Snow pictures

Well I have finally been motivated to post our snow pictures. With two large snowstorms we have plenty of snowy pictures. I think the total was around 10 inches of snow and most if it is still here. So it has been fun. Julianne is in winter wonderland heaven.



It is great because they plow all the cul-de-sac snow in front of our house so we get extra large snow banks.



Julianne had her grandparent day at school last week. They did their interviews during Christmas break and Nana was in town then so she interviewed her. However, I did not know that the grandparents actually came into the classroom until a couple weeks before the event. So anyway, she did her one grandparent that lives our of town. Oh well, I figure if the other kids have her same teacher we can rotate grandparents for the event. Additionally, most of the grandparents were not at the event so she was not the only child. Well she prepared a slideshow (three slides) and all the kids stood up and presented their grandparent in front of all the viewers. I took the kids and we watched her presentation. She did a great job and we will send Nana her portrait and the paper that Julianne wrote.




Things I am grateful/thankful for:
-lots of snow (I am getting a little tired of the cold weather, but I guess we need it for the snow)

Weekly post

Well Nathan is feeling better. He came into our bedroom that Thursday night after having a rough breathing day. We knew that he was not feeling well when he came without his lovely or pacy. He just laid in the middle of us, with his hot labored breathing body and went to sleep. It is always hard hearing him breathe so hard when he is sleeping. He is not running, playing or doing any other activity except sleeping and he is still breathing hard. On Friday he was back to normal breathing and just had his usual coughing. So he still has a lot of junk in his lungs but is acting like regular Nathan.

He had his 3 year doctor check up last Monday and weighed 31 pounds and was 36.5 inches tall. I think that puts him in almost to the 50 percentile for weight and almost to the 25 percentile for height. So that is good. I also told her that I thought his asthma episodes were getting better and like I said in my last post I spoke too soon.

Julianne started sign language class last week and has another one today. She loves it and she loves to practice it. I can't get her to do her homework or reading without having a crying/whining episode but she will practice her sign language without any reminders. So I am glad that she really enjoys it and we will see where it takes her.

I finished with my gigantic purse and hopefully soon I will take pictures of it. I actually have two more steps to complete it but those are minor steps. It is really big and I really have no idea what I will use it for. It was not that difficult but it was nice to have someone tell us what to do instead of having to read the directions and figure it out. It has pipping on it so it was nice to work with that again since I have not used pipping for a long time. I really wanted to use the zipper for the bag but she said that the zipper is really difficult so I decided against it even though I felt more pressure not to try it then to try it. So anyway, it is completed and I like the construction of it and the class was fun.

Things I am grateful/thankful for:
-having the time to sew
-running in freshly fallen show this morning.

Spoke too soon

Well I jinxed myself talking about Nathan and his asthma getting better. Yesterday when he woke up he had a runny nose and sounded a little funny. Yesterday while at work, our sitter said that he was coughing a lot but not enough to be worried. Well this morning he was doing his barky cough and was not feeling well. He actually asked for a treatment at 8:00 am. and I gave him one. All morning he has been coughing and sometimes when he got upset enough or worked up he would not be able to catch is breath and would get a worried look on his face. I have to tell him to relax and to breathe deeply. When I was walking in the kids to school this afternoon he did the same thing and said he wanted a treatment. So we are now home and he is getting a treatment. He is definitely having labored breathing today. He can barely run or when he starts crying or getting upset he has to slow down so that he can catch is breath. This is the usual symptoms that he experiences when I say that his attacks are the worst they have been (which I think is manageable for asthma attack standards). It is hard knowing when it will get better. The good thing is that it is usually a 12 hour time frame that his breathing is labored and he has the dry hacky barky cough. Then it turns into just productive coughs for a few days.

On another note I forgot to mention that D and I are taking beginning swing dancing lessons for 7 weeks. We started last week and it was actually really fun. We learned beginning salsa and another dance, which I don't know the name, and we began another one, that I don't know the name either. The place was packed with couples so that made it fun because everyone else looked like we did so it was fun.

I am also happy because my big work presentation is over. I made a presentation to around 70 co-workers on sustainability and business and our new waste reduction and recycling program. It went pretty well and I had a lot of good comments and feedback from the presentation. So that was nice. In order for the program to work we need most of the employees buy in and I hope the positive effort will continue. So time will tell.

Things I am grateful/thankful for:
-Finishing my presentation
-being at home with Nathan when he is not feeling well
-Having lunch with Julianne

January wrap-up

Well we just celebrated D's b-day this past weekend and now we are officially finished with our January birthday bazaar. It was a little crazy and fun but we are glad it is over. D and I had a relaxing dinner and saw Avatar in 3D. It was really cool to see a movie in 3D but it sure did make me sick. I had to take off the glasses 1/4 of the way into the movie. We tried to sit pretty far back in the theater but we should have sat in the very back row. For some reason with my older age I cannot see movies in movie theaters. The screens are too large and the last time we watched a movie at this same theater we got to the movie late and had to sit really close to the screen. It also did not help my motion sickness with an action movie and things moving all the time. I had to leave that movie and sit in the lobby for about half of the movie. So that kind of stinks. But overall it was a good movie and it would be nice to watch it again and not feel like I was going to throw up.

I am currently going through a sewing spree. I am taking a Amy Butler Field Tote bag sewing class and so I am working on that as well as two quilts. So my dining room table is a mess and I also have two pants to hem, girl scout badges to sew on as well as some other smaller projects that I would love to get done. I have a running list of things that I would like to work on and it seems like it takes months for the projects to move to the top of my list. Once I complete this purse, which the last class is this Thursday, then I will be able to go back to the quilts. I am not in love with the purse design but I really wanted to take a sewing class and this was the only class on a Thursday and my hubby at the time was not busy on Thursday nights so it worked out well. Well as things change he ended up switching basketball from Tuesdays to Thursdays in January so we were stuck getting a babysitter and it did not seem as freeing and relaxing of an experience as I wanted it to be. Anyway it worked out and I am half way done with my purse. I have lots of extra fabric so I just used that for the bag. The bag is just way too big for me but I am sure that I can use it for something. Also the class began last Thursday and it was nice to talk to other crafty people and to complete a project with someone else.

I had a funny story to tell about Nathan that I have been meaning to write down and share. We were at my office selling girl scout cookies for Julianne and Mallory had sticky fingers from sucking on a candy cane. Well we went into the lobby bathroom where believe it or not there was a urinal. Nathan saw it and went right over to it and touched it like it was the Holy Grail. He immediately pulled down his pants and said "Mommy let me stand on your feet." He was just a little too short for it. So I let him stand on my feet and he peed in it without being asked, told, or persuaded. I thought to myself, I need to get one of these in our house. He loved it and all that time I have to tell him to listen to his body when he needs to pee so that he does not dribble in his pants. It was just really funny and a memory that I hope I will never forget.

We got the kids report cards, oh I mean progress cards, yesterday and the good news is that none of the teachers want to have conferences with us. I was a little worried after the last quarters report card that they would both want to have conferences. They only have winter conferences if the teacher requests it. Anyway, the girls are doing well. Julianne is reading at grade level so she has progressed. At her last conference, the teacher was a little worried that she if she did not progress this past quarter that she would fall below grade level. So that is great news. We have seen some improvement but she still does not like to read and it is usually a battle ever night to get her to read. The past week has been a little better so hopefully she will be begin to enjoy it. She also needs a little extra practice on her subtraction but other than those two things she is a great student and is a joy to have in class. So that is very important. We know she will be fine but it is always hard to see your child have some difficulties but in the long run it will hopefully build skills and resilience.

Mallory is also doing alright. She is also a great student, has great manners, and is respectful. She is doing better with her sounds and knowing the letters. The teacher still said that she needs extra help her numbers but yesterday she counted to one hundred so I don't know if that is written numbers or verbally speaking. So we will see. We have to get something that has one hundred pieces counted out for the 100th day of school. She counted pretty well when she was counting it out. She is still meeting with the reading resource teacher so hopefully that has been helping. I know she likes seeing her and meeting with her. It also helps that she gives them candy and special treats.

Things I am grateful/thankful for:
-celebrating all the January birthdays.
-Being at home with my kids
-fleshly fallen snow

Nathan's family birthday party

Well we finally had Nathan's family birthday party. He had a great time and loved hanging out with everyone. I am glad that it is over since he thought the entire week was his birthday. I told him on Saturday that it was my birthday and he said that it was not. He refused to say Happy Birthday to me which was funny and not that funny at times. So he never did recognize that it was my birthday so I am just hoping that next year he will understand. He received lots of fun boy toys and is enjoying having additional "shooters" and "guys" in his collection.

He was sick at the beginning of the week with a cold and some coughing. Not really too severe like in the past. Tuesday was his worse day with lots of dry coughing and he ended up getting one treatment because he said he wanted one. He has been fine since then and has seemed to rebound quite quickly. So it seems, knock on wood, that the severe labored breathing is lessening and now he just gets a cough with his episodes. Which coughing and wheezing are the most prevalent symptoms of asthma. As I have learned from this adventure, asthma is not all about the labored breathing, which one would assume that it is, as I did. It is more about the coughing, the type of cough and the associated wheezing and mucus that presents itself as the result of the closing and increased amount of mucus. So as I am learning, just because he does not have the labored breathing does not mean he is cured or grew out of it. It just means that his asthma does not present itself in that manner. The airways are not closing in that much to create the labored breathing. He still has labored breathing, it is more like out of breath like when one would exercise, but it is not the severe kind where you see his sternum move up and down and he belly breathes. So I think that is a good sign that that symptom is not as prevalent. Hopefully as he grows larger his airways will expand which will not constrict as much and cause the scary labored breathing.

I had a great birthday. D planned a night away with dinner, meeting with friends and family and a comedy show. It was a lot of fun and I am glad that people came out to join us.

Here are some pictures from Nathan's party.


Here is Nathan's real basketball cake. I did not really get a shot of the cake but actually looked pretty good. Nathan was excited about it so that is what really matters.
He loved when everyone sang to him. He was smiling the entire time while he watched everyone. It was really cute.

His new marshmallow shooter. He loves it.

This was his favorite toy, and the girls. It is a blown up football player that you could hit and it would stand back up. Kind of like a blown up weeble wobble.

He liked to tackle it and make funny noises at it.


Things I am grateful/thankful for:
-having friends and family close to celebrate special events with.
-my hubby for planning a great night
-seeing Nathan excited for his birthday, singing, and his new blow up toy.

Happy Birthday to my Nathan

Well it is Nathan's 3rd birthday today!!! Yeah. I cannot believe that he is 3 years old. Some days it seems like he was just born and other days it feels like we have never lived our life without him. I guess that is how I feel about all the kids but he is my youngest so I guess it is a little different since he has not been with us that long.

Well we celebrated his birthday yesterday since D will be at work all day today. We had a great day yesterday. We went sledding with all the kids and we all had a blast. I need to get new sleds since we only have two working ones and they are not the fastest. I went to the stores yesterday but of course they were all sold out. So I need to pick a non-snowy weekend to go out and purchase some. Nathan had a blast. This is the first time I have taken him this year and last year he liked it but did not love it. This year he loved it and even carried the sleds up the hill after he went down the hill. The girls, especially Julianne, also had fun. Julianne could live in the snow. She loves it so much. I talked to my neighbor the other day and she said that Julianne is a trip. She said that she was watching her outside and she said that Julianne was laying face down in the snow. So she said she gave her 10 seconds before she was going to go outside to see if she was alright. Julianne got up but that is what she does. She sometimes just lays in the snow and always wants to go outside in it.

"I can even turn a shovels (I mean rake) into shooters."

We got about 5 inches last week. It is still all here with the freezing weather so that is nice that it is sticking around.

Nathan basically received a dollhouse for boys. It is from Imaginext and it is toys for 3-8 year olds. They are like younger version action heroes. So I knew that he would love it. He is sleeping with in his bed right now for nap.

Big hug for sissy.

Here is is cupcake with a toothpick as a candle. We did not have any candles and his family birthday party is not until next weekend so we will make sure that he has candles for that cake.

Things I am grateful/thankful for:
-Celebrating Nathan's 3rd birthday
-Having fun with the kids this weekend
-Having a nice warm house it live in during these cold cold days.

Nathan's reality

Saturday Night
"Mommy, can we have face paint?" said Mallory.
"No, honey we are about to eat dinner. Let Mommy finish up and then we will eat." Said Mommy as she is multi-tasking getting dinner ready, cleaning and watching her two youngest children.

Five minutes later

While Mommy is busy getting plates served Mallory and Nathan come down and say surprise!!!

Much to Mommy's surprised Nathan's face is all painted with black marker (mine you Mallory does not have one mark on her beautiful face). He said wanted to look like superman.

Mommy gasps!!! "I told you we were not painting faces right now. What marker did you use? Mallory you need to go and get it off his face right now." explained Mommy.

"But mommy he wanted to look like Superman so I painted his face." Mallory replied.

Mommy said in her stern voice, "Go upstairs and clean him off."

Five minutes later they come down.



This is what was left of the black marker, fortunately not a Sharpie. Later I found out that she also drew on his back so we had to clean that up also.