Watch out, Clark Griswold!

Okay, so Clark doesn't really have anything to worry about, but I am so excited:

OUR HOUSE HAS OUTDOOR CHRISTMAS LIGHTS!!!

Strange, you say? Doesn't everyone?

I have NEVER had outdoor lights and it is something I've always wanted to do - I just never knew where to start. So, after seeing pictures of my "little brother" Justin putting up HIS lights, I asked him if he'd be willing to help out. We went to Wal-Mart to get all the fixings - the lights, clips, timer, etc, etc. All the things a seasoned outdoor light decorator knows, but something of which I had no clue.

Justin and Brian stopped by last night, ready to decorate.

And decorate they did!

I almost wanted to cry by the time they were done because the lights look so beautiful! Those two toughed it out in the cold so I could have my outdoor light display.

Check out that "J" of lights in the tree!

I would still love to find an outdoor Nativity scene. Maybe next year. Maybe I'll find one on clearance at the end of the season. Hey, maybe I'll find a big inflatable or two to put out next year, too. Or one of those signs that flash "MERRY CHRISTMAS" or the projector to shoot images onto the garage.

Maybe Clark does have some up and coming competition...

As long as Brian and Justin will do it all again next year!

So Thankful.

Dear God, thank you for blessing me with a wonderful family - a loving, devoted husband, three beautiful, healthy children. May I never take the blessings in my life for granted.

Fair Time!

Well, it's that time of the year again! Time for the Woodbury County Fair!

Alainna was really excited to go since she can remember her visit last year. Grandma and Grandpa took the kiddos out and Eric and I met up with them after work. Alainna took us right to the building housing Nicole's 4-H exhibits so we could check them out. They definitely deserved the blue ribbons she received!

After a couple orders of potato ribbons with cheese (there's a reason I should only eat these things once a year!) and fresh squeezed lemonade, we headed toward the carnival rides. You know - the carnival rides that look as though they were in their prime during Teddy Roosevelt's presidency? Anyway, after purchasing some overpriced tickets, and trying to get Alainna to understand that each ride she wanted to go on took 4 tickets, Alainna chose the Super Slide. Jack and Will anxiously watched as Alainna climbed the steps. After watching her joy and she came sliding down, Will was about ready to jump out of the stroller. After Eric started up the steps with Will, Jack started complaining because HE wanted to go, too! Will and Eric made their way down the slide, and Will loved it!

Then, I took Jack. Our dear, Jack. What was the first thing he did? He tried to run up the slide instead of taking the steps. Then, I had a bit of a battle trying to coordinate getting the scratchy, dusty, icky potato sack set to go with Jack, trying to go down the slide without me. When we finally took off, whoa, what a ride it was! When we got to the bottom, Jack ran toward the steps for another ride. He was a little disappointed when I carried him back to the stroller.

The next choice was hard. We told Alainna that we had enough tickets for ONE more ride. She had to decide between the merry-go-round (which she had declared as her "favorite" earlier in the evening) and the bounce house. After going back and forth quite a bit, she chose the merry-go-round. Oh, my! I remember last year the boys not wanting any part of the merry-go-round. But this year they LOVED it! I think they would have taken another spin it we had let them. After finishing up on the merry-go-round we told the kids it was time to move along and we'd check out some of the animal exhibits.

That's when the tears started.

And the screaming.

And the whining.

The majority from Alainna, of course.

I think next year we will have the discussion about "each ride takes X number of tickets, we only have XX tickets, so we can only go on X rides."

Or we avoid the carnival completely. But is that really possible?

Once everyone settled down (or at least settled to the point that we could get the boys into the stroller) we walked through some of the animal exhibits. Pigs, sheep, bunnies, chickens, ducks, turkeys, cows, horses, and goats! What an amazing experience for the kids! Some of the goats stuck their heads through the bars and the kids thought that was pretty neat. The beautiful horses fascinated them, too - especially when one kept "whinnying" at anyone walking past!

After a quick stop for a soda for me, a bomb pop for Alainna, and a funnel cake for Eric (which he had to share with ALL of us!) a nice gentleman walked by and offered to take a picture of all of us.

Then it was time to go home. I tried unsuccessfully to get a picture of all three kids by the "Welcome to the Woodbury County Fair" sign and the statue of the calf at the entrance. I finally threw up my hands and decided I wasn't going to get the "perfect" picture.

We were all exhausted by the time we got home but I know the kiddos loved [almost] every minute of their time at the fair!

My Little Crafter

I found out about a challenge over at the Club Anya blog for 2 different age groups of kids. The kids have their own gallery in which to post their creations, and there will be one random winner chosen from each age group.

Alainna loves playing with my craft supplies - especially my stamps! Now, she's been playing with flowers. And glue. I try to get her to use my ATG because it is A LOT less messy than the liquid glue!

Alainna chose the ballerina stamp because she loves to dance!

Success!

Today was the day.

Not a major surgery, by any means. But a surgery, nonetheless.

And one involving anesthesia. Which means no food or drink after midnight the night before. Try explaining that to a 2 1/2 year old!

We were to report to the hospital at 8:30 for check-in. The wait wasn't too terrible, especially since Will had his cars. He rolled them along the seats in the waiting area, and only tried to escape out the door once or twice.

We were then taken to "Gabby's Room," a special room for pediatric patients. Waiting on the bed, was a hospital gown and hat, along with a small stuffed dalmatian dog. Will had no problem getting up on the bed (with his stuffed Grover and cars) and PBS became our good friend today. Thankfully, Sesame Street was on! Yipee!

A nurse came in and administered Versed to Will to help relax him. And relax him it did! The nurse said we had to be careful to not let him off the bed on his own because the medication can cause problems with balance. It didn't take long for Will to become like jello as he watched Sesame Street.

But like all good things, Sesame Street came to an end. The next PBS show wasn't quite as entertaining for Will, so he got a little restless. Thankfully, it wasn't much longer before the surgeon arrived, marked Will's right side as preparation for the surgery, and the nurses came to take him to the operating room.

The nurses talked to Will about taking him to another room with toys and that he'd get the shoe covers the nurses were wearing. Will let me place him in the Little Tykes wagon along with his new dog and Grover, and the nurses added a blanket and pillows. And off he went.

No screams.

No tears.

Then the waiting began. However, it was much shorter than I anticipated. It seemed like after a short period of time, we were summoned to meet with the surgeon, who informed us the surgery went quite well, he repaired the hernia, and that he did not find another hernia on Will's left side.

After speaking with the surgeon, we went back to the waiting room to wait until Will was brought back to his room. When they called us and told us to head back, we walked very quickly to Will's room, taking a wrong turn before eventually making it back. We were so anxious to see him and touch him and we walked into the room...

....and he wasn't back yet.

We didn't have to wait long, though. When the nurse wheeled him into the room (this time in the bed, not the wagon) he briefly opened his eyes and saw us standing there. The nurse said that when he was starting to wake up from the anesthesia and she asked if he wanted to go see
Mommy, his eyes opened up wide. Oh, bestill my heart, my little guy! After attempting to take off the wrapping that covered his I.V., Will turned on his stomach, folded his hands underneath his body (his usual sleeping position), and went to sleep.

Eric and I took turns running to the cafeteria to grab something for lunch. When I returned from calling Shelly to tell her Will was doing fine (and to pass the news along to Alainna and Jack), Will was moving around quite a bit. It turned out that by sleeping on his hands, he had pulled out his I.V. Not a big deal, the nurse told us, and disconnected it. He'd already had some pain medication, and seemed ready to sit with Daddy.

Once again, PBS was our friend. William sure picked a good time to wake up! Thomas the Tank Engine and Bob the Builder distracted him as the anesthesia wore off. He was so intent on watching the shows that he wasn't trying to move around a lot.

The poor little guy was SOOO thirsty when the nurse brought in some water. Will usually doesn't like drinking from straws, but under the circumstances, I think he decided it was the best thing to do! He also had some juice as we waited for the clearance to leave the hospital.

After making sure the fluids stayed down (and came out the other end) we received the clearance to leave the hospital. We went through the discharge instructions with the nurse, signed the necessary paperwork, and off we went!

Until I realized I left my camera in Will's room.

Thankfully, I was able to run back inside and grab it before we left.

The ride home was uneventful - until we were about 2 minutes from home. Whatever fluids hadn't come one end, came out the other. Poor little guy.

It didn't take long for Will to be back to his old self. He was a little quieter than usual, but perked up as the day went along. He played with his cars and trains and watched a little more Thomas. He had a delivery of balloons from Grandma, Grandpa, Memere, Pepere, and Jack and Alainna. I was glad Jack and Alainna were able to see Will and know that he was okay - especially Alainna. After seeing the three interact, it validated our decision to have Jack and Alainna spend the night at Grandma and Grandpa's house. I don't think Will was quite ready for the usual rowdiness the three create.

He ate a little supper, drank some more fluids, that, as of the writing of this post, have stayed down, and had some quiet book time with Mom. Then, out of nowhere, he laid his head down, and I asked him if he wanted to go to bed. He nodded. Even though it was over an hour earlier than his usual bed time, he walked into his room, let me tuck him into bed, and went to sleep.

We were so proud of our little Will today. We love you, little guy!

Whirlwind Day!

I just had to post some pictures from Alainna's recital. We were all exhausted by the end of the day after dress rehearsal in the morning, and then the show in the evening. Alainna was so sweet - she knew every step of her ballet and tap routines! And she looked absolutely adorable in her costumes!

She loved getting all made up with grown up make up but I made sure to emphasize that this was a special occasion and she wouldn't be wearing makeup every day like Mommy.

A Blast from the Not So Distant Past

Just had to share this LO I did for a challenge over on the TSR message board. My Mom finally cleared the images off her memory card and came across this picture!

I'm sure I was in a morphine-induced state when I first heard about it, so when I saw the picture, I was in total shock. I was thrilled I can document this memory for Jack and Will.

Our little daredevil!

Yesterday during church, Grandma and Grandpa took Jack and Will while we went to church. I was getting ready to head up to the SCRIP office when Alainna rushed into the parish center shouting, "Mommy! Daddy! Jack bit his tongue and he's crying!"

We ran out to the playground where we found Grandma and Grandpa comforting Jack. Blood was everywhere - Jack's face, his shirt, Grandma and Grandpa's clothes - EVERYWHERE. By the time I got to him, he had been crying so hard that he had that "out of breath" cry. Eric and I tried to check out the injury, and I think we both had the same reaction when we saw it.


EEEEK!!!

It looked SOOO bad! But then, Jack wriggled out of Grandma's arms, giggled, and ran back to the playground.

All was well. Jack went to visit Great Grandma with Grandma, Grandpa, Will and Alainna, Eric went home, and I headed up to the SCRIP office to finish up some work. About 30 minutes later, I got a phone call from Grandma, telling me Jack was fine and had even had a salty cracker without any problems.

That was before lunch. Before the dark side. Before the empire. [Sorry, I couldn't resist the "Star Wars" quote].

Poor Jack. Everytime he'd take a bite of his lunch, he would scream. He was hungry and tried again and again, but end up crying each time. When Eric called, we decided one of us should take Jack to Urgent Care, just to make sure. Jack was in much better spirits after Eric rummaged through the freezer for popsicles!

When I got home, I got Jack all ready to head over to Urgent Care. He was in a good mood, but getting a little sleepy. His tongue still looked horrific and he loved showing it to me.

But not when he had two medical professionals sitting over him. THAT took a little more prodding (and one of those icky tasting tongue depressors!)

The outcome? Keep an eye on it. Pain meds every four hours. A prescription for an antibiotic in case we noticed an infection.

I thought ice cream was a good idea. A stop at Sonic on the way home for a dish of vanilla, and we had one very tired, sticky little boy, with a tummy full of ice cream! (thus explains the white on his tongue in the picture!)

A day later, it looks so much better. Although he had some pain meds before lunch, he hasn't had any since, and didn't seem bothered at dinner. We were so grateful our little daredevil is back to his old self again!

The Graduate

"Do you realize Alainna is the first in our family to graduate from preschool?"

So read the text from my younger brother, Dan, yesterday.

The graduation program took place in Blessed Sacrament Church and was short and sweet. The kids wanted into "Pomp and Circumstance." They started with the groups with younger kids, then eventually moved towards Alainna's group, the Sunshines. I was trying to keep an eye on Will and Jack so they didn't take a header off the pew (happened only once with Jack, but due to my quick response, no injury) or use the floor as a personal race track with the cars he smuggled into the church (guess who?). As the kids walked in, parents were waving and the kids were waving back and smiling, which is to be expected with preschoolers, right? I stood up and waved at Alainna, since she looked like she was scanning the crowd to find us. She made eye contact with me, saw that I was waving to her, and got a very stern look on her face and shook her head.

I almost burst out laughing. I'm sure her teacher told the kids not to wave at the parents since they were in line and very close to each other.

And she listened. She followed directions.

After singing a few songs as a group, the director called up the children based on their group. Alainna and her Sunshines were the second group, which I was VERY thankful for since the boys were getting quite restless in the pews! When your child's name was called, the parents were to go up and meet their child, then sit with him or her. Alainna beamed (as did our entire pew of Grandma, Grandpa, Mom, Dad, and Aunt Ellen - the boys didn't understand the significance or else I'm sure they would have been beaming, too). Eric and I walked up to meet Alainna. She came right out to hug us, but first, we had to get this picture. You can see the pride in her eyes. She has been talking about graduation day for months now!

I couldn't help but think back to Alainna's first day at preschool and reflect on how much she has grown in the past nine months. Sure, I've always felt she was brilliant, (what parent doesn't think that about their child?) but she has matured far beyond what I ever expected. She takes such pride in showing us her reading abilities. Even if she doesn't get every word on the page, she is sounding them out and doing her best, although sometimes at night she says, "Mom, will YOU just read it to me?"

During the reception after the ceremony, Alainna was thrilled as she proclaimed, "Now I'm a kindergartener!"

I hope she's not disappointed when she finds out she has to wait three long months before that happens!

Warm Weather Eatin'

As the weather warms up, we've been trying to eat out on the deck. Of course, this is quite a challenge with two little active boys who want to get up and either show off dance moves (Jack) or try to go play on the swing set (Jack) or try to climb on the big table (Jack AND Will). While it presents more of a challenge than eating indoors, the clean up is definitely easier!

We ate outside last night after swimming and the kids loved it. We had sandwiches and chips - just like a little picnic. This morning, Alainna wanted to eat breakfast outside!

Birthday Party!

Yesterday, we celebrated Alainna's birthday with a party at Chuck E. Cheese. There were 16 of us, between our families, including Memere and Pepere who made a special trip from Connecticut, and family friends.

Eric made a very special cake for Alainna - a Barbie Princess cake. It looked beautiful and was delicious!

Easter pictures

Good morning! I just had to post a few pictures from yesterday. We had a busy morning - the discovery of the goodies from the Easter bunny, breakfast, church, prep for our day at the farm, and then driving to the farm!

Here are some pictures of the kiddos all dressed up in their Easter outfits.

Have a terrific week!

Number Five

I'm sitting here at 12:30 in the morning knowing that I should get to sleep because we have a busy day ahead of us. It is Alainna's fifth birthday. Five. It seems unbelievable and believable at the same time. Thinking back over the past five years, how much I've changed, how much Eric has changed, how much our family has changed.

Lately, before she goes to bed, Alainna wants me to tell her the story about the night she was born. Sometimes I grumble about it (mainly because I tend to add every detail of the 8 hours or so before she was born), but I've started to realize how important the story is to her. I've also realized how many values that Eric and I try to teach all three kids are incoporated into that very story. Eric with me at the hospital the entire time, the presence of our family when we had to make tough decisions about what direction to take with the birth, the annointing I received right before heading into the delivery room, and my first words to my dear, sweet, Alainna. She takes in every word of the story, sometimes reminding me if I "forgot" a part, or asking for further clarification about a detail (which she usually knows the answer to, but just wants me to include in my narrative).

On this, the occasion of your fifth birthday, my prayer for you is that you never forget how much you are loved. Stay close to the Lord - He will never leave your side. Remember to look out for those less fortunate than you - we're all in this together. Love your life. And never forget my unconditional, constant love for you.

Happy Birthday, Alainna.

Love,
Mom

Happy Saturday!

Good morning and Happy Saturday! I just wanted to share a few pictures from this past week. When Memere and Pepere came to visit, they brought some books for the kids, specifically, one called "Where Do Angels Sleep?" by Cynda Strong. It's a very sweet book with beautiful illustrations and Jack took an immediate liking to it. Now, when I pull it out at night, Jack and Will run over and drop down into my lap. Here are some pictures of us reading together.

Have a great weekend!

American Girl Lunch

So this post is way overdue, but I thought I'd share some pictures from our lunch at the "bistro."

The American Girl website recommends making reservations and I'm very glad I did. The store was crazy on that Saturday afternoon, and the bistro was no exception. Alainna and I arrived about 15 minutes early for our 2:00 p.m. lunch reservation, and were told our table wasn't ready. No problem. We had to wait a little past 2:00, but nothing horrible. People walking in trying to get a table for lunch were told the first opening was at 4:30 unless they wanted to wait for a spot to free up at the counter.

The restaurant overlooks the Nick Jr themed amusement park at the mall, and we were lucky to have a window seat. It was quite entertaining to watch all the rides while we waited for our meal.

Oh, and Felicity, Alainna's new American Girl, had the seat of honor at the head of the table in her own seat.

The lunch was a three course meal - we started with appetizers. Alainna ordered warm pretzel bread with dipping sauces. It was a good choice, even though I ended up eating some of it (the cheese sauce was very yummy). Shortly before our appetizers arrived, our server, Mary, brought Felicity a tiny cup with whipped cream topped with sprinkles. She thought Felicity might get hungry watching us eat. My dear daughter told the server, ever so politely, "she doesn't eat - she's not real." Having no doubt received this response on prior occassions, Mary replied ever so sweetly, "well, maybe you can eat it for her."

True to form, Alainna ordered spaghetti - no sauce, add parmesean cheese. It took a little while to get our food, but the appetizer helped take away those initial hunger pangs. I ordered the chicken pot pie and was glad I did - it was delicious. Alainna enjoyed her spaghetti, too. Then, we just HAD to order ice cream sundaes, of course! I ordered the s'more sundae - oh, my, what a treat! Yummmm....I can almost taste it now....

Would we do it again? Definitely. With reservations, of course. I was very impressed with the overall atmosphere of the bistro. There were so many little girls and their parents and grandparents in a small area, and there was no screaming or outbursts. All the little girls were so well behaved - even Alainna (okay, for MOST of the time! But, hey, she's only four, right?) Our server would listen intently as Alainna talked her ear off about one thing or another.

Was it expensive? Of course. It IS American Girl. But was it worth it? Definitely.

Getaway

One of the Christmas gifts from my parents this past year was a weekend of babysitting so Eric and I could have a little getaway. We haven't had a weekend alone together since before the twins were born. When we started talking about it, we looked into Minneapolis as an option. We found the weekend for Twinsfest, a gathering at the Metrodome with Hall of Famers and current Twins players - the perfect thing for an autograph collector like Eric! However, if Eric was going to be at Twinsfest all day, I couldn't see myself walking around the Mall of America all day by myself. Thus, Eric and I talked about it and decided to bring Alainna with us. Between the Nickelodeon Universe amusement park in the Mall as well as the American Girl store, I was sure Alainna and I would have a great time together.

Well, what an amazing weekend!

Friday night: After the drive from Sioux City, we checked into our motel, then headed over to the Mall. After Alainna calmed down from her initial excitement at seeing all the Nickelodeon rides, we made our way to the American Girl store where she picked out her "big American Girl" doll, Felicity. After we picked out a few accessories for Felicity, we stopped for a quick (and quite greasy, yet delicious) dinner at Johnny Rockets. Mmmmm...cheeseburgers, cheese fries, and milkshakes. Hey, it was a vacation, right?

Saturday: Eric dropped us off at the Mall around 9:30 in the morning - and that's when Alainna started making her way through the amusement park. Alainna couldn't quite understand why we had to wait in line to go on the rides! She was so impatient and just wanted to run right up and jump on the next ride. While on the WonderPets Flyboat ride, she yelled out to me, "can I go on it again?" I cut her off at three times in a row on the flyboat.

While heading across the park to another ride, we couldn't believe what we saw - Dora the Explorer! Or, as Alainna told her brothers, "the real Dora!" Alainna waited in line (thankfully, there were only a few children in front of her, or I think she would have really lost it!) for her turn to meet Dora. She first gave Dora a big hug, and told her she watches her on TV. Then, Dora turned so Alainna could meet Map and Backpack - oh, my goodness! Then, true to form, I requested a picture with the two. Before we left, Alainna told Dora hello from her brothers William and Jack. We had to call Daddy right away to tell him about our brush with a celebrity!

Throughout the day, Alainna kept asking to go on the "log ride" with me. I made sure she understood there was a large drop at the end of the ride and she might be scared. "No, Mom, I won't be scared." After making sure she was tall enough to go on the ride, I bought my ticket and joined her in line. A girl behind us in line informed us that the rider in the front of the log would get wet. Alainna quickly volunteered to sit in the front of our log. She didn't exhibit any fear: until we started the ascent to the final drop.

"Hold onto my shoulders, Mommy!" She was scared. I really don't remember if she screamed because I was screaming.

But by the time our log splashed at the end of the ride, she was laughing. And so was I.

I was so surprised that my 4-year-old couldn't wait to go on the log ride again with her Daddy when he joined us later in the day.

I have a feeling as she gets older, and taller, Alainna will be the first in line for the crazy, twisting roller coasters Eric and I have enjoyed over the years.

As time allows, I will post the story of our very special lunch at the American Girl store on Saturday.