Potty Talk

Caroline is growing up really fast but she still says some hilarious stuff.  She had me doubled over today after something she said in the tub.  I came into the bathroom and asked if she was done washing up and she said, "I haven't done my bottom yet. "  I then told her, "Make sure to wash it because they can get pretty stinky."  Then Caroline said, "Yeah I toot straight away after I wake up everyday."  This was the second weird/funny thing she had said tonight.  Earlier while getting ready for a bath she raised her arm and pointing to her armpit said, "Is this called an arm pickle?"  I love having kids!

5 is Way Too Old

Every year I say the same thing about Caroline's birthday, she's getting too big too fast and I can't believe another year has gone by.  Cheesy but true again this year.  She reminds me everyday how big she is getting and stands right next to me to show me how tall she is.  And since she turned 5 I'm going to try and narrow down the top 5 thing that I love about Caroline.

5. Her sense of style.  It makes me laugh to see the outfits she comes up with.  Find the brightest, busiest clothes in the store and they will undoubtedly be Caroline's favorite.  And lets face it, only 5 year old can dress like this and get away with it. (ok I know this isn't a loud outfit but hey its funny.)

4. Her eagerness to learn.  I think I'd be a lot smarter if I had her desire to learn.  She didn't get that level of eagerness from me.  

3. How easily she gets excited.  This girl gets excited about EVERYTHING, seriously.  Socks, going to the park, preschool, sunny days, its great.

2. How helpful she is.  I think I'd go crazy without her somedays.  She is a great example to her brothers.  I am really going to miss her when she goes to school!

1. Her personality.  She is such a fun girl, its no wonder she makes friends to easily.  She can go crazy like you wouldn't believe and it doesn't take much to get her going.  She's sassy, which sometimes makes me a little upset, but I know she'll be able to hold her own later on in life.  She's also very thoughtful, a problem solver, sweet, and I could go on but I'll end there.  

We love our Caroline so much and couldn't ask for a better first child.  Happy Birthday to the best 5 year old I know!

My Morning

Here's how my morning has gone so far.
4:30 get woken up by Shawn's stupid alarm
5:30 get woken up by Devin because his underwear is uncomfortable, I'm not kidding.
6:30 get woken up by Devin again because he needs to go number 2.
6:45 get asked about 10 times if its time to wake up by Caroline, I let her go to her brother's room to play.
7:15 give in and wake up to get the kids breakfast.
7:16 get asked 100 times if Caroline can watch Cat in the Hat.
7:17 contemplate not having any more kids.
Needless to say I"m VERY ready for Shawn's vacation to start.  These kids are exhausting!

Valentines Oh how I love thee!

I love to celebrate love.  And it turns out my kids do too.  Really what I think they love even more is getting socks.  That was the small Valentine gift they got this year and they LOVED it.  I love that they are so easy to please, it makes me happy inside.  I think I was outdone by my mom though.  Turns out cards in the mail are WAY cooler than socks, and so is going to Target.  The weather was beautiful, Shawn got home before 5, and we got some take out and ate turtle brownies.  Doesn't get much better in my opinion.

Too cute

Our house is SO BORING these days.  Our exciting day consisted of cleaning the church, and going to Costco to eat lunch in form of samples and then frozen yogurt.  I know I'm a great mom.  Anyways to kill some time before bed we like listening to Pandora on our t.v. and rocking out.  And you want to know what my kids ask me every time I turn music on? They run up and say, "May I have this dance." I have no idea where they got it from but its pretty much the cutest thing I"ve ever heard.  It makes days Shawn is on call not so long and boring.

More stinkin' snow

Here is a picture of what I hope is the last snowfall of the season.  Because when it looks like outside THIS is what it looks like inside our house.

Not much to do when its so cold outside so we have to improvise.  The kids seem to enjoy it but I'm ready for some sunshine.  I'm really excited for 50 degree weather this weekend!

ER

It had to happen sometime.  I just considered myself lucky that we've never had to take a kid to the ER, until yesterday.  Ten minutes before church ended Shawn burst through the door of the nursery and told me we had to go to the hospital.  I was really confused but followed anyways and quickly realized something was wrong once I saw Graham's face.  He had a huge gash on his face about an inch long and was bleeding everywhere.  I grabbed the kids and we left for the hospital which is only about 5 minutes from church.  By this time Graham had already stopped crying and was trying to lick the blood off his hand. Honestly I was a little more worried about Shawn at this point.  He was pretty torn up about the whole thing.  All doctoring went out the window and scared dad kicked in.  We checked into the ER and and at the exact moment we were checking in Shawn saw one of the plastic surgery fellows heading into work.  He took a look at Graham and told us he'd be happy to sew him up when we got a room.  The nurses were able to numb, and bandage Graham up pretty quickly so then we just waited.  I really wish I had a picture of him at this point it looked pretty impressive. Anyways a friend from church followed us to the hospital and took the kids home with them and fed them dinner.  Thank goodness for good friends, it made the night so much better and Devin and Caroline were jumping up and down in excitement.  So me, Shawn, and Graham hung out in the ER for about an hour before getting a room and then they gave Graham some really good drugs to keep him calm while stitching him up.  Graham was a great sport and only cried when he was being pinned down.  We were so lucky to have a plastic surgeon sew him up, he went above and beyond to help us out.  Its really great having an in at the hospital!  So two layers of stitches and some dermabond he'll be as good as new pretty soon.  What a night!  Let the deductible dollars start adding up!

Very happy this morning and glad to have more attention.

Seriously all is already forgotten.

Enough is enough

I"ve held my tongue for long enough.  If I see another stupid, gusshy, over-the-top, jewelry commercial I think I'm going to die.  Seriously they are the bane of my existence.  From Christmas to Mother's Day there are never ending commercials of, "every kiss begins with Kay" and "did he go to Jared?"  Personally I would throw it in the trash if I got anything from there just on principle that their commercials are AWFUL! And I personally think their stuff is hideous. Sorry but it had to be said.  Whew I feel much better now.

Chicago

I haven't posted in a while about the awesomeness of Vanderbilt so I thought I'd share reason 23 why Vanderbilt is great.  Shawn got an email today informing him that he would be attending an orthopaedic conference in Chicago sometime in August.  Can I tell you how jealous I am right now?!  I've never been to Chicago but all I have ever heard about it is how much fun it is.  We've actually entertained the idea of me tagging along and sightseeing while Shawn gets to listen to people lecture about bones (snooze).  Only problem is I'd be a little intimidated going out and about by myself, oh yeah and we have these 3 kids that need some sort of supervision.  So does anyone want to a) tag along with me and eat innumerable amounts of Chicago style pizza or b) watch my adorable, wonderful, sweet, although sometimes crazy kids while I have fun?  Just thought I'd ask.  Even if I stay home which is what will happen its still really cool and I'm excited for Shawn.