A Little Vlog Hello

Here’s just a quick hello from us to you!  Hope you have a great weekend!

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I Love Daddy

“I love Daddy”

“I love Daddy”

“Yes,  I do”

“Yes, I do”

“I just want to tell you”

“I just want to tell you”

“I love you!”

“I love you!”

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A Healthy 4 Year Old!

As I mentioned in my Snow post earlier…today was Ella’s 4 year old check- up at the Doctor and I couldn’t be more proud of her!

What a long way she’s come since her 3 year check- up.  Confident and a huge personality!  This year she didn’t need me to hold her hand as we walked down the hall to get measured and weighed.  She didn’t need me to hold her hand while she was on the examination table.  She didn’t even need me to stand near her while the doctor looked her over…just sitting beside her in the chair was fine with her.

Dr. S said she was doing great!  No problems and she’s even ahead of schedule on some development.  GREAT news!

I was so proud of my big 4 year old and very thankful for how healthy she is.  God is good!

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Yet Another Snowfall…

Well, the snow has stopped falling and has left yet another 3 or 4 inches to our yard.  I’m really starting to think that Winter will never end, but I’m going to go by the Calendar and know that it really will end soon!

Brian was home yesterday thanks to our good ol’ Presidents!  It’s always great to have him here all day and into the evening. We get to  enjoy having dinner together and doing bedtimes together.  He ended up sneaking out during nap time and make a huge igloo and tunnel for the kids to play in.  They LOVED it!  I’ll post some pics on it later…but here’s a sneak peek!

I’m down two daycare kids today and it’s kinda quiet.  I let my sweet hubby sleep in since he’s been so kind to let me sleep in whenever possible.  Andrew seems to get up at 7am no matter what day it is!  I guess it could be worse!

Ella has her big 4 year old check up today!  She’s so excited and feels so big!  I’m so glad she’s gotten over a lot of her shyness in the past year.  I really attribute that to going to Preschool.  We just love it there as much as she does!  The amount of growth she’s had since September is AMAZING!

Time to clean up breakfast and get ready for the doctor.  Be back later with an awesome giveaway from GREEN company EcoStore USA!

Have a great day!

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It’s Valentine’s Day!

It’s Valentine’s Day!
I love that it fell on a long weekend this year!  My husband was off on Friday and will be on Monday as well.  We went out on Friday night to a great Italian Restaurant and to a local Pub afterward.   We stayed out too late and laughed really hard.  It was great to be out and re-connect – just the two of us.

Too often during a normal day, we get interrupted while having a conversation by little ones who need a drink, have to potty, or just want to be hugged.  It’s nice that we were able to just be US for a little while.

So, in honor of my love to my Valentine, I’m going to share a few pictures from our Wedding – almost 6 years ago now.  It was the start of our married life together and the start of a beautiful family. Enjoy!

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Real Boys Wear Purple

Real boys wear purple.

Yes, I put girl’s purple snowman pajamas on my little boy, Andrew, last night.

Remember my New Year’s plan to do less in the New Year? Well, I had not done laundry in over a week – we had better things to do like building forts to play in, eating play food and going to the mall to the indoor play area during the weekend.   No time for things like laundry!

So, when I went to get out some clean clothes for bedtime last night, the  only jammies left in Andrew’s drawer were fleece ones.  He never seems to sleep well when he has those on,  and since I really needed a good night’s sleep since Ella kept me up the night before with bad dreams, an asleep leg, being too hot, being too cold and so on, I just stuck some of his sister’s older jammies on him and called it a night.

He and I slept just fine and he had no idea he had on girl’s jammies until his dad told him in the morning!  (I still don’t think he knew though!)

I had to let him redeem himself by wearing an red football sweatshirt and sweatpants.  Classic “boy wear” PLUS he got a haircut today, so he really  looks all boy now. HaHa!

Andrew will be back to wearing his own jammies tonight.  I did the mountain of laundry last night into today.  Thank goodness…I wouldn’t want him (or his dad!) to get a complex!

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Hear Ye, Hear Ye…The Princess Tea Was A Success!

This weekend, my baby girl turned 4.  I can hardly believe it!  She was just a baby last year…

And look at her this year.

How is it even possible that this is the same child? She has those same little dimples but she looks so grown up!  A big preschooler who loves dogs and puppies more than you could ever imagine and an amazing big sister to her little brother – who I might add is growing like a weed as well!

So, to celebrate this big girl’s 4th Birthday, she requested a Princess Tea Party and a Princess Tea Party was what she got!

We invited her closest little friends for a morning of dressing up like Princesses, snacks of jelly sandwiches, veggies and Nutella roll-ups, lots of playtime and decorating cupcakes.  It was the perfect 1st big girl party!

The girls were welcomed to our home by a huge banner that was provided  by Dress up and Play Parties. This amazing company also provided the adorable costumes, loot bags and and a craft.

The girls couldn’t wait to be transformed into beautiful Princesses and that’s where we started the party!   Ella had her own special costume, while the other girls had matching dresses.  They each had gloves, crowns, wands and beads that were included in their loot bags along with “glass” slippers, princess stickers, pencils and more!

Once the girls were dressed up, it was time to get all dolled up with painted nails and glittery make-up.

Tea was  served in real China, of course along side of all of the Disney Princess decorations.  Belle, Ariel, Cinderella, and Snow White were all there!

I was amazed at how quiet and polite all the girls were.  They were taking this Princess thing quite seriously!

Once it was time to open the presents, the volume got a little louder in our living room!  “Here, Ella…open mine!”  “Ooooo…I love it, Ella!  Can I play with your doll?!”  It was so cute!  They were all as excited to give Ella her gifts as Ella was to receive them.  Ella ripped into them like it was Christmas morning!

Instead of a big cake this year (well, I made one…it just wasn’t for the party) we made pink cupcakes and let the girls decorate with their choice of toppings.  It went surprisingly well!  I was prepared for a big mess…but not these Princesses!

And what better way than to round out a Princess Party then to play The Princess Limbo!  Yes…you read that right.  It was the Princess Limbo – that was the only game Ella wanted to play and I’m telling you, these girls laughed so hard!  They had a ball!! I was kinda afraid someone was going to get their head knocked off on the stick…but it didn’t happen thankfully!

It was an amazing day for my Ella.  She was so happy and excited to have all her friends at her house, to introduce them to her dog, Daisy and to play with her toys and in her bedroom.  She was more than thrilled to get dressed up and to have the party be as laid back as she wanted it to be.  No stress…not too many people running around.  A perfect 1st big girl party indeed!

* If you’d like to get your very own dress up party delivered right to your door…Check out Dress Up and Play Parties!  They have everything from Pirates and Cowboys to Fairy Tales and Princesses!  Adorable costumes with EVERYTHING included to make your party a success!  Order right now by clicking THIS LINK to get 25% off your entire order!!  You won’t be disappointed!!

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A Day In My Life As A Mom And In-Home Daycare Provider

It has been a busy day!  This is just a glance at a normal day around our house.  It’s no wonder I am too exhausted to sleep at night!

First kids arrive at 7:30am.

Breakfast is at 8:00am.

Send two potty training daycare kids to potty at 8:20am.

Get Ella dressed at 8:30am.

Get Ella and Daycare child to preschool by 9:00am.

Back home.  Check email, Twitter, and Facebook. Clean up breakfast.  Send two potty training daycare kids to potty AGAIN.  Get Andrew dressed, make beds, spot clean upstairs.  Do some fun stuff with kids IF they are in the mood.  Sometimes they just want to play.

Snack time at 10:00am.  These kids eat every two hours between breakfast and snacks. (I don’t remember doing that when I was little!!)

Clean up snacks.  Send kids to potty again.

Check emails, Twitter, Facebook.

Pick up kids at preschool at 11:30am.

Lunch at noon.  Clean up.  Playtime.

Down for naps and quiet time at 1:30pm.  Hopefully sneak in an outside walk for about 20minutes.

Brian heads off for work and  I’m on my own for the rest of the day.  THANK GOODNESS he’s here during the busy time of the day to help me (or should I say…DO a lot to help me out!!)

I spend the remainder of quiet time catching up on emails, cleaning up, doing food menus, etc..

Kids up at 3:30.  Change diapers, send kids to potty, get snacks out.  Clean up snacks.

Kids start leaving by 4:30ish and usually gone by 5:15pm.

Start dinner, usually eat by 5:30pm.  Eat dinner, clean up, check emails, Twitter, Facebook, play.

Time for baths at 7:00pm.

BEDTIME by 8:00pm!!!!

I spend the rest of the night cleaning up, blogging and checking in with my fav blogs.

Throw in some grocery trips, doctor appointments and bank runs and my day is jammed packed!

Lordy….I am telling you!  I know that we are all busy, but I swear I am in a routine trap!  I do the same things day in and day out.  It works.  That’s why I do it that way.  The kids thrive on routine and it makes our day run smooth and less chaotic.

I know I would much rather wing it each day…but when I had my “routine” child, Ella…that all went out the window!

I look forward to summer when we spend most of the day outside.  We play outside, eat outside, do activities outside and I would take naps outside if I thought it would work!  Maybe I should try it this year!

What does your daily schedule look like or do you not have one?  Do you like to know what’s coming next or would you rather wing it and be more relaxed?

Leave me a comment and I’ll send someone a surprise gift!

Well, I’ll let you know what you’ll be getting before I send it…and I promise it will be something FUN and only for YOU!

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A Princess Tea Party Is Coming

It was good while it lasted.  The sun that is.  It’s back to a gray sky and SNOW today.  Oh well.   I’m sure it will be back soon.

I’ve had enough to keep me busy to not worry about the dreary weather outside.  Watching 5 kids and getting ready for Ella’s 4th Birthday party this weekend, has been enough on my plate.

Ella is so excited!  I must say that this is the first year she’s really looked forward to it for a long time!  I bet it was June when she first started “planning” her little party in her mind.  She told me who she wanted to invite, what kind of decorations she wanted and what kind of cake.  She really hasn’t wavered much on the details since then.  This morning she asked me if I had started planning her party yet.  “Ummm…yes, honey.  It’s only 3 days away.”  I may not be the most organized mom around, but I have started planning her party.  I may or may not have purchased all the items needed for the party, but I promise it will get done!

I was able to pick up the cutest little serving dishes at TJ Maxx with cupcakes on them.  They’ll be perfect for the little heart shaped peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (that Ella picked out!) to be served on!  I’m also making little pinwheels made with white bread and Nutella.  (our new fav!!)

I was going to buy some tea cups and saucers while at TJ Maxx…but I remembered that I had a whole box of my Grandmother’s China in a pretty blue floral pattern called “English Garden” that will be perfect on the table with pastel Princess Decorations.  Yes, it is real China….but what is it good for if you can’t use it at a 4 year old’s Princess Tea Party??  The little cups are small and will be just right  for little hands to hold as they drink their “tea” out of.

I still have a lot to do to get ready..but it’s not as much as in year’s past.  We were going to have Ella’s little school friends over on Saturday for the Tea Party and then on Sunday, the family over.  Being as my family all lives 6-8 hours from here, so obviously they won’t be making it this year…and Brian’s family has other plans and other issues and won’t be attending….SOOOOO…I canceled the Sunday party.  I’m just going to have the Saturday party be her big day and then on Sunday (her actual birthday) we’re going to do something special with her.

I haven’t the heart to tell her that nobody is coming to her family party on Sunday.  I just can’t.  She’s so excited and would be DEVASTATED to know that her family isn’t coming for reasons that have nothing to do with her.  I’m just going to try and blow it off and tell her all the fun things we’ll do that day.  She won’t understand.  It’s not fair for her and it upsets me.

It’s OK.  It’s always been the 2 of us…then the 3 of us… and now the 4 of us.  We are family and we here for each other no matter what (or who) is in our lives (or NOT).

I’m looking forward to the weekend and my baby girl’s big day!  She is so excited and I will do everything I can to make it just as special as she is!    I can’t wait to show you all the fun that I AM SURE will be had by all!

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A Jumpin Good Time

WHAT

IN THE WORLD

AM I DOING??!!

Jump Pics…that’s what!!

My 16 Year old sister, Katie, introduced them to us at her house while  I was there over the weekend.  I feel really silly, but hey…It was REALLY FUN too!

I’ve been resting up and getting settled after my long weekend away last weekend.  I have a full recap post coming up to fill you in on all the fun!

But, now…it’s FRIDAY and I’m ready to start my weekend!!  Hope you’re starting yours soon as well.  Any plans?  We don’t really….but I hope it involves some outside time and sunshine.  We need it!!

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