me some good ideas to work on at home. One of the things she has suggested is teaching Levi some sign language. The thing that I am most worried about is that his lack of communication abilities will result in frustration and fits. He's already gotten upset with me a few times because I just didn't know what he wanted. So, we're trying a few words of the sign language and he is doing really well with it. He can say please, thank you, eat and more. When I walked into his room he was standing in his crib and looked right at me and said 'Mama' and then he said 'eat' with his sign language. It's really amazing to see him use the sign language without being prompted to. I know that he will talk eventually but the sign language will give him the ability to communicate with us while we wait.

Here's a little video of Levi running around this morning in his diaper. The middle of the video gets a little dark when Levi runs to the living room but it just lasts a couple of seconds. He can't stay still for long.

The Hostess with the Mostess

2008-03-31T21:04:00.003-04:00

This is a picture of Sienna playing with her new tea set. This is probably about Sienna's 50th tea set over her little 4 years. The girl has a serious love for some tea sets, followed closely by anything kitchen play. That's because she loves to care and tend to people. Not only will she serve you your tea but she'll also, gladly, make you something to eat with it. This picture only shows the new tea set, not any of the older ones that came to the table as her tea party quickly grew. I know that all this is pretty normal typical 4 year old girl stuff but I am still amazed by her. As we played tea set this afternoon she was absolutely mesmerizing. I sat there, drinking my tea and eating my bologna sandwich (made from a doll house door and a plastic Easter egg), and I just watched her tend to her guests with such care and concern for their individual desire. They each got individual time with Sienna to tell what they would like and she accommodated each one accordingly. It really didn't matter that it was all imaginary and the guests were 2 Dora dolls and a water baby. As the party was winding down, Sienna decided that it was time to put all the babies to bed. Then it was time to wash all the dishes. Her detail is remarkable. Nothing is missing, not even one little step. My bologna sandwich even had mayo on it, because Sienna said it just doesn't taste as good without it. Watching Sienna today makes me want to tell everyone~ take the time to notice our kids. Not just play with them, not just keep them safe, not just provide for them, but to really notice them~ their small details, the little things because that's where the true magic is.

Easter Dinner

2008-03-23T20:05:00.005-04:00

I am so totally full! I couldn't tell you the last time I ate so much. I don't know what was wrong with me today, but I ate like a pig. I just couldn't get enough. I said that I felt like a refugee who just came home to their first meal in years! How pathetic is that?! Everything just tasted soooo good. I don't think there was one thing at the table that didn't taste FABULOUS to me! I probably could have ate my plate. I was terrible. I guess that'll be an extra day at the gym this week! (lol, ha-ha, lol)

So, obviously I very much enjoyed dinner at Shell's with Mom. The kids always have a great time whenever we go to Shell's house. Even Levi knows~ as soon as pulled in the drive he started grunting and pointing at the house. It's always fun at Aunt Shell's. Heather and Casey came too and she is so adorable right now. She's 12 weeks from having her first baby so I'm sure she's not feeling adorable but she looks it. If you don't know who Heather is, she is Shell's stepdaughter and she is super tiny petite. But now she's got a nice round baby bump. Usually when I see those super skinny girls who are pregnant and don't like them (even though I do not know them) because I know they're going to pop out that baby and go straight home and pull out those size zero jeans and slip right back into them. Meanwhile, I'd give my left leg to see a size 10 again! But with Heather that's not the case. I suppose since I love her so much that doesn't anger (make me soooooooo incredibly jealous) me as it normally does. I'm so happy for her and I can't wait to see that new baby!!

It was just a really nice day. As I was helping Sienna take off her Easter dress for jamey time she says to me, "I had a really fun time wearing that dress today with my tights". That simple little statement almost made me cry. It was an awesome day that has left me feeling extremely blessed. I hope that all of you had as nice a Easter as I did.

Happy Easter!!

2008-03-23T12:39:00.006-04:00

Happy Easter everyone! The kids were up bright and early this morning asking if the Easter Bunny came. As soon as we got to the bottom of the stairs Sienna was already looking for the eggs. Sierra, of course, was already on the hunt. Levi went straight for the baskets. I was anticipating this holiday to be a good one for Levi. I figured with a basket full of goodies just for him, it was bound to be a favorite. The first thing on Sienna's mind after getting that Baby Bottle Pop open was, "are we going to go to church now?". She couldn't wait to get all dressed up. Sierra, of course, was the first one dressed (accessories included) and ready to go. Any legitimate reason to get all dolled up and Sierra is all over it.

We went to Steve Payne's church and it was absolutely beautiful. The service was lovely. I think that Steve Payne might be the one and only person that I could actually sit and listen to all day. His sermons never seem long to me and the end always comes by surprise somehow. As for Levi, he went in the nursery today!! And stayed!! Yeah! I was a little worried that he wouldn't stay but once we got to the nursery all my worries went away. There was about 10 little boys and zero girls. Levi was absolutely thrilled!

That was our Easter morning and now we're heading over to Shell's for dinner with Mom. I'll have more pictures and another post later. Happy Easter everyone!

Here's Come Peter Cottantail

2008-03-21T19:38:00.005-04:00

The family colored our Easter eggs tonight. It was alot of fun. And believe it or not, no one spilled anything!! I thought that was pretty amazing. Everyone got their own full set of colors and an equal number of eggs to color. Daddy and Levi had to share their eggs and coloring for obvious reasons.

Having 3 kids is alot of work but it has some benefits. I get to experience the holidays (or any event) through each of their eyes. Sierra is 8 now and she is definitely at that tweeny stage. Which is an awesome place to be for her, but that fresh eyed wonder is gone. Don't get me wrong, she still experiences that fresh eyed wonder from time to time (like the other day when we were looking at some heels at Payless). But it is replaced by understanding and knowledge which leads to an innocent wisdom that is so amazing to see in your child. Sierra understands the reasons behind our holidays now. The eggs and goodies are just a bonus. She doesn't just rush through her eggs anymore. She takes her time and is creative with them.

This of course led to a breakdown for Sienna when she ran out of eggs first. She insisted that Sierra got more eggs than she did. Why does someone always think someone else is getting more or better? But overall Sienna had a blast coloring eggs. She was so very careful with each and everyone one of her eggs. I wrote on some of the eggs with a white crayon ahead of time and she was so excited when she pulled an egg out of her pink dye and saw her name on it. Again, that fresh eyed wonder is so amazing.

As for Levi, I think he colored one egg the entire time. It turned out a beautiful shade of orange. I think this picture of Levi has captured that fresh eyed wonder I was talking about. (He's not crying, it's sheer excitement and wonder with a shutter delay from the camera.) We put him in his high chair and gave him the cup of orange coloring and an egg. He knew exactly what to do. That egg went straight in the cup with no hesitation. He sat there looking at the egg in the cup and then at us. He finally reached back into the cup to get the egg and was sooooooooo totally shocked to discover that the egg was now orange. It was the funniest thing I've seen for quite a while. After a bit Dave tried to get the egg from Levi. Levi wasn't happy about this. He SCREAMED and was diligently trying to get to his egg back. Dave quickly gave him a new egg and all was okay. The new egg went into the dye and came out orange so Levi was happy again. Levi dunked and retrieved his egg over and over and over and over again. His hand was a darker shade of orange than our pumpkins from Halloween. His arm was orange all the way up past his elbow. Needless to say, Levi did not enjoy clean up time.

I hope all of you have a wonderful Easter holiday filled with lots of love and family!!

Ouch

2008-03-12T20:37:00.005-04:00

This is a picture of the steps that I walk up and down every day upon exiting or entering my home. I love our new house so very much in so many ways; however, I hate these steps! I'm not sure what it is about these particular steps but they've got me scared to death to leave the house. I have fallen down these steps TWICE. That's right, not once but TWICE. We've only lived here a month and I've fallen down the same steps TWICE. Most people would learn after the first fall, but not me.

The first fall was on Levi's therapy day two weeks ago. I knew the steps were icy. I had already warned Levi's Help Me Grow caseworker about the ice on the steps as she was leaving (approx. 30 minutes before my fall). I ran out to the van to start it up so that Levi and I could jump right into a nice warm ride. I opened the door and took one step out and before I could blink my eye I was sitting at the bottom on my butt and feeling much pain. I was more stunned than anything else. I haven't fallen because of ice in years. I was a little stunned that I had actually just fallen. Then I started to become very aware of the excruciating pain in my ankle and hip/butt. It was so terrible. It hurt so bad. But I was determined to be strong and just shake it off and NOT CRY. A few tears did manage to find there way out of my eyes but, hey, that really hurt.

I think I've mentioned before that I'm not much of a morning person and I think that might have played a factor in the second fall. It was first thing in the morning and since I own two young dogs, they go pee before I do. So, I'm carrying Max (he can't be trusted to not stop and pee in route to the door) and I see the stray black cat outside of the door. I can barely see as it is since my contacts are still stuck to my eyes but I thought the steps looked dry and occupied by the stray cat. I yelled at the cat and told it to leave. I kicked the door and screamed at the cat, but it just stayed there, looking at me, meowing at me. All the while, Max is squirming like crazy to get down and feel like I'm about to burst too. I'm afraid to let Max outside though for fear that he'll run off chasing that cat. Considering that I'm standing there in my house shoes, boxer shorts and tshirt I really wasn't wanting to chase the dog down. And not to mention it's only 6:30 in the morning. It's still dark out. So, I finally had the great idea that I would just step out on the steps and kick my foot at the cat while yelling and it would run away. So, with Max in hand, I stepped out onto the steps and before I could yell at the cat I was down on my butt and my house shoe was in a snow bank. My first thought was "AGAIN???!!!!" I didn't care about being strong this time, I balled like a baby. I turned Max loose and looked around for my missing house shoe. There was that black cat, just sitting there looking at me as Max ran off in the other direction. What was I thinking?!! If my fat ass falling down those steps isn't going to scare off that cat my little kick/yell combo wasn't going to do a thing! And Max~ no interest what so ever in the cat. He could have cared less. He peed and came right back inside. I finally got up, still bawling, retrieved my house shoe from the snow bank and went back inside. My poor little pitiful thin boxer shorts were soaking wet and dripping water onto my legs which made me cry even more. And I still hadn't even peed yet. When the girls came down stairs I told them what happened to Mommy and they both said, "Again?!" I told Dave. He said, "Again?!" I told my sister. She said, "Again?!" Yes, damnit, AGAIN! Apparently, you only get the 'are you okay' response on your fist fall. After that, not so much.

I am recovering nicely though. No worries. My bruise from the first fall is gone but my ankle is still swollen. It doesn't give any trouble really so I'm sure it will be fine. The second fall has left me with a bruise across my backside bigger than the eastern seaboard and is still quite sore. However, that too will heal. However, every time I think about that second fall~ I can't help but laugh out loud. Is that strange? It hurt so bad but I can't help but laugh hard. And here's a picture of Sienna just because.

Need a Little Chap Stick?

2008-03-11T12:31:00.004-04:00

I cannot stand having some chapped lips! I've always got a least one tube of chap stick on me at all times. Sienna asks for the chap stick frequently. Apparently, she doesn't like chapped lips either. While we were snowed in over the weekend, I came across Sienna and Levi on the couch. Apparently, Levi doesn't care if his lips are getting chapped or not, he doesn't want any chap stick.

Dinner Time

2008-03-05T14:19:00.004-05:00

I finally get to make a post! Yeah! I say that because my internet isn't all that I had hoped it would be. For what it cost us to get it I should be able to send emails to the moon and back in the blink of an eye. However, half the time I'm not able to send an email to my sister who is just 5 miles down the road. (I typed that last sentence and then the breaker blew!! It might be a sign) Anyway, I am grateful for this chance to blog again. This is a picture of Levi's cabinet. He claimed this cabinet for himself at the very first dinner I made in this house (which consisted of taking pizza out of the box). I keep this cabinet pretty empty just for Levi, with the exception of some water and a couple small things that sit on the shelf. He plays in this cabinet every night while I make dinner. I thought I would give you all a small glimpse into a very small piece of my life. This is what life is like in my house while dinner is being made. The video is a little dark but you get the idea.

2008-02-26T21:39:00.008-05:00

I love this picture of Max! He looks like a bobble head, doesn't he? He's got a big ol' head but he's a totally baby. Lola is way more ferocious than Max could ever dream of being. But he's getting really big. I'm starting to get the dogs confused. If I'm standing up and looking down at them, it's hard to tell them apart. Max's face is alot darker than Lola's, but if you're not looking right at their face it can be a little confusing.

That was my quick little doggie update (since I'm sure all of you have just been dying to know the current status of my dogs).

Check out this picture of Sierra. I let the girls take the camera upstairs the other night and this is one of the pictures I found the next day. Doesn't she remind you of Chris Crocker in this picture? Remember him? The EXTREME Brit-Brit fan who found 15 minutes of fame over a video he posted on MySpace where he was under a blanket screaming "leave Brittany alone". If you don't know who I'm talking about, consider your self lucky. I just thought the picture was cute. Let me be clear that Sierra was not impersonating this guy, she doesn't even know who he is.

Pretty Princess

2008-02-26T15:42:00.003-05:00

We all know how Sienna loves to play princess. As I was trying to set the computer up Sienna came running in telling me to get the camera and come see. She was soooo excited but I didn't really want to stop what I was doing. Everyone knows what a pain it is to set up the computer. All the cords and plugs~ not to mention you have to crawl under and behind your desk, it's just such a hassle. At the moment when Sienna came in I happened to be under the desk with 2 cords in my hand, 1 cord in my mouth and the tower tipped sideways and propped on my leg. So you could say that I was kind of in the middle of something. But she was just so excited so I asked her what she needed me and the camera for. She said, "Me and Daddy play pretty princess!!" Now, I had to pause because I knew that Dave was napping on the couch. So I finally said to her, "Well, isn't Daddy sleeping?" She replied with a very excited YES followed by lots of hand clapping. So I grabbed my camera and went to see Pretty Princess Daddy. Sienna was so happy with how pretty she made Daddy look. And Dave must have been so exhausted from the move because he slept right through the whole thing, even me taking about 50 pictures!

Finally

2008-02-19T07:22:00.002-05:00

Here's the cheerleading video, finally! This new internet is not as fabulous as I had hoped! Enjoy!

Sienna is 4 years old!

2008-02-17T20:34:00.004-05:00

It's so hard to believe that Sienna is 4 years old already! It really is amazing how fast the time goes by, especially considering that it seems so slow in the moment. February 3 marked the 4th year of my amazing princess. This is a picture of her all dressed up in one of her new dress-up outfits. She even made Aunt Shell take a picture of the shoes. It's so amazing to me that her little feet are a perfect fit for those shoes. A true Cinderella. :)

She had such a good time at her party! All of her cousins came (except Brandon due to a basketball game). Sienna really enjoys getting together with ALL of her cousins. Birthdays is really about the only time when all the kids from both sides of the family can get together. We had a princess pinata for her. We always do pinatas for all the birthday parties and usually the kids doing really well with looking out for each other and not being crazy about getting the candy. (I make them all share it anyway.) But for some reason this party Sierra lost her mind over the pinata. She tackled Levi to get to the candy! Maddie had to jump into the pile of children and pull Levi out from the bottom!! I was completely and totally shocked. I still am. I don't even know what to say about it.

It was a really nice day. I was afraid with only having a week to get the house together and do a party that I would be all stressed out but I wasn't, thankfully. Dave was a big help. He put up the decorations and hid the last few remaining boxes for me. Sienna is such an amazing person and I am so blessed to be a part of her life. She inspires me everyday. Happy Birthday Sienna! We love you so much!!

Mini-Cheer Clinic '08

2008-02-15T22:15:00.006-05:00

Yeah for the mini cheer clinic. One of my absolute most favorite times of the year! We all remember from the football cheer clinic that Sienna didn't enjoy the three practice days but she loved the performance. So when the basketball cheer clinic rolled around I really didn't know what she was going to want to do. She decided with ease that she definitely wanted to do it. She promised that she would go to every practice and not cry. I was still pretty nervous about what she would do especially since they were doing 4 practices this time. Day one came around and she said she didn't want to go. I'm talking it up and going through all the usual reassurances when she pops out with, "Mom, if you give me an ice cream cup I'll go to cheerleading and not cry." I gave her the ice cream cup and she went to cheerleading with no tears. Now, I know that she totally worked and manipulated me there but it was worth it. An ice cream cup is a small price to pay for no fight and not wasting $40. She went to practice everyday and loved it. She even won a high five ribbon award for being the most spirited on her squad on day one and won a bear on the last day for being the most spirited on her squad overall.

Sierra loves the mini cheer clinics. She has done every single one since she was in kindergarten. They do 2 a year. Sierra has always given a 110% at every practice and every game. She is such a good cheerleader. It's really impressive that she remembers almost every cheer, dance and move long after the clinic is over. Sierra won a high five ribbon award for being the most spirited on her squad. Her big cheerleader (that's the high school cheerleader who is in charge of her squad) even gave us her phone number for babysitting. That's worth the registration fee alone!!

They both did such an awesome job and I am so proud of them both. Here's a little video of their performance.

Edit: You'll have to check back for the video. I can't get it to upload right now and it's late and I'm tired. I'll try to get it on tomorrow.

For the Love of High Speed Internet!

2008-02-14T22:30:00.002-05:00

I'm finally back on line! Yeah!! For those of you that don't already know we moved into a different house at the beginning of this month. Apparently, I now live in the middle of no man's land corn county where it is virtually impossible to get high speed internet access. I called every cable and phone company I could find and none of them were able to service us here. We do have Verizon for our phone but their DSL "wasn't serviceable at our location". Just let me say that I find it very interesting that my father can build his home into the side of a mountain in West Virgina and can get Verizon DSL but me in the middle of a corn field~ just not reachable! I'm still trying to figure that one out. We finally had to go through HughesNet which consists of a HUGE satellite dish with a weird looking rod sticking out of it, sitting in my yard.

The new house is great! I'm so loving it. It's so old and big. The kids are really enjoying it. There is sooo much more room for them to run around here. I have so many things I want to talk about~ Sienna's birthday, mini cheer clinic, the house~ just to name a few. So I'll be putting up some new posts in the next couple of days. I just wanted to make a quick post to let everyone know I'm still around (barely).

A Mother's Love

2008-01-12T22:46:00.000-05:00

Sorry that I haven't been blogging much lately. I just haven't felt like it. I guess I'm sort of in a funk. Honestly, I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed. The kids have been soooo sick. Sierra just got back from Christmas break and she just missed an entire week of school. Again, she has back to back strep throat and then got the stomach flu (from Sienna) on top of that. Sienna had a NASTY stomach bug that lasted for a week! Levi is actually weathering the storm like a champ, much to my surprise. He does have a cough and runny nose but that's nothing at this point.

I have a very weak stomach. I know it's a mental thing, but still~ I'll hurl in a heartbeat for the right smell. Puke is one of those smells. As a mother we endure many things and would throw ourselves in front of a speeding bus for the sake of our children. This thought becomes incredibly real to me as I hold out my shirt or my hands for my child to puke in. All in a mother's love that you can never possibly fully appreciate until you are a mother.

I am soooo incredibly behind on my laundry. My washing machine has been pretty much monopolized by sheets, blankets and pillows. Any sort of free time has been monopolized by my Lysol can and scrub bucket. I've even had to pull out my emergency reserve of 'granny panties' (that are only kept for situations such as this). Again, all in a mother's love that you can never possibly fully appreciate until you are a mother.

I have seen the inside of the pediatrician's office 3 times within the last 5 days. I have verified my home address, phone, pharmacy and emergency contact at each of those visits. I have read approximately 20 books and identified each animal on the Ark too many times at those visits. I discovered (too late) that I wore the same sweatshirt to 2 of those 3 visits. And twice I discovered (again, too late) that Levi smeared cookie all over my shoulder. Again, all in a mother's love that you can never possibly fully appreciate until you are a mother.

Christmas with Dad

2008-01-04T20:23:00.000-05:00

Going to Dad's house for a few days was a nice little get-a-way. That's not to say we didn't hit a few bumps along the way. I was a little concerned about everything fitting into the van. My van seats seven but it has zero storage area. There's only enough room for the stroller to fit behind the back seats. The stroller didn't get to go so that we could have some room for luggage and I told everyone to pack light. For some reason though, it never even occurred to me about leaving room for Christmas gifts that we would be coming home with us. I did manage to make everything fit but we were all pretty packed in.

The kids actually did pretty well on the way to West Virgina. About 2 hours from the 'hollar' they got pretty anzy and started bombarding us with 'are we there yet'. Dad has a beautiful home which you can see in the picture above. However, it is located down this po-dunk hollar. I've been down a lot of hollars in my life, but this one is 'special'. The first time I experienced this hollar (I say that because it is an experience) I screamed at Dave to SLOW DOWN after I just about threw up! The potholes in this thing could swallow the entire van I swear. However, this time I thought the hollar was looking great. Hilde has done a wold of difference by getting the state (or whoever) finally out there to take care of it. The potholes weren't nearly as bad or many, even though there were still a few. With all this being said keep in mind that it was pitch black out by the time we made it to the hollar. I was going nice and super slow (remember, I've drove down this thing at night before). I pothole turns up and move slightly as to avoid the pothole and every passenger in my van, including my sister, begins screaming at the top of their lungs. Scared the crap out of me! Well I had to slam on my break and stop the van completely and let everyone know to never again scream like that in the van. Apparently, they all thought I was driving them over the edge of a mountain.

Once we actually got there and got everyone out of the van things went a little smoother. The kids wanted to open gifts immediately (this is when it first occurred to me about taking extra things home with us~ duh). Dad and Hilde have the most beautiful BIGGEST tree I've ever seen inside someone's home. They have to use a 10 ft. ladder to assemble and decorate this huge tree. There is an ornament for each child and grandchild. Which is quite a few ornaments considering that between the two of them they have 5 kids and 11 grandkids!

The kids were up pretty early and ready to get their day with Papaw started. It was pretty cold out but they were able to put their coats on and play around outside for a little bit. The older kids the 4 wheeler for a little bit and then Dad got out Brandon's bb gun . Imagine my surprise when Sierra turned out to be a sharp shooter. She never missed! Too bad she won't have much of a chance to use this talent seeing how I am not a fan of guns or hunting.

We got to see some family that we don't get see very often. We got to see Roney, whom I haven't seen in years and the same for Aunt Edna. We also got to meet Savanah for the first time, Mike's daughter. She is such a beautiful young lady who strongly resembles her daddy. It's always great when we get to see Aunt Tiney, Uncle Butch and Pam. As soon as the kids saw Aunt Tiney walk in they all went straight to the table and were ready to play spoons! I'm still wondering why I don't ever remember playing spoons as a child and why I still don't know how to play spoons?!

It was a really nice visit. Obviously, I'm leaving a few things out. Nothing major~ my small breakdown at Bob Evans, Levi's cold, nasty van attitude. It was a great visit but it's always nice to be back home, too. But even we when smack dab in the middle of the roughest part of the trip - those last two hours- I was already starting to think about the next time we would be able to visit again. Some of my best memories as a child was our trips to West Virgina. I always heard Dad refer to it as 'home' and that's what it always felt like to me. I always felt like I was home.

Merry Christmas To All...

2007-12-26T10:46:00.000-05:00

Christmas was wonderful, as it always is. Long but great, as always. On Saturday we did Christmas with Dave's family at his mom's. There's a total of 8 kids ranging in age from 14 to 1. So all of the kids have a ton of fun together and I actually get to talk to the grown ups, since the older kids can chase Levi. It's pretty nice.

We stayed home on Christmas Eve and got ready for Santa. Sienna was very particular when it came to putting out the cookies and milk. I just followed her directions. I told the kids they could open one gift before bed. Sierra was pretty disappointed when I pulled her out from the tree and told her she didn't get to pick which gift, I already had the gifts picked out. It was their new jameys~ a Christmas staple. They all looked so cute ~ the girls in their pink jameys and Levi with his cars and trucks all over his. Simply adorable.

Finally~ Christmas morning. The girls came in my room at 7 exclaiming, "Santa came! Santa came!" We got up and woke Levi up and then the present unwrapping extravaganza began! Levi tore off that first piece of paper and brought it to me, like 'look mom'. He grew tired of unwrapping the presents pretty quickly. He just wanted to play. Even Sienna grew tired of opening gifts. She has been sick though, I think that had something to do with it. Sienna is at that great age where everything is great. She was opening the last few gifts (after the motrin kicked in) and she came running up to me with a clothing box in hand. She said, "Look Mom! A white box!!" How cute is that?! I told her to open the box and she was just as excited to find a pretty skirt with matching shirt inside. Like I said, it's a great age. Sierra had a great Christmas too. She knows the truth about Christmas now so there was no Santa magic for her. However, it was AWESOME to see that awe and thankfulness that is usually reserved for Santa directed my way! She got the mp3 player that she wanted sooo badly and an outfit that she instantly fell in love with. After those two gifts the rest were great no matter what they were.

Papaw Walt (Dave's dad) came over for breakfast on Christmas morning. It was a really nice visit for all of us. Of course, Mom and Shell (with kids) came over for dinner. Another lovely visit. It was a really nice day.

It was a wonderful holiday for all of us. (I got my Lost Season 3 on DVD :) ). We're leaving for West Virgina in the morning to spend some time with Dad and Hilde. Shell and her kids are going with us and all the kids are SUPER excited! It should be a really great time!

Christmas Programs

2007-12-20T22:42:00.000-05:00

I love going to the school Christmas programs. I still remember how excited I would get as a kid for my Christmas program. I felt like a star. I felt special. So now to watch my children in their own Christmas programs is special to me.

First was Sierra's program last week. She always does such a wonderful job. However, I cannot say the same for my camera. Something about the lighting in the gym totally messes with my camera. It is IMPOSSIBLE to get a decent picture inside the school gym. I'm posting a picture any way so you can understand why I'm not posting more. The Lord truly blessed my life with Sierra. She is such a special girl. She did such a great job, like always. Here's a quick little video. She's in the third row, 6th to the right. Again, sorry about the camera. :(

Then there was Maddie's choir program. This is not your regular grade performance, this is 'choir'. Again, brings back good memories for me. I absolutely loved choir. I took it all 4 years in highschool, was in the Show Choir and even choreographed dance routines starting as a sophomore. Big ups to Emily~ she was definitely my choir homie! Back to Maddie~ she did such a wonderful job! She seems to truly enjoy herself. I know I enjoyed myself watching her perform, even when she made me participate (even if my evil sister was laughing hysterically at me). Sadly I don't have any pictures since I forgot my camera.

Today was Sienna's program at the preschool. She was absolutely adorable! They sang songs and recited a poem and then got a surprise visit from Santa and Mrs. Claus. She did such an awesome job. And I think it's safe to say that Sienna really enjoys performing for a crowd. She knows how to keep contact with the camera, that's for sure. I'm so proud of all the ladies in my life. They're all at different stages in life but all growing up so fast. They all did a wonderful job.

Here's a couple of videos of Sienna's progam. In this first video, pay attention to the little girl next to Sienna. This little girl is one of Sienna's best friends. She puts her arm in front of Sienna's face. Notice how Sienna handles that!

The First Family Portrait

2007-12-18T16:45:00.001-05:00

I know it's sad to admit, but this is the first year that we've actually done an entire family picture. It was quite an adventure. Well, here's our first ever family portrait and pictures of the kids.

A Little Christmas Joy

2007-12-13T22:48:00.000-05:00

Christmas is absolutely my favorite holiday! I LOVE it! It's such a special time of year. Thoughts are filled with family, friends, love and memories of the past. And Christmas is the holiday we do at my house. Shell gets Thanksgiving and I get Christmas.

We did a family portrait this year. It's actually the first time that Dave and I have both been in the picture with the kids. I'm really excited to get the pictures back. I'm hoping they'll be in any day now. The portrait technician was amazed at how quickly we did our pictures. We have three children - everything we do is expedited. It took us longer to get service from the picture tech to make our selections and pay than it did to actually take all the pictures. Which, as I'm sure you can imagine, was quite irritating to me. Levi was all over the place! There was about a million people in there waiting for their pictures and he was making friends with all of them. Sears had a Dora video going so Sienna was pretty content to watch the show. Poor Sierra. She tried sooo hard to keep up with Levi. She did a really good job. She's so helpful to me at times. She's truly a blessing!

After family photo time we went to see Santa. I felt horrible last year because we didn't even do Santa. We knew that Sienna wouldn't sit on his lap (she made that perfectly clear) so we didn't even bother. This year, Sienna was excited to go see Santa. She promised that she would sit on his lap and tell him what she wanted for Christmas and even let Mommy get a nice picture. Which she did! I was so proud of her. Sienna isn't too smiley in the picture but I still think it's an awesome picture!

Our Christmas tree has been up for a couple of weeks now. Sienna LOVES the tree. The first thing she does every morning is ask to 'turn on the tree'. ALL of the kids helped Mommy with the tree this year. We do the fake tree thing. I think it's a little disappointing to Dave. We tried a real tree a couple of times but it's such a pain in the butt! The needles are constantly falling off (choking hazard for small children and puppies), you have to keep crawling under the tree to water it (how many chubby girls do you know that like to crawl under things?), you worry all month about the tree catching on fire, and disposing of the tree after Christmas is always horrific. And I'm not even going to mention the torture you have to endure while attempting to snag this tree out of the wild!! Isn't it so much easier to just go down to the basement and drag out the box? I think so.

Anyway, all of the kids helped put up and decorate the tree this year. Sierra was a HUGE blessing with the tree this year. She went through the box and sorted all the branches as I started assembling. She read the directions and knew which branches were needed and when. She helped Sienna choose the right branches and put them in the right spot. Levi wanted to help with this part but I didn't think that was a good idea for obvious reasons (refer to my previous post which mentions Levi choosing weapons disguised as children's toys). Levi did get to help with the fluffing of the branches to fill the tree out. He seemed to enjoy this part even though the girls and I had to rescue several branches and put them back.

Decorating the tree was alot of fun with the kids. I took a very relaxed approach to the tree this year. I think it's the best tree we've ever had. It might have an empty spot here or there and there might be several red bulbs grouped together in one area and the bottom of the tree is a little naked but it was done with love and wonder by the three people who mean the most to me. Every time I look at this tree I see love. I catch myself just looking at the tree and smiling. All the Precious Moments ornaments are at the very top where Sierra ever so carefully put them. For each ornament she had a different question and wanted to know the story behind the special ornaments that are always at the top of the tree. It was nice to talk to Sierra about the times when she was my only princess. She seemed to really enjoy hearing about the way life used to be.

Sienna loves to put on the little drums and presents. You know the ornaments that come from the dollar general, $1 for 12 or something like that. I've had these things forever and now there's not as many as there once was. But Sienna was digging through every box looking for them and she would get so excited when she found one and come running to the tree to find just the right spot. And that's exactly what it was~ every single one that she found was special and needed a special spot. She would stand back and look at the tree and then say, "Yep, that's it". She was very careful with the glass bulbs too. She kept saying that she didn't want to break them.

Then there was Levi. We tried to let him help. Honest, we did. We tried to help his little hand get the ornament on the branch but he would just get too excited and start smacking the tree and making things fall off, much to the girls' disappointment. So we finally gave up on trying and he seemed much happier to sneak in and steal an ornament from time to time. But he's given the tree his own special touch too. He keeps adding things to the tree. So far I have found in the tree: disposable camera, 2 dog toys and a dump truck. How he's getting these things to actually just sit on the branches is beyond me.

It was a really nice time with the kids. It was a day that I'll cherish forever. I can't wait to remember that day with them next Christmas and so many more to come.

Getting Settled

2007-12-11T20:39:00.001-05:00

Max is settling into his new home nicely. He really enjoys hanging out with Lola. They're so cute together. Lola is a little more aggressive than what Max is ready for but Lola is really good about listening to Max and backing off if he whimpers at all. Sienna of course is trying to carry Max around all day, everywhere she goes. And again, we're back to hearing her phrase "He's just a baby." Sierra is eager to see Max as soon as she gets up and then again after school. She's getting up better for school again (until the newness wears off again). And Levi~ what can I say about him? I think he might think that Max's bed is a new chair for him. He keeps flopping right down on top of the dogs. I'm afraid he's going to smoosh poor Max. When Levi is up and loose Max spends most of his time either on my lap or tucked away under my desk at my feet, trying to hide. I've tried soooo hard to explain 'gentle', 'fragile', and 'baby' to Levi, but he doesn't care. He just gives me this little evil (rather scary) laugh and then takes off (to find a new weapon disguised as a child's toy). So, pretty much all is going well. We have a few bumps here and there but isn't that what life is, one big bumpy road?

Meet Max

2007-12-09T19:18:00.000-05:00

There's a good chance that I've gone completely crazy. We got another pug puppy today. His name is Max and he is 9 weeks old. The kids are very excited and happy to have him here. As for Lola, she is extremely excited too. She wants to play with him even though he isn't quite ready for Lola play yet. He's quite curious and exploratory for his first day home. He's going to make a lovely addition to our now complete family!

The Happy Village

2007-12-05T19:49:00.001-05:00

Like every other female at Christmas time I too have a village. I have a toy shop, church, house, another toy shop and a couple other buildings. Of course no village is complete without the trees, carolers, ice pond, etc. Pretty basic. Starting last year, we put the nativity scene right in the middle of the village. It doesn't really belong there, I know. But the girls LOVE to play with it all. Normally this would be the type of situation that I would explain to the girls is 'Mommy's stuff that needs to be respected and not played with'. But they enjoy it so much and they're actually very careful with it. And honestly, I get way more enjoyment out of it by watching them enjoy it so much rather than just seeing it sit there so nice and neat. Plus~ let's be honest~ I'm pretty sure most of my stuff has been purchased at the Dollar General or Dollar Tree. We're not talking about fine collector item pieces here.

The kids and I put up our Christmas tree last week and we pulled out all the village stuff. By the time we got around to the village Levi was napping so it worked out nice. The girls set everything up exactly as they wanted and even honored Mommy's one request to put the manger in the middle. Levi got up from his nap while I was making dinner and he was playing nicely with the girls. Sierra was in the dining room with the little ones and I could hear them all so I felt okay to hurry along with dinner. Later, after all the craziness of dinner production time, I noticed that the village seemed strange from a distance. As I got closer I gasped in horror as I realized that the village had been hit by a tornado! A tornado named Levi! It was a complete wreck~ there was a dump truck right in the middle of town (I'm not sure if it was there for destruction or rebuild, but it was there none the less), a Christmas tree was on the manger roof, the angels had fallen from grace and were face down in the destruction -except for one that was placed neatly in the manger and has been left there just for Levi- Joseph was trying to get into the toystore, Mary was on the ice pond, Wise Men face down in the sleigh, and Baby Jesus was nowhere to be found. AMBER ALERT: BABY JESUS IS MISSING! I put everyone on the case. Sierra recovered Baby Jesus rather quickly but it was still quite the scare. I also found a camera on the scene, probably dropped by the insurance agent.

It's nice to see Levi enjoy the village as much as the girls but he's not as gentle as the girls. Maybe he thinks the Wise Men are 'action figures'. They sure have been flying around like super heroes lately. I had to get my carolers out of the garbage a few days ago. I'm very concerned for the village this year. Maybe I should just start collecting a 'mommy only set'. At least it's a happy village.