Get Well Soon Emma!

Emma - we know how much ice cream you have had to eat these last few days after your tonsil surgery and thought maybe you are getting tired of it (Ha!). So we wanted to make sure you don't feel like your in this alone (although I am sure your brothers and sister are helping you). So we all had ice cream after supper the past two nights in honor of you!! Even your non-sweets eating Uncle Todd. Hope you are feeling better and enjoy this while it last...real food is back on it's way :-)!!

Love,

Uncle Todd, Aunt Tracy, Alyssa and Aiden

AGH, The Giant

When we go into Alyssa's room to play with her castle, Aiden is constantly trying to pull it over. Luckily is is big enough that he can't, but he grabs all the princesses and tries to eat them, etc. Did I mention he is now crawling...well army crawling anyways. Life is suddenly much harder around here :-0!! So Alyssa has named him the giant when we are playing "castle". Todd thought he would be much more Giant like if he was scaling the building. So there it is!! Then Alyssa in the most high pitched squealing voice yells "AGHH, the giant. Run Cinderella!!" It's cute and Aiden will giggle the whole time.

On the princess notes, Alyssa talks on her princess cell phone to Cinderella a lot...here is her latest conversation (she pauses after each sentence as she waits to hear what Cinderella says):

"Oh Hi Cinderella, what you doin? Yes, yes. What's your problem, why you crying? Oh you lost your glass slipper? It OK, the prince have it. It OK, go to the castle Cinderella. The prince have your slipper. OK. Goodbye Cinderella."

We are definitely in the mist of imagination these days, I Love it!!

Crazy Dog

The other day Alyssa was walking down the stairs and Demi decided to go down too, right past her. There is a "rule" in our house that Demi isn't allowed to go up or down the stairs when people are on them (he is an 80 pound Doberman after all). And quite frankly he is usually really good about it. So when he did it Alyssa yelled "Crazy Dog!!" and Todd (who was right behind Alyssa) immediately yelled at him. Apparently Alyssa thought she must also correct him, it went something like this:

Alyssa: "Pup Pup, you crazy dog. Look me in the eyes (holding his head in her hands so he will look in her eyes), now look at me pup. No go down the stairs people on the stairs, you crack my head open, you crack your head open. No go down stairs, you hear me?"
Todd: "Alyssa, I already corrected him"
Alyssa: "I corrected him, pup pup come here"
Repeat entire above conversation twice.

I was sitting on the playroom floor watching with Aiden and trying not to laugh. She was so serious and trying to explain to a dog why what he did was dangerous (they could have cracked their heads open, guess we have said that about the stairs a time or two). Now she finally knows how it feels to talk to someone you think is completely not paying attention to you. However, she did know what to do to make him listen. Perhaps she does learn a few things from us.

Summer Means...

Eating lunch outside,

Frogs,

Bigger frogs,

Cruising in the Jeep (this pic cracks me up as she looks like she is on a serious mission...in our backyard)

Slides,

Swings (with sun in eyes),

Demi trying to catch a fly in the house, Aiden watching closely. Too bad he never catches them,

But Alyssa catches bugs in the house,

And drops them,

And then lets them go outside (she did not get that from me),

Random naps,

And restful sleep,

Ok this is just a cute picture...

And this was just sweet!!

I apologize for my ignorance in not making this a slide show, but I didn't think of it until I had most of the pictures downloaded.

Have a great rest of the summer, I will add to this as ours continues!

-Tracy

Happy Father's Day!

I know we don't Thank You enough for all you do for us, so Thank You for (in no particular order):

-Working a crazy number of hours to help allow me to stay home with our children.

-Going on no sleep just to spend more time with us.

-Doing extra projects around the house ...painting, painting, painting.

-Going grocery shopping after work so the kids don't have to go with me.

-Taking Alyssa to the store with you to give me a

break :-)

-Mopping the floor when Alyssa spills her milk again!

-Going to the mall with us so I can try on clothes without trying to get 2 littles ones in a double stroller into the dressing room with me.

-Running and playing crazy games with Alyssa (and soon Aiden).

-Picking up the dog's poop...Again!

-Staying up all night with Alyssa when she had the stomach flu so I could get some sleep to take care of her the next day.

-Loving all of us uncondtionally.

-For being the most loving Husband and wonderful Father!!!

-There is sooo much more...

Have a Wonderful Father's Day Honey!!!

We Love you so much,

Mommy, Squeaks and Little Man

Hocus Pocus VooDoo Mumble Jumble

This is what Todd called it, I was just hoping it would work. Those of you that see Aiden on a regular basis (Quite frankly all that have ever seen him), know how terrible his left eye has looked due to his clogged tear duct. I tried to find a "before" picture but since I was constantly cleaning his eye they don't look bad in pics. Anyways lately it has gotten real bad. Always draining yellow goop, tearing, matted shut after every nap / night and of course from all the warm compresses and wiping it always looked like he had a shiner. We were at the Chiropractor last week (Yes all four of us get adjusted once a month) and Aiden's eye looked especially bad. So they said the other Doc in their office does some homeopathic stuff that could possibly open the duct. I thought Great, maybe we can avoid surgery!! So I took him to the appointment by myself and the Dr looked at his eyes and ears and discussed with me some different homeopathic drops and pills he thought may work. This is the point where he says "let's see which ones his body has a connection with". Me thinking "WHAT?". So I have Aiden on my lap and he has me put my arm straight out so he can put counter pressure on it. Then he gives Aiden these glass bottles with the "stuff" in them to hold and feels around Aiden's face apparently sensing the connection. He does this with 5 or 6 bottles and shows me the 2 that had strong connections. Since I completely trust our Chiropractor and have been going to him for 5 years (both kids have been going since they each turned 4 weeks old - he helped my migraines tremendously and I truly believe he helped Alyssa to get off her reflux meds when she was a baby), I decided to trust his partner and give this a try. So $68.00 later I left the office with my concoctions to mix in Aiden's food twice a day. Well that was last Friday (one week ago) and I haven't so much as wiped Aiden's eye since Monday...WOW. It worked and rather quickly I think!! Check out his picture, we tease and ask him if the world looks differently through two clear eyes.

I want to add that I mean NO disrespect with this post and the description of the appointment. I had never been to a Doctor like this before and honestly didn't know what to expect. So needless to say a few things caught me off guard.

Now the only issue I have with Aiden is his obsession to wear this same shirt ALL the time. Seriously, I barely get it washed and he is picking it out to wear again and again. I should have known this would happend when he demanded I buy it when he saw it at the store. Oh Well, pick your battles I always say ;-)

Have a Great Sunny Weekend!!

Tracy

No More Paint

So the painting is officially done, we did a light blue and chocolate brown in our bedroom (2 walls of each color). I think this room truly did Todd in. You may notice the new crown moulding I got as well...this is due to the chocolate color, apparently is was like pudding going on. That meant it tried to place itself on the ceiling, and forget butting it up to the light brown corners. Once he was done painting he then had to put up crown moulding...I am glad he is so talented!! So Todd said this was it, no more painting...ever! I of course was wondering about the crown moulding and said "so if we want to paint again, like in 10 years (trying to play it safe), can we still paint around the moulding and corner trim? (Of course all these we's mean Todd). He said "If you want new colors...we will move". Guess that means he's serious. We may just hire a painter for the first time in our married life if I need a change, in any room :-) !!

So there it is...I am still unsure on how much I actually like the comforter and curtains. But since I bought them on eBay (Shocking I know) it's a pain to return so I will just let them grow on me! And we haven't done any wall decor yet either. I will have to say in the end it was all worth it, I love the way the colors turned out! I believe the only thing left on his list is to extend the patio on the right for the grill. (Yes, we did a huge extension to the left last year).

Zoo

So we finally made it to the zoo before Todd has to go back to work. The weather hasn't been the best this weekend. We wanted to go to "The Big Zoo", but thanks to a minor back injury I didn't think I could make it. I hurt my back about a week and a half ago, but it has only been hurting on and off...until yesterday. Then this morning I could barely get little man out of the crib (FYI, there will be NO more pilates for me!). So after a stop at the Chiropractor's office this morning, we went to the local zoo and park. Which is just as exciting if you ask me...there are geese to feed, a small petting zoo, monkeys, otters, lynx, a water area, and it's all FREE, oh and a train that cost the whole family $2.50!! You can take a picnic lunch, do everything AND be home just in time for naps!! The only complaint from Alyssa was she didn't get to see any seals (she saw some on TV the other day and has been talking about them since). But as you can see by the pictures, she had fun anyways.

Feeding the ducks / geese.

Posing with the ladybug.

She thought this chicken was "So Cute!"

Hugging (yes actually hugging) a billy goat. She kept telling Todd "This my baby, got to take my baby home."

Taking a rest.

I opted against taking Aiden into the petting area. I didn't feel the need to scrape random animal poop off each stroller wheel. Instead the miniature pony came over to see him...Aiden liked him too.

Well, maybe he didn't like him that much! Don't know if you can tell, but he is screaming his head off now. Actually we took this as a sign that it was time to leave. We were all hot, tired and ready!

Have a great Monday!!

Tracy

Friday Fill In

I stole this from my Cousin's Blog, feel free to do the same!

(My fill ins are bold)

1. On my laziest day I like to wake up late, have breakfast served to me in bed, sit outside and read (the children would take care of themselves, right?), nap, take a bath (do people still do that?), lay in bed to watch TV and fall asleep.

2. Getting all the laundry done makes me wonder whose basket I forgot to empty.

3. I love little voices and big hugs.

4. This summer I want to spend as much time outdoors with the kids as we can, and of course go on a small vacation (small because next year is DISNEY!).

5. Many friends / Family with blogs made me start my blog.

6. Red toenails and orange (sorry can't think of a orange thing).

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I put my bedroom back together (pics coming soon), tomorrow spending the day with Todd and the kids, I am thinking park / zoo (he is off until Wednesday!)... and Sunday, Church and friends over to cook out in evening.

Have a Great Weekend!

Tracy

New Paint

Here are the pictures of Alyssa's new pink room...she Loves it. The first night we heard her out of bed saying "Daddy you need to keep going". Todd went in there and she was pointing to the top part of the wall, wanting it pink too. (For the record I also want it all pink, but a very pale pink on top). Todd said he is absolutely done, it would be a pain to take down the border and work around the chair rail again!

Just for kicks, any other votes for more pink??

Here is the laundry room he did yesterday. The room is so very small, so I hope you can tell the color in one of the pictures. I really like it!

Only one room to go...the master, and I think he is going to start priming it today. So be on the lookout for one more new paint post!!

Have a great day!

Chocolate Chip? Cookies

Alyssa and I made chocolate chip cookies last night to pass time while Todd finished wiring the garage (he's done out there - yeah!!). The last cookie I scooped out didn't have any chocolate chips in it...I have no idea how that happened ;-).


So today after lunch Alyssa asked for a cookie, so I gave her the chocolate chip free one. In the above picture she is saying "Mommy, I can't like this one, I like chocolate chips."


Fortunately for me, Aiden didn't care that there were no chocolate chips in his. OK, I only gave it to him for the picture, but I did give him a few small bites. Is it just me, or do a lot of rules fly out the window with your second? Please humor me and agree!!

When Daddy Sleeps...

Since Daddy was up painting Alyssa's room Friday, he slept through supper. What do the girls have for supper when Daddy sleeps? S'more sandwiches!! These were a favorite of mine when I was in college. In case you don't know what they are: Peanut Butter, chocolate chips and marshmallows on bread, cooked in the Toastmaster so it all melts together in a gooey mess. Alyssa's isn't as gooey because I refrained from saturating her bread with each ingredient like I do mine (I should have taken a picture of mine...YUM)! Anyways, I think this is only the second time Alyssa has had one in her life. My only problem was explaining to her that she didn't need cake for dessert even though she cleaned her plate (we settled on some animal crackers).

After supper Alyssa caught her first butterfly!! OK, it was on the brick on the front of our house so it sort of just went into her net. She was very excited though!

Oh, one other thing: A wise man (my Dad) told me the baby bunnies are probably already in the nest and that is why the Momma is just sitting by her nest...Hmmmm.

Have a Great Week!!

Tracy