Slower Pace

We went at a slower pace this week and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Monday we had a lazy day around the house. I got caught up on some laundry and cleaning. When Matt got home from work we took the kids to their first Greenwood Christian Academy sports event. (GCA is the school I used to teach at). We went to watch the girls that I had in first grade when I was pregnant with Delaney play volleyball. The girls were all "grown up" and our kids had a blast. They have been "throwing" the volleyball ever since.

Tuesday was a work day for me. Grandpa Bub (Matt's dad) came to stay with the kids. All I know is the day consisted of a walk without strollers, sidewalk chalk, playing in the rain, and trying on his fire gear - sounds like they had WAY more fun than I did!!!!

Wednesday we went to visit an older couple from our church. He had a stroke a few weeks ago that affected his speech and we thought Carson could bring some cheer to him - they seem to have similar problems - their minds go faster than their mouths :-) The kids got to play with their kitten - Princess Sophie - and I got to socialize. It was a nice visit and lasted a lot longer than I had planned. But, we were having so much fun, I didn't want to drag the kids away.

Thursday Delaney had dance and then we went to sell cookie dough (dance fund raiser -don't worry, if you live close enough for me to deliver it to you, you will be getting an email about it) at Grampy's work. It is a hilarious process because Delaney refuses to talk to people she doesn't know (unless we're in the store), so Carson walks up to people and says, "Are you want some cookie dough?" While Delaney hands them the paper and backs away!! Too cute, but they've made lots of sales that way!!

Friday was another lazy day - we ran to Meijer in the morning for some groceries and then we waited around for the Royal Spa man to come fix our hot tub - it is up and running now if anyone is interested!!

Saturday was spent cleaning the hot tub and the shower - blah!!! However, I was greatly rewarded by going to The Cheesecake Factory with 2 of my friends. We had a blast!!!! I love going out with them b/c my face hurts by the end of the night from laughing so hard. It is a nice break from Mommyhood :-)

Today was full of football - the kids were screaming "Ball, ball, ball" during a game that Matt wasn't even watching. Carson was little Matt during dinner. He sat watching the TV the entire time, but he ate most of his food too, so I couldn't say much. Sundays are the only days that the TV is permitted to be on during a meal, so it's okay with me if he's glued to it - like father, like son!


Love you all. Have a GREAT week!
Gretchen

short and sweet!

I don't have much time this evening, but I feel bad leaving you all without an update for last week! One cute story on each of them and then I'm calling it a day!

Today Carson was putting on a dolphin show for me. His arms were the dolphins and they were "kaplash"-ing all over the kitchen. He was carrying around a sand bucket (empty, of course) and giving his hands fish when they made big "kaplash"s. It was so cute!!

Delaney got new Winnie the Pooh toys last night and she spent the entire morning arranging them in her Little People house so that they could have a birthday party for Piglet. They had cake and had invited friends - it was quite the production!

Enjoy your week!
Gretchen

PS I would include a picture but I can't get the camera to come on and I'm just not in the mood to fight with it tonight!! Maybe I'll try again tomorrow :-)

Go Colts!

Go Colts is a phrase I've heard a lot today!! From EVERYONE in my house! Delaney was heard yelling it from the bathroom, Carson was heard mumbling it while eating lunch and Matt was heard uttering phrases about the Colts (only occasionally under his breath) throughout the entire game. Carson was very focused on football during lunch - as was Matt, so I couldn't really say much. I think I might need to invest in TV trays :-) Our children are also convinced that Grandpa Bub is at every Colts game (or sometimes just every football game) that they see. Delaney is getting the concept that he can only go if they are here, but Carson is still convinced he's up there!!!

Carson has an adorable phrase - "I told you." He says that very matter of factly when you have broken one of his "rules" or disregarded his request - do you think he hears that too often?!?

This afternoon Delaney pooped in the potty (we are now on day 9 of her pooping streak - in case anyone missed it, I bribed her with the promise that I would paint her room pink and get her a big girl bed that I could sleep in with her if she'd poop in the potty for 2 weeks - looks like I'm going to be very busy, very broke, and very tired soon!!!!!) Anyway, she always calls anyone and everyone that is in the house to come look at it before she flushes. Carson walked in, leaned over the toilet, and said "Holy Toledo" as only Carson can - it was so funny!

Delaney has been balleting around the house all weekend . She is obsessed with a song called "Balance." They pretend like they are walking a tight rope while it is playing, so she keeps doing this around the house. She also loves to show off her twirling skills! What a pretty princess she is!

One night this week I fixed macaroni and cheese out of pasta shaped like footballs, baseballs, gloves, tennis racquets, and the sort. Well, Delaney had a glove and Carson had a ball, so he thought it was totally appropriate for him to throw the ball into her glove - ah, no!! It was very funny though, so it took us a few minutes to discipline. I wish I could remember the exact conversation, but there was lots of confusion as to why it was wrong - because it landed in Laney's milk cup - is that reason enough?!?

Grandma Teri watched the kiddos Monday while I worked. It was nice b/c Matt and I were able to sneak away for a "date lunch." We went to this really great hot dog place and we didn't have to cut up anyone's food before we could eat! My tator tots were actually warm when I ate them!!!

Tuesday we went to the apple orchard with MOPS. That was very fun! I had invited a friend to go with me, so we took our kids to a nearby park after we were done at the orchard and let them play and had a picnic. It was kind of chilly out, but we enjoyed being outside! Carson even chased a squirrel around the park - almost right into the parking lot.

Wednesday was storytime at the library. This week was a visit from the fire dept. They put on their gear for the kids. Delaney was scared and cuddled up on my lap for most of the presentation. Then, they took the kids out to the fire truck and ambulance. Carson sat in the back of the ambulance in awe of all of the equipment around him. It was so cute to watch him.

Thursday was ballet and a visit to Grampy at work. We had to show off the ballerina!! We also went to Matt's softball game. It was such nice weather and it was an evening where Matt and I would have been running in opposite directions the whole night, so I decided to take advantage of the 20 minute drive there to actually converse with him about our day.

On Friday Delaney had to have a wart removed from her finger. She is such a brave girl. She stood right next to the pediatrician with her hand resting on the dr's lap. She had huge tears in her eyes but didn't let one of them drop. She said, "Owww" once and I commented on how brave she was being. The doctor said she certainly was because what she was doing should hurt! She got a band aid when it was over and after a trip to the mall for some pretzel bitz, she was good to go!!!!

We went to the fish fry with my parents Friday evening - we love the fish fry!!!! The kids love to look at the live fish in the pond (something is terribly wrong about that to me!) and I love to eat the wonderful fried fish!!! The weather was perfect to sit outside and enjoy the live music and good company. Unfortunately, the evening was cut short by Matt getting a page from work demanding his time and expertise.

Saturday was the Beech Grove Fall Festival Parade. Matt helped with crowd control and we watched the parade - see attached photo - they were not fans of the sirens!!! However, they were fans of all of the candy they could collect. This is the first year I've let them run out to get candy. They were pretty good at it! Matt ate a lot of their hard candy this morning during church because his throat hurt - yeah right :-)

I believe that wraps up our week. Enjoy!

Gretchen

The Ballerina!

This week started with a lazy Monday - having daddy home on a weekday is always a special treat. Carson, Delaney, and Mommy went to the store mid afternoon to get items typical of a cookout while Daddy fired up the grill. We had a wonderful dinner.

On Tuesday, we started MOPS (Mothers of PreSchoolers) at a church nearby. We will meet every other Tuesday for 2 hours. Childcare is provided in a program called Moppets. I was very worried about leaving both of them. Delaney has just started running into her class at church, so I was fearful that we'd have tears at a new place. We put Carson in his class first and before I'd labeled his bag and let the door close behind me he was all the way at the other end of the room (and it's a big room) peeking out of a little plastic playhouse. Next stop, Delaney's room - she went without a problem. She gave me a little hug on the leg and off she went. They said she did great - it probably helps that the indoor playground was right outside her door and they got to play on it for the last 20 minutes!! I also had a great time. I only knew 2 people going into the day and neither one were in my small group. But, it seems like it will be very fun. On the Tuesdays that we don't meet for MOPS they do Mommy and Me activities and have a book club. Tomorrow is the apple orchard - if it isn't raining.

On Wednesday we went to the library for story time again. This time there were 27 plus kids there - they wouldn't sit still for me to get an accurate count. That is a lot of 2, 3, and 4 year olds!! They read about Grandparents (Happy Grandparents Day to all of you grandparents reading this!!). Then, we went to Lowe's to get stain for the deck for Matt's evening project. There was this really nice man in Lowe's who gave both of the kids little aprons. They were adorable!!

Thursday was the day we'd been waiting for - the first day of ballet!!! Delaney sat still for me to put her hair up because she knew it was for dance class. We got to Tippy Toes about 10 minutes early because we needed to rent tap shoes and I've heard it's a pain to find the right size. That took about 30 seconds. So, we sat in the lobby and got acquainted with other girls in her class. When the class started I thought Carson and I would sit in the observation area for a few minutes and then we'd have to exit because his attention span would be shot - 45 minutes later and lots of "She's pretty" said by Carson, the class was over and we were still in our seats!! She was gorgeous!!! It was too adorable to watch all of the little girls, everyone is new this year, so that makes it nice. The class is for 2 to 4 year olds, so we could have had some repeaters, but they are all new! There are only 6 girls in her class, I was very impressed with that. When ballet was over we were getting in the car and I asked her if she had fun. The response was, "You were there, you saw how much fun it was." Well duh!!!

Friday we went downtown to have lunch with Grammy. Since she has started working full time our Fridays playing together are gone, so we decided to go to her! We went to a very not kid friendly McDonalds!! The only seating was for 2 people, so we had high chairs sitting in the aisles - oh well, no one seemed to mind.

In the evening we went to Cheeseburger in Paradise - mainly because Carson sounds adorable when he asks to go there!!! The kids behaved wonderfully! We had movie night when we got home. I took a much needed nap during Finding Nemo. I did stay awake for the beginning when they were both scared, but when the movie got cute and fun, I closed my eyes and had both kids curled up against me!!

Saturday morning we got to see Shannon and Aaron. Shannon was home for a wedding so they stopped by to say hi. For as much as Delaney talks about missing her she sure didn't show it!

In the afternoon Delaney and I went shopping. I don't know that we've ever had so much fun! We went to the mall, Target, and Kohl's. We shared an ICEE at Target and she thought she was HOT STUFF!!! It was adorable to watch. When we left Target and were headed to Kohl's I told her she could walk over to the trash and throw it away. She decided there was still at least one drink left so she should probably take it with her. She was so cute she convinced me to buy her a new shirt in Kohl's. We got to ride on the escalator at the mall b/c we didn't have stroller - that is such a big deal for her!!!

In the evening, we went to a going away party for one of Matt's fraternity brothers. It was at the house of a couple who has a 3 year old boy, so we took the kids with us. They had fun playing with all of Jonah's toys in his play room.

Sunday evening we went to my parents house for dinner. It's finally Carson's turn to get the funny story told on him. The kids were playing in the family room and all of a sudden Seth started screaming like he was hurt. So, Dave went over to get him and I went to my child that was closest to him to question what had happened. I picked Car up and said, "What happened Buddy?" Car, "I wasn't mean to him." Me, "What happened?" Car, "I wanted him to talk into the microphone." Me, "Did you push it into his mouth?" Car, "Yes." Me, "Then you need to tell him you are sorry." Car, "No, I wasn't mean to him." Me, "You hurt him, you need to tell him you are sorry." We walked over to Seth and he said he was sorry and gave him a kiss. What a cutie!!!

Enjoy the pics of ballerina girl and of Delaney and Carson being nice to each other - look shocked, it doesn't happen that often!!!


Gretchen

Update addition

Wow - what a weekend!! Carson managed to get in a fight with a park bench - the park bench won - big time!!! I describe his injuries as looking like he got hit by a train, Matt describes it as looking like he took a right hook. I'll attach a picture that doesn't really do it justice, but looks too cute! This happened Sunday at about 5:30, we were in the ER until 11:35 - UGH!!! He slept on me once for about 10 minutes, before that we made lots of trips to the bathroom, water fountains (b/c he couldn't drink out of his cup), and outside to look at the dark (something he doesn't normally see b/c he's in bed!!). The doctor apologized a lot and said that unfortunately at his age there just wasn't much to do. It appears that he hit his chin on the metal part of the bench which caused his top two teeth to go almost through his lower lip. He also tore the flappy thing that hangs down on the top and has a nice gash there. His cheek hit the bench and has a wonderful purple and blue bruise on it. Seriously, the picture does no justice to the real injury. Today he has been a trooper!! He is drinking out of his sippy cup and eating anything and everything (even cheez its and tortilla chips).

Enjoy the little man's picture!!!

Week 2 of the new commitment

If only I could stick to a workout plan for 2 weeks :-)

Okay - let me recap this very fun week for you all.

Sunday evening we had a birthday celebration for my father and grandma at my sister's house. Carson never did eat his cake and ice cream. That child is so odd. Matt and I are all over sweets and Delaney definitely is following in our footsteps. However, he couldn't care less if there is something sweet in front of him.

On Monday, Matt and his mother watched the kids while I went to work. This is going to become more routine for us, so Teri decided she should spend a day with one of us to see where everything hides and what a "normal" day is like for us. They seemed to have a blast!!! I heard all about playing outside and building with blocks. We'll see how everyone does next Monday when Matt won't be here with them :-)

On Tuesday we had some friends over to play. Wednesday we went to the library for preschool story time with some other friends and then we went to meet Daddy for lunch. That was very fun!! Preschool story time was kind of crazy because there were 15 to 18 kids in the room all ranging in age from a few months to 4 years old....however, the lady reading was very expressive and had great interactive songs, so she really kept their attention.

On Thursday we went to get the oil changed in the van. I love that the Honda dealership has a play area for the kids. I sat in the doorway with my feet blocking the entrance and read Better Homes and Gardens while the kids played with all new toys. It really was a fun 45 minutes - I used to dread doing this at the Chevy dealership with nasty plastic chairs and NO toys.

On Thursday afternoon Delaney was being disciplined for something (probably hitting Carson, that seems to be her favorite thing to do these days) and I did my normal routine of taking her into her room and sitting her on my lap on her bed to talk to her. I asked her to look at my eyes while we talked and she said, "Is this going to be a long talk or a short one, 'cause I have things to do." How do you discipline after that?!?

On Thursday evening we introduced the "big girl" cup to Delaney. At meals (at home) she is now drinking out of a cup without a lid. She told Carson he couldn't do that till he was three - so many privileges come with being 3 - you can pick up the cat and get a cup without a lid...wow!!!
We played outside for the rest of the evening till it was time for baths and for Matt to leave for softball.

On Friday I left the house when Matt came home and had a WONDERFUL, much needed and deserved girls night out with 3 of my friends. We went to a Mexican restaurant and our waiter quit in the middle of our meal. He had brought 3 of our meals and had gone back to check on the whereabouts of the other. When he hadn't come back after 15 minutes, my friend whose food was missing decided to go check on him. We learned that he had walked off the job sometime between our table and the kitchen. So, we were treated like royalty for the rest of the meal - that was kind of nice :-)

Saturday morning we took the kids over to my parents for the morning so we could pressure wash the deck and hot tub and clean out the shed. We were successful at getting it all done, but I (personally) don't think the deck looks much better. We are going to get some stain for it, so maybe that will help. The new portion of the deck, the hot tub, and the old portion of the deck are all different colors right now so it looks mismatched and blah...hopefully the stain will help it look unified. We have ordered a new cover for the hot tub and I am calling Tuesday to get them to come out and fix the jets. If it is going to look nice, then everything should be functioning too!!! The weather was absolutely beautiful for being outside yesterday!!!
My parents brought the kids home and Delaney was telling me something later in the day and she said "Remember, your mom was here...." She's such a goof!!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Love,
Gretchen

dillard discoveries, take 2

Okay, I am going at this with some dedication now. I have heard from 3 people this week about how much they enjoy and appreciate getting these updates, so I am going to try to be more faithful to you all :-)

This week was another fun one - full of new discoveries. Matt and I had the opportunity to use Kevin's tickets and go to the Colts preseason game on Monday night - that was FUN! We rarely get to do fun date like things, so that was exciting. The game was good even though they lost - it's preseason, who cares if they lose!!!

Wednesday we took a trip to the Children's Museum with 2 of my friends and their kids. We had the most enjoyable time. All of our kids (6 of them) were born from February of 03 to September of 05 so they are so close that they all enjoy doing the same things. We only went to a few places during the morning because they were so into the things they were doing, looking at, and playing with that there was no need for us to move on (see picture from the dinosaurs). We enjoyed a great lunch with tons of socializing and then we rode the carousel before going home. Delaney wanted to ride with Miss Codi (my friend who teaches Delaney's class at church on Wednesday nights, so she is super cool in Delaney's eyes). Delaney got to go on an animal that goes up and down for the first time. Carson and I stuck to the stationary giraffe - he's not a fan of the carousel in general, so I thought that the movement up and down on top of the movement in a circle would probably send him over the edge :-)

Friday was my dad's birthday, so we made a special cake for him out of swiss cake rolls, pudding, and cool whip. The kids had so much fun "helping" make it! They were so good at taking turns (and adorable with chocolate pudding on their lips - see picture). We also went to the mall to get Delaney's ballet shoes - fun!!! We stopped to play at the playland for a while and Delaney became a social butterfly introducing herself to all of the other little girls playing and asking what their names were - it seemed very grown up.

Friday night Delaney spent the night with Grammy and Grampy (what a birthday present, sorry dad!!!) From the stories I have heard they had a lot of fun and stayed up very late. Delaney got up early Saturday and didn't really care that we weren't there. Matt couldn't stand it anymore and finally called over there about 11 o'clock Saturday morning to check on her. She was doing fine and didn't so much care that he had called. However, we did get her back around lunchtime and she seemed excited to see Carson - so much for the parents, we're over rated anyway!

Saturday night we went to the mall and to Applebee's for dinner (me, the coupon queen, saved us $19 on dinner - thank you great waitress that let me use 4 coupons!!!).

When the kids wake up from their nap today we are taking them to see Delaney's "dance school." They are having an open house this afternoon and I thought it would be a good idea if she saw her classroom and teacher before she starts (Sept 6).

Delaney

Delaney's photos from her modeling debut can finally be seen at www.poutyprincess.com She is featured in the toddler section under bowbands, flower headbands, bows, and flower clippies.

If you know anyone that has little girls, please pass the webpage along to them - their products are adorable!!!

Have a great week!
Gretchen

August 17

I have to recap 2 weeks this time - I really need to get on the ball.

I will start with the highlight of going to the State Fair!! We took the kids Monday afternoon/evening and we had so much fun! We started by walking through the kids area where they, of course, found a play set to climb on. Following that we decided to walk to where all of the animals and food are. We stopped to see the horses and everyone got to touch one. Carson went straight for the eye, but with a quick redirection he hit the nose and didn't upset the horse enough to make it go crazy on us :-) We then stopped for a shake - which both of our children managed to down almost a whole one alone - pigs!! We then got to see a sheep being sheared and the kids got to touch it when he was done. Carson fed some animals and Delaney drew some pictures in the kids building. The kids ate corn dogs while we sat on the "main street" and watched the tractor parade. It was very fun this year b/c they were so into everything around them (see picture - my camera died about 15 minutes into the gate - I was furious and sickened!!! This is what they looked like at every single animal pen that we stood near - adorable!!).



We also took them to the zoo last Thursday because it was members ride free night. The zoo stayed open later and we got the ride the train at no charge. That was the first time they had ever been on the train, so they were very excited. It is a short ride and you don't really see any animals on it, mostly just the buildings - admin, vet, food preparation - but the kids thought it was great. We also ate dinner there and they got to play in the water - they have this area where water randomly shoots out of pipes in the ground and they had a blast putting their faces over it and waiting to get shot in the face!!

During the day on Saturday we went to Matt's fraternity softball tournament in Franklin. We showed up right before lunch and watched one game, had lunch with him, and then came home for naps. It was fun to visit with everyone and for our kids to play with some of our college friend's children. In the evening, we had dinner with Shannon and Aaron as a going away - I'm searching for a word, not party or celebration b/c we're sad to see her go for 8 weeks - but mourning doesn't sound right b/c she's doing something she wants to do. You get the idea - we went out with them to say goodbye to her until Jess' wedding. We went back to their house to visit for a while and let our kids drag out every toy they have in their house!!

Last week we helped watch Seth some while my sister and brother-in-law were in Florida. We picked him up from daycare on Wednesday and Delaney has never squealed so much in the car. They would look at each other and then kick and laugh like they were the funniest things alive!! It was so cute. Seth ate dinner with us that night and Delaney informed him that if he didn't eat his peas he couldn't have a treat. I had to break the news to her that Seth isn't into treats and he eats just to be healthy - what a concept!!!

I am starting to go into work a little more b/c I have been asked to up my hours some, so I went to work yesterday for the day and my mom watched the kids all day. They were all having a discussion about something during the day, but she said that Carson said that whatever they were talking about was "disgusting." She said it sounded so much like Delaney she almost couldn't tell who was talking. I do agree, they are more like twins every day!!

Today we went to the park with 2 of my friends (the 2 that I go out to dinner with once a month) and their youngest kids (their big kids went back to school this week). Then we took a lunch trip to McDonalds with them. It was so much fun to see all of our kids interact with each other. That was really the first time they had ever been around each other. Delaney was seen with her arm around Emilia (she's 18 months old) and Carson and Logan (he's 4) were running through the grass like wild men numerous times!

I signed Delaney up for ballet and tap. She will be starting the week of Labor Day. I didn't realize how expensive this "habit" was going to be. But for the class she has to have a pink leotard, pink tights, pink ballet shoes, and tan tap shoes - yikes!!! And, for the recital she has to have 2 outfits - we'll be doing a fundraiser in the fall - look for me to be hitting you all up :-)

I think that about wraps up our life. I will be better with the funny stories next week - if I don't write them down, they are gone from my head!

Love,
Gretchen

I'm on a roll!

The week has come and gone and it has been fairly uneventful. It has become very steamy here and we have been avoiding the heat! Yesterday we played outside for about 45 minutes from 9:30 to 10:15 b/c it was so stinking hot I couldn't bear it. I bribed them inside with the promise of Sesame Street and Mr. Rogers - big time excitement in this house!!!

On Sunday we took a day trip to Grandma Teri's house to help her celebrate her 50th birthday. We (Aaron, Shannon, Darrell, Jess, and our family) surprised her for a 9am breakfast. We spent the day watching the kids give Bailey (a chocolate lab) a bath in the baby pool and ride tricycles, eating fresh cucumbers from the garden and we even took in a few laps of the Brickyard before Matt, Carson, and I fell asleep. Of course, I had Delaney sitting on my lap, so that nap didn't last for long. It was topped off by a trip to Frickers (a bar/restaurant) by the girls (Teri, Shannon, Jess, and myself) to enjoy a drink while we waited on wings for the hungry crew at the house. It was nice to enjoy a few quiet moments with "the girls."

We spent lots of time with friends this week. I had some high school friends over on Monday and a friend home for the summer over on Tuesday. On Wednesday we met a friend from church at the park, however, she is 7 and a half months pregnant, so she only lasted about an hour in the heat. We enjoyed a visit from Grandpa Bub last night (enjoy the picture!!).

Excitement from the week - Carson pooped in the potty tonight. I know that doesn't seem to exciting for some of you, but we're hoping it spurs Delaney on to thinking it's a great idea (she did poop in the potty once this week, and yes, Aunt Shannon, it was HUGE!)! He seemed very proud of himself and is well on the road to being potty trained. He goes everytime we sit him on the potty, but he won't tell us when he needs to go, we just have to guess right now - it's working though.

Delaney has been reading Charlotte's Web at bedtime and she finished it last night, so I took her to the video store this afternoon and we rented the cartoon version so we could have a movie night. She seemed to enjoy it, although she was a little upset a few times.

We have enjoyed 4 tomatoes off of Goliath - wow did they taste good! It's amazing what growing it yourself does to it, probably helps that it is very fresh when it hits the table.

Love to all,
Gretchen

July 28

Busy we are indeed, however, I have found time to sit down, relax (not really), and write an update nevertheless. Today was fun filled - we signed Delaney up for a class at the Children's Museum about Healthy Bodies. The class was pretty much a waste of $10, but she didn't see that - only the teacher in me did :-) Matt took Carson and did some museum exploring - they went to all of the places I've never taken the kids before - to splash in the Scienceworks water (all of it, even Carson admitted he was soaked), to see the Dale Chihuly garden, and to the Passport to the World (which Matt says Carson wasn't very fond of). Delaney and I played in the Health House, decorated a Kleenex box, made a healthy collage (q-tips, cotton balls, bandaids, stickers of happy faces), and used the doctor kit to check each other out. It was quite fun. We met back up at 11:15 and went to ride the carousel. It was a nice morning!!

This week has been great, crazy, tiring, and fast! Matt and I went out for our anniversary on Sunday evening and Shannon and Aaron took the kids to Aaron's parent's pool. They got to eat McDonalds and pee outside - yes, that is all I've heard about!! Monday we played in the backyard b/c our play date plans were cancelled b/c of a sick baby (not in our house). Then, my parents had the kiddos Tuesday night while Matt and I went to see Jimmy Buffett here - FUN!!!! Matt took Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday off work, so we took the kids to the library and to play at a park on Wednesday. On Thursday we went to the mall and a big pet store, the kids were HILARIOUS jumping from fish to hamster to bird and squealing with delight over each one. We had high hopes of going to the zoo, but it rained like CRAZY during the night and we decided we didn't want to be wet and gross all day. Thursday night we went to see Buffett in Cinci with Shannon, Aaron, Teri, and Jeff - FUN again!!!! Then, Friday morning my mom got up with the kids (she had spent the night on our couch) and we slept until a little after 9 -wow!!! Then we all got cleaned up and went to a China Buffet for lunch. That has been our week (in a nutshell).

Gretchen

PS To all of Matt's family, does the picture of Carson remind you of anyone?!?

Update, July 21

Since I did just send an update on Monday, this one won't be as long as you all are used to. However, it is only fair that Matt gets pictures of himself sent out close to his birthday. We used the time while he was at work to make him brownies for his birthday treat. Enjoy the picture of the kids during this process - hilarious!!!! They were very into making them special for daddy, so they picked through all of the mini M&Ms in our house to find all of the oranges and blues (lesson there - don't eat any mini M&Ms from our house b/c they have all been touched by the kids now). We iced the brownies with orange icing and then sprinkled the M&Ms on them. The kids liked to stick their M&Ms on so that they got icing on their fingers which then, of course, had to be licked off!! It was so much fun to do this for him this year b/c they were very into surprising him with the treat and the gifts. I took them to Kohl's and let them each pick out a shirt for him. Then they got to wrap it up in tissue paper and stick it in a bag for him. They were so proud of themselves.

Matt's dad surprised him by planting a new bat in his bat bag. Matt had a game at 10:30pm on his birthday, so I asked my dad to come sit in the house and listen to the kids sleep so I could go take pictures. Matt didn't even notice that it wasn't his usual bat until someone else pointed it out. In his defense, it was white just like his old one, but still, it was in plastic, come on buddy!!! He was very surprised and excited and had a few good hits with it during the game.

Tomorrow is our anniversary so the kids will be spending some quality time with Aunt Shannon and Uncle Aaron. Then we are off to two Jimmy Buffett concerts (one Tuesday and one Thursday), so they will get some quality time with Grammy and Grampy (my parents) this week too...lucky kids AND lucky parents!!

Love to you all,
Gretchen

Update, July

Okay, I have been a slacker. I have no excuse except it's summer!! We have been having so much fun I haven't even had a chance to sit down and type an update. But, I thought our doctor's appt last week deserved one!! Delaney weighed in at 29lbs 8 oz and was 35 1/2 inches tall. Carson weighed in at 29lbs 13 oz and was 36 inches tall. I think their heights are reversed b/c I think she is 1/2 inch taller than him, but that is how they wrote them down for me. Carson was in the 75th to 90th percentile for both height and weight and Delaney was in 10th to 25th for height and 25th to 50th for weight. They DEFINITELY do look like twins, although getting asked that question once during every outing does get annoying!!



We had an exciting 4th of July week. We took the kids to the Beech Grove fireworks on the 3rd with Aunt Shannon and Uncle Aaron. They did great!! We bought them popcorn from a vendor when we first got there and they sat and munched on it until a few minutes before the fireworks started. Carson fell asleep about 2 minutes into them and was only startled a few times, but quickly went right back to sleep. Delaney was too in awe to sleep, but she did sleep the whole way home (all of 10 minutes). They were so great that night that we decided to take them downtown after we spent the evening at my parent's house, but, a little rain made us decide not to brave that, probably a good idea b/c they ended up not starting until 10:30...yikes!!! On Friday (the 6th) we went to Madison to see the Regatta parade. Luckily our family has great connections and we watched in front of an air conditioned shop that we could escape to when the heat was too unbearable. The kids had more fun parading through the shop (with Grandpa Bub in tow) going back and forth between the food in the back room and the parade on the street. After the parade we (Matt and I) walked along the river while Grandpa Bub chased the kids up and down the street. It was very nice to visit with all of the family for the evening and to let the kids experience Regatta. We think a hotel room may be necessary for next year so that we can take in all of the events of the weekend. We drove home that night with 2 sleeping beauties!

That pretty much catches you up on our life - lots of parks, picnics, swimming in the baby pool, and walks have also consumed our time. We love to be outside, so the lack of rain has been welcomed in our house; not welcomed by our grass that is prickly, but that's okay...we have shoes!!

I'll try to be better with these updates.....

Love to you all!
Gretchen

Birthday "season" is over

Carson woke up yesterday asking if it was his birthday. No, sorry buddy, not for another year. What a let down! After all the build up of a party the weekend before and talking about what he wants to do on his special day and then it's just over. He had so much fun though! We had a normal play in the backyard morning, because that is what he asked for. After naps we went to Steak 'n' Shake where he devoured a cheeseburger and french fries (I did not order him cottage cheese as he is used to....only fries!!). Then we went to the mall so he could play in the playland as this was his original request for the morning, but he changed it after I had fixed my hair and put on make up - love boys - no concept of what we go through to go out in public - guess it starts young!! Then, we ate his birthday treat at the mall. He wanted brownies, but I didn't see the point of making a whole pan for the four of us, so we bought some huge brownies with thick icing at the mall and Delaney had hers gone in less than 10 minutes. Carson ate less than 1/2 of his at the mall and brought the rest home. Car really seemed to enjoy his gifts and went to bed a happy 2 year old!

The rest of our week was pretty exciting also. On Wednesday we went to the Children's Museum with some friends of ours. We got to see the trains, dinosaurs, and take a ride on the carousel. This was Carson's first trip on the carousel where he didn't freeze up and freak out on me. It was very fun!

On Monday and Wednesday we had swim lessons. We alternated the kids in and out of the water in 10/15 minute intervals since the doctor didn't like how Matt's hand was healing so he couldn't put it in nasty public pool water (his hand looks great now, so I'm glad he didn't risk it). The kids did a very good job of understanding that it was the other one's turn and they would have to sit with Daddy for a while till they got to get in again or until it was over. I was impressed with their maturity in this area. I expected there to be tears, screaming, and kicking involved, but it didn't happen.

Friday was full of adventure also. Kevin (Matt's dad) and Matt decided to do some modifications to our deck. I thought I'd escape with the kids, but they did such a good job when Kevin and Matt went outside that we decided to stick around. I was worried that they'd stand at the door and yell for them or knock on windows and distract them. That didn't happen until after they woke up from their naps, then they decided to be "annoying." So, we left and I dropped them off with Grammy (my mom) and took my dad with me to get dinner for everyone. We met back up at our house and enjoyed fish fry food and good company before Kevin and Matt went back out to tackle the deck. The hot tub hole has been made and the hot tub is in it. The new addition to the deck is framed and the wood is sitting on it. However, today it has decided to mist and sprinkle most of the day, so there hasn't been any progress. Hopefully by the end of the week I can send pictures of the completed project. I am going to have to keep the kids out of the backyard until it is done, so I hope it happens fast :-)

I will attach a few cute pictures from the week. Enjoy!

Gretchen

It's only fair that the birthday boy gets a picture sent out on his birthday too! He chose to stay home and swim in the backyard this morning. As of before his birthday nap we are going to Steak 'n' Shake and having brownies for a birthday treat. We'll see if that is still the plan when he wakes up.

Enjoy!
Gretchen

We had a party!!

Delaney and Carson threw a wild Backyardigans party on Saturday night! We had a nacho/taco bar and then they opened presents. They were thrilled with every single one and they have all been played with constantly since Saturday evening. New books have been read a few times, stuffed animals have been cuddled, trains have ran all over the living room floor! Carson has been a fireman and Delaney a train conductor. New outdoor toys have been played with inside (minus the water, of course) because it is just too hot to go out and enjoy them. Binoculars have been used (in the car and in Olive Garden) and puzzles have been done and undone (and done and undone again). All in all, they are both happy and we are excited that they have some new things to do.

The week leading up to the party was fairly uneventful. We had fill-ins for swimming lessons because Matt couldn't get his stitches wet, at least not in a public pool. Aunt Shannon went with us on Monday and Rachelle (a college age girl from church who loves our kids dearly) went with us on Wednesday. Hopefully today Matt can go again. He is supposed to get his stitches out this morning, but I still don't know that his wound should be exposed to the nasties of a public pool...we'll see what they say.

Enjoy the pictures!

Gretchen

Birthday girl!

I thought you would all enjoy a peek at Delaney on her big third birthday. She wanted to go to a new park this morning, so that's what we did!! She also talked about a birthday hat all weekend, so I made her the hat she's wearing last night. I bought the foam tiara at JoAnn, I just put her name and a 3 on it...she thinks she's the queen!!

We're getting old!

It is hard for us to believe that on Monday our baby girl will be 3 years old. Something about that number makes her not seem like a baby anymore. A few of her hilarious stories from this week make us realize that she really isn't a baby. Thursday afternoon she was playing with Little People while I was cleaning up the lunch dishes and I heard her saying, "Your body tensed, your eyes grew wider, and your mind raced." As I peeked around the corner at her she turned her back to me and kept on playing. She was taking the phrase from a Sesame Street book that she loves to read about being afraid of the dark. Then, tonight we were getting ready to leave the house and I was trying to put her shoes on her. We were having a time of it and she was getting very frustrated with me. She slumped herself down on the floor and said, "Mom, this is ridiculous." I couldn't look up at her I was laughing sooooo hard! By the time I did look up it looked like I'd been crying! She's not a baby, is she?!?

Carson has had quite the week. We started swim lessons on Monday and he was ready to go all day long. He woke up from his nap and felt rather steamy, but I assumed it was just from snoozing so long, so we changed our clothes and headed off to lessons. As we were nearing the end of lessons he became very clingy and whimpery. By the time we got home, we knew something was wrong. He went from bad to worse throughout the next 3 hours...he had a fever of 103 and was unhappy about everything. By Tuesday morning when I called the doctor he seemed to be doing better, but I thought he should be checked out anyways. Luckily we went because he had strep throat...yuck! He was totally better by Wednesday morning.

They both did great at swim lessons on Wednesday...Delaney loves to jump in "alone" and swim "alone." She claims to be ready for the class that we don't have to get into the water with her. She may be ready, but we're not!! Carson is still timid at lessons, but he was a wild man in our plastic pool in the backyard. He was in and out and up and down. He fell over twice which resulted in a face full of water and he just came up spitting and laughing. Hope that helped loosen him up for lessons on Monday.

Matt has news - for the safety of everyone in our county, he won't be a fireman anytime in the near future. I say for the safety of everyone in our county because somehow, at his desk job today, he managed to try to cut his thumb off....anyone see an issue there?!? He came home before lunch with 10 stitches. On the downside though, he really did find out that he didn't get the job at our local fire dept. However, after much debating with himself, he did go sign the application to start the hiring process at the Indianapolis Fire Dept. It also looks to be a 6 month process, so don't look for any updates in the near future. He was placed on a list that the three townships he interviewed with will hire from. That list is good for 2 years, so, theoretically, he could get a call at anytime that he's next on the list.

I am off to rifle through the closet of gifts to see what Delaney will be getting Monday. I'd tell you all what we bought her tonight, but some of you can't keep a secret, so you'll have to wait to see the picture of her getting it Monday evening. Her birthday will be action packed with swim lessons and dinner out. She's requested Chinese :-) That's my girl!!!!

Have a wonderful weekend!
Gretchen

June, seriously?!?

Wow - June already! It doesn't seem right that this month we will have a 2 year old and a 3 year old. Time flies when you are having fun and we have had fun this week! It has been an action packed week full of family and fun. On Monday we went to Meemo's (Matt's grandma) house for "Meemorial" day. She lives on a lake so there was plenty of fishing, swimming, and a few canoe rides. Delaney liked the idea of fishing, she even held and kissed a fish. Carson's attention span isn't quite as long, but he thought it was pretty fun for the first 10 minutes or so. They both swam in the lake. Delaney turned into a fish!!! She loved splashing around with Grandpa Bub and even learned to swim a few feet away from him - wearing a life jacket, of course! The ride home was longer than expected, because we thought that the kids would crash fast from the water and the lack of normal naps (Carson did snuggle up with Chelsea for a shorter than usual nap mid afternoon). However, the trip home consisted of 45 minutes of quiet time while they watched a movie and then a lot of whining, screaming, kicking, etc.... while they, mostly Delaney, wanted out. With the promise of Taco Bell, they quieted down and we made it home without too much stress.

While we were at Meemo's house we talked about Chelsea (Matt's cousin) coming to stay with us for the rest of the week so that I could get my garage sale stuff ready. She agreed, so Matt's dad brought her up Wednesday. I was able to get so much done because she was here. We had a lot of fun together. Wednesday we went to Kohl's and Ritter's (ice cream!!). Then, Thursday night she watched my favorite Friends DVD and we sat and ate ice cream and Oreo's at 11 o'clock at night....very fun! It was nice to have someone else around to help keep an eye on the kids so I could feel productive. I think we are almost ready for the garage sale....still some sorting and pricing that needs to be done, that's where I'm headed next.

Love to you all!!
Gretchen

Friday, May 25

Today is worthy of an update all by itself! We (as zoo members) got to preview the new waters building this afternoon/evening. It was very exciting for everyone involved. Carson said "scared, go away" many times! Although he warmed up to everything after we stood there for a minute or two. Delaney got to touch a shark - yes, a real one! She really didn't hesitate at all, which shocked me. I got to see the jelly fish. Not as beautifully displayed as the ones at the aquarium we went to on vacation, but still jelly fish. Matt got to touch the shark also and see the penguins. They added a new "window" in the floor that you can walk on and watch the penguins swim under you....very cool!! I highly recommend it to anyone in the area.

This week was also a week of Delaney the fairy princess. My mom and I go to garage sales on Saturday morning and last week we found this purple skirt made out of netting with flowers inside of it. She bought it for Delaney and she has worn it for a while every day. She wore it to my parents house on Sunday evening and then to Walmart on Monday. Even Carson has had a turn with it...although Matt has forbid me to include those pictures :-) I also bought her a Disney princess nightgown and she has had to pull out the plastic high heels from the dress up box to wear with it in the mornings.....she's so cute. She also picked out her new "big girl" bedding at Target this week, but it is a little pricey....maybe a birthday present. If you go to Target.com, you can look at it if you search for simply shabby chic fairytale quilt. At least I know she has good taste!!!!

I am headed off to a garage sale this morning...we're looking for more dress up clothes today, they were a big hit!

Happy Birthday to Clay and Shannon M. - I got one of yours on the actual day and the other one not - but I can't remember which is which.

Love,
Gretchen

What a week!! Delaney has decided that right before her third birthday, she should go back into the terrible twos. I think it is just to remind us how blessed we were for a while to have two children who behaved most of the time. This week has been pretty stressful. I've raised my voice some and even brought out the spanking stick....yikes!!

We have done some fun things this week though. Today we went to the Zoo. We took Grammy to see the butterflies, she'd never seen them before. They were beautiful, although I think just my mom and I thought so. The kids were ready for the dolphins after about 5 minutes of the butterflies. I did manage to get one into the elevator with us, but it escaped before the door closed - lucky us!! I can imagine that the kids would have freaked out being in such close proximity to it and not being able to escape from it.



Yesterday Aunt Shannon came over to visit and the kids showed off for her for a while. Delaney has a song and dance routine which Shannon found hilarious, so Delaney kept doing it. And Carson kept singing the Sesame Street theme song - over and over and over!! We finally started suggesting other songs hoping he'd get side tracked, but they all seemed to lead back to "Sunny days....."

On Wednesday morning I had a meeting at church, so Delaney and Carson got to play in the classroom that Delaney is in now. Carson will be moving into that room in June and Delaney will be moving out, so she took him around and showed him where the toys were and the sticker charts....I think he's ready now!!

I tried to get Matt to type his own news, but he wouldn't so I will tell you all that he got a call yesterday to go for a second interview on Tuesday (4 days from now) at 3:45. He didn't realize that a second interview was part of the process, so I think the stress level is a little higher this time - FUN for those of us living with him!!!

Have a wonderful weekend! I hope everyone's weather is as beautiful as ours!!!
Gretchen

Late, Again

Hello all!! I have no excuse for not sending this out on time, except that I decided to take the entire Mother's Day weekend as a holiday for myself. Friday evening I helped my mom with the Mother Daughter banquet at our church. Saturday we went to garage sales (great ones, sorry Jill) and to a nursery (flowers, no babies) in the morning and then to the mall in the evening. On Sunday, we went to church and then all of my family went out to dinner at The Old Spaghetti Factory downtown. Very fun weekend!!!

Last week was a lazy get back into the swing of things kind of week. We did laundry all day Monday, we grocery shopped (with Grammy b/c I still can't do the big trips alone) on Tuesday, and on Wednesday we cleaned around here and made dinner for a friend of mine who had surgery. It was her son's 4th birthday, so we made him some yummy chocolate chip cookie treats. Delaney chose to ice them with purple (which we made) and then Carson chose the green sugar crystals to roll them in. I might have had to sample one just for quality assurance - yummy!!

By Thursday I decided we were all ready for some excitement, so when the kids asked to go to the Children's Museum, I jumped on the chance to be away from the house for a while. We toured the trains, dinosaurs, pretties (glass sculpture), and carousel (which Carson was petrified of this visit) before eating lunch and going home for naps. It was a very fun morning!

While we were at the nursery on Saturday morning, Delaney decided she wanted to grow tomatoes. The lady working was VERY helpful in getting us started. The plant has been named Goliath (it will actually yield Goliath tomatoes, or so they tell me). She is excited to be growing Bobs (Veggietales - www.bigidea.com). So, hopefully, we'll actually see a tomato or two before it's over. I think it has grown already :-) We also noticed today while we were playing outside that we had about 20 to 30 green strawberries. Very exciting b/c for the past 2 years they have been VERY neglected!!

We'll keep you all posted on the tomatoes, hopefully they'll grow faster than I get that kitchen makeover completed!! Summer project, Jill?!?

Gretchen

We're Home

Meemo gave me great advice before we set out on this adventure - "The most important thing to take is patience and a good sense of humor." She sure does know what she is talking about!! I journaled on Matt's laptop while we were gone. I will just cut and paste some of it - all of it would be far too long for anyone with a life to sit and read!!

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Monday, April 30, 2007
We left at our decided time - the crack of dawn. The kids both woke up when we tried to put them in the car. They both stayed awake until 2pm - AHH!!! We stopped to change them into their clothes, then stopped for breakfast, and again at a rest area to potty and play. Later in the morning we saw a billboard for a McD with a new playland, so we decided to check it out…only 17 miles down the road. We stopped there – it was Hickville USA. Matt said it was like being in Cheers, everyone greeted everyone else as they came in. The playland was nice though. We then took off with the hopes of making it to the hotel while they slept - HA - they both slept for a little over an hour and we had 3 hours to go! We finally made it to the hotel, checked in, Matt unloaded the car, and we walked over to Taco Bell for some dinner. After dinner we took a splash in the pool – kind of gross, but it was water nonetheless. Delaney was a fish! She was jumping off the steps and wanting to swim around…impressive considering it had been since last fall that she’d seen a pool. Carson was timid at first, but loosened up and enjoyed LOTS of games of Ring Around the Rosey.

Tuesday, May 1, 2007
We arrived at Grandpa Dick's in less than 2 hours – that was a nice short trip compared to yesterday. Matt unloaded the car and then we had some lunch. We walked to a really nice park and let the kids play for a while. After dinner, we enjoyed a quiet evening of Good Eats and Wheel of Fortune. Then, after baths with Daddy, we were all off to bed. The kids slept like a charm – I was very impressed.

Wednesday, May 02, 2007
We went to the Philadelphia Zoo. We had so much fun. The zoo is much larger than ours and has lots of neat exhibits. Some of the favorites were the snakes and amphibians, the Children’s Zoo where we got to pet goats, and, of course, the ice cream shop. Matt got to eat one of Nathan’s famous hot dogs (from the hot dog eating contest) – he was so excited.

Thursday, May 03, 2007
This morning we awoke to “Carson?.....Carson?” “What Naney, what?” Adorable, but not before 7am. We went to Uncle Jeff and Aunt Patrice’s house. We made it there and took a tour of the house and the grounds. Carson scared me to death by the pond, so we tried to steer clear of it. We ate lunch on their porch and then we took a tour of the barn that houses old firetrucks. Carson made the siren go and he was in awe, and scared to death, of the noise. Delaney did it too, but it didn’t seem to phase her as much. We left there with a totally worn out boy and a happy girl with a dandelion in both hands.

We went to the mall in the evening and ate at Ruby’s Diner. It had a train going around the top and Harleys on display…fun! The food was very dinery delicious. Then, Grandpa and Anna Marie took the kids to ride on the car, bus, truck, horse, etc…. Matt and I took up residence on a bench and observed. It was a nice 15 minute break for us.

Friday, May 04, 2007
After breakfast we took off to the Adventure Aquarium in Camden, NJ. Wow – it was awesome and I’m an adult. We got to see lots of water creatures up close, including walking through a shark tunnel. We watched them feed penguins and saw 2 divers in the water with stingrays, huge sea turtles, sharks, and other littler fish.

For dinner we went to a Japanese Seafood buffet - kind of gross considering our morning :-) However, they had a row of sushi that was probably 25 feet long - Matt loved it!!! Delaney became an EXCELLENT chopstick user (way better than her mommy!!). She used them for her entire meal. The kids got balloons on the way out of the restaurant and they had a blast with them the whole way back to the house.

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The story ends with a long drive home packed full of patience and a good sense of humor!! We are here now and I am playing laundry catch up. The kids are enjoying having all of their toys and being able to run free.

Love you all!!
Gretchen

slacker, slacker

Okay, for any of you who have prepared to spend more than 10 hours in the car with your kids, you can totally understand why this is a day late. I have been hitting dollar stores and libraries for new and exciting things to see and do. With that said, I apologize for the delay. We are gearing up for a trip to Pennsylvania to visit the "Great Grandparents Grossman." We are almost ready - yeah right!! Anyone who knows me well knows that I perform best under pressure, so, I packed the kids clothes this afternoon and haven't touched a thing of my own yet. As for snacks, they are all bought, and toys, they are divided out in my head, but none of them are packed either. That is for tonight after the kids finally crash (they are taking a bath right now). We will be leaving bright and early (hopefully by 5am) on Monday morning, but tomorrow is full with church, lunch, and then I have new mom's Bible study from 5 to 8pm. Stressed?!? Maybe a little. Excited?!? Very much so.

This week Delaney amazed us with her "growing up" skills. After dinner one night Matt was washing the dishes and I was cleaning off the table. They were both playing in their rooms and it got oddly quiet. I went back to Car's room to check on them and Delaney was "changing" his poopy pants. Only issue was she couldn't reach the wipes or the diapers, so, she had just taken the poopy pants off and then was "talking" him through the process. Cute?!? There wasn't poop all over his room, so it was cute. Had they both been covered, it would have been a different story.

While we were at the store this week getting vacation essentials, Delaney picked out new "big girl" toothpaste for herself. She picked it out by saying "That toothpaste has princesses on it. I am a princess. We should get that for me." Well, okay :-)

Hopefully next week I'll steal some time at the computer and get this out on time - but don't hold your breath.

Gretchen

Matt's Life

Some cool things are happening in my life right now also. As most of my family has been stressing over why I would need my birth certificate, I have just been sitting back basking in knowing something that they didn't. Needless to say nobody actually figured it out and now that I've told Bub in person I feel that I can let everyone else know...

I'm going through the process of what could be a major career change. I'm pretty far into the hiring process of some local fire departments (Wayne & Franklin Townships, and Speedway). Nothing to get excited about yet, but hey maybe more people knowing and pushing for me will be a good thing.

Day Late, Dollar Short

Seems to be the motto of my life this week - always behind!!! This week I was a "working girl" again. Wow, what a different world it is! I substitute taught at the school I left after I had Carson for the K4 class. It was so much fun, but it has put me FAR behind on my weekly "to do" list. The kids got to spend a day with Daddy, a day with Grandpa Bub (Matt's dad) and a day with Grammy (my mom). It was a fun week for them, though a little confusing. I was the recipient of lots of cuddles in the evenings. Then, I babysat a boy from our church on Friday - that resulted in me having to call my mom in for backup because Delaney was none too thrilled that on the day I had finally stayed home with her, I was giving all of my attention to this "other child." Luckily, once mom came, things seemed to calm down a bit and the afternoon returned to normal pace.

I am glad that I didn't force myself to write this update last night, because I have the cutest and funniest story from this morning. We went to the library on Thursday evening and we got a Curious George book about him making pancakes. So, when we read it yesterday I said maybe we could have pancakes for breakfast on Saturday. Delaney woke up a little after 7 o'clock and did her usual screaming for me routine. I went in (in my jammies) and ask her what she needed. She said, "Is it time to get up yet?" So, I told her no (of course I'd love some more sleep!!). She rolled over and said okay. I went back to bed for a few minutes but couldn't go back to sleep so I decided I'd get up and get some things done before the whole house was awake. When I came out of the bathroom she was in bed with Matt. I went in and asked what she was doing in there and she just smiled. So I said, "I was getting up to come get you out of bed and snuggle with you." She sat up and said, "I'll go back in there then." So I laid down in our bed and we snuggled for a while. Then I asked her if she'd like to help me make the pancakes so they'd be ready when Car woke up. So, we went out to the kitchen and she dumped all the ingredients into the bowl and helped me mix up the batter. Then she directed the chocolate chip placement (so we could add smiley faces like they did in the book - of course, in the book they used blueberries - close enough!!). She must have done a good job making them because she ate more for breakfast then I've ever seen her eat before. She had 2 and a half pancakes and almost 2 pieces of sausage - piggy wiggy!!!!

All in all, it was a wonderful waking up and breakfast experience!! Then, the kids were GREAT for us and played in the garage while we did some serious spring cleaning. For those of you who have seen our garage before - it now looks like a one and a half car garage (in Matt's words) because we cleaned out that much junk!!

Have a great rest of your weekend!
Gretchen

Friday the 13th

We had a busy, but wonderful Easter weekend!! The kids had an Easter egg hunt at church on Saturday morning and then we hit McDonald's on our way to Seth's first birthday party My children were total party crashers - tried to open up every present he had - luckily he won't remember it - oh yes he will - I took a zillion pictures of it all. Those bratty cousins of his!!!

Sunday, the kids woke up to find Easter baskets full of books, magnetic letters, and yogos (yogurt covered fruit snacks). FUN!! Then, we got them dressed for church and they posed like little models for pictures (see attachment). We had a relaxing lunch and afternoon naps and then went to my parent's house for dinner.

On Monday the kids stayed with Aunt Jess (and Uncle Darrell until our cats ran him out of the house - he's allergic) while we took our mom's through "the house." We spent the rest of the evening getting them back down from a "time with a non-parent high."

Delaney had her modeling debut on Wednesday afternoon. She is going to be modeling hair bows for my friend's company. So, we got to go to her first "photo shoot." She was a star model. I have to brag on her because I thought it was very neat to see her in a different element and to see how she reacted. We arrived at the studio and the three other girls were already there getting into their first outfits. She stood still while I changed her clothes (all 7 times) and then watched the other girls get their pictures taken while she waited patiently for her turn. The other moms were shoving candy at their girls to get them to behave and then wondering why they weren't - hello, sugar high?!? One of the other mom's had brought suckers for all of the girls and as I put Delaney's into her bag, explaining that she could have it after dinner, she didn't utter a whine (very unlike her recently, and no, she isn't sick!). When we were finished, we needed to stop at Walmart to get milk for Carson, so I told her we could walk through the toy section for a reward (not a bribe) because she behaved because she was told to and I was so proud. She picked out an 88 cent ball - how cute is that!! She also wound up with plastic lunch trays - two, of course, because that wouldn't have been fair to Carson. And, to top it all off, a tshirt that says "Daddy's Little Sweetie" with a picture of a cupcake. I had held up the one that said "Little Hollywood" in glitter - appropriate for the reason why she was getting it, but she opted for the cupcake one instead.

All in all, we had a great week - until tonight (fitting that it is Friday the 13th). Carson is sick, he has a fever of 103.7 under his arm. However, right now he is sleeping tight in his bed - we'll see how long that lasts :-(

Until next week,
Gretchen

Mid-week Update

I feel bad keeping you all in suspense, so I thought I'd send out a midweek update. We are no longer "house hunting." We took some contractors and our mothers through it on Monday and it appears to be in much worse shape than we originally thought. I guess as we went into it the first time, we had no idea what we were getting into, so we didn't see all the little things, we just saw the major problems. After walking through it on Monday and seeing the dollar signs attached to each room, we rethought the idea. The bathrooms (remember, there were 3 and 1/2 of them) would be about $7000 each. The kitchen - $15000. It also needs heating and air conditioning, new windows, carpet, fresh paint - with some drywall repair in 4 rooms, a new front door and trim, new lighting fixtures in most rooms, major landscaping help, a fence, and the list goes on. I am sure our mothers could list even more than we could :-) So, we have decided to be happy in the close quarters we've been blessed with and to make some improvements here. Thanks to you all for your emails of encouragement. I am glad that the decision became very obvious (at least to me) after going through it again - I am sure that was a product of prayer!

Love to you all,
Gretchen

Happy Easter

On Sunday evening I kicked my family out, again. This time they packed up and went to Aunt Shannon and Uncle Aaron's house for the evening. I have heard all about it, from the kid friendly menu of chicken nuggets and fruit cocktail to the movie - The Lion King. There were no scary dreams about this movie (although I think it is much more frightening than Lady and the Tramp). Carson is very excited because his nighttime diapers have characters from The Lion King on them and he never really knew who they were, just a lion, etc... So, now he gets all excited because he can name them.

The rest of our week has been fairly uneventful due to the drastic change in weather. We spent Monday outside enjoying the warmth as we were sure it would change fast. Tuesday we ran errands all morning and then had a picnic in the backyard. However, by Tuesday afternoon, the rain and cold weather had moved in. The rain has ceased, but the air is still brisk. We had to break out the winter coats again yesterday - brrrrr!!!!

We had the opportunity to spend some time with my friend, Jennifer, Thursday morning before her and her husband leave for Kyiv (he is in the Foreign Service). They don't have children and I think she was in awe of what my life is like on a daily basis. It is simply routine to me, but I imagine being thrown into a room with an almost 2 and almost 3 year old is a slight bit frightening.

Funny stories on them both:
Delaney cracked us up this evening as we were getting ready to go out to dinner with my parents. I had told her she needed to hurry or we weren't going to be able to go and she said, "I'm just going to be moody when we get there." She is a woman already!!

Carson has had a silly phrase all week (that I don't even think my sister and brother-in-law have had a chance to hear) - he keeps saying, "Baby Seth, don't tell him." Because I told them they couldn't tell Seth (our nephew) what we bought him for his birthday. However, we watched Seth on Thursday evening and as soon as he walked in the door, what do you think Carson said - "Elmo on it." Sure enough, the present does have Elmo on it!! He doesn't quite get the secret concept yet - so you should all learn an important lesson here - don't tell him what you are getting me for my birthday :-)

Matt and I are no longer boring:
This might classify as the longest update I've sent, but I want you all to be thinking about us and praying for us during the next few weeks. There are a lot of decisions to be made, doors to be open and closed, patience to be tested, and faith to be put into practice - We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him. I've painted a very bleak picture, but I think that is just Matt coming out in me as I am definitely the optimistic one of the family. We, very unexpectantly, found the house of our dreams. It is gorgeous (although my description is certainly not going to sound like it). It sits on 1.5 acres (so far, so good) and it was built in 1900. The following link will show you the outside of it (http://www.talktotucker.com/2718204). We decided that we just couldn't let this one pass us by, so we set up an appointment to see the inside. Wow, were we amazed, both good and bad. The house is in "short sale" state, meaning that the people are about to be foreclosed on, so the bank gets to decide if we've offered enough to cover all that is owed. It looked as if the people had not cared about the house in a while and had decided to take anything that really mattered to them and leave the rest behind. There are rooms with bags, boxes, and piles of their belongings (books, magazines, craft supplies, cat food, toys, etc....). But, the house (with a lot of TLC) is perfect for us. It has 3 bedrooms upstairs and one on the main level (we'd have a guest bedroom!!!). It has a living room, family room, dining room, office, and sunroom. We are in love with it and are trying very hard to figure out how we can make this all work. We are going to walk through it again on Monday with the contractor who added the room to our house so he can give us prices on redoing all three of the full baths, one half bath, and the kitchen. Then we will be putting our house up for sale on Monday evening (provided that all of the numbers check out okay during the day). Then, we begin the waiting game. We are trying to remain very level headed and realize that if this is truly the house for us, then it will still be sitting there when our house sells, but it is hard to wait!! We don't think we could afford both of them, so we are hesitant to make an offer on the dream house until this one sells - okay, I've never been this long winded about anything before in an update. I will let that speak for itself.

You've seen pictures of them "playing winter" - here they are "playing summer."


Have a wonderful week and, hopefully, we'll have more news next week!
Gretchen

What A Week!

Someone very wise once told me that "Behind each cloud is a silver lining." We found our silver lining this week!! Delaney was her true self again by Tuesday and Carson learned a very important lesson last week - how to stand up for himself. I think he was frustrated with the constant whining and the lack of attention he was getting because of her demanding so much of us. So, he learned to be more assertive (good and bad altogether). With his new found attitude has come some new found discipline that he, like all of us, is not too fond of. He looks at you with this horrible "I can't believe you just said that to me, and in that tone" look and then says "Tuddle" while throwing himself into your lap. I think that is his way of apologizing. There is no way to capture his adorable way of speaking, email doesn't do it justice.

Wednesday morning at breakfast there was the most beautiful cardinal on our deck and Carson looked out the door and said "wooster." I told him it was a red bird, but now, if we talk about it, he still calls it a "wooster" and Delaney corrects him and says, "It was a red bird." We wish you could hear her saying it in her "correcting him" tone.

Thursday evening was the highlight of the whole week. We surprised the kids when they woke up from their nap by changing their clothes into their Elmo shirts and loading them into the van. We took them to Steak N Shake - a big treat. Then, we drove downtown to the Murat to see Sesame Street Live!!! It was so much fun to see the excitement in their eyes as the characters came onto the stage and began singing. It was better than watching them open presents!!! I will attach pictures of our evening so you can get a glimpse of the joy - we have about 30 pictures, but I thought you all would be angry if I attached that many - some of you would never be able to open another email.

Today they talked about Big Bird and Grover a lot. Carson also talked about going to Pampy's house and watching "Baby Eintein" - that happened over a month ago!!! We can't figure out what has made him obsess about this, but it is adorable. He tells strangers about it :-)

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!!
Love,
Gretchen, etc....