The Wonder Place

I've been wanting to take the kids to The Wonder Place for awhile now -- I've heard such fun things about it and couldn't wait to get there! It didn't disappoint -- we had a blast!!! There was SO MUCH to do! We got there early and pretty much had the place to ourselves for awhile, which was a good thing since Harrison was EVERYWHERE. He dashed from one thing to the next with Madeleine and I struggling to keep up. Finally, he realized we were going to be there awhile and slowed down -- I was exhausted keeping up with him! ;) They both were just exhausted when it was time to leave & Madeleine still talking about the fun she had. I'm even reconsidering having her birthday party there since she loved it so much!

Playing with the water.

Little chef.
Making sandwiches.

Chilling out -- after this shot, I made him keep the paci in. We were quickly filling up one of their "Icky Buckets."

Shopping at the market.
Sand table fun.
By far Harrison's favorite thing. Do they sell these for home?
Madeleine at the train table.
I didn't take a lot of pictures since I was either chasing Harrison or having too much fun playing with them!

Last Day of Preschool

Last Thursday was Madeleine's last day of school for the year. We (me!) are really going to miss being at Wee Care. It's been a truely wonderful experience for Madeleine. She has changed SO MUCH this year -- it's been fun to watch her grow out of a toddler and into such a little girl! She's learned a lot from school -- she can use her scissors amazingly well and can color in the lines. Her teacher often commented to me how good Madeleine was at coloring -- the best in her class! She made it through then entire year without losing a skittle (bad, bad, bad to loose a skittle!) and loved being the line leader!

Her last day was just a fun day......party, program practice, etc. We started the day by going to get donuts -- yummy! Then Harrison and I went up to school for her party. They had pizza and cookies, when outside to draw with chalk, made a water globe, and came home with a sand bucket full of lots of fun summer activities!

All in all, I'm not too sure that Madeleine was sad school was over, but I DO think she'll miss her friends.

Last day of school.

Just for fun -- her first day picture. In my eyes, she's changed a lot!
Donuts! :)
Sitting in her chair.
Madeleine and her favorite person in her class.
Chalkin' up the sidewalk.
Her class.

Madeleine School Program

Last night we went to Madeleine's end of the year program at WeeCare. I didn't have extremely high expectations since she cried through her Christmas program, but I was also hoping that she'd grown up a little this year and would be more excited this time around. Yesterday afternoon she was bouncing off the walls with excitement!! She was running around the house singing her songs at the top of her lungs (all while Harrison was TRYING to sleep). :)

When we got to school last night, she wanted me to stay in the room with her -- okay, no problem. Then, she started looking teary right before time to go on. So, like any good mom, I bribed her with gum. I told her she could hold the gum while she was singing and eat it when it was over. Worked like a charm! hehehe. She sang her heart out and had a GREAT time! She spotted Matt and Harrison 1/2 way through and waved to them.

I'm posting some videos of her songs at the end -- you can see the piece of gum in her hand if you look! :)

Arriving at her classroom.

Lined up & looking sad.
Singing time!

See the gum?


My little family.

After the program was over we headed out to get some ice cream! Madeleine wanted a banana split, took 3 bites, then was ready to color instead.

Harrison finished off EVERYONE'S ice cream. He was a mess!


Good is So Good


Peanut Butter and Jelly


5 Little Monkeys

Harrison is 17 Months!

This little guy is getting to be such fun -- and quite a handful! He's keeping me on my toes. Yesterday, I found him putting Q-tips in the side of the toilet.....he'd gotten around 25 in there before I caught him! Busy, busy.

He's climbing on EVERYTHING!!!! He can now get on all the furniture and I'm just crossing my fingers that he won't learn to get out of the crib anytime soon. ;)

His favorite foods are: pretzels, pineapple, strawberries, mandarin oranges, nutragrains, bananas, cheese, and ice cream, to name just a few! He's finally drinking milk from a cup, although it has to be heated.

His favorite toy: my swiffer. He carries it all around the house and "stomps" it on the floor.

His new words: "daddy," "moo," "roar," "neigh" "whooo," to name a few. He still doesn't say much, but he can when he wants to.

He's definitely a mommy's boy! I have to admit -- I LOVE THIS! He would be happy if I could just grow a third arm to hold him all the time! :) He really loves to be held and to sit in my lap and read and play.

He loves anything electronic -- DVD player, remote, cell phone, home phone, etc.

He loves to go outside/on a walk. Whenever I get out his crocs (his outside shoes) he will RUN for the door and pound on it to go out.

He's really just a mess! But, ohhhhh what fun we're having!

Here are some pictures from this week.....

His favorite peek-a-boo spot!

On the loose and jammin' after bathtime.

Enjoying some donutholes this morning.

Fun at School

Last week was the annual faculty/student basketball game at Matt's school. Madeleine was so excited to go and cheer on her Daddy! She wore her Panther cheer shirt & was pom-pom ready to do some cheering! We had to sit through the volleyball game and then the silly games before it was time for basketball -- by that time both of them (especially Harrison) had had enough. So, we never got to see Matt play, but we had a great time cheering on all the other teachers. Madeleine just LOVES going to Matt's school for any reason. I actually took her a couple of hours early and she stayed and "helped" Matt with some of his classes. She just sat at a desk and colored for the entire time -- perfect angel!!!!

Thoughts

I'm long overdue in posting about Mother's Day -- what can I say, it's been a crazy week!

Being a mom is the most fulfilling and challenging role of my life. It's both exhausting and exhilarating at the same time. It's feeling like you're going nuts then seeing your sweet child's smile and feeling your heart melt. It's having a thousand memories that only you and your child will share. It's doing more than you've ever done on less sleep than you've ever had. It's icing lopsided cakes because they helped and having it taste better than ever. It's reading the same book so many times that you don't even have to look at the words -- and knowing you'll never, never forget them. Being a mom to me means days spent getting nothing checked off my "to do" list and yet never stopping for a moment because we're having too much fun. It's books piles and legos, tickling and slobbery kisses. It's seeing the world through the eyes of your child and remembering what it was like to be a child. It's seeing God through the eyes of your child and being reminded of the enormity of his love in the love I feel for them. I find myself struggling to give them the most out of their childhood -- days of just being silly and not having a care in the world, days where we never get dressed or go anywhere. When I think back on my childhood, it's not the big, planned events that I loved the most. It's that feeling that I get when I think about being home with my mom -- her folding laundry while we played or helping her make cookies -- the feeling that with her there everything was right with the world. It's a sense of peace and assurance that I still remember and am trying so hard to create for my little ones. So (belatedly) thanks, mom for giving me that gift, a gift so powerful that I want more than anything to pass it on to my little ones.

Here are the two reasons that Mother's Day is so special for me.....

The sweet little girl who made me believe in love at first sight,

and the little boy who has stolen my heart.

One Looooooong Night

First let me say that Mother's day was wonderful! The kids woke up happy, healthy and rested. We had a yummy lunch at Macaroni Grill and then I got to take a nap -- I laid down and didn't wake up for almost 4 hours!!! Little did I know that the nap would be much needed later that night. Harrison woke up from his nap with a little cough and a little fever, so Matt stayed home with him and I went to church. By the time we got home from church the "little fever" was 103.3. We gave him some motrin and put him down for the night. He was having a hard time breathing and was just really restless -- I couldn't sleep with him like that so I sat up in the rocker in his room. Around midnight he started having a LOT of trouble breathing, so I started taking him out in the night air to see if that would help. By 12:30 he was making a "honking" sound with every breath so I put in a call to the doctor -- he said one sentence: Get him to Childrens ER ASAP.

Soooooo, around 12:45 I called my AMAZING, WONDERUL, HOW -WOULD-WE-MAKE-IT WITHOUT-THEM parents who without hesitation said they'd meet me at the ER. Since Matt HAD to be at work, I packed up Madeleine and Harrison and raced down to Little Rock. We walked into the ER and they quickly evaluated Harrison and rushed us into a room where we were immediately joined by 2 doctors a nurse and a respitory specialist. By this point Harrison's chest was retracting severly with each breath and he was having an extremely difficult time breathing & he wasn't even crying -- he was just laying there -- and his little chest was retracting. I don't think I've ever been so scared in my entire life. They started him on some oxygen and then followed it with some meds. He had chest and neck x-rays and 2 steriod shots. His breathing got better and he slept a little bit. They kepts us until around 7am to be sure he wasn't going to have a relapse -- the doctor later told us that Harrison was one of their "scary croup cases." I don't think I would have survived the night without my Dad who stayed with me the entire time -- which is great since Harrison absolutely adores him and was happy just in grandad's arms.

Finally, we headed home and tried to get some rest. My sweet mom took the day off and helped me with the kids and let me get some much needed rest. :)

Last night was a little better -- we also got some sleep -- but it's going to be a long week of recovery for my little guy. He still sounds very, very croupy and he's pretty cranky but we're surviving.

On a side note, the staff and doctors at Childrens were awesome. They kept us informed of everything going on and took such good care of Harrison. I am so thankful that we lived close to them.

Mother's Day Tea

Sometimes I feel like my days are full of the "trench work" of being a mom -- just wiping noses, telling "no-no," doing endless loads of laundry, looking for pacis, cleaning crayon off my wall and the list could go on and on and on.....Well, today I got to do something very fun and special with my Madeleine. We went to a Mother's Day tea at her school! I got to go see her at work in her classroom and then headed down to the "tea room" hand in hand with her. We nibbled crackers & cheese, cookies and veggies and of course -- CHOCOLATE! Yummy. They read a sweet poem about Mothers and then I got a piece of artwork with Madeleine's handprint on it (always love that). It was such a fun day!

Bathtime

Just a few fun pictures from our bath last night. I love some of the looks on Harrison's face! He's so intent on trying to get the water INTO the shampoo bottle, but can't figure it out. :)

How do I get the water in here? Hmmmmm.





Sweet Girl.
Silly girl.
Fast forward 10 minutes.....Madeleine's washing Pablo & Harrison's still trying to fill up the bottle.