Rainy Day Crafts

It poured today and did not let up, so I pulled out some paint and we got work.

Making Monsters using straws

Gracie trying her hardest

Ethan really enjoyed it

Ethan named his monsters

Gracie picked her name too

Finger painting is always fun

Anytime Gracie got too much paint on her hands she would say, "It's okay Mom, it's okay"

Letter recognition using a box lid, markers and corn starch.
I really liked this because if he needed help I could show him, shake the box and then he could do it on his own. It was better than wasting paper and we got to use our hands.

My little picasso hard at work....notice his face.

Thelma & Louise

Rylee and Gracie playing

2 monkeys jumping on the bed.......

Yo ho, the pirate's life for me!

On Friday, our playgroup friends came over for a pirate play date. We ate some pirate theme foods, played with pirate toys, hunted for treasure in the rice table and made a pirate eye scope craft. Everybody had a great time and we enjoyed some pretend play. Then on Saturday we got together with some good friends for a barbecue at the lake. I thought it was a little too chilly for swimming but Ethan and Gracie decided that I was wrong and took a dip anyway. You know kids, weather doesn't ever seem to faze them. Despite the chilly water they weren't too keen on getting out. However, once I saw their teeth shaking, I knew that they had enough. Then on Sunday, I enjoyed a wonderful Mother's day spending time with Eric and our three little creations and opening my gifts; which were classroom made and store bought. It was a great day that just went by way too fast.

Looking for Treasure

FUN Times!

We love crafts!

Ethan making his craft and what looks like a serious conversation.

Gracie in full concentration

I wish I could take credit for this delicious cupcakes but I can't

Strawberry Pickin'

We met our playgroup friends at a local strawberry farm today and picked the freshest, yummiest strawberries... at least that's what Gracie was thinking when she was stuffing them in her mouth.

Brothers & Sisters......

....find joy in tormenting each other.


....express love despite the recent argument.


.....often risk getting into trouble to feel the rush of adventure.


..... sometimes remember they are each others best snuggling buddies.


..... may appease their mothers for some kind of sugary treat.


...... will hopefully remember that after all of the squabbles, name calling, ugly looks and bitterness they will always be connected by love. I hope they remember the good more than the bad. The happy times of respect, truthfulness, and the joy of being there for each other. I hope they remember that hurtful words cut deep and are often regretted the moment they are spoken. That without each other, life would be not as much fun nor fulfilling. Because, and I am sure any mother would agree, belly aching laughter sounds so much sweeter than uncontrollable sobbing .
I only hope.

Sleeping Beauty

Since buying this, she has been sleeping through the night. The nap nanny helps with her reflux and congestion. She always use to wake up through out the night and was covered with milk but since the nap nanny she sleeps through the night without spitting up. Worth every penny!

Lexie's 4 months.

Yes, our little girl has already been with us for 4 months. The time is just racing by and I am running to keep up. I feel like one month of my pregnancy was equivalent to her 4 months here. It is so easy to have her around because she is so mellow. Don't get me wrong, she will let us know when she is ready to eat but other than that she loves to watch and observe till she falls asleep again. It is wonderful watching her develop her own little personality with her likes and dislikes. She continues to amaze Eric and I and we know it will only get better. She now weighs 11.68 lbs and is 22.8 inches long. She is able to track things with her eyes and lights up whenever the lights on her bouncer turn on or whenever Gracie talks to her. I love watching how motherly Gracie is towards her. She will be a good momma one day. Whenever Lexie can't find her bottle which she is pretty good at recognizing now, she will either put her hands in her mouth or try to bring my fingers to her mouth. Also, I don't know if she is afraid that we will pull the bottle out of her mouth too soon because she has now started to hold onto it while she eats. I will let her hold it for a couple of minutes but then she will get too relaxed and will need my help.

She is getting so big, it scares me. Just recently I had to switch her to size 2 diapers and was just remembering how the preemies looked huge on her. She is an active sleeper and will move from the top to the bottom within a couple of hours. So I am thinking about moving her into her own room because the bassinet is not long enough for her. It is heart wrenching because she is so fragile but is still growing like any child would. But it also hurts because she is my last baby. The bassinet will be put away and I will only have memories of 2 am feedings and the quite breathing of a baby laying next to me. To know that I will never hold one of my own newborns again is really sad....but that's okay because Ethan said he would rather live with me forever than have a wife and kids. We'll see if he feels that way as a teenage boy.

Could be twins!

My friend Stefanie suggested this because she has known Gracie since she was baby and is sure that Lexie looked exactly like her sister. After looking at the pictures, I have to agree.

Gracie
Lexie

Heart Warming Smile

Pink I

This week we have had the pleasure of housing this little known eye infection called Pink Eye. Gracie was the first to succumb to it and then it was Ethan. Basically, we hunkered down for one week with no one going or coming in. My little ones are always on the go, so to be stuck in the house for a week was torture. We couldn't even go outside because it has been raining all week. So in order to keep them entertained we have been doing a lot of crafts, puzzles, and pretend play. Below is a video and some pictures from our camcorder. For one of our crafts, I thought it was fitting to do the letter "I" with Ice cream. So we made the cone into a letter "I" and added some yellow ice cream with sprinkles.

If any one is interested, the website that I get some of my crafts from is called No time for Flashcards. I am always on the search for new crafts and educational ideas. I came across the website about six months ago and I absolutely love it. Ethan is not a "flash card" kind of kid so I am always in search of things that are unique and will keep his attention. Ethan and I have always done crafts and usually it was done during Gracie's nap time but lately she has been joining us. Which has been really great because she just needs to do one craft and will know the letter from that point on. I will have to videotape her because it is just amazing to watch her. She is one smart cookie!

Poor buddy with his pink eye and his letter "I"

She lost her composure during the craft and needed some time to herself.

She was able to calm down and got back to business.

No pictures, but a video!

I ran across this and can't believe I forgot to post this. It was taken when Eric's grandparents were visiting

Eye Doctor

Last week Lexie had a appointment with the eye doctor. Her doctor, Dr. Schatz is a Neuro- Optometrist and I was really excited about meeting her because her clients are mostly children with neurological impediments. She only visits Wilford Hall once a month so we had to be there really early to see her. Thankfully, Lexie is a 'go with the flow' kind of gal so she didn't mind the early wake-up call. As soon as we got there they tried to do a eye exam but Lexie just wouldn't hold still. She kept turning away from the light, I had to hold her down and the doctor had to hold her face in one direction and then try to look with the scope on the other hand. After that they dilated her eyes and we waited for about 15 minutes and then we tried again with another exam. For such a little girl she can really be quite difficult about staying still. I am sure any person walking by would of laughed because it took two grown woman to hold down such a tiny baby. She didn't like the doctor looking in her eye and would push the scope away. I even had a hard time holding her down. It took the doctor a couple tries just to look in each eye. However, after all that, the doctor thinks that she has a perfect set of eyes and doesn't feel that her eyesight is in any way affected by the hyrdo. She looked at Lexie's CT scan and feels that everything in her brain that deals with her sight is right where it should be and not damaged. She even said that in children who have hydrocephalus, they often cannot move their eyes to the outer corner of their eye, it is either mid line or it sits in the inner part of their eye. Lexie's eyes go from one direction to the other just fine. Needless to say, that was a great day!

I guess everyone doesn't celebrate Easter?

I would love to be able to show you the pictures of my kiddos on Easter but thanks to the person who broke into our car and took our camera. I will not be able to show you how adorable our kiddos looked. My girls looked gorgeous in their matching dresses while Ethan wore a solid color shirt to match his sisters. I can't show you those special pictures of them running with other kiddos looking for all of the hidden eggs or how adorable Gracie looked with chocolate all over her cheeks.

Thankfully, it was only one day worth of pictures that was on the memory card and even though they ruined my door and window they did not take our GPS that was in plain view but opted for the hidden camera. Eric knows that I feel naked without my camera so he has began his research to find another.

I think the thing that annoyed me the most was that I had to explain to my four year old that people do bad things because some times they are just bad people. He had the hardest time wrapping it around his little innocent head that someone would do such a horrible thing. The whole way home he couldn't talk about anything else. He asked if they were going to come to our house and take more stuff. That day, my baby realized that he doesn't live in the perfect world that he always known. We have always told Ethan about strangers and bad people but that day it became a reality and a lesson.