Friday Ramblings

First and foremost.... 1 WEEK FROM TODAY WE LEAVE FOR CALIFORNIA!!!! I'm a bit excited. We're going to Disneyland/California Adventure for 3 days, Knott's Berry Farm 1 day, the beach and we'll have a couple extra days to do whatever. Can't wait!

Natalee came down with a little cold Wednesday that I've been praying she doesn't share with the rest of us. With some TLC she should feel better by the time we leave. I just want us all to be healthy for our trip, is that too much to ask? We'll see.

Haylee went to her first "International Club" meeting at school Thursday and seemed to really like it. It was a little crazy trying to find out where she needs to go and where I pick her up but we survived. Hopefully they'll work everything out soon!

Natalee has been horrible this week. Constantly getting into things, climbing on the counters, making messes...the usual. Her potty training is going great though. She goes right into the bathroom when she has to go and she'll yell "done!" when she's finished. She is going #2 more regularly now so we are definitely making progress. I still put a pull up on her for nap and nighttime as she doesn't always stay dry while she sleeps yet. I am very proud of her though. I remember telling Haylee she needed to be potty trained in order to go to Disneyland when she was 2 1/2...deja vu'! Looks like it worked for both girls!

Josh is set to finally start his new position when we return from California. He also traded in his little van for a truck and is much happier.

Jackson is doing about the same. I'm hoping the new meds kick in fast and that he is no longer in any discomfort. He has become a very high maintenance dog but I don't mind. I love my sweet little boy. It breaks my heart he can no longer jump on the bed or in the car, but he is still going up and down the stairs. My hope is his new meds will really help strengthen his legs and he'll get back to his normal self.

Tomorrow Josh and I are having a date night and can't wait. The girls are excited too because they get to see Grandma Kayanne. Natalee loves her "Mama Kayanne" and can't wait to see her at church every week. That and "play with the boys" are her favorite things about church. That child I tell you.....

Happy Friday!

Happy Happy Joy Joy

I took Jackson to the doctor tonight. He turned 10 1/2 on Monday and he is starting to feel it...literally. I noticed this week he's having a harder time getting up and walking. Last night he couldn't even jump up on our bed :(

After examining his legs the Vet said it appears he has arthritis from old age. She said everything is functioning correctly, he just appears stiff/sore etc. She started him on a joint supplement to help with this issue. She also started him on a pain reliever to use when needed.

She said Jackson looks great and no signs of cancer at all. All the internal bumps I feel are fatty tissue and the sores on his feet/legs are nothing to be alarmed about. If they bother him I can use anti itch shampoo. She said when cancer is progressing she sees weird skin stuff but that is not what she sees on Jackson.

When I told her its almost been 6 months since his surgery and we were told he had 2 months to live if we didn't do chemo she was surprised they even said that. She said after having a grade III MCT removed, 6-12 months survival is awesome and she sees Jackson having at least another 6 months. She thinks once the new meds are started he'll feel a lot better.

All I can say is "whew!" I am so so so so so eternally grateful for all this wonderful news!!! We feel blessed to have Jackson with us each and every day!

Jackson celebrated the good news with a McDouble :)

This little girl of mine!

Man I love this smart little girl!

Haylee received her Principle's Pride certificate today for receiving all O's on her report card for the 1st grading period. We are so proud of our little girl. This is such a huge deal since she attends an accelerate school and they are really strict.

When I was in school "honor roll" was the highest accomplishment but at Legacy, Principle's Pride is top honors :)

We had a parent/teacher conference last week and heard how wonderful Haylee is doing. What was shocking to me was that Mrs. Lukens said Haylee is so quiet and never talks at school. She talks nonstop at home! That and she always raises her hand to answer questions which surprises me because I thought she'd be too shy. Her teacher said she often uses Haylee as an example for the rest of the class.

Haylee wanted to sign up for both clubs offered for Kindergartners so she starts Culture Club this week and Sign Language Club in March.

Not only is Haylee doing so good in school, she is such an awesome big sister. Last week when we picked the girls up from the gym she said, "guess what Mom? Natalee had to go to the potty so I took her in there and she went, then I wiped her and we washed our hands." I was so proud of her for being such a huge help!

I love my little Haylee girl so much. She makes me so proud!

Jackson Makes Me Laugh (And Cry)

This picture makes me laugh-

Jackson LOVES carne asada! It cracks me up that he won't leave Josh's side while he cooks it and cuts it all up. He knows he gets some and that just makes his day!

 

Jackson scared me Monday. He didn't have water when I woke up so I filled up his bowl and he drank for like 10 minutes straight. Then of course, he went outside and threw up all that water which I knew would happen since he drank too much. But then he was making this weird sound, almost like he was crying and couldn't catch his breath. I thought this was the beginning of the end for him and I sat in the hall holding him and just bawling.

 

He is doing much better now, thankfully. I'm pretty sure all he needed was some carne asada. Whatever it was, I am thankful for each and every day he is here with us!



So BIG

I have to document it here that Natalee went #2 on the big girl potty today!!!!!!

We are so proud of her. After a couple weeks of going pee in the potty and poo in her pull-up I finally got the brilliant idea yesterday to empty her pull-up in her big girl potty so she could see what it looks like to have poo in there. I guess once she realized it was no different from going pee in there she decided she could do it.

Today she went in the bathroom and closed the door so I went in a minute later assuming she was getting into something, but she just looked up at me from the potty and said "done!" When she got up there was poo!

So like I promised, I took her to McDonald's for an M&M McFlurry and boy was she excited!!!

Haylee was a part of the festivities as well and she loved her Oreo McFlurry. More on that little smartie pants tomorrow!

A Day in the Life of Me

Nothing exciting going on around here lately. We've just been on our regular schedule of school, gym etc. I call September "the calm before the storm" because starting in October we'll be really busy till after the 1st of the year. Josh and I did enjoy a date night at Studio Movie Grill Saturday night where we saw The Campaign. If only elections were more like this movie....

Our typical school/work day goes a little like this-

My alarm goes off at 7:05am. Usually I am up before then because 1) I'm scared I won't hear my alarm and Haylee will be late so I can't sleep the last hour or 2)  Natalee decided to wake up at 6:45. I get ready and Haylee rolls out of bed around 7:15am to go potty, get her teeth brushed, get dressed (we pick out her clothes the night before) and get her hair done. Then we go downstairs and Haylee gets her shoes on and drinks her cup of chocolate milk (she never eats right after waking up). I put her water bottle in her backpack, make sure she has a snack for school and that all of her homework is in her folder. I feed Jackson, eat a granola bar and we leave the house around 7:35-7:40. Natalee and I have been walking her up to the playground and watching her play and say the pledge before going home.

Sometimes we run errands but if not we come home and play outside until the school bus drives by our house. Natalee LOVES school buses and loves when the one drives right in front of the house and the bus driver waves to her! After that we go inside for breakfast. While Natalee eats breakfast and watches cartoons (usually Rio or Timmy Time) I do the dishes, sweep the tile and straighten things up. After that Natalee puts her big girl panties on, which she has been wearing whenever we are at home, and we spend the morning on and off the potty and watching funny cat videos on you tube. Natalee is doing awesome potty training, She stays dry at church, when we're out and about and even during nap. She won't go #2 in the potty though and always tells me "no big girl panties" when she has to go so I do put a Pull-up on her so she will go and not hold it. Other than that though she hasn't had any accidents during the day and we are so proud of her!

Around 10:45 it's time to pick up Haylee girl from school. Then the girls love to play together till it's lunch time and then Natalee goes down for a nap around 12:30-1pm. She has been taking 3 hour naps and I love every second of it! Some days Haylee and I take a nap and other days when I have stuff to do I just work in the office and she watches her "shows", colors etc.

The rest of the evening is spent doing homework, telling the girls to quit whining, eating dinner, going to the gym (usually 2-3 nights a week),  telling the girls to listen, bath time and then bed time. The girls get their teeth brushed, we take turns reading to them and then we both spend time with them before putting them to bed around 8pm. And every night Haylee wants to tell both of us what she did that day (even though I'm with her most of the time) and Natalee wants me to sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star to her over and over. I love my sweet girls!

After the girls are in bed I go thru emails, blog, get stuck on Pinterest and get work done. I crawl in bed around 11pm to drift to sleep and wake up the next morning to start all over again. Yippee!

I know it will be fun to look back and see how our schedules have changed some day.

Look who is 1!!

It's hard to believe this little girl is ONE already! She was born sometime in August and we got her in November of last year.

She is the most low maintenance pet ever. She eats grass, loves an occasional treat of strawberries and avocados, likes to walk around the house and when she's tired she goes in her "parking spot" which is the little space between the fridge and the wall. Sadly she is pretty much too big for that small space now and she gets wedged in there good.

Sometimes she is a stinker and makes big messes in her cage by putting the pellets in her water and spreading the grass everywhere. Aside from that she's a great little addition to our family.

We love you Charlotte P. Washington! (Don't ask! I have no clue why we started calling her this...)

One HAPPY Momma!

Today my heart is filled with happiness and I am so proud of my little girls.

Haylee is doing awesome in school! She got a 100% on her poem recitation this week, 100% on her oral phonogram test yesterday and she was most thrilled about filling up her sticker chart and getting to pick a toy out of the treasure box! She was also very excited that she finally got to check out a book at the library on Wednesday. She came home and "read" it to Natalee right away.

And my sweet little Natalee is showing major improvements in the potty training department. She's been wearing her big girl panties during the day and I think she's only had 2 accidents all week. She usually goes into the bathroom on her own when she has to go and then I hear her yell "done!" and she'll sit there until I come in to help her. Then of course she runs to the pantry to decide what treat she wants!



Her and her buddy played in the rain yesterday!

I am just so content with life right now and loving my sweet little girls. When Momma's happy, everyone is happy! So we're all jumping for joy over here......

or maybe that's the excitement over these huge candy necklaces I brought the girls from California. Either way, we're a happy little family :)



Mother-Daughter Trip

I just got back from a wonderful weekend in California with my Mom and we had so much fun!

We left Friday afternoon and after stopping at Red Robin we arrived to our hotel rather late. So we just planned our weekend a little more and went to bed.

Saturday we woke up and headed to the Venice Beach. We stopped on the side of the road at Tompanga Canyon Beach to take pictures because there were huge waves and practically no one was there.

Glad we stopped because Venice was packed with people!

We walked along the shops at Venice and laughed at all the pot dispensaries every 10 feet and people watched along the way. I got both the girls "shells" since that's what they asked for. Haylee got a bird made of shells and Natalee got a baby starfish. I was lucky enough to find Haylee ONE shell at the beach while we were taking pictures. It was beautiful!

Next we headed to Citywalk to eat at Bubba Gumps! We got a super yummy lava flow, delicious popcorn shrimp and the best bread pudding ever!

Then it was Hollywood time! We walked around Hollywood for a couple hours before going to the Dolby Theatre (Kodak Theatre) to see Cirque Du Soleil's Iris. I have now seen 10 Cirque shows and this was one of my favorites. I LOVED the show and that was the highlight of the whole vacation for me!

We spent Sunday at Six Flags.

Boy have things changed since I was there 10 years ago. The first ride (Goliath) made us feel like we were gonna black out because it went in a circle so fast we started losing our vision. Then the next ride (Scream) I was seriously scared to death. It was one I hadn't been on before and I almost asked them to let me off the ride. It ended up being my 2nd favorite coaster though!

Then we rode the "safe" ones (ones we've been on before) Batman, Ninja, Revolution, Gold Rusher and Viper. We got soaked on the Roaring Rapids and got beat up and terrified on Green Lantern.

That was a new one to us and although it didn't look scary, it was the worst coaster I have ever been on. NEVER AGAIN!

Let's just say after that ride we were too chicken to even go on Tatsu or X2. Viper still remains our favorite coaster! I have no regrets, but I doubt I'll be returning to Six Flags anytime soon.

Monday we headed home stopping along the way to shop a little here and there. We made it home just in time to see 2 excited little girls before bedtime!

We had a wonderful trip but like always, it was too short! Thanks for the fun memories Mom!

Wednesday Ramblings

Haylee will have to recite a poem in front of the class every 6 weeks and her first assignment was the Pledge of Allegiance. As soon as I read this I was sick to my stomach thinking about how nervous I use to get doing things in front of the class. I also thought "how is she gonna memorize all of this?" Never underestimate Haylee girl, she has the BEST memory ever! She had it memorized within a week and did a fantastic job. Of course I wouldn't know first hand because she didn't want me to come watch her but her teacher (and Haylee too) said she did great. Haylee said I could come watch next time.

While Haylee's at school Natalee has wearing big girl panties and going potty in the big girl potty. She only went in her diaper during nap and the rest of the time she wore her panties she did great; no accidents! I gotta stay on top of it and get this girl trained.

While I was gone, Jackson celebrated another huge milestone. On Sept 2nd it was 5 months since his surgery to remove his Mast Cell Tumor. To celebrate this milestone is a HUGE blessings for all of us. We are so thankful he is with us and healthy. He is beating the odds and proving the doctors wrong and we couldn't be happier. We love our sweet boy and can't wait for it to get cooler so we can go for walks and play ball again.

I need to find a way to boost these girls immune systems. Haylee is taking a separate Immune-C vitamin but the poor girl still picks up everything! She currently has a cough although I'm glad she doesn't feel/act sick. Between school, church and the gym she doesn't stand a chance!

Speaking of the gym, we haven't been in over 2 weeks because the girls were sick and then I was sick. My 30 day free membership expired so it's time to add me on and get our butt back to the gym! Surprisingly I love working out although its not always easy and sometimes I'm sore for a couple days, but its fun.

Finally got the girls' bubblegum necklaces in the mail and I love them. I got Haylee one to wear to school and I got another one with fun, bright colors.

Josh and I are both staying busy with work. He hasn't switched positions yet because they have been too busy to train his replacement. Things should be slowing down soon and he'll start his new position and I think he's looking forward to it. I love what I do and look forward to taking on more! I love working from home and making extra money. Time to start saving for Maui 2013!

We leave in 4 weeks for our week long family vacation in California. I am so so excited to take the girls to Disneyland again! We just love Disneyland :) I've already started praying we are all healthy when it comes time to leave and that we stay healthy while we are there so we don't have to visit urgent care again.

And as soon as we return from Disneyland we gotta get our passports and start planning our cruise. This will be our first cruise and we are so excited to spend our 10th Anniversary in the Caribbean zip lining, snorkeling and partying on the cruise ship!

We're hoping to be able to take both girls and go back to Maui with Mom for 2 weeks next year too but that depends on if we can save enough for airfare and everything else we do there. We absolutely love Maui and had a blast when we took Haylee in 2009. We'd love to go back so the girls can snorkel with us and swim with the turtles!

I can't wait for it to start cooling down. The highs this week stay right around 99-100 degrees so I think there is an end in sight to this hot hot weather! I can't wait to take morning walks, play at the park with the girls and walk to pick up Haylee from school. Not to mention pumpkin patches and all the other fun fall activities! I love this time of year but can't believe Christmas is in less than 4 months. Where the heck did this year go?

Alright time to quit rambling we've got Curriculum Night at Legacy tonight! Haylee thinks it's hilarious we have to go to school and do what she does. Josh is a bit nervous he will have to do the phonograms or Pledge! Hahahaha!!! Haylee wanted to sign up for both clubs offered to Kindergartners so we'll see if there is room. There is a Culture Club and a Sign Language Club. I love that Haylee likes to try new things!

Haylee's handwriting is amazing!

Life is Good!