Wordless Wednesday

Valentine's Day

We had a fun Valentine's Day this year. We started out the day by going to a birthday party for Paige's friend Lindsay. It was a fun party and Paige truly enjoyed it. When we got home, Alaina went down for a nap and Paige wanted to take a bath, so we gave Aunt Amber instructions and turned the girls over to her for the rest of the day.

It was so nice to be able to spend time alone with Mark. We went to mall to take back a few things, then went miniature golfing at Planet X. We are pretty competitive and were tied going into the 18th hole. I was up and under shot it, Mark won by a stroke. Good job honey! After that we went to Home Depot and bought a new Plunger. Yep, we bought a plunger! We needed one, and we had a gift card. 'Nuf said.

I had made reservations for us at Vino's. We had never been there before, but I had read good reviews on it. It was very romantic and delicious. I really wanted some dessert, so we stopped at McDonald's for sundaes. What can I say, I'm cheap. We bought a plunger and went to McDonald's on Valentine's Day.

After supper we went to the US Cellular Center to the Bulls and Broncs Rodeo. It was AWESOME. I love bull riding and have been known to stop on it when I'm flipping channels. It was supposed to be a surprise, but I accidently figured it out playing 20 questions a few nights before. I loved every minute of it and even wore my cowboy hat. Bringing the camera was an afterthought, so no pics. Thanks Honey, for a great day!

Mark,

Thankyou for being an amazing husband and father. You are my best friend and the love of my life. I look forward to many more Valentine's Day dates with you. I love you!

Fun with Aunt Amber

Aunt Amber came to visit for the weekend. Paige just loves her Aunt Amber and her dog, Lucky. Here they are looking at the pictures that Paige took.

Amber giving Paige a "Bonk".

Daddy taught Paige how to get a cup stuck on your chin by sucking all the air out. Paige thought it was pretty fun and really liked the suction sound.

Mommy and Paige

Aunt Amber is trying to eat Paigey.

Alaina "flying".

Alaina getting a "Slurbert" from Aunt Amber.

Monkey pile on Mommy.

Lucky wanted to go outside with Casey, so I thought it would be hysterical to clip them together on the same cable. It was pretty funny. Casey hated it and Lucky just pulled her along.

Swap and Valentines Party

Clockwise from top left: Austin, Paige, Cameron, Ellie, Hannah holding Zachary, Abby holding Alaina, Jaclyn holding Ashlyn, and Aubrey holding Lauren

Today we had our babysitting swap and Valentine's Day party for the kids. I have been participating in the babysitting swap since Paige was around 5 months old. This is the original bunch of kids. We originally started with 5 moms, and now there are just four of us. Every other week two moms stay at one of their homes and watch all four people's kids. The other two moms get from 9am to noon, to do whatever they want to do without kids. Sometimes I clean, sometimes I run errands, and sometimes I really do nothing at all except take a nice long shower. It works out great and the kids love it.
The hardest part of the day is lunch.

Alaina had her first pizza today. She did a good job eating it and I think she liked it. It's so cute to see her and Zach sitting there together.

Alaina was all smiles today!

Paige loves playing with Hannah. She is definitely her best friend.

The kids all decorated their Valentine's bag and passed out Valentine's to each other. Paige really liked her candy necklace.

I don't think she quite gets it yet, but she liked the idea of all the cards and candy.

My baby is getting so big. She stood in the middle of the room for about 30 seconds today all by herself.

We ended the day with special heart rice krispie treats.

Another Beautiful Day Part 2

I'm glad that I wore Paige's rainboots under her jeans. She walked straight through the large puddle of water at the park. I just told her she had to make big splashes.
It was really deep, but her socks were still dry when we got home.

Ear Infection

I think that I posted too soon about being healthy. I picked Mark up from work last night and before we left the hospital Paige started saying that her ear hurt. Paige has NEVER said that her ears hurt, so I knew that she must have ear infection. Of course it was 5:05 and I couldn't get her in to our regular doctor until 2pm the next day. So we opted to take her to the after hours quick care in North Liberty. Luckily, we were the only ones there. They had to flush her ear out with water because there was so much wax build up they couldn't see what they needed to. She was very brave and we did find out she does, in fact, have an ear infection in the right ear. They gave us some drops and a prescription. So much for no ear infections here. Both girls are now being treated for it.

Another Beautiful Day!

We had another gorgeous day, yesterday. We spent most of it outside. We went to the park in the afternoon before naps, and then after naps, we went outside to ride the tricycle and paint on the sidewalk.

Paige can now pedal her tricycle. She wasn't able to master it last fall, but got on it and pedaled away, yesterday.
Look at her go!

And she's gone!

Alaina enjoyed being outside, too. It really makes me anxious for spring, but I know that winter is still far from over.

Paige's masterpiece!

Here she is in process of creating her work of art.

We're healthy!

Last week as not a fun week for us. Everyone, but Paige was sick. Alaina started out the week with high fevers, but other than a yeast rash, we couldn't find anything wrong with her. We just treated the fevers. On Tuesday morning I got a GI bug and poor Mark had to take a taxi home from work. He found Alaina crying in her crib and Paige sitting on the steps with a dirty diaper when he got home. I was starting to feel better late Tuesday night, as Mark as starting to feel bad. Alaina's fever had broken on Tuesday, only to return on Wednesday afternoon. Mark and I were fine by Thursday, but Alaina still had pretty high fever, so I called and got her in to the Dr. on Friday. The poor girl had double ear infection. I felt like a bad mom! This is the first case of ear infection either girl has had, so it didn't even cross my mind. She is doing much better and is back to her smiling self now. I can't wait for spring!!
Paige loves to hide and have you count and come find her. Though, when you are done counting, don't ask where she is because you'll hear, "Here my am!"

A visit from Gina!

(Alaina, Paige, Aaron, and Annika)
My best friend, Gina, from College came to town this weekend. It is the halfway point between her and her family, so they all met here for a get together. They stayed at the Comfort Suites, so the kids had fun swimming and going down the water slide. It was so good to see her and meet her not so new baby, Aaron and she got to meet Alaina. We don't get to see each other very often, but when we do, it's like no time has passed. Her kids are about 6 months younger than mine, so it's even fun to be in the same stage of life together. She truly is a blessing in my life and I'm so glad that I got to see her for even a couple hours.
The anticipation!
The preparation!

The Plunge!

Beautiful Day!

We had some gorgeous weather this past weekend, so we thought we would let Paige go out and splash around outside. We have a drain in the back corner of our yard, so there is some good pooling out there while the ice melts. She thought it was great and even conned her daddy into joining her. We grilled hamburgers for lunch, and just really enjoyed the day.

Busted!

I found some strange pictures on the camera when I has getting the pictures off. Mark must have taken the camera to work. You guys are busted!!!!

Where's my brain?

I have to share this short conversation with Paige. Paige was curled up on the couch watching TV and I thought she had watched enough so I turned it off.

Paige: "I want to watch a show."
Mommy: "You've watched enough shows.
P: "Why?"
M: "It's not stimulating your brain. . .Do you know where your brain is?"
P: "Yep, (getting up) I go get it!

I followed her from the basement up to her room. I think she forgot about it by the time she got up there because she just started playing with her dress up stuff.