Labor Day and School Dazed

I'm so far behind with finishing my post for our Disneyworld vacation, but I don't want it to keep me from adding some important updates. First of all, Eva turned 10 on September 3rd! She had an extraordinary birthday "week" of constant celebrations with various family members: Sunday (before) at Kalahari with Daddy and her cousins, Thursday (day) at Grandma Nancy's, Thursday (evening) at home celebrating early, and Friday (her actual birthday) at the Heart concert at DTE (Pineknob) with her dad, cousin Rachel and Aunt Alicia. Eva's Aunt Alicia is a big HUGE Heart fan, and because she's in their fan club, she had front row seats and wanted to treat Eva because it was her birthday. Well, I had reservations about Eva going to an "adult" concert, but I was so happy when she called me from the parking lot afterwards to tell me that they wished her a happy birthday from the stage, and personally gave her guitar picks. Then, afterwards the drummer walked over to her and gave her his drumsticks. Eva didn't care who they were, they were rockstars, and they made her birthday very special. Then on Saturday, we headed up to the Country Chalets in Mio with my family: Rob, Alise, Brian, Diane, Becky, Dan and all my wonderful neices and nephews. It was a very cold Labor Day weekend, but we celebrated Eva's birthday (AGAIN) and just had a great time. We went letterboxing, one of my favorite things to do, and bought the best baked goods from an Amish bakery. And we went to an Amish farm where Jaidyn, Jordan and Josh picked out bunnies to take home. No tubing on the river that weekend, but it was a very nice get-a-way.

School started September 7th. Eva's in fourth grade and her teacher is named Mrs. Koledo. She is the Linden superintendent's wife and very, very nice. I couldn't be happier with the way the school year has started out for Eva, she loves school and tells us how much she likes it every day. I'm so proud of her and so happy for her. Now Kayla is a completely different story.....

Kayla has been excited all summer about starting school, talking about it to everyone and getting her school supplies all ready. We signed her up for preschool at Care-A-Lot in Linden on Wednesday through Friday each week. Because we need daycare after school, she stays there after preschool and Eva rides the bus there on those days. Thursday, Todd gets out of work early, so it's really only two and a half days that she has to be there. There was not a doubt in my mind that she would run into school on the first day and take over the place. Boy was I wrong! Toddd and I both took her on Wednesday the 8th, and Kayla was a mess. She cried so hard when we dropped her off. I had to practically drag Todd out of there because he felt so bad leaving her. But I remember Eva crying the first day of preschool, and kids always stop when the parents leave. Not Kayla! I think she cried the whole day on and off. And that night, and the next morning, and the next, and even on the weekend! My heart was completely broken and I was wondering if we did the wrong thing. Eva likes it and the only reason Kayla mentions is that she hates to take naps and naptime is too long. Hmmmm, it sounds like someone is not adjusting well to rules and structure, something favorite Aunt Becky did not do for her this summer with all the spoiling. My sister is awesome, and I'll never be able to repay her or thank her enough for everything she's done for me. But, she has a hard time saying no to little K. :) Each day has been better, but it's a very slow process. On one hand I think this is good for Kayla (her teachers keep telling me I'm lucky we're doing this now before Kindergarten), but another part of me is very sad that my poor little Kayla is having such a hard time adjusting. I'm going to give it a little more time, it's only been three weeks, but something needs to change because I just don't want to see her so upset all the time. She's normally a very happy little girl.

Disney World Vacation!

I feel very lucky to have spent the past seven days with my family vacationing at the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida. We have been planning this trip since May and it was the BEST VACATION EVER!!! We booked an all-inclusive trip, including food and park tickets. Since we stayed in a hotel right on the resort, we used the Disney transportation system that took us everywhere we wanted to go. Since this blog is dedicated to my sweet girls, I want to share everyday we had there. Now, I'm going to be a little sappy here, but my hope is that we look back on this vacation years from now, when the girls are vacationing with their own families, and remember Disney how it was when we were there in 2010. I really think I'm going to love being a grandma (a little too early, I know, but I don't like the disciplining part of parenting so much, so I can't wait to spoil them!) We saw so many grandparents treating their entire family to a Disney vacation, and I would love to do that one day. Okay, now on to our vacation:

Day 1 - Sunday, August 1st - Magic Kingdom

Our Airtran flight was scheduled for 7:30am out of Flint Bishop Airport (our favorite airport) so we woke up around 5:30am to get ready to go. We were all packed and took showers the night before, so we didn't have much to do before we left. The girls were sleepy but very excited to be leaving for Disney. I am pretty scared to fly so it was nice to have Todd (who jumped out of airplanes in the Army, so he's not scared at all) to be that source of strength for the girls. Eva and I sat in the row in front of Todd and Kayla while the plane took off. Eva was pretty freaked out, but once we got in the air she was fine. Kayla was not afraid at all. They were both very well-behaved on the plane.

We flew non-stop to Orlando and the Disney Magical Express picked us up from the airport. We didn't have to worry about our luggage because they transported it to our hotel for us. We stayed at the All-Star Movies resort. We arrived at our hotel around 11am. Check-in was not until 3pm but they got us into our room right away. Our bags arrived shortly after and we went down to the food court to have lunch, then back to our room to take much needed naps. It was so nice to be so close together in the same room for one week. I thought the girls would have a hard time sleeping together but we were so exhausted every night, we all slept great. Then we went to the Magic Kingdom for the evening. The only problem was the huge thunderstorm that started as soon as we boarded the bus! When we got off the bus, we stayed under the bus stop to wait for the rain to stop. The only problem was, it never seemed to let up and there was so much lightning, I really didn't want the girls out in that kind of a storm. So we waited for about an hour, then Kayla had to go to the bathroom (happened MANY times during our trip!) so we had to brave the weather and head inside the gate. Todd bought ponchos for all of us and we headed in. Cinderella's castle was the first thing we saw and the girls were so amazed. I will never forget the looks on their faces. Kayla said, "can we go there right now!" We had heard it rains everyday in Florida and I thought it would be a problem, but it's actually a good thing. The clouds hide the hot sun, the rain cools down everything, and people leave so the lines aren't so long, lol! We spent the evening walking through the Swiss Family Robinson treehouse, riding on a boat through the jungle, went on the pirate ride, Aladdin's Magic Carpet ride, ate dinner, and watched the Electrical Parade twice. The girls got to shake Snow White's hand and thought that was the best :) The Magic Kingdom is just that, magical.

Day 2 - Monday, August 2nd - Typhoon Lagoon

Day 3 - Tuesday, August 3rd - Hollywood Studios

Day 4 - Wednesday, August 4th - Animal Kingdom

Day 5 - Thursday, August 5th - Blizzard Beach

Day 6 - Friday, August 6th - Magic Kingdom

Day 7 - Saturday, August 7th - Downtown Disney

Memorial Day Weekend Plans

Tubing! This will be my very first tubing trip with the girls, something I've been waiting to do for five years. I took my first tubing trip back in 2005 when I was pregnant with Kayla, and hoping to plan a trip with them ever since. I just ordered our tubes today. Todd and I are going to ride in this tube, and I bought these for Becky, Dan, Dakota and Kayla:

We're going on the Au Sable River on Saturday. I hope the weather is nice! And I hope the girls like it as much as I do. Can't wait to post pictures.

Being Organized & My Favorite Technology

I am convinced that being organized is one of the most important things I can do for myself and the girls. I am less stressed and irritable when things are not so chaotic. I’m not too overly concerned with the house being perfect, I just want things to be easy to find when we need them. I don’t want to promise things that I will not be able to do by overscheduling us, and I want to make sure Eva has all the tools necessary to do her homework and not have to rush. I am amazed at how much homework she has this year! It’s not easy making sure she has her library book on the right day, her popcorn money, her snack, her field trip slips, etc. So, I think being organized is the key to my success as a single working mom. I have a few tools that I use to help me stay organized that I would like to share:

www.rememberthemilk.com

This is the best site I’ve found to manage my to do lists. The site allows me to add tags to my tasks for more sorting, and I’ve added home and work tasks so I have everything in one place. I even added a birthdays list and a grocery list, and Eva’s spelling lists and homework due dates. Everyday, I receive an email reminder containing all of my tasks that are due for that particular day. I can even add an app to my cell phone which will sync with this site. I haven’t done that yet, but I’m going to very soon. Which brings me to my next tool……



I LOVE my new phone. I have an iPod Touch and loved it so much that I’ve been waiting for my contract to expire with Sprint so I could get an iPhone. But someone at work told me about this little beauty, and I’ve never been so in love with a phone as I am with this one. Plus, Sprint lets me call any mobile # for free, so I’m on a plan that costs me less than $70 per month and that makes me love it even more. It connects Bluetooth to my car, it has all of the apps that Apple has, unlimited text & data, plus it has the girls TV shows on-demand, so we plug it into the car speakers and they both can listen to it while they watch, and (my favorite) it never drops calls. I just absolutely love it. I can’t wait to put the Remember The Milk app on it.

I also use Google Reader to combine my favorite websites into a one-stop to catch up on all of my news and blogs. I usually sign-in right after I check my email in the morning. I also love Facebook for one thing, and one thing only: I can catch up on my family’s whereabouts, injuries, travels, etc. without having to call everyone all the time. Don’t get me wrong, I love talking on the phone, but I have very limited time after work to spend with the girls, so FB is a great way for me to feel connected and not spend too much time on the phone.

YouTube – I love YouTube because I created a playlist of all my favorite praise & worship songs. Many of them are PPT presentations set to the songs that have the lyrics play while the song plays. We have a laptop on the kitchen counter and Eva loves to watch while I make dinner and we dance around the kitchen.

There is one thing that I learned when we drove to Tennessee for our white water rafting trip, and that is I need a GPS. It’s one of those devices, like a cell phone, that you just can’t live without once you’ve had one. Well, I don’t have one….yet. My car came with one year of On-Star, so when that’s up, I’m getting one. I just found out the other day that if I spend a little more, I can get a GPS that you can use for hiking, and your car too. Well, we’re addicted to letterboxing (www.letterboxing.org) and I get nervous walking around in the woods with the girls, so I think we may get one of those.

Good to the Core - By John Blumberg

I was in Honolulu to speak at a large national conference. I scheduled an extra day onto the trip since I had never been to Honolulu and because a few great friends were also at the conference. The day after the conference, we awoke at the crack of dawn to visit Pearl Harbor. As we stood above and looked down upon the sunken USS Arizona, the depth of our experience came to life. It was moving and humbling.

Upon our return to the hotel, I had some time to spare before departing to the airport. A couple of my friends and I decided to rent a raft large enough to hold three adults. We targeted the white-capped waves, out in the distance, as our destination. With the incoming waves, we had a hard time getting away from the shore. At first, there seemed to be enormous momentum keeping us "grounded." Slowly, but surely, we began to make progress. It seemed to get easier. We eventually got within a few feet of the whitecaps and decided to board our raft and relax as a celebration of our efforts. It was in our moment of pause that we felt the reality of our situation. Drifting two feet out and one foot in. Again, two feet out and one foot in. We all felt the unsettling formula of our ever-so-gentle drift out to sea. We immediately abandoned the raft and grasped for safety, with one arm holding the raft and the other arm aggressively swimming. I have never scissor-kicked so hard in my life.

Twenty minutes later we had made minimal progress. Out of nowhere, a lifeguard on a kayak appeared on the scene asking why we were so far out. Feeling the comfort of his presence, we laughed for a moment, lightly commenting about our distance from the shore. He wasn't laughing.

The orange balls had warned us, and we unknowingly ignored them. Infrequently placed across the ocean's surface, they created an invisible line on the ocean's floor. They silently warned us not to drift beyond them regardless of our vision or mission. "You see those big orange balls on top of the water?" the lifeguard inquired. We could see them, but they didn't look very big from where we were still struggling in the water. They did, however, give us the insight that we were basically five times farther out than we should be. I think the lifeguard was trying to teach us a lesson. He didn't leave us, but he didn't assist us either. Forty-five minutes later we walked up on the shore. I was shaking from exhaustion. I began, for the first time, to feel the numerous cuts on my legs and feet from the sharp coral rocks lining the ocean floor.

We had briefly noticed the orange balls on our way out. We had paid little attention to them and certainly had not given any thought to their significance. We had been too focused on our mission to get to the white-capped waves in the distance!

We don't go running away from our values. We go drifting away, and one day wake-up in a place we never meant to be, drifting in a direction we would have never chosen.
____________________________________________________________________________________

Eva & Kayla - I thought this story was a good example of how we as people tend to ignore boundaries that we should not cross. Without settting boundaries and goals for ourselves, we will find ourself stuck far out somewhere that is hard to come back from. Little choices we make each day can inch us closer to our goals, or farther away from them. Always focus on your goals, and be strong!!

xoxo,
Mom

Happy 4th Birthday Kayla!!

I cannot believe my little Kayla, my baby, my tiny toddler, is now four years old! Happy Birthday, my sweet little K, I hope you have the best day today. Since you have been born, you have brought nothing but fun, joy and laughter to us. I love the way your eyes sparkle when you smile, and how you are always in a good mood, I love our dance parties, and how brutally honest you are (like the time you asked me really loud why a girl's hair was so crazy, or point out different races & body types of people very, very loud!) :) Kayla, today you are 29.4 pounds and 38 inches tall, you're still so tiny! I love you and your sister more than I could ever explain, happy, happy, happy birthday!!

And Happy Half Birthday to Eva! Today, Eva is 9 1/2 years old. It's fun that they can both feel special on each other's birthday. And that means Eva will be 10 before we know it, which is really crazy!! Eva D, you are amazing. You are turning into this wonderful young lady who is so fun to be with and talk to. You are wise beyond your years, that's for sure. It has been so fun watching you play basketball, that's been the highlight of the past couple weeks, and I'm really proud of you for trying it and sticking with it. I have a feeling we found a passion of yours :) I love you so very much and wish you both would stop growing up so fast!

Happy Birthday, girls!
Love,
Mom

xoxoxoxoxo

I love my girls.....

Eva and Kayla are growing up way too fast! Kayla will be four in less than a month and it is crazy to me how fast time has gone by since she was born. I still feel like she's my new little baby, and she's so tall now! And Eva is such a little lady, so fun to talk to, so smart. I am a very proud mom, but I miss these little girls every single day when I'm at work. I get this feeling of excitement every time I drive home to see them. I just feel really lucky that I get to be their mom, and share life with them. Kayla asked Eva and I the funniest things tonight in the car. She started by saying, "I just don't understand my life." Eva and I were a little surprised so we asked her what she was saying and she said, "I just don't understand my life in the world." And then she said, "because I'm really tiny, you know!" She's just so funny and keeps us laughing all the time. Then Eva responds by saying, "Are there any questions you'd like to ask us, honey?" She's so motherly to Kayla, it's pretty sweet.

I just wanted to update our blog and let everyone know the girls are doing great. xoxo

Happy New Year! 2010!!!

I am really looking forward to this year, even though I broke all of my New Year's resolutions on New Year's Day! I still have hope that I am going to be able to do them. No sugar has been one of the hardest for me.

God has really put it on my heart lately to work on living my life according to His eternal truths, not what I want, not what everyone else wants or what I think everyone else wants. I need to pay attention to my motivators, the intent behind WHY I am doing something......the decision behind my decision. I have always tried to do the right thing in the past, but had poor intentions of why I was doing it. I turn to that passage in the Bible that I am always worried about impressing someone, or what others may think that it ruins everything. I have an audience of ONE, and I'm only concerned about impressing Him.

It's very important to me to live my life according to the Word and my values and morals, but not always easy!

I Still Love Edward (and Jacob)

I went to see the New Moon movie a few weeks ago, and LOVED IT, oh my gosh, it was so good! I just saw my picture of Edward on my page and had to write about it. I thought it was way better than Twilight, but I am not going to let Eva see it.

Love, love, loved New Moon.

December Already????

I just cannot believe that 2009 is almost over! Or that our Christmas tree has been up for over a week now, I'm never this early. Life has been good, really good, and I'm just enjoying everyday so much that it doesn't seem fair sometimes. And nothing has even happened! I just feel really blessed and grateful and lucky to have what I have, my two beautiful daughters, my house, my job, life is good :) And I'm not trying to say everything is sooooo perfect, because it's not, but I am just dealing with things better, and practicing being patient, and spending lots of time with the girls just having fun, and asking for God's direction in everything I do.

Tonight was Family Fun Friday! And we had lots of fun. I wanted to take the girls to the movies, but Eva wanted to stay home and have a pajama party, paint fingernails and watch movies here at home. So that's what we did.

Work has been going very well, the days go by fast, which is nice. I am so thankful to work for a company that is doing good, and my boss is the best. I am so grateful for all of the paid time-off he gave me in May to be with my dad, and he even put me on salary instead of hourly because he said he wanted me to have a steady paycheck and not worry when I have to take time off for the girls. I know I'm lucky but I would like to think that he is too, because I work hard and never take advantage of the benefits I'm given.

I'm also starting a New Year's resolution early this year, and that is to EXERCISE and NO MORE SUGAR. My sister, Becky, and I are going to do it together and are talking about joining the Genesys Athletic Club after the Christmas sugar. Sugar is my nemesis, and I just swore it off two days ago, then a lady at work brought in approx. 300 Christmas cookies for an office of only about 10. And they are the best ones too, all homemade, fudge, frosting and sprinkles. There's no way I can stop eating sugar with those around my desk.

We had a great parent-teacher conference with Eva last month. She's getting all A's, with one B+ (Reading). I am always telling Eva that her education is her job right now, and I know she can do better than a B+ in reading. So I asked her teacher, and she said Eva is reading at a fourth-grade level, and it may be because she doesn't raise her hand enough or participate in discussion (part of the grade). I know how painfully shy Eva is at school, and it makes me sad that it's hurting her grade, but I also know how important it is to be a well-rounded student. Life involves interaction and I'm confident this is something she'll get better at the older she gets. Her teacher said she is doing wonderful and there isn't anything she needs to work on. I know it's because we work with her at home almost every single night. She does hundreds of math problems at home each week and reads every single night. I think it's important to practice the things she is learning at school, even if she doesn't have homework.

Kayla is quite a little smarty-pants too. She's so good on the computer, it's almost scary. She writes her name so beautiful and almost every other letter of the alphabet too. She writes certain numbers, and can recognize all of them. She's much more interested in learning than I thought she would be. She's such a carefree spirit, I thought it would make her restless, but she just cannot take enough in and loves to impress us. And Eva's really good at teaching her things too. Kayla's so excited to start school.

And one more thing before I go, I have the best sister and best brother-in-law, I do not know what I would do without them. Becky helps me with the girls all week long, picks up Eva from school, stays at my house to make it easier for me, she's just always there for us. Well, Dan came over with her a couple days this week and COMPLETELY cleaned out my garage, fixed my one garage door that was catching, and now I can park in my garage for the winter! He also cleaned and vacuumed my breezeway today, and fixed my vacuum (that I didn't know needed fixed). I'm just so lucky that I have them.

A few readings that have really helped me this week:
"Let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will know what God wants you to do."

"I am focusing all my energies on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead."

xoxo

Kayla wrote her name!!!

I'm pretty sure she's the smartest three-year-old ever!! (Besides my Eva.) We've been working on her letters this past week quite a bit, and I was drawing letters A through H tonight and having her tell me what they were. Then, I started to draw the letters in her name, and she's so independent, she took the marker out of my hand and wrote her name five times! She was so proud of herself, and I was amazed at how quick she caught on. She even holds the marker really good, and she colors in the lines very good too. What's more amazing is that I always thought Kayla would be hard to teach anything to because she's so carefree and busy. But she's actually a very good listener, and she watches me first and then tries things herself. Eva's so good at cheering her sister on, and telling her that she's proud of her. I'm going to keep encouraging her to write her letters. Milestone: Kayla weighs 29 1/2 pounds and is 37 inches tall. She's already growing out of her 3T pants, her legs are getting really long. Eva is almost out of size 8 clothes, and we'll weigh her and measure her soon so I can post it. Eva's gearing up for her MEAP tests that start tomorrow. I'm a little sad about how easy her math is this year, I hope it gets a little more challenging. I'm lucky to have such smart girls.

My step-dad's parents were in town this weekend from Georgia, it was really nice to see them on Saturday. Paul and I had fun watching YouTube videos together and Louise had a nice time watching the girls play, and rocking Kayla like a little baby. Mom and Mike loaded them up with candy, it drives me crazy, but it makes everyone else happy!

Pumpkins!!

The girls picked out their pumpkins today! It was a little cold out, so Kayla went to the car a little early but Eva managed to pick out the biggest pumpkin I could carry. We went to a place that had lots of different styles and fun colors. Eva's monster pumpkin has bumps all over it, it's pretty neat. We've had a pretty good weekend, and decorated the house for Halloween. Plus, we picked up lots of new markers, construction paper and paints to help keep the girls busy while the weather is turning colder. I seem to have misplaced my camera, so who knows when I'll be posting pictures again. I have lots of pictures on my cell phone, but not sure how to get them onto my computer.

Bad news, I was in a car accident on my way to work this past Monday. I was traveling east on Silver Lake Road in Fenton and a teenage boy was heading west, and turned in front of me, wrecking my new car! I am so thankful the girls were not in the car, that noise and feeling are the worst. And I'm very thankful noone was hurt, but I'm very sad about my car. $8,500 in damages to the front end, I should have it back in another week or two. Meanwhile, we have a cute little red car to drive that Kayla calls "Lightning the Queen" (she thinks that is the name of the main character in the movie Cars).

Kayla is taking a nap in my bed right now, I think she may be catching the cold that I had this week. Eva's complaining of a sore throat too. Gotta love the back-to-school germs!!

I'm missing Dad alot today. I found a picture of him today taken at the Relay for Life in Brighton about 6-7 years ago. He was with his friend Gene, and they were walking in the Survivor lap to kick off the 24 hour event. I remember watching all of the people walking around the track, and being so grateful that the surgeon was able to remove Dad's tumors the year before. Seeing that picture was bittersweet, just because you're a survivor, doesn't mean you're guaranteed the cancer will not come back. It's just such a mean disease. But then, I know we have to be grateful that he did have six years where he was cancer-free, some people aren't that lucky.

A much needed update!

Gosh, it's been a long time since I updated our blog, and so much has happened this summer!! First of all, the girls are doing GREAT and we're having a very nice summer. The only thing that sucks is that I have to work Monday through Friday, but thank goodness for the weekends. I LIVE for the weekends!! Eva and Kayla got their hair cut and I just love Eva's hair shorter. I didn't think I would, but she's so dang cute, she looks good in anything (proud mama). I really need to post pictures. And the funniest part of that whole evening we were at the hair salon was that I discovered little Kayla cut her own hair just the day before!!! I was literally brushing her hair while Eva was getting her hair cut, and noticed all these "layers" throughout K's hair!! At first I thought it was Eva who cut her sister's hair, but Kayla finally confessed and I had the girl fix it into a cute little layered shorter cut. I must admit, Kayla actually did a good job! It looked like she tried to frame it around her face, and she gave herself some really cute bangs, lol! Then when I told Todd about Kayla cutting her own hair, he didn't believe it because there was no evidence. I mean, where was the hair???? It just so happened that Eva was playing in my room the next day and found a wicker basket FULL of little blonde curls....mystery solved :)

We've had a few asthma scares with Kayla this summer, and Sunday she came down with croup. It's just been the worst, I feel so bad for her. I hate the croup, and have never even heard of it before. She had a really barky cough, and a low-grade fever, and it is hard for her to catch her breath when she coughs. The doctor said that it's not to be confused with her asthma, but it's not fun whatever it is. The only thing that seems to give her relief is running the shower and letting the bathroom steam up. That works really good.

Work is going really good for me, I'm very lucky to be paying my bills during this tough economic time and I literally have the best boss in the whole world (no, I'm not being a suck-up, he doesn't read this!!) I also bought a new car right after my dad passed away. My brother, Rob, said that my dad's only last request of him was to help me buy a new car. My dad and I always talked about going to the dealership together. He was a great haggler, and always looked out for me. I am his only single daughter, and he was always doing things for me and the girls. I have to stop now because I'm still having a really hard time with my dad being gone. I bottle all of my feelings up to get through my day and they get out at any thought or mention of him, and it's really painful still. I talked to my brother, Brian, the other day and just broke down. Talking to my brothers is like talking to my dad, and I miss him so much it hurts. The girls and I go to the cemetary and just sit on his grave to be close to him. Eva has a very hard time with it still, too, and says how much fun he was and how she misses his songs and that no one else in our family can play the guitar as good as Grandpa. She's right. We listen to the Pacemaker's CD (dad's band, he was the only guy with three women, of course!) and it feels good to hear his voice. I love him so much, and everything reminds me of him, everything good, that is. I truly did have the best dad in the whole world and I miss him so much.

Eva Diva is working hard on her multiplication tables this summer. And her cousins introduced her to Wizards 101 which is an awesome MMO game for kids that is very similar to World of Warcraft, and the best part, it's free!! It doesn't take that long to download, and it's so fun to login and play, little Kayla even created a little character to run around with. And another good part, they have features setup to ensure privacy and safety for kids. It's so cool because they run around the city with other kids from all over the world! They are not allowed to login without a parent present, but that's true with their Internet use altogether. My sister watches them while I work, and I won't even let them be online with her. I'm not overly strict by any means, but this is one area where I draw the line. She is also only allowed to visit the sites: NickJr.com, Disney.com and Webkinz. Mean mom, I know.

Best Dad in the Whole World.

My dad passed away on May 17th. It's the hardest thing that I have ever had to deal with, ever. It's hard to type the words right now. I am still waiting for the hurting to stop, the empty feeling to go away. How do you get over losing your father? The best dad, the best grandpa, the best friend anyone could ever ask for? He was truly the center of our family, the glue that held us all together. He was amazing. He loved music, loved dancing, and loved singing and he was the happiest when we were all together, especially his grandchildren. His wealth was his family and everyone who met him knew it. The love that radiated from that man was hard to miss, but watch out if you messed with one of his daughters! I have had a hard time getting back to my blog because I knew I would have to start out with Dad's death and it's just so hard right now. I'm going to leave it alone right now and, at some point, come back and post more. There have been two deaths in my immediate family, Dad and Wes (Iraq 2005), and both passed away on May 17th. Our family will never be the same. My only hope is that Dad felt loved and knew we did the best we could at the end. I am so thankful to have had the best dad in the whole world.

Happy Easter....almost!!

I was just reading back through some of my posts, and I'm missing my blog! Soooo, here's an update. We've been busy, but we're always busy! My sister and I figured that out the other day, even though I complain that I'm too busy all the time, I actually enjoy having lots to do with lots of things going on. So, I'm just going with it now, and realize that I'm never going to not be busy and enjoy the chaos! ANYWAYS, the girls are GREAT, my job is going very good, and SPRING IS HERE!!! Well, it's sunny today at least. Eva calls it Spwinter because it snowed just a few days ago, but we're hopeful all that is over. Kayla is yummy as ever and sassy as ever. We've got a busy Easter weekend planned, and are actually on the way to my cousins, Greg & Stephanie's house for the day. And tomorrow, we'll be going to my dad's for the day after church. I call holidays the "Family World Tour" because we're always going to so many places to be able to see everybody. I just wish we could all get together in one place! But I'm lucky to have such a big family, so I'm not complaining. Happy Easter!!

Dear Eva and Kayla

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life,
It turns what we have into enough, and more.
It turns denial into acceptance, chaos into order, confusion to clarity.
It can turn a meal into a feast,
a house into a home, a stranger into a friend.
Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today,
and creates a vision for tomorrow.
-Melody Beattie

"Life's not about waiting for storms to pass, it's about learning to dance in the rain."

When I read these passages on gratitude this morning, they really hit me and I want to share them with you girls in hopes that they help you too one day. May you both always find peace and contentment with what you already have, and not be too frustrated with what you don't have.

Kayla Turns Three Today!

We love you K!! I can't believe you're already 3, Happy Birthday!!!

Three years ago today I gave birth to my beautiful Kayla. My doctors scheduled a Cesarean section one week before my due date, it was an early Friday morning. I was supposed to have her first thing that morning, but there were a few moms that needed emergency care so we had to wait for a few hours. My mom, my dad, Becky & Dan, Mike, Helen, and of course Eva, were all there at St. Joe’s Hospital in Ann Arbor. Just before 11:00AM, I had a very quick and easy surgery. I felt a lot of tugging and pressure, and then heard the screams! Kayla came out screaming, which is so unlike her personality because she was just the best baby. But she would not stop screaming! She was all purple and her face was scrunched up and I was……in love. It took the doctor about twenty more minutes to put me back together and then we were moved into our room where we stayed for the weekend. Everything about my pregnancy with Kayla (and Eva too) went great. I felt great too, the whole time. Well, I did have morning sickness with both girls, but nothing too bad at all. For Kayla’s first year, she truly was a dream baby. From about 6 weeks, she slept from 7pm – 7am every single night. She was such a happy baby ALL the time, she went to sleep happy and never woke up crying – I would just hear her playing with her feet and talking to herself in her crib. Eva was totally IN LOVE with her baby sister and loved carrying her everywhere. She noticed and celebrated every milestone, even the tiny things that only a parent would notice and care about. As Kayla turned two, she was super tiny and kind of fell off the weight charts. She loved her bottle and I finally got her off of it that fall. She also broke her leg when she was two! At the end of August and for the month of September she had to wear a cast. She started dance class right after her cast came off, and we also found out that she has asthma that year. But she really did have a good year and went from a baby to this tiny little princess who loves dresses, make-up and her cozy soft blankies. She also turned into a “normal” toddler and now absolutely HATES everything to do with sleep! We celebrated her birthday at my dad’s house on Saturday and my mom’s house today and she got lots of presents from everyone. She got a playhouse, tons of clothes, a racecar track and a make-up kit (her favorite). I still cannot believe our little Kayla is three years old! And Eva turned exactly 8 and a half today too, so we just had to celebrate her half-birthday too!

Good Week So Far :)

Nothing extra special to report, but it’s been a good week so far. Last night we went to Jordan’s 13th birthday party at Rob & Alise’s house. Is my sweet niece really a teenager?! This is crazy, life really is so cliché isn’t it? Time really does fly by, and kids do grow up way too fast, and I’m getting old!! I love it though, I don’t want my girls to ever grow up, but I am looking forward to getting closer to them as they get older and having great talks with them, and going shopping together. I mean really shopping, not the kind we do now, with Kayla screaming the whole time and hiding in the clothes racks, and Eva talking her into doing things she shouldn’t, like running away from mommy. Yes, I am THAT mom at the store that can’t control her kids! They always talk me into the big huge shopping cart that fits two small children, and they never sit in it! They’re always running around and touching things they shouldn’t. That is why I have started grocery shopping on my lunch breaks, that’s been a wonderful solution.

Because Kayla’s birthday is next week, I want to make sure I report her milestones as she turns three. She’s almost three feet tall! And she weighs around 27 pounds. She’s still a tiny little thing, but her feet are huge! She wears an 8 ½ size shoe and fits perfectly into 3T clothes now. She drags around a “cozy” blankie everywhere she goes, we have about 7 of them in every color. She is pretty much potty-trained but I still like to put a pull-up on her at night. She’s wonderful, funny, and has a sparkle in her eye when she smiles that melts my heart every time.

While I am updating milestones, I must mention Eva too because she is going to be exactly 8 ½ on Kayla’s birthday (something that we’ll have to celebrate too of course). Eva weighs 67 pounds and is around 4’3” tall. She wears size 2 shoes and pretty much a size 8 in clothes, I just love her in jeans. She is growing out of Hannah Montana, but she still likes the Cheetah Girls and Jonas Brothers. She’s a daddy’s girl, loves to play Rock Band, and loves to read. She’s sassy, very helpful and giving, and is wise beyond her years. She is the best big sister, and will always be my “baby”.

I love you, girls!

Feeling Better

Eva was feeling lots better today, so that made Kayla feel better today too. I kept her home from school because I thought it would be best if she rested and drank a lot of water. When I came home at lunchtime to see them, Kayla had already bit, hit and punched Eva in the eye this morning and both were wearing very pretty dresses. I asked Kayla why she did that to her sister, and she said, "because I'm crabby!" with the biggest smile on her face. Eva does a really good job of just taking it and not retaliating, but I know the bigger Kayla gets, the more Eva's going to want to hit her back. Don't get me wrong, Eva does her share of provoking her sister, but she's just sneakier about it. There are way too many emotional women at our house! They both had dance tonight, and I'm so glad it's Friday tomorrow!

Little Eva's Not Feeling Well

Yesterday, we had to take Eva to the doctor's because her stomach was hurting her very bad the whole morning, and it was making me nervous because she wasn't throwing up or running a fever. Then, the fever started. And the doctor told us she has a urinary tract infection, my poor Eva. I had them when I was little quite a bit, so she's not very happy about those inherited genes! But what I am most concerned about is that our family has a history of serious kidney problems. They usually do not end up causing problems until early adulthood, but I am going to be as proactive as I can and keep my eye on her. Oh and, of course, Kayla was "sick" yesterday too because Eva was :) She had a stomachache too (not) and needed "medicine" too. I think someone is used to being the baby and getting all of the attention! But we babied her anyways and it was seriously like I had two sick children yesterday :) I am so thankful that the company I work for believes family comes first and I am always able to take the time off to take care of the girls. I am sure tomorrow will be a better day for Eva.