Book Premiere

Last night Bailee's school had a Book Premiere...every child in the school wrote and illustrated their own books. So last night we got to go to Bailee's classroom and she got to show us and read to us her book that she wrote. This is an annual thing that the school does and it's the cutest thing ever! The books aren't just made with paper and staples, it's an actual hard cover book that they get to write and draw in, which makes the kids feel like real authors! This year her class got to type their sentences on the computer rather than write them. Bailee did an awesome job with her book, she wrote about her school it's titled "This is My School". She told about her teachers and friends and of course did an amazing job on her illustrations. I know Daddy is sad he had to miss it and Bailee is looking forward to reading it to Daddy when he gets home!

Bailee with her teachers...the most awesome 1st grade teachers ever!

Monday Makings

I know I'm a little (or a lot) behind, but here are some Easter Monday Makings! All 3 kids love crafts that involve painting so I found some cute Easter egg patterns to print and they got to have fun and be creative with the paint!

These are our sock bunnies! (Remember this idea Mom?!) This is an idea that came to me quite a few years ago while folding a pair of socks! I finally decided to actually make my idea instead of just thinking about it. Since it mostly involved gluing with the hot glue gun the kids weren't really able to help. However, they did get to pick what colors they wanted.

Happy Birthday Miss B!!!

Seven years ago today (April 4th) Alan and I became the proud parents of our first little Angel, Bailee Marie. Seven years have gone by in the blink of an eye. Bailee was our "surprise" baby, meaning that we didn't know whether she would be a boy or a girl. What an exciting day it was when we got to meet her and hold her for the first time. Bailee is such a wonderful little girl. She does great in school and is an accelerated reader. She is kind to everyone and makes friends very easily. She is thoughtful and cares about others feelings...she has a big heart. She is a good and helpful big sister. She is very honest. She is a wonderful artist and has had a passion for drawing since the age of two. She loves to listen to music. She loves to dance. She loves Disney Princesses and Disney World. She's a perfectionist. She is a big daddy's girl. She has the biggest, brownest, most beautfulist eyes ever! She loves cheese quesadillas, mashed potatoes and gravy and mac and cheese. Bailee is a fun little girl and brings lots of joy to our family. We are so thankful to be her parents. We love you so much Bailee Bug and wish you a very Happy Birthday!

Goodbyes are never fun, especially when it's saying goodbye to family. Today after a 6 week stay, Grandma and Grandpa had to fly back home. :( The kids and I had a nice visit and appreciate everything that G & G did for us. We hope they enjoyed their stay and hope we were worth 6 weeks of their time! Thank you G & G for coming to be with us...we miss you already and love you a whole bunch!

Today a sweet friend of mine is leaving for a year while her husband goes to serve our country. I'm happy that she gets to go be with family and introduce them to her beautiful baby girl, but it's always a little sad to say goodbye to good friends whether it's them going away or us going away. My kids absolutely love her and her baby girl...Braden is fascinated with her baby and is so sweet to her. We will miss you Josy and wish you and your family safe travels. We will look forward to seeing you when you return!

TODAY

Although we are many miles apart, Alan and I celebrated our 8th anniversary today. Thank you Alan for 8 wonderful years...I love you so much. You are an amazing husband and father. Thank you for giving us such a great life and for taking such good care of your family. Thank you for your service to our country...you are our hero. We love you lots and lots and miss you lots and lots!

My beautiful, surprise delivery

Oh yeah, I also turned the BIG 3-0 today! I had a nice day...my parents did a great job making it a special day. Thank you mom and dad, I love you! I had a nice lunch this afternoon with 3 great women...thank you ladies and thanks again Anica! I had a nice dinner at Olive Garden with 3 great kids (thank you for being so well behaved at dinner) and 2 great parents (thank you for the treat!). I got some nice gifts, cards, e-mails, texts and phone calls...thank you everyone! I got to talk to my wonderful husband too. And I got to eat my most favorite kind of cake made by my mom...yellow cake with my favoritest chocolate frosting made from scratch! I also got to deal with a very 2 year old girl today! Thanks to everyone who made my day special...I love you all!

I had a night off last night from Monday Makings and grandma had a special/secret Monday Makings with the kids. Here they are...3 super cute cards with 3 special messages on the inside...priceless!

The kids were sooo excited to give me the gifts that they picked out all on their own!

Bailee gave me a Kelly Clarkson CD (she knows I'm a huge fan!), a pretty necklace and some cute bracelets.

Braden gave me a cute bracelet and the book Twilight (I have not yet read the series...yes I know I'm a little behind the times!)

Brikelle gave me the ABBA Gold CD (hooray!) and a big box of Junior Mints which she didn't want to share! Thank you kiddies, I love you 3 lots!

So good bye to the 20's and hello to the 30's!

Fire Ants

You know that old saying "If you play with fire you're going to get burned", well I have a new saying, "If you mess with fire ants you're going to get bit". Unfortunately Braden found that out the hard way. Yesterday was a really nice day weather wise so Braden spent a lot of time playing outside. So yesterday evening Braden was out playing with one of his neighborhood friends and apparently they decided to mess with an ant hill. I don't know the whole story and I don't exactly know what they were doing, but obviously whatever they were doing the ants didn't like! Braden came in crying and took off his shoes and said the ants bit him. He was scratching his feet like crazy. I decided to just have Braden go and take a bath before dinner because he was so filthy. Once he took off his clothes and was in the tub I noticed "bites" (or so I thought) all over his body. He was still crying and scratching himself everywhere like crazy. Luckily we had some Children's Benadryl on hand so I gave him some to help with the itching. Then I noticed that his eyes were starting to swell and he started coughing and that's when I finally realized that although he did have some ant bites on his feet and back, it was hives that were covering his body from head to toe and he was having a severe allergic reaction to the ant bites. That's when the worry and the panic started to set in with me, especially when I could tell his breathing was starting to be affected by it. I've had an allergic reaction before and I know the feeling of your throat swelling and it isn't fun. Thankfully grandpa and grandma are here so I wasn't alone and that kept me from freaking out too much! And thankfully the Benadryl worked pretty quick and Braden was back to running around and being crazy and hyper soon after. Today Braden has very swollen, red, itchy, hurty feet and is walking funny because of it! He still has little spots of rash here and there on his body but seems to be doing fine. I just hope he learned his lesson! Of course taking a picture of him yesterday was the last thing on my mind, but here are a picture of his little feet the day after. He has chubby feet anyway but they are extra chubby today!