Terrable Two's here we come...

On Friday Ivy turned 2!!! She was running a fever when she woke up so she stayed home with Ezra and I, but by the days end she was feeling much better.

We just did a celebration with the family, seeing as how everone had been sick. We had planned to go to the circus, and then deceided to postpone our trip untill later in the weekend so that everyone had a chance to feel better. We fixed pizza rolls, chicken nuggets, and pig in the blankets for dinner and had cake. Ivy had this crown that she had carried around off and on all day, and when we said she could open presents she grabbed it and put it on and sat on the floor next to her gifts so proud. She knew that the day was for her and she was ready. We are going to try to go the the circus on Sunday, I think she will get a kick out of the clowns.

Ezra's 6!!!

It's hard to believe that my baby is 6 yr old... For me it was harder for Ezra to turn 6 than it was to leave Avangeline at day care for the 1st time. Time just flies! Ezra really enjoyed his day. Since it fell on a Saturday this year we had a few little boys over for a play date. Aiden from church and Trenton from school came to play from 10-2. As crazy as this could have been they were very mild mannered. They all played well together, and even included Olivet. We ordered Pizza for lunch and then blew out candles on his cake.

Grandma and Grandpa Thomas as well as Melissa and Hailey stopped by to wish him a happy day. Ezra and dad made Monster cookies for him to take to school. He took them on the Tuesday before his birthday, since Valentines day was on Thursday and he did not have school on Friday. They were very good, and they enjoyed making them together. He wanted me to bring them to school for him so that he did not have to take them on the bus, but when I showed up he did not even get out of his seat. It is so weird to learn all of the new mom rules when we have school and friends. I guess it will only get worse. But we will figure it out together.

Happy Valentine's day!

We had lots of fun on Valentines, Jason and I do not "celebrate" we both know that we love each other every other day of the year so the expense of the day is something we avoid. We do always try to make it fun for the kids. I have always gone the the dollar store to get them each a balloon, do something fun with the table, and make a meal they will enjoy. They think it is a blast. Grandma's usually take care of the gifts, as they come in the mail I save them up and put them all at there places on the table so they have a stack. Avangeline was not feeling the day, she even had on her cute love shirt, but I could not get a happy picture, this was the best one. Ezra was super excited he won the contence of the estimation jar for that week. Mrs Switzky had put 203 candy hearts in the jar and his guess was the closest at 105. He was so proud. He came home and told me that there were 202 in the bag because had eaten one on the bus, he was keeping track of them for a while, "now there is 200 in the bag..."

Back to work

I went back to work on Wed the 13th, it was not really that bad... Pam has a family picture for each kids first day in her care. So we all loaded up and headed over to see Avangeline off. She did really well, I think she fits in real well over there. Joe loves to hold the babies so she eating that up.

Jason was so thoughtful he sent me roses to brighten up my desk. With it being the day before valentines, he had to convince the lady at the flower shop that he truly wanted them to be delivered on Wednesday and not Thursday. It was a very nice surprise. I have the most wonderful husband!!! Speaking of I had planned on only working half days for that first week back, and discovered that I had a meeting in Wichita on Friday. I had also scheduled Dr appointments for all of the kids to get there annual check ups. So Jason volunteered to take the day off and get all of the kids to see the Dr. He did an excellent job! The nurses were all very impressed. I know this because in the week following everyone in the family has been sick and we have been talking to them on a daily basis. I think we are all on the mend... I thought that Avangeline and I were going to be in the clear, but we both started running a temp last night. Her fever is gone this morning, and mine is down with Tylenol. Please pray that this is the light at the end of the tunnel.

Snow day

We woke up yesterday to 7+ inches of snow! Ezra's school called to let us know that he would be out, and I walked back into the bedroom to let Jason know and he said that he was off as well. So we all hung around the house. Jason talked to mom and she told him to have the kids build a snowman and take a picture. After naps and letting the sun get good and warm we deceided to head over to grandma's house and build her snowman in her yard.

Ezra loves to play in the snow so he was rolling around on the ground and throwing snow balls. Olivet is a little priss and she started crying 5 min later because she had snow in her shirt and needed a towl. We got her calmed down, and dad helped her make her own snow ball. It was a good snow ball because it never broke, she would throw it and then go get it to throw again. I don't know how he made such a good snow ball because we were not sure that it would be possible to make a snowman. The snow had blown so much that is was very dry and we could not get it to stick together. Ivy was too funny! She would walk out a ways and then just stand there in the snow, after a while she would get sick of the scenery and holler "I stuck, I stuck." So one of us would go and get her and move her to a different spot till she got sick of being there and we would move her again.

Jason did manage to find a small patch of snow that we could get to stick together. The snowman happened after all. The kids had a good time making him come to life, we used a carrot for his nose and eyes, and rocks for his mouth and sticks for arms. Grandma called when she got home, she did enjoy the suprise. When we got home Dad made us all hot chocolate to warm up. Then I made chicken noodle soup, just seemed like a good meal to have on a cold snow day.

Wednesday was suppose to be Ezra's 100th day of kindergarden, so that moved it till today. It sounds like they had quite a celebration. He came home with a crown and a necklace. They hunted candy kisses, each had a number on the bottom. He said they could not find #52.

I took Avangeline for her weigh in and she is 8lb 6.7 oz so she gain a little over 2oz the last 3 days. Keep it up girl!!! Just a few more days and then Pam can fatten her up...

Super weekend, and Girls Day

We had a fun weekend at home playing with dad. We stayed in all most of the time although we did go to the mall so that Jason could try on a new jacket for work that they are having the company logo added to. While he was doing that the kids and I hung out in the play center that they have there in the mall. It was jam packed! And kids are quite crazy in there, and parents don't seem to care. One boy was getting pretty rough and went so far as to take his shirt off. Now my kids love to take there clothes off, matter of fact it is the first thing they do as soon as we get home, but you have to draw the line when you are out in public. I was having a hard time keeping track of all of my kids, they didn't play together, so that made it interesting. I was glad when Jason returned and I went out to find a quiet bench to feed Avangeline on.

There was also a merry-go-round outside of the play area, so after they got there shoes back on Dad gave them all a ride. It is very strange how people look at us when we go out into public, I guess not many people have as many kids anymore. It doesn't help that there is always one that can't seem to keep from screaming. Ivy was the culprit this trip. All the way through the mall untill we got to the play ground she screamed, threw herself on the ground, moped behind all the rest of us, refused to ride the stroller, and demanded that she be the one to hold the drink we got for everyone to share. And we always said she was our sweet child. I guess she is turning 2 and we have never really experenced "terrable 2's", we alwas said that 3 was worse than 2, we may be taking that back... She also has deceided that she is not done beeing the baby. Anything the baby does, she wants to do. She want's to have a pacifier now, last weekend when she had her ear infection it keeped her calm and she did not fuss when she had it so I let her be. Now she will walk around crying, "sucky, sucky", I am sure it is just one of those regression things that kids go through when the new baby arives, I'm just glad that it is not potty training.

On Sunday we did our own little supper bowl party. We made a bunch of junk food, and just let the kids sit at the table and pig out. We did our share of pigging out as well, but the kids thought it was great. Ezra and Olivet made Pig in the blankets. They were gormay! They put cheese inside the hotdog and then rapped them in cressent rolls. I explained to Jason that when we had pig in the blanket as kids they were made with refigerator biscits, and there was no cheese. The ones they made were so much better. I may just make them for dinner some night, I liked them so much. Jason was so pleased with the outcome of the game, he has been a Patriots hater for a long time. I think it was the first year that I watched the entire game, so it must have been exciting.

Monday, was very uneventfull.... I did take Avangeline to be weighed again, and she was 8lb 4.4oz so she gained 2.4 ozs and they were pleased. We are suppose to return again today, but I don't think we will make it.

On Tuesday I deceided to keep Ivy home with me, just so that she could have some alone time. She managed to pull all of the wipes out of the box, first thing while I was nursing Avangeline so I questioned my decision right off the bat. We watched Ezra get on the bus, and took Olivet to school. Then we played at the house untill it was time to go back to get Olivet. I really think Ivy enjoyed being alone with mom... Or as alone as you can be when Avangeline is always there. After we picked up Olivet we went and had lunch with Dad. He was setting fictures in a new house, Olivet was confused as to why daddy was at a house and not at work. There was no carpet laid yet and so the girls had a blast stomping around the house.

I was supprised that with all of the excitement they actually ate their lunch.

So after lunch and a little more running around Jason's boss called him and we were busted... The girls were so loud that he could hardly hear, his boss wanted to know what in the world was going on. So I quickly loaded them up and took them home. Jason did not get in any trouble, he is mandated to take a 1/2 hr lunch, but that was a good reason for us to go home. They ran off enough energy that they all took good naps when we got home.
They got up in time to watch Ezra get off the bus.

Then last night we went to open house at Ezra's school. They were having a chillie feed, so we ate dinner and saw Ezra's room and all of the projects they have been working on. He has a beautiful sunflower that he painted, so we may have to frame it to add to Grandma's collection. After we has seen all we came to see, Ezra walked through the entire school checking out room after room. It was like he said "Well it's open house..." I wondered if he had ever had an opporunity to see the rest of the building.

8lbs 2oz

We went to the breastfeeding clinic today to hold up our end of the deal with the Dr, and Avangeline has gained 6oz since Monday. Can't beat that!!! They wanted to know what we were doing, and when I told them that we were keeping status quo they seemed baffeled. We have deceided that she got Studer jeans and is going to be skinny. As you can tell from the picture she is a happy little girl. We got our smile and she flashes it often. We have not got a full on grin yet, but you can sure see the happy on her face. The big kids stayed with Pam and had lunch while I took her to be weighed. Ezra did not have school today do to teacher training. He is out a lot this month, he even gets a 4 day weekend for his birthday. Any of us would think that was cool, but with his birthday being on a Saturday it kind of screws up treats at school. When I returned to pick them back up we stayed for a while so that Pam and Joe could love on the Baby. It won't be long before she is staying with them full time. I have to go back to work on the 13th, I have so enjoyed my time off with her and am not looking forward to going back very bad. I just don't know that I like my job anymore... But who really wants to go to work everyday anyhow? I guess I'll just have to suck it up.

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