She's a born skater!

Well maybe not, but we sure had fun!

One of the things I have been wanting to do with The Girlchick during my time off from work was to take her ice skating.  It wasn't really working out that we were all going to be able to go since the boys were still sick.  Grandma was nice enough to watch the boys with Dad so that I could take her to the mall to skate.

She was really nervous at first and didn't want to go out on the ice, but then she just all of a sudden said "Mommy, I'm really nervous, but I'm going to try."  I was SO proud of her!

Her first attempt without holding on to my hand for dear life  

More sickies

I took the last two weeks of December off from work.  I have made this my tradition the last few years and I really enjoy the time.  I can relax and get some baking done, get the rest of the Christmas stuff done, and just relax and recharge.  The boys have other plans for my time off - of course!  

The Thursday before I was to start my vacation Thing 2 had to be picked up at school since he was running a fever.  He finally got rid of it on Sunday.  He was tested for flu and strep since it was running rampant in the schools and the area.  Both came back negative.  He went back to school on Monday since he was fever free for 24 hrs.  Well Monday afternoon it was Thing 1's turn.  He had to be picked up.  I took him to the dr the following afternoon since he was just miserable and wanted to make sure it wasn't strep. Well I ended up taking both boys since Thing 2 started running a fever again.  Thing 2 was tested again for strep (came back negative) and we were told that he had a sinus infection, since he had puss on his throat (they thought it was the drainage from the sinuses that caused that).  Thing 1 was tested for flu and strep (both were negative) but he had an ear infection so both were put on antibiotics AGAIN!  This was all on Tuesday.  They were both just miserable, you could tell they just did not feel well, and it was hard to control their fevers.  Tylenol every 4 hours wasn't cutting it and even alternating between Tylenol and Advil wasn't really working.

On Thursday morning we woke up to Thing 2 running a fever of 104.1 and Thing 1 was at 103.4.  104 level fevers really scare me.  We called the dr's office to see if they thought we needed to bring them back in yet again.  They said yes bring them both back in.  This time Thing 2 tested positive for strep even though he was already on antibiotics.  She looked at Thing 1 and said his throat is just as nasty so we are just going to assume that he has it too.  They switched their antibiotics to the strongest ones that they can give to kids.  They have never been on these before.  The dr and I had a conversation about getting the boys tested for allergies and pulling them out of daycare - for the second time.  I swear!  I just don't know what to do.  It is very frustrating!  I know that they get sick and need to build up immunity but this is WAY beyond that.  Oh and the other thing - they both have a tube that has come out of their ears.  Great, just great - keep giving me more good news.

At this point I was just hoping they would stop running fevers by christmas.  For Thing 2, it had been 7 days of fever, and you could tell that he just didn't feel good.  So there was no relaxing, no baking, no shopping.  Just sick boys.  Then The Girlchick got it.  

Fun times at the Black house!  Wanna come over to play?

Taking a break from playing- this is how you know they are sick - they aren't moving

But they are pretty cute!

Untwin day

Since grandma is back from Cali - we had someone who could watch the boys and over the Thanksgiving break we got to have an untwin day with The Girlchick!  It was nice.  She got to pick any activity that she wanted to do and go do it with mom AND dad.  She picked bowling.  She did pretty well in one game and even picked up a spare! 

We then went to Dairy Queen to get an ice cream cone.  We are all sitting at the table just chit chatting and one of the employees walked by and asked us how we were doing.  We told him good.  Not sure how this worked in her head, but The Girlchick said "All the workers here think that this is the best restaurant ever".  I said they might.  Her response: "well the best restaurants ever are: Subway, Rockwell, Red Robin, Friday's (she has only been there once with her grandma, so I'm not sure why this ranks so high on the list), Luby's and all the places that have Baskin Robbins near them."  Best restaurants ever according to a 6 year old. 

Bites

The boys are going through a phase apparently where they like to bite.  Mainly each other, but every now and then they will bite one of us.  It actually worries me since they will be playing and just randomly bite the other one and they will fuss at first - as in to say "ouch that hurts", but then they both start laughing and will do it again.  These aren't little bites either like when they are teething.  These are break the skin leave bruises bites, and here they are laughing about it and doing it to each other on purpose since they think it is funny.  Is that normal?  I don't think it is.  Hopefully they will grow out of it soon!  We even find random bites on them - I found one on Thing 2's leg the other day and on the side of Thing 1's face.  I ask'd Nathan - do you know how he got this?  The answer is "no".  How do we not hear them screaming in pain or anger?  I'm really ready for the biting phase to be over!

Glasses

We found out about a week ago that The Girlchick failed her vision screening at school.  This is the first time. 

We took her to the eye doctor and sure enough her vision is 20/60, which means that she is far sighted.  It's odd since I am/was very near sighted.  So she has my genes, just a little backwards!

She was pretty good about getting her eyes tested.  Not happy about them putting in the drops to dilate them or the part where they blow the air into them.  But overall she did pretty good.  Then she got to pick out glasses.  Of course she picks out the pinkest ones she could find.  But they are darn cute on her so she did a great job.

Big girl in her glasses - I guess she has part of my genes after all

Happy Thanksgiving!

The Girlchicks birthday ended up being the week before Thanksgiving this year, so it has been a little crazy around here!  Ok let me be honest - a little crazy at our house is pretty much normal so what am I saying?  It was a little more crazy than normal! 

Here is the boys tribute to Turkey day!

We had Great Grandma, Grandma, Cousin Stephani, and Cousin Brenden all at our house.  Dinner was supposed to be at 3 pm, and we were a little late (per usual at my house), we ate at 4:30 pm.  Not my best, but it is what it is as the saying goes at my house.  I'm only one person with one oven and can only be pulled in two directions at one time before my head splits open.  But hey - we had dinner, it was good and it was nice to see everyone and catch up.  That's what it is all about!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GIRLCHICK!

The Girlchick turned 6 today!  Yippee! 

We invited her whole class at school and ended up having about 32 kids show up!  Needless to say it was a little crazy!  I think from now on we are going to do smaller groups with only a few close friends!  That was a bit much and expensive!


She got to do her birthday in 3 phases.  At school she had her birthday celebration in her class.  We made cookies for everyone the night before, Nathan and I both went, and they talk about all the things that she has done her short little life!  It's actually very cute.  They have this whole ceremony where they where the birthday crown, turn off the lights and turn on the battery operated candle, she takes the globe and walks around the "sun" (candle), and sing the earth goes round the sun, (which sounds like hi ho the dairy O), and she makes one pass for each year.  It was really sweet since she even wanted the boys to come and be a part of it.

Phase two was shopping with Grandma and Great Grandma.  Apparently the three of them love shopping together and had an awesome time.  She got to pick out some gifts from great grandma - they were all leopard print - which for some reason is her thing right now.  I don't get it since I really don't like animal prints

Phase 2.5 was dinner with great grandma, grandma and all of us.  She got to pick the place.  Which I for sure thought was going to be Red Robin (they have balloons, ice cream and they sing to you), but she picked Rockwell!  And I love Melinda and Tiffany at Rockwell!  They put a candle in the little cup of blue bell ice cream and the whole restaurant sang to her!  It was great!  I really appreciate that they really make an effort there to go above and beyond!

Phase three was her birthday party with her class at the local gymnastics place.  She had a blast!