Finally outside!

It's funny how when we are coming from winter 50 degrees can feel "warm" and yet in the fall when we are going into winter 50 seems so cold!

Anyway, it has been a long winter and I am sooo ready for spring. The next 3 days are supposed to be in the 60's and you better believe we will be spending lots of time outside!

Last Saturday it was 55 and I decided it would be a great day to go to the zoo. We ended up taking Sam, Zach and Brandee yesterday. It was the first outside activity we have done since fall and we had a great time! The kids loved being outside. It was the first time we have been to the zoo that Hadley actually "saw" the animals. She loved it and would point at them and raise her eyebrows and laugh.
I am definitely looking forward to more spring weather!
 

 

Sick, healthy, repeat

Yep, sick again. Took the kids to the dr today. It took us 4.5 hours: Jadyn's apt took a ridiculous hour and 45 min. 30 min spent waiting in the waiting room, and an hour spent waiting in the dr office. 3 kids in a small dr office waiting for an hour is enough to drive all of us crazy! Dr confirmed the pinkeye I assumed and we quickly left to run Jadyn to dance (yes, she has to go to dance even if she is sick and at least watch) and turned around to go back to the Dr for Hadley. That waiting was much shorter. I could have had Hadley seen by the first dr but it wasn't our normal pediatrician and I felt like I needed to talk to our Dr about more than just what she has today. Her Dr opens the door and says "What are we going to do with you?" She has seen Hadley A LOT!!! She checked her out (while Hadley screamed...she gets REALLY mad about the stethoscope. Our Dr even commented that she has NEVER been able to actually listen to Hads lungs because she is always crying when she tries. True.) and confirmed pink eye, ear infection (I was shocked, first one) and swabbed her for strep. The strep came back negative but Hads usually does and then the culture grows in 2 days and they call me back. Anyway, we talked about everything from the past 16 months. Dr said she has been on more antibiotics than most kids starting kindergarten. True. I think I can count 8 times. She is worried about that and messing with her immune system that way. Dr also voiced concerns that maybe there is an immune problem going on or possible more going on with her throat that is further down than what she can see with just having her open up and shining her light. She said she would feel better if we went ahead and got blood and started testing for some other things. She said most of the time it is best to wait until a child is healthy before running tests. Problem with Hads is that "healthy" is usually a very small window and is hard to catch. So....she said she would feel most comfortable getting blood today and seeing where we are at. Lucky Hadley. Wooo...the girl had a temp of 102 when we started the blood process and I am sure all her screaming made it rise by the time we were done. Poor girl.
So....now we wait for results. As much as I would love an "answer" as to why she is ALWAYS sick it would be best if the answer is just that she has a low immune system and places like play lands and the floor of Jadyn's class room (places we went Friday and Saturday that I think probably led to her getting sick again) are just places she can't go right now. I DONT want to assume it's daycare because I NEED her to go to daycare. But...it's a possibility.
I will keep updating my Blog about it. One day I will be glad for the documentation! I took a picture of her "grossness" because trust me...looking at her these last few days that is all I can think of...but I decided against the picture. Nastiness none of us will care to remember! :) Good thing I love her so dang much...otherwise I couldn't handle all the extra fluids coming from her eyes, nose and mouth! :)

Dance Day

A few weeks back we had a Saturday that ended up being 100% full of Dance! It went a little like this:
10:00- Private Tumbling lesson
(Dropped Jadyn off while I RAN to some stores to get ready for the party
11-12:15-Extra Topaz Practice
12:30-3:30- Team party at our clubhouse

Came home and had enough time to clean up from the party

5:00-10:30- Dinner with dance friends and mom and then up to the U of U to watch some of Jadyn's teachers perform in "Underground" by the United We Dance group. It was a great performance!

 

Jadyn, Brea and Hailey

 Silly Girl!

The girls with their teachers Amberly and Kinzie

 With Kendyl

 This is Jaycee. Jadyn loves her. She is also Scott aids at school Poor girl! ;)

Whew...it was a busy day! Scott was pretty much on kid duty all day and was totally ok with that! It was  fun to be able to go do sometthing with Jade. Starting this week our Saturday's from now through the first week of June will be filled with dance competitions. Let the fun begin!

Pictures from Jade

I love when I upload pictures from Jadyn's itouch. I love seeing all the self portraits that she takes and seeing life through her eyes. She is getting so big. She is also getting sassy. Whew....heaven be with us when we get through preteen/teenage years. She is still a fantastic helper and loves to always try to do her best. She loves getting compliments and hugs from other people. She likes to flirt with boys (in an innocent 8 year old way) and is a great student. We went to parent teacher conferences last week and she got all 4's (with one 3) and all E's. She is learning to love to read and really enjoys chapter books right now....especially Magic Tree house. She LOVES her school teacher...which is so nice to see after what we went through the beginning of this year. She still loves to dance and do gymnastics and has dreams of doing so much more! She like taking piano lessons but doesn't always love to practice! We are so proud of her and love her so much!

Jade and Liv

 Fun at a sleepover with Aunt Brand. It almost always consists of Subway, movies, Big Breakfast from Mcdonalds, baking cupcakes and nails!

 The self portraits! Love it!

Sick, Sick, Sick....and 16 months

Seriously. Yes, I just posted about Hadley sick and yes....I have to post about it again! I wasn't going to post about it but....the great thing about my blog is it's MY BLOG so I can complain all I want! :) So here goes: I am so tired of Hadley being sick. Seriously. She was back at daycare for a week and a half before she got sick again with the fever of 103.5, AWFUL cough, runny nose and grumpiness. I am so tired of it and feel awful for her...and maybe a little for me as she is so fussy and grumpy and can't go to daycare. So she is home...while I am working which honestly makes me pretty grumpy myself by about 4:00 everyday. I just don't get it. I had Scott take a day off yesterday to watch her. We have lysoled everything, sterilized binkies and sippys, washed sheets and blankets and it just keeps coming back! She has been sick for 6 days and today she does seem a little better so I am crossing my fingers that she will soon completely better in a few days. I just really hope we can be done with sickness now for awhile!
So...today Hads is 16 months old. There are a few things that I thought about today that I haven't written down about miss Hads.
- She hates blankets. She gets so mad when I try to put one on her. It is so weird to me! She will sit with me or lay down with me to snuggle but whew....don't try putting a blanket on her!
- She loves to be held and likes to make sure her hands are shoved down at her sides tucked under her belly. It's cute.
- She can furrow her brow better than anyone I know. She gives mean, mean looks when she is mad at you.
- She is very good at letting you know what she wants....or more importantly what she DOESN'T want! She practices her throwing skills when she is mad too!
- She has lots or teeth now. I think she had 2 or 3 come in this past month
- She loves to throw everything out of her crib and then when I walk in to get her out she says makes the sound like "Uuuuuuuuuu" like something bad happened or she is surprised and then points to everything on the floor. It makes me laugh every time
- She loves pointing to and looking at pictures or herself, babies, or our family
-She has started walking more this last month but usually it's only if we stand her up and encourage her to do walk. We have watched her walk as far as across the living room. So I would say her first steps were around 14 1/2 months but definitely can't say she is "walking" yet because she rearely chooses to do so. I am guessing it will come in the next month though

Sibling love

I sure do love when these two get along. They can fight with the best of them but they can also be nice to each other. I would love for them to be great friends growing up so when I see things like this it makes me happy....and I have to document it so that I can refer to it when needed! ;)

 



It was Jaxon's turn for prayer and it must be said that it's not his favorite thing to do. He still insists-even after hearing hundreds of prayers-that he can't do it on his own. Usually I will help him but this night Jade said she would help him. She whispered in his ear what he should say. It was cute...and I may have opened my eyes to take a picture. Looks like Jax had his open as well. At least his arms are folded! :)

Movie Night at School

Sometimes I don't love the "fun" activities that schools do after-hours. The ones they tell the kids about that parents really don't want to do. :) Well, movie night was one of those. I wasn't real excited about going but Jadyns excitement made up for what I lacked and I told her we could go. Scott willingly stayed home with Hadley! How nice of him.... We grabbed some dinner and ate it on the floor while we waited for the movie to start in the gym. We watch "Meet the Robinsons" which is a favorite show of Jaxon's. The kids liked being able to watch it on the big screen in the gym. As much as I don't love stuff like that I am grateful for the PTA that puts it on and appreciate the work that they do. It ended up being a fun night for the kids so we will call it a success!

Scott's Birthday!

We had a fun weekend planned for Scott's birthday. His birthday fell on Sunday so I planned for Scott and I to go out on Friday night and then planned to do lunch and a movie with the kids downtown on Saturday. My mom watched the kids Friday night and Scott and I went to Texas Roadhouse for dinner....which has turned into our favorite place to go right now. It was super crowded but we had called in early and didn't have to wait very long. It was nice to spend a night by ourselves. We got home around 9:00 and all the kids were asleep. AWESOME!!! :) Scott started feeling sick Friday night and got worse as the night went on. I knew he was super sick when he decided Saturday morning that we needed to not go to Tuchano's (another of his fav) because he was feeling so crappy. So-I decided that I would do the next best thing and take the kids out of the house for most of the day so that he could sleep (which he did most of the day). Sunday, his actual birthday he was still super sick and again spent the day sleeping. He even had to miss dinner at my dad's. Not a fun way to spend the day!
We were able to celebrate the next Friday with our original downtown plans. Brandee was nice enough to watch Hads for us because we knew we would be home late. We went to Gateway and ate at Tuchano's. Jax loved his beans, rice, mashed potatoes and noodles (pretty much exactly what I had but I added a salad and grilled pineapple). Jadyn had a few bites of meat but not much and Scott was able to get his share of meat eaten. We did decide that we probably won't go back there for a long time. The waiters tried their hardest to rush us out of there and although we ignored them many times, it was annoying. It is expensive-especially when I don't eat meat. We left and agreed that Texas Roadhouse is definitely better for us than Tuchano's....Cheaper, closer, better service and we great food! But...it was fun to take the kids there and they were both really good. We went down to Dicks afterwards and walked around as we waited for our movie to start. After a quick stop at the yogurt shop we headed to our show. We saw the new alien show. I was bored, Scott fell asleep, Jade thought it was ok and Jax loved it! :) It was a great night!
Hopefully Scott felt like we celebrated his birthday enough and made up for him being sick!

Valentine's Day!

Last year we were just getting over being at the hospital with Hadley and Valentine's didn't quite meet Jadyn's standard. So....I tried to make it up to her this year!
We started off the morning with donuts for breakfast and a small gift. I had let Jade know before hand that I was thinking we would have our regular pink breakfast for dinner so that Scott would be home to join in. She was ok wit that and excited about the donuts and their little gifts. Jaxon got a wooden rubber band gun and Jadyn and Hads both got cute new cups. I also got them some puff paints and shirts to decorate later. I took Hadley to my grandma's house so that I could help at Jade's school party. She loves any time I am able to come in a help in her class. After school Jade had Olivia come over to play. We did our pink breakfast and then made and decorated cupcakes. By the time we were done it was too late to do the shirts so we decided we would do them this weekend.
It was a great, relaxed Valentine's day. I always think of it more of a "family" love day instead of just something for Scott and I and I think we all had fun celebrating as a family!

Sad Miss Hadley



My Handsome little valentine!

 Jax decided he would help Hadley smile. She was not happy about it

 So Jax busted out his signature move to make her smile...didn't work this day

Luckily she was much happier after her nap. She loved eating her own cupcake. Picture belows shows her blowing us kisses!