Memorial Day Weekend (Weekly Check-In)

We spent the weekend in Indy with Kevin's family. His mom's 60th birthday is this week so we had a little surprise party for her. She knew we were coming over, but didn't know there would be a party when she got home from work. The kids loved surprising Linda! They were giddy and giggly while we waited for Linda to get home!!

Saturday morning - everyone headed to the parade for the Indy 500. Well, everyone except Daphne and me. Daphne didn't nap on the way to Indy on Friday and didn't sleep well Friday night so she needed to stay home and nap. And nap she did - she slept for almost 4 hours while the others were gone.

Sunday - all the girls headed to church while all the boys went to the race. We had Monical's Pizza for lunch - can't pass that up when it is an option. Shawna and I headed to Half Price Books while Linda played with all the granddaughters. Ummm, I love this bookstore and so wish we had one in STL. I bought a bunch of chapter books for Norah - 12 for $21. Love it!

Sidenote - not sure what the deal is but one or more of our kids get sick whenever we go out of town. Ergh. Norah is wheezing and running a fever, which means we may be heading to the doctor in the morning. Hopefully, this won't last long!!

Oh - and I am potty training this week. Daphne is ready so we are going to go for it.

Weekly Check-In

So maybe if I post here that I am going to check in once a week and post recent happenings - maybe I will actually do it. I don't want grandparents to feel neglected, right?

Norah -

Spent a few days last week with my parents. She had a great time being spoiled and loved all the extra time with her cousins who live in Morton. She is glad to be on summer break already - although we may not get her nose out of her books this summer. Ha! She cracks me up because the house could be falling down around her while she is reading and she would NEVER know it. I have to make her set her book down (upside down or closed) and actually look me in the eye or she would not hear nor respond to anything I say. Kevin would say that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree and I am sure my dad would say the same thing.

Lucy -

Turning 5 has brought out some sass that we didn't know Lucy had in her. That has been interesting. We spend quite a bit of time talking about being loving, respectful, kind, etc. She seems to have a little smirk while she is sassy - so I think she is testing the water a little bit!! She missed Norah a lot last week. She wanted to talk to Norah everyday on the phone - and each time I heard her say, "I miss you, Norah!" to which Norah responded with silence. We totally need to break her finger sucking habit. . . again, but she is such a great sleeper that I am concerned about the change that may come as a result.

Daphne -

Poor girl is having some serious seasonal allergy issues right now. Her nose is constantly runny, her eczema is totally flared up and she is continuously scratching her neck. She gets her daily dose of Zyrtek but that only helps a little. She is talking all the time and in full sentences, which cracks me up. I think that because she is so tiny for her age, it seems odd to hear her talking so much. This week as I was making waffles, Daphne went to the bathroom and carried the stool from there to the kitchen. When I question her she said, "I see what mommy doing." Today, Kevin was going to Goodwill to drop off some stuff and Daphne said, "Daddy, me coming." When Kevin told her no, she came to me with the saddest face ever, "Mommy, me coming. Daddy, no." After seeing her face, he changed his mind and her with him. Ha!

Not a whole lot new is going on with Kevin and me. Kevin has worked a lot on our garden. He is the gardener here. I am too neglectful - I can't remember to water. We have tomatoes, peppers, lettuce, onions, cucumbers, squash, zucchini, and carrots. Work is busy for Kevin - but that is normal.

I went through my Boot Camp Challenge training this weekend. I am really excited about facilitating some classes. I really like this company and how they combine exercise and nutrition because a lot of gyms/exercise classes/trainers don't do that. I start teaching my own classes in June and I am really excited about it!!

That's it for now. I'll be back in about a week!

Quick Update

As usual life is crazy but for anyone who is still reading my blog - here is a brief update.

1. We finished school on Friday!! Thank You, Jesus. Norah finished with 1st grade and is loving telling people that she is now a 2nd grader!! This year definitely had more challenges than last, but we are done and ready to look towards next year.

2. We had a garage sale on Friday evening and Saturday morning. The weather was horrible, but we made about $200. I was happy with that but we have TONS of stuff left. My mom took some stuff home to add to my SIL's garage sale so hopefully I will make a little more.

3. We had a family birthday party for Lucy on Saturday afternoon (yes, you read that right. I planned a garage sale for the same day I had planned a birthday party. not the best idea I ever had.) She loved having both sides of the family here for her party!! We definitely missed Shawna and Jackson - Jackson was sick. And we missed Alison's boys - they were with their dad. Otherwise, we had a great time!

4. Norah went to my parents' for a couple of days. She has been looking forward to this for a couple of months. It is strange not having her here. Lucy really misses her. She has told me all day long that she is so bored. Maybe they will appreciate each other more after some time apart. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, right? Does that work with siblings?

5. I am trying to finish plans for the summer. We are going to do a big "Space" unit this summer - a couple of days a week. We have to be here in the afternoons while Daphne naps so we need something fun to do. All 3 girls are doing swim lessons in June plus Norah and Lucy have VBS at our church in June. Norah is going to take an art class this summer. She is really excited about that.

6. I am trying to plan for school in the fall. There are a million things that I want to do - with all 3 girls. I just need to find the time to plan. Trying to decide if it would be better to take a whole weekend to plan or if I should commit to one evening a week to plan. Norah and Lucy are going to do Bible, History and Science together - with different expectations, of course. I really like the Bible curriculum for that I have for both of them so I need (want) to figure out a way to do them both.

7. I have Bootcamp Challenge training this weekend. Once I finish that I will be able to teach my own classes. I am so excited. Right now I am teaching a 6 a.m. class with Blondina and I LOVE it. I put Kevin through one of the workouts last night and he texted me today telling me that he is really sore. That is saying a lot because he is in great shape right now anyway!!

That's it for now. I will try to post some pics from Lulu's party. No promises, of course!!

Happy 5th Birthday, Lucy!

We pulled into our driveway early, early Sunday morning - Lucy's birthday. She slept in a little but was awake and ready for donuts by 8:00.

Lucy has a sweet and funny personality. She wants to make people laugh but she is really subtle about it. She is happy 98% of the time - and rarely cries about anything.

She is a little tease - must be the middle child syndrome. She is constantly teasing Daphne and Norah. She is teaching Daphne to be a tease as well. She makes us laugh but also gets herself in trouble easily!!

I think the biggest change from last year is that Lucy has actually become more reserved in public than she used to be. She is quiet, hangs at my side and takes quite a while to warm up in a new situation. Mother's Day Out was hard for her this year. While she has a great time once she is there, she gets nervous every week. She also really doesn't like to do new things. She gets a stomachache whenever we are about to do something new or meet new friends. It has been interesting to watch this change. She is more than confident at home but just not so much out in public.

I am excited to teach Lucy next year. She isn't as serious or focused as Norah, so we will be going about things differently but I think we will have fun. We just tend to do things bigger or in a more active way.

We are so thankful for all of our girls, but every year on Lucy's birthday we spend a little extra time thanking God for breathing life into her when we didn't know if He would. I will NEVER forget those moments - wondering if she would make it and not really knowing what was going on. Thankfully, she is healthy and happy!!

Lucy wanted to have a tea party for her birthday but since we knew we would be on vacation up until her birthday we decided not to have a big party. However, we did have a little tea party - just the 5 of us.

Florida

We just got home from a vacation in Florida. We had a great time. We swam a lot, played a lot, and just had a lot of fun together. My favorite part of the trip was having Kevin with us for 10 days straight. Too bad he has to work today - blah.

Since I have little time for blogging these days, I am just going to post a lot of pictures

Look at that face! Daphne was not a fan of the ocean. The water was REALLY choppy when we were there so the waves were HUGE and loud. Daphne's most common phrase while in Florida was "Otean scawe me!"

Our first evening at the beach the girls just ran and ran!

While she didn't like the water - Daphne was content to play in the sound for hours!

Lucy and Norah spent most of their time in the water - but Daphne had them filling up buckets with water and/or wet sand for her.

We rented bikes one day and we all had a great time. Kevin and I got our workout in and the girls enjoyed the ride.

We went on a boat ride to Shell Island and then to look for dolphins. Lucy was not sure about the boat ride at first, but in the end she said she enjoyed it.

There is a dolphin in the picture above.

Daphne is driving the boat!!

The waves were huge the entire week!!

I set Daphne down with just her feet in the water!! She is totally running away!!

Feeding the seagulls

We had a fabulous time. It was so great having a week and a half together to just hang out!! I loved having the evenings with nothing to do but relax!!

Thanks to the Kilgore family for hosting us for Easter. We had a blast! It was great having all the girls together!!

Thanks to the Morrison family for letting us crash at your place on our way home!! It was great seeing you and just relaxing!!