Thursday, February 28, 2013

One day last week while Scott was out of town, the kids and I kept busy by making our own orange juice in our juicer.

Fischer isn't a big fruit lover but he will drink a cup of fresh-squeezed orange juice. I haven't let him in on the fact that he's drinking fruit juice. :)

They loved helping me juice, and took turns putting the pieces into the juicer and pushing them down! And yes, Fischer is drinking his out of a shot glass.. he will drink more that way. Whatever it takes to get some fruit in him. :)



Later that day, the kids and I headed to Whole Foods to pick up a few things and have dinner. Fischer loves their pizza and Addison loves their chicken wings, and I got to make myself a salad. Everyone was happy, and we were sure to text Scott some pictures. :)





Wednesday, February 27, 2013

The day after "the big snow" the kids kept asking for hot chocolate. How could I say no when it was so cold outside and there was still snow everywhere?!

They made sure to get every last drop.. and I think half of Fischer's ended up on his face. :)









Monday, February 25, 2013

Last Saturday (February 16), Addison and I headed to Greenville for a birthday party. When we left, the weather was nasty - very cold, rainy and even a tiny bit of snow.  An hour down the road, it wasn't raining and not nearly as cold. Addison and I stopped for lunch at Chick-Fil-A in Greenville and it was even a little bit sunny.


The party was at a Gymnastics place and Addison had a lot of fun. She said she wants to do Gymnastics instead of dance now. :)



We headed home and Scott told me the weather here was really bad and the snow was coming down and actually sticking! Addison and I got home around 8 that night, and I had to drive about 25 mph as we got close because the roads were really bad!

I pulled into the driveway and saw this! Scott and Fischer had been busy!



Addison played a few minutes but wasn't dressed appropriately, so we promised we'd play the next morning. We kept our fingers crossed that the snow would still be there. :)



It was and we had a great time. It was really cold because it was only about 8:30 am, but we knew the snow would melt later in the day.



Scott took Addison on a four wheeler ride, the kids made snow angles and just played for awhile.







I think i'ts safe to say that Lucy liked it more than any of us - she had so much fun and would have spent the whole day outside if we would have let her!




I'm so happy we got a day's worth of snow so the kids could play but also very glad we don't have to deal with it on a regular basis!




I love this picture of our first snow in this house!

Friday, February 22, 2013

Last week, the kids and I made birthday chains (or "chain rings") as they like to call them. We did one for each day leading up to their birthdays, and each morning they removed one until there were none left!

It was a rainy day, and a last minute idea of mine to make them, but it kept them busy for awhile! They picked their 2 colors, cut their own strips and did the glue with just a little help from me!


Friday, February 15, 2013

Over the weekend we had to go to Lowe's to get a few things.

I had no idea they had these pull-along baskets but they were a huge hit with the kids!



And what's a trip to Lowe's without trying out some lawn mowers? In your sunglasses, of course!


These sunglasses later fell into the toilet at Subway (pre used, thank goodness) but needless to say they got a good wash in the dishwasher. 

Thursday, February 14, 2013

Happy Valentine's Day!

The kids didn't have school today, so they took their valentines to school yesterday. Addison came home with a lot of cute valentines, and Fischer will bring his home tomorrow.  I am so proud of my kids because they wrote their own names on each of their valentines! It took awhile because they'd only do a couple at a time, but it was worth the extra work!

Here they are yesterday morning before going to school. Addison wore her hair up to school both Monday and Wednesday - and she chose to do that! This is not normal for her so we will see if it continues!



This morning, I gave the kids their Valentine's Day baskets.



They each got a book, some play doh, some new underwear and Fischer got a harmonica and Addison got a "hand fan." She is obsessed with this "hand fan" now so we'll see how long it lasts. :)



While I was getting lunch ready, the doorbell rang. I got flowers from Scott! This is not a normal Valentine's Day thing for him (flowers, I mean) so it was a nice surprise. He has been gone and will be home late tonight, so at least I will get to see him for a minute tonight! I have a cupcake and a card waiting for him! Addison took the picture of me with the flowers so I could send Scott a picture of them!




Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Sometimes when you feel yucky, dressing up like a princess and watching TV makes it all better. :)




Monday, February 11, 2013

It's been a germy few weeks around here, but I think we might be on the mend.. it's funny because I was just looking back on our blog from this time last year and we were all sick on the same exact day! I guess it's just the time of year.

Addison and I finished our antibiotics today, while Scott and Fischer still have a few days to go on theirs. We have a variety of illnesses, but there has been a lot of coughing, sneezing, nose blowing, etc... we took the kids to the doctor last Monday (A was 34ish pounds, and F was 35ish!) and they were both prescribed medicine.  While they weren't feeling great, they were still quite active and feeling okay enough to play. And through all of this, they haven't had fevers at all.

They went to school Wednesday morning and seemed to feel good. When I got there to pick them up Fischer's teacher stopped me in the hall so that I could go get him first (normally I get Addison first). He was borderline hysterical in his classroom, saying his ear hurt and that he couldn't hear out of it. His teacher said that it started suddenly and they couldn't calm him down.

I called the doctor before we even left the parking lot. I admit that I thought it was possible he stuck some sort of object in his ear! :) While I was on the phone waiting for a nurse, Fischer was crying and asking if I was calling the "doctor truck" (meaning the ambulance). He was so scared! I reassured him I was just waiting for a nurse. :) She worked us in that afternoon, so we headed home for a quick lunch, and some Tylenol for Fischer before heading to see the doctor. The doctor looked in his ears and said he had a "miserable" ear infection. I was confused about how his ears were so clear on Monday and one was so infected by Wednesday.

So he had us switch the medicine he was on, and by the next day he seemed to be feeling much better!

In between those appointments, Addison had a follow up at the ENT on Tuesday just to make sure her tubes are doing ok. They are still in there, although he said the left one looks like it could come out at any time. We go back in 3 months for another check. He said they mainly need to make sure the hole heals like it should after the tubes fall out.

Even with all of the germs, we have been squeezing in some fun. The kids got to help Scott paint his new bbq pit that he built. Addison lasted longer with the painting, and Scott said she kept saying things about working together, getting the job done, etc.






And we also went "hiking" with our friends Irish and Rylan last weekend, followed by lunch and a yummy cupcake for the kids. During our hike, the kids liked stopping every few minutes to have some "cowboy jerky" and water. We ended up walking for over an hour though and they all did a great job... not much complaining at all!



Friday, February 8, 2013

One day last week, I decided the kids and I should go out to lunch. We went to eat Mexican, where they always enjoy the chicken fingers and french fries. Go figure. :) Fischer took the picture of his lunch so he could show Scott when we got home.

Eating Mexican is easy with them because it's always so quick, and tasty. :)






Thursday, February 7, 2013

Fischer has come up with a signature drawing... "the alien." He draws it a lot, and put it on our chalk board the other day. It's funny because he's not really into coloring, writing or drawing, but lately he has been quick to draw this little guy. :)






Wednesday, February 6, 2013

 The day after the big dentist appointment, I headed to the airport and hopped a flight to Seattle! :) I left around 5 pm Friday night, so I didn't arrive in Seattle until almost 3 am East Coast time.

Kathy was there and picked me up, and then Saturday morning we got up and headed to Portland, Oregon for the night. Neither of us had been before so we were excited to experience a new city. Our main goal was to hit up some of the breweries in the area!

We checked into our hotel, and the girl working the desk hooked us up with free valet parking, which was a $31 savings. That was so nice of her! We headed out to explore and get some lunch, and start our beer sampling.

We went to Deschutes for lunch and got our first flight of Portland beer. Then we headed to a few more places and found ourselves in bed by 10 pm. :)





Sunday we got up, enjoyed a buffet breakfast and headed out to see a couple of the big tourist spots. First was the HUGE bookstore, Powell's. They had a huge selection of both new and used books and I got several for Addison and Fischer. We love books around here!



Next we headed to Voodoo Doughnuts, where we waited in line for about 30 minutes to get our doughnuts. We got 4 and decided to eat them later that night.  They were delicious! :)




We then headed back to Seattle to visit my friend, Mary Anne and her family! I was so excited - we were best friends in high school, roommates in college, so we go way back. We don't get to see each other much so it was fun to just hang out and visit with her kids and meet her new baby!

We got to have a girls night and enjoy some yummy Mexican food, and then headed home and chatted before going to bed. Monday morning we got to go to breakfast and then Kathy and I headed to the airport. I left Seattle around 11 and arrived home around 1 am. It was a tiring weekend but so worth it and very fun.

Scott and the kids had a lot of fun of their own back home, and I'm very thankful that it's not an issue for him for me to take a weekend for myself every now and then! He requested that we go to the Rogue Brewery, so we were sure to do that, and I brought him back a glass from there. :)





Tuesday, February 5, 2013

On Thursday, January 24 we took the kids to their dentist appointment! Scott was able to go with us but I think it would have been just fine with just me. The kids did great!

Before going, Addison and Fischer discussed it and decided that Addison would go back first! They stuck to their plan, so she and I went back first. Their dentist's office has a sign up that says parents should wait in the waiting room, but we politely ignore that sign. :)

Addison was a little nervous about the "big girl toothbrush" (the brush that spins) but we were able to coax her through the whole thing. And she LOVED getting water out of the straw and then sucking it out with the other straw, so there was a lot of that going on. After the brushing, the hygienist flossed her teeth and then used the tool that looks like a hook (we now call it the Captain Hook tool) to count her teeth and she was also able to quickly scrape out a little something that was stuck in her teeth. She did have a little gagging episode when the hygienist was working in the back of her mouth, but luckily there was no throw up like last time.




After that she was done until the Dentist came in! So I went and got Fischer and Scott. Addison was supportive of Fischer and said "You'll be fine, Buddy" as he sat down in the chair. He made himself comfortable right away by putting his hands behind his head and crossing his legs. It was so funny.



He handled the "big boy toothbrush" much better and it was over very quickly. His teeth were also flossed and counted, and then we waited on the Dentist to come in. The kids were very into the movie that was playing so they were fine with the waiting.



She looked at their teeth, counted them again, asked a couple of questions and that was it.  On the way out they got a quick paste on their teeth before heading to the toy machine with their special tokens. Addison got a ring and Fischer got a stick-on mustache! :)

Overall it was a success and I was happy that everything looked great. They go back in 6 months and they might attempt x-rays that time. That could be interesting!!