Friday Ramblings- Busy June is almost over!

Wow! What a week. What a month.

The girls finished their swimming lessons yesterday and I am so proud of them.

Haylee overcame her fear of going under and Natalee has learned some important water safety and swimming basics.

Now I need to continue to take them to the pool and practice! Natalee really needs to practice blowing bubbles instead of inhaling water and she needs to practice kicking her little feet. Sadly, our swimming days have been put on hold for a few days because....

Haylee has swimmers ear. Her ear started bothering her Tuesday so by Wednesday I took her to the doctor. She has swimmers ear and has to stay out of the water for a few days while I give her drops. I was told to mix 1/2 rubbing alcohol and 1/2 white vinegar and each time she gets out of the water put 2 drops in each ear. Hopefully that will prevent any future issues. Poor girl. It hurts when she touches it, lays on it and eats.

Wednesday we took the girls to the circus. This years theme was Dragons and it was one of the best circuses I've been too. I hated when they did little "skits" in between the main acts because it never kept little kids attention. This year was non-stop entertainment and it was really fun! The girls have been getting stickers on their sticker charts to earn money to spend at the circus. Haylee bought a pink/purple stuffed dragon with her money and Natalee bought a snowcone in a clown cup and popcorn with her money. The girls had fun and Natalee was really good too!

After being approached by Pulte and given a wonderful offer to come work for them as a Superintendent, Josh has decided to stick with Brewer and will be promoted with them to Right Start Manager August 1st. This will be a wonderful opportunity for Josh and he said he will enjoy this position and enjoy going to work. That is how he finally made the super tough decision.

Jackson just finished his antibiotic for his bladder infection and I'm pretty sure it didn't go away....again. It appears the Prednisone he takes daily is not allowing the antibiotics to do their job. I'm planning on taking him back in Monday and we'll go from there. Poor Jackson. Otherwise he is great, no signs of slowing down for him!

I mentioned we got Haylee an oyster/pearl kit for her birthday. She has been talking about going to Hawaii and opening an oyster for awhile now. I found a kit on Amazon that comes with an oyster you can open and also a necklace to put your pearl in. Haylee Josh pried open the oyster to reveal a beautiful white pearl!

Haylee loved it and we put it in her adorable turtle necklace.

This weekend we are taking Haylee to see Rapunzel at Hale Theatre. This will be our first time there and we are super excited. Also, my Mom and I are going to see Magic Mike Sunday and I am even more excited for that!

And we leave for our staycation very soon which means swimming, food and partying! Can't wait!!!

Happy Friday!!

Hello Kitty Party

Saturday we finally had Haylee's Hello Kitty party!

She had a blast and enjoyed playing with all of her cousins.

We ate a yummy dinner of crockpot chicken (BBQ, Terriyaki & Frank's Red Hot), pasta salad and fruit. Haylee had seconds and thirds, she LOVED the chicken (and watermelon too!)

After lunch Haylee opened her presents. Hello Kitty stuff galore! She also got awesome Kindergarten workbooks, puzzles, a backpack with supplies and we gave her her very own oyster/pearl/necklace kit.

Then we sang Happy Birthday and (she still to this day almost cries) she blew out her candles. Unlike Natalee, she prefers just a few licks of the frosting but no digging in for this little Princess.

When all was said and done, the kids went outside to play on the slip and slide and run around in the sprinkler.

Haylee had a wonderful day and felt so loved. Happy 5th Birthday Haylee Girl!

Friday Ramblings

Wednesday's swim lessons brought a very scared Haylee girl and a very sad Mommy. I had to hide around the corner because Haylee was crying for me to "save" her. It was that moment I was glad I was wearing sunglasses so no one could see the tears in my eyes.

I compare it to when I decided to let the girls cry it out (as babies) at night. It was so hard for me because I wanted to go pick them up and soothe them, but I knew in the long run it'd be so worth it because they'd sleep through the night. So I sucked it up and cried downstairs praying they'd hurry and fall asleep. Same thing here. I would love to go "rescue" Haylee and take her home and never make her go back but then she won't learn to swim. I want my girls to be safe if they ever find themselves in an "unfortunate" situation. They are told (and shown) repeatedly that if they fall into the water they need to turn around and grab the side of the pool so they are safe.

Natalee is doing very good. She still fusses a little bit but I can tell she is learning. She is very excited about it and talks about "monkey walk" all the time.

Haylee is just scared to death but once he drags her into the pool and she does what she is suppose to, she is so proud of herself. She realizes it wasn't so bad and she gains confidence. I pray she continues to gain confidence and gets over her fear so she can learn more and actually enjoy it.

Thursday was a much better swimming lesson day. While Natalee did her private lesson, Haylee sat on the step practicing her kicks and blowing bubbles. Then I told Coach Sean that it might be a better idea to have Haylee go first when they take turns practicing so she can get it over with and not watch everyone else and get even more scared. Thankfully there was no "freaking out" today and Haylee stayed in the pool and did as she was told. I could tell she is getting a little bit more confident. When she was done with her turn she'd look at me and give me thumbs up. She is so proud of herself! I pray come Monday she is more willing to get in the pool and practice her swimming techniques without minding him 1000 times not to let go of her. He did finally tell her today "if you say that one more time I am going to let go." I had to laugh. She didn't say it again though :)

Natalee did great. She barely cries or fusses at all once she is in the pool. She floats on her back, practices her arms/kicking/blowing bubbles as he lets her go and she swims till she feels the steps and can stand, and she practiced getting pulled into the pool and underwater so she can turn around and grab the ledge. Then she monkey walks to the steps.

Today Haylee had her last craft club. She made the cutest monsters. She also got her craft kit from when she was sick last week and she gets to make a fish bowl with fish and seaweed. She's so excited. I will definitely put her in craft club again next year if the same lady offers it because Haylee had so much fun.

We are addicted to selling stuff on Ebay! It is amazing how much money you can make on selling things you never use. Things that have been up in the attic or sitting on a shelf for years you haven't touched. I've sold Potty Timers, DVDs, Scrapbook Stuff and FHE packets. Josh has sold books, faucets and other electronic gadgets. We've made close to $1400 (before fees/shipping) in just the past week! Time to start paying down Jackson's medical bills! I've sold some stuff for my Mom too and she's made $375 in just 2 days!

Tonight we took the girls to Mesquite pool to practice and they both did awesome. Haylee was doing everything without whining and was putting her face in the water, monkey walking on her own and she swam about 15 laps with Josh holding her around the waist while she practiced her monster arms and kicks. I really hope her confidence lasts till Monday.

Tomorrow I have a photography workshop and then Haylee's party is tomorrow evening. Sunday after church we're taking Haylee out for her birthday since we've yet to celebrate since she was sick. We're taking her to see Madagascar 3 and then possibly bowling.

Josh might be switching jobs. Pulte wants him back as a Superintendent over the entire building process of the house. We're gonna sit down this weekend and discuss everything. I must say Pulte has awesome insurance and Josh gets more vacation time with them. The only downfall is there will not be a work truck or gas card, just a truck allowance. Time to weigh the pros and the cons.

This month has just been crazy busy. I will be so happy when it's over because I'm exhausted.

Ms Natalee

Man I love this sweet little girl.

She is doing so good in swimming lessons and I am so very proud of her!

She has gotten so much more smiley lately and I can't help but hug her and give her lots of kisses. Well, that's what I do when I'm not cleaning up her messes or reminding her to quit climbing onto the kitchen/bathroom counters. Little Stinker.

Swimming Lessons

The girls started swimming lessons this week. What an adventure!

On Monday they learned how to use "monster arms", along with blowing bubbles and kicking their feet to swim.

Natalee does 10 min private lessons and cried pretty much the whole time. She went under water several times and would turn around, grab the wall and then actually pulled herself completely out of the pool which was surprising. She obviously wanted the heck out of there.

Haylee is in a class of 6 however 4 of the kids have had prior swimming lesson because they were already pretty much swimming. Haylee and 1 other girl were scared to death and cried. Haylee did what she was told though and went under once or twice.

Today Natalee did super good and barely cried maybe 2 times. She went under several times and practiced reaching for toys and floating on her back. And I think she did good because she knew she'd get a fishy cracker at the end :)

Haylee was still pretty scared today but no crying. She pretty much refuses to go into the pool when it's her turn but he pulls her in and she does great. She hangs on for dear life and reminds him 127 times not to let go of her. I don't really blame her because there are kids in her class that are clearly way more advanced and they are diving in from the side and swimming across the pool so when it's her turn she thinks she has to do that. I asked the coach if I should switch her to a private lesson but he thinks she's doing fine (or normal I guess) so we'll see.

(2 for 2nd day!)

I hate to see them cry and be so scared. But if it saves their life it's obviously worth it. I just wish I would have started Haylee when she was younger. I hope that despite how scared they both are, they still learn.

Father's Day

Me and the girls got to spoil Josh yesterday and let him know just how much we love him and appreciate all he does. When we woke up I took the girls to go grab breakfast. Then when we got home I told him to close his eyes and I brought his gift in.

Josh has been wanting golf clubs for quite some time and I always argued he'd never use them. Saturday he mentioned some on craigslist but I acted like I wasn't paying attention. Well after some investigating I found the ones he was talking about, contact the guy selling them and went to pick them up before I dropped the car off for an oil change. Pretty sneaky. He's pretty excited.

Our girls love their Daddy. They have him wrapped around their little finger and he wouldn't have it any other way.

Aside from the golf clubs, Josh was given the gift of taking a nap that afternoon. Jackson was so excited to take a nap wth him!

That evening we went to Sonic to get our Free Root beer Float and then I ran in Fry's to grab a swimming pool. I wanted something big enough to hold the 4 of us and something we could lean against and relax without the sides caving in. I found a simply blow up pool that's perfect and I only paid $25. We spent an hour + swimming around and having a fun time.

Of course, memories of my Dad were close to my heart all day. I will say it does get easier with time but I miss him so much and I just wish he was here so I could give him a big hug and tell him how much I love him. Man I can't wait to see him again someday.

I'm thankful for all of the father figures in my life and especially for Josh's Dad Jim. He raised Josh to be the wonderful man he is and I am so thankful for that. He is a wonderful example of a loving Dad and dedicated Husband. I am so glad Josh followed in his foot steps.

Happy Father's Day!

Ready for a new week

What a week! Monday Natalee went to the doctor because she was running a fever. Verdict- Ear Infection. She goes home with an antibiotic. Tuesday I notice Jackson is having issues when he goes potty so I take him to the doctor. Verdict- Infection. He goes home with an antibiotic. The doctor thinks his previous one never fully went away so he was given a new prescription and will take this one longer. And then there's Haylee girl. Guess she didn't want to feel left out because Wednesday she started running a fever with no other symptoms. Her fever got up to 103.5 and she continued to run a fever off and on for 48 hours so I just knew something was up even though she said nothing bothered her. Verdict- Strep Throat. So she's on an antibiotic. I feel like a pharmacy here. It's like I'm constantly giving the girls or Jackson one medicine or another, it's crazy. Thank God all 3 of them take their medicine good.

Since Haylee was contagious till about 24 hours after she started her antibiotics, her birthday party had to be postponed. She was sad at first because she said she "waited years and years for this day to come" but I let her open her main gift from us Friday night so she is totally fine with postponing her party a week. We got her a Leapster Explorer and 3 different games. So far she loves it!

Before Haylee started feeling cruddy she was able to finish up her 2nd craft club for the week. Monday she made a cute frog out of paper plates which included a aluminum foil ball as a "fly" to play catch with. Wednesday she made a robot out of an aluminum can and that turned out so cute too. She is absolutely loving her craft club. Sadly, she had to miss craft club Friday since she's sick but her sweet teacher said she'd put aside the materials for Haylee to still make the craft. She has one more day of craft club and then I'm gonna start making crafts with her a couple days a week.

Tomorrow is the start of swimming lessons and I pray they do good and Haylee doesn't refuse to cooperate. I plan on recording them so I can practice the same techniques with them. We bought a new pool today and it's big enough for them to practice in. It is very important they learn water safety and learn to swim just in case. It breaks my heart to hear about child drownings on the news.

Here's to a better week with the girls feeling better!

Happy 5th Birthday Haylee Girl

My sweet little Haylee girl is 5! At exactly 4:33am on June 14th, 2007 she entered the world weighing 6 lbs. 7 oz. and had a head full of hair.

Over the past 5 years I have enjoyed watching her grow and turn into a beautiful, hilarious, smart, sassy little girl. And I do mean little. She is so petite for her age. And I do mean sassy too!!

Some things I want to remember about Haylee at this age-
*She loves to sneak in our bed every night while we are sleeping.
*She doesn't like to eat breakfast right away she likes to wait awhile because she's not hungry.
*She loves chocolate milk. It's her drink of choice.
*She loves go-gurts, grapes, mac n cheese, steak, cereal and chips the most. She's not really picky, she just doesn't eat a lot period.
*Doesn't really like candy. When I offer her jelly beans, M&M's, suckers etc she usually passes.
*She loves to take her gummy vitamins.
*She loves to wear dresses.
*She hates having a ponytail in or anything in her hair. She'd rather just wear it down.
*She is stubborn and likes to talk back and give me attitude but I think she is getting better.
*She tries calming her sister down when she is upset and tries to distract her too. She loves to go get in her crib with her when she wakes up from nap and really loves playing with her. Sometimes Natalee won't do what Haylee wants though and Haylee gets mad at her.
*While Natalee is napping she always wants a drink and a snack and she'll usually watch Olivia or something on TV, play her Nintendo DS, color, play on the Ipad or find something to do quietly.
*She is a huge helper. I love when she tries to potty train Natalee.
*Super good at sharing.
*Takes medicine without a fight.
*At nighttime her Daddy usually puts her to bed. She likes to come in Natalee's room and listen to the stories I read Natalee and then she'll get in bed and talk to her Daddy about what they did that day.
*She is really interested in pearls. She wants to open an oyster and find one and talks about it often.
*She talks all day long. She has a lot to say.
*She loves to listen to "the hamster song" which is Party Rock Anthem by LMFAO.
*She learned so much at preschool and loves to write her letters, numbers and her name.
*She loves books and loves to "read" them out loud.
*She finished up a 6 week soccer course and loved it. She doesn't seem afraid to try anything new.
*She is currently in a craft club that she loves and starts swimming lessons next week.
*She has the best memory. She seriously remember the strangest things and some things from years ago. Crazy.
*She loves flowers. She always wants to get me flowers for every occasion and she likes to pick flowers whenever we are outside.

Poor Haylee has been running a fever off and on all day but she was still excited to celebrate her birthday. She woke up to flowers and a big cupcake and when Daddy came home she got to open 2 gifts.

For dinner she ate steak (and she ate lots!) and then we sang Happy Birthday to her and she blew out her candle.

Here is a look back at all of Haylee's special days.

Happy 5th Birthday Sweet Little Haylee Girl!

Kooza, Donuts and 2 Sickies

Kooza was awesome. We've now seen 9 Cirque Du Soleil shows and this was ranked up with one of the best. And the best part about it was BOTH of our tickets cost less than ONE ticket to a Cirque show in Vegas! They seem to tour to AZ every 2 years so we definitely always go!

Sunday Funday! We enjoyed breakfast outside at Dunkin Donuts to start our day. The girls both wore their new dresses and new shoes that day and looked so adorable. I wore my new dress the night before :)

We noticed after getting home Sunday that Natalee wasn't looking so hot and was running a fever. Her fever lasted over 24 hours and I couldn't get it to break so I knew it had to be an ear infection. I took her in yesterday and sure enough, her right ear was infected. She is now on antibiotics and already feeling better. It seems her ear infections coincide with her getting teeth. I noticed her last 2 molars on the bottom are finally poking through so hopefully this is the last of the ear infections.

And today Jackson went back to the doctor because it appears his bladder infection may be back (or never fully went away) so he hasn't been too happy. He's now on antibiotics for 14 days and then we'll have to go back in the have him re-checked. Fun time! 

Thank God Haylee is feeling fine aside from the sassyitis which she's had for a little too long now! She'll be 5 in just 2 days and she can't wait for her Hello Kitty party!

Ramblings {Weekend Edition}

Tuesday, me and the girls had breakfast with my Aunt Roxie. We met at our usually spot, Joe's Farm & Grill and the girls were really good. We were able to catch up while they ran around collecting "treasures" which were leaves and mini grapefruit. I really love spending time with family and we need to get together more often but sometimes it's hard to coordinate busy schedules.

Wednesday, the girls and I went to our 2nd Summer Movie Fun at Harkins and it was a total flop. I realized halfway there I forgot the stroller and Natalee just wasn't feeling it I guess because we left probably 15 minutes into the movie and spent the rest of the time in the car and walking around the lobby. I was so mad. Needless to say we are taking a break from SMF. We will pick it back up after swimming lessons and see how Natalee does then.

Our Staycation for the 4th has been booked. I bought a smokin deal through Groupon (of course) and we'll be spending a few days at a Scottsdale resort swimming, bbq'ing and having fun with the family. It seems like lately my conversations with Josh start out with "today on Groupon I found" or "livingsocial had a smokin deal today for..." I love daily deal sites because you really can get some great deals.

Josh finally got a review and a 15% raise (about $700 a month before taxes). He was also told they would like to promote him to Right Start Manager sometime in August which should give him enough time to find and train someone to replace him. At that point they will make him an offer and things will be changing again. This is awesome news for Josh because once he's in that position, they will choose 1 of 4 guys (in other positions) to become the General Manager which would be an awesome opportunity for Josh. I am so happy his hard work has paid off!

Haylee's party is a week from today and I really need to start getting things together. Time to make her slideshow, finalize a menu, put together goodie bags, wrap gifts etc. I can't believe Haylee girl is gonna be 5!

I really need to book our hotel and buy tickets for our Disneyland trip. According to my new countdown, I have less than 4 months now. Oh, and I just realized my Mom and I go to to California in 83 days!!!! Yipppeee.

Jackson has thrown up twice this week and I really hope it's nothing serious. I think it'd because he eats his food way too fast and doesn't even chew it up. Other than that he is still ornery and doing fine.

Haylee is now a babysitter. If you have any turtles that need taken care of you can call her. She is a pro. She will play with them and even let them sit on her lap and watch Sponge Bob. Seriously.

Last night Haylee ran some errands with me. We went to Kohl's where I found a dress for each girl and me too. I was excited, especially since they were on clearance and I had a 30% off to use. After that we went to Walmart and we saw Haylee's teacher there. She was so happy she told her Daddy, "guess what? I found my teacher at Walmart!" She also found a cute Hello Kitty wristlet to buy with some birthday money she got in the mail!

Today we spent some time outside since the girls got a Hello Kitty sprinkler. The girls didn't really care to play in the sprinkler but I loved it. It kept me cool since it's 105 degrees out today.

Ok, time to go get ready. I have a hot date to go see Cirque Du Soleil's, Kooza tonight!

Polka Dot Afro

In honor of Madagascar 3 opening today, we are all wearing our Polka Dot Afros!