Surprise Visitor!

Friday morning Garrett and I still weren't feeling supper great.  I decided to get us out of the house.  I had a coupon for Joanne's and I needed a few things to get working on some projects.  I called my Mom and we meet up with her at the store.  Garrett was not thrilled about going, I could tell he didn't feel well still but he was happy to see Grandma.  We did our shopping and then went over to their house to visit for a short while. 

 

That night JJ really wanted to get out of the house and go somewhere new! We had some birthday shopping to do and we had all been stuck in the house all week.  I went along with it even though we still were not feeling hot and we usually stay home on Friday nights to watch a movie together.  JJ decided he wanted to go to The Galleria, a mall about 40 minutes from where we live.  So we went, and it was really frustrating.  It is a fancier mall and I grew more disappointed as we went into more stores to find things that cost to much money.  We thought about getting a small treat, also not a fan of since Garrett and I didn't feel well.  We then decided to leave. Tired, and frustrated we decided to go to Burger King across the street to see if we could get the kids a shake or something. JJ missed the turn and said oh well we will look for something different.  He then missed the turn for the highway, oh well he would just have to turn around.  When you miss the exit you then just have to go turn around pretty much at the airport.  We pulled into the airport and JJ starts looking at his phone.  I then kind of realized, we are here to pick someone up!! I was still kind of frustrated with the horrible shopping experience and I don't love surprises so I was getting upset at JJ. I just wanted to know what we were doing there and who was here to visit.  He didn't say anything! We finally got up close to the pick up area and I saw Cara! I was so happy to see her!  JJ had arranged the whole thing with Cara and had been planning this for months. It was such a wonderful surprise and I really was SO surprised! I was so happy to hear she would be with us for a couple of days.  I thought it was such a sweet thing for JJ to do for my Birthday.  I have been struggling to find great friends like I had when we lived in Southaven and I was so happy to have one of them here to do fun things with! We did stop by Sonic to get something for the kids before heading home.  Luckily JJ and Lucy picked up the house since I came home and started to sew some of my projects that afternoon.  I think JJ was a little worried when he got home and discovered I had been crafting and making a mess.

Sick!

 

Last week the whole house was struck with this horrible stomach bug! It all started with Lucy last weekend and it carried over for this whole week. Lucy stayed home from school on Monday and again on Tuesday.  I could tell her stomach was fine but she just had no appetite and then started to have horrible diarrhea.  I was really worried that she wouldn't even want anything to drink.  I was really feeling stuck at home, we were home all weekend and now I could tell my week wasn't looking promising. We kept busy and played games, read lots of book, painted, built block towers and just relaxed.

Some friends stopped by with cookies Monday night and it was nice to just see other people! Tuesday during the night Garrett woke up and was sick to his stomach several times through out the night. It was horrible and no one slept good! Luckily Tuesday JJ was off and I got up and went to the gym! I needed out! Since I normally take Garrett to the library on Tuesdays it was fun to try some other classes at the gym. I first went to Power Yoga and Pilate's and then decided to go ahead and just stay for the next class.  It was a Tabata workout and I then stayed for Core.  It was nice to just have several hours by myself at the gym doing fun classes.  I came home refreshed, exhausted, gross and starving! My stomach started to hurt on Tuesday and then Tuesday night it hit me and early Wednesday morning I started to throw up. Wednesday Lucy was better and headed to school while Garrett and I laid on the couches all day long! I called a friend in the neighborhood who has a little girl in Lucy's class and arranged for her to give Lucy a ride home after school so I didn't have to go wait for the bus.  JJ came home at lunch to check on us but we just seriously watched TV all day long and rested off and on. Thursday was a little better but then Garrett was struck with the horrible diarrhea.  I continued to just have a horrible stomach ache after eating.  Friday was a little better and we decided we were well enough to run a few errands.  We meet up with my Mom and then had a light lunch at their house. The sickness just hung around forever, and just when you felt better you would eat and get a horrible stomach ache.  I am so glad that we are all now healthy but it was a rough week of lots of not eating and sleepless nights of helping children.  I am so glad that JJ never got sick, he did have a dull stomach ache but it never turned into anything. With all the staying at home I was able to complete the blog book, got it down to 436 pages and I am almost done with Lucy's book for the year.  Hopefully spring will come soon and we will be healthy for a long time!

Lately

The kids love to play cars and it is funny to see some of the places they find on the house to set up their little houses.  The other day they were all under the kitchen table.  They have so much fun! I can't wait to have a little more space in our house.  I don't mind them playing in odd places it is just hard to walk around them sometimes.

I just bought these stack able organizers to put under the bathroom sinks in our new house and the kids love them.  Garrett thinks they are for him to play with.  As soon as Lucy got home he showed her the new "toys" and they have been playing with them ever since.  They are apartments and parking garages in their eyes.  I might just have to go buy a few more for them to play with.  They just love them.

 Lucy had dress up week last week with Dr. Seuss's birthday.  Thursday was trendy Thursday.  We fixed her hair in a messy bun, put on colored denim and she wore her boots.  I let her wear one of my necklaces that matched her purple outfit.  We thought she looked so cute.  Her day didn't end up being all that great.  JJ went to the bus stop to pick her up and the bus was 20 minutes late coming home.  As soon as she got off the bus JJ knew something was wrong.  Lucy's face can't hide anything.  She told him that the necklace broke and she was so nervous to tell me.  When they got home she told me that on the bus ride to school she unzipped her jacket and the necklace got caught in the zipper and broke.  All day I am sure she was so worried about breaking my necklace.  I really didn't care, it was cheap and I knew letting her wear it that it might not come home in one piece but I thought it would be special for her.  I feel so bad that all day she was so worried.  She also got invited to another birthday party that day for one of her friends and it was on Sunday (all the parties of her friends so far have been on Sundays).  She was so sad.  I felt bad that the whole day seemed to just be so disappointing for her.

 Friday night we thought it would be a special treat to order Pizza Hut pizza for dinner.  We never order pizza and so to make our movie night a little more fun we ordered pizza and I picked up some ice cream at the store.  JJ brought home our pizza and we enjoyed it and watched our family movie.  Last weekend we watched Beethoven and the kids loved it.  So this week we watched Beethoven 2nd. It was cute and the kids enjoyed it as well.  As we were going to bed Lucy came down and said she didn't feel well.  She said her throat hurt.  She got a drink and went back to bed.  That night she got up a couple of times and threw up.  Poor Lucy! She woke up sick on Saturday and just laid around the house.  She threw up several more times, she couldn't even keep down a couple sips of water.  We all just lounged around the house all day! We watched several movies and enjoyed sitting by the fire.  The whole day I think she was able to keep down 2 saltine crackers and a few sips of Gatorade. We all felt so sorry for her, she was miserable! I hate to see the kids sick.  

 Sunday morning Lucy woke up feeling better.  We headed to church as a family and then enjoyed another day of lounging around at home.  I really struggled with all this staying at home.  I need to get out of my house and it was hard for me! Saturday afternoon I did run a few errands but I just wanted to get out as a family and do something fun.  Garrett loves to be at home so he was in heaven and so does JJ.  Sunday was nice to be able to get out to church.  We made cookies in the afternoon and there was a lot of playing with Lincoln Logs and blocks. After dinner we played a game together and did some reading.  It was a nice weekend at home all together. 

 This morning Lucy woke up not feeling well again.  She is home from school, which she hates! I hope she can get some good rest today and feel better quickly!

February Story time

We had fun attending another fun month of story time at the library.  I was glad to hear that they are going to continue doing it every week through the month of May.  They always change out an activity at the table and this month they have had these fun blocks. Garrett loved playing with them all month.  I asked where they were from and they order them through some learning magazine. I was hoping I could find them online to order some but I guess not.  I love them because they are a hard rubber material.  Each week Garrett would play with them and try to make a tall tower.  We didn't even play with the train tables at all this month.

 With groundhog day they read stories about hedgehogs. We traced the kids hands and helped them cut them out to make this cute hedgehog. We glued green tissue paper at the bottom for grass.

 We read cute Valentines Day books and made a cute little Valentine bubble bee.  

 We read stories about filling peoples buckets with good behavior.  I am not sure the kids got the message but the stories were cute and they made these buckets and you can put the slips of paper into the bucket. 

This month Garrett has also become very clingy and wants to sit right by me.  Lately in general he is very attatched to me and JJ.  He went from running in and sitting in the very front of story time to not leaving my side.  I have sat with him a couple of times on the floor but now I just get a seat right by the carpet and he sits by my feet, or on my feet so I wont leave.

He was so proud of his tall tower and asked me to take a picture of it.  It was taller but it fell over and I wouldn't let him stand on the chair to rebuild it.

 The last story time was about stone making soup.  It was a cold rainy/snowy day and it was perfect to read books about making stone soup. It made us want to go home and make soup for lunch.

We had a fun time going to each story time and listening to some good books.  We are looking forward to what they have for us in March.

Magic House

After Tyler's birthday party we got dinner quickly and then headed to the Magic House.  The Magic House is the children's museum in St. Louis.  Our real estate company had a customer appreciation night and we were able to attend for free.  We were excited to take advantage of that since it is about $10 a person to get in.  We had a lot of fun spending a couple of hours exploring the whole place.  It was a lot of fun and the kids were in heaven.  There was so much to see and do, the museum is 3 stories high.  It has been years since I have been and JJ and the kids have never been.  We let the kids take a few minutes at each area before we headed off to the next place.  We spent a little more time in some area's but mostly moved fairly quickly so we could see it all.   I would think a membership would be fun but it is kind of far from our house and I am not sure we would get down there all that often. We had a lot of fun and I am glad we made the trip down with the family to explore everything there.  We will have to go back again and not worry about seeing everything and just let the kids play longer in some areas.  Some of our favorite area's were the bubble room, the market place with things like the vet's office and a grocery store and or course the water area.

 

Tyler's Birthday Party

Saturday afternoon we went to "The Little Gym" to celebrate Tyler's birthday.  Lucy and Garrett were so excited to go.  They love Tyler and remember having such a fun time there last year.  They had fun running around and playing on all the equipment.

 They did a couple of big group games like the parachute.

They have this thing that they blow up and the kids can run across.  They have all the kids sit on the white line and blow it up with them all sitting on it.  They think it is pretty fun when it starts to blow up. I thought it was fun that Tyler was so excited to have his cousins at the party.  With all his other friends there he would always look for Garrett and Lucy to go stand by and play with.  I think it is sweet.

 They then just ran laps around and over top of it.  It was hard to get a decent picture since they were jumping and moving so fast!

After they finished playing in the gym area we went into the other part to have cake and sing to Tyler.

 Tyler loves birthday! He did a good job with blowing out his candles at just the right time.  We all enjoyed some yummy cake. 

We didn't open gifts with everyone since it was such a big group.  After all the party guests were gone we had Tyler open our gift.  He loves Wendy's and loves to go there and get frosty's.  So we got him a Wendy's gift card and I sewed him a drawstring bag from some farm fabric that he can put his trucks and tractors in.  Tyler is such a sweet boy and I am glad we were able to celebrate with him.

Snow Day

 We heard the weather men talking for days about this snow storm that was headed our way.  It was due to hit St. Louis on Thursday and I feel like all week it was a big story on the news for us.  Wednesday they started to really give more specific details and they said that we would wake up and think they were wrong and the storm misssed us.  It was due to start snowing about 9 AM and they said you should be where you need to be for the day by 9 or 10 in the morning.  They pre-treated all the roads and canceled school for Lucy by Wednesday evening.  Thursday is our normal grocery day, JJ is off and we head to the gym together in the morning and then to the grocery store.  Wednesday afternoon I decided I should just get my list ready and plan on going to the store that evening with JJ when he got home so we wouldn't have to worry about it.  Thursday morning we woke up and sure enough there wasn't anything, just like the weather man predicted.  At our gym if the school is canceled for the day there are no cardio classes and no child care.  I decided to work out at home and JJ headed to the gym.  While I was working out it started to snow, right around 9 AM just as predicted.  It was coming down like crazy and huge flakes.  By 10 JJ sent me a text letting me know he was on his way home from the gym.  It hit us hard and fast! JJ said he was on the machines and could see how bad it was getting and thought he should just head home. It was kind of nice to just have a day at home all together as a family. We really couldn't leave the house, the roads got pretty bad quick.  By the middle of the afternoon this was our view out the front.

It was freezing cold outside and really windy! I stayed inside all day but Lucy and JJ went outside for a short while to head down the hill a few times.  We relaxed at home and the kids played.  It was nice to just take it easy and sit by the fire with hot chocolate.  By dinner time the snow had pretty much stopped and we were then suppose to get freezing rain/sleet until about 3-4 AM Friday. We ended up getting about 5 inches of snow.   We got a call Thursday evening that school was called off for Friday as well.

 Friday morning I was itching to get out of the house! I am not a home body and I was getting out even if it was to walk around Target.  The roads seemed good and we were very thankful for them doing such a nice job in our neighborhood.  They came by and shoveled our sidewalks and plowed our driveways.  That is one nice thing about living in the town homes, that is all covered for us. I was still worried about how the other roads were.  We had heard the roads were just horrible on Thursday and for several people in the city it took them hours to get home and they closed a couple major highways for a while to get the snow and ice under control.  I waited until JJ got to work safely to ask him how the roads were.  He said they were fine and so off we went, headed to the library.  I had some movies to return and we picked out a few more to watch that afternoon.  When we got home we headed outside to play.  It wasn't as cold and windy so it was nice to be outside and enjoy the snow.

 We went down the hill several times and then went to play in the front.  They piled a bunch of snow in our cold-e-sac and the kids had fun climbing and playing on the big pile.  Lucy got cold and went inside but Garrett could have stayed out there all day.  He had a blast!

 We warmed up with some hot chocolate and a nice fire inside.  We got "Peter Pan" from the library that morning and decided to watch it together and relax.  It has been years since I have seen it and I thought it was so cute how into it Garrett was as he sipped his hot chocolate at the table.   

Thursday while we were all home we made our own "snowflakes" in jars.  We shaped pipe cleaners and hung them by pencils.  We then put them in water mixed with Borax and watched them throughout the day form little crystals. 

 Here they are on Friday, they turned out really fun.  Garrett's worked the best and his looked like rock candy with big clear crystals.  It was fun for them to watch them during the day.  We will have to do them again. They are saying we might get some more snow this week and we are excited about that.  I know my Dad has appreciated the snow since for him and his snow removal company it means work.  We certainly enjoy the time relaxing at home together and sledding down the hill. 

Friday night JJ and I headed out on a date.  It was nice to be able to get out of the house.  The kids has a blast with the babysitter.  JJ and I had dinner together and did a little shopping together.  It was simple but nice to be able to spend some time together. 

Last weekend we spent a lot of time relaxing at home.  Garrett and JJ were both fighting colds.  Friday we watched "The night at the Museum" and popped popcorn.  Saturday we spent time cleaning the house and preparing our lessons for Sunday.  JJ's had been really busy at work on Saturdays and he didn't get home until almost the middle of the afternoon. After dinner we planned to head over to the mall.  We needed to get out of the house! Right when we got there my sister called and wanted to meet up with us that night.  They joined us at the mall and the kids had fun riding the carousel together.  We then walked around the mall and got a soda at the Bread Co. We took the kids over to the play area to run around.  We had a nice time visiting with them, I am glad they called and joined up with us. 

Sunday my Dad brought my Grandma over to visit.  It was nice to see them and nice for her to get out of the house.  Lucy was off school Friday and Monday.  It was fun to have her home with us and Garrett loved having a friend to play with.  We spent time with my Mom on Monday doing a little shopping with some coupons at Joanne's.  We had lunch with them and they headed home. It was nice to be able to get together with them.  Christy and Tyler also came over at lunch time.  The cousins love to spend time together!

Happy Valentines Day

We had a nice day yesterday celebrating Valentines Day.  Lucy was so excited to go to school and take her box and valentines she made for her friends. She did a good job decorating her box all by herself! (I did write her name for her) After she was off to school I headed to the gym for my class.  JJ and Garrett have been fighting off colds all week so they stayed home. They went for a little bike ride together and enjoyed the nice weather and fresh air.

 After I got home and got ready JJ and I went to lunch, and Garrett joined us.  We originally planned on taking him out to my parents house and going to lunch out there but with him being a little sick and us short of time we decided to just have him tag along.  We ate at the St. Louis Bread Co. and it was very yummy.  It has been a while since we have been there and I always love everything I order there. 

Garrett took our picture outside when we were done.  He was so funny taking it and he almost got JJ in it.  After lunch we headed to Lowes to look at a few things and then headed home.

 JJ was able to join Lucy at school for their class party.  She was so excited that he was going to come.  It worked out nice that he had the day off and was able to go.  They had a snack, played some games, made some crafts and then passed out their Valentines.

 Grandma and Grandpa Smith sent a package and they were so excited to open it when Garrett got up from his nap. 

 We had a nice dinner together, heart shaped pizza! We have it every year and the kids love it.  We usually make it but we decided to pick some up from Papa Murphy's this year.  Lucy was a little disappointed, I didn't realize she enjoyed my pizza so much.  I thought it was a treat to pick up pizza.   I made chocolate pudding pie for dessert, Lucy's favorite.   We also did a little scavenger hunt around the house.   At the end they found their little Valentines from us.  We got them each a card and a small box of chocolates.  They really enjoyed the scavenger hunt.  JJ got us balloons and flowers that was sweet! We exchanged cards and enjoyed relaxing together that evening.  JJ built a nice fire and we watched some TV together.  I also got M&Ms to play our Valentines addition of "Don't eat Pete" but with all the pudding pie and chocolates we are going to wait to play it .  It was a nice day and I am glad JJ was off so we could spend it together.