We earned it!

The ultimate bribe for staying in their beds past 7AM has worked. The girls haven't gotten up before 7 AM in quite a while (for the record, Laney rarely ever gets up before 7:30 am anyways, but Ella would like to be up by 6:30 am). We found if we keep a few extra books and her leapster in her room, Ella will stay in there until her alarm clock turns green (7AM).

Look how happy they are with their robes! Laney likes to wear her's like the boxers do and generally keeps the hood up. Way to go girls!

I like the one below.
Looks like Laney is modeling the robe :)

Although Matthew has only slept through the night a few times, he earned something....some extra drool and a cute picture:

A sigh of relief.....

Many of you know that the past 2 weeks are 2 weeks I DON'T want to repeat. Well actually, related to health issues, I wouldn't want to repeat the last 2 months (which started with the stomach flu we all got).

Last Monday Laney was sent home from day care with a 102 fever. As I was headed out the door with her, Ella's teacher said she had a fever too. So I left the daycare with two sick girls. Ella bounced back the next day no problem but did have to stay home on Tuesday. On the other hand, Laney got sicker and sicker. Tuesday night she woke up with a 104.7 fever at 1 am. I was obviously worried but I remember Ella having a very high fever once and knew not to freak out yet. I waited until the morning and called the pediatrician's office (if Jason didn't know me better, would think I was dating because I have been at the MD's office all the time lately with one of the kiddos!). After taking a swab for the flu, she tested positive (and yes she had her flu shot and H1N1 vaccination). What was so sad was as we waited for the swab results, she had fallen asleep in my lap and was even snoring. It was awful to see her look so pathetic. It took us until Sunday to break her fever (she got the chills when the fever was breaking). It was so tough on Jason and myself to balance family and work and since I have no PTO at work saved up I had to get to work last week. Luckily the daycare took Ella and Matthew on a day I don't normally work and Jason stayed with Laney.

So Laney was back to herself yesterday but wouldn't you know it, we were called by the daycare on Monday because Matthew had junk in his eye. It was 3 pm and the pediatrician did not have any openings for him that day. I took Matthew to the urgent care (which I avoid at all costs) but there was nobody there (surprising!) and we were in and out in 45 minutes. He was diagnosed with pink eye and an ear infection, causing him to miss yesterday at the day care. All I kept thinking is please don't make me follow-up at the pediatrician's office because he is going to diagnose ME with Münchausen syndrome. Don't need to follow-up (thank goodness) and yesterday Matthew looked better, and today he is 100%!! WE are all 100%!

Our kids are generally healthy and are rarely sick; I made the mistake of telling a coworker this so I know I jinxed my family. My mom was so nice to offer to come on Sunday to watch Laney on Monday while the other 2 went to daycare and I had to work. We figured Jason could handle it since Laney is one who likes to lay around when not 100%. So we said we didn't need her and would save our "Nana Help" card for another date. Then on Monday with Matthew getting sick, she offered to drive up at 9pm to watch Matthew on Tuesday while the girls went to daycare. Thanks so much for offering the help mom, but I have learned my lesson. Anytime you offer to come up when one is sick, we are going to take you up on it (or else run the risk of another kid getting sick) :)

Knock on wood because we need to stay healthy! Let's hope we avoid the MD this week because next week we are there for Matthew's 6 month appointment and Laney's 3 year appointment. Uggg is all I have to say...ugggg!!!

What a fun post, right? ;)

If you give a kid some free time....

Adapted from If you Give a Mouse a Cookie (a favorite book of ours').

If you give a kid some free time,

Then she is going to want to decorate.

When she decides to decorate,

she thinks toilet paper is the logical choice.

When the stairs are complete,

she will realize the walls need some decor.

When she runs out of one roll of toilet paper,

she will run to get another roll.

When that roll runs out,

it makes a great craft project.

From toilet paper roll to mermaid, it was a great craft day.



And just to show that Laney is still alive
even though fighting the flu :)

Here comes Santa Claus

Today was our annual Christmas Party at my work. This is the 4th year we have gone and each year gets better and better. Since children are not allowed in the hospital anymore, the party was held at another building right next to the hospital that the hospital owns. This layout was much better! There were separate rooms for the crafts (face painting, making ornaments, writing letters to Santa, coloring and making reindeer food), food (mmmm), Santa and then the live Reindeer.

Laney is still pretty sick so Ella, Matthew and myself had to go without her (luckily Santa knew there was another family member so he sent us home with some candy for Laney). What a thoughtful Santa!

Ella wrapped a gift for Santa and Mrs. Claus.
It might have been a bribe,
but I love that she said carried on the thoughtfulness.
She wrapped up some of her nicer plates and cups
(must have been pretty funny seeing me
sneak these back in the stroller).



Santa asked me what I wanted for Christmas.
What did I ask for? You guessed it......SLEEP!



Feeding the reindeer.
The kids always love the reindeer but once Ella fed him,
the next thing she said was "I want to wash my hands."

Ella with one of my good friends, Lori

Face painting time...she chose a reindeer.

Lori's daughter, Kristen, helped Ella make an ornament.

Writing a letter to Santa.
She asked for a baby doll that spits up on you just like
Matthew spits up on Mommy. I wish I was making that
up but alas, she really asked for a doll that spits up.

Sending the letter to Santa
It's so nice that Santa even writes all the kids back.

Don't send this one!! He will want to be fed every 3 hours!

Cooking with Nana

Ella was so excited to bake blueberry muffins with Nana Dean. In fact, she wouldn't let Nana leave until she helped her with the muffins and being the great Nana, Nana Dean is, she made the muffins. They were delicious!

Children's Museum welcomes Santa

On the Friday after Thanksgiving Jason and I wanted to take the kids to see Santa arrive at the Children's Museum. Since Jason's parents were still in town, we thought it would be a great family event! Plus I like that the museum store offered their own black friday deal by having 30% off everything. The museum was not very crowded (maybe everybody was shopping?) until right when we were getting ready to leave. It was a great time,
and I know the girls had so much fun spending
some extra time with Nana and Pappy.

Laney watching Santa come down the slide.



Once Santa and Rex came down the slide, the "snow" came down.
I was laughing because within 5 minutes of the snow coming down,
there was a zamboni type machine sucking up all the snow.
Very time efficient!

Ella used to be so scared of Rex but now she hunts
all through the museum to find him.
Now Laney won't stand near him!

We thought it would be fun to stand in the line
(what we thought was a short line) to see Santa.
Well, the room was like 85 degrees and
the line was long (and not moving) so although we waited
about 20 minutes, we aborted the mission and
went to play at the rest of the museum.
At least it gave us 20 minutes to take some family pictures.

The men

Now there is a happy little man

Although we didn't see Santa, Mrs. Claus was there.
I was trying to get Laney to get the Claus family cookie recipe.

Matthew was all smiles for Mrs. Claus

Waiting for the slide.
I had to include this picture because look at the random foot above Ella.
I didn't even know this guy was holding his child upside down.
I guess I really do put blinders on :)

Nana Dean and Ella



Me and Laney
This was taken right before I took a spill at the bottom of the slide.
Must have been my quick speed, right?


This was a great trip to start off the holiday season!
Thanks for sharing it with us Nana and Pappy!

Happy Thanksgiving

From our little turkeys