It's That Time Again

Yes, it's pageant time again! Kaylyn was beautiful and did great! She always has a fun time on pageant day. Me, I'm exhausted and glad it's over! Here are a few pics. Enjoy! (as usual my camera hates the lights and refuses to cooperate....or it could be the operator!)

Slumber Party!

The snow finally stopped around 2:30 on Friday and we decided to have Kaylyn's slumber party for her birthday as scheduled...the girls would just need to come earlier, before there was ice on the roads. Kaylyn was so happy! She had been talking about and planning her party for weeks! We ended up having 3 of her friends over and they had the best time. Let's just say my quaint little home was very lively that night! I was privileged enough to overhear (you know, because they don't talk very quietly at 2:00 am) some very interesting conversations...mainly about..dum-da-dum-dum....BOYS. And so it begins. Ugggghhh!

Playing Twister-Hopscotch

Feeding time at the zoo!

The cake. Kaylyn picked it out herself.

Presents, Presents, Presents!

No cell phone included. Yes, she's still on the cell phone kick. I can assure you there will be NO cell phone in her near future.

Snow Day...FINALLY!!

The Weather Man finally got it right! We got around 2 inches of snow Friday, which was plenty for the kids to play in, and was gone by mid-morning on Saturday....just the way I like it! The following two pictures were taken when the snow had just started.

This little girl got snow on her birthday! However, she wasn't too happy about it. She had a slumber party planned for Friday night and we thought we may need to reschedule the party due to the snow. In the end we did get to have the party, but she was so unhappy about the snow all day! She only played in it for a little while and then locked herself in her room and refused to come out to play. I think she thought if she gave the snow the "cold shoulder" it would go away! No such luck!

This guy had himself a good 'ol time! After I finally got him bundled up, (he hates wearing his coveralls for some reason) he played in the snow for hours! He didn't care how cold or wet he got. He just kept playing until he was completely worn out.

This picture was taken about 2 hours after the snow had started coming down.

I think he was still crying over having to wear his coveralls in this picture.

The fuss didn't last long!

One of the very few minutes playing in the snow.

Pouting about the snow.

Making snowballs.

Gathering snow for snowcream.

I had to leave to go pick up Kaylyn's birthday cake. This was a picture of my drive. BTW, Walmart was crazy that day. I'm talking worse than Christmas shopping! I was lucky to make it out of the place in one piece!

The beginnings of a snowman or one very large snowball! He decided to give up on the snowman after a little while.

About to plaster Mama with a snowball!

One happy little man and one pouty little girl! She did get happier once the snow stopped and we knew we would be able to have her slumber party that night, but she really wasn't too impressed with the snow. She said she didn't like being cold and wet! Can't say I blame her!

9 years ago...

....this little girl entered the world and I became known as Mama.

Now, 9 years later, and the blink of an eye, this sweet, little baby girl has gone from this...


....to this...


...and this...

...and this...



and THIS....

...and finally this.

Happy Birthday Baby Girl!!

Luke's Valentine

Luke made this card at school today. I thought it was very cute! Can you tell he made it all by himself???

In other news, Luke has started doing math in school now. This was the conversation on the way home from school today:

Luke: "I had a good day today, I didn't get in trouble!!!
Me: "Good news! What did you do at school today?"
Luke: "We did our 'plus'.' I like doing plus'!
Me: "You like 'plus'?' What is 2 + 2?"
Luke: "I don't know. We don't do hard plus'! Duh!"
Me: "Sorry....my bad..."

Eye Doctor.....Take Two...

Last week Kaylyn got to experience a trip to the eye doctor for the first time....complete with eye dilation. (YUCK!) She was a trooper though and did great. We also got great news...NO GLASSES NEEDED!! Yay!!

Happy Birthday to Me and Farewell G. Poe!

Yesterday was my birthday. I had the best day, despite the dreary weather. I got to sleep late (quite possibly the best gift ever!), spent the day with my kids, who were on their best behavior (I told them the only thing I wanted for my birthday was a day without sibling bickering!), got my hair done, then Chris and I went to the Macaroni Grill for G. Poe's official farewell bash.Me and G. Poe. She is retiring and moving to Virginia to be with her husband. I will miss her SO much!
Gen and Ken

The ER crew

The kids were so well behaved throughout the evening

The cake....Genelle's famous saying was "Ohhhh My!" She said it over everything. A parent comes to triage with some crazy complaint, G. Poe's response, "Oh my..." Some shocking information is revealed, G. Poe's response, "Oh my..." Her expression will stick around the ER for many years to come.
Our going away gift to her was a scrapbook of all her years in the ER. She loved it!

See, I've Always Known...

....I would be a nurse when I grew up! My grandmother found this picture of me taken circa 1983. I was around 5 years old showing off my nurse costume, rockin' the Florence Nightingale cape. Check out the groovy sofa in the background!

House - O - Sickies!

For the past week I've been living in a house full of sickies.

It all started at 3:00 am Wednesday morning when I was awakened from my blissful dreams by those dreaded words every mom hates to hear, "Maaaaammaaaa, I just threw up and didn't make it to the bathroom." Lovely. I stagger out of bed, making my way to the child who had made the announcement, only to hear the sound of (more) splattering on the hardwood flooring. I make my way to Kaylyn's room and see that she is indeed the child who has gotten sick and is walking as she proceeds to empty her gastric contents, leaving several messes which now have to be cleaned up. Let's stop right here for a moment. Why do kids insist on getting sick one place, walking a few steps, only to get sick again, creating multiple messes? Just drives me up a wall!

The stomach bug that had invaded my house stuck around for two days. Luckily Kaylyn was the only one affected by the bug. Let's move on to Friday morning. Kaylyn is feeling better. I can now return to work. My alarm goes off at 4:45, signaling it's time for me to get out of bed and get ready for work. As I drag myself out of my nice, warm bed, I notice there is not one part of my body that is not aching, my head is pounding, and I have chin-chattering chills. I take a dose of Motrin and make my way to the shower. Surely a hot shower will make me feel better. Wrong. I give myself a self-diagnosis of the the flu. Fan-freakin-tastic! By this time, it's 5:30 and too late for me to call in to work.

I dose myself with all the over-the-counter meds I can find in the cabinet and head to work. I work my shift and come home and go straight to bed, hoping to feel better the next morning. No such luck. It is now Monday night and I finally feel like I can return to the land of the living.

Luke somehow managed to escape contracting either of the bugs that have invaded my home, which is a good thing. However, he has been off-the-hook needy for the past few days. Seriously, every 10 minutes he was knocking on the bedroom door requesting one thing or another. He just couldn't understand that I was trying to keep from breathing on him in hopes of keeping him from getting sick. Chris has been working crazy shifts so we didn't see him but a few minutes here and there all week, so even dad couldn't keep Luke occupied. I've decided, the next time I get sick, everyone has to be sick! We can all be miserable together!

Hopefully all the bugs have left my home and will not return any time soon!

Monster Jams!

CraneWorks was one of the sponsor's for the Monster Jams this past weekend, so Chris was given some passes to this event. Of course Luke was thrilled to be there. It's all he's talked about ALL.WEEK.LONG. He has all of the trucks and LOVES the big monster trucks. Kaylyn was just kinda-sorta excited and just happy to get out of the house after being trapped inside by the frigid cold temperatures. The show turned out pretty good, but COLD and LOUD inside the arena. I guess they had to open the doors and vents in order to let the exhaust fumes and dust out. Anyway, it was cold inside and I was glad I made the kids wear their thermals under their clothes. I, on the other hand, opted to not wear my thermal, but I was warm sitting there with my big coat, boggin, gloves, and Ugg boots!

He was just happy to be there!

Of course the winner was GraveDigger. I don't know the first thing about any of these trucks, but I do know that I hear the name "GraveDigger" all the time, so he must be one of the big names in the Monster truck world!

Our Big Snow...

This is it?? So the 1-3 inches of snow didn't happen. Somehow that seems a bit unfair since we've had to endure bitter cold temperatures for so long. I mean...really...is a mere inch of snow too much to ask??

I guess I really shouldn't complain too much. I had to work Thursday and Friday (did the picture of the "Emergency" sign give that away?) and if the 1-3 inches of snow had really occurred, there was a good chance I would have been stuck at work, which would not have been fun. My kids sure were disappointed about the lack of snow. I guess we're going to have to travel north in order for them to get to play in the snow!