Tuesday, May 31, 2016

3 Things

I have seen this idea on a few blogs and thought it sounded fun.  I am going to write 3 things about each member of our family today.

I am starting with the almost birthday girl Hannah (I can't believe she will be 7 tomorrow)

ONE
Hannah is becoming such an independent little girl.  While it is nice to see her get so independent and I am really enjoying her age and our conversations, it is also bittersweet, because it is a reminder of how big she is getting already.  Her and Evan have started fighting a lot more lately.  She is done putting up with his shenanigans.  The other day I got on to both of them again for fighting and Hannah said "That's how we entertain ourselves"

TWO
Hannah does not really like school that much.  She does great when she is there, but getting her ready in the mornings is always a struggle.  Maybe she just doesn't like to get up early and I don't blame her for that.  I love to see her grow and learn in school.  Hearing her read to me is amazing.  She loves math  and likes it when we give her math problems.  

THREE
Hannah is quite busy these days.  She is currently playing softball/t-ball for the first time and she is liking it a lot.  We were a little surprised that she likes it so much.  Hannah is also a Girls Scout (Daisy).  I am still helping out with her troop and have really enjoyed getting to know these little girls.  She still does gymnastics and horseback riding once a week.  I think horseback riding gives her a lot of confidence, which I love to see.

We let her have a coke at the Bentonville Film Festival and she thought she made it big time!

Up next is Evan

ONE
Evan just completed his first year of Mothers Day out.  He was not so sure about going for quite some time, but finally really liked it.  Drop offs were not easy for a long time, but he finally got over it.  He had wonderful teachers this year that made the classroom a fun learning environment.  He learned a lot during this school year.

TWO
Evan says the funniest things right now.  I love this age.  He caught a ladybug last week and we made a little habitat for it in a container.  We couldn't find the ladybug in the container and Evan said "Oh the ladybug is hiding, because she doesn't like kids"
One of our chickens has been in a broody mood (she sits on the eggs all day and thinks she is hatching an egg).  Evan goes out to check on her several times a day and comes back saying "Oh one chicken is still fused (confused) and trying to patch an egg"
He still loves to play firefighter.  The other day he was incorporating Hannah's princess wand into the game and he said "Please give me my firefighter wand"

THREE
Evan is still super busy and keeps us on our toes.  You never know what he is up to next, but he can also be the sweetest little boy.  He takes really good care of Nora and I love to watch him being nice to her.  He also has his moments where he is just being a jerk to his sisters.  He knows how to push their buttons and how to get them mad.  He will do that quite frequently.
Evan's health is good.  He is still on a hefty dose of blood pressure medication, but with that his blood pressure is under control.  His right kidney continues to shrink and has no function, but his left kidney is working beautifully.  We are so thankful for that!

And then there is Nora.  This hair best describes her personality.

ONE
Nora is a little tornado.  There is nothing her older siblings do that she won't try. She has no fear and loves to climb, jump and wrestle.  She loves the pool and will go down the slide by herself, jumps off the side and lays on her back in the pool and puts her head under water.  She will play in water any chance she gets.  Evan turns on the faucet for her outside and she will be soaked in 2 seconds.  Those two are trouble together.
TWO
Nora is a little pack rat.  She just stuffs things into bags, strollers, pots and pans, shopping carts ect…..you never know where you will find things.  If I am missing something it will probably take days or weeks for it to turn up again.  This is what she packs when you tell her we are going somewhere.
I hope she doesn't turn into a hoarder

THREE
I can't believe you are 1 1/2 years old already.  You are not a baby anymore even though we still call you that.  You have quite a few words now and are a pretty good communicator.  You make it pretty clear what you want and what you don't want/like.  You are still a very good eater and eat just about anything.  I think you have most of your teeth.  I don't dare try to look into your mouth, because you don't like that and will bite.  You are a feisty little one and don't put up with anything.  Sometimes I feel like you are acting like a three year old. You are going to give us a run for our money.
But look at that face:)


I asked Scott if I can write three things about him and what he has been up to.  His answer was "being handsome".  So, there you have Scott's number ONE.  Scott being Scott.

TWO 
Scott has been working really hard to get healthy and change his eating habits.  He has lost a lot of weight by changing some things and working out hard.  We have cut out a lot of carbs and replaced them with zucchini noodles and cauliflower rice and I would have never thought that Scott likes that.  He still plays softball and enjoys that.  Some of you might be wondering how Scott's recovery from GBS is going and you would never know that he still has pain in his feet and that they are constantly numb and asleep.  He never complains about that and is still as active as ever.

THREE
Scott is an amazing dad to our three kids.  I could never do this without him.  He spends a lot of time with them and they play some very interesting made up games such as "burrito", "statue" and "dungeon".  Essentially they are all the same games and they chase each other.  The kids love playing these games.  I am slowly losing Nora to Scott too…..she was the only kid that still cared if I was around or not, but now she is all about daddy too.  


And last but not least what have I been up to.


ONE
I am still involved in the Color of Hope Gala benefiting the Children's hospital.  The gala is in August, so we are in full swing right now.  The hospital announced last year that they are finally building a campus here in Northwest Arkansas, so it is an exciting time and a big year for the gala.  I love being a part of such an important event.  It is a lot of work and asking people for donations isn't exactly my strong point, but I like I doing for such important cause.

TWO
I still enjoy working out a lot.  I get up at 5:30am most mornings to get my workout in before everybody is up.  I love working out at home, it saves so much time and I love just popping in a DVD and they tell me what I need to do versus coming up with my own workout at 5:30am in the mornings. I also really like cooking and making most things from scratch.  I am excited to see what our garden will produce this year.  Scott and I eat pretty clean, but the kids on the other hand could use some improvement. I tried to give up diet coke a few months ago and I was doing pretty good even though it was never easy for me.  Slowly I started to let myself have one a week, then two a week and you know how that story goes…...

THREE
We are gearing up to take the family to Germany in a few weeks.  We have not seen my parents since last summer and this is the longest I have ever gone without seeing them.  It is time to go and we are all ready.  Hannah suggested that we pack our suitcase now.  We will be there for my brothers wedding and we can't wait to have Vera part of the family.  It has been a little tough for me to be so far away.  











Friday, May 27, 2016

Parasailing and a cancelled flight…….

On what we thought was going to be our last day in Florida Scott and I went parasailing.  It was our 9th wedding anniversary and we thought that would be more memorable than going out to dinner.

So, we paid $25 extra to have somebody take pictures of us parasailing and I just tried to open the pictures on the memory card they gave us and its empty…..bummer!  Now I need to add to my list to call that place and get my $25 back……we will see how that goes.
So this is the only picture we have of our adventure.
.We enjoyed ice cream one more time that afternoon.
We went with a lighter color ice cream that day to avoid the chocolatey mess.
That evening we drove to Clearwater beach for the sunset celebration.  It didn't turn out quite as planned, because it was so busy and it took a very long time to find parking.  Then we didn't really have enough time for dinner before sunset, but we didn't want to wait until after sunset to eat with the kids.  So, we had a great dinner, but missed the sunset.  

We had to get up very early the next morning to catch our flight home, but we got an early morning surprise that our flight was cancelled and moved to the next morning.  I can't say I was upset about an extra day on the beach.  Luckily the condo was available for another night and we were able to just stay there.
So, on our extra day Hannah went parasailing with grandma Jeannie.  I was surprised that she wanted to do it.  She had a blast.  



Dipping her feet in the water during the ride was her favorite part
Then we enjoyed some more beach time and caught the sunset on the beach on our last night.  Perfect ending to a wonderful week on the beach.
Hannah kept sending Evan back to get more water and he must have gone back and forth a hundred times with a bucket full of water.
Our last dinner on the beach


We were strolling on the beach and saw this very creative girl building a mermaid tail.  She dug a hole in front of it, so you can kneel in it and it looks like you have a mermaid tail.  I was very impressed with her creativity.  Nora was the perfect size for it.





Friday, May 20, 2016

Suns out, guns out!

Suns out, guns out! is one of Evan's favorite sayings.  A few weeks ago we went to Florida during Hannah's May break to hit the beach and enjoy the sun.  Scott's parents came with us and we had such a wonderful week.  A beach trip with three little kids is not exactly relaxing, but having Scott's parents there made it so much nicer and easier.  We enjoyed a lot of sand time, pool time and ice cream time.  The kids are still talking about all of the fun we had.  We took a morning flight out of Springfield right into Clearwater and were able to still enjoy some afternoon beach time.
All three loved the sand and got busy right away.
This little girl loved the sand.  I think she still has sand in her hair even three weeks later.  She rolled around in the sand and had it on her face and in her eyelashes and she did not care.
More of the same thing the next day
Evan was playing on the beach and said he had to go potty, so we told him to just go in the water.  So, he walked up to the water and started to pull his pants down.  We told him that is not what we meant and to just pee in the water.  A few hours later we were at the pool and Scott and I were sitting on the edge watching the kids.  Evan then loudly and proudly proclaimed "Mama I just peed in the water".  Thankfully the people in the pool couldn't help but laugh.  
This is the face of a happy girl
She was chasing the seagulls and just laughing away.  Then a seagull started to fly towards her and she got scared and started running
We took Hannah and Evan on the pirate cruise while Nora stayed back with grandma and grandpa.
Evan sat front and center and kept asking questions that started with "Mr Pirate"
The kids loved it.  It is actually quite nice for the adults too.  They have a program for the kids and there is beer and wine on the ship, so it is essentially like having a babysitter/date on the pirate ship.
Evan was getting really tired and we thought for a minute that he was going to take a nap, but he never did
It was a fun afternoon for all
I made it my personal goal to eat seafood for every meal (except breakfast).  
Here is almost the entire crew before dinner
Happy girls in matching outfits
This view never gets old.  This was from our balcony.
We enjoyed some very good ice cream as well.  Not sure if Evan actually ate any of it.
This girl has no fear and would just jump into the pool.
Why is it that kids always want to go to the pool even with a beautiful beach and ocean right in from of them?  Scott told Hannah we have a pool at home, but we don't have the beach.  Her answer was "but we have a sandbox too"
Hannah wanted to get changed down by the pool and asked grandpa who was in the condo to throw down a bathing suit.  The wind caught the suit and it landed on the palm tree.  
Well, in our minds that was a case for "emergency only".
Grandpa saved the bathing suit
After dinner beach and sunset time
The kids got to pet this giant lizard (to whatever it was)
I will finish up with our last day next time.
I am so sad that this was our last year of May break.  We have loved the "non traditional/year round" school calendar so much.  At least we made the best of it this year one last time.