The Little Miss Turns 4!

Last Thursday was Morgan's 4th birthday. It is amazing how fast time is flying by! We started the day off with a stack of pancakes with a candle in it. That was a tradition at my house growing up. With Shelby in school now and daddy having a ball game in the afternoon, she quickly opened gifts before daddy took sis to school. Daddy stayed home to play and have lunch with the birthday girl. She wanted spaghetti so we took her to Fazoli's. The flower shop delivery lady was waiting for us when we got home with flowers and a balloon from Nonny Moe.

In the afternoon we made chocolate cupcakes with pink frosting and sprinkles. Our church was still having the revival with Life Action so that evening the girls and I headed to church. Morgan took some cupcakes to share with the leaders of Happy Heart City. We had a good day even though it is hard for her to understand she had to wait until the end of May for her party. In this birthday post I wanted to write about what type of things she is up to these days. The girl still plays with her babies (they are not dolls) everyday and makes things pretty realistic. She does the same thing with the play cell phone. She cried real tears one day when she realized she had left the phone home. She was afraid she'd miss a call. I told her they would leave a message. And the questions, the questions, the questions. They just keep on comin'! Today while I was packing up groceries at Aldi's she asked, "Why does Shelby have chubbier cheeks than I do"? After that one I had to tell her not to ask me a another question for at least 5 minutes!

She weighed in at the doctor yesterday at 31 1/2 lbs. That put her in the 10% tile for weight and her height is in the 25%. On the small side according to the doc but he seemed pleased enough to know she eats better than her sister! Now that she is 4 I think we will try gymnastics again. She is still a real squirmy wormy so we will see how she does. Happy Birthday Sassafras!

(Sorry to those who get email notices on my blog updates. This silly thing sent it out before I was done)!

Nice to Meet You!

Today Shelby brought home a Progress Report from school. The 3 ratings are
O = Outstanding, S = Satisfactory and N = Needs Improvement. Progress is being reported on: Listens Carefully, Stays on Task, Follows Directions, Treats Others With Respect, Follows Class Rules, and Does His/Her Best Work. This Shelby who goes to this school and apparently lives in my house received an O = Outstanding in each! And an additional comment from her teacher said, "Shelby is a wonderful role model". I read the report out loud to Nate with Shelby sitting there. When I was done I reached out and shook her hand and said, "Nice to meet you Shelby. I'm not sure I know you". I signed the form to send back to school with a little note that said, "I'd love it if this same Shelby lived in my house". :) I have also heard similar praises from her AWANAS leader at church. She says she is so sweet and helpful and listens so well. I know everyone says that you always want your kids to behave better outside the home than at home, BUT is there anything wrong with once in awhile seeing this same sweet and well behaved angel everyone else gets? On Thursday in the car after school she says, "Mommy, I'm going to take it easy on you today". Considering this was the day I was sick I told her I'd appreciate that. Nice thought anyway. Her idea of taking it easy and mine are clearly not the same. I guess I will be proud of this Shelby and keep working on the one that lives with me!

Happy Easter

Happy Easter to all my blog readers! Last night I painted the girls' finger nails and toe nails. This is not a real treat for me as it is time consuming and frustrating when they do not hold still and smudge them up before they are dry. I rarely paint finger nails because it only lasts a day or two. But they were both very excited so I guess it was worth it. After they went to bed I pressed their new dresses for church this morning. About 3:30 yesterday afternoon Morgan said her head hurt. I rocked her and she fell asleep. When she woke up she had a fever of 102.5. I gave her some meds and she seemed OK at bedtime. As I was preparing for bed at midnight she came into my room. Fever was up again so I gave her more meds and put her back to bed. About 12:30 she was standing next to my bed saying her stomach hurt. I told her to go into my bathroom. I found her there on the floor asleep. I took her back to her room and it seemed as she might get sick. So I grabbed her garbage can and she unloaded everything she had and then some! Finally got her back to bed. I have no idea what time she was back in my bed again but it was a sleepless night for us both. I heard Shelby rise and shine and head downstairs. I had to get to her before she found her basket. For some reason kids don't understand a parent's need to get pictures or to share in the moment of these annual events. She was disappointed she had to wait for Morgan to get up and for me to take a shower. Finally it was time. They always go first to the places they found their baskets last year. Almost like they think that silly rabbit has no creativity. Morgan found her basket behind the recliner. Shelby found hers hiding on the side of the china cabinet in the dining room.

Shelby had to take everything out of her basket and sort it into piles before she could open the gifts. When she was done she neatly stacked all the goodies on top of the basket. Morgs on the other hand threw all her stuff in and put the basket grass on top! More to come on Shelby's developing traits of organization and perfection in a later post.

Shelby and her highlight of the day - Barbie's new DVD.

Morgan and her new book about whey we have the cross.

Here are the girls in their pretty dresses.
Since Morgan was sick I convinced her to put her dress on for some photos and they she put her jammies right back on. She and daddy stayed home from church. Late afternoon we are going to head out to eat since she seems to be feeling better. Happy Easter!

Spring Break in Wisconsin

I took the girls up to my parents for a few days over Shelby's spring break from school. I wanted to help them with a few projects as a thanks for the painting work my mom did here. We headed up Wednesday afternoon. We made a pit stop at the Rockford airport to pick up my grandma who was returning from my cousin's wedding in Florida. We arrived at my parents' to learn the sad news that a family friend Phyllis, had passed away that evening. Long time ago I used to mow their yard in the summer and my mom currently worked for her cleaning her house. When in town I often took the girls by the assisted living home Ervin and Phyllis lived in. They liked to ride Silver the horse and Phyllis always had cookies. Ervin passed away on January 23, 2010. He was 93. He and Phyllis had been married 71 years! Yes, you read that right. 71 years! Can you imagine?! Phyllis, also 93 died 2 months and 1 day after Ervin. It was like she started to fail mentally and physically the day Ervin died. I helped my mom do a little cleaning at their house to prepare it for their daughter and granddaughters to come for the services next week. On Thursday I took down the 2 rows of snow fence. Despite my older, loving brother's doubts, I unhooked 2 wires per steel post, pulled at least 12 steel posts out of the ground and rolled several sections of fence before my dad came home from work at noon. I also helped my dad move large sections of a walnut tree that was cut down last fall. Another task my brother didn't think I was capable of doing. :) I did leave a small tree branch to cut up when he goes this weekend for Easter.

On Saturday we planned to have a bonfire and roast hot dogs and marshmallows for lunch before coming home. The girls had colored some eggs for decorating. While they dried my dad started the fire. He had been burning the grass in the cow pasture since they no longer have cattle there to eat it. The wind and the long grass caused the fire to get a little out of control. I helped my dad make about 4 trips from the house to the pasture with containers of water. I rode on a walnut tree stump we loaded in the back of the truck earlier that morning. I held on to the side of truck for dear life as I bounced up and down over the bumps in the pasture as my dad drove like a nut. That last trip to get water he grabbed his cell phone and after we dumped the water I said, "Just call the fire department and call it a day". We just couldn't get ahead of it. That hot fire and smoke was more than I signed up for on this trip for sure! Once Shelby realized it wasn't all so bad the girls were excited to watch from the house the 4 fire trucks that arrived to fight the fire. You can see on the hill above the truck some of the smoke and a large area that burnt. My cousin Ben who was the ring bearer almost 14 years ago in our wedding was one of the firefighters that came.

After the excitement of the fire, we did get back to cooking hot dogs and marshmallows on the bonfire. Here is Shelby roasting a marshmallow and Morgan eating a S'more.
Before the fire the girls had colored their eggs. Next step was decorating. They used puffy paint to do this. Must say nothing beats the old fashioned decorating with crayons before coloring. They had fun anyway and I guess that is what matters.

Since we spent so much time fighting the fire, we decided it would be best to stay one more night and come home Sunday instead of Saturday. So after church today the girls decorated Nonny's doors for her.

We started our trip by learning of a death. Unfortunately we ended the trip by learning my great aunt Rosemary died early this morning. So my parents have two visitations and funerals this week. One of the hard facts of life.

Caution: Young Driver

I have posted many times about our little mommy Morgan. She used to use the recliner as her "car" but had to start using the couch as her "van" as she needed more room for her growing family. Here she is on her way home from the store. The orange basket is full of food. Next is her baby doll in her carrier all covered up with blankets. She folded the 2 strollers herself and in the back of the van is the big sister. Watch out for this busy mommy on the go. As you can see she is either calling or texting someone while she is behind the wheel!

Basement Painting

Last weekend my parents came to paint in our basement. The dividing wall down there is drywall so that was painted brown. A big improvement to the ugly beige paneling that was there before. I also had taken down the wall paper that was on the walls going down the stairs. We painted that brown as well. I will be putting a fresh coat of white paint on the cement blocks that make up the other walls. More pictures of the remodel will be posted as more work is completed. Here are a few pics of the girls helping put the white primer on the walls.

Snow Fun!

A few weeks ago I took the girls back home to Wisconsin for a little sleigh riding with my family. My parents' yard has nice hills and there are big ones in the cow pasture. Especially nice is the fact that they no longer have cows in the pasture so you don't have to worry about hitting any cow pies. Frozen solid cow pies are like hitting a big rock and it hurts and fresh ones - well you know, can be kind of messy! We thought it might be too cold but it actually turned out to be a nice sunny day. In the sun it didn't take too many trips back up the hill to feel a little too warm in all the gear we put on to stay warm. Speaking of trips back up the hill. Although it is the upside, it is probably the downside of sledding! It stinks that once you zoom down the hill, it is a long, slow walk back up through deep snow. With that said, Shelby lasted about 20 minutes. It didn't help that she kept taking her glove off to eat snow and her hand was frozen solid. So I hauled her back up to the house to sit with Nonny. Morgan lasted quite a bit longer but I was able to pull her back up the hill on a sled so she had it a little easier.

Last winter we did some sledding as well. When I joined the fun my first run was with Morgan. I ended up flipping the tube and rolled over top of her and face planted her in the snow. She was not too happy with me and therefore would not go down the hill with me again. As we prepared for this trip, she kept telling me she was not going down on the sled with me. As we talked about walking back up the hill she says, "Mommy, I will go down on the sled with someone else and then you can carry me up the hill". Thanks Morgs! Here are a few pictures of the two little Eskimos.

The girls also had fun helping my brother make homemade ice cream. They took turns scooping in the snow. I'm not sure if Shelby even tried it since we finally ate some after she went to bed. Morgan ate some and liked it. Later it occurred to us that she probably shouldn't even eat it since it has raw eggs in it and she is allergic to them. When I told her the next day she couldn't eat any more of that ice cream because it had raw eggs in it she got this funny look on her face and said, "How'd that happen"?