Andrew and Daniel

Not much going on right now. We've had a good couple of days. H,A & D had pictures at school yesterday with live bunnies for Easter!! Hallie had a great time with the bunnies, and I can't wait to see the pictures. The babies teachers said that D was terrified and would run from the room as soon as they sat him down. A was not scared, but they said he would just lay his head on the ground and pretend he was asleep. Oh, well. I'm going to try and get a professional picture of all the kids together soon. We have not had one taken since the babies were born.

Yesterday as we were getting dinner ready, we looked to the stairs in our house and Andrew was WALKING down the stairs!! He has decided that he doesn't want to crawl down them, he now holds on to the wall and walks down the steps. I can't believe it. I always thought that Daniel was braver than Andrew, but Daniel still won't crawl down the stairs. He just stands at the top and yells when he wants to come down.

Daniel has decided that it is his job to put dirty diapers in the trash. Now, as soon as you take his diaper off and get him cleaned up, he stands up and picks up the diaper and takes it to the trash. Then, he generally will come back to you asking for a "Thank You" for putting the diaper in the trash. When Andrew gets his diaper changed, Daniel will hang around until Andrew is done then take his diaper to the trash.

This Weekend

We all had a good weekend, it's Sunday night and it is very weird to blog at home. I generally blog the last couple minutes of the day at work, but decided to go ahead and blog now. It is very loud in the house, Andrew and Hallie and yelling and laughing about something, Blake is playing XBox and I just finished pulling an eraser out of Daniel's mouth!!

Friday night, Nanny cooked spaghetti and we went to her house to eat. It was very good, it's been a long time since she has felt like cooking for company and we had a great time. We went to Poppa and Bidee's afterward for a couple of minutes and the kids had a great time playing with them.

Saturday we had one of Blake's friends, Hunter, over for the day. The boys had a great time and Hallie had fun with them. That afternoon, Hunter, Blake and I went to Blake's "girlfriend" Graisi's birthday party. We had a great time, the kids each painted a tile to hang in their room that they will get after they fire it in the kiln. Blake painted C3PO, R2D2 and Yoda from Star Wars, a little different than all of the girls and their flowers and butterflies.

Blake and Graisi...

Hunter and Blake painting their tiles..

Today, we went to church, ate lunch, and played outside all afternoon. We had a visit from Bidee and Poppa and now are getting ready for bed.

Just to update you, by the end of this blog, Andrew and Daniel are chasing Hallie all around the house while they yell and laugh, and Blake is still playing XBox, ignoring the chaos!

No Babie's Allowed

I had to post these pictures of the signs on Blake and Hallie's door. These showed up this week. I guess they were tired of having their little brothers mess with all of their stuff.

Blake's sign...

Hallie's sign (with Blake's help)...

Translation:

Blake

and

Hallie

and

Dad

and

Mom

and

our

frnds

They explained that "our frnds" included extended family: Grandma, Grandpa, Poppa, Bidee, aunt and uncles, it just excluded Andrew and Daniel.

Hallie's Haircut

Hallie has been very frustrated with her hair for the last couple of weeks. We have a major meltdown, screaming and crying, when we are washing, drying or brushing her hair. So last night Hallie decides she wants (in her words) "her hair cut as short as boy." Both Chad and I vetoed that really fast, but she still wanted her hair cut. I made an appointment for her at Sweet and Sassy last night. We got there and everything was pink and had princesses everywhere. They were playing Cinderella on all of the TVs and Hallie was loving it. They had a birthday party going on so Hallie got to watch all the little girls dance around in their princess dresses and make up. She had a ball. We got her hair cut and she looks adorable. She was very excited about the glitter hairspray and the glitter heart they put on her cheek. She also got a very cute flower lollipop for being such a good girl. As you can see below, she is very proud of her new haircut and hopefully it will end all (or just some) of the hair "drama" at our house.

Getting Sentimental..

Don't really have anything to say today either, but I came across these pictures of Blake and Hallie and couldn't believe how much they have changed. Hallie's short curly hair and round face. Blake with a round face and chubby arms and legs. Until I look at these pictures I can't believe how much time has passed. I guess in my mind the kids have not changed and I still see them as babies.


This time is going much too fast while my kids are small. Blake has his first loose tooth and will soon lose it and look like a really big kid. Hallie will be in 5K this year and will soon know more than Chad and I do. Andrew and Daniel should still be babies and not toddlers. Pretty soon they will be taller and bigger than Hallie. Well, here are the pictures that made me start getting all sentimental.




One of my favorite pictures of Chad, Blake and Hallie..

President's Day

Not much to say today, it was a quiet weekend. We caught up on laundry (it is still not done), cleaned closets and just hung out with the kids. It was very restful and we needed a stay at home weekend. Blake is home with Chad today, they have had a great time. They met me for lunch and then went to a movie. I think they are at home now playing baseball. I'm going to post some new pictures of the kids from the past couple of weeks.

Here's Daniel...

and Andrew....

and Hallie....

The most recent picture of Blake is posted below, with his General Lee.

Pinewood Derby

Blake had a great day at school yesterday and all the kids were glad to have him back. He said very few people asked questions, so hopefully that will be the end of it with the kids. He was not worried but Chad and I were.

A couple of weeks ago Blake and Chad made a car to go in the Pinewood Derby for Cub Scouts. Chad cut the car out, but Blake did the rest. Blake painted it and picked the design. Of course, they made the General Lee, Blake is so proud of it.

Blake's car was not the fastest, as you can see below, but he had a great time and he had a button he pressed that played the General Lee song when he raced. It was a lot of fun for everyone.

Update on Blake

We went to the neurologist this morning and Blake's EEG was normal, which is very good news. The dr said she would leave it up to Chad and I whether to put Blake back on seizure medicine. If Blake were to have another seizure he would be back on it for sure, but with only one the decision is ours. We have not decided yet, we want to think about it for a couple of days.

Everything else is great.

Happy Valentine's Day!!!!!!

Blake

Well, I decided when I did this, that I would do it to keep record of the kids lives so that means the good and not so good.

Blake had a seizure today on the bus on the way to school. They called us from the school and said they had pulled the bus over on the side of the road and the paramedics were there. I got to the bus and Blake was waking up. The kids and bus driver said he fell off the seat of the bus and that's when the kids knew something was wrong. We got him home and after several hours of resting and sleeping he was back to himself.

Both Chad and I had almost convinced ourselves that we were done with the seizures, but I am glad that he was on the bus and in a safe place when the seizure happened. We will go to the neurologist tommorow for an EEG and to make the decision about putting him back on medicine.

Blake has some really good friends down the street who were on the bus with him, as soon as the bus dropped them off, they came down to check on Blake. They were very sweet to him, I am glad he has good friends in the neighborhood.

The Eye Doctor

Chad just sent me an email from last week when he took the kids to the eye doctor. Below is Chad's story in his own words:

Last week, I took Blake and Hallie to the eye doctor. The moment we walked in the door they started talking to everyone they saw telling them that they are there to see the eye doctor. They introduced each other to the lady who checked us in and Blake even lifted Hallie up so that the check-in lady could see her over the counter.

When they called our name and we got settled in the room, the nurse came in and the real fun began. The first question was, Is anything in this room dangerous? It was all questions from there. What does this do? What does that do? What are these lights for? Then Hal asked, Am I going to have to get a shot? The nurse said no.
Hal asked, Am I going to have to get drops put in my eyes? The nurse said yes. Hal then told her that her mom and dad put drops in her eyes when they are pink.

Then Hal asked the best question of the day. Am I going to have to take my clothes off? The nurse sort of snickered and said no. Of course, Hal didn't stop there. She then told the nurse that she went to the doctor with her mommy and her mommy had to take off her clothes and put something else on. The nurse said, Well that is a different type of doctor.

The questions then stopped, but the fun continued. Hal was sitting in the chair with these glasses on and the nurse was having her look at this book. The nurse asked, Which animal is higher? Even though Blake was not looking at the book and was sitting in a chair against the wall, he decided that he knew the answer and replied, A Giraffe. I told Blake that giraffes are the tallest(highest) animal, but he wasn't looking at the book and there may not even be giraffes in the picture.

Hal didn't seem to know what the nurse was asking so the question was then rephrased. Which animal looks like it is closest to you? Hal pointed and said this one. The nurse told her she was correct and asked, What about the next line? Hal quickly said, What about the next line? So the nurse again had to change her question. After Hal answered that question correctly, the nurse, to her credit, phrased the question correctly. She obviously was not aware of what kid she was dealing with. Then came the moment to dialate Hal's eyes. At that moment, the nurse decides to take Blake in another room to start his exam.

Of course, that puts me in a handle. Do I let the 4 year old or the 7 year old sit in a room by themself? I decide that Blake is less likely to break something so I stay with Hal until the nurse comes to get me so that I can answer some of Blake's medical history questions.

A few moments later, Hal comes in with some stickers for Blake followed by another nurse. The nurse asks Hal if she wants to stay in the room with her brother and dad. Hal says, Nope, I want to be in my own room. After Hal tells the nurse no twice, I intervene as her dad and inform her that she has to stay in the room with us. The kids of course kept on with the questions and talked to everyone until we finally made it out the door with their sunglasses in hand.

I hate to say it, but that was one appointment I'm glad I missed.

#1

Well, I am finally convinced it is time to enter the world of blogging. I have really enjoyed reading other people's blogs about their lives and decided it was my time to enter into that world. The main reason I decided to do this was for my kids. I want them to have this for them someday when they want to know about our lives when they were young. I have not done a good job of keeping their baby books up to date, so maybe this will help me get all of their stories written down for them.

So, Blake, Hallie, Andrew and Daniel this is for you......