A Very Fun, Yet Very Unromantic, Valentine's Day

Dan was out of town for Valentine's Day which explains the 'unromantic' part. Luckily, my kids have wonderful grandparent's who are having them for a sleepover on Thursday so Dan and I can finally go out. Between his travel schedule, having his kids every other weekend, and of course our kids, we haven't spent much alone time together lately so this will be nice.
Valentine's Day is one of my favorite holidays because I do for my kids almost exactly what my mom did for us growing up. I decorate the table after the kids go to bed with treats and little presents. Then I get up oh- so-early and make French Breakfast Puffs - so, so delicious.

Brooklyn had a competition in her class to create the best Valentine box. Now I'm not that mom that will 'help' (do it for her), however, I am that mom that will get her what she needs to do her best. And it helps that Brooklyn is very creative. Here was the result - and she did win an award:)

My Little Poet

Diet Coke

By Brooklyn

Diet Coke, Diet Coke, Diet Coke,

Yum, yum, yum.

Diet Coke at the store all the time.

Always here, always there,

Diet Coke everywhere!

Diet Coke makes everyone's mouth water for a taste.

Diet Coke, Diet Coke, Diet Coke,

Yum, yum, yum.

I love you, Diet Coke.

Adriene and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Weekend

Dan left Friday morning for Las Vegas - he rarely is gone on weekends. Friday evening I threw up. And every hour after that until noon the next day. I hate throwing up. I felt totally incapacitated. When Roman woke up Saturday morning, I put on a movie, gave him a box of Golden Grahams and went back to bed. I never let my kids eat in the family room and I never give them the whole cereal box, so I knew I was sick. My parent's were also out of town so I called my neighbor who agreed to take my kids (in addition to 4 of her own - I was sooo thankful!) Next, while stumbling back to my bed after one of my many trips to the bathroom, I banged my shin on the corner of my bed. The next morning I noticed I had a cut/bump/bruise. No big deal. Except that the next night I banged it in the exact same place and now have a bigger cut/bump/bruise. By Saturday night I have stopped throwing up but lack any energy. Brooklyn came home her Dad's around 8pm with a high fever/sore throat/cough. I put her in bed as well as the other kids. I am about to go to bed myself when I smell something weird. I assume it's the dog farting so I take the blanket out of her cage to wash it and I go into Delylah's room to get another small blanket. Turns out the source of the smell was that Delylah had totally diarrheaed (if that's even a word) in her sleep but hadn't woken up. Now I get that no one enjoys cleaning this up but when you're already feeling queasy, it's even worse. I bathed her, changed the sheets and put her in my bed. I wake in the morning and Brooklyn still has the high fever and Roman has diarrhea. I take Brooklyn to the InstaCare and pay nearly $200 for them to tell me what I already knew - she has strep. Really? Does she? Did you go to extra school to figure that one out? I should start a clinic in my house and start charging to make that complicated diagnosis. Thanks guys, not only do I have a sick kid, but now I'm broke (not literally but it still makes me mad.) And Roman's diarrhea - he's gone every 20 minutes since waking up this morning. Oh and the snow. It's been snowing all day. And I'm hungry but haven't been shopping. The End. It's a toss up between who has complained more this weekend - all of my kids, or me.

Bright Side: I took these pics last week. She's cute.

What's New?

Look at me, I'm on a blogging roll this week. Here are a few things going on around here that I thought were blog-worthy:

Delylah and Roman began Kindermusic last week. Once a week, Roman and I attend a Mommy/Baby class where we sing, dance, and learn about rhythm. At the same time, Delylah is in a different class with kids her age learning the same things. For the last 15 minutes of her class, Roman and I go in with her. It's a great concept but keeping Roman under control the entire time is a challenge.

I haven't taken Delylah to the doctor for a while so I took her in today for a well check and also to get her Kindergarten immunizations. She measured at 41 inches (50%) and 33 lbs (15%). She frequently gets stomach aches while eating so the doctor suggested cutting out dairy for a couple of weeks. That won't be easy considering we are big milk, dairy, yogurt, cheese eaters. She also got 5 shots - poor girl.

Roman has begun a serious pushing phase. A couple of months ago, his big thing was pulling hair. Luckily, he doesn't do that very often, but he has moved onto pushing. This has become a big problem because whenever he sees a baby/kid anywhere near his size he will get a running start and push them. I will then pull him aside and tell him sternly not to push. Then, about 4 seconds later, he will go push the same kid. Generally in a room of kids, he will single one out and push him/her over and over. This has made going places an issue.

Last, Tom's ballet flats became available for pre-sale today. That is good news.

Baby Scarlett

The girls and I went to visit baby Scarlett for the first time today. Considering my sister is done having kids, and I have two single brothers, it's not very often the girls get a new cousin and they were pretty exciting. It's particularly fun for me this time because Kristin and I had two of our babies at almost the exact same time so instead of being able to spend time holding her baby, I always had a baby of my own to take care of. But now, I can hold this adorable baby and hand her back when I'm done.

Nothing Super Exciting

We're nearing the end of January and I'm actually doing a pretty good job on most (not all) of my New Year's goals. One of those is to blog weekly. Unfortunately, I have nothing even somewhat interesting to blog about this week so that makes it a bit harder. The main reason for this is probably because Dan has been gone for 15 out of the past 18 days so rather than be in 'doing cool things' mode, it's been more about getting through the day. So all I've got right now are a few pictures from the most recent snow. It hasn't snowed many times this winter but when it has, quite a bit has come down.

I should probably add 'Have a better attitude' and 'Be more grateful' to my goals for this week :)

Big Sister Brooks

Brooklyn is a big sister again. Her Dad and step-mom recently had their second baby and Brooklyn couldn't be more excited. I remember her being happy about Roman, but she had just turned 7 and he was still mostly an inconvenience to her. But now that she's older, she has become a lot more motherly. She visited her new brother, Rhett, in the hospital twice, and then once he came home I took both she and Delylah to see him. He really is an adorable little guy with a head full of dark hair - very similar to Brooks when she was a baby.