More celebrating in our house!

Today we took GEM to Cookie Cutters for her first haircut. At first she was so serious and not sure, but when the hairdresser showed her how to ring the bell on her fire engine seat and gave her suction cup balls to throw at the tv and mirror, she was more than happy to be there. :)

We also celebrated EMM's birthday today. She turns 7 on March 7th, but since Sean won't be here we wanted to celebrate with him. Wow were those little girls loud! So glad we had a couple of crafts to do! EMM wanted an under the sea party. It turned out great. Even our coffee filter fish turned out pretty well. Enjoy pictures once again.


















The haircut:

Going to miss Daddy!

I just have to share what happened the other day...

On Monday nights Sean usually stays at his mom's house in Clinton because he's at school late anyway (and it's a 45 min. drive home) and EMM has dance class, so he only sees the kids about an hour that night anyways.

This Monday EMM wanted to know if she could send daddy an e-mail at work. I told her after she finished her work she could. She finished and asked to e-mail him again.

Here's what she wrote:
dear daddy i hope you are having fun i am. i rily mis you. i mean rily rily mis you. i hope you do to. i have a broken hart becas you are not here. love EMM

Needless to say...he came home that night. :) I think she's going to miss him while he's in S. Korea.

The busy week ahead!

I am so proud that I got most of my house in order today. Well, until tomorrow arrives and we live in it anyway. :oP Tomorrow is my busy day. Bible study in the morning, straight to HEM's dance class, then home for a while. AWANA rounds out the evening. Thursday we are having another couple and 3 college kids over for supper. Those college kids get so excited about a free meal!! I remember those days though. Fortunately for them, we're just down the street from their school (St. Ambrose). Friday I've invited several moms over for lunch. I am contemplating making GEM's first hair cut appointment for Saturday morning at Cookie Cutters. They did EMM's first hair cut, too. They do a great job and have a special deal just for first hair cuts. Saturday afternoon we're celebrating EMM's birthday so we do it before Sean leaves. He leaves some time on Sunday for his 3 week overseas trip to S. Korea. He's excited. The kids are not so excited though. We looked at a map together yesterday to see where daddy would be. Feel free to pray for his safety and my sanity! I have talked with Grandma about us taking turns getting one on one time with the girls during his time away. I'm also excited about going to the Hearts at Home conference with Lori in March as well!

That's my excitement for this week. I'll get some pictures posted of EMM's party this weekend I hope.

GEM's 2nd Birthday

Here are a few pictures from GEM's 2nd birthday. The quilt was a treasured gift my friend Lori made for her using squares that people decorated during GEM's baby shower just before she was born. She found the perfect material with girl frogs on it to go with her room! She enjoyed her party and could open her gifts by herself. She gave the most reaction to the pajamas my mom sent her with ladybugs on them! She kept saying, "jammies"!! She laid them so carefully on the floor like they were glass! I can't believe she's 2! Now we're trying harder to potty train. She loves her Elmo panties!

Date Night

I woke up quite refreshed this morning. The girls went to Grandma's for the weekend yesterday so that Sean and I could go out for our late anniversary celebration tonight. It was nice to sleep uninterrupted. I've spent most of the day out shopping. Didn't really buy much. EMM's birthday party is next Saturday so I was trying to find a few gifts for her. I'm home now in a quiet house. Sean is relaxing on his computer and watching a movie while I type. We're going to Texas Roadhouse for supper. Yummy!! I'm in the mood for a steak tonight. I will look forward to another night of uninterrupted sleep tonight, too. I'm a night owl so it's nice to be able to stay up late and get up when "I" want to every now and then. I imagine after our date tonight I'll be making a date with all the laundry waiting to be put away.

Mom's Adventure

So I needed a shower this morning. The girls are downstairs entertaining GEM so I can accomplish this great feat. It begins in the usual way. I'm in the shower and look up to see a brown spider about the size of a half dollar. It's moving around in one spot and here it comes!! It's gonna come down and land on me! So I get out of the shower and grab the toilet brush. I get the spider and then, while the shower is still running, bam...the curtain and rod fall into the tub. ARGH!! The spider is beginning its descent from the brush so I get to the toilet and flush the bad guy down. Now I can turn off the shower and reassemble the shower curtain and rod while wet and cold! I finally get it up and resume my shower. Yay for a happy ending. :)

Not just a baby anymore

So yesterday we took the big step of taking down GEM's crib and putting the twin bed in. She was sooo excited. We haven't gotten her bedding yet (hopefully in the next couple of days), but we had the mattresses so we went ahead anyway. All she could say was, "GEM's bed!" After our last bedtime prayer in HEM and EMM's room GEM took off to "Gace's bed". Se was ready to try it out. I was a bit pathetic last night though. I kept waking up and going in to check on her throughout the night. She was fine and she slept better than I. :) Tomorrow she turns two! I can't believe how the years get faster and faster! That little youngun drives me (and her sisters) crazy sometimes, but I wouldn't trade her. We're working on holding up 2 fingers.

I have to go now because she's found more food to open in the cabinet.

Spring is in the air!

It is absolutely beautiful outside! I took the girls to the library after our brunch and then we hit a couple of consignment shops. We didn't even need coats!! Everything is melting and the alley ways are like streams glistening in the sun. How excited the girls were to step out the door and to see the anticipation of spring burst from their little bodies. But I reminded them, it's Iowa!! We could have a snowstorm next week, next month, even in April. We'll just appreciate the warmth while it's here. Too bad Sean had drill this weekend, it would have been nice to go for a walk together.

Even though it's beautiful I am only half enjoying it as my body is fighting off the cold the rest of the family has been suffering. My body is tired and my back aches so much I feel like an elderly lady who just stepped off a roller coaster.

We're less than a week away from GEM's 2nd birthday. It seems such a short time ago that we were getting the nursery ready for her and now we're getting her ready for the big girl bed! She'll have no problems opening her presents this year. She's a very independent little girl and very possessive as well so we'll see how she handles her party. :) We did plan the party for after her nap.

There's really nothing very exciting going on in my life at this moment. Sean made it back after a week in Springfield training with the Army. Today we went to watch the Super Bowl with friends. I only watched the commercials. :) I liked the one with the potato heads!

Now what lies ahead? Well, GEM is going to be 2 years old!! Time is going so fast. I pick up her invitations tomorrow. I just need to order her a cake and get snacks and I'm pretty well set. We'll be looking to remove the crib from her room as part of the transition to being 2. I'm actually sad to see it go since we aren't going to need it anymore. Even though it is sad, I am glad that I have 3 children and I don't desire to have any more. :) I know she'll be excited to be in a big bed. I now need to find bedding to go with her room, but I'm sure I'll come up with something. My friend is almost done with a quilt for her room. It is made up of squares that ladies from the baby shower made. It is absolutely adorable. I'll have to post a picture of it when I get it (should be on her birthday). So Lori, if you're reading this, you have yet another reason to finish soon so everyone else can see it, too! :o)

Well, when I get through GEM's birthday then it'll be EMM's. Holy cow!! 2 in a row! She's excited and keeps asking how many more days till her party.

I can't believe I'm still up. I'm so tired. So I'll end here for now.