Paperwork, UGH!

Because of our last trip to the ER with Lucas, we've had to do quite a bit of paperwork to get the insurance claim taken care of.  We've never dealt with all of this before and it's getting a little frustrating.  We filled out the first papers that came in, faxed them back and figured that was that.  A week later, we get more paper work with questions that don't even apply to us.  After speaking with an agent in burlington nc, trying to find out why this claim is different and why we have to deal with all of this in the first place, I think (I HOPE!) we've gotten it all taken care of now.  Now if only I could get Lucas to promise me no more ER trips, not only to avoid paper work, but to avoid scaring his poor Mama and giving her more gray hair than she already has, that would be great! :P

Love The Play Dates!

Seems like we've had a lot of play dates lately and I love it!  Not only do the kids get to run around, burn off some energy and play with their friends, but I get time to visit too!  Last Friday, we met up with Kristin, Ross, Jesse and Willow for a play date at Burger King.  That's always fun because the kids get to play in the play place, no one has to cook and the food is cheap enough.  We haven't been able to get together with them for quite some time so it was really nice to catch up.  Yesterday, we had a little impromptu park play date with Cheryl, Jessica and the kids.  It was so nice out!  The kids loved being able to run around outside, soak up a little sun and breathe that fresh air.  I spent most of that play date chasing Lucas.  :)  He wants to do all the things the bigger kids are doing but it's quite ready for all of that yet.  Today we had our friends, Cyndi and Ashten, over for a lunch play date.  We had mini pizzas and veggies and dip for lunch.  The boys took a little while to warm up to each other but once they did, they played together nicely.  It was nice for Lucas to have a play date all his own.  He tries to keep up with Lauryn and her buddies, and they try to include him, but sometimes he ends up hanging out with me and the moms or playing on his own.  Lucas and Ashten are only about four months apart and I think they both enjoyed having someone their own age to play with.  We have one more get play date this week, too!  We're all making new friends, and getting together with old friends, and I think it's great for all of us.  :)

 

Halloween

We had such a great day!  It started out with getting some things done around the house.  I got me and the kids ready and we made a few early rounds to friends' houses.  We got back home and Lloyd and Michelle and the boys were already here.  I had ordered pizza and made Caesar salad to have before we left for Trick -or- Treating.  Ed came a little while later and he, Lloyd and Lucas stayed here to pass out candy while Michelle and I took the kids around the neighborhood.  Even though it was misting out, we had a lot of fun!

 

[caption id="attachment_4471" align="aligncenter" width="224"] Cinderella Lauryn[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_4472" align="aligncenter" width="224"] Zombie Lucas[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_4474" align="aligncenter" width="225"] Lauryn, Me and Lucas[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_4475" align="aligncenter" width="224"] Michael, Evan and Lauryn[/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_4476" align="aligncenter" width="224"] The Hulk, Bill Clinton and Lucas[/caption]

 

 

Happy Little Things

Today was such a good day.  Nothing spectacular happened, it was just one of those days where a lot of cool little things happened and it makes the day great.  To start, I got some cleaning done, which isn't really part of the "great day" but anytime I get something done around here these days, it feels like an accomplishment. :P  Then I got some of the Halloween decorations out and Lauryn was thrilled when I let her put some in her room too.  Her costume was delivered today and she was so excited to see it and try it on.  It's a little long but I can take care of that pretty easily.  I love seeing her get so excited!  Kathy came over for a visit this afternoon and it's always a good time when we're together!  I did her make-up and hair and then Lauryn wanted make-up on too.  I've never really done anyone else's make-up before and I think it turned out nice.  While we were visiting, I was surprised when Kathy mentioned seeing the FedEx truck in the driveway, which meant my new vacuum, the one I've been wanting for quite some time now, was here.  It wasn't supposed to be here until at least tomorrow so that made me happy.  After Kathy left and we had dinner, I couldn't wait to try it out and I am very pleased with how well it works.  I vacuumed the whole house! :)  The rest of the evening has been spent getting the kids to bed and relaxing and talking with Lloyd.  Like I said, nothing spectacular, but still a really good day! :)

Crank The Tunes and Clean!

When I was young, when it was time to clean, my mom would put songs like The Big Chill soundtrack (one of the best soundtracks, in my opinion) on, crank up the volume and we would get the housework done.  To me, that's one of the best ways to get the house clean.  Singing and dancing around makes it feel like you're not really working.  Since Lauryn and Lucas are so little, they love it too!  I'm sure they'll get to the age where singing and dancing around the house with their mom is embarrassing, but for now, we have a lot of fun.  Maybe it's a tradition they'll do with their kids someday :)

Rain, Rain Go Away!

I know that April showers bring May flowers, and I've even explained that to Lauryn when she's complained about the rain, but enough is enough! Normally, I like the rain and I love a good thunderstorm, but we're going on four days in a row and with trying to run errands with a four year old and a 10 month old, it's getting to be a bit much! Mother Nature, if you could just give us a day here and there without it, I'd really appreciate it! :)

It feels like I haven't written much about the kids lately. Actually, I've slacked on blogging all together. I haven't posted new recipes, craft projects or anything! I need to get back into updating often. I have tried a couple of new recipes recently and since they turned out pretty darn good, I should share them. I'll try to get them in the next post.

My sweet girl Lauryn is doing great in school. We're going to keep her in preschool for one more year. Scholastically, she's excelling, but she's still very shy and timid with her classmates. Yes, I did just say Lauryn is shy and timid! Doesn't sound like the girl we know, does it? :) At home, she is so helpful to me. She loves to help me make dinner and bake treats. She keeps Lucas busy when I need a couple of minutes to get something done, and they play a ton throughout the day. She's an awesome big sister, an amazing daughter and just an all out wonderful little person.

Lucas is learning new things every day! He says "Mama, Dada, Nana and Lala" along with making monster noises and what I think is singing along with me when we're in the car :) He's crawling all over the place, and when he's in his walker, he runs! He chases after me, Lloyd, Lauryn and the cat! He'll learn one of these days that you just don't mess with the cat! He's trying and liking a lot of different foods and he's such a good eater. I'm still nursing him and plan to do so until he turns one. I'm ready to be done, I think he's getting ready too. He only nurses 2-3 times a day and the only time he's not totally squirming is the feeding at bed time. I'm ready but it's a little sad too. Knowing he's my last baby and we'll be done with that part of things is a little heartbreaking but I'm proud that I was able to do it! He's been sleeping through the night again, for about a week and a half, but I'm not getting my hopes up that it's an all the time thing. He's done that before and then went right back to waking up a few times a night. I feel like we're getting there though. He LOVES his big sister! He always wants her attention and loves to ham it up with her. He loves to follow her around and jibber-jabber non-stop to her. He's 10 months now and I love seeing his little personality! He's a happy boy, and a snuggler, but when he's mad or frustrated, he knows how to show that too! I think he may have some of the Stewart stubbornness in him :)

As for me and Lloyd, you know, the parents of these super cool kids, we're fantastic! His business keeps his busy but he always has time for me and our kids. I'm so fortunate to have found someone who loves and respects me, who works so hard to take care of our family and make sure our kids never have to go without, and who gives our children the love and comfort that only a father can give. We are blessed!

Play Date

I'm really looking forward to tomorrow afternoon.  We're having a play date with Kristin and her boys, Michelle and her boys, and possibly Nikki and Willow.  We're meeting up at Burger King for lunch and so the kids can play in the play area.  It's great because the kids will eat and play and us moms can watch them and visit.  Lauryn always gets a great nights sleep after a play date because she goes non-stop the whole time we're there, which really isn't different from when she's home, there's just more kids to run around with.  :)

And We're Done

Christmas break is over and it's time to get back into the swing of things.  Lauryn is super excited to go back to school as she missed her friends and her teacher.  I think she missed the hustle and bustle of it all too.  She only goes for two and half hours, Monday through Thursday, but they go non-stop and she has the energy for it.  When she was home, we tried to keep her as busy as we could but between having the flu, Lucas getting an ear infection and teething, and the every day stuff that needs to get done around the house, it was hard to keep her busy all of the time.  We had a great time with all of our Christmas parties and I'm going to share some of the pictures I took.

Our first Christmas party, with Lloyd's mom's side of the family:







Baking yummy treats for friends:

 



Christmas with Lloyd's parents and brother:













Christmas morning:

 

 

 









Christmas with my Mom:







The kids and I missed Christmas with Lloyd's dad's side of the family due to my having the flu and Lauryn not feeling so well.  :( 

On New Year's Eve, my mom and I took the kids to Grand Rapids to see the lights at 5/3 Ballpark.  Although I took tons of pictures, I'm only going to post one.  I can't remember what the Santa was supposed to be doing here, as they bowl, kick field goals, etc., but this one looks like he's peeing!  I realized later that to the side of him is a light tunnel that you drive through but at this angle, it looks like Santa is relieving himself!  :)



Now the tree is down and so are the rest of the Christmas decorations.  All things snowman are staying up through the rest of winter though :)  The house sure looks bare without all of our pretty decorations!  One of these days I will actually figure out what I want to put on the walls and get this place looking nice and decorated so I won' t have to wait until Christmas time to see it!  :)

Watch Your Kids!!!

Yesterday, I decided to pack lunch for me and Lauryn and walk down to the park to play.  It started out really nice.  The weather was great, she was having a great time playing and I was having fun watching and helping her.  We took a break from playing and went down to sit on a bench by the river to eat our lunch.  Afterward, we went back up to play and there were two women with two kids there.  The one kid was probably around 5 and he was running around playing and the other kid looked just over a year to me.  I was pretty surprised that the two women weren't paying much attention at all to the little guy because there was a lot of things for him to get hurt on.  They were busy drinking their coffee's and talking about OxyElite Pro.  The little guy climbed his way through the playground and managed to get to the tallest slide.  He started going down it just as Lauryn and I were walking by.  I could see he was having a hard time and I ended up catching him near the bottom as he fell of the side!  The two women didn't seem to notice at all.  I made sure he was okay and then went back to playing with my own child.  A few minutes later, the little guy fell off a step right by and his poor little head bounced on the wood chips.  This time, the woman who I assumed was his mother laughed a little but did not make one move to check on him.  I was furious!  I helped him up, brushed him off and looked him over to make sure he wasn't hurt.  Why would you bother taking your kids to a park to play if you aren't even going to watch them and keep them safe?  I understand that playgrounds are meant for kids but that doesn't make them safe and when there's a child that young and I don't think  you should just trust that they'll be okay.  Maybe I'm a paranoid mother but when Lauryn's playing there, I'm not more than two feet away from her.  I want to be right there incase she does get hurt and I want to be there  to make sure she doesn't try to play on the parts that are meant for the bigger kids.  I just don't understand why those women weren't even watching!