Happy 95th Birthday Grandma!

Today Grandma turns 95 years old. We had a fun family gathering on Sunday at Aunt Susan's house. It was great seeing family especially for Abbey and Ashley who were excited that their cousin Colton came.

Grandma is still has sweet and beautiful as ever. We are all very lucky to have her in our lives.

Strawberry Picking

Today we headed to Afton Apple Orchard for our first time picking strawberries (okay really my first time as the girls picked some at Nana's). It was a lot of fun. They ate a lot of strawberries before we made it to the counter to pay. Then on the way home they ate a 1/2 pint each. I made strawberry rhubard pie and muffins.

Now I have to figure out how to get all of the strawberry juice out of their shirts.

July 9, 2008 Booster Seat

The day is finally here....we are transitioning to Booster Seats. We have been looking at them for some time and they finally got them. They were so excited to get them. The car seats pink and have princess symbols on them. They love them.
Shannon went to the doctor today because of his breathing issues. The doctor thinks that he also has another viral infection. He is doing much better. They have him using a inhaler and it seems to have started to help.
Today was library story time. The girls really enjoy going to the library and seeing Baby Bear and hearing the stories. Our librarian is so wonderful.
Last week I forgot to add something about Sam. The girls know that there are times when mommy has "happy" tears and "sad" tears. Last week Sam was driving a car (moving it) and I started to cry. It was tears of happiness and sadness...my little Sam is growing up and now he can drive. It seems like yesterday that he was born and now he is a sophomore, driving and playing football. Time sure goes by fast.

Birthday Pictures

Weekend and then shots!

It was definitely a long weekend for all of us.
Saturday morning we all got up and Karla and I went and put chairs down for the parade. Katie now has HFMD too. The girls watched the parade and got lots of candy. It was very very hot out. Then in the afternoon we went to Karla's for a cookout and then Karla, Katie, the girls and myself all walked down to the fireworks. While we were there, daddy surprised us and came down to watch the fireworks. We didn't get home until after 10:30.

On Sunday morning Shannon wasn't feeling any better, in fact he was worse, so we called his parents to see if they could watch the girls and I took him to Urgent Care. After killing over two hours in the doctors office we were told there was nothing for him to do but not work. He is still contagious for 7 days. We were suppose to go to our friends house for supper but had cancelled earlier in the day for which I am very glad we did. We put the girls to bed a little early and Shannon and I relaxed on the couch and watched "House".

Today was our 4 year old check up with the best pediatrician ever....we all love Dr. Cress.
The appointment went well and both girls are doing great. Ashley's height has really gone up since last year. Abbey is right on track. We decided to do two of the four shots that they will need to have by the time they start kindergarten. Wow that was a lot of drama. Ashley did okay but Abbey freaked out. She hit the nurse's hand and that cause the needle to scratch her leg and bend the needle head. She was bleeding pretty bad. She got one shot done but still needed to have the other one done. She screamed the loudest scream I had ever heard. Dr. Cress even had to come back to check on her and her new owie. I had always prided myself that the girls were good about shots, blood draws, etc but not today. Abbey cried the entire way home and then some. She kept telling us she doesn't want anymore shots ever. Poor Abbey.

I don't know what it is about going to the doctor but my girls go crazy. They do goofy things like try to put stickers on their body parts, won't let Dr. Cress leave the room, jump on him...just crazy things. They love going and I am glad for that but it is also a bit embarrassing how out of control they get. He said it happens all the time. I am just glad we have a great doctor who makes the girls feel at ease going. It's the same with their dentist, he is so laid back and friendly. We never feel like we are just a name on a board with Dr. Cress. We trust him completely and even today he joked that he has ruined it for all other pediatricians because we like him so much.

Shannon stayed home today from work because he is contagious and technically isn't suppose to work until Thursday. I just hope he starts to feel better. I also hope that I don't get it!

Happy Fourth of July!!!

Happy Fourth of July!!!!!!
The girls were in their first parade ever. We participated in the Afton parade and walked with LindySpring Systems. It was a lot of fun. We even ran into their friend from school and their teacher and her family.
They walked most of the way down the route but got tired (plus it was hot) and they wanted to ride with Craig in the van...they loved that. Afterwards we were treated to lunch at DQ.
Then we came home to rest up quickly and headed off to Nana and Papa's for a BBQ, Bon-fire and fireworks. It was a blast. The girls brought their new skates out with them and had a lot of fun rollerskating. They played in the pool, we played hide and seek and we roasted marshmellows. The girls also were able to use sparklers for the first time ever. It was a day of many firsts.
After 10:00 p.m. (which is way past our 8:00 bedtime) Abbey looked at me and asked if we could go home because she was tired. Ashley wanted to stay but we were able to get her to come home.
We missed Uncle BJ and hope he is feeling better. It now looks like Daddy has the same crud the girls had. Daddy came out for a while but was not feeling well at all.
Happy Fourth of July and a great big thank you to our soldiers from the past all the way to the future....thank you isn't enough for what you have done.

July 3,2008

Abbey is finally starting to be her old self again. She has resumed her eating and isn't waking up from nightmares anymore. We think the nightmares were actually caused by her tongue. She was so excited this morning when she ate her french toast bites and they didn't hurt her tongue.

Ashley is doing great. She didn't have the issues that Abbey had. She has some sores on her body but nothing like Abbey. We have been talking to her about having to wear a hearing aid. From her last surgery, it was recommended that she get a hearing aid to assist her hearing in the left ear. She has 30-40 percent hearing loss. They want to retest the ear in 4 weeks to verify the information but it looks like that is our next step. She seems to understand what will be happening and is okay with it. I have been checking out books at the library for her to look at.

One night the girls and I were talking about their favorite tv shows. I told them that one of my favorite cartoons was The Flinstones. They had no idea what that was and so, thanks to the wonders of YouTube and the internet, we watched old cartoon clips. Shannon found this site called : www.retrojunk.com and after clicking on television, you can click on the era that you want and up they all come. The girls loved "Captain Caveman". They ask me to play it all the time! I just like finding old tv shows that I used to watch! I added my favorite 70's shows to the blog.

Tomorrow (actually now today since it's 12:04 am) the girls are going to be in a parade in Afton. I will share how that goes later.