the mega picture post

Once again, life has gotten crazy and time has gotten away from me and I've been neglecting the blog. So here are plenty of pictures to get caught up:

While Kaden was potty-training, he requested a "boy nightgown" since the girls are always wearing night gowns. This was the answer and Kaden LOVES it!

When I went out with Angie for a night of shopping a couple of weeks ago, this was what Mike & the kids worked while I was gone. And it didn't just look nice ... it tasted great!

Here's a picture of Leah & Papaw at the family lunch this past Sunday. I was sorry that Kaden was sick and we weren't able to join everyone this time!

I baked the cake for Kaden's birthday this year, with his help :-) Mike took on the task of decorating:


Here's Little Man waiting anxiously to open all of his presents!

He's very methodical when opening his gifts. He wants to be sure that he tears off ALL the paper. "I'm a good ripper, right mommy?" And, bless his heart, if the trash can is near by, he'll even put his paper in the trash before opening the box!

Opening the tickets for Sesame Street Live. As soon as I explained to him what he was holding, he gasped in excitement!

Dolly is the queen of sound cards, and this birthday was no disappointment!

I'm pretty sure the rules say you're not supposed to do this at Jump & Play, but going down head first seemed to be Kaden's favorite part!

He even got Dad & Leah in on the action!

After Zoey's party at Jump & Play, we returned home to open our packages from Hannah & Cody's Aunt Dee. Christmas in February was never so exciting!

We're headed in to another busy month with Hannah's birthday on Sunday and Cody's birthday 3 weeks after that. Hannah gets to invite a friend from school over to spend the night on Saturday, so we'll be looking for something fun to do on Saturday night with the girls while Leah & Kaden spend the night with Papaw & Totsie. Hmm, roller skating, anyone?

crocodiles

Leah has bad dreams on a somewhat regular basis. The kind of bad dreams that wake her up screaming and crying. But I'm never able to get her to tell us what the dreams are about.

Until a couple of nights ago.

She woke up crying and Mike went in to get her and brought her into our room. As she snuggled down between us, I asked her what her dream was about.

L: Crocodiles.
M: Oh, my. What were the crocodiles doing?
L: They were ... they were waiting patiently for me to feed them.

Where does the child come up with this stuff? I asked her what she was supposed to feed them and she didn't answer. Nor did she comment when I asked for her to tell me how patient crocodiles were scary ... seems to me hers sounded kind of friendly ... but by then she was back to sleep in a dream land where there were, apparently, no crocodiles.

happy balentime's day

Aren't little voices the cutest thing? Kaden was very excited to wish everyone a Happy Balentime's Day on Saturday, and assure me that he was my balentime. Why do they grow so fast?

Mike finally pried me out of bed Saturday morning with promises of something waiting in the fridge. (Let me defend myself by saying that I started feeling very under-the-weather Friday with a head cold (I think brought on by the stress & lack of sleep over the course of the week) and my grandpa was admitted to the hospital Friday afternoon.) Mike had a card and a giant mocha frappucino waiting for me. And ... he bought me an orange stapler! If you know me, you know that I love orange, and I love office supplies, so it was actually the perfect gift!

Saturday night we went to the Roller Derby with Amy & John and Mike's EMT partner Cassie & her significant other, Joe. We had some serious entertainment provided by the VERY exuberant fans in front of us (who would stand up and yell THE LEAD JAMMER complete with jazz hand referee motions ... you'd have to see it to really appreciate it). Unfortunately, due to the auction they did at the intermission, the bout ended much later than we expected and Amy & John couldn't join us all for dinner.

Dinner, now there's an experience! First off, we tried to go to Buffalo Wild Wings, only to walk in and discover the sign saying "cash only, no credit, sorry". So we walk back outside and tried to go the grocery store next door to use the ATM ... and the grocery store was closed. We decided that instead of driving across the street to an ATM and coming back to BWs, we'd just drive in to Brownsburg and go to Wings, Etc. And that, my friends, is where the fun really began.

We had the most unique wait-staff experience I've ever had. It started by me asking our 20 year old waiter if a particular sauce was good. "I don't know. I don't eat here. I don't even want to be here." Oh, I replied. Well, Happy Valentine's Day.

WRONG comment!

That set off a tirade from the waiter about how he hates Valentine's Day, it's a Hallmark creation and has been the reason for the demise of all of his relationships, and on and on and on. He called Mike a tool because he had bought me a Valentine's gift, and told Mike that he had bad taste in beer. He returned to provide commentary on Mike & Joe's attempt at darts (which was a bit amusing), and then approached the table as we were eating to say "I have a personal question for you guys." Um, ok? He then launched into a 10 minute stand-up routine of Helen Keller jokes. Oh My! He talked about his recreational pot use and his trips to the grocery for his mother .... Offensively entertaining, for sure. Probably the most interesting Valentine's Day I've had. But no one can confuse us as high class people ;-) Here's hoping your Saturday was as fun as ours!

crazy days

Life in our house is crazy most of the time, but the last few days have been extraordinarily busy. Just in case there's anyone not in the loop:

Saturday 02/07: A seemingly normal day for us. Leah & Kaden go for a play date at Chuck E. Cheese in the morning, Jenni goes shopping with Angie in the evening and Mike & the kids bake a cookie cake for Mom while she's gone.

Sunday 02/08: Jenni goes to breakfast with some friends in the morning, dishwasher installation commenced, leaking under the sink in the aftermath (unrelated to the dishwasher installation, just a result of our old plumbing and unfortunate timing), Jenni takes the kids to another play date, everyone eats dinner at Papaw & Totsie's. Cody's appetite isn't great, but he voices no real complaints.

Monday 02/08: Kids to day-care and school as usual, per baby-sitter Cody has trouble walking from the bus stop to her house, but he walks home ok and gets upset because he can't play outside with the rest of the kids. No complaints when Mike gets home in the evening.

Tuesday 02/08: Cody doubles over with pain at school and is taken to the nurses office. Mike is called and picks Cody up in the ambulance to bring him to HRH ER. After much waiting for test results, it is determined that Cody DOES have appendicitis and needs to have his appendix removed. Surgery at 9:50 in the evening.

Wednesday 02/10: After much discomfort/pain due to gas pain, Cody gets up and starts walking the halls. He still has a fever in the afternoon and gets to stay one more night for more IV antibiotics.

Thursday 02/11: While walking in the halls before breakfast, Cody gets nauseated and throws up in the hall way. He tries to eat breakfast and vomits again. He takes some anti-nausea medicine and gets back to playing the Play Station. He continues to say that he doesn't want to go home ... he's having too much fun with all the attention, the play station, and the menu selections! Doctor comes by and tells Cody it is, in fact, time to go home.


Yes, I know, he looks a bit forlorn in this picture. I think it's because he's not being allowed to play the Play Station at this particular moment in time :-) He's been showered with good wishes from everyone, including his class at school (they sent home a large envelope full of get well soon cards), and has all sorts of new art supplies to keep him busy. He'll be off school until at least Tuesday, when he has his follow-up appointment with the surgeon. Hopefully he'll be back to school on Wednesday. He's already feeling tons better ... his first comment upon arriving home was "Dad, can I go outside and play?"

7 years & counting

Today marks the 7 year anniversary of my dad's emergency heart bypass surgery.

Happy anniversary, Dad.

We're glad you're still here!

mighty wingman

I must say that I was overall very disappointed in the commercials aired during the Super Bowl this year.

In my eyes, nothing can top the Coors Light Mighty Wingman commercial. What? You don't know what I'm talking about? For shame! Check out the link and get the tune stuck in your head, too.

Ten on Tuesday

1. 43 days until the official start of Spring. Not that March really counts as Spring, at least not in Indiana, but this is a count down that's keeping me semi-sane in the midst of this unexpected snow today.

2. Kaden is doing awesome on the potty training! He's been in big boy underwear since January 16th. The first week was pretty rough ... a good day followed by two days of refusal, etc. But he's only had 2 accidents in the last few days and has finally started telling us when he needs to go! Keep up the good work, big boy!

3. As proud as I am of Kaden's potty training accomplishments, and as EXCITED as I am at the prospect of being diaper free, I'm also somewhat sad. He's just getting so big ... it's bittersweet.

4. Last potty-related statement for this post: I love my day-care providers. Amy & Amber have been so great with Kaden at "school" with the big-boy underwear. I can't thank them enough for being willing to handle the accidents on the way to the goal of being diaper-free. I really believe they have some secret potty-training magic they use!

5. Mike is still riding high on the Steelers Super Bowl win. Cody is also quite excited about it. Kaden got a Troy Polamalu figure from Papaw and Mike's response was "Look, Kaden, it's a 2-time world champion!"

6. I am on an ice cream making kick. My mother-in-law gave us an ice cream maker some time ago, and we just used it for the first time last week. I am obsessed! My first batch was strawberry cheesecake. Yum! Then vanilla. I've got the canister in the freezer for a batch of chocolate tonight!

7. I made soup from scratch for the first time last night. Perhaps I was inspired by the Tastefully Simple party ... but I've broken out the recipe books again and am looking for new things to try. Homemade chicken noodle soup's on the menu for dinner tonight. Perfect for this cold weather!

8. Roller Derby on Valentine's Day! Anyone want to join us?

9. I have an endless list of projects to do around the house ... in addition to my endless personal to-do list. But a certain project just got bumped up on the priority list ....

10. because we're getting a dishwasher! You read that right! Finally! (Shel, if you read this, the only thing still missing is high speed internet!) So, in preparation for the dishwasher installation on Sunday, Mike is removing our 4 drawers from the kitchen cabinets ... which means that I have to find a creative place to put all of the stuff that's in those drawers. Well worth it, if you ask me!

my kind of snow

is a day like we had Sunday. Weather in the 40s, but plenty of snow left to play in. Not too cold, so the layering isn't a necessity. And the snow is ready to pack. The kids and I enjoyed (yes, enjoyed!) some time out in the snow building a snow man, collecting sticks, throwing snow balls, and swinging. Like I said, my kind of snow.

what a weekend!

Our Saturday started out with a much anticipated date ... I mean, play date ... with Cole. Here are some pictures of the kids enjoying their morning with Cole and his sisters, Elizabeth (with the pig tails) and Emily (with the pretty braid).

It took quite a bit of time to get the kids settled down after Cole, Elizabeth, & Emily left ... nap time was a long process! Saturday night, Leah & Kaden got to spend the night with Papaw & Totsie while I went to a Tastefully Simple party with Jennie. Had to have been the longest party ever ... not because of the party itself, but because we all got totally STUCK in the drive! The wind was so fierce and the snow drifted in UNBELIEVABLE amounts on the road right in front of the house on a county road near Pittsboro. The hostess called her husband to come home and help ... we knew he thought it was just a bunch of women over-reacting, and he was APPALLED at the state of things when he got there. At one point there were 5 men with 2 trucks & shovels outside and there was still no progress. Someone called a tow truck, and IT got stuck up the road! I finally called Mike to come pick Jennie & I up (the road was passable up to a point relatively close to the house). He had no sooner called to say that he was almost there when ... the plow came through! When all was said and done, I think it took 3.5 hours to get back home! All I can say is the key lime cheesecake ball mix that I ordered had better make a damn good cheesecake!