A Few Life Snippets

~The coughing I mentioned last week continued for quite some time...and honestly has not completely gone away.  I did finally go to the doctor and have bronchitis.  The zpack helped some, but only just last night the tight junk in my chest has finally 2 1/2 weeks later just started to loosen up and as gross as it is, has started to vacate my body through these coughs.  You know those gross Mucinex commercials? Yeah, that guy. Living in my chest for far too long.

The cough medicine I got helped to alleviate the nighttime hacking some, but sheesh is it terrible tasting. And while I took 1-2 teaspoonful as I was supposed to the first day, I couldn't quite figure out why I was dizzy the next day after the second time I'd taken it.  Ummm until I looked at the measuring utensil I'd used the 2nd time.  Yep. Teaspoon/tablespoon.  There is a difference. I slept good that night.

~Sunday night, Andrew participated in an activity at his friend's church for middle school and high school age kids.  A nerf war.  It was about 3 hours long and they had snacks, the activity, and a message at the end.  They teamed up and fought zombies until they were killed and themselves became zombies.  I was there to pick him up in enough time to hear some of the message comparing living a life with Jesus and being alive or walking through life like the zombies and the walking dead.  I was really impressed at the relatability to their lives and engaging these kids.  Andrew said he'd like to maybe go to that church and try it out there.

~Keeping up with Lily's verbal explosion is awesome!! I'm remembering to write things down as she says them newly and trying to capture more on video.  One thing I've noticed about her is she is very musical. Not just loving music and dancing, which she totally does, but also if someone starts singing a song, she'll sing the part she knows. Even if it's just an "oh oh" or an "uh oh". For example, in the Gym Class Heroes/Adam Levine Stereo Hearts, she anticipates the "oh oh" and will sing it. It's adorable. She does the same with books, knowing a part of the book and "reading"/reciting it as she is read to.  It affirms how important early reading is. I'm able to discern how her early reading skills are already in practice even at this young age. Repetition is so important....even if I'm tired of reading the same books over and over and over. The result is there with her. She points out things in books and calls them by names, she acts out the pictures on the pages and recites what she knows from the stories. I love this age!

I did finally manage to catch Lily Beiber in action!

super short and super cute baby baby ohhhhh

~ Now that I'm starting to feel human again, be sure to check back tomorrow because I have a review and giveaway coming up!

Spaghetti Dinner

Andrew's Boy Scout Troop had their annual spaghetti dinner this past weekend.  This is a big fundraiser for the boys and they each participate in working the event in one form or another.  Andrew opted to be a waiter. Yes, I know that's not politically correct, but honestly I'm not a fan of "server". I have no issue in my previous life being called a waitress, so that's that.

His shift was from 3pm-6pm.  And honestly for a 12 year old, that seems like a long time to me. He was pretty tired at the end. ;) 

He had a good turnout of "his people"! Us, our sweet next door neighbor, Granny and Pappy, Chisti & Izzy, George's parents, his aunt and cousin, my friend Amy and her family and even Andrew's dad and stepmom came in from Tennessee just for this. 

We had a supper of spaghetti and meatballs, garlic bread and a ton of different dessert choices. Lily was ecstatic!

she really enjoyed her cupcake too. :)

I love my babes!

The evening was a big success for the Troop and an enjoyable time for our family as well!  Thanks to everyone who came and supported Andrew and the Boy Scouts!

Week Of Reagan...8 Years Old

This week was a short Reagan week since President's Day was Monday she was still at BM's, so when she came home Tuesday after school we were excited to celebrate her birthday! She turned 8 on Sunday and this was an off birthday year for us, so Tuesday it was!

She was excited to open her gifts and choose where or what we were having for her birthday supper! At first she suggested something at home and when we asked her if she was sure and gave her a few more suggestions and reminded her she could choose what she wanted, she decided she wanted to go to Chili's.  We hadn't been there in well more than a year, so off we went!

George had gone back to the car for something &

snapped a phone pic of us through the window. :)

The birthday girl enjoying her brownie sundae!

Legos have been the favorite toy for a longggggg time.  Reagan is content to play with Andrew's Lego and slowly has accumulated some of her own over the years.  This year, a series geared towards girls came out. We knew they'd be PERFECT for her! 
She got a big set from us and a couple others from Oma and a few more gift cards from Granny and PapPap and Aunt Pam.  Lots of love from lots of family for the now 8 year old in our lives. ♥

I wonder why that one chick is laying on the ground?

Due to Reagan being with BM on the weekends and the whole "it's my time" crap from BM, she has to miss another friend's birthday party coming up, so yesterday after school, we had her friend over for a playdate.  I picked them up at school and they walked out the door hand in hand both grinning from ear to ear.  Her friend said, "My mom told me I had a playdate with Reagan and I almost passed out! I couldn't believe it!" hahaha Ohhhhh the drama of 8 year olds.

First, they did their homework. Yeah, I'm the "mean" mom who makes sure homework happens first.

They played outside, played with dragons, played with the dog, and I heard a lot of imaginary play like "...just ask my mother, Queen Reagan." Finally, they had a little wind down with some of the Disney Channel and a snack before it was time for her friend to go. 

They were wishing they could have a sleepover too. It's moments like that when not having non-school time with Reagan really hits her. Tonight is the zoo sleepover, so the girls have all been talking about that at school too and the disappointment on Reag's face when they talked about it yesterday was hard to see.  I wish she were going probably as much as she is...

Girl Scout cookies are in, organized and ready for delivery!

Reag's cookie sales were successful selling 150 boxes!  We're really proud of her efforts and thankful to everyone who helped her by buying some. We do have some extras if you want need can't live without them! Just let us know. ;) 

We finished off our week of Reag with a family supper with George's parents at one of our new favorite local places last night and the kids played video games for a little bit (this is typically a not during the school week activity) before bed.  I've learned she's a "shower thinker" and typically she comes out needing to talk a little.  Last night was simple:  she'd had a happy week and didn't want to go back to BM's.  I know she's also sad about missing out on her Brownie zoo overnight, so I'm sure that was part of not wanting to go to BM's too.  But, it's such a tough thing because of course, we don't want her to go back either.  The effects of split families just don't stop because we'd like them too.  All we can do is pray she has a good weekend.

We're so happy to have her in our lives and home the majority of the time now and we have seen so much growth in her communication and expression just in the last 6 months! We are so very proud of her and made sure we told her, showed her and loved on her a lot this week! 

Happy 8th birthday to our big girl!

Lego Club

In early January, the kids brought home a flyer from school about a Lego Club that was starting at a nearby church. Wednesday evenings for an hour and 45 minutes they'd get to go with other kids from their school and build with Legos while the leaders made connections to their lives and God through these activities.

They loved it!  It was a six week activity they looked forward to each week. There was no worry about Reag missing out of half of it because it was simply during "our time".  She was over the moon about being "a normal kid".

Andrew enjoyed the Lego aspect as well as the friendship with other kids from school being there.

Last night was the final night.  They had a wrap up party as part of their activities.  When I dropped them off, I snapped a few pictures before leaving.  They said it was really fun and were both bummed that it was the last night.  It was a great program and a first time for the church. They had a successful turnout, so I'm hoping they do something like it again soon!

Still Coughing

I still have this annoying cough that seems to linger on FOR.EV.ER.  The kind that when you laugh too hard you just start hacking.  I'm annoying myself with it.  grrr. It's finally hit the pinnacle though and I have to go to the doctor. 

We had a pretty low key weekend.  After the stressful week we had last week, low key was welcome.

George and Andrew did some guy stuff--took Fleury to the dog park, got a new video game, played videogames while Lily and I did some shopping for spring clothes for her.  We had a good time. All of us.   The rest of the weekend was spent hanging at home and Andrew went over to a friend's house on Monday since they both had off for President's Day.

Lily had good time over the weekend playing with her sunglasses and Fleury too.

And as you can see....she always wants to wear her "pitteees" {pretties}, so there are always beads.

For the most part, we had an uneventful, relaxing weekend.

This lame post brought to you by cough, hack, cough cough, hack hack.

Saturday's Top 5 Laughs

I'm finally linking up with for her Saturday Top 5 Laughs! I love reading this hop every week I really enjoy Melissa's blog and her on twitter. This week I remembered to keep better track of the funny stuff. :) Most of them will be able Lily, as she's on a vocabulary explosion these days and we just can't get enough of her.

5.  Lily calls Andrew, "Bubba or Bubby" and she calls Reagan, "Sissy".  Some days we drive them to school instead of them taking the bus and when we get there, she cries after they get out of the car. I've started asking her where they are when they're not home during the day and she says, "scooooooo" for school.  It's adorable.

4.  Daddy asked Lily if she wanted some chocolate milk (she's had it once before) and he took her sippy out of her hand to go into the kitchen to get the chocolate and she lost it! She started crying and running into the kitchen, through the dining room and back in a circle. When he came back to hand her her sippy, she was still mid temper tantrum and finished it off by running over to the window in the living room, spinning herself to wrap herself in the curtain all while crying and then throwing herself on the floor.  A little drama at 18 months.  We could not stop laughing at her!

3. It's funny to watch our little person developing her personality. She loves to find out where Daddy is when he's not in the room.  She'll run over to the basement door, knock her fingers on it, "Dada dada" or run into our bedroom over to his side of the bed and call for him again while she grabs his brush, brushes her hair, pulls out some kleenex and "blows" her nose like Daddy. The other morning went he got up to leave for work and was getting ready to go, he went to grab his lunch box and she had put her play ketchup bottle from her kitchen on top of his lunch box for him to take to work.  He likes ketchup.  So sweet she knows.

2.  The newest playground for Tornado Lily has become the bathroom. She recently discovered that the toilet paper rolls off the roll when you spin. Then you can take the remaining roll and just throw it all in the toilet....along with your toy boat from the tub, the cup to rinse your hair and some letters that stick on the tub. If it's not that, she loves to get q-tips out of the drawer, sit on the floor and clean her ears while she holds onto the other 1915293577 she has gotten.

1.  Yesterday, while Lily and I were reading books, my phone rang. She looked up and said, "Hi George." HAHAHAHHAHAHA! It totally reminded me of The Brady Bunch when Greg starts calling his parents Mike and Carol.

welcome to my world

A Very Lily Valentines Day

I like to look at "last year at this time" pictures with Lily and marvel at how big she's gotten and ooh and ahhh over how teeny and cutie she was. You know, typical mom adoration.

Last year  Valentine's Day was Lily's ear piercing day. How cutie and chubby she looks!

This year, she and I spent the day jus playing at home and she spent a lot of time running. She likes to do that a lot and often just runs laps around the house.
She simply started her day watching "Hot Dog" otherwise known as Mickey Mouse Clubhouse sitting on the steps with her "bankeeeee"

And then a little breakfast of pink heart shaped

pancakes before her morning nap.

While she was taking a nap, I made a tutu to take some pictures of her in Valentine outfits. She wasn't so excited about it at first, even after I let her put her "pretties" on.



She marveled at herself for a few minutes in a mirror:

Lily recently learned to go down steps, so as you can imagine it's a really fun game for her since she can do it safely.

And off she went...

She didn't stop the entire time she was awake except to ask me for more milk and to take a quick read.

And lots more running:

After she had lunch, she danced for a little while and showed off one of her other new "tricks" of climbing up onto any available surface. This one luckily happened to be a chair.

Along with climbing she loves to make silly faces mostly cheesy.

This closed eye one is deliberate.

Lily finished off her Valentines Day with a little cupcake and dancing.

Her special Valentine card has been a favorite of hers too as she doesn't want to put it down. I LOVE it!

Happy Valentines Day my baby girl!

lovelovelove Tiny Prints

Valentines Day 2012

My husband and I are not ones who participate in the over indulgent commercialization of Valentine's Day...simply meaning chocolates, flowers, out to dinner etc. just aren't "us". 

For as long as we've been together, we've had kids, so holidays are kid/family centered.  We give the kids a little something, have a special supper together and I always make pink heart shaped pancakes with pink milk to drink for breakfast. 

We exchange cards with each other, which is one of my favorite gifts from my husband. ♥ This year's card was pretty incredible...I love it. George is the perfect mix of humor and sappy for me. He knows I love and need the sentimental stuff, but couldn't survive without the humor. I made a card for him through Tiny Prints and it was perfect.  Exactly what I hoped it would be. He loved it too!

I was surprised when the huz came home from work with a small bouquet of roses...3 white roses representing our children and one red for me.

He also gave the girls a purple rose each. I told him that every girl should get flowers from her daddy...especially their first flowers.

This year we headed over to Granny & Pappy's for a family supper where we dined on yummy homemade lasagna, salad and rolls along with some sweet treats--cake and mini cupcakes.

yep, that's a knife. lily's ready for supper!

I forgot a bib, so a handtowel made it happen. :)

After supper, we visited for a little while and Granny & Pappy had Valentine treats for the kids. They're so good to our children (and us) in every way and we're so, so grateful to have them in our lives...

We're thankful for the Valentine's cards the kids received in the mail from Oma, Aunt Pam & Granny/Pap Pap too!  They love receiving mail and they hit the jackpot on one day!

♥

Happy Hearts Day 2012! 

♥