Fun with Friends!

Tonight the girls got to have a little fun with some of their friends.  Kate and Brian went to the OLE Family Night at the Twins game with some neighborhood friends. It was a chilly night but that didn’t stop them from having a blast! When Kate got home she was all smiles and laughing like crazy.

Anners, James and I stayed home and had some fun too! One of Annie’s friends got to come over for dinner and a quick play date. When they weren’t eating…they were dancing! The two of them will be in Mrs. Reed’s class together next year!

What a fun way to end a long week of school and work!

Who says we can’t jump off the furniture?

Normally we have a rule in the house about no running or jumping on the furniture.  We threw this rule out the window for about 30 minutes the other day when the girls decided to gather almost every pillow in the house and put them on the family room floor.  It was just too hard to resist not jumping into the pillow pit from the couch!

Even James got into the action and had a blast trying to walk on the pillows and of course had to take a few jumps from his chair.

Sometimes you just gotta break the rules!

Star Patient

Yesterday Katelin had her third surgery at Methodist Hospital performed by Dr. Browning. She had her adenoids removed in addition to one lone ear tube that was stuck in her ear canal. She was so brave and never shed a tear! The nurses there are all so polite and treat the little ones so well. She quickly asked if she had to have a shot and once she received a “No!” she got all smiley and chatty!  Needless to say any worries she had were gone.  She is just like her Momma and wanted to see all the tools Dr. Browning was going to use so she knew what to expect!

This picture was taken right after the shot question.  Notice monkey is with (of course!) and she picked out a small little monkey blanket in the gift shop before her procedure. We had to laugh at her a little once her “Tylenol cocktail” kicked in.  She got a little woozy, sleepy and wasn’t making a lot of sense.

Check out the heater tube attached to her hospital gown.  It blows warm air into her gown! How cool!

Playing Battleship while we wait.  Kate won!

The procedure only lasted about an hour and then she was in recovery for about 45 minutes. She was a little sad when they wheeled her in to see us which is common when little ones wake up from anesthesia. It only lasted a few minutes and was much happier once they took off her oxygen tester and blood pressure cuff. By the time we left she was all smiles and thought she was pretty cool being wheeled out in a wheel chair.

We thought she looked a little like E.T. here!

Literally within a few hours of being home you wouldn’t of known she had surgery that morning (except for her hoarse voice!).  She quickly consumed a can of soup, 7 pickles, a popsicle, a push-up, two cookies, Cheez-its, a pear, and ice-cream!  Oh and of course she requested McDonald’s for dinner too!  She said she was STARVING because of course she didn’t get to have any breakfast before her surgery.

Relaxing in her blanket-covered chair with a bowl of pickles and watching shows on Netflix.  What a way to recover!

I really enjoyed getting to spend two days with my little peenie-poo.  I couldn’t have asked for a better little patient. I hope this surgery helps her sinuses, snoring, and fluid in her ears so she gets better rest and is more comfortable all around. Great job Kate!

Happy Easter

This post is a little late but I hope everyone had a Happy Easter. Our household was full of sickies so unfortunately we were not able to enjoy Easter festivities as we normally would.  We did not attend church and had to cancel plans for Easter dinner with my family.  Since Brian and I were the sick ones, we decided it would be better for the girls to go to my Mom’s to still enjoy the egg hunt and a delicious lunch.  They of course had a BLAST and Brian and I took turns sleeping literally ALL day!  It was much needed.  We are still not 100% but on the mend.  At least we were able to color eggs on Saturday night and I still prepared all the baskets and hid the eggs for Easter morning.  The girls are getting picky with their candy though so unfortunately the bunny did not get the right stuff!

We survived!

I am happy to report that Brian had a successful trip to China, a safe return home on Saturday and…I survived 9 days with three little ones and just me!  We kept busy though and the girls did have some fun outings with relatives.  It was Kate’s spring break so she had time off of school too.  Some of the fun things we did during the week included: Children’s museum and Circus with Grandpa David and Grandma Nancy (plus a sleepover!), sleepover and day with Grandma Sharon, all day play date with friends, MOA trip for rides and shopping with me, dinner and playtime at my sister's house, and an Easter Egg hunt with neighbor friends.  Wow…no wonder the time flew by!

I managed to clean the house fairly thoroughly, did a little shopping, saw a movie, went to dinner with my sister, got groceries, made Easter cookies, played the Easter Bunny by shopping for goodies and got some sleep when I could!

We didn’t get to talk to Brian that often but we did send emails back and forth detailing our daily activities and included photos of fun times. Brian also sent us pics of some of his experiences abroad. Below are some of the pics we shared with each other.

The kids wishing Daddy Good Luck!

Katelin Spelling “Love” with her body!

Busy Bus Station in China

View of Hong Kong

Dinner time…Roasted Dove!

Oh and of course we had a Welcome Home surprise planned.  Kate decided we needed to make a big sign, Annie wanted to get him a Dairy Queen ice cream cake (she settled for a Welcome Home DQ cake with candles), and of course balloons were necessary too!  The day Brian got back Katelin asked me about every 30 minutes how much longer until the airport.  As we were getting his surprise ready she said, “Mom, I am just soooo excited! This is the best day of my life!” She was so proud of what she planned for Brian and couldn’t wait to see him. I was so proud of the kids too.  They really were very well behaved the entire time Brian was gone which made things much easier for me! 

The girls’ signs “Welcome Home Daddy!”

Trying to get a pic of all kids and Dad. James is not happy and pulling on Annie’s shirt thus making Annie not happy!

The girls modeling their new silky PJs and Chinese Skittles!

Annual Egg Hunt

Today was the annual neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt.  Brian was not able to make it so it was just me and the three kiddos.  It was a beautiful night and the kids had a blast. It is so fun to watch them have a great time with their friends. It was also James’ first time being able to attend the festivities as a participant (last year he was still in the Baby Bjorn!). He was a riot and at first not sure what to do.  But he did manage to pick up two eggs and some of the kids were so sweet to put an egg in his bucket too.  I loved watching him sit down at the table with the kids, open his eggs and say “WOOOOOWWWW!”.  It was so cute!

A deer in headlights! What are these kids doing!!!

Oh, now I get it!

After all the eggs were found!

Checking out all the goodies!

We contributed to the pot luck by bringing some egg and bunny sugar cookies.  Annie loved helping me decorate the cookies and even though we had a BIG mess to clean up it was a lot of fun to do together.

Looking forward to the egg hunt at Grandma Sharon’s house this weekend too!

Cheese

James is growing so fast right before my eyes.  My little baby is a full fledge toddler and he amazes me every day with how smart he is, how funny he is and yes…how naughty he can be (he must take after Brian with that last trait)! I thought I would share some of his recent new words and things he does that make us laugh.

• New words: Annie, Kate, apple, dirty, side (for outside), and ice cream
• Screams “MINE” at the top of his lungs when he wants something that he believes is his (includes phones, remotes, girls’ toys, food, and on and on and on!)
• Listens to directions.  He is a really good boy when you ask him to help clean up, he actually helps put everything away!  He also loves to put his shoes in his cubby in the mudroom.
• Squeals with excitement when you ask if he wants to go outside.  He runs to get his jacket and shoes on yelling “SIDE”! (Needless to say getting him inside is not a fun chore!)
• Loves putting on anyone’s shoes and doing a little Charlie Chaplin walk…Annie did this a ton when she was little too!
• Climbs onto and runs across the couches – have to thank my Mom’s boyfriend Scott for teaching him that one.
• Waves his hand in the air if you ask if he is stinky.  He is imitating me when I wave it front of my nose and say “Ooooh, stinky James!”
• Says “Cheese” and actually smiles for the camera (on a good day!)

First time James said “Cheese” for the camera!

Wearing Daddy’s shoes!

Cool Dude! Check out my little spiky hair too!

Mmmm….realizing his love for ice cream (like Mom). He had 2 cups!

Found his chance to hop onto the computer while the girls were gone. Check out the headphones too!

Grandparents Rock!

Wow, what an amazing weekend all of the kids had and I must say I benefited too!  The girls spent the weekend with Grandma Nancy and Grandpa David.  On Saturday they spent the day at the Children’s Museum and had a BLAST!  I had to laugh when my dad told me that when they went into the gift shop and told the girls they could pick out one thing Annie picked out…candy (typical Annie)!  At least it was cheap!

Today they took them to the circus.  What fun they both had!  Kate rode a pony and an elephant.  Annie was terrified of the clowns (I should have known considering her fear of all the Disney characters and recently the Easter Bunny).  I loved hearing the laughter and joy in their voices when they told me stories about their day.  Kate couldn’t stop laughing about the elephants pooping and the two of the tigers daydreaming.  Annie loved to tell me about the lady that shot out of the cannon…boom! My dad said both of the girls had their ears covered for about thirty minutes before the cannon went off!  Needless to say when they got home they were clearly exhausted and a little cranky.  Still…I was happy to have them home!

James got to have some fun too this weekend.  He spent the weekend with Grandma Sharon and Scott. Grandma told me he had A+ behavior all weekend! He had a great time going downtown Wayzata and visiting the ducks, seeing the trains, throwing rocks into the lake, and going to Ben & Jerry’s for ice cream!

He also got to go on a lawn mower ride, visit the fire station, ate lots of great food and took a bath in the kitchen sink!  So much fun for the little man.

As I mentioned above I got to have a little me time too!  I spent Saturday shopping and then had dinner and saw a movie with my sister. Then today wasn’t so much fun as I spent the entire day cleaning the house but I wouldn’t have made nearly as much progress if those little stinkers would have been home.  Thanks so much Mom, Scott, Dad and Nancy for helping me out and treating the kids to such a fun time.  I know they cherish the time they get to spend with you! We all love you!  xoxox