I am Thankful for....

I love Thanksgiving. We have always done Thurdsay at my parents and Friday at Donn's family even since we were dating. It works so well. We went to my parents and my grandmother and my aunt and uncle came. It was a nice day and the weather was great as well. Friday, we went to Donn's uncles house. The kids had a blast with their cousins. I love seeing the kids play with their cousins. I miss that they don't get to see my family or extended family. Its sad. We have had a busy few weeks and now its 4 weeks til Christmas! wow!

The last few weeks have been so busy with cubscouts, Donn's games starting, doctors appointments, and 2 cases of pneumonia (me & Ty) which took both of us 2 rounds of meds. The next few weeks are filled with things as well. Ladies outing at church, friends & family birthdays, early Christmas family gathering, and fitting in time to shop.

Since today is the day after Thanksgiving, I am going to tell what I am thankful for. I am not a mushy person so here it goes....

I am Thankful for Donn,who coaches for us so we can afford extras in our lives. For Ty, who is a great & talented kid. For Ellie, who is funny and loving. For my parents, who help us out so much. For my grandmother, who means the world to me. For Donn's parents, who are the best in-laws I could ask for. For Donn's brother and sister and their families, who we can go weeks or months not talking to and call once and would do anything for us. For our church family, who is a blessing to our lives. & For our church small group family, who we enjoy getting to know better and our kids growing up with great friends. I am thankful to have such great family & friends who have listened to me ramble about the problems in our lives lately that I have stressed about. Talking about an issue helps me get things out and not dwell.

I am excited about Christmas and the months to come.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Its been a while since I posted. School is going strong and we are back to our routines weeks. Ty hasn't started off on the best foot. He missed 2 days of school after the first 1/2 day with a virus. Then we got through the first semester and now sick again but this time pneumonia. He is having a hard time kicking this. Ellie is loving school and looks forward to it every Tuesday and Thursday. She get excited the few times they have had homework. She thinks she is big stuff.

The month of September has been strange. My dad made a trip to Colorado to end up coming home after only a few days, thanks to my grandmother. My grandmother has been in and out of the hospital all month. I feel like the month flew by. A few weeks ago Aunt Dean passed away. She was one of my grandmothers sisters. She was at all our family holidays since she really didn't have anyone. Its kind of shocking and sad. Donn said she was a little off her rocker, hey she said I could be an anchor lady on tv ;-)

This past weekend we had a memorial for Aunt Dean at the Grant Baptist church where my grandmother and her family attended as a child. She was telling me how it had changed. While we were in Grant my dad wanted to show me the farm he grew up on. It was so pretty out there. I was shocked that one old house was still standing. He lived in three different houses on the farm. Two are still standing but I could only get a good picture of one. They lived on the farm and rented until he was around 6 and then moved to Ohio since there wasn't work here for my g randfather. After a few years they moved back to Grant and rented on the same farm. The last house they lived in burnt down. My dad told me how he would carry water from the spring to the house in a 5 gallon bucket that he could barely carry as a 4-6 year old. Oh how times have changed.

I also got to go to my great grandparents grave site. I love family history.

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First Day of School

Today was the first day of school for the kiddos. Ty is now a big second grader. He seems to like his teacher and class so we will see how the year goes. Some of the same kids are in his class and some didn't come back from last year. Ellie is now in a Tuesday/Thursday school. Today was her first day too. She loved it. I am so glad. I think this will be great for a transition into 5 day a week pre-k 4 for next year. Seems this will be quite a busy year but if I can get organized it will all fall into place.

Here we go!

Potty Time!

Well, Ellie finally has decided she wants to learn to go potty. Her inspiration is the fact she can get a booster car seat, hey what ever works at this point. She went to my parents this past weekend and decided she wants to be a big girl so she can get the booster. She had accidents all day Friday and Saturday but by Sunday she only had one and she was actually going to the pottyShe is very hard headed so I knew this had to be her idea to work. I am not saying she 100% potty trained because she is still having accidents but it is so much better than she was. If I even mentioned it she would scream, NNNNNOOOOO!

I am so proud of her. Love her!

Wellness visits

My wild children had wellness visits yesterday. Doesn't Ty look excited :) I wasn't able to take off work to tag along so my mom went in my place. Ellie got one shot and Ty didn't help with telling her 100 times that she was getting one. She never cries but she did this time. Ellie weighed 33lbs and was 39.5 in tall. Ty was 49lbs. and 48.5 in tall. I looked at what Ty's stats were at 3 which was 28lbs and 38 in tall. I did an estimate online and it says that Ty will be 6.1 and Ellie 5.10. Probably about right. Ellie is one stubborn child. She doesn't want to potty train at all. I don't know what to do with her. She picks the oddest times to decide to try to go, like 9pm. She will not go in the mornings at all. Ok lets just say TRY because she will sit but she has never actually gone yet. Her doctor suggests we put panties on her and let it be it. She can't sit on the couch or at the dining table but on the floor on a mat incase she goes. She said she will get tired of it and go. She doesn't know my child.

July 4th Weekend

What a great weekend! Saturday we went to my parents and hung out at the lake. We all rode on the tube or "pizza" as Ty calls it. My dad got an old waverunner running again and took both kids for a ride on it. Its been a long time since I had been on one but it came back to me. The kids swam in the lake and in the little blow-up pool. We ate dinner and then had fireworks. Ellie wasn't to hip on how loud they were.

Sunday, we hosted our small group at our house. Good turn out, 13 adults and 7 kids. Monday, we didn't do a lot. We hung out around the house for a little then out to eat and to meet up with our small group gang to watch fireworks. What great night! Ended with half of our group singing "God Bless the USA". Happy 4th!

Our day

I noticed some blogs that do a day in the life or week so I thought I would do today only. Here it goes... my day.

4am storms and Ty crawls in bed with us talking and talking. 410am-my alarm goes off:snooze(twice 20 minutes) so the storm can pass. 430am alarm, Ty still talking. I go to make the kids lunches.445am shower. 450am power goes out! I waited but finally threw on clothes (that I didn't have to iron) and off to work with wet hair. I got to work at 6am. Called Donn at 7am, him and the kids are asleep and didn't realize the alarm had not gone off since the power was off. Tuesdays/Thursdays are days Ellie goes to Mother's day out at church and Tuesday I have to pick her up. I left work at 1:20pm and got to church around 1:45pm. Ellie didn't see me and walked past me. She turned looked at me and ran to hug me and began to cry. She said she wanted her Daddy. We went home to get swimming stuff, a snack for her, and me to tame my wild hair. 3pm off to swim lessons. We were early so we waited for Donn to meet us around 345pm. Then i had to carry this sleepy child into the lessons and change into swim stuff. Left swim lessons around 545pm. We ate at Donn's new favorite place, Jason's Deli again. We ate there yesterday also. The kids rode home with Donn so I could get gas and groceries. I made it home at 8pm with groceries. Got both kids into shower, washed 2 loads of clothes, called my mother-in-law, took out the trash and now its 10pm and i'm still up with both wild kids. Its time for bed!

Tooth Fairy

The tooth fairy made a visit last night for the first time. I took Ty to the dentist on Monday for a appointment to check his tooth since a permanent tooth was coming in behind his baby one. Two have been loose for a year and never would come out so they took both teeth out. It was easy and only took them 10 minutes once they took him back. A little gas and numbing and they were gone.

The tooth fairy brought him 4 gold dollar coins.

My Favorite Dessert to make

At Kelly's Korner is SUYL favorite dessert. Yum. Here is my favorite and easiest dessert that I love to make in my trifle bowl. I don't have a picture of it but trust me, its good.


Ingredients:
Sara Lee pound cake (frozen)
Jello Instant Pudding (5.1oz)-any flavor (I like any chocolate ones)
8oz tub Cool Whip
Heath Bar crumbles (or any other candy)
* you can use all low fat/sugar free cool whip and the pudding as well*


Directions: Make pudding as directed on box. First, cut up 1/2 of the pound cake into small pieces (bite size) and layer bottom of trifle bowl. Next add a layer of pudding, then cool whip.
then top with Heath bar crumbles. Repeat layer ending with Heath bar.



You could come up with many other ways to do this, even with brownies or cake.
Its really easy thats why I love it.

Today is the last day of school for Ty. I am a little sad. I can't believe he will be in 2nd grade! His teacher had a small awards day. Ty received the "Fruit of the Spirit" award & Math Acheivement award. He received the "Fruit of the Spirit" award last year as well and only him and another boy got this award. I am so proud of him !

Ty also ended the school year by getting his Cubscout Tiger badge. He is now a Wolf. He seems to like Cubscouts so we will try again next year. They asked me to be the den leader and I agreed to be co-leader with another parent so that will help. Its hard making it to the meetings especially with Ellie tagging along. He is so cute in his uniform :)

Happy Birthday Ty!

HaPpY BiRtHdAy Ty! You are such a handsome fella. All the girls in your class like you and you don't even know it. I can't believe how much you have changed over the years. You are quiet in certain situations but seemed to have really opened up at school. You even lead the kids in a new song in class one day which Mrs. Woody couldn't believe. You love staying at extended day late so you can go to the gym to play. Your best friend at school is Brandon who is also in Cubscouts with you. You love to play with Beyblades and you like the cartoon as well. You love riding your scooter and have really gotten good at riding it. Your reading has improved so much. You read all the signs on the road when we drive. We love you so much! I can't believe your 7 !

Happy 3rd Birthday Ellie!

Happy Birthday Ellie! You are such a sweet & sassy little girl who has a mind of her own. You love Princess stuff right now but you love playing Beyblades with Ty, riding your scooter and tricycle and playing outside. Your favorite color is pink and red and you want your room painted those colors (not sure about that). You are definitely a daddy's girl. You love your brother, even though you may not show him. As soon as you meet someone new you make sure they know you have a big brother. Mema told you this morning that today is your birthday and you said "again?". You are a jokester just like your daddy. We love to hear your little saying... pajamas are jamamas, brother is butter or bother :). When something is too hard for you to do, you say "I'm too easy". Your favorite movies/tv shows are Olivia & My Little Pony's , Strawberry Shortcake & of course anything with Princesses.

We love you very much! Happy Birthday Ellie!

Ellie's 3rd Birthday Party

Ellie had a GREAT 3rd Birthday! She had so much fun jumping with all her friends. A few were not able to come due to other commitments. She keeps asking me if she is 3 and I tell her yep, your 3 now. She wanted a princess birthday. I made cupcakes and my mom made a princess cake with Ariel doll in the middle. It was kind of funny but it tasted really good.

I can't believe Ellie is 3. It has gone by so fast. Now, a few more weeks and we do it again for Ty's' 7th birthday. I think all of her toys she loved. We got her princess dress up clothes & a princess guitar or as Ellie says "pictar" :) Love her ;)

Past months....

I haven't posted since Christmas, wow! Not much going on really. The kids are growing up way to fast and I am ready for Spring. I guess right now I have birthdays on my mind. Ellie's will be in another month. She wants a Princess theme which of course is totally not me but its not my birthday right :) Ty wants Beyblade theme which is almost impossible but this past week I found a edible sugar of Beyblades and cupcake rings.

In February I did go on a "girls weekend" to Chicago. What a blast! We shopped and shopped and ate great pizza and burgers. It was so nice and quiet! No kids pulling at us. It was very cold & snowy but it was a great experience. We walked everywhere and only rode the CTA once. I would love to see it in the summer and spring. They have so much stuff. My kids would have loved Navy Pier by the Lake Michigan. I would love to go back. Oh, Donn and the kids survived the 3 days without me.