A Slacker's Re-Cap

Okay, once again, it's been like forever and a day since my last post, but that doesn't mean we haven't been doing anything!  Well...actually, in a way, we kind of haven't been doing anything because these darn kids (but I love em') keep getting sick!  I swear, every single time we have plans, one of them is sick!  It seems like ever since Christmas time...every other week it's something new!  I actually took Sydney to Jake's birthday with a fever because we were missing so much!  But anyway, within the last three weeks, Lizzy had diarrhea for 11 days, it was absolutely awful and she was miserable (she even threw up, but we won't talk about that).  Then the next week I get a call to pick up Sydney from day care because she had spots everywhere, so I took her right to the doctor to discover Scarlet Fever...lovely!  You can only guess what happened the next week.  Why yes, Lizzy caught it, but she only had Strep Throat.  I have never seen her more miserable...she cried non-stop becuase her throat hurt! And this week (yesterday), Lizzy woke up with a cough and fever!  Seriously...can we catch a break?  So far it's not looking like it...I'm home today with a low grade fever, but fortunatley it means I can catch up on this blog...here's a brief update on what's been going on in between illnesses...

Sydney's Dance Recital:  Sure, it was cute, but I'm glad it's over!  I always feel like I'm running here and there, so it will be a nice break this Summer.  We'll see if she takes another class...she's not so into ballet and only wants to be a cheerleader, so maybe we'll sign her up for a pom pon class??  She loves swimming, so maybe we'll just stick with that!

Kindergarten Round-Up:  I cannot believe that Sydney is heading off to Kindergarten next year.  She is getting SO old.  She acts way older than four years old...she doesn't even like cartoons anymore and loves watching Glee and listening to grown up music, it's so weird!  Her teachers even tell me she a new peer group...ALL BOYS!  Apparently they play Star Wars and she is Princess Lea (of course)!  Anyway, Sydney loved riding the school but and visiting the different class rooms.  She wasn't shy and jumped right into the activities so she is definitely ready.  When they were introducing the teachers, Sydney said in a really loud voice..."I want THAT one because she is the prettiest."  I was a little embarrassed, but the person next to me said, "I agree with her, she is the prettiest and I pick her for my son, too!"  Sydney has this thing for pretty girls and I always points them out to me and is really into hairstyles and clothes...I'm telling you...she is not a typical 4 1/2 year old....or maybe she is...what do I know?

Samantha's 5th Birthday Party:  Samantha is a girl in Sydney's class that we are totally going to miss.  It's hard when all of the kids break off into their "home" schools.  But Samantha is going to Walled Lake schools so we will have to stay in touch with them.  Her birthday was at Farmington Gymnastics and they were nice enough to let Lizzy come too, which was very fortunate because this was right up her alley.  Lizzy has been asking ever since when she can go to gymnastics (she says "nastics"), so I'm thinking we might sign her up for a quick Summer session becauase she NEVER gets to do anything!  Sydney had fun too, but Lizzy likes to move non-stop and that's exactly what she did!  We might have the girls' party there this year; all of the kids had a ton of fun!

Swimming at Grandpa's:  Although she doesn't take lessons, Lizzy's other love is swimming!  You can bribe her to do anything if you tell her that she'll get to go swimming.  We had a ton of fun, although Sydney forgot her goggles, so she wouldn't show us everything she has learned in her lessons.  But she had fun jumping in and just enjoying the water and nice weather.  Lizzy stayed close to the steps and liked jumping to me...it never got old for her!  We plan on doing a lot of swimming this Summer...well, as much as you can do with two working parents!  But apparently, only in swimming pools...every time we go near or drive past lake water, Lizzy says, "Oh, we don't swim in that yucky water, only in blue pools."

Lily's 4th Birthday: Shauna went all out this year with a cowboy and cowgirl theme and had farm animals and horse rides at the party.  When we got there, I thought my girlie girl Sydney was going to freak out.  She isn't the biggest animal lover and HATES smells.  She refused to ride the horse, but as the party went on, she opened up a little bit and went near the animals and ended up having fun.  Lizzy, on the other hand, LOVED the animals, especially the little bunnies.  She held the bunnies almost the whole party.  She was holding it like a baby and kept rocking it and saying, "oh, she's so cute."  She also walked around telling everyone to "hold it from the butt", which is what they told her before holding it.  We are NOT getting a bunny, but ever since the party, Lizzy wants to go to Lily's house to play with the animals...she doesn't quite get that they are gone now!

Memorial Day: We joined the Becker's at the Schwartz's house for leftovers.  The kids had a blast playing in the water and making mud pies.  Although it was "Africa Hot", as Jason says, everyone had so much fun and the kids got along great!  It was a casual, but perfect day!

Bower's Farm:  Have I mentioned that Sydney hates smells?  This was their last field trip of the year and Sydney did not like it at all.  She basically stood there holding her nose the entire time.  I didn't have high expectations for her, but I took off time from work to go with her (because I HAD to...I'm not really a farm person either), so I wanted to at least enjoy it.  But oh well, we survived!  Mrs. Bruder was even able to convince (or drag) Sydney in to milk the cow and feed the baby goats.  Sydney was proud of herself, but then gave me a look that pretty much said...okay, let's get the hell outta here!  I think we were the first to leave!

So, that's about it!  I'm sure there is way more, but these are the things that come to mind!  Maybe I'll do a little better at keeping this thing up to date...but I won't hold my breath!

Mother's Day

Sydney could not wait to give me my mother's day presents!  It started off with breakfast in bed.  I knew it was coming since 5 minutes before it arrived, she ran upstairs and said, "guess what, we have breakfast in bed for you cuz that's what  my teachers told me to do", LOL!  Jason made eggs and Sydney did the rest.  She put some fruit on my plate and picked out apple and cinnamon oatmeal. When Jason carried the plate in, he told me that he felt sick, but not to worry because he didn't touch the eggs.  That kind of changed my mood for the day and put me a little on edge because it had been a REALLY rough week and I was just tired of everyone being sick and was SO looking forward to my day of relaxation.  So this meant Jason AND Lizzy were sick. He went downstairs with Lizzy and Sydney stayed while I opened my presents.  Jason had actually Sydney and a sick Lizzy to the mall to pick out my gifts which I appreciated because it means a lot to me that Sydney actually picked out my gifts...I'm sure Lizzy just watched!

Sydney picked out some sunglasses for me which couldn't have been better timing since mine broke just the day before.  Of course, they had little diamonds on the side, which is how I know FOR SURE that Sydney picked them out. They also bought me a Glee CD which I kind of suspected was coming.  The day before, Sydney said, "I bought you something that you watch on TV and it's NOT Dancing With the Stars." So funny!  So, the kid's not so great with secrets, but oh well!  I also got some special lotions and scrubs for my feet since they are always so dry and Sydney actually massaged them...how sweet!  They also cleaned out my entire car the day before which was GREATLY appreciated...it needed it!  Apparently Lizzy slept through the whole thing!

When I came downstairs, Jason went to bed and slept the entire day while I cleaned and did laundry.  I can't stand a mess and wasn't going to be happy until it was spotless.  As I said, I wasn't in the best mood as it just wasn't what I wanted to do the whole day, but it IS my job as a mother, and so I did it anyway (with a little chip on my shoulder).  Looking back, I realized that I shouldn't have had the attitude and should have gone with the flow a little better...it's life and people get sick...but I never said I deal with sickness very well! It's one of my (many) downfalls.

But alas, the day got better!  My mom came over and gave me a present that I really needed...a gift certificate to a salon to get my hair cut and highlighted and a mani and pedi.  Oh...and a membership to Costco...yayyyyy!  Now I can go to Sam's AND Costco and won't have to send my dad and friends to by animal crackers, hummus, and squeezy applesauce!!  We gave her a photo blanket which she really seemed to like!

Finally, Jason came around and started to feel a little better.  My mom, Sydney and I were going to Champps for dinner and Jason decided he would bring Lizzy and drive separately just in case.  We made it through the meal, said goodbye to my mom and got the kids ready for bed.  After they were finally down, Jason brought up the computer and showed me a picture of what he ordered me for mother's day.  He was going to take me to the store, but that didn't happen since he didn't feel well.  He bought me a brand new patio set which turned my mood around even more.  I have been wanting a nice new set, so I was very happy and excited, not to mention appreciative since it was totally unexpected.  I love surprises.  At that point in the day, I thought I had received everything I was going to get (and I was completely satified), but this was just icing on the cake.

So, all in all, it turned out to be a good day.  I just wish Lizzy wasn't sick...it just breaks my heart.  She literally had diarhea all day for 3 and half days and had the WORST diaper rash...so sad!   She even ended up staying home with Jason the next day!

In Your Dreams!

So, this morning Sydney came running into my room and told me she had a good dream.  I asked her what it was about and she said that she had a sleepover at our house with some friends from school.  I don't even know how she knows about sleepovers, she certainly has never had any of her friends sleep over before.  Anyway, I asked her who came over and she said, "Andrew" very quietly in an embarrassed voice.  I was like PLEASE tell me there were other kids.  Thankfully, Samantha, Chloe, and Brooklyn were in the dream too!  I was a little worried that my four year old was dreaming about having a boy sleep over.  I know it was just a dream, but here's to praying she stops dreaming about boys for many many many many many years!!

It Was the Best of Times...It Was the Worst of Times

This past week has certainly been quite the roller coaster ride with many ups and downs.

It all started with the Royal Wedding on Friday.  To be quite honest, I wasn't all that interested in all of the hype!  But Sydney...OBSESSED!  She loved that Kate was now a princess.  And anytime a princess is inolved...Sydney is all about it.  Every show that came on about the wedding, she just had to watch.  At school, they took a few kids who were interested into the library to watch it all happen.  Sydney was one of the interested ones.  That's all she talked about after school that day.  Usually, she tells me she didn't do anything...typical kid!  When my People magazine came in the mail with Princess Kate and Prince William on the cover, she literally ran into the house and started reading it.  She kept saying, "this is real life, mom." They even kissed." Poor kid wants to be a princess...she'll always be our little princess though!

On Sunday morning, we had Jake's birthday party at the Troy Aquatics Center.  Lizzy was so excited to go swimming; she just LOVES it.  I knew she would have a blast.  We just had one problem.  Sydney was acting weird and it turned out that she had a fever.  But she wanted to go so bad.  And since it wasn't over 100, we took her anyway and let her swim.  I didn't tell anyone and just tried to keep her away from other people.  They both had fun, but it was hard for me to relax just knowing that she wasn't feeling well.  But it was still fun, nonetheless.

Sunday night...wasn't so great!  There was some strange activity going on in front of our house.  There were like five cars and one car was blocking the others and wouldn't let anyone move.  It was really strange, and after 20 minutes, it kind of freaked me out because I couldn't think of a reason for all of this to be going on at 10pm on a Sunday night.  Finally, Jason called the police and they ended up staying for almost an hour.  I was going crazy trying to figure out what was going on and of course a ton of people were gathering outside.  As it turned out, there were some high school kids playing water wars (with water guns) and it got a little out of hand.  I'm glad that it wasn't anything major, but it's scary to see weird things like that.  How were we supposed to know they were water guns?  We weren't taking any chances!  And to top it all off, Sydney still had a fever (well duh, we are the geniuses thatlet her go swimming) and ended up staying home with Jason that day.

Next night...not so great either!  Around 10:30 pm, Lizzy threw up! OMG...we all know I hate that and of course I went screaming for Jason.  She threw up one more time after that but I stayed up the whole darn night in anticipation; my worst nightmare!  AND, Jason HAD to do something important for work the next day, so I HAD to stay home with her.  I was literally on pins and needles the whole day.  I wouldn't let Lizzy or Sydney (just in case) eat anything the entire day.  Well, I let Sydney have a yogurt...and that's it!  Lizzy was so pissed.  I would give her tiny bits of juice a little at a time, and she would say, "don't give me a little, make it big".   And then she would throw her cup at me when it was only a little.  The next morning, she woke up earlier than ever and came into my room before my alarm went off for work and said, "I'm hungry, give me breakfast."  I starved the poor kid.  I'm a bad parent sometimes, but she didn't throw up again!

The next night came a little good news for the world.  An alert came across the tv that President Obama had to make a major announcement.  At first Jason thought it had to do with the crazy high gas prices, but I thought there was NO WAY he would make an emergency announcement about that.  Just as I suspected, Osama Bin Laden had been captured and killed.  I'm still a little uneasy that there will be some retaliation, but this is a postive thing for the U.S.  So, I guess this will be one of the "good" parts of this blog...but still...I'm a little worried.

We somehow managed to make it through the rest of the week without anymore issues, although I didn't feel very well on Thursday.  I'll spare the details, but I went to work anyway, and somehow managed to push through.  Finally, Friday came...thank goodness. I went on a girls night out with Shauna and Jenn to Benihana (where they cook in front of you).  It was fun and needed.  I wasn't really sick, but I still kind of felt off, but I didn't let it bother me.  I had fun and enjoyed a night out without the kids.

On Saturday, Lizzy woke up with diareha...bad!  I ended up putting a diaper on her.  I had to change her 4 times before Jason even woke up.  I felt so bad for her.  Poor Jason had to deal with it, because I spent the day in Troy with my Mom, her sisters, and my cousins.  They asked that I didn't bring the kids so we could have an "adult" day with shopping and lunch.  I had a good time; my mom bought me another charm for my bracelet and I bought a couple things, but I kept thinking about Lizzy.  So, I headed home after the mall instead of going back to my mom's.  Afterall, it had been six hours!  She was still very miserable and getting worse.  She had the WORST rash and was just in tears.  She wouldn't let us touch her or change her.  She just kept crying.  Finally, I just threw her in the bath and let her soak.  I hope she is better by tomorrow.  This has been an awful year in terms of sicknesses.  Tomorrow is Mother's Day, so hopefully she will be better so that I can enjoy the day and enter it into the "best time" category instead of the "worst time".

So, this was definitely an interesting week.  It's too bad tomorrow is already Sunday because I already know I can use another day!  Wouldn't it be nice if I only worked four days a week?  A girl can wish, right?

P.S. It was such a crazy week...I didn't even take pictures!

Slackin'

Yeah, so it's been a while since the last update!  And yes, the weather this April has totally sucked!  But...that doesn't mean we've been sitting around doing absolutely not thing!  Here is a quick play by play for the month of April, which somehow seemed to just blow (literally) by!

1.  The week after Purim, we had to bust out the princess dresses once again for the Princess and Super Hero at the Costick Center.  It's a night full of food, dancing, nail paining and just running around having a good ol' time!  The Schwartz's, Becker's, and Larson's joined us this year.  The kids had a blast, and it wouldn't be Michigan if there wasn't a snow storm as we were leaving!

2.  Who doesn't love a little Chuckie Cheese action?  The answer to that is...me!  But the kids absolutely love the germ infested place and who am I to stop my kids from having fun?  We actually met up with some old daycare buddies.  I told Sydney that we were going to meet up with Nolan and Sara, but didn't tell her that Brendan and Kyle would be there too!  She was soooo happy to see her boy Kyle.  They played like it was just yesterday!  It turned out to be an awesome night...but that doesn't mean that Chuckie Cheese doesn't have the WORST pizza in town and the crappiest prizes.  Did we really spend all that money so the kids could win some sweet tarts?  Yes we did.  And since that day, Lizzy hasn't stopped talking about the darn place.  One night, it got so bad, that she didn't fall asleep until almost one in the morning.  She doesn't usually get out of bed, but on this night she kept getting out saying, "Okay, Daddy, let's go to Chuckie Cheese now."

3.  Speaking of Lizzy getting out of bed!  Lizzy is no longer in a crib!  We haven't completely converted to her full size bed, but the rails are off the crib and it's now a toddler bed.  She's doing very well!  She only fell out once, and she doesn't really get out!  We figured it was time since we've started the whole potty training excitement.  She has to be able to get out of bed if nature calls!  She's doing okay...not quite there yet, but hoepfully it will come soon!  Sydney was trained much quicker, but I have to give credit where credit is due.  I think Sydney was trained at daycare with Helene.  We aren't seeing the same results at this daycare; particulary because for sanitary reasons, you can't send your kid in underwear.  I don't think Lizzy is going to learn if she can just go in her pull up whenver she wants.  But she'll get there....I have faith!  I do know one thing...I am NOT buying anymore diapers!

4. Spring break!!!  Woooo hooooo....for Sydney at least.  For us, it means sending her to daycare and spending more money...which we didn't do.  Instead, we shipped her off to Midland for the week with Grandma Polly and Grandpa Joe.  Sydney had an absolute blast.  She called me to tell me that the mall in Midland had a McDonald's AND a Target...I mean, she was totally excited about this!  At least she's easily pleased.  This McDonald's also has vanilla milkshakes...hopefully, she still thinks that only the Midland one has the milk shakes or else we're in big trouble...the kid likes junk!  They also took her to see the movie Hop and out for ice cream, and to the library.  I don't think they ever stopped moving!  Lizzy missed Sydney so much.  She kept saying, "where's Sydney, where's my sister?"  She was pretty upset!  It was very cute to see them reunite when Sydney got home.  I really missed Sydney...Lizzy is very high maintenance without her.  I never realized how much Sydney entertained Lizzy!

5. Tiger's game!!  The next weekend, the Larson's invited us to their suite at the Tiger's game.  I was so bummed that I couldn't go.  I was busy at a mom-to-mom sale selling all of the kid's clothes.  It turned out to be the most beautiful April day, that hardly anyone showed up to the sale.  So, I was upset that I wasn't with the rest of the family.  Jason took the girls alone.  It was opening day, so they got to ride the ferris wheel, merry-go-round, and run the bases for free!  They had so much fun and came home totally pooped.  Lizzy keeps saying that she wants to go to the ball game!  It was a great experience for her first game!  She doesn't know what it's like to sit in "normal" seats! 

6.  This year, we had a small Passover at my dad's house.  The food was good, and of course the kids wouldn't sit still for the sedar or eat any of the food, but Jason and I enjoyed the meal and kids had fun running around...oh well!  No one said they were perfect.  Their favorite part was the "wine".  They were acutally given wine glasses with sparkling grape juice and Sydney just kept chugging hers like an alcoholic.  It was kind of funny...she kept on asking for "more wine, please".

7.  And last but not least, since I'm sure I'm forgetting about something, like my dad's birthday and all of my schlepping around to dance and swimming and play dates and two birthday parties (one for Jonah, and one for Chloe), but this weekend Sydney and Lizzy went to Traverse city with my dad and Gail for the entire weekend!  They went to Nolan's first birthday party and had an absolute blast staying and swimming in the hotel.  Lizzy could not wait to go swimming.  She talked about it ALL week.  She doesn't really know what Friday means, but she said all week, "I'm going swimming on Friday after my bed."  Which finally was true on Thursday night!  They woke up so excited on Friday and took off around 11am.  It was a nice break for Jason and I.  We went to dinner and movie on Friday night.  It was fun, except is was so freezing outside!  And then the next day, the sun decided to shine and it actually reached 72 degrees, so we went down to Comerica Park and caught some great Tiger baseball...maybe I'm a good luck charm!  It was a great weekend!

8. Oh, shoot...I knew I'd forget something.  Last thursday, I took Sydney to play bingo at a retirement home at the JCC.  I thought it would be good for her to brush up on her numbers and do a good deed at the same time.  The residents there LOVED Sydney and were so thankful that we came to help them out.  Mayn of them are hard of hearing so we sat next to some of them and repeated the numbers.  Everyone wanted us to sit at their table.  Sydney received many compliments and we both left feeling pretty good.  I took her out for ice cream after for doing a good deed!  We had fun together!

So that was our April!  Definitely not boring!  The only thing missing now is some nice weather.  With all of these rainy April days, we are bound to have many May flowers and hopefully some really warm weather...I need it!

Growing Up

Okay, seriously...when did this kid get so grown up?  The way she speaks and dresses lately makes it seem like she's on a fast track to becoming a teenager.  She has to pick out her own clothes and tell me EXACTLY how to do her hair.  She made me buy her hair clips so that she could start doing her hair by herself.  And she is always complimenting me..."Oh, you're shirt is really cute today"  "I like when you wear your hair like that", etc.

Yesterday, I really felt like I was holding a conversation with a grown up.  Out of the blue Sydney asked me who my Grandma was and I told her that I had two but they had died.  She asked me both of their names and who they were married to.  And then I told her that I called one of them Mama because when I was little, I couldn't say "Grandma".  Then, Sydney just said the cutest thing ever and she was totally sincere.  She said, "I'm really happy to know that."

I keep telling her to stop growing up so quickly...but she's not listening...

Dancing Queen...Or Should I Say Princess?

This weekend was Purim.  If you're not sure what that means...go look it up!  As far as I'm concerned, you dress up in costumes and go to a carnival...so that's what we did.  We don't really belong anywhere, so we tagged along with the Beckers.  When I was little, I remember always taking home a little goldfish in a baggie that would die an hour later...but no fish at this carnival!

(Of course Lizzy refused to smile)

The kids had SO much fun...way more fun than I thought they would.  Sydney totally impressed me.  I thought she was this shy, reserved, littler girl.  Not the case.  She was busting quite the moves out on the dance floor.  I thought she would spend the entire afternoon in the bounce houses, but she was having a blast and even went into the center of the floor for a little solo...I was very impressed and proud of her!!  I couldn't even get her away to eat lunch, I kept taking little bites of food out to her on the dance floor!

Lizzy also had a lot of fun.  She also enjoyed dancing, but her favorite part was the bounce houses...this kid just loves to jump and doesn't get tired of it.  She did get stuck in one of them and had to be rescued, but her favorite one was for older kids and she managed to get through the obstacles with no problems at all, she's quite the climber!  One cute little story...there were two clowns there making little balloon animals,etc. and they had red, white and blue wigs on.  So, when we got there, Lizzy said that she saw some "Americas" and I didn't think anything of it.  But then later on, a clown gave her a balloon, and she said, "Mommy, the "America" gave me a balloon.  It's crazy that she has no clue what a clown is, yet associates red, white, and blue with America.  Even as we were leaving (we were pretty much the last to leave because of my dancing queen) the clowns were walking to their cars and she said, "the America's are leaving."  So cute!

It was definitely a fun afternoon!