Dandelions

I had a few days off from work last week.  The girls and I stayed busy with all sorts of activities.   Erin is starting to potty train so I was upstairs helping her while Emmy was busy downstairs...or so I thought. 

I was wrapping up things with Erin when Emmy came running upstairs and said, "Look Mommy!  I found you some flowers outside!"  It was the most precious thing ever...even if it was a bunch of weeds.  I love that she thought of it.  She was so dang proud of herself!  I love you to the moon and back Miss Emmy!!

Girls Weekend - Stamping/Scrapbooking

Last weekend I got together with some of the girls from Brad's family for a scrapbooking/card stamping weekend.  Sarah & I headed up to Hoffman Friday evening and arrived at the Elk Lake Preserve around 9:00.  Deb, Connie, Lorri, Christy & Tina were already set up.  We had the whole house reserved for the weekend. 

Sarah & I quickly got our supplies set up and started right in with our projects.  Sarah worked on their Disney vacation scrapbook all weekend.  She had about 500 pictures to sort through!
I had a few different projects lined up for myself.  I made two frames for Emmy & Erin and I also did a couple of glass etchings.  I wasn't so proud of those.  They didn't turn out as cute as I had hoped.  I also made about 15 cards...mostly birthday, thinking of you, and thank you cards. 

Deb is a Stamping Up Demonstrator so I don't think there's anything from the catalog that she doesn't have.  If you needed something this weekend...chances are one of us had it...well probably not me...that's why I was always asking, "Where's this stamp, Where's that punch, How do you do that technique?"

The weekend was filled with lots of projects, eating yummy food & sharing many laughs.  We stayed up pretty late all weekend and when it was time to go to bed, I felt like I was at Green Lake Bible Camp all over again.  Christy, Sarah & I all shared a room and slept on bunk beds.  We giggled like little teenagers...sharing lots of funny stories. 

I think this was my first time away from both Brad & the girls and it was much needed.  I can't wait to do this again.  I had so much fun!

 Our view of the lake.

Happy Easter!

It was pure tragedy as we waited in line to see the Easter Bunny last Friday at the MOA.  Emmy had a meltdown in the stroller and Erin peered through the little fence that they had set up...watching his every move.

When it was our turn, Emmy ran and hid around the pillar and cried.  I was able to get Erin near the Easter Bunny, but she wouldn't sit next to him.  I had to sit with her during the photo.  She was not very happy and I couldn't get any smiles out of her.  Oh well. 

When I got the kids buckled back into the stroller, we saw Dora & Boots just around he corner!  Erin was so excited, but Emmy was still having no part of anything that was dressed up.  Erin went over to them and gave them a hug, a high five & then stopped for a picture.  I didn't get a photo of this...ugh!  They were charging $12/photo.

Brad is still recovering and a little sore from his surgery last week so we decided to just stay close to home for Easter.  I prepared a ham dinner on Sunday and we went to our normal church service.  It was packed and such a nice service. 

As soon as we were done with our meal, we went out to the back yard to look for Easter Eggs.  The girls really enjoyed it.  As we came back into the house, Emmy told Brad, "Daddy, that was really fun!  I liked that!"

Last night I colored Easter Eggs with the girls.  Emmy just wanted pink eggs.  Erin lost interest after a couple of minutes. 

Silhouettes

I had silhouettes done of the girls last weekend at Edelweiss Baby.  It's one of my favorite baby boutiques located at the Shoppes at Arbor Lakes.  They specialize in apparel, accessories and gifts for babies, age preemie to 24 months.  Sadly both the girls have outgrown the adorable clothes (some of which are handmade), but I still go there for other accessories, gifts, etc. 

The actual Silhouette experience wasn't what I remember when I was a kid, but they still turned out cute.  The artist just had the girls watch a quick movie on his iPad while he briefly studied their faces.  He only used a scissors and had these done in less than ten minutes.  I love how he captured the flip in the back of Emmy's hair & also Erin's lovely curls.

Emmy

Erin

 

I Can Count to Ten!

Erin has recently learned how to count!  One day Emmy was counting and then Erin started counting right along with her.  A few days ago I started to count...1...2 from the other room and then Erin finished and counted all the way to 11.  I heard what she was doing and pretended like I wasn't listening.  When she was done I got so excited for her.  She was so proud!  I gave her a hug & a high five!

Hospital - 3 Out of 4

In the past four months, three out of four of us have been hospitalized.  This is crazy!!  Is Palm Sunday considered an actual holiday?  Another one of us sick on another holiday!!  This is starting to become very comical.  Who's going to bet on us for the next holiday?

Brad was experiencing some stomach pains over the weekend.  He thought it was indigestion so he kept taking Pepto but wasn't seeing any relief. (sound familiar?)  We went about our daily activities throughout the weekend and even went to a hockey party in Shakopee on Saturday afternoon.  When we got home from the party, we both crashed on the couch for a little bit.  Brad put the girls to bed and then tried to do some work for his side business.  Around midnight he woke me up letting me know how uncomfortable he was.  He thought he was having the same problem I had last November (Gallbladder).  I asked him a bunch of questions...where does it hurt, what's the pain like, on a scale from 1-10 how would you rate your pain, etc.  He took his temperature, but no fever.  The pain seemed to be getting worse and when he said that his pain level was a 10, I told him he needed to go to the ER.  We didn't want to wake the kids so that I could drive him to the hospital...so he drove himself and ran a few red lights on the way.  The hospital is only a mile away.

He arrived around 12:30 am Sunday and by 2:00 am the doctors thought it was his appendix.  They scheduled a CT scan and it showed that it was inflamed.  By 3:30 he was scheduled to have surgery at 6:00 am. 

During the one hour surgery they removed his appendix and also repaired a hernia.  The surgeon said that his appendix was pretty bad...worse than what they had initially thought, but it hadn't ruptured which was good. 

I brought the girls up to see him after he got out of recovery.  The surgeon said that he could probably get discharged that same evening if he was able to keep food & water down, etc. 

Brad was discharged around 6:30 pm on Sunday.  He wasn't even in the hospital for 24 hours!  They sent him home with some pain medication and told him to do bed rest.  He can't lift anything for two weeks.

He is really bummed that he can't participate in the hockey playoffs that are coming up.  He was really looking forward to playing.  I might have to take Suevonne's advice and hide his skates!  He's determined to get better in the next two weeks so that he can play.  I keep telling him he's not going to.  Sorry Brad.

Brad's home resting this week and will be doing a little bit of work from home.  He's a little sore and sleeping was a challenge for him last night.  I had to show him how to "roll" out of bed. 

The next two weeks will be a bit challenging for me.  I will be Brad's nurse, the girls' full time chauffeur, mommy/daddy, etc.  

The girls love their daddy so much and they love to jump and hug on him.  I've already explained to them that daddy has some owies and we have to be very gentle with him.  So far they've been okay.

When Brad was getting discharged from the hospital, the nurse said "Don't you have any questions?"  Brad replied, "No, I'm pretty used to hospitals.  You have no idea how many times I've been in them in the last six years!"  

Brad always jokes that before he met me he never had any medical bills. 

I'm not glad that Brad had to go through this, but I am glad that it happened now and not when we are on vacation in a few weeks.  He has time to heal up for some fun in the sun! 

Now Brad & I have matching battle scars!