Friday, December 31, 2010

Last Day

I can't believe that this is the last day of 2010!

The year went by way too fast. I hope that everyone stays safe tonight while bringing in the new year. We have Andy's family in town so we are planning on hanging out here - eating lots of good food, celebrating Andy's brother's birthday, and playing games while waiting on the ball to drop. The girls can't wait to stay up until midnight! :) Maybe they will actually sleep in tomorrow...that would be a great way for me to start the year!

A lot of firsts have happened this year and it will be exciting to see what next year brings! Have a Happy New Year!!

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Random Christmas Events

We have been involved in several Christmas activities during the past couple of weeks.

1) Emily and Eliana went rollerskating for a friend's birthday party. It was the first time they had ever been on skates. I also skated and it was a lot of fun! Emily had a hard time with it and kept falling down, but Eliana was really getting the hang of it by the time the party was over. They have these walkers made from PVC pipe and wheels to help kids skate. We just had to fall down and try again when we were kids!



2) Eliana and I participated in the local parade with the Girl Scouts.



3) Emily, Eliana, and I went caroling at a local nursing home with the Girl Scouts.

4) Emily had a Christmas concert at Barnes and Noble a couple of weeks ago. They sang a variety of Christmas songs.



5) Eliana went to a tea party for a friend's birthday. They dressed up, made Christmas ornaments, played games, and had tea. Snow White even showed up to play!



6) All of the girls have been counting down the days until Christmas. They are excited about the Christmas Eve service at church because they will get to light candles to hold during the last song.

It has been an exciting month and we are looking forward to what the new year will bring.

Friday, December 17, 2010

Happy 6th Birthday!

Today, Eliana is turning 6 years old! She is growing up so fast! She has a sparkling smile and an infectious laugh. She loves to give us hugs and kisses. She plays with Sarah every afternoon after school. She has a dramatic flair and knows what she wants. She loves reading and gymnastics. She has a beautiful singing voice. She is a wonderful person and we are thankful that she is in our family!

She has been telling us that this is the best day ever! She had a Christmas brunch this morning at school. We went to McDonalds for lunch. Tonight, we are celebrating tonight with chili fries, strawberry cake with strawberry icing, and strawberry ice cream. :)

Here's a picture of her from this afternoon wearing her new dress:

Monday, December 13, 2010

Gymnastics Routine

Eliana was practicing her gymnastics routine for the balance beam so I decided to film it:

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Christmas Tree Finished

As previously mentioned, we shopped for a Christmas tree on Saturday. We told the girls that we were doing option #3 and they begged for us to do option #1. We told them that we did not want to hear any whining or complaining about the rain, mud or cold. They promised so they grabbed umbrellas and we started off. It wasn't raining when we got there, but we had to sit on wet hay:



As soon as the hay ride stopped in the field, I saw a couple of trees that looked good to me. Andy wanted to keep looking for a slightly taller one. We walked on back in the field and it started pouring rain. At that point, we decided that the first two that we had seen would work great and we went back to pick one:



It actually wasn't really cold out there so that was nice because I didn't really worry about us all getting sick. We got home and left the tree in the garage to dry out a little bit. After baths and showers, we ate some soup and hot chocolate before starting the decorating. Here is the finished product:



We still have to do some more decorating around the house and outside, but it is a start.

Saturday, December 11, 2010

No Christmas Decorations...Yet.

It is now two weeks until Christmas and our house still has Thanksgiving decorations up! We were supposed to go pick out a tree today at the Merry Christmas Tree Farm and then spend the day decorating the house and tree. Well, we woke up this morning to pouring rain...and it's supposed to rain all day. Now we are trying to decide our options:

1) We should just go when there is a small break in the weather, walk around in the muddy field, and bring home a Christmas tree that is wet.
2) Wait until another day to get a tree with the selection getting more sparse and Christmas Day getting closer. The next day we would be able to go would be a week from today.
3) Go to Home Depot or Lowes today and pick out one of their precut trees.

We are leaning toward option 3, although I hate missing out on the experience of cutting down a tree. I do think the girls would be less likely to complain though. It wouldn't be enjoyable trying to pick out a tree while listening to complaints of being wet, cold, and muddy. Now that I think about it, option 3 is looking better all the time! I guess I need to get everyone ready to head out for some tree hunting at the store. I'll post pics of our finished tree later.

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Happy 2nd Birthday!!

Sarah is turning 2 today! The years have gone by way too fast. We are having tacos for supper and chocolate cake for dessert tonight. We are also taking down her crib and getting her twin bed ready with a Dora surprise. :)

First Day Home:


1 Month Old:


6 Months Old:


1 Year Old:


Today while watching one of her favorite shows, Dora:

Thursday, November 25, 2010

A Thanksgiving Story

Andy and I woke up this morning to this story:

CRAZY TURKEYS, by Emily

Once when I went to school in the morning, everyone there was a turkey! Even Olivia! I stayed calm, but hurried into my classroom. When I walked in, I was stunned. Mrs. N, Mrs. W, and all of the chairs had turned into turkeys also! The classroom turned into a forest. I was nervous and scared. So I ran out of the school and all the way home as fast as I could. I told my mom. She said it was just my imagination and sent me back to school. Mom was right. It had been my imagination. I was so glad to have Mrs. N back.

Happy Thanksgiving, Everyone!! I hope you all have a relaxing day with lots of food, parades, and football!

P.S. Happy Birthday, Dad!! We love you!!

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Back to the Doctor

Eliana had a stomachache on Monday afternoon when I picked her up from school and all day the next day. I went through the list of possibilties of what it could be, but since she didn't have a fever I sent her to school. Well, she got a low grade fever on Tuesday night. Yesterday morning, she still had a low grade fever along with her stomachache and a slight cough so I kept her home. I wasn't sure if it was a 24-hour stomach bug or strep throat because she told me her throat wasn't hurting. I decided to take her to the doctor just in case as the flu and strep have been going around her class. Once I told her about it, she claimed that she was perfectly fine with no aches whatsoever. I'm glad I took her in though. Her lymph nodes were swollen and she was diagnosed with strep. She was most scared about getting her finger pricked for a blood culture, but the machine happened to be broken yesterday. She wasn't scared so much after that. She is home again today since she has to be fever free and on antibiotics for 24 hours before going back to school.

The most interesting thing about her appointment is that she is now 43 1/2 pounds in weight and 43 1/2 inches tall! I thought that was funny considering that at her well check appointment this past March, she was 41 1/4 pounds and 41 1/4 inches tall! I had gotten the impression from the nurse last time that having the same numbers for weight and height weren't very common. Andy said he hoped it didn't continue because then she would be tall and too skinny! :)

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

First Science Experiment

Emily learned how to make a volcano at school last week. Each student got to build their own. Today they tested them all out. Emily was excited to show us how it worked as soon as we got home. Eliana and Sarah were watching closely. With a little bit of vinegar, baking soda, and food coloring, she made the volcano explode and the younger girls thought that was really cool!

Saturday, November 13, 2010

First Sleepover

Eliana went to her first sleepover last night. She had been excited about this event for at least a month. Her best friend who lives in our neighborhood was having a birthday soon and so this sleepover was part of the celebration. She got all packed and ready to go:



She came home telling me all about the evening. They made their own pizzas. They made one of the pizzas for her friend's dad and had finished off all of the ingredients into a massive pizza. She thought that was hilarious! They also baked cookies and made milkshakes. They watched a couple of movies. I'm not sure what time they went to bed, but I walked into the office and found her:



She had a really great time!

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Christmas Lesson

Sarah was wondering about Christmas last night...

Me (singing): Happy Birthday, Jesus! I'm so glad it's Christmas!

Sarah: Christmas?

Me: Yeah, Christmas! Do you know what Christmas is? It's when we celebrate Jesus' birthday!

Sarah (throws both hands up in the air and shouts): WooHoo!!

Sarah (stops, thinks for a second, then says): Jesus loves me.

I totally agreed.

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Cheating Already?

The girls got ready early this morning so we were looking over Emily's tests from last week while we waited. Emily told me that the girl next to her got in trouble for copying her vocabulary test answers.

I asked, "How did the teacher know she had cheated?"

Emily writes personal notes to the teacher on some of her tests when she isn't sure about an answer. On this particular test, she had written that even though she had circled one of the words (which ended up being the correct word), she thought the answer could have been this other word because both worked (although the one she chose was the best fit).

The girl had not only copied Emily's answers, but she had also copied all of Emily's personal notes to the teacher. Keep in mind that this is only second grade! I didn't realize that kids were concerned enough about their grades at this point to start cheating. I guess it's good that it happened now rather than later so that maybe the girl learned her lesson early? Or maybe she just learned to not copy everything on the page next time....

I am concerned about Emily cheating on things as she gets older. She is such a perfectionist and hates getting wrong answers. I'll bring this up tonight at supper and see if the girl got a 0 on the test or something. Maybe Emily will figure out that it's better to get a wrong answer instead of getting caught for cheating. I can only hope and pray...

Friday, October 29, 2010

2010 Costumes

The girls had their fall parties today at school and I thought I would post pictures of their costumes this year.

Emily is a cowgirl:



Eliana is a champion gymnast:



Sarah is a doctor:

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

A Counting Hobby

I have noticed recently that Sarah loves counting. I hear her counting all the time. I'm not sure if she really understands what counting is. Occasionally, I will see her counting out things, like rocks outside, but for the most part, she just starts saying the numbers at random times with no indication that she is actually counting out objects. So I think it's probably more likely that she has just memorized the numbers and likes saying them. She still hasn't gotten all of the sounds of the numbers, but we can tell what she is trying to say. She usually only counts up to 12 and then starts over again or repeats 11 and 12 over and over. I think she is off to a great start though and got this video:

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Proud Moments

Sarah was so proud of herself for doing these activities on her own yesterday...

Climbing:


and Sliding:


Of course, I was there for the climbing one just to make sure I was able to catch her if she fell, but I kept getting too close and she kept trying to push me away with her hand. I did have to help her get down from the climbing one since she got stuck once she got up there.

Friday, October 22, 2010

First Dentist Appointment

Today was my first dentist appointment...yep, that's right MY first dentist appointment. I am 31 years old and have never been to the dentist. I had braces from 8th grade to 10th grade, but since that was an orthodontist, I don't really count that as actually going to the dentist.

I went today because my wisdom teeth are trying to come in and are causing some problems. The good news is that I don't have any cavities!! The bad news is that I have to get all four wisdom teeth taken out...even the one that hasn't come in yet.

I have heard lots of bad stories about the surgery that is involved with getting the wisdom teeth taken out and the amount of pain you are in afterwards. I am getting scared. My worst fear at the moment is that I won't wake up after they put me to sleep for the surgery. I have also been told that I will have to take off at least 3 days of work because I will probably spend at least the first 2 days in bed.

I am calling the surgeon on Monday to set up a consultation. I need to get them out before Thanksgiving so that I can enjoy my Thanksgiving dinner!

Monday, October 18, 2010

Muffins With Mom

This morning, I got to go to Eliana's school for Muffins With Mom. We got to eat blueberry and chocolate chip muffins. The class performed a song and the teacher read, "If You Give a Moose a Muffin".

Each kid in the class had filled out a questionaire about their mom. Eliana got everything right on except for my weight. I told her that the answer she gave at 120 pounds was the amount that I was supposed to weigh. :)

She even knew my favorite food (quiche), favorite color (purple), and favorite song (well one of my favorites, The Christmas Shoes). I didn't know that she knew that much about me! A lot of the other kids were cracking us up with their answers. One girl said her mother was 200 years old and weighed 42 pounds! :)

She also drew a great picture of me on the back. I was really proud of her!

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Marvin Update

This morning started out the same as yesterday. He just laid there and looked at me while I tried to get him to go outside. Usually if I mention the word "outside", he will run over to the door. Finally, around 9:30 a.m., he got up and went out. He then stayed over by the fence all day. I called the vet and made an appointment for this afternoon.

Andy got home and Marvin was still lying by the fence, but Andy was able to get him to walk over to him even though he was still cautious. Since that happened, we decided to wait and see what would happen today. If he was still acting strange tomorrow morning, we'd take him in.

I am happy to report that Marvin started getting much better around 6:00 or so. He came in and gobbled up his food. Last night, he had eaten all of his food, but very slowly. When Andy asked him if he wanted to go outside, he ran over to the door. I just heard him barking out there. I haven't heard him bark since Tuesday evening.

We are thinking that maybe he just had a 24-hour stomach bug or something? We are just really thankful that he seems to be back to his old self for now. We hope he will be around for a while longer. Thank you to everyone for your prayers!

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Worried About Marvin

I've been wondering all day if our dog, Marvin, is dying. He is almost 10 years old. I let him out before I went to the bank this morning and he didn't want to come back in before I left. So I figured I wouldn't be gone very long and left him outside to enjoy the outdoors. It was fairly cool this morning.

Once I got home, I tried to bring him in, but he hasn't wanted to come inside all day which is very odd for him. He will lay right by the door, but when I open the door to let him in, he gets up and walks back over to the fence and lies down. If I try to approach him, he won't make eye contact and moves away. I haven't heard him barking out there all day.

Right now, he is sitting in the shade of the fence corner on the side of the house where we can't see him. I left his water out for him and I'm not sure if he's gotten any. The girls brought the bowl over to him. He wouldn't drink, but he did eat a dog treat from Eliana. Emily tried to give him his favorite ball and he just turned his head toward the fence and wouldn't look at her.

I'm hoping that he will want to come inside to eat supper once it gets dark out there. Maybe it's just such a nice day that he wants to enjoy the fresh air? I'm not sure what to do otherwise besides wait, hope, and pray.

Saturday, October 2, 2010

Fall Fun

Since we have lived here, we have made a few traditions. One of those traditions is attending our city's Fall Festival. It is small, but we always have a good time. The girls look forward to going and spending their own $5 on the various activities and crafts. We usually look at all of the booths first and then the girls decide what to spend their money on.

-- We all did the Cake Walk this year. Normally, it is just Andy and Emily (who won the first year we went). Today, we decided to increase our odds of winning by all being in the circle. Eliana got picked to draw the number out of the bucket. Andy was on the winning number when the music stopped, but decided to move to the number next to it. So Eliana drew another number that wasn't any of ours.

-- Emily and Eliana used their own money to get their faces painted.



-- Eliana decided to spend the rest of her money on making her own sand bottle even though she already has two other ones at home from past festivals.

-- Emily used the rest of her money to buy a mini horse calendar, play a round of miniature golf (which she got a ball into the hole), and buy a snow cone.

-- Eliana pouted the rest of the time because she wanted to buy a snow cone, but couldn't because she had spent the rest of her money already on the sand bottle.

-- Sarah just had fun being outside.



-- I had the worst burger I have ever had in my life. It didn't taste like beef at all. Andy had some pretty good bbq nachos.

-- We met up with some friends and let the girls play on the playground for a while. We went on a hike through the woods near the playground.

By the time we got home, we were so worn out that we all took naps. It was a great day!

Friday, October 1, 2010

Hide and Seek

Sarah has learned a new skill. Opening doors. This has turned out to be a nightmare. It used to be so simple. I would close all of the doors of the rooms that I didn't want her to get into. When I went looking for her, I knew that she could only be in a couple of places...the rooms that had open doors.

Now I find myself playing a game of hide and seek a couple of times a day. I can no longer exclude the doors that are closed. She just opens them, goes in, and then shuts them again. I've had a couple of panic attacks while trying to find her. Racing to each room, flinging the door open, looking around briefly, closing the door, and moving to the next room.

I am calling her name over and over and she never says anything, of course. There is a chance she might not hear me since the last couple of times I have found her upstairs in the girls' room. I think that she does hear me most of the time though and just thinks it is a game because she thinks it is hilarious when she sees me bursting into a room frantically. I'm going to have to resort to locking doors instead of just closing them.

Monday, September 27, 2010

Save The Whales

Emily watched a movie this past week during school about a whale who got under the Golden Gate Bridge and wedged into this area. Fortunately, the people were able to get the whale out and swimming back the other direction. She came home on Thursday, excitedly telling me this story.

Since then, she has decided to start a Save the Whales campaign. She made a bunch of posters to put up around the neighborhood with pictures of whales, the story of the whale in the movie, and "SAVE THE WHALES" in bold print. She says she is going to present this idea to her Brownie troop at the next meeting because Brownies are supposed to be helpers.

I told her that we don't live around whales so I wasn't sure how many people here would be interested in saving them. The movie, "Free Willy" came to mind when she was telling me her plans so we watched it this weekend. She loved it!

I'm hoping maybe I can use her love for animals to help some animals that are closer to home. I told her I would contact our local animal shelter about ways that she might be able to volunteer there. She was excited about that, but still has a heart for whales.

Sunday, September 26, 2010

Fun Fact

Courtesy of Beth Moore...

Most storybooks show Daniel as being a young man in the lion's den, but did you know that Daniel was actually 80 years old when he was thrown into the lion's den?

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Wishful Thinking

I was standing in line with Sarah today at the store with my purchase and a $20 bill. While trying to keep her busy, I asked her to hold the money for me while we waited for our turn.

She took it, looked at it, and then shoved it back into my hands saying, "No Money!"

It would be nice if she stayed in this not wanting money phase until she had her own job. :)

Monday, September 6, 2010

New Brownie

Emily had her Bridging Ceremony last week. She finished her term as a Daisy Girl Scout and began a new chapter as a Brownie Girl Scout.

Taking off her Daisy uniform:


Turning around on the bridge and seeing herself in the water:


Wearing her new Brownie uniform:

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

First Hair Style

Sarah's hair is FINALLY long enough to put it up in a tiny ponytail and clip a barrette into it! :)



She pulled it out a little while later and her hair stuck straight up until I could wet it down with water. Now she is always asking me to fix her hair and she stands still while I get it done.

Monday, August 30, 2010

Great Compliment

Andy and I went to have lunch duty for Eliana's class last Friday. There was another mom there eating lunch with her child. I'll call her Susie. We told her we were Eliana's parents.

Mom -- What? You're Eliana's parents?
Us -- Yes.
Mom -- Oh, I have got to tell y'all this. My daughter just loves Eliana. When I pick her up from school, I always ask her, "Susie, how was your day?" She always tells me, "Mom, I told you. When I'm at school, my name is Susie, but when I'm at home, my name is Eliana." She will not answer to anything, but the name Eliana at home.

What a great compliment! We were so glad to see that Eliana had a friend in her class. :)

Sunday, August 29, 2010

Joseph: From the Pit to the Palace

Emily performed in a musical today at church. It was a STOMP musical about Joseph. She got to play some instruments and be part of a dance team for one of the songs. The whole cast did a phenomenal job! It was very entertaining and I was impressed by the quality of the performance! I'm so thankful that Emily is able to participate in these events with all of her friends.

Here's Emily with her dance partners:



and singing, "It's Not About Me"

Saturday, August 28, 2010

Jump Rope Training

Sarah was trying to jump rope with Emily today. :)

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Mischief Maker

I thought Sarah was watching her beloved Dora show all nice and quiet on the couch while I finished typing my reports for the day. I decided to peek in on her when I was between reports. I found her in my bathroom. She had gotten my lipstick off of the counter and had it smeared all over the floor, her face, and her hands. She was not happy whenever I took the tube from her and got to work cleaning up the mess.

Thursday, August 5, 2010

First Day of School

Today is the first day back to school. We have had a busy last couple of days with Parent Night and Meet the Teacher day. Eliana is starting kindergarten this year and she was super excited this morning. She knows several kids in her class who are the siblings of Emily's kindergarten classmates. It was nice to not have to remind her to get ready to go. There was no whining or complaining as I asked her to go brush her teeth, get her shoes, etc. The whole family walked her to the classroom. She didn't start crying until we got to the front door of her school. She said her shoes were already hurting her feet. By the time we got to her classroom though, she was doing better and didn't have any problems with walking right in and joining the group.

Emily was nervous this morning as she starts 2nd grade. She doesn't know anyone in her class. She still hasn't found anyone she knows with the same lunch or recess. I'm anxious to hear about how her day went. I hope she has fun today and tries to make friends.

Since we got home from taking them to school, Sarah has been following me around. She wanted me to sit with her on the couch and read her a pile of books. We went outside so I could water the tomato plant, but it was so hot we had to come back in after 15 minutes. While I was putting away clothes, she got up to the kitchen table and spilled Emily and Eliana's milks from breakfast all over the table, the floor, and herself. I'm looking forward to nap time.

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Random Tuesday

We are home again from our trip to Dallas and Hawaii. I will have to try to post some of my favorite pictures. We had a wonderful time there without any kids. Thank you to my sister and mom for watching the girls for us!! They said they had a great time and Emily said it was the best summer vacation ever! :) Sarah was having so much fun she didn't even miss us so I was glad about that!

We found out who Emily has for her teacher this year. School starts NEXT WEEK. The summer just flew by. We looked online at the teacher's website and she seems like a really good teacher. Emily is so nervous. For the first time since she started going to school, she won't have lunch or recess with her best friend.

I signed Eliana up for another session of gymnastics today. The lesson will be once a week right after school. I figure that way Emily can do her homework while we wait on Eliana. Then, Eliana will be able to concentrate on homework when we get home since she let out all of her energy in the class right before.

I finally got all of the school supplies for both girls. I bought the last few things this morning. It's crazy how you have to have specific items...must be Fiskar scissors, Must be 8 oz or larger of hand sanitizer. Emily needs 60 pencils for some reason. That's almost two pencils a week.

I still need to get shoes for all of the girls and a hair cut for Eliana before school starts. I also need to complete my training for being a Girl Scout leader. I just have one more class to take.

I have lists for everything so that I will hopefully get it all done before next week in addition to getting this place cleaned up. I am ready to tackle it! :) I hope everyone else is enjoying the last few weeks of summer!

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Talking More?

I told Emily I was going to lay down on the couch for a couple of minutes to rest since I was tired and still had a lot to do tonight. She comes over, lays down beside me, and starts this dialogue as I try to follow with my eyes closed...

"Wow...it is so peaceful and quiet right now. Don't you think it's peaceful and quiet? It's so nice to be able to lay down here and not be bothered...hey, Sarah, quit climbing on me! Owww, you are pulling my hair! You are about to get down onto Marvin! Marvin, don't lay down right there! How old is Marvin? Is that in human years or dog years? What about in dog years? How old is Sarah in dog years? Did you hear that, Eliana? Wow...So 9 x 7 must be 63, huh? I read in a book one time about a man who had a dog. He said the dog was 10 in human years and 70 in dog years. I saw a show today about a talking dog. The dog couldn't speak until she ate some alphabet soup one day. She started talking and her family took her to the doctor. The doctor said that the alphabet letters must have gone up to her brain instead of into her stomach so she was able to start talking. I'll bet if I ate alphabet soup, I would be able to talk more!!"

I had to ask her to repeat the dog story because I had zoned back in just in time for the "I would be able to talk more!" line. I told her that I wasn't sure she had that problem... :)

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Random Tuesday -- Happenings and Upcoming Trip

-- Eliana had her last gymnastics class for the summer this morning. She has learned a lot since the first class and practices every day on her cartwheels, handstands, and summersaults. She has asked to continue it this fall which is a first for her. She usually wants to quit after the first session so she must really enjoy it!

-- Emily is going to be in a musical at church called, "Joseph - From the Pit to the Palace, A STOMP musical". She brought home the CD and book last week. Every night as they are going to bed, she and Eliana will listen to it. I also hear it on upstairs when they are supposed to be cleaning their room. The performance isn't until the end of August so she has plenty of time to practice. She will miss the next three practices though because we will be gone next week.

-- Speaking of being gone next week, we are going to Dallas this Friday. The girls are going to spend the week at my sister's house while Andy and I go to Hawaii to celebrate our 10 year anniversary! I am praying that things will go well while we are gone. I hope my sister will still talk to me by the time we get back. She will be dealing with my 3 girls along with her 2 1/2 year old and 13 month old AND she is due with her third girl in October!! She is definitely a hero in my book!! Thankfully, she will also have my mom to help her out while we are gone. They have some really fun activities planned so I'm hoping the girls won't miss us too much while we are gone, especially Sarah.

-- I am really nervous about flying over the ocean. I have a fear of crashing into water, any water, no matter what form of travel. When we drive over bridges, I roll down my window so that if the bridge collapses, we will be able to get out of the car without having to wait for the pressure to equalize. I also keep one hand on my seatbelt latch. I want to be able to quickly unlatch my seatbelt as we are going into the water to make sure it doesn't get stuck somehow under water. To me, the ocean means sharks. Being in the frigid ocean water after a plane crash doesn't scare me. I picture sharks swimming around me and I freak out. I'm hoping that I won't even realize we are flying over the ocean until we have already flown over.

-- In preparation for our trip, Andy has suggested that I dye my hair blond. While I would LOVE to get rid of my gray hair that keeps popping up, I keep trying to tell him that I would NOT look good as a blond! My features are too dark and I would have to dye my eyebrows to match. The salon would have to bleach my hair and then dye it blond in order for it not to look orange. Then there is the issue of my old color growing in since I wouldn't be able to keep up with getting it dyed all the time. Black roots do not look good on blond hair. He thought if I wouldn't go all out blond, maybe I would do a lighter color, but he didn't have any idea as to what color. I'm thinking I will just get some kind of highlights done, but I'm not sure about what color either. Maybe I'll wait and see what the stylist suggests...if I can find a stylist before it's too late. I called a couple of places yesterday and left a message, but I haven't heard anything back yet.

-- We sold our old Montana van FINALLY -- not that we actually did any real advertising or anything...I was just getting tired of having to move it in and out of our driveway to the street and back. Our city ordinance says you can't park a vehicle on the street for longer than 48 hours. Our neighbor down the street is going to buy it from us. It will be a relief to have it gone.

-- Emily had a birthday party at Build-A-Bear last Friday. While she was gone, Eliana and I had a mother/daughter date at the outdoor mall there. I don't remember the last time I went anywhere with Eliana alone and we both had fun. We went out to eat at a cheeseburger joint, read books at Barnes and Noble, played with kittens at the Animal Shelter, and finished up with an ice cream cone from Ben & Jerry's.

Sunday, July 11, 2010

Sarah Update #2

Thankfully, Sarah is MUCH better today. The rash had started to look faded yesterday. Andy stayed home from church to be with her today because she was still asleep and we weren't sure how the rash would look today. Apparently, she was really tired because Andy said she slept until 10:00!

I got home with Emily and Eliana around 10:45 and took a look at her. It looks like it is completely gone, although I keep wondering if I can see traces of it when the light shines right, but I think that's because I've been seeing her with it for a week now. I'm thinking she is over it and I plan on taking her to the gym in the morning.

I was talking to a friend at church who said her daughter had the exact same thing when she was 2 years old. She broke out in a rash all over, had swelling, and the rash faded to a bruised look. She said it lasted about a week, just like Sarah's seems to have lasted. It was nice to hear that someone else had heard of a reaction like this.

I'm just glad she seems to be over it and we can move on without having to worry every day. Thank you to everyone for your thoughts and prayers! They were very much appreciated!

Password Ideas

Andy and I were in our room when Eliana walked in...

Eliana -- Dad, Emily and I tried to figure out the password on your computer.

Andy -- Yeah, I noticed that it had been messed with...what words did you try?

Eliana -- Well, we tried "Andy" and that didn't work. So then we tried "computer" and that didn't work. So then we tried "3 girls, 1 dog, and 1 crazy wife".

Andy starts laughing hysterically while I glare at them both...

Friday, July 9, 2010

Sarah Update

Last night, we noticed that Sarah's feet, legs, hands, and arms seemed kind of swollen and puffy. I called the after hours number at the doctor's office because we weren't sure if we should be concerned or not. Maybe it was a side effect to the Benadryl?? A doctor called me back and said that it didn't sound normal to him so he made us an appointment for first thing this morning.

Andy took Sarah this morning. Her regular doctor said that some swelling was normal and as long as she acted like she was feeling ok, she was eating normally, and she wasn't running a high fever, then we should just monitor her. We should expect it to last at least three more days and possibly a week or more.

Andy brought up the blue fingers again and her doctor said that she didn't believe it was related to being cold, but we should keep an eye out for it again as she might have some circulatory problems.

So we are back to just waiting and watching...

Thursday, July 8, 2010

Poor Little Spotted Girl

This past Monday as we were eating supper, we noticed that Sarah had a rash all over her entire body. We freaked out at first thinking that it was a reaction to some insect bites that she had gotten on our trip. She didn't really seem to be bothered by it so we gave her some Benadryl and decided to see what it looked like in the morning. The next morning, the rash looked really bad and she was running 99.9 temperature. So I took her to the doctor only to be told that it was a rash caused by a virus. I was only told to give her Benadryl every 6 hours as needed.

The next morning, the rash had spread even further and looked absolutely terrible. Sarah was shivering and as she is eating her cereal at the table, her little hands are shaking. I took one of them and noticed that her fingers, from the upper joints to the tips, were blue tinged. I called Andy wondering if she was just really cold, but then I noticed that her hand and wrist looked blue also.

I called the doctor, threw some clothes on me and the girls, and raced back up to the office. On the way there, I'm crying thinking that she has caught Lyme disease or West Nile virus from Yellowstone bugs. Thankfully, the ruling still came back as being a viral rash. The doctor wasn't concerned about the insect bites at all. She said the blue on her fingertips was from her being cold. The doctor said this rash will cause the skin to look bruised when it's fading. So that's why her hand and wrist were blue. She said by the end of this, Sarah's entire body will look like one big bruise. I was cautiously relieved. I was relieved that it wasn't anything serious, but in the back of my mind, I'm praying they are right.

Sarah still has the rash today. It looks worse each morning and looks slightly better in the afternoon. She was scratching her arm so bad this morning, it started to bleed. I was told that it should be gone within a week. If it's not, then I'm supposed to call back up there. She doesn't really have any other symptoms at this point. Her fever never got above 99.9 and was normal today. She was acting clingy this morning and didn't eat much breakfast, but seems to be fine right now. She is supposed to be contagious until the rash goes away. I keep hoping she will wake up one morning and it will be completely gone.



As soon as the rash clears up, I will schedule her 18 month pictures, 18 month well check, and get a new picture and background for July on this blog. :)

Yellowstone National Park, Day 2

The last couple of days of our vacation flew by so I'm going to do some of my favorite highlights of the last day at Yellowstone and move on to the routine of our daily lives.

The most exciting thing we saw on that last day, Friday, was a grizzly bear and three baby bear cubs.



We were standing in the middle of the field watching bears in front of us, coyotes over to our right, and buffalo coming towards us from the left. I was trying to think of how we could get away, when the buffalo veered off and went away from us.

We also saw the famous Old Faithful Geyser:



I was expecting something a lot more dramatic...something with more noise...like a BOOM as the water comes shooting out of the ground. Instead, the water gradually shot up, went back down a little bit, shot up a little bit higher, went down a little bit, etc. until it got to its highest height. Then, it went down the same way it went up...very gradually. It made no loud noise, but a hissing sound from the steam that was pouring out with it. It was still neat to see, just not what I expected.

Yellowstone Lake was absolutely gorgeous. We wondered why no one was swimming in it, but found out later that the surface of the water stays at 60 degrees and the bottom can get around 40 degrees. Way too cold to go swimming!



My last favorite thing to see was the Yellowstone Grand Canyon:



We took this last picture as we were leaving the park:



It was a great trip with lots of beautiful things to see! It is another reason why I am very proud to be an American. Our country is so gorgeous! The girls did amazing on the trip as well. They didn't complain at all about all of the driving. They only asked one time if we were there yet. Even Sarah watched movies, slept, ate snacks, and played with her toys. We are already planning a trip to the beach next summer! :)

Saturday, July 3, 2010

Yellowstone National Park, Day 1

We got on the road early on Thursday morning with a lot of things to do on our agenda. We were headed to Yellowstone, but wanted to take a detour by the battlefield where Custer had his Last Stand. I wasn't sure what the girls would think about it. Wouldn't it just be a big field with a lot of history being thrown at them? The first thing we saw when we got there was a huge national cemetary with some tombstones going back to the late 1800's. They had fun reading all of the grave markers. Unfortunately, there were a lot of children buried there.



We decided to do the tour of the battlefield led by American Indians. We didn't realize until after we had already bought our tickets that the tour was in a van and took an hour long. The tour was extremely interesting to Andy and I as our tour guide went into detail about how the battle played out. There were markers set up for where certain men had died as the dead had just been left untouched after the battle was over. It was very hard for me to hear at times though because Sarah was not having a fun time. She was trying to climb all over the van. We hadn't brought the diaper bag because we hadn't planned on doing the tour so it was difficult to entertain her. I still learned a lot and as the tour guides were telling the story, it was like watching a dramatic presentation. They did an excellent job.



There was a fenced off area where Custer and some of his men had their last stand.



We entered Yellowstone by going through Bear Tooth Pass. It had just opened up on Memorial Day weekend. The road took us up into the mountains. We started out at the bottom amazed at how tall the mountains were. We ended up being at the same height as some of the mountains that we had marveled at at the bottom. We got up to almost 11,000 feet. It was GORGEOUS!



The girls got to play in some snow that was on top of one of the mountains. They were a little cold in their shorts and tank tops. :)



We stopped at some of the lookouts off of the road to take pictures.



The girls were excited to see chipmunks come right up to them.



Once we got into Yellowstone, a buffalo decided to cross the road in front of us.



We went to Mammoth Hot Springs for our last activity of the day. Our only mishap here was that Andy's hat blew off Emily's head and landed in the dirt outside the boardwalk. There are signs everywhere about staying on the boardwalk to avoid sinking into the ground. Andy used the stroller as a tool to hook his hat and get it back.





There was a sulphur smell in the air from the hot spring coming up from the ground.



As we headed to our hotel for the night, the animals were starting to come out a little more. We saw lots of buffalo. A coyote (or wolf?) came right up beside the car in front of us and grabbed a bungee cord that had been dropped. He must have thought it was a toy.



We also saw some mule deer grazing by a field close to the road.



We took so many more pictures. I can't possibly put them all up on this blog, but I will try to put a lot of them up on Picasa when I get the chance. I'll email out the link in case you want to take a look. We would be driving down the road and take pictures as we came across some beautiful scenary. I'll try to get my last post about our trip up sometime tomorrow...