It's all good . . .

Visitors

We have had a bunch of visitors over the past week.  On Tuesday my book club met at our house where we discussed our book, Twilight - and talked about our Harry Potter predictions - he he!  We were having so much fun laughing and talking, that it was a miracle we didn't wake up the kids.  (And don't worry about Kevin - he was happily watching the Major League All Star Game.)

On Friday night, there was a multi-Stake Youth Conference, and so we had a leader and 3 girls from Augusta stay at our apartment over night.  It was so much fun talking to them, and the kids LOVED the extra attention they received.  Derek found a new girlfriend - the secret to Derek's heart: letting him play with your cell phone :).  Lily talked nonstop to all of them from the second they woke up until they left, along with leading them in a good morning song she made up, and playing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" for them on the piano.  You could say that she was enjoying the spotlight :).

Friday was also fun for Kevin and I, but for different reasons.  Kevin's good day came from winning his Battalion golf tournament for the 3rd time in a row - which means he is the undefeated champion :). 

My fun time came after the kids were in bed, when I went with my friend Kristi to see the new Harry Potter movie, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.  It was so good, and I actually enjoyed it a little more than the book, because Harry didn't seem to be as whiny.

On Saturday we had such a fun surprise.  Nick, one of my oldest friends from Nevada, where I grew up, called me out of the blue.  It turns out that he and his family only live 2 hours away in Florida, and they were coming up to Savannah for the day.  They came for lunch, and it was so much fun catching up.  I was just so excited to find a childhood friend whom I thought I had lost over the past few years.

Now we are in a mad dash to get ready for our trip to Idaho, because it is our turn to be doing the visiting :).

The "No Cavities Club"

Lily had a dentist appointment today, and I finally remembered to bring my camera :).  For those of you who know Lily well, you know that she has a true fascination with going to the doctor, and the dentist isn't any different.  She looks on it with excitement and as if it is a special treat.  That's my girl :).  I thought I would show you some highlights of her visit:

 Here's Lily in her "movie star sunglasses" that they giver to wear so the light doesn't bother her.  She loves them!!

 This next picture is of the hygienist counting Lily's teeth.  After she counted the bottom ten, Lily stopped her and said, "And I have ten on the top too.  That means I have twenty teeth."  It was pretty cute. 

The other picture is of Lily and  "Mr. Thirsty" - one of Lily's favorite part of the visit was when she got to hold it in her mouth all by herself.

 This was my favorite part - watching Lily watch herself in the mirror as her teeth were polished :).

 And last, but not least - her beautiful, sparkly, cavity free smile :).  Lily's teeth were perfect, and so she got to pick a toy from the treasure chest. 

The hygienist also gave her a pair of gloves and a mask in her goody bag, since Lily kept saying she wanted to be a dentist.  I'll leave you with a picture of my little dentist :).

Thank goodness there are no Zombies!

55%

Okay, so my sister-in-law Shannon had some of these awesome quizzes up on her blog (you should check them out), but this was my favorite :).  It reminded me of watching "Night of the Comet" - a great zombie movie - with my sister Holly when we were little.  I totally used to plan out how I would survive.  Obviously by my score, I need a little improvement.  It was probably because I answered I would try and find and save my family members.  However, I think that my ability to shoot a gun really helped my score.  It is pretty fun, and you should all try it and tell me your score :).

PS.  Kevin had an 86% chance of survival, mostly because he is a trained soldier.  That said, I sure hope he answered yes to all the questions about saving loved ones . . .

Healthy Heart

I just wanted to let everyone know that we went to the Pediatric Cardiologist today, and he had great news for us.  Lily is perfectly healthy!!  She has what is called an "innocent flo murmur" - which is very common and not dangerous at all :).  So, happy news for us!  Yea!

Sleep

Sleep is something that has seemed to evade me for over four years.  Part of me, however,still holds out hope that someday I will find it again. 

You see, I have never been that great at falling asleep myself - I guess you could say I have a hard time shutting off my mind.  It usually takes me at least an hour to settle into sleep.  It has been this way my whole life, and it doesn't matter if I go to bed early or stay up late, it still happens.  ( I am so jealous of people who fall asleep quickly.)

Well, this is all fine and good, since I was able to sleep pretty soundly once I finally fell asleep, that is, until I had children.  That is when the sleep deprivation started.  I think most of you know about Lily's sleep apnea, which was a major problem causing her to wake up 8-9 times a night.  This wasn't fixed until she was almost 3, which meant I already had a brand new baby to take her place keeping me up.

Derek, as I posted a few months ago, also had sleep apnea, and luckily we were able to catch it much sooner to try and solve the problem.  So, 1 1/2 months ago he had his T&A surgery to help, and now that he is recovered, I am finally trying to teach him to sleep.  He is still learning, and only wakes up 2-3 times a night now which is an amazing difference!!  I know it can only get better, especially after he finally gets the 5 teeth he is trying to get at once, and once he gets used to his toddler bed. (Notice how I found him in his bed in the first picture - it is no wonder he wakes himself up still when he rolls around like a crazy person in his sleep :).

So, although sleep is still alluding me for the most part, it is much closer than it has been in too many years.  I will have to let you know if it is as glorious as I remember :).

PS.  I thought you might like to see some pictures of the kid's new pj's - I LOVE kids in their pajamas!!  Derek's turned out to be way too small, but it was still cute.

 

 

 

 

**Last night was a perfect example of a really bad night - between Lily's nightmares and Derek's teeth, they took turns waking me up, and the longest stretch of sleep I had was 45 minutes.   I need a nap :).

Major Taunting Violation - How we spent our day . . .

Remember that you are welcome to visit us anytime :).

Happy 4th of July!

What a wonderful day we had.  Between swimming, and fireworks, fun times with friends, and yummy food, it was perfect.  Some of the highlights were:

SWIMMING: 

Before we went swimming today, we went and got Derek a life jacket, since he was too big for his floaty.  Lily decided that she had to have one too, and we relented, since she actually practices her swimming when she is in a life jacket. 

I'm so glad we got them, because Derek was in heaven - he just wanted to float on his back the whole time. And Lily, she was awesome!  She swam on her back really well, and on her front with her face in the water so well.  The only bad thing was that I was FREEZING, and so we had to cut the swimming short.  (Just so you know, it was only like 85 degrees - pretty pitiful that I was cold.)

 

 

 

 

 

BBQ:

After swimming, we all came back and had a nice nap so we would have energy for the night's activities.  Then Kevin grilled some steaks while I made homemade french fries and corn on the cob.  It was so yummy, and definitely made it feel like the fourth.  Then the kids watched "The Muppet Movie" while we waited to leave for the . . .

FIREWORKS:

  Savannah puts on a great fireworks show right over the Savannah River. Most people go to River Street to watch it (which is fine if you want to be around thousands of very drunk people).  We had heard to go across the bridge to watch them instead, and were so happy we did.  Looking around at the thousands of other people on our side of the river, I decided that must be where all the families go to watch. 

(Here's a picture of the sun reflecting off the dome of the court house - We had such a great view of the city across the river.) 

We met our friends Dawn and Robert, and so Lily got to play with her friends Jordan and Cameron.  They were very cute, and it was especially funny when both of their little girls wanted to take a turn holding on to Derek's harness - just like they had a puppy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

When the fireworks started, we had an amazing view!  The girls, and even Derek, were totally engrossed.  In fact, it was such a great show, even us adults were inspired and impressed.  When it was over, there was a mad dash for the cars and trying to get out.  Luckily, we happened to find a short cut, and amazingly enough, we were out of the traffic in ten minutes.  What a blessing!!

(Here's a picture of the bridge we drove over to get across the river - so cool!!)

MORE FIREWORKS:

Our friends invited us to come over and light off fireworks after the big show was over, and so that is where we went.  It was pretty late, but that didn't stop the kids from having fun with sparklers and watching the other fireworks :).

It was after 11:30pm by the time we got home, but it was such a great Independence Day.  I am so grateful to live in this amazing country.  I have traveled, and I have not only seen, but I have experienced other countries and cultures, and I cannot begin to express to you how incredibly blessed we are to live in this great nation.  We have more freedoms than some people could begin to hope for, and I pray that each of us live up to the great responsibility that this lays on our shoulders. 

Happy 4th of July to all of you!!

This Week We Played

I have been feeling really guilty lately that I have not been playing enough with my kids.  They don't stay this little forever, and it is far too easy to get caught up in other things, and so this week I was determined to PLAY!

MONDAY:

 Monday we went to my friend Kristi's house and the kids played in a blow up kiddie pool in the back yard.  It was hilarious watching Derek climb out of the pool and then throw himself back in, as he would always go under the water for a minute and pop back up and laugh.  I guess we have another fish on our hands :).  They had so much fun, and so did Kristi and I - as we were able to talk and relax, and hold her 2 month old baby :).

TUESDAY:

Tuesday we played extra hard, as we invited my friend Dawn and her two girls over to swim with us.  We went early, about 10am, and it was perfect weather.  Lily loved having the girls their to play with (ages 3 and 4), and Derek loved trying to escape from me. 

That afternoon, my friend Kristi came over to our house this time, and our kids had a blast playing and running around.  They stayed for dinner, since Kevin didn't get home until super late, which was also a fun treat :).

WEDNESDAY:

 

Our Wednesday activity was very special, since we went and watched Kevin's last softball game of the season.  We had been wanting to go for a while, but never could get our schedules to work out.  Lily immediately found herself a friend to play with, and soon was playing with a big group of kids.  She is not at all shy, and it would be an understatement to call her a "social butterfly." 

Derek was trouble, as usual, and so I had him on his "leash" to keep him from getting too far too fast.  He played on the bleachers, pushed the stroller around, and flirted with a cute blond woman on the front row - that's Derek for you :).  He is going to be even more trouble when he gets bigger, especially if he still has his killer grin!

The game was great to watch, Kevin's team one, and I got to see him score a run.  Then, on our way home we got the whole family $0.59 chocolate milkshakes from Checkers.  It was great!

THURSDAY:

Thursday I decided to take the kids to the park, but went at 8:30 am to beat the heat.  Unfortunately it was VERY humid that day, and so it didn't matter that we went that early.  Oh well, the kids had a great time anyway.  And during Derek's nap, Lily and I made sure to take advantage of him being out of commission, and we played some board games.

FRIDAY:

Friday we had the car and ran errands, which meant I got to take the kids to the soft play park at the mall.  It is so great, especially during the hot summer, and the kids love it.  I had to watch Derek like a hawk, because of his tendency to run away, and still he managed to escape once while I was looking at Lily.  Crazy kid!

That night we had Maria and Neal, some friends from our old ward, over for a BBQ.  I even made strawberry shortcake :).  We were going to go swimming, but got too carried away talking, and then it was too late.

SATURDAY:

Saturday morning, the kids woke us up at 6am, as usual.  We decided to take advantage of being up, and went to Walmart for some donuts.  (It was my first time there without having to wait in line!)  Kevin had rented some movies for us to watch, Blues Clues for the kids, and Stranger Than Fiction for us (which was great!).  Oh, and Derek got a haircut - he sure looks handsome with his buzz! 

After dinner we went for a swim, and it was perfect!  Not too hot, the water was great, and then we were able to wash the kids and have them ready for bed.  I even decided to get ambitious  and put Lily's hair in curlers :). She loved it!

SUNDAY:

I got sustained in my new calling, 1st Counselor in the Primary Presidency ;) - pretty fun.  I am very happy to be in there, and I even taught sharing time today.  Derek even stayed in Nursery this week, granted Kevin was in there with him, but still :).  And we ended the day today with a great family game of Karaoke Revolution - I love that game!

All in all, it has been a fun week, and although it has been a little exhausting, we all seemed a little happier.  It is amazing how that works - it's true what they say, "The family that plays together, stays together."  I hope you all take the time for a little play as well :).