Our Busy Week

We have had a busy week! I have been so tired at night and also excited that TV is starting to come back on that I haven't spent much time blogging :-) So Amber, this post is for you!! I'll catch everybody up!

Monday I took Hailey to her new doctor. He was great. She really liked him and he started her on a new medicine for her PDD-NOS. He said this will really help her anxiety and OCD. She has gotten worse with her OCD since school has started. (pulling out her hair and face/hand rubbing) I'm hoping that within about three weeks we will start seeing a change in her. If not he said there are other options.

Tuesday Hailey had two substitutes so I kept her home from school. I felt like that would just be too hard on her and the teachers to completely throw her off her routine. So she got to take Jack to school. They were having a rare morning of sweet sibling love...wanted to sit next to each other in the van and even held hands on the way in the school!! I so had to snap a picture!! I don't get these moments very often so I treasure them :-)

Finally on Wednesday she went back to school and did great. She had one sub but the para pro was there. I mowed the grass and then me and Jack did major grocery shopping. Fun! Fun! Then it was off to dinner and church.

Thursday I left the house at 8am and didn't come home till 4pm! I had a doctor's apt. Then went to the tag office to renew my tag (Happy Birthday to me). Then picked up Jack and went to lunch with Sarah, Ralston, and Riley. Then it was off to the bank and Jack's 3yr old checkup. He weighs 35lbs. and is 37inc. both in the 75th% for height and weight. He got his flu mist, a TB test that we have to go have checked on Sunday, a hemoglobin check, and he was supposed to pee in a cup. He had a little performance anxiety so I have to get him to do it at home and take it in on Monday morning :-)

So today was Friday!! Hailey had an awesome morning! She told me on the way to school that she didn't need a kiss and hug. I said okay...then I asked her if she thought she could walk to class on her own. She thought about it and said yes! She even wanted me to drive away while she was in the parking lot!! I told her I would wait on the sidewalk...after she went in I followed her in and her teacher was out in the hall waiting on me. (she knew I'd be coming in behind her!) She did great!! She was so proud of herself and told everyone in class how she walked all by herself!! I'm so proud of her!! So I headed home and cleaned the house and finished the yard work. Nana (Darren's mom) came over at 6pm to babysit the kids so Darren and I could go to my mom and dad's for my birthday dinner with Wayne and MeShaun. It was a nice evening with family....tomorrow night it's just the girls and I'll be sure to take pictures!!

p.s. My birthday isn't till Monday so this is really just my Birthday weekend! Darren is off so we are celebrating early :-)

I just can't wait!!

Well I waited as long as I could! Three other friends of mine changed their blogs for fall/Halloween and I just had to follow along :-) This site is great!! They have so many backgrounds to choose from and tons of them are free!! But if you would rather someone else do it I highly recommend Teal. She did my first one, although she just had a baby last week so she may be a tad bit busy right now :-)

Jack took Daddy for "Show & Tell"

This week at Jack's preschool the kids were learning all about their community. Part of that was learning about policemen, firemen etc.... The director asked Darren if he would come and tell the kids all about what a police man does and how they are here to help. Of course he said yes!!

He visited each class and told them all about his gear that he wears everyday. A lot of the boys wanted to know if he catches 'bad guys' :-) He let them pass around his flashlight and handcuffs. He even showed them his taser and the importance of gun safety. He made sure to explain that if they ever see a gun to never touch it and go get a grown up. Then each class got to go outside to see his police car! They all took pictures and talked about dialing 911 if they were in trouble.

He showed them the inside (hopefully none of them will see the back seat of a cop car again!) He also turned on the lights and of course the siren!! They all covered their ears and squealed!!

This was Jack's class! (He's in the gray shirt in the middle) They all told him their names and asked great questions. In every class there was always a little girl that was like the little mommy of the class and would speak for all the 'non speakers'! Too funny! Us girls start young :-)
Little Riley came too! See him sporting his Warner Robins Jr. Police Officer badge!?! Caleb, Ralston, and Jack listening to Mr. Darren talk about being a police man! Jack's K-3 class in front of the police car!

Later that evening we went to Hailey's school for 'Hot-Dog we're Reading' night!! The book fair was this week so the PTO hosted this night all about reading with your child. Then we were treated to a hot dog dinner. We went to a classroom to have a book read aloud to us and then found this guy in the hallway. (a little scary, I know) But the kids loved him! He's some character from a chapter book...he's like a secret agent mouse or something like that :-) We are not that far along in reading yet to know who he is! (Dawn maybe you know!) Then we all went to the cafeteria for our hotdog dinner. The kids had a blast!! Chips, soda, granola bars and hotdog...I mean what could be better than that?!? They had a slideshow going of kids from the school reading so Hailey enjoyed watching that and looking for people she recognized. Even Ms. McAllister visited with us for a while and we took some pretty funny pictures that the resource coordinator got on her camera that I'm sure will show up somewhere in the near future!! Hailey sure loves her school and I am so happy that she does! Earlier that day (while Daddy was at Jack's school...) Grandma took Hailey to her book fair and she made out like a bandit! I gave her $10 but when you take your Grandma you pretty much get to pick out whatever you want :-) Thanks Grandma for all our new books!! Hailey and Jack are both enjoying them :-)

Baby Announcment!

This is just a quick note to all my out of town friends that know Marisa. Little Kara Natalie arrived Wednesday night at 8:43 happy and healthy!! She weighed 7lbs 10.8oz and was 20in. long. Can't wait to see her!! I'm sure she is beautiful and those big brothers of hers are taking good care of her!

Video of Jack

**You should turn off the sound on the slide show before watching these, scroll down to Jack's Slideshow post and just put mouse next to word 'slide' and a volume icon will apear. Click it and it will mute the sound**

I forgot to get any video at Jack's birthday party so I decided to ask him to do some 'tricks' today :-) That way I can look back and say 'this is when you were 3!'

This first one was a total surprise!! I was putting the clothes in the dryer and he came up behind me with a little flag that he found in his room and started saying the pledge! I know they do it in his class but I hadn't realized he'd already learned it enough to recite it! Yea!!

This next one is a cute one too! Every night instead of lullaby music on his CD player he listens to a Beatles greatest hits CD!! Here's his version of his current favorite.

Jack's 3rd Birthday Party!

Jack had a GREAT birthday 'weekend'!! It all started on Thursday when he got to take cupcakes to his preschool class for snack. Of course, he stuck with his theme and requested Cars cupcakes! On Friday (His real birthday) We hung out together getting the house ready for the party and he got a much needed hair cut from Ms. Melissa. He also got to open his gift from Grandma and Grandaddy Great!! It came in the mail a couple of days before but we saved it for his special day! He loved the card because the wheels really turned!Really cool camo pants!!And some nice other clothes too! Thanks a bunch Grandma & Grandaddy Great! He really liked everything (mommy did too!)Friday evening we headed out for dinner because kids eat free at IHOP and I did not want to cook and get the kitchen all dirty after cleaning the house all day! We ate with Sarah and Larry so I took the leftover cupcakes and after dinner we lit candles for each kid and sang Happy Birthday to Jack!They were so excited to each get a candle to blow out!Jack's after picture :-)And Hailey's :-)Riley even got in on the action and got to have some cupcake too!!Hailey is still loving the camera! I'm thinking I might get her one for her birthday...She took this picture of Sarah and Larry. I think it turned out great!And then she took this picture of her daddy...I think he was still sulking over his lacking amount of french fries... you know how guys are about their side dishes!!Okay...so it's FINALLY party day!! Woo-Hoo!!

Jack got to go with Darren to pick up his cake. He LOVED it and was dying to take off that car! He wanted to light the candles and sing as soon as he came in the door with it.

Here's Hailey and Daddy while we were waiting for our guests to arrive...All the goodie bags...Some of the party decor... I used Jack's car calendar as decoration...I just ripped out the pages and taped them to the wall :-)And the backyard...Darren spray painted a little racetrack on the grass for our sack race! It turned out so cute. The sack race was the first thing we did. I spray painted two pillowcases...one red (Lighting McQueen) and one blue (The King-Dinoco) and put their #'s on them.

Here's Hailey and Caleb hopping down the race track! When they got to the end Asia would give everyone their gold medal!!

And here is Ralston and the birthday boy!!Whoops! He had a little crash, but he got back up and crossed the finish line :-)Brett and Cole raced next but Cole was so fast I couldn't get him in the picture!! He was a little jumping bean!!So when no other kids wanted to go....the mom's took their turns!! Sarah and I raced (I think it was too close to call!) And Dawn and Crystal took a turn too! I can't believe we didn't fall down!Then we had grilled hot dogs, chips, and apples with Carmel dip for lunch.

And now Cake Time!!

Singing Happy Birthday! He blew out all his candles (and then we let Hailey blow some out too) (no messy eating pictures, he's perfected cake consumption)

After cake was present time!! He was precious...this was the first year he could really do it by himself and as I would read the card and tell him who it was from he would take the toy or whatever it was and go give it back to that child!! It was so sweet!! We kept telling him, you get to keep it!!

He got lots of cars, and dinosaurs, Lego's, and books and so many other things. Riley kept putting himself in the dog crate...great party entertainment!Checking out the toy pile! Then our last activity was the pinata!! It was a 'pull-string' pinata so no bat was involved. All they had to do was pick a string and pull, but only one opens the trap door to let all the candy out!

Here's Kaitlyn picking out her string!

Ralston was the lucky kid to pick the magic string! I had to give it a little shake to help it all fall out and the kids came running with their bags to collect the candy!!

It was lots of fun! Everybody got tons of candy :-)

A BIG thank you to everyone who came and made Jack's day super special and another thank you to all those who helped me out...I was able to really enjoy myself at the party and that was wonderful!! Every time I turned around someone was asking me what they could do and it made such a difference. Sometimes pulling of birthday parties can be so stressful you don't get to enjoy the day, but that was not the case!! Thanks again!!

Happy Birthday Jack-Jack!!

In honor of Jack's 3rd birthday (Sept. 12th) I did a slideshow of my Jack-Jack! Enjoy :-) His party is Saturday so pictures of that will be posted soon!!