The Great Outdoors...

The girls love their new swing set. They spend countless hours swinging on their bellies...

and zipping down the slide.

And they love to have a snack in the "upstairs loft".

We still need Josh to scoot the whole swing set back an anchor it for extra safety. In the mean time, the girls are playing nicely on it.

Charlotte loves all the time the girls spend outside because that means she gets to eat at the all you can eat buffet all day long. I gave her an avocado the other morning and I laughed so hard because everything was sticking to her messy face!

Good thing she cleaned herself up in time for a play date with her sister Lizzy. They are from the same "litter" so it's funny how different they are in size. They like to play follow the leader until Charlotte decides to bite Lizzy's shell.

And in other news, Natalee decided to throw the new happy meal toy in the toilet today and flush it. Glad Josh has plumbing experience!

Perfect Weekend.

I had such a wonderful weekend!

Friday we took the girls to see The Croods. This was the test to see if Natalee would behave so we could do Summer Movie Fun at Harkins this summer. And she passed the test! She sat through the movie like a good girl. I love that Natalee is finally at an age where we can take her to do a lot more fun things. Haylee loved the movie and loved eating her cheesy popcorn!

Saturday Josh took the girls to Kaleb and Kenzie's birthday party and I went with my Mom to Lauren's baby shower. It worked out perfect! It was fun to visit with old friends and see Lauren open all of her cute little boy stuff. My Mom and I went to lunch and dinner and did plenty of shopping before and after the shower and we had such a wonderful day. The girls chased peacocks, ate icee's and played at the park all day and had fun with family.

Sunday was Jackson's 11th Birthday. After church I went and got him 11 balloons and my Mom, Dustin and Hannah came over for dinner. I made yummy cupcakes with peaches and cream frosting and we sang Happy Birthday to our sweet boy.

Then we tied his cupcake to the balloons, wrote messages on them for him and let them go.

I was so worried they weren't gonna make it up very high but I watched them till they were so high I couldn't see them anymore. I hope he enjoyed his cupcake.

We all miss Jackson so much. I came across a quote that is so perfect, "if love could have saved you, you would have lived forever." And that is so true. Everyone who knew Jackson loved him. He was a special boy and will always have a special place in my heart.

Happy Monday (Being Positive)

Last week was rough. So glad every single thing I whined about in my last post is resolved, or being resolved (leg pain). Thank you God for answered prayers.

With Haylee back in school our regular schedule will resume and I think things will be running smoother. Add in a brand new swing set (Josh spent about 4 days working on) and I'm sure the girls will be staying occupied.

I am loving this beautiful weather lately. If only we could bottle it up and make it last forever! We have definitely been taking full advantage of it. Last weekend we made it out to the Ostrich Festival along with everyone else and their Mom. I'm sure it has to do with the fact that it was raining Friday and Saturday, but Sunday was super crowded. Anyways, the girls had a blast! They each rode 4 rides and got a super cool glitter tattoo.

My favorite part is always the ostrich race. And this year I laughed liked always. I love watching them run around crazy especially when there rider falls off and the run right toward us kicking dirt in our lap. Crazy birds!

I am so glad Dustin, Hannah and Mom joined us this year. We had such a wonderful time!

Last Thursday my Mom and I had plans to take the girls to do something fun that afternoon. We went to lunch at Red Robin but while there Natalee started feeling super crappy. So after lunch we went home to take a nap. After nap we picked up where we left off and went to get Bahama Bucks and let the girls play in the play area at McDonalds. We had planned on going to the park but it had gotten dark and the girls had a blast at McDonalds anyway so it worked out.

Friday I ended up taking Natalee to the Dr because I was literally up with her ALL NIGHT LONG which is totally unlike her. Usually when she is sick and wakes up, I give her medicine and she goes right back to sleep. This time she kept waking up every 10-20 minutes. So ya, after that and the fact she was burning up toward early morning, I wasted no time and took her right in. Verdict- another stupid ear infection, same ear as always. The good news is the Dr said she's getting to the age where ear infections won't be as frequent if any. Yay! She is already feeling better except for the "fun" side effect of antibiotics :(

This weekend my Mom and I took the girls to the Spring Festival at Merrill Ranch. We went last year too and the girls always have fun. This time they rode the ponies, the pink elephants and went crazy in the bounce house.

We also enjoyed a shaved iced while we watched the dog agility. It was actually kinda hot Saturday so the shaved ice was perfect! We walked around the vendors and visited the reptile exhibit full of all sorts of creatures.

My girls are fearless, touching snakes and posing with huge iguanas! And they also got to ride the choo choo all around which of course was Natalee's favorite part!

And I must add, Natalee has been doing fantastic staying dry at night and during naps. Opposite from Haylee, she has continued to pee in her sleep since we started potty training last September. But since Friday night (2 naps and 2 nights) she has stayed dry. Hopefully she has finally gotten the hang of holding it while she sleeps!

We decided to go with the built in headrest DVD players this time around for the new car. Josh ordered them and we got them this weekend. Josh started installing them but he has been sick so he hasn't quite finished them yet. My sanity depends on those things! Without movies the girls get bored and drive me nuts!!!

My jewelry business has been rocking these past 2 months!!! Both months we have sold over $4000 in jewelry! I feel so blessed. Since we are barely getting a tax return this year all of my jewelry income will fund our vacations this year.

And speaking of vacation, 41 days till sailing!! Josh and I are so excited to celebrate our 10th Anniversary going on our 1st cruise. I joked that Josh should request 2 weeks off for our 7 day cruise just in case our Carnival ship gets stuck at sea. I really hope we don't have any delays for my Mom's sake since she will have the girls!

After the cruise I will be cruising Hollywood with my Mom and nieces to celebrate my niece's high school graduation. We leave the day after she graduates! We plan to go to Universal Studios, walk around Hollywood and get sun at the beach!!!

Next Sunday would have been sweet Jackson's 11th Birthday. It's hard to believe it's almost been a year since my Mom spotted the tumor that turned our world upside down. You better believe we will be throwing a party in honor of Jackson and we will be letting 11 balloons go for our little boy.

Breaking Point

Lately I have felt like I'm at my breaking point.

I am so sick of being in pain everyday. My leg kills. I wake up in so much pain I can't sleep and I have shooting pains down my leg when I stand up. When I first hurt my back I saw improvement with every appointment, I'm not seeing that anymore. They said I was about 80% better but it seems like my leg is only getting worse. The first few days following my appointment I am in so much pain I just cry. I am so thankful for the few weeks I was pain free and I know I can get to that point again but it's not happening soon enough. I am hoping for answers at my appointment tonight. The thing that upsets me the most is that my insurance won't cover any therapy so every penny comes from my pocket and it's so expensive.

Then I've been dealing with a UTI for over a week. I don't know why the antibiotics I was given are not working but it looks like I will be going back to the Doctor again.

And my upper permanent retainer came off. They wanted to charge me $220 for a new one. Guess the $5000 I gave them already wasn't enough. I opted to wear my removable retainer every night instead of paying that much money and I just hope that works and my teeth don't shift.

My girls have been fighting like crazy and I am so sick of Haylee's loud mouth constantly yelling and whining. And Natalee has been an absolute terror and has been so destructive. Ripping books, dumping stuff all over the floor and just being a brat. Discipline isn't working and I just want to pull my hair out.

And if that wasn't bad enough, I'm 5 days late. After turning to Google it looks like I'm not the only one who has been late after taking Cipro (UTI antibiotic) so I am praying that is the reason.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!

Update- I went to the Chiropractor and explained my frustration. They did another set of xrays which confirmed 2 things. 1- I have lower back scoliosis which my spine isn't just curved, it's also rotated. At my age there really isn't anything to do to fix that but she said it will cause problems later on. And 2- there is no "hole" between my lowest vertebrae so that nerve is being pinched and causing all the pain. Just what I thought, stupid sciatic nerve. So a new treatment was started in addition to adjustments, I did my normal therapy and she added 2 new stretches to the 3 I already do at home. I am feeling a lot better now that she knows how I feel and we know exactly what is wrong.

I also took a pregnancy test which was negative. Hallelujah!!!! So I have a feeling it is my antibiotic. Talk about freakin heart attack. I so need a drink tonight!!!

5 Months



Today marks 5 months since my sweet boy went to Heaven. The tears still come and his absence is still felt. Having so many wonderful memories of him helps.

 

Yesterday we got the Shelter Pup in the mail of Jackson. I think they did such a wonderful job replicating Jackson down to the markings on his face, his folded ears and the little indentations on his temples.

 

I also "met" a lady yesterday who's dog was just diagnosed with cancer 2 days ago, a sweet 6 1/2 year old boxer. I know all to well how she is feeling and I am so thankful I was able to help her. I sent her my "Dog Cancer Survival Guide", 3 1/2 bottles of Apocaps and some of Jackson's other pills to save her money and help her out. She is overwhelmed right now and is over her head in vet bills and having to take money out of her retirement fund. Like Jackson, her dog is one of their children and they will do whatever they can to help their sweet girl. She asked me to share my story about Jackson and I had tears streaming down my face as I relived the horrible day he went to Heaven.

We sure miss our sweet little guy. His 11th birthday is March 24th and I remember praying he'd make it to that day :(



Changes

And we're at it again with the changes. Life sometimes gets too boring and you just gotta switch things up! So....

We bought a new car. Traded in our Sorento for this '13 Chevy Cruze and so far we love it.

We originally thought we were going to get a truck until we talked numbers at the dealership and our payment was gonna be twice what we wanted it to be. So we looked at all of our options and decided to get this 30 mpg sporty thang! Although it looks small, it has just as much room in the back seat as our Sorento and the trunk is way bigger than you'd think it would be. Plus the girls like the sun roof and our upgraded sound system so they can jam out. I think it's hilarious that it has it's own phone number. I can now give out my home phone, my cell phone and my err car phone...technology these days.

And if that wasn't enough, we decided to move Natalee into a real big girl bed.

I thought of this genius idea to unstack Haylee's bunk beds because no one ever sleeps up there. So now each girls has a cute little bed and they love it. Natalee looks so little in her bed. Now they each happily go to bed with their dream lites and have plenty of room to stretch out.

(time to decorate the walls since her bunk beds are gone)

Finally, I already mentioned we sold all of our outdoor play stuff so we could buy a swing set. Well, our new swing set has arrived!!! Now poor Josh has to put it all together. So ya, hopefully the girls will get to play on it by Easter! :)

Bikes

Since Santa brought bikes over 2 months ago and it's finally warm enough (and has been) we decided to practice riding bikes.

Haylee is a pro, she jumps on her bike and rides it all over.

Poor Natalee keeps wanting to push the pedals in the reverse direction which just applies the brakes.

She gets frustrated and ditches the big girl bike for the "baby" comfortable bike and zooms around.

I have to laugh at how cute they look in their helmets.