Sickies

I kept Claire home from pre-school today because she still has a cough. She feels fine, but I know the other families wouldn't appreciate me bringing her in with the sound of her cough!

Around 9:45 this morning I received a call from Carter' school letting me know that he was in the office with a stomach ache. I got the girls in the car & we went & picked him up. He didn't look good & layed on the couch for a few hours. He didn't want to eat any lunch either. Around 1pm he said that he wanted to go & rest in his bed...which he never does! A little bit later I heard some sounds down the hall & found Carter in the bathroom, throwing up all over the floor. He didn't make it to the toilet! After he was done I put him in the bath & he was shivering, uncontrollably. He decided to take a shower after a couple of minutes of being in the bath. He went & slept some more in his bed & then came back out the couch & slept on & off all afternoon & evening. When I checked his temperature it was 102.6.

He felt so warm. He didn't eat any dinner either. Before bed, Claire & Kate were having an icee pop. I asked Carter if he would like one as well. He ate his, with the "barf bucket" on his chest & actually fell asleep like that. Poor kid! We're hoping he's feeling a lot better tomorrow & that the girls don't catch what he has.

Book Worm

Kate is starting to enjoy books more & more. Her favorites these days are the little BOB books. She carries them all over the house. I remember Claire loved these books as well!

Mommy Claire

Claire is really good at being a second Mom to Kate. When I am not around & Kate is crying, Claire will go over & hold her. For the most part, they get along pretty well. Claire hasn't figured out yet that sometimes Kate doesn't want to be held though!

Today Claire had Kate laying on one of the stairs & put a blanket on her. She told her it was time for bed. It was pretty cute to watch Claire take care of her!

Lunch Lately

For the past few days I have been making some bruschetta for lunch & it is absolutely delicious!!

I heat up a little olive oil in a pan & add some minced garlic & cook for about 30 seconds. Put the garlic in a bowl & place the sliced baguettes in the pan & cook until golden, about 1-2 minutes.
I cut up some cherry tomatoes & fresh basil, add it to the bowl with the garlic, with some salt & pepper & balsamic vinegar. Then I top the baguettes with the tomato mixture. Mmmm..so good!!

Kate's 15 Month Check-up

Kate had her 15 month check-up (at 16 months old) with Dr. Gould this morning. Here are her stats:

Length: 30 1/4" (40%)

Weight: 23lb. 10oz. (40%)

Head: 18 1/2"

She's growing like a weed & is a healthy little thing. She started with a cough a couple of days ago, along with Claire, so I asked Dr. Gould about it. I've heard a bunch of people say that if you put Vicks Vapo Rub on the bottom of your feet & then put socks on before bed, your cough is better in the morning. I told that to Dr. Gould & he laughed & said "You might as well put chicken fat on your feet!" He said that there is no medical proof that it would work, but we can try it if we want. He suggested buying some Buckwheat honey & give 1 tsp. every 2-3 hours. You can give it to them plain or put it in some yogurt. It's better than using Dimetapp or other over-the-counter cough medicines.

Anyway, an update on Kate at 16 months old:

-she doesn't walk anywhere, she only runs

-she likes to color with pencils & crayons

-she loves to be outside

-she still still screams A LOT....and it's loud & ear-piercing

-I usually have to fight with her to get her in the car seat. On Tuesday & Thursday, when both kids have school I have to put her in the car at least 7 times....it's quite tiring!!

-she loves to give us kisses & hugs

-she has been sleeping from 7:30pm-7:30am for many months...it's been awesome!

We love her so much!!!

Claire's Quips

"Mommy, what does "And it came to pass" mean?"

Snip

While I was giving my Dad a haircut today, Claire walked over to me & I said to her

"Would you like to get your hair cut?"

Claire responded with "I want to go to the haircut place to get mine cut."

A second later I heard the sound of hair being cut with scissors. I turned around to find Claire cutting her hair! I yelled out "No! What are you doing?" as I saw chunks of hair falling to the ground. She had grabbed the scissors & cut the back of her hair!

Luckily it blends in really well & you actually can't even tell that some of her hair is shorter than the rest.

3 Cuties

Claire's Quips

This morning Claire put Kate in the baby bouncer. After realizing that Kate is a bit too big for it now she said

"Mommy, we should give this to Makoni".

(She meant Makena & Keoni!!!)

Blueberry Pancakes Are Good!!!

Play A Song For Me

Cory has been learning how to play some Primary songs so that he can accompany us during Family Home Evening, so we brought the piano down from the loft. The kids have been having fun "playing" songs for us too!

A Pretty Perfect Saturday

Today turned out to be a pretty perfect Saturday. We started out this morning going to get donuts for breakfast. After lunch Cory, Carter & Claire washed both of the cars (maybe that will jinx us & send rain our way!). The weather was absolutely beautiful; mid-60's. I even noticed the buds have already appeared on the trees. We just lost all of those leave about 1 month ago!!We played in the front yard for about 1 hour prior to Kate's nap. During Kate's nap Cory took Carter & Claire, along with a scooter, tricycle, lawn chair & book over to the park for 2 hours. Carter & Claire had so much fun playing together while Cory relaxed & read. While Kate was sleeping I finished my 4th book of the year (love my Kindle!). We went to dinner at Costa Vida & I enjoyed a delicious pork salad. Once the kids went to bed I made a triple batch (48) of pancakes for the kids breakfasts. Yep, it was a pretty perfect day!

Bruised!

This afternoon I went with our Activity Day Girls to Sunrise Roller Land for a roller skating activity. I was going back & forth as to whether I would go skating with the girls. I was afraid of falling & hurting my back again. After watching the girls skate for about 30 minutes, I couldn't handle it anymore. I went & paid the $4.50 for those old school brown skates & laced those bad boys up. It only took about 3 times around the rink until I felt like I was 10 years old again, skating at King Skate Country. Many memories of Elementary School "Skate Nights" flooded my memory. I was having so much fun flying around that rink! I am pretty good, if I do so say myself! Many of my girls came up to me & said "Wow, Sister Wozniak, we didn't know you could skate so well!"

I was skating for about 1 & 1/2 hours & then a little girl cut right in front of me & I had no where to go, so I landed right on my rear. I wish I could say that I bruised my ego, but really, I didn't care about that. I actually bruised my tail bone & my wrist! I got myself up off the slick floor & slowly made my way off the rink. I sat down for a few minutes (man did that hurt!) to gain my composure & decided to go back out, since we only had a few minutes left for our session. Even with the bruised ego....uh, I mean, tail bone, I had such a fun time can't wait to get back on the rink again!

Baker Claire

At pre-school today, Claire's class was talking about bakers. Some of the kids signed up to bring ingredients to make biscuits. Claire brought the baking powder & was able to help mix the batter. She had butter & honey on her biscuit & also came home with a cute bakers hat!

Love Her!

There's something about watching Kate lay on her stomach to color or play with toys that I just love!!

Sweet Sisters

Sisters, sharing a sweet moment together this morning.

Claire's Quips

Me: "Claire, would you like boysenberry syrup on your pancake?"

Claire: "No, I want "girl"enberry syrup."

"I Want To Go To School Too!"

Kate found this backpack in Claire's room this morning & wanted me to put it on her back. She walked around the house all morning with it on. She even wanted to wear it over to Grandma & Grandpa's house. Don't grow up too fast Kate!!

Mama's Girl

This morning Kate was pushing Claire's princess cart around the house. At one point I looked at her & she had put my shoes on & was trying to walk around with them.

Creative Carter

This morning Carter came upstairs to show me his newest Lego creation. He spelled out "Mom" & made me, with his Legos. I was so impressed!

I hope he's not too upset when he comes home from school today to see that Kate broke the whole thing apart when she made her way into his bedroom after he went to school.

Claire's Fire Station Field Trip

This morning Claire & I went on a field trip with her pre-school class to the fire station. We met at her school & walked to the fire station, which was about a 20 minute walk. We first went into the fire house to talk to the fire fighters & watch a video about smoke detectors. After about 10 minutes they got a call that they had to respond to, so they left us there & said they should be back in about 10-15 minutes. That was really exciting!! We finished the movie & then went outside to eat snack. While we were outside they arrived back to the fire house. They showed us all of the neat things on their truck & they let each of the kids have a turn spraying water from their big hose. Then each of the kids were able to sit inside the truck. They each practiced "stop, drop & roll" as well. They all had a lot of fun. On our way back to the school we stopped at the chicken park to play for a few minutes. It was a fun day!

Mid 60's

We've been enjoying some wonderful weather so today Claire, Kate & I decided to go on a walk through the neighborhood. Claire rode a scooter & Kate rode in the little car. Claire found a neat pine cone that is shaped like a rose. Kate loves to wave to anyone that walks or drives by, it's really cute to watch.

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As we were heading back home a truck drove by & then stopped. The driver side window went down & I looked to see what they wanted. It was my 6th grade teacher Mr. Kester!!! His ex-wife Ann lives in our neighborhood, just one court over. Small world!! His son Alex was with him. I figured out that I was in his class 24 years ago....wow, I feel old!

Short Stack

Monday morning I made some pancakes for breakfast since there was no school or work. There were a few left over so on Tuesday morning each of the kids had some for breakfast. This morning Carter wanted some more, but they were all gone. Claire & I decided to whip up another batch later this morning so now we are stocked up for a few more days. We made mini chocolate chip, blueberry & a few plain ones.

Claire's Red Nose

I picked Claire up from pre-school today & the first thing I noticed was her nose. It was scratched & bright red. Miss Lindi said that right after I dropped her off this morning she fell flat on her face on the sidewalk. She is fine, but it sure looks like it hurt. Glad we're not taking pictures any time soon!!

Happy New Year!!

Happy New Year!! We started the year off with 9am church!! I am so happy to be back to 9am! Yes, it's difficult to get everyone ready but it's so nice to come home & have the afternoon to relax....and read or take a nap!

This evening Nick, Kecia, Grayson & Reagan came over for dinner. Cory bbq'd a tri tip (wearing his new "sushi" apron that he got for Christmas!). While he was bbq'ing the kids played in the backyard. Kate was having so much fun while Carter & Claire pushed her in the little car. Carter was our crazy boy wearing shorts & a t-shirt! He wasn't cold though!

Along with the tri tip I made these awesome stuffed blue cheese potatoes. I found the recipe in my new "Our Best Bites" cookbook. They were so good, I wish I could make them for everyone I know to try! I also made roasted veggies with feta & a spring salad with pear gorgonzola dressing. The meal was so good! Kecia made a delicious dessert to go with our amazing dinner!

After dinner the kids played. Carter & Grayson played some Mario Kart & then Just Dance 2. They were having a lot of fun! We sat around & talked & then we went out front & did some sparklers to ring in the new year.