I Need YOUR help

We are still tossing around the idea of a getting a wooden swing set for the girls. But we need your help. We need to know...how well do they work if you move them or try to sell them? Are there any brands you love? Hate? Anything you have to say about the topic please post so we can make an informed decision. Right now we have it narrowed down to a Woodplay set where they claim they always assemble and disassemble it for you and a locally built set that we'd probably have to do ourselves. Please comment and tell us any experience you have.

Do I Match?

The Genius is very type A. She likes things to be in order. Her biggest complaint is when my hubby and the Hippie get on her bed. They don't know that the blue eyed doll sits just so on the pink pillow. =) Well, we were out the other day and in this coffee shop a local farmer had free oranges. She got the last one and was quite pleased with it. She was just walking along and holding her orange, when my husband took it and ran. She just collapsed in tears. I said, "What is wrong?" She pointed to her pretty blue dress and said, "well, I just thought that my blue dress looked so good with the orange and now no one will see those colors together because Daddy took my orange and he may not know to be careful with it." Priceless!

You've come a long way Baby

2 months ago today the Genius was attacked by a dog. I cannot believe how far she has come during two short months. In so, so many ways God has been there taking care of her, healing her and helping us find the right doctors and providing family and friends who helped us out when we truly needed it. It has been a good day for me. My husband thinks I am batty, but maybe (HOPEFULLY) some other moms can relate. Something about this being an anniversary of the attack made it seem like it would be a hard day. I cannot help thinking that 2 months ago right now I was holding her up as she bled every where etc. But thankfully, today has gone really well. We decided to take each girl out for some special time. I had the Genius and we hit some garage sales with my friend and her sweet baby. My husband took the Hippie hiking.
Our BIG news is that we are moving 2 miles away! =) We found a new rental, a house, that we may actually be able to buy. I love this new place and cannot wait to officially move in. The house is so cute and soon I will get photos (PROMISE). I keep forgetting the camera! We have spent a lot of time over the past few days looking at wooden swing sets. I so badly want one for the girls, but they are a little pricey.
Tonight we went to a cookout with some new friends. The girls had a blast playing with their boys who are also 4 and 6! Here are a few funny quotes.... The Genius said, "Do you know why I think babies are so great? Because they never try to hurt you. But the bad thing about babies is that they always get whatever they want but us big kids don't." =) Tonight the girls were twirling together at the cookout and one of the boys (who is their age) said, "Awww, look, they look so cute playing together!" Kids are awesome!

Wanna win?

One of my friends is having a free giveaway on her blog. All you have to do is visit her blog and leave a comment and you might win a really cute teacup! Visit her blog here.
Home-school is going great so far this year. Today will be day 3. It is more time consuming. It takes about 2 hours a day but we are all loving it! The Hippie LOVES science and the Genius has been enjoying spelling words and science. I am amazed at both of them. I mean, the Genius is not a REAL Genius but I bet she is reading above her grade level and the Hippie is only 4 but is reading most 3 letter words now! I am impressed! I love having them home with me too. Sure, sometimes I still envy my friends their long, free days without kids, but I love hanging out with our girls all day long.
Last night my hubby and I had a date night! We did the whole dinner and a movie thing. It was GREAT! Have a great day and remember to hit up that blog for a chance to win!

First day of school

We started up the 2009-2010 home-school year today. We officially have a first grader and a kindergartner! I cannot believe it! The day went amazingly well. It definitely is more time consuming with two students. One-on-one time takes a lot longer per child and the whole spelling thing is taking extra time. But it was fun. I LOVE the science! We learn about animals and habitats etc. and then go online to links of videos and pictures and maps of what we just studied! It was way cool! =)
In other news... bills are rolling in at a rapid rate from the dog attack. We are up to a little over $10000 and that does not include at least 5 office visits. We are mailing all this to our attorney and letting them deal with it, but let me say it is NO fun and I struggle with some feelings of anger/unfairness. I will be anxious to see the grand total of all the bills and to see how this ends.

Who are you?

Overheard from the playroom....
"Hey there Caroline! How are you? Wait... who are you?????" Ha! We were cracking up!
My sweet, incredible husband suggested a trip to our favorite malls today so he could take the girls shopping for my birthday! I had a blast! They did too. On the way home we put the windows down. I guess we have never had the windows down on a highway before. They laughed till they cried... for about 20 miles! It was priceless!

Changes

We took a quick trip to go help move my sister into her college dorm. We all met the night before at a hotel. It was really fun! She was inviting her roommate and her family out to dinner, I suggested just meeting at the hotel and ordering pizzas. So, the "small" gathering turned into almost 30 people and 10 large pizzas! It was fun! This morning we had a quick breakfast and then helped get her all moved in. My parents went with us for lunch and we all left for our homes. My sister seems to have a real nice roomie and is at a great college! Exciting times for her and very sad times for my parents.

It's official....

I have the best husband in the WORLD!!!! Remember this post? Imagine my complete shock and surprise when THIS, was delivered to my door today! I am SOOOO excited! It has containers for cream and sweetener, salt and pepper and is EXACTLY what I wanted!!! I cannot wait to take a picnic and put it to use! My husband IS the best and I love him SOOOOOOOOO much!!!!! Happy (very) early birthday to me!!!!!

Wordless Wednesday

Too Many Rules and First Day Jitters

We took the girls swimming on base today. It turned into an exercise on patience. First, we had to pay $12.oo for "open swim" time. We were in the water 2 minutes and they blew their whistle. Evidently only 1/3 of the pool is open. The rest is for people who want to do laps. There was 1 person doing laps. The Genius wanted to swim laps with me. We get to the end and they tell me, "They cannot wear life jackets past the 5 foot section." Um, correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't life jackets for flotation and swimming? Grrrrr. The girls had fun and wore themselves out but there is no way we will buy a pass there.
Today was our "box day". That is name that Sonlight gives for the day you receive your new year curriculum. Ours came today! We had a blast going through it and the girls must have spent an hour looking at the books and stuff. The Hippie is real excited to have her own math this year. We are trying Saxon Math. Here is what I did not expect.... I thought with year one of school under my belt I would be so confident this year. I got the materials and those jitters came back. Do any other home-school parents feel this way or am I alone out here? I AM excited though! The schedule will be harder and more complex but Sonlight made some good changes and it will be a great here! School starts on Monday!

Laughing when we wake up

The Hippie got our day started with a bang! You see, for a little over a year, I have wanted one of these very badly. It had turned into a quest. I have a very particular one that I want. It needs to be a back pack, with a roomy cooler and a full place setting for 4. Sure, I can order one online, but I really want to find it. I did find it. The one. EXACTLY like I had pictured in my mind. We found it in Holland, MI. The problem? It was $160. Needless to say we passed it up, but I cannot get it out of my head and I have mentioned it several times. I mentioned it yesterday as I was packing us a picnic and have to grab things like forks etc.... So, this morning the Hippie was snuggling me. My husband asked her to come snuggle with him and she said (TOTALLY unsolicited), "I can't Daddy. Because you get lots of special things, but poor Mommy only wants a special picnic backpack and she never gets it." We were laughing SO hard! Man, that girl is observant!!!

Good News/Bad News

The bad news is the Genius was stung by a bug today but the good news is...evidently she is not badly allergic! She was in a bit of pain. We were at a park and had to go to their visitors center for some first aid, but she never had any scary symptoms! We do not know what it was. Whatever it was, it hurt her and caused a very creepy looking welt. It had a big round very raised center and then it immediately spread about 1 inch on either side (creating a 2 inch line) with the big welt in the center. It was weird and we were scared. Thankfully she was just fine and I guess we are safe with her!
At that same park, we had a picnic lunch. Then we took a bike ride together. The girls looked so cute! We had bought them each Kids Camelbacks. The Hippie rode on a co-pilot. So my husband and the Hippie were in front and she was wearing her camelback. Then the Genius followed on her big girl bike wearing her camelback. I brought up the rear. They all looked so cute in front of me, but I did not get a picture. So, just use your imagination on this one!
We ended a nice day with some homemade veggie lasagna! Yum!

A forgotten moment

I keep forgetting to get this down. When we were on our vacation the Genius did something SO funny! Here we were driving down the road and she says, "Mommy, did I tell you the funny thing we saw on that kangaroo movie?" I am thinking, "Hmmmmm, have they ever SEEN a kangaroo movie?" So I tell her no. She starts describing it and I remember it was a science documentary we saw. She said, "Well, there was a mommy kangaroo and her baby and the voice said, 'Mummy kangaroo watches as her little champ hops in circles around her while he finds his leggs.' ". I about lost it! She actually attempted to imitate the voice on the movie! It was so cute!

Dry Eyes for the Hippie

A few days ago we each decided to take one child out for a date. I took the Hippie and my hubby took the Genius. He took her on a hike and let her lead by learning to follow a map! She LOVED it! Then they got a diet coke and went to the library. I took the Hippie to my friends house to make homemade playdough. When we got home, we headed outside to play...in the dirt of course! Before we went outside, I picked her up and said, "I love you." She said, "I love you Mommy." I asked if she wanted to hear why I loved her. She said yes. I named several reasons and her eyes got watery and she swiped them and said, "MY eyes are dry."

Time for the next step

Today we learned that the Genius is ready for her next step in treatment. It will be a series of laser treatments. The doctor will keep doing them every 6-8 weeks with no set ending. I get the impression he is thinking it will take about 4-6 treatments now and maybe some later? Kinda hard to say and no real way to predict how she will respond. If we ever had ANY doubts as to whether or not switching doctors was the right thing, those doubts would have been eliminated today. He was so concerned with the Genius and her well-being. He said he did not want to put her under for the surgeries. Which means NO needles for her! He said, "The poor girl has been through enough trauma already and I have no desire to add to it. I want to keep her as pain free as possible." He will give her sleeping gas instead. I guess the laser burns layers of her skin. She will probably have some pain afterwards but nothing requiring any medication of any kind!!! He said her nose will bruise and turn purple after each treatment but that the end result will be much better than if she had had the skin graft.
Other than that, we had a great day with the girls and my husband may have sold his motorcycle! We could seriously use the money. The Army did NOT fix our pay as they promised grrrr. Hopefully the next check...

Wordless Wednesday

Applesauce and a new song

I laughed so hard with (at) my husband tonight! We had finished dinner and he was still hungry. He went into the kitchen to get some applesauce. Now, he likes the no sugar added applesauce. But he likes it with cinnamon and you cannot find it with cinnamon already in it. I just add some and mix it before giving him some. This time he was "making" it himself! I came in and saw this, this MOUND of cinnamon perched on top of his applesauce and I was like, "What are you doing????" He said, "Making applesauce like you do." We ended up having to dump all the remaining applesauce into a bowl and mix it up with his EXTREME cinnamon applesauce. It was WAY too funny!!!!
Before that, the Hippie came up and handed me a note. She had made curlies all over it. She said, "This is a note that says, 'I love Mommy. Mommy is good at chewing gum. She makes big bubbles. She is good at that. She likes cooking for me. I LOVE HER" Now, doesn't that just melt ya!

Beautiful song

Thanks Dad for sending me this link. It takes about 4 minutes and 26 seconds to listen to, but it is well worth it.

Recovery

Today was the typical, not-so-great day after vacation! The Hippie slept until 8:45 this morning! That was the high point of the day! LOL! They were really good at times and the rest of the time they were tired and cranky! Both girls helped me cook dinner though. We made broiled veggies and were they AWESOME! It is my most favorite summer recipe!

All the animals are happy

We are all home safe and sound and one big happy, or at least very tired, family! The girls had a wonderful time with my family! They spent a special morning with the Gampy. He took them out to breakfast and to play at a playland, took them to feed ducks and see some llamas, took them to a candy store and a special "date" to Long John Silvers! Then my sister took them to a pool and a park. My mom played Polly Pockets and let them wake her up at 5 a.m. so they could snuggle together. We walked in to see them and the Hippie came RUNNING up and hugged me and kissed me and said how much she missed me. It was so, so sweet. The Genius said, "Hey". I said, "Did you miss us?" She said, "I think I'd rather be quiet right now." Ha! I think she was rather upset that "Their vacation" (as she referred to it) was over! It was all cute though! When we FINALLY got home, we got them ready for bed. The Hippie found her winky and got all her pandas up on her bed and rolled around to get her position all set and she said, "Ahh, all the animals are happy again." We are all happy too. It was a great time and we had SOOOOOO much fun, but coming home always feels good!

8 Years

My husband and I have been married for 8 years now. Man, that is hard to believe! We have had a wonderful anniversary though. My parents kept the girls and we spent 3 nights away. We saw "My Sister's Keeper", "The Hurt Locker" and "G.I. Joe" (yeah, he owes me a Nicholas Sparks movie after GI Joe). We ate out at an Irish place, German place, Italian place and ordered in Chinese. We watched cheesy Sifi tv and laughed our heads off at it! We took longs walks and relaxed in a hot tub. We had some good coffee and ice cream and we even got a gift for the girls! Now we have to load up and move out and go pick them up. I am excited to see them, but sad that our wonderful time has come to an end. Happy Anniversary baby!! I love you more than ever!

Wordless Wednesday

Holland R Us

We hit Meijers Gardens in Grand Rapids today. It was pretty, but also really hot. The girls were a little too exhausted so we left kinda early. We all had a yummy lunch and then we came to the hotel here in Holland. We are so amazed by our wonderful room! It is a REAL suite with 2 rooms and a fully kitchen and $65/night! We are all real tired and planning to head to bed early.