Hello Monday!

We stopped by Dairy Queen for free cones last Wednesday, the first day of Spring!

We walked/rode bicycles down to our neighborhood park one afternoon last week! It was sunny and almost perfect outside! 

C and the dog love walking over by the pond! 

We woke up and saw three deer in the woods right behind our backyard a couple mornings last week. They're fun to watch! Our neighbors put deer feed out every evening but we rarely see them unless it's early, early morning. It was hard to get a decent pic through the smudged window pane and screen so this was the best I could get. If we went outside they would've run away. 

G had her first lock-in sleepover with her American Heritage Girls group last Friday night. She had a lot of fun! 

L had a couple febrile seizures again on Saturday. She wasn't feeling very well in the pic above so S brought her her "newborn baby monkey" to snuggle with. Ha! I love the stuff these girls come up with. They named this monkey "purple" and have been pretending it's a real baby for several days now. L fell asleep and had a short seizure not long after I took this pic. She ended up having another short one about 30 minutes later. We didn't see a need to take her to the ER this time and thankfully it was all over within an hour or so.

This was after she had come out of her seizures but was still kind of out of it. She threw up the Tylenol I gave her and went to sleep for a good long while. The seizures seem to really wear her out. 

Thankfully she was pretty much back to herself after she woke up again! And she did great all day Sunday and today. Her seizures have been months apart so I'm not expecting another one any time soon but I guess you never know.. She just started sleeping in her own bed and now I'm kind of terrified to have her sleep on her own again. I just can't imagine her having a seizure during the night without anyone knowing. :( I just found out about these "watches" that alert caretakers to seizures. I don't think we're at the point where she needs one but I think they're pretty cool for those who do. 

This morning was bright and sunny and one of the warmest mornings we've had lately. I decided to wash my van on a whim and G and S were eager to help. As soon as we were done it started getting overcast and started to rain a little later in the afternoon. Ha! I guess I should've looked at the forecast. 

L still isn't feeling 100% and the water from the hose was freezing so she sat in her little lawn chair and watched Gabby's tablet while we washed the van. 

Little E has been loving the spring weather too! He loves curling up in the warm soon. He's the cutest but it's hard to get a good picture of him since he moves around so much! 

Myrtle Beach, Day 1

We had such a great time in Myrtle Beach with friends! We didn't get away until around 7 that Friday evening and got in around midnight but luckily our friends our night owls and didn't seem to mind. 

The kids didn't sleep 4 in a row but I had to get a pic of them all laying side by side! I asked C if he was happy to be at the beach and he said he was happy to be at the beach but not happy to be in a bed with three girls haha! 

 Our friends had a yummy breakfast for us Saturday morning!

After breakfast we headed to the heated pools! L went right in, all by herself, right after I put her puddle jumper on! I'm so glad! The past couple summers have been crazy with her sensory issues but by the end of last summer she was doing amazing! I had been a little worried that we might have to start all over this summer but looks like she's a little fish for life! I hope so! 

S had a lot of fun too!

I just love the "3" in the pic since L is three ha! She loved playing on the steps with her little buckets. 

The big kids LOVED the water slides! I think they could've stayed all day! S actually went down with my friend twice and then (I was shocked!) but L wanted to go down with my friend too. I couldn't believe it! She hit her head at the end when she was standing up so she didn't want to go again but I was so impressed that she wanted to go at all! She loves our friend so much that she only wanted to go with her and not with me. Haha! 

After the pools we went back up to the condo for lunch then headed down to the beach. It was freezing on Saturday but the kids had fun looking for shells, shark teeth and building sand castles.

We didn't stay on the beach for a super long time Saturday. We came back after an hour or so for naps and quiet time while J and G ran to Wal-Mart for stuff to make tacos and a few other things. J made the best tacos for dinner that evening!

This is the view from the our friends' window.. looking to the left a bit! Such a beautiful view to wake up to!!

Hello Monday

I'm linking up with Hello Monday today!! A lot has happened since I blogged last!

Last weekend (March 8-10) we went to the beach with friends! It was a short trip but so much fun and much needed after a long winter. The weather on Sunday was absolutely perfect! I'll post more pics in the next few days.

Our washing machine broke, mid cycle, a few hours before we left for the beach. I had to leave a full load of clothes sitting in water while we were gone. We bought a washer the day we got back from the beach but just got it hooked up on Saturday (almost a week later) because we've been so busy. The girls and I went to the laundry mat Tuesday and washed/dried four huge loads of laundry. L was excited to help push the clean laundry to the car. :) I'm so glad to have a washing machine again! You don't know what you miss until you don't have it.

The girls and I went to McDonalds for lunch on Friday. This expression sums up Izzy so well! She's so mischievous.

We finally got new bikes for both big kids!! They're so excited! They actually both taught

themselves how to ride a bike in one day this past weekend! I feel bad that it took us so long to get them bikes but glad we didn't wait any longer. I know they'll have so much fun on them this summer! 

S was just accepted into a dual immersion program for kindergarten at a local elementary school! We're so excited! I plan to start G on Dualingo this week! J and I both wish we had started teaching the kids Spanish when they were babies. We really have no excuse. Spanish is J's first language and I speak quite a bit myself but for some reason (pure laziness) we've never taught the kids. I've also started on Dualingo for review this past weekend and really want to commit to using the Spanish I know around the kids consistently. 

L (3) loves falling asleep in her new bed! Of course I have to lay down beside her to get her to fall asleep but she's been sleeping in her bed about the half the night the past several nights. I'm so proud of her! Meanwhile, S (5) has yet to fall asleep on her new top bunk! She still insists on sleeping in our bed. We've going to take the bunk bed apart and have twin beds side by side instead. Hopefully S will be more open to sleeping in a twin bed next to L.



C's usually one of the last ones to be picked up from school every afternoon and he's usually sitting here on bench, reading a book, when I pull up. I love that the older two kids are such bookworms! I hope S and L will love to read as much as G and C do.



Our calendar is filling up with all the spring activities! C went to archery Saturday with his Trail Life group then had his first baseball practice of the season. G has a lock-in coming up with her American Heritage Girls group next weekend. The following weekend all three girls have a dance recital. We have a camping trip, field trip, soccer and more coming up. It's busy but I love this time of year! Spring always puts me in a great mood!



Hope everyone is having a great Monday!!

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Hello Monday

I'm so excited that all the trees are blooming! It's starting to look a lot like spring! I love seeing this tree right outside the window above the front door. It's been raining a lot and it's pretty cold today but we've had a few sunny and warmish days so it's starting to look and feel more like spring! 

L had a really rough week a couple weeks ago when we started potty training but she did so much better last week! I think it's safe to she's fully potty trained now.. although we're still using diapers or pull-ups at night to be on the safe side. She's staying dry at night though so we may not be using them much longer! After an unsuccessful trip to the dentist a couple Fridays ago she did much better last Thursday! There were some tears and screaming but they were able to clean and check her teeth (no cavities!) and she settled down pretty quickly afterwards. She wanted to take her doll with her and wanted to match her doll.. so cute! I don't know why she's making this face here... maybe it was too bright.

Her hip check-up went great last Tuesday too! They don't need to see her again for another year! Great news! 

L has been full of surprises lately! J put together the girls new bunkbed Thursday evening and L just had to sleep in it! I ended up laying down next to her until she fell asleep but she stayed in her bed until 5 o'clock the next morning and then did the same thing Saturday night. She has slept in our bed since birth so I didn't really expect her to adjust so quickly to her own bed. S meanwhile has yet to sleep on the top bunk even though she insisted she was going to love it. :/ 

I love S's face here ha! 

Friday evening the kids and I went to a birthday party for the little boy across the street. They're from a country near Russia (formly part of the Soviet Union, I think?) and all the other guests were Russian too. It was cool to hear all the Russian but of course we couldn't understand a word. Most of the adults didn't speak a lot of English but the kids all communicated just fine. My grandmother was Russian/Ukrainian and grew up speaking the language. I wish she had taught all of us!

S loves the door handles at Dunkin Donuts! Her expression cracks me up here and even though I just bought her a new pack of ankle socks she insists on wearing tall mismatched socks instead. Haha! 

On Saturday I took S out for donuts and we went to a few stores afterwards. I rediscovered a thrift store. The first time I went I wasn't that impressed but when we went Saturday I realized how clean and organized it is! We'll definitely be going back. I got a few cute pieces of clothing for L. I offered them to S first since they wear about the same size but she turned up her nose at all of them ha! You never know what she's going to like but it's usually not the girly girly stuff. She was excited to find a couple Ninja Turtle things though!

We walked over to the Tractor Supply store afterwards and she was so excited to see baby chicks! She begged to bring one home lol. 

We got our Disney Magic Bands in the mail Saturday afternoon! 

We went out to Cracker Barrel for dinner Saturday evening. We wanted Red Robin but could tell there was a long wait when we drove by so we went to Cracker Barrel instead. Cracker Barrel was packed too but by the time we got out of the car and walked in we just decided to stay and wait for a table. Of course the kids loved looking at all the toys. J and the older kids played a couple games of checkers while we waited. And the older kids were taking pics with my phone ha! J and I both had the chicken fried chicken for dinner. It was sooo good! 


After dinner we got icecream at a place called Brusters. This was our first time there. The icecream is good but they don't have a place to eat inside. It will be fun to go in the summer and sit outside! 


Sunday morning J and I volunteered in C's second grade class at church. We had picked up pizza for lunch then went to life group at four o'clock. J made yummy orange chicken for life group! It was delicious!! 

Afterwards we all went to Wal-Mart for a few things. I'm loving my new Wal-Mart wreath and porch mat! I love Wal-Mart ha!! 


I stopped by Dollar General for the first time in forever this weekend. I was surprised that they have so many cute things! I got a few pieces of décor for half off. I think I'll be going back again. I honestly had no idea they had cute stuff. I'm more of a Dollar Tree person since everything is actually only one dollar ha but looks like Dollar General may have some good deals too! 


It has taken me ALL day to get this post up. I need to work on focusing a little better. Since I started writing at 9 this morning I've done laundry, loaded/unloaded/loaded the dishwasher, updated my planner and calendar on my phone, worked on piecing together my husband's family tree (he's just connecting with his father's HUGE family on social media and we're trying to figure out who's who), made breakfasts and lunches, taken the dog out and brought him back in a few times, worked on cleaning the house, taken L potty several times, gotten her down for a nap, picked C up from school and more! This is the reason I don't blog more regularly. I can't focus ha! 


Anyway, hope everyone's having a great Monday!!!