Sisters for The Cure

The race is this Sunday, so I'm re-posting it! Please help us reach our goal towards this great cause! Thanks!

My sisters, Katy, Tory, and Molly, and I are all running in Austin's Komen Race for the Cure on November 2! I'm so excited we are doing this! It is my first race ever and I get to do it with my sisters! Please help us if you can by donating money for the Cure in our team's name. http://www.komenaustin.org/site/TR/Race/General?px=1481192&pg=personal&fr_id=1090

Wish us luck as we run and help in the search for a cure!

An Afternoon Outing

Brandon is working mostly evening shifts this week, so I started thinking of things we could do in the afternoon after nap to get out of the house. The kids like to get out and do something, so we try to plan something each day. It makes for a very long afternoon when we don't go anywhere and Brandon isn't home until we are all asleep.

I hadn't taken the kids to a pumpkin patch yet and seeing everyone else's pictures, made me decide to take the kids. I guess I should have gone a few weeks ago though because the patch was pretty picked over and not much left. Lillian still loved looking at the pumpkins though. I couldn't get a good picture of them together since Lillian refuses to pose these days, but I did get a few pictures.

Afterwards, we went to the park for a little bit and Lillian and Andrew enjoyed swinging together. Andrew giggled when he saw Lillian in the swing next to him. It was a pretty day and a nice outing.

First Time Carving a Pumpkin

It was a first for a couple of people tonight....Brandon has never carved a pumpkin before...which was surprising to me and Lillian had never seen one before. It thought it was funny when I asked Brandon to carve the pumpkin tonight when Andrew was in bed and he said, "I've never carved a pumpkin before." I told him to just get a marker and a knife and just do it. I think Brandon enjoyed making the face. Lillian like playing with the seeds...she didn't want to touch them, but liked scooping them back out of the bowl we had put them in, and back into the pumpkin again! She also loved seeing it lit up and wouldn't back away from it to see it from far off, she just wanted to stare at the candle from the top. Here are some pictures from this evening.

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Video of Lillian's party

Sorry, it is kind of bad lighting, but you can still see most of it1


My Montage 10/23/08

Andrew is sick

After 8 months of no sick doctor's visits, we made our first one this morning. (Lillian had probably been 10 times for illness at his age!) Andrew has had a little cough for a while and then yesterday evening, it turned into a fever and some shortness of breath. I was up with him by myself until 10:30 since Brandon was working until 11 last night. Everytime I would lay him down, he would cry because he couldn't breath very well. I tried everything and I think he just finally crashed after I rocked him a while just from extreme exhaustion. The doctors gave him a breathing treatment this morning and I am supposed to do so 3 times a day until it gets better. Poor baby boy! He is now passed out on the couch from just getting home from the doctor's office.


Looks like we'll be staying in the rest of the day.

On a side note, thanks so much Irene for watching Lillian while I took Andrew to the doctor! I couldn't have done it with her there. He hated that breathing treatment!

Lillian's 2nd Birthday Party

Lillian and her friends partied hard yesterday! When Lillian came down from her nap and saw the cake and balloons, she was so excited. She wanted to dive into the cake right then. I had to distract her and get her to come watch for her guests to arrive. After about everyone arrived, we ate cake...and boy was it a mess! We had green icing...so little green goblins everywhere! The cake was delicious and the kids had fun with it. Lillian loves the Backyardigans, so we had that as our theme. It worked out well, because the rest of the time, the kids played in the backyard! Lillian had received a gift on Friday from an online friend of a Backyardigans music cd and it was her favorite thing at the party! I put my little boom box out on the deck and planned on having it playing while they all played, but Lillian pretty much stayed on the deck almost the whole time dancing to the music! Now I know to get that out when I want her to burn off some energy! We had a couple of kids from Lillian's class come and it was good to visit with and get to know their moms. We also enjoyed our playgroup friends coming to play. Here are some pictures from our big day yesterday!






Present from Mom and Dad---------present from Grandma Teddy----Decorations





Backyardigans cupcake cake------I'm 2!-----------------Blowing out the candles




Kids and the cake---------------Yum--------------------Natalie and Caroline






Brynn enjoyed the cake----Dancing Lillian--------------swinging




Sing, Momma!-----------------The kids dance------Sandbox


I had to add this photo my friend Jessica took...Just look at my awful green teeth! I guess Lillian and I can be the Joker for Halloween!

My Baby Girl is Two Today!

It doesn't seem so long ago that I was checked into the hospital on a Thursday afternoon after developing pre-eclampsia. I was prepped and induced the following morning. After struggling all day with the competition of my blood pressure meds with the pitocin, I was finally taken in for a c-section that evening and at 7:46 p.m., Lillian Claire joined our family! Lillian is such a wonderful blessing and although a handful, a joy to have in my life. I'll post more pictures of her birthday soon, but wanted to share some of when she first came into this world. Happy Birthday, baby girl!

A Fun Day for Lillian

Lillian had a fun day! She had a great time at preschool this morning and came home and took a good nap. While she napped, the mail came and she got a gift in the mail. I have been a member of whattoexpect.com since I was pregnant with her and still chat often with the women that had babies all around the same time as me. We live all around the country, but stay in touch online and feel like we know each other's kids. We do a secret birthday exchange each year, so Lillian got her present today from Christie and her son Jonathan in Rochester, NY. She got a cute outfit, a fairy wand, a Backyardigans song cd, and some other things. As soon as she got downstairs from her nap, she saw the present and grabbed it and ran off with it. After I finally got her to sit down and open it, she loved it all! Andrew helped by chewing on and tearing up the paper! It was too cute!

After that, we met my friend, Jessica, and Lillian's buddy Brynn at the park. The girls had a great time running around the park playing. And Lillian called Brynn by her name for the first time. She kept running around saying her name the whole time! So she is learning something! That is the first friend she has said their name. It was nice weather and Jessica and I finally got to visit and catch up after a few weeks of schedules that didn't work out.

This evening, Lillian got another big package on the doorstep from Grandpa JD and Jamie. She enjoyed looking at the big box and pulling out and showing her daddy all the packages inside. She got a cute blue jacket for this fall and winter and some new tennis shoes that she needed. She also got an easel and immediately started drawing us a masterpiece.

What an exciting and fun day for our birthday girl...the fun continues. We are celebrating with her on Sunday as a family and then with her friends at her party on Monday, her actual birthday! I'm sure I'll have many more pictures to share.

Lasik

My lasik surgery yesterday went very well. I can now see! It is still a little blurry, but they said it would be for a few days. It is still amazing to me. When I go to shower or anything I've noticed myself automatically going to take off my glasses...but they aren't there! I do have some red spots on my eyes since a few blood vessels burst from pressure during the procedure and my eyes are dry...I have to keep putting drops in, but it is wonderful. I can't wait until they are fully healed and I will finally have a life of a person with normal vision!

I went in to see Ellen, my cousin who is also an optomotrist today and she said I'm healing well. The cut in my right eye is almost completely closed and my left eye is not quite as healed, but doing fine. I am also already seeing around 20/15! She said that is great for just the day after surgery. She said it will just start getting clearer each day from here. Yay for my eyes!

Beautiful Butterflies and Girly Girls

After feeding the kids dinner and while waiting on Brandon to get home yesterday, we went outside to play a little bit. I am so glad that we did! I guess that the Monarch butterflies are migrating right now right through our yard! If we hadn't gone out, we would have missed them. They were everywhere! I wish I had a better zoom on my camera because they kept landing in the branches of our trees, but here are some pictures of the beauties that I could get. I have never seen such a beautiful thing in nature right in my own backyard.

On another note, Lillian has decided to be a girly girl lately. She got some dress-up high heals from my mom a few months back and now she wears them all the time along with a bracelet and purse she got from her Aunt Sherlene and Aunt Dianne. I wish I knew where she was headed out dressed all up!

The Birthday Madness Has Begun

Lillian is to have the birthday that never ends this month, I believe. We began this weekend by visiting Brandon's parents (and picking up Andrew) and celebrating her birthday with them. Next weekend, we will be giving her her gift from us and then I'm having her friends over for a little party in the afternoon next Monday on her actual birthday. Then I'm sure we'll do some more celebrating with my family later. I don't think Lillian will understand that birthdays are just one day. I don't think she understands the concept anyway, so I guess it will be okay. It does make it more fun getting gifts and cake different days. I think she'll be more excited about her gifts that way instead of getting them all at once. Lillian enjoyed her birthday celebration at the Koenning's. She got some gifts she loves like a stroller, little play phone, and purse. She enjoyed the delicious cake as well. Here are some pictures from yesterday:


Of course we visit the cows when we get there-----------her new stroller and baby

homemade tinkerbell cake---------We'll definitely use this, Her new time out spot!

Trying to get her to blow out the candles--------chowing down