Update

It has taken me awhile, but I thought I'd update everyone on Louie. She is doing fine and the general consensus is to wait and see how she does. The doctor is putting her on a low dose antibiotic for 3 months to see if that keeps her from getting another UTI. She seems to be healthy and of course, she is happy! So keep your fingers crossed that this is all it takes to fix her up. Here is a picture of her being such a cutie! She just learned to put in a hair elastic last week and insists on doing her own hair every day now. She also did my hair. Yes, I did run my errands looking this beautiful--library, Hobby Lobby, and the $ store. Everyone was jealous, I could tell.


Here is a funny conversation we had a couple days ago.
"When is Easter?" Louie asked.
"Easter is in about two weeks." Me, of course.
"What if the Easter Bunny can't find us?" Lanny is a lot like me and can definitely worry a bit.
"That's true, we have moved since last time. But I think he'll be able to find us." I said.
"Yeah, cause, he brings everyone Easter baskets." Louie said, she is so positive.
"Except for people in Canada." Lanny said.
Insert fits of laughter from me.
"Why don't people in Canada get any?" I asked Lanny.
"Because their Easter is on a Monday." Lanny replied. He is such a smartie. He is very logical and unbeknownst to me he had looked on the calendar to see when Easter was and saw written Easter Monday (Canada). Totally obvious! I was taken a little of guard, but maybe I should check the calendar more often.
Lanny also has been playing his guitar a lot. The other day he moved his amp into the computer room, turned on Aaron's playlist and sat and played along to all the music for 45 minutes. He is doing really well.

This morning Kessie made me giggle, which isn't unusual. She decided that Kitty needed a story. So she ran over to the sliding glass door and proceeded to read to him. He sat very attentive through 4-5 stories. I won't tell her that he wasn't captivated, maybe he was, but I think he just wanted out of the wind. She also got a piece of gum this morning and was so proud of it. It fell out of her mouth, but no problem she just picked it up and popped it back in, then a few minutes later she said "look, Mommy!" I looked and could just barely see a tiny bit sticking out the end of her nose. Seriously grossed me out. I got up to take it away, but wasn't quick enough. She, luckily it didn't get stuck, popped it right back in, boogers and all. I was ready for her the second time and when she said "look, Mommy," again I bolted over and grabbed it out of her nose and threw it away. She was pretty mad at me when I told her no more gum. I'm not great at being strict with her, so I'm sure she'll have another piece before the end of the day. Let's hear it for healthy immune systems!

Too Long

Well, it has been way to long since I last posted. Of course, life is still crazy, and my kids are still cute. Louie left the door open on Saturday and big shocker, the cat immediately ran into the house. Being so clever, it took me 20 minutes to figure out that the cat was in the house, then we went on an all out search to find him. He wasn't too hard to locate, he was lounging in the sun patch on my bed. Yep, you guessed it, he got thrown out, but had his picture taken first!
Two days ago Kessie saw a picture of a white horse. She loves horses and was so excited. She showed it to me. "That's a pretty horse, Kessie. What color is it?" "Blue!" That's close enough for me, she's a smartie!
Lanny, Louie, and Kessie, are all outside right now helping Aaron make a 10x16 box for our garden. They are so excited to help. Louie grabbed the seeds and went out to plant them. Hopefully Aaron stopped her before she actually got to putting them in the dirt.
In other news, Louie goes down to the Children's Hospital in Denver tomorrow to see if there is something (structurally) that is causing her UTI's. She is feeling great, but we won't know until tomorrow if her UTI is gone or not. I'll keep everyone posted.

I told a few of you this story, but I thought I would share it because I am so blessed. I went to get Lanny an apple out of our fruit basket last week. I picked up an apple and uh oh, there was one teeny bite taken out of it. That's okay, I'll just put the other one in his lunch, so I picked it up, nope, there was one teeny bite taken out of the 2nd apple as well. Both bites had been face down so that I couldn't see them. The culprit was obvious immediately. I left the apples face up for a few days because I couldn't bare to throw them away. Such a little thing, but I was reminded of how blessed I am that I find little bites in my apples, I step on toys on my floor, my windows are filthy with fingerprints, I have chocolate in my hair (don't let a two-year-old ride on your shoulders while she is eating a chocolate ice-cream cone!), and I am the lucky recipient of constant kisses and hugs!

And since Kessie has decided I need to be done on the computer, here is our most recent picture. We're so hoping for spring, so why not dress for it?!?

Odds and Ends

Jealous...well, so was everyone else. We could see it in their stares and gapes as we drove by them. When no one was moving at green lights...they were looking at us...envious! We found this great deal at the grocery store. For $10, we thought, yippee, food storage shelving! Trying to get it home was a different story. I was pretty embarrassed, so I told the kids to put bags, or coats over their heads, because we looked like stupid idiots. Louie started to cry, "I don't want to look like a stupid idiot!" To her credit, she refused to put anything over her head and held it high, not carrying that everyone was staring. I had to take my purse off my head (yes, I actually put it on, while we were still parked) because I was driving. Anyway, just wanted you all to be as jealous as the rest of Cheyenne is. The kids were actually really excited until we told them it didn't come with candy!

Thought this was a cute picture of Kessie and all the poof!

The kids keep begging to go back to Florida. They had such a blast. Aaron was severely disappointed when we gave them the option of saving money for a trip to either Florida, or Alaska (Aaron's hopeful). It was almost unanimous (obviously Aaron voted for Alaska). So Lanny promptly made a jar for our pennies. It says "Rootern to Ant Shon's Jar"---Return to Aunt Shawn's Jar. He drew sharks teeth all over it. The beach was such a big hit!!! (Sorry Uncle Bill, nothing against you, that's just what he wrote-we love you too!) Lanny even found a dime and put it in to start us off! He even said he'd put his chore and tooth fairy money in it. This kid is determined! Watch out Aunt Shawn and Uncle Bill, this time the kids want to come for two weeks!!!

Booteeful Me

I think you know, but read the next blog to understand why I look lovelier than usual!

Another Visit

Yes, it's true. The Tooth Fairy made another visit to our house. Lanny lost his second tooth on Monday. He was biting into a chocolate covered waffle at school when it popped right out. He was pretty excited. He brought it home in an envelope. The Tooth Fairy (her name is Katinklebim) said she didn't mind coming back although her wings were a little tired. Lanny looks pretty darn cute with his new grin, which he likes to show off all the time, so he is grinning a lot!!!
In other news...I think Louie is finally feeling a bit better. She has been pretty sick with a high fever and headache. Turns out it is a UTI. Here is a picture of her in her new ballerina costume which she got for being such a great girl at the doctors. They did all sorts of tests, but drawing her blood was the worst. She screamed and fought, and I literally had to lay on top of her to keep her from moving, and they had to stick her twice because they didn't hit anything the first time. Yeah, in case your wondering, I was crying too and so was Kessie, she actually hid in the corner because she was so scared of what was happening to her sister. She has been very good, though, and today she hasn't needed any fever reducing meds, so I think we're making progress. I'm so relieved and happy to be getting my happy Louie back to normal!
And still in other news...Lanny won a 25 dollar gift certificate in the Winter Reading Challenge at the Library. He was pretty excited. I feel bad for the girls. All three kids sign up every year, and Lanny won a book last year, and a certificate this year. He's pretty lucky. Between the Tooth Fairy visits and the certificate, Louie has been feeling a bit picked on since she isnt' getting prizes. Lanny has been really concerned about her since she has been sick and a couple days ago she was feeling bad and Lanny said, "Don't worry Louie, you can have half of the 25 cents I won!" What a sweet boy! (Yep, I was giggling...but you probably already guessed that.)
Better write a bit about Kessie. As usual she is a cutie. She knows when I'm feeling bad and will always burst into song to make me feel better. As in, "la...la.la.la..la....close to you..." Makes me smile everytime. Today, her and Louie painted my face, yes, I'm stunning. She got paint on her brush, looked at me, and in her tiny voice, said, "stay still Mommma!" When they were done, Louie told me I looked like a craziness, but Kessie gave me her biggest smile and said, "Booteeful!" I love the little moments in life that I am constantly blessed with! Lucky me!!!

Newest Addition

So here is the newest addition to my wall. It is very simple, but I love it. Okay, so the only place that anything is on the walls is in my scrapbooking room, this one is too. The saying is from Die Cuts with a View! My scraproom, for those who don't know, is black and white! Yippee, love decorating!

Amazed

I know children are smart and they understand and pick up on more than adults give them credit for, but on Sunday I was blown away. When we got home from church, I asked Kessie what she had talked about in Nursery. With no hestitation whatsoever, she looked at me and smiled, "Jesus"! I was so proud of her right then. She's two, and she is amazing! Love my kids, they keep me on the right track!