Meggan's Earrings and Boys' Night!

Meggan finally has her ears pierced! This is not something that has been forbidden by any means, but it was just something that we were waiting for her to be interested in and ask about before we let her do it. She had asked about this back a couple weeks or so before Christmas, and we were just so busy doing other fun stuff that we didn't make it to the mall to get it done, so this afternoon was finally the time ... and she did SOOOOO good! We were all so proud of her! :)

Jason and Jer met us at the mall after they worked out at the YMCA and after Jordan had a nice 3-hour nap, so we had me, Jason, Jordan, Dawn, Jer, Lucas, and Grandma all supporting her - not that she needed it, but we all just wanted to see her accomplishing such a big-girl rite of passage! She picked emerald studs for her May birthstone (she was excited about that) and after we were done we had to pick out some other new earrings for 6-8 weeks down the road when she can change them (she picked a pack of "M" earrings, in basically every color of the rainbow!)

First ear wasn't so bad...

Not so sure about the second ear after already experiencing the first one...

Trying hard to smile (and not cry)! She never did once cry or even tear up or anything - she kind of jumped a little bit, but was so strong and brave and proud!!!


I caught her admiring her new earrings in one of the mirrors at Claire's!

Jordan passed the time waiting by trying on Daddy's hat and a couple others...

After we did that and stopped at a couple other stores, we hit the playground for a little bit and then headed home! Meggan headed home with Grandma to stay the night, which she was super excited about - so hopefully she won't have too much pain or anything while sleeping tonight!

We came home with the boys and had some supper and then played a little bit before Jordan was ready for bed! Now we're just hanging out while Jas and Jer play the Wii and watching Lucas suck his thumb. I think we're going to go kick their butts in bowling on the Wii after their football game is over though!


Jordan cleaning up after supper!

Showing Lucas how to play with the Mega Blocks wagon!


You want to play, Lucas? He just turned the other way...

"Playing" with Lucas!

I got it!!!

We're looking forward to church and then a relaxing Sunday afternoon!

Today's Fun!

Our friend and neighbor, Will, got a Hummer motorized vehicle for Christmas, so since it was somewhat "warm" this afternoon when we got home from school and picking up Jordan and them picking up Ellie, they decided we should try it out! Will didn't last too long as the driver, as his steering skills are not exactly great, so Meggan drove most of the time and he was the radio man ... seriously cute!!!

They had so much fun - and Meggan is actually a pretty decent driver (I can say that when she's 4 1/2 years old at least)!

Will takes his radio man job pretty seriously in this picture (but it turned out the best of the 3 that I took)!

The toddlers wanted to take their turn "driving" the Hummer too!

I'm heading off to 8:00 aerobics class tomorrow morning, so wish me luck! I will have to wake both kids up to get there and get them in the kids' room on time to get to the class, so I hope they forgive me for that! :)

We're also going to go get Meggan's ears pierced tomorrow afternoon, so keep her in your thoughts as well. I am just hoping she tolerates the pain that is involved and is happy that she did it (and hoping she doesn't chicken out too)! I know - I should have more faith in her. She's been talking a pretty good game, so I'm hoping she's pretty convinced that it's what she really wants ...

Happy Friday to you! Looking forward to a fun weekend!

So THAT'S What This is For...

Today we had Jordan's 15-month doctor appointment. I asked Jason to take this afternoon as his comp time for working Saturday morning and just be there so we could make whatever decisions we needed to make.

For those of you that know our Jordan, he has had some "lung" problems. I'm not sure exactly what to term them without saying what the doctor said, which is reactive airway disease, but he just coughs ALL THE TIME. Even when he's healthy and doesn't have a cold, he has this yucky cough. Dr. Gloyeske, Jason, and I finally came to a decision to get him on some kind of medication. We are trying him on Singulair, and we are just hoping and praying that it will make a huge difference in his overall "lung" health! All in all, we are just happy that there is something to try - everything that the doctor was telling us this afternoon just made sense and just sounded as though he was taking a dictionary and reading the precise definition of Jordan's life, so hopefully this will be our answer, what will make him sound better and will make us feel better! :)

Since Jason was already off and we were all home, tonight was really just a nice night ... no dance class, no running to get Meggan's bangs cut, no choir practice. We just were at home! We had a great (and healthy) supper and then just got to PLAY!

Here are Jason and Jordan with their latest experiment, shall we call it.

Before (top) and after (bottom). Meggan came running out of her room when she heard the loud thud, which was Jordan's head hitting backwards. I believe my words to Jordan were, "Just exactly what we DIDN'T want you to learn to do."

Jordan's thoughts: "Oh, so THAT'S what this is for."

Hope everyone has a great Friday tomorrow!!!

Resolutions...

So we went to the YMCA and became members again tonight!

We were memebers 2 or 3 years ago and then canceled our membership and decided to join Cardinal Fitness - it was a) closer and b) cheaper. Then they built a new LA Fitness not too far down the road from there, and we decided to join there - it was going to be brand new and had great amenities (a pool and aerobics classes and such). After we became members and then learned that the pool was just for kids over the age of 14 and not really for just open swimming, that was a letdown. We remained members there until we decided we just weren't getting what we wanted out of it and also not getting our money's worth because we weren't going like we should. In Jason's defense, he was diagnosed with mono and just never really had a chance to fully come back before the holidays hit. As for my defense, I have none except lots of working and pure laziness...

Jer, my brother-in-law, gets a FREE membership to the YMCA from his work (yes, even my sister's membership is free), and so we decided we would go back to the YMCA and take advantage of them being members as well - maybe we can help each other stay on task a little better if we're all going to participate in the Mini Marathon in May - and take even more advantage of the indoor and outdoor pool, basketball games, aerobics, youth programs, etc.

We are really excited to get back into exercising again - it's been a while! We HAVE to stick with this resolution or we won't be able to run (or even walk) in that Mini Marathon coming up in May. It seems a long ways away, but it will be here before we know it!

I've thought about it for a while now, and these are my resolutions in writing:

1. TALK more with Jason
2. LISTEN and INTERACT more with Meggan
3. READ and PLAY more with Jordan
4. FEEL better about myself (inside and out)

These are resolutions worth keeping! Wish me luck!!! :)

Daddy's Shoes!

Tonight when we got home from my mom cutting Meggan's bangs and ate some supper, Meggan decided it would be fun to try to wear Daddy's shoes. This in turn, of course, meant that Jordan had to try as well since he wants to do EVERYTHING that Meggan is doing. So she went and got another pair of Jason's shoes for herself and they tried this task together. Jason told them they looked like clowns! :)

After they tried walking in Daddy's shoes, Jason and Meggan decided to play Wii and a game of bowling before it was time for a bath. Of course, Jordan had to do that as well - nothing gets by him if Meggan is doing it! You can see she was trying to help him do it right, but we told her to just let him do it and pretend that he was actually having a turn instead. The problem was getting him to let her have the controller back (those 1-year-olds don't exactly get the meaning of sharing or taking turns)! :)

Since that wasn't going quite as smoothly as we had hoped, I decided to take him to the bath before Meggan and let them finish the game. We rarely give them baths separately (not since Jordan was a week or two old and his belly button fell off so that he could get totally wet), so this was a nice treat for them both, I think! Jordan spent his time under the faucet or dumping his new bath cups that Nancy gave him for Christmas back and forth, and Meggan spent her time playing with and reading to her mermaids. They both enjoyed having the tub to themselves and getting to play a little longer than they usually do (because they start splashing each other and getting water ALL over, and I end up cutting it short to get it over with - and save the floors)!

Funny kids - and just a nice night, although it seemed so very short!

Monday Already?

This will be a pretty short post, because I'm really tired! I was going to stay up late and get a job done from last week that I would love to get off my computer, but I'm exhausted and I have a headache. I didn't have a job today until 1:30 and it went until about 6:00, but it felt like we started at 8:00 this morning and went all day until 6:00 tonight. :(

I also know that tomorrow morning we are going to have to start working at getting back into the swing of things around here. It was great to have a needed break from working and going, going, going, but it's going to be hard getting back to the grind! I'm pretty positive that tomorrow morning I will have two not-so-happy kids when I wake them up at 7:00 instead of the 8:15 or 8:30 I've been having to wake up the sleepyheads lately (maybe that's why I'm not getting much work done before I myself have to head to a deposition). Keep your fingers crossed for us all as we get back into the school/work schedule ...

I better get Meggan in bed so she can make it through the school day tomorrow and then get myself in bed so I can make it through the work day tomorrow! :)

Busy (and FUN) Sunday!

This morning we got up early and went to church as usual, although I'm sure we would have rather slept in after staying up a little bit late watching the Colts game! Our friends asked us if we would like to go to The Children's Museum with them after naptime, but since Jason's work was having their holiday dinner tonight, we said that probably wouldn't work out. So instead we all decided to just go grab some lunch after the older girls went to Sunday school and then head down to The Children's Museum from there and squeeze it all in before naptime!

Meggan and Maggie decorating what they said was their Christmas tree at the Chihuly blown glass exhibit!

Their finished "masterpiece" of art!

Jordan and Faith dancing in the fish costumes!

We had a great time! We even decided to just buy a membership for this year and see how much we make use of it. It's lots of fun at the Museum, even if all you do is go there for a couple hours and play at Playscape and then ride the carousel! :)

Playing with the mama and baby ducks in the water pool at the Playscape!

Playing in the little house at the Playscape!

Carousel ride for everyone (the little ones and Daddies are in the background before takeoff)!!!

The big girls went down the big slide they have set up during the holidays!

And the little ones got to go down it too - with a little help from Jason and Angi!

Miss Lacey (a teacher that Meggan was really close to at Little Wings, the "school" she went to when she was 2 years old) came over to watch the kids while Jason and I went to his work dinner! We had lots of fun there and great food, and the kids had a blast with Miss Lacey here at home ... she even played hide-and-seek with Meggan, which it doesn't seem like we ever get around to doing!

Lots of fun again this weekend - just sad that it's over already! Meggan will go to Nancy's house again tomorrow for her last day of Christmas break and then back to school Tuesday morning. She's really excited about tomorrow because it will be Lucas's first day at Nancy's house and she will get to be there and "help" him!!!

Good luck back at work tomorrow, Dawn - you're in my thoughts and prayers as this most difficult day approaches! :(