Sunday, February 18, 2018

Flu, Fun, and Flu

Sometimes I feel like the best and most terrible things start with the letter "F;" I think we all know what those words are, so i'll leave it at that.
This week has been full of many "F" words. Fun, for instance. On Monday morning Travis rolled in after working at 24hr shift, then drove himself 2hrs up to Minneapolis where he had the automatic start put in his truck (very FUN for him), and then came home that evening, just in time to join us for our F.H.E activity (another fun "F" word): going to the movies. By the end of the night Aaron was puking all over the house, and puked himself to sleep. We were pretty sure he just over ate all the movie theater popcorn and soda, BUT... by Thursday I became less sure (I'm still not sure).

First, let's go back to Wednesday: a FaNtAsTic Valentine's Day. We dropped a surprise invitation into Trav's truck at work, cordially inviting him to dinner at "Le Johnson Bistro" that evening. After school the kids celebrated Valentine's Day at Susan's before coming home to find little treats waiting for them.
When Travis came home he found a path of candles leading to the toy room, which had been converted into a restaurant. The boys were wonderful servers who dutifully attended to our drinks and empty plates :) They even ate at the counter in the kitchen so we could have alone time at the table (this of course didn't stop them from talking to us, or stop Addie from crying through the whole meal; you win some, you lose some). We tipped them and sent them to bed. We enjoyed a slow dance and some time together, and Travis got me a wonderful pair of prescription sunglasses so I no longer have to wear two pairs of glasses (driving + Sunglasses) while we do all our cross country drives; he's the best!

So Thursday night Travis came home and within hours began to feel sick. He spent the entire evening with one of the worst "f-words" I can think of: FLU. I told him to stay home from work, but he insisted he'd be fine and couldn't take the time off. I had felt somewhat queasy through the night, but was seriously praying it was all in my head.... nope. Just after Maddix left to school I was hit HARD with the flu. But as a tender mercy myVisiting teacher dropped off some sick masks, Aaron was well enough to go play the afternoon with a friend, and Addie took an abnormally long nap all afternoon which kept her away from me and allowed me to try to rest. We ended up having to cancel our double date that night, but by Saturday morning I was just feeling some residual nausea so we decided to keep our plans of going up to Minneapolis for the night.

Our Mini Getaway:
We stayed at one of our most favorite hotels in Minneapolis, the Hyatt Place. We went to the Mall of America where I went to Sephora and had a makeover/ bought a bunch of real grown up make-up (I guess it's time, right?) and the boys ran into a friend of Trav's and they all went to the Arcade. Afterward our friend, Jed accompanied us to dinner at Olive Garden where Addie had her second major blow out of the trip (the first being right before we were leaving to the mall), and I was now out of back up clothes in my diaper bag. We wrapped her in some burp clothes and placed her back in the carseat until we could scrub her and everything else back at the hotel... she is still the best baby:) It was so fun having Jed come along, as well as entertain our kids. Back at the hotel Addie and Aaron fell asleep as we flipped through Olympics, Nascar, Dirt biking (seriously, we watched Nascar...), and a few others (it was just exciting having cable, ha ha). Maddix on the other hand stayed up until 10:30! He laid our bed between Travis and I and I just relished every single minute of that precious time where it was just US again. I love him so much.
In the morning both the boys jumped in bed and snuggled for a bit before heading to breakfast (this hotel has such a good breakfast!). Then we promised the boys we'd go swimming before we left so as Addie and I sat next to the pool, the boys and Travis entertained us as they splashed around; all the while Travis had this pained, unhappy look on his face... but the boys didn't seem to notice ha ha! He said the water was just freezing and Aaron kept drowning him! I thoroughly enjoyed watching them play with their dad in the pool.

Now here we are back home and I think I've never disliked Mondays as much as I do right now. Mondays mean Travis is gone again for many days. Monday's mean I lose my boys back to school. And Monday's mean I have more homework; boo. I really love weekends, especially when Travis is off work. So fingers crossed this week has more good "F" words than bad ones! And especially no FLU words.
p.s. incase you were wondering, Maddix has informed me that there are now THREE "F" words, yep. He learned this from a kid who rides his bus... he learns MANY things from the bus (sigh, pray for us)!
p.p.s Maddix lost ANOTHER tooth in a hotel :D And once again the tooth fairy was able to find him; he's starting to think this needs to be a continuing trend!
p.p.p.s Maddix scored THREE baskets in his basketball game on Saturday ( I missed from being sick), and we are SO proud of him. That is a huge accomplishment for him!
Happy New Week!

Maddix and Addie time, apparently:) 

My favorite doll! 

 "Hoppy" Valentines Day from our CUTEST little Valentine


His first year in school getting Valentines!




Split pea soup, homemade rolls, garden salad,
cornbread, sparkling cider, and Orange Julius
for dessert

My cute note from Travis, folded like we used
to fold them in Junior high! I loved it! 

And then the flu hit.....

Umm.... she LOVES puppies, just like Brother
Aaron


First time in a swim suit

And then these, as a bonus because he just loves her so
much! 

Sunday, February 11, 2018

Where did the Cuteness go???

~FeBrUaRy~
There are a few reasons I enjoy this month
1. My birthday
2. It's a shorter month
3. It's the last full month of WINTER!!!
(And yes, Valentines was once a fun time, but it has been years since we've had time for that special day! Someday...)

I try to enjoy all the seasons for what they're worth and the things that only those seasons bring, but honestly Winter is just NOT a favorite one. 
I mean, we were pretty excited for that one week in January when it was warm enough to leave the house in a light sweater.... it was in the upper 30's!
But ya know, while Utah is rolling around in its endless January days at 50 degrees (SO JEALOUS), we are just happy to break zero. And i'll be honest, February has warmed up... we're up to 7-10 degrees......... 
I CAN'T WAIT FOR SPRING!!!!!!!!!!!

Travis:
His hours are back to sucky. He is really tired all the time. 
The other night I had just finished tucking Aaron in and Travis came through the door, just in time to tell him good night. The boys miss him, and he misses his kids! 
He still loves his truck.
Despite his longs hours, he found time to order me birthday presents (bar pans for cooking me yummy food), wrap them, decorate my chair at the table, get the boys together to sing to me, got me an ice cream cake (he remembered I don't really care for cake), and then stuff me with delicious food all weekend (Like authentic German Doners; SO GOOD)!!!
He also took me to a dinner night with all his soon to be colleagues from the local Clinic so they could get to know me... that's right, we've officially signed a contract for our first "It Get's Better" job after residency. That light at end of the tunnel is officially in sight!

Lacey:
I've started school, my last semester! It's challenging, time-consuming, scary, exciting, and at moments fun!
I got to go on two separate outings to see the same movie: once with the girls out here, and again with Susan (our beloved adopted Grandma next door).
I enjoyed having Glenn (our adopted Grandpa from next door) accompany me to watch Maddix play basketball. 
I had a "Father Of The Bride" birthday in that I was feeling somewhat down all day because for my 29th birthday (the last one in my 20's)  I was doing homework, cleaning, and getting puked on; I couldn't even find time to shower. And after a full day of "mommy-ing" I opened my presents and saw it was kitchenware. (which I Love, but was having an emotional night!) 
(If you've seen father of the bride, you might remember the seen where she calls off her wedding and storms to her room completely beside herself because he gifted her a BLENDER... "gasp!" This blender, to her, represented his expectations he had of her to be this wonderful little house wife and and she just loses it. Thankfully, her father, played by Steve Martin, talks her off the edge and she reconciles with her ever-so-patient finance). 
Unfortunately, I didn't have a Steve Martin figure to talk me off the ledge and I ended up placing my head on the table, feeling like these kitchen utensils were the nails on my aging coffin as I was entering the last year in my 20's. And I may have cried myself to sleep with Travis holding me and saying, "It's your birthday, you can cry if you want too." 
It's funny now, but at the time my selfishness ruined the work and joy that Travis had been so amazing to create for me in his very few spare moments; and to that I am so sorry. 
It was at that moment, and the next morning while reading in the Book of Nephi, I realized just how spoiled I've become! I have so much to be grateful for, and so many people who work to make me feel special and important. And yet I complain about all that I have, don't have, want, and don't want. 
So as I wake up each time, one day closer to ending my 20's and beginning a new chapter (one in which I must be grown up enough to have a "marry poppins" bag... that's a story for another time), I want to take this lesson: 
To be Grateful for everything. 
To put others first. 
To not complain. 
To let others know how appreciated they are to me. 

Maddix:
He has been loving riding in the front of Travis's truck like one of the adults. 
Basketball is his favorite thing each week.
The other morning school had a 2hr late start, due to snow, so we went to the gym and had fun playing basketball. He and Aaron beat me 4:3 ;)
He is killing it on the piano. 
He can now do pretty much any addition/subtraction problem placed in front of him, and a ton of multiplication problems.
He really likes to earn money lately and took Aaron out with him the other day to earn some money by shoveling our drive way. 

Aaron:
I last wrote about how he has endless cuteness, and I will be heartbroken when he goes to school full day... it's amazing how much can change in two weeks!!!! See, Aaron got a really nasty flu last week and had to be quarantined to his room for 5 days. He had a fever that didn't want to go away, and he was just miserable. He didn't sleep much and watched the i-pad pretty much for 4 days straight. Ever since then he has turned into a little hell raising BEAST! Perhaps his cute supply is running low so he is trying to ration the remaining bits, but NEVER have I been so excited to hear the school bus honk each day! I practically run him to the bus and load him in just excited to have a break for a few hours! 
I mean... What the Heck Happened?! 
Ferocious Fours have taken over my sweet cuddly Aaron!!! 
Still, as he grows and goes through phases I love seeing the new things he comes up with and learns. 
He is currently trying hard to master tying his shoes. 
He performed several shows for me one day; my favorite was his Indiana Jones rendition. 
And he has officially learned how to do simple addition problems!!! 

Adeline:
She is still the World's Best Baby. 
She gives the Biggest Smiles, and is SOoo close to laughing. 
She got a new play-mat that she kicks around and grabs the hanging jungle toys.
I feel like she's hit a new learning benchmark and is a lot more alert. 
She sits pretty well, holds her head up pretty well, and does okay at tummy time. 
The other day I was making fake crying faces at her, and she was mimicking them; we were all having a good time, until she forgot we were just pretending to cry and actually worked herself in to tears! 
She is however picking up a bit of sass and beginning to express herself when she doesn't like something... which means she is actually crying these days. 




LOVES her tub time

Boo to the Flu! 

 Happy Birthday to me
Doners!!!!!


Homework Buddies


Those smiles! 

The lunch Maddix made himself!
Ha Ha Ha Ha

They're not all picture perfect! 



Tummy Time pals




7 Degrees? It's finally warm enough to play outside!