Things I want to remember

-Clara points with her finger and thumb outstretched, like a gun.  It is also how she plays on the ipad or phones

-Kate and sawyer love teaching Clara tricks.  Usually, once they see her do something, they will ask her over and over and most of the time Clara just looks at them like they are crazy. She makes dog, duck and snake noises and also holds her finger up to her mouth and "shhh"s.  adorable.

-using her new "shhhh"ing technique, the other day she was in the bath with sawyer and he started crying because he got soap in his eyes and she started shushing him.

-no matter what is happening, sawyer runs and tells me whenever he needs to go to the bathroom.  I keep telling him he doesn't have to and he can just go on his own but he still does it.  I probably will miss it the day it stops.

the vacation that wasn't

The kids had a week off from school in February so Ryan took the week off from school too. We had thought about going somewhere but decided to stay home and have fun around here instead. Kate was excited to ice skate, Sawyer was excited to go bowling, and I was excited to have someone else change the first thing in the morning poopy diaper. Thursday Ryan came home and said his elbow hurt, but I didn't think much of it. Then Friday he was saying it hurt even more and it was actually quite red and swollen so he went to the Dr and got antibiotics. By Saturday he was laying on the floor with his arms outstretched complaining of the kind of pain that, "if I could feel it, I wouldn't be asking him to help clean." Does that sound a little convenient to anyone else? But his elbow was getting more and more red and swollen so by Sunday night he decided to go to the ER because it was spreading up and down his arm and the we figured the Drs would all be closed the next day (President's day). We all figured he would just get more antibiotics...but they actually admitted him into the hospital so they could observe it and give him iv antibiotics. A great way to start our vacation! To make a long story short, he ended up staying until Wednesday night. That is 3 nights in the hospital! And he was going crazy. Despite the fact that I teased him that he was enjoying being waited on hand and foot with meals delivered to him and all his time to himself (and not a poopy diaper to be changed) I could tell he was anxious to come home. So we made the best of it, the kids and I would visit with games and food. We went on walks down to the cafeteria for ice cream and one night my friends watched my kids so I could hang out with him and play games which was fun.

Once he was finally out we finally went bowling and ice skating and we were happy to hear that his nice boss gave him back his vacaion days and declared them sick days instead. So I guess it all worked out!

Oh, and his arm is still a little sore and he is still on antibiotics but he is on the mend.


 ...and in case you were wondering, he spent 3 times longer in the hospital than I did after having Clara. For an elbow.

more valentines day

waking up to surprises
 
packing a valentines lunch
 
clara looking cute at the gym
 
valentines activity at our cute library
 
opening their valentines package from grammie and papa


 heart shaped meatloaf and mashed potatoes for dinner


 daddy took us out for dessert at chili's
 

Valentine's 2013

The kids and I had a lot of fun making their valentine's together. There were times that I thought they were too much work and I should have just bought something...but then I was sitting at the table letting them cut and glue and put the kisses in the bags specifically for their friends (the kisses have decorations glued to the bottom of them) and we had so much fun I was glad I did it. It was worth it to see how excited they were about it. Valentine's morning they woke up to new shirts and we did a little photo shoot before school. The lighting wasn't great but we didn't want to get to school late so we made do. They loved getting valentine's from their friends and I loved how they showed me each one. Sawyer kept telling me how cute every single one was.

 

And this Clara girl of mine doesn't like getting her picture taken but I lucked out of getting a couple of her looking at me. I need to train her better!

Her last?

Kate's 2 front teeth on the top are wiggly. She has lost 4 on the bottom but still hasn't lost any on the top so her smile hasn't really changed. I am dreading when it does (although I know she will still be my beautiful Kate) and every night when I floss and feel the wiggle I think, I need to take some pictures of you before your smile changes forever! And every time I do take pictures of her I wonder if it will be the last with those teeth. The end of my baby Kate smile. sniff sniff.





Of course Sawyer wanted in on the action too






And then so did Clara...still in her jammies!

100th day of school

I got to come help in Kate's classroom for her 100th day of school. She has the best teacher in the whole entire world. I'm not joking, she is amazing. And it is so fun to see Kate in her element and get to know these kids a little better that she talks about all the time. We made some funny hats with 100 stickers on them and the colored some funny glasses. She looked so adorable. I wanted to remember it forever but even more I want to remember how I walked in and she was so excited to see me and we laid on the floor together reading a book during quiet time until it was time to start our projects. Think I will always be her best friend? K She is getting too big....

Sucker in a locker

As has already been documented, Clara spends some time in the aquatic center lockers while I'm taking care of the other kids after swimming. This Wednesday Kate was given a sucker which was coveted by both her brother and her sister....and Clara eventually stole it. And she had such a big smile on her face that Kate couldn't take it away. So I promised to buy her one at the store the last time I went and we let Clara enjoy it. And she did. But she did share it a little!