Tons of pictures Tuesday....

This week is starting off great!

We started a new reward chart a few months ago. After some inconsistency on this mama's part, we are back in it full swing. (More on the chart tomorrow.)

Macie tackled her reward chart and got to *ten* last night. Notice how I had spaghetti on the menu this week? Well, that was because Macie needed a simple meal to cook since she chose to cook an entire meal by herself as her reward.

Life is good!

Here is what tonight was like in our little (rental) kitchen...

Macie filled a pot with water and cranked the heat to high.

After I put in some ground beef in, she started to break it up while it cooked.

She added salt and pepper...

I drained it and then it was time for plenty o' garlic.

Time for some of that yummy homemade spaghetti sauce. I just stored it in this container. (Wink, wink.)

She added the sauce and started on the noodles.

Yummy!

The great part of being the chef is you get to have the first taste!

The chef's assistant needed to try it out, too.

Daddy came home...obviously.

Time to mix it all up.

Macie loved cooking dinner and I realized my little girl is growing up.

And dinner was delicious, by the way.

Wordless Wednesday: Strike a Pose

Happy Wordless Wednesday!

Just hang tight, k?

I am writing this mainly for one person. ;) I promised I would have pictures of Macie's birthday party, but after thinking, she is having her "girls" party in a couple of weeks. With that being said, I will just wait and do a full on party post.

But Macie's family birthday party was a blast and included Mexican food, a BMX style bike and lots of fun presents...perfect for our eight year old.

EIGHT YEARS OLD!!

Insanity, I tell you.

Wordless Wednesday: Christmas Card Outtake

Macie looks terrified of what might happen if she does not smile and Zoa is just plain mad!

For more Wordless Wednesday, check out 5 Minutes for Mom!

"Hi Alaina. I am calling about Macie."

How ironic, huh? I just blogged about preventing the girls from getting sick and the fever is upon us. Good thing I stocked up on soup, crackers, juice and a new Nintendo DS game during our shopping trip this weekend!

The school called today. Macie was sent home with a fever. Not too high, as I have been reading and seeing in some places, but a fever nonetheless. That and a headache. We have been unable to break it...it will go from up and down, but never break completely.

"My head hurts the most, Mom."

So I wait. Is it just the fever bug going around? Boy, I hope so but I am staying home with her and she is not getting out at all. I just want to play it safe. You know?

In the meantime, life will go on. Sick kids bring such uncertainty...will they want me all day? Cuddle? Sleep? You can never plan what you will do when you are at home with a sick child.

We shall see soon enough.

"Can I do that?"

{My camera is broke...so I apologize for the pictures. They are taken from my phone.}

Our girls love to help in the kitchen. Zoa just climbs right up on the counter top and starts stirring. Macie loves to read the directions. Lately I have spent a lot of time in the kitchen and I think they have enjoyed themselves more and more the older they get....they much rather be helping in the kitchen than playing with toys.

I got to thinking...

Aprons! So I got on Etsy and started looking. I found these and I fell in love!

After a few chats with the owner of the store, I placed the order, hoping they would be just as cute in person.

I am extremely happy...



These little cupckaes are adorable!



They are now hidden, stashed away from tiny hands...waiting to be wrapped in Christmas paper.

And speaking of Christmas, I have quite a few presents bought. Is it too early to start wrapping presents?

If only it were that simple...

Zoa's preschool site on the top of a small hill. When I back out each afternoon, I always fear someone will be flying over the hill and rear-end us...which would be potentially very bad considering it is back roads and people do speed on them often.

I always make sure Zoa is buckled because she is old enough to where she can do it by herself. Macie is already buckled in.

Today, I had to explain why we buckle up....

Me: "Zoa, are you buckled?"

Zoa: "UUUGGGGHHHHH."

Me: "Do you know why we buckle? We have to so in case we get into a wreck, nobody will fly out of the car and get hurt."

Zoa: "I could land on grass. Grass is soft."

Me: "But dirt is not. The ground is hard and you would still get hurt really badly."

Macie: "I could land on a trampoline. That would be okay!"


Oh, if only a trampoline was around!

It was eye-opening....you really do have to explain why we do things and how doing certain things actually serve a purpose.

Man, motherhood is a big job.

Labor Day

I saw this Labor Day meme on a new blog I read and wanted to jot it down. Bear with me, I hardly remember anything from Zoa's pregnancy and delivery but I will do my best!

How long were your labors?

Macie: About 14 solid hours.
Zoa: About 12 hours.

How did you know you were in labor?

Macie: I was induced. Boo for the pitocin drip!
Zoa: Induced again...I wanted my dang water to break but it just did not happen on it's own.

Where did you deliver?

The hospital.

Drugs?

Macie: Wanted to wait as long as I could for the big epidural. After staying at 3 cm for hours, I wanted to epidural.

Zoa: I don't remember, but I got the epidural.

C-section?

Nope.

Who delivered?

Macie: After Dr. J did not show up after being paged for one hour saying I was at a 10, Dr. P graciously delivered Macie after delivering a patient of his.

Zoa: My doctor, Dr. U.

Play along if you want!

(Image via.)

Well, that was a nice little break...

Or maybe not.

It has been a big week! I had a MRI, a doctor's appointment, Macie's first day of 2nd grade (!) and another doctor's appointment an hour and a half north.

We will start with the first...

MRI came back. The gist of our appointment with my regular ENT went something like this...

"The lump that is in your mouth is a lymph node on top of your saliva gland. I don't think you have cancer. Most tumors do not move. We can remove your entire gland if you want. It will leave a scar on the outside of your face. If not, I will see you in a month."

Jeremy and I left confused. At first, the doctor called back with the MRI results and said it is the gland that is the lump. Not the lymph node on top of it.

Once they bring up that C-word, I get a little more cautious.

We left thinking we want a second opinion, just to be sure. Yesterday, we got in to another doctor who has a office at Barnes. He said there is a small chance it is cancer, although he is leaning more toward the fact that it is not. He wants be to see his colleague who deals with saliva gland tumors. He said if anyone would know, this doctor would. That appointment is on September 17 at Barnes.

I love doctors...

In my heart, I know everything is fine. I am not too worried about it. But since that word came up by the doctors, Jeremy and I wanted to make sure. Since the doctor in St. Louis brought it up to see his colleague, I am relived I am not hallucinating. The MRI did show something...they are just not sure what it is. I am just ready to be done with doctors, this lump to go down and get on with it!

On to better things! MJ started second grade! Can you believe it? I will have pictures soon, but not now. She loves it...her teachers, seeing her friends...everything.

I love that she loves it.

We have a concert it St. Louis this weekend...Nickelback, Theory of a Dead Man and Papa Roach. So excited...it will be a fun group with all our friends.

Fall classes started back....which means I am off to read my chapters. Ugh.

I have a second grader...whoa.

Slowly but surely, we are getting our school supplies ready. Jeremy and I have three concerts in August so it will be a hectic month for sure!

Macie and I went school supply shopping last week and her back pack and lunch box is in the mail, courtesy of The Gap.



I am kind of digging the fact she wanted a messenger bag. I think they are super cute! She is at that tough age where you are not sure if the style/pattern is too "little kiddy" or is it too "big kid". I just listen to what she wants and hope it works!

Finals are next week and then life will be back to normal for a little bit.

Day by day...

Open wide.

On Thursday, the girls (plus a friend of Macie's) made a little trip to the orthodontist.

First, I would just like to say how odd it is to me that they start ortho work so early now. I have never had braces or any work on my teeth besides what the dentist does, but looking back, both my sisters did not have braces and all that jazz until high school.

And here, Macie is going to be in the second grade.

Anyways, we show up and the place is awesome! Very kid friendly and big! Love it already. We get back to the private room and I start taking a few pictures, with you in mind.

Macie and her BF talking...

Notice how her friend is holding her hand. Just last week, her friend, who we shall call M, got an expander so she is familiar with the whole procedure. She is giving her tips and trying to calm Macie’s nerves…so sweet.

A few minutes into it, Zoa started getting restless and a bit upset.

So I opened a new app on my phone for her to play with (so cool!). About this time, the doctor came in. Little did I know, Zoa had started snapping pictures. I have deleted about 15 or so pictures but thought I would show you a few. Be prepared, these are high quality...

Peeping out the window...

The orthodontist said Macie would need a palette expander and possibly a lip bumper. We go back in a few weeks. How much fun this will be! (Hear the sarcastic tone?)

Enjoy the weekend!

"As much as I'd like to meet the tooth fairy on an evening walk,
I really don't believe it can happen."
--Chris Van Allsburg

A day in St. Louis...

Sunday, Jeremy had a rugby game in St. Louis. Due to the game getting pushed back, we were not able to make it to the zoo or The Magic House like we wanted to. We decided to go to the Omnimax theatre at the Science Center. If you have ever been to an Imax theatre, you know how much fun they are. The girls loved it and was in awe of how real life it felt. We saw the Grand Canyon Adventure (which was super interesting) and at times, my stomach would drop...it is amazing how much you feel like you are there!

We made it home late last night and was wind burnt this morning...the wind was awful at the game. On top of that, 'ole man winter decided to give us one last round so temps are in the high 30's and low 40's the last couple of days. And I just put my sweaters away!

The next day spent in St. Louis will hopefully be a bit warmer and we will be able to hit up the zoo. The best part is they are both in the same area so we can do both at once.

Nothing much more exciting going on in our lives other than that...I guess that is a good thing!

Oh...and there have been over 120 tshirts ordered. Thanks to everyone that bought one!

(The pic was taken with my phone..not the best quality.)

Q & A...Part Dos.

Melissa (who cracks me up...totally reminds me of myself!) asked...

How did you decide on your kids' names?
Funny stories! Macie came pretty easy. At first we could not decide on anything! Then one day, Jeremy was at work and called me asking me what I thought of Macie. Here is how the conversation went:

Jeremy: Hey babe...about the baby's name...do you like Macie?
Alaina: Yeah, that is really cute! I like it!
Jeremy: Are you sure?
Alaina: Yeah...
Jeremy: Okay, I gotta get back to work. Love you! Bye!

You always hear of couples spending hours and hours, researching baby names, discussing, asking everyone what they think...not us! We always have been fly by the seat of our pants, so why not with this? With her middle name, 'Jae', my mom came up with it. It is a small combination of letters from mine and Jeremy's name. Macie Jae...it fits her perfect!

With Zoa...another story. I am still angry at Jeremy!
The entire pregnancy, Zoa was Abigail Paige. Macie would talk to Zoa while she was still in my stomach and call her Abigail Paige. I loved the thought of having a little Abi running around.
Fast forward...I am getting induced.

Jeremy: What are we naming her?
Me: Ummm, seriously? Abigail Page.
Jeremy: I am not really sure if I like that...
Alaina: %%*&@^#$@!&(*^% (Just kidding!) What? We have called her that this whole time!
Jeremy: I think I like Zoa, after my grandma.

Pause here...moms, you know by this point, I do not care if we name her Esther, I just want this baby to have a name!

Alaina: Fine, I I just want to call her Abi.
Jeremy: Okay...well, let's make Zoa her first name, Abigail her middle name and call her Abi.

After having the baby, Jeremy immediately starts to call her Zoa. And it stuck. Ugh!! But she does make a cute Zoa, if I do say so myself.

That's that...how we decided on our girls' name. :)

Not the zoo I was hoping for...

Jeremy was in St. Louis all day yesterday for a rugby game. The game was at Forest Park...and this park has the zoo, a science center...very kid and family friendly. Saturday, I decided that the girls and I would go to St. Louis with him and I would take them to the zoo. The weather would be perfect.

Like clockwork, Saturday night, MJ started to run a low grade fever. It started at 99.5...not a big deal at all. About an hour later, Zoa said her eye was itching.

This morning, we woke up to MJ having a 102.7 fever and Zoa's eye matted shut. Poor girls....

A trip to the hospital told us MJ had strep throat and Zoa had pink eye. Macie's fever at the hospital was 103.1. Medically, they said that is really high which scares me. I don't like it when she gets sick. She is s.i.c.k! She is so tiny so it does not take much to get her on the couch for good. I would not be surprised if she stayed home through Wednesday.


Zoa is, well, Zoa. Nothing can stop that crazy child of ours!


I hope your Sunday was better for you!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Today is Macie & Zoa Valentine's Day parties. Earlier in the week, I found these valentines. They are so cute so yesterday that was my mission. Emily stuffed the bags for me...thanks Em!! Last night, we tied the bows and connected it all. They turned out great!!

My pictures I have are not the greatest, but I will show you a box full of the finished product...


We also made the teacher's valentines and once again, the lighting in the new house is not the greatest so the pictures are really dark. But you have the link to look at them.

I know I have talked about Family Fun in the past, but it really does have some really cute ideas! If you don't get the magazine, you can look at all their crafts and other things online.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Resolutions.

At dinner last night, I talked about resolutions with the girls. After explaining what it meant, they decided to make a few themselves.

For a while now, the biggest struggle of mine is coming home. It should feel like a sanctuary and my mind does nothing but race the minute I walk in the door at 4:00 every afternoon.

"Girls, put your shoes up. Put your coats away. Is it really that hard?"

The girls' "revolution" (as they pronounced it) was to pick up for 15 minutes every day, as soon as we get home. This is something I have tried to get them to do. Set the timer on the stove for 15 minutes and everyone pick up. You will be amazed at what all you will be able to do. I feel like we could all have so much fun, if they would just listen.

Also, the promised to be nicer to each other.

Story time:

For Christmas, Zoa got a Leapster 2 from Santa. The next day, she felt she should clean it was BODY SPRAY. Ruined. Water damage. After extensive surgery on the Leapster, it was revived. But, before we found out is was going to pull through, Macie said she would save up her allowance to buy her one.

How flippin' sweet is that? I was so proud.

But, yeah, we will see how long the 15 minute pick up time will last. I'm crossing my fingers!

Did you make resolutions this year?

Wordless Wednesday: School Pictures

Happy Wordless Wednesday!

*Cough*

Macie has had a cough for about a month now. At first, I thought it was what was going around. Just a cough...a friend of ours is a kindergarten teacher and I usually ask her what is going around. She said it lasts for about two weeks. The cough was all, with no other symptoms. About two weeks into it, I called the doctor and asked them to prescribe a stronger cough medicine than just an over the counter one. I just wanted something to nip it in the bud. They did, and told me to call back if it does not go away.

After one week since being on the medicine and she still had a cough, I took her into the doctor today. Bronchitis. She is now on Zithromax (Which is the best antibiotic ever! Once a day for five days. Can it get any better than that?!).

I remember when I had bronchitis and I felt like someone used my ribcage as a punching bag. Literally, Jeremy could not hug me. My lungs were so bruised from coughing so much. The only relief I got was from an inhaler.

I don't think she has had bronchitis the whole time. I have asked her if her chest hurts or if anything else hurts. She said nothing hurt. No runny nose. No fever. No sore throat.

Moral of the story: Don't think a cough is just a cough!

(Photo via.)

Sunday Night Snapshots

Jeremy is at his championship flag football game. I am so happy the season is over, although I know he gets bummed about it. Oh well!

Macie, Zoa and I are just doing whatever at home while he is gone. Macie has been on the computer, while all I hear from Zoa is, "You get the beeeeest of both worlds...". That should be enough to tell you what she is doing.

I checked on Macie a few minutes ago, and before I snatched the computer up from her, we put the 'ole camera to use...

Look at the camera and smile...


Put your head up!


What happened to your smile?


Funny faces!!


Not too sure what happened, but Macie moved!


A lot of laughs and fifteen minutes later, we have a keeper!

Hope everyone had a good weekend!

Build-A-Bear: Sunday Funday and a Giveaway!

Woo-hoo...it's that time again! This weeks kicks off Bloggy Giveaways Carnival and boy, do I have a good one!

On Sunday, the girls and I attended a private Blog Moms' Mixer at Build-A-Bear Workshop in St. Louis. It was the first time we have been to Build-A-Bear but we will definitely be going back. The girls both got the chance to make a High School Musical themed bear, complete with an outfit, accessories and of course, a heart. The girls are already best friends with their bears. (Macie named her bear Ashley and Zoa named her bear Jacksey. Ummm, okay.)

My camera cord is still missing, but you can view Build-A-Bears Flickr account to get a preview. I am so excited about their pictures because there are some really great shots of the girls and they did such a great job of capturing the fun.

There were a few mom bloggers there and I can't wait to dive into their blogs and learn more about them. All of our children got along well for the two hours we were at Build-A-Bear, which speaks volumes because it lasted right through nap time!

Probably the most exciting part of our mixer was that Maxine Clark, the owner and founder of Build-A-Bear, took time out of her schedule to hang out with us during the mixer. She helped the girls stuff their bear as you will see in the pictures. (She is wearing a red jacket.) She was so nice and patient with all the children! Ms. Maxine also gave us an autographed copy of her book titled, The Bear Necessities:Building a Company With a Heart. I started skimming through it on the way home and seemed very interesting to read, even if you are not wanting to start your own business.

I don't have a copy of the book to give away, but Build-A-Bear Workshop graciously gave me a $25.00 Gift Card to give to one of my readers! I also have a $5.00 off a $25.00 purchase coupon to add to it as well.

In order to be considered for this giveaway, please leave me a comment telling me which bear the child in your life would love to have. (They could be a daughter or son, niece or nephew...) Want to earn extra entries? For one extra entry, subscribe to my blog. If you should subscribe, please leave an additional comment telling me you have done so. For another entry, blog about this contest and leave me a comment with your permalink address.

Only US addresses are eligible for this giveaway. This giveaway will close on Saturday, November 1 at 12:00 p.m., CST. Please leave your e-mail address so I can contact you. I will choose a winner using Random.org and you will have 48 hours to reply. Should you not contact me within 48 hours, a new winner will be chosen.

Good Luck!

*COMMENTS ARE NOW CLOSED FOR THIS*