Homemade Surprise

You may have seen this on other blogs; you sign up to receive something homemade and crafty, and then you pay it forward by doing the same thing for 3 people who sign up to do it on your blog.

So here’s how it works:

1.Be one of the first 3 people to leave a comment on this post and I will send you a handmade gift sometime in the next 3 months.

2.You get to pay it forward as well by doing the same thing for 3 people on your blog, plus one back to me. Once you leave a comment telling me that you want to participate, you need to make a pay-it-forward post on your blog within one day.

3.Get crafting!

Go right ahead and be the first three. You never know what you might get! I have some friends who are super crafty, but I'll have to do some serious thinking about this.

Kamryn is 4!!

I can hardly believe she is four already. I still remember coming home from work (and almost getting a ticket) because I felt we needed to go to the hospital. Well, of course, with my luck nothing was happening even though I was having contractions every 2 minutes or so. Instead of sending me home to wait two days for my scheduled section (because it looked like nothing was going to happen) they went ahead and performed it. There she was all cute (after they cleaned her) and cuddly. She is still cuddly and cute but now she has her own opinions and ideas. Now, some of these are influenced by her older sister but some are her own. She has this cute little voice, but will let you know if she doesn't like what you are doing or wants you to do something different.

We went to Disney on her birthday (just her and I) and it was a surprise. I had her get dressed for school and then when we headed out, I just started driving to Disney. She realized I was going the wrong was and then I told her about our day and she got so excited! It isn't often she gets to pick everything we do. We weren't in any big hurry (good thing because it was crowded) and we had lots of fun!

We watched the show in front of the castle even though we have seen it many times before!

Kamryn loves dance. She was able to go to a dance convention with all the other girls and thought she was big stuff since she was dressed like them and her hair was done the same way and everything. She got to take a few classes and then spent the rest of the time dancing up and down the hall. It was so funny! These are just 2 of her favorite people at the studio (and 2 of her favorite babysitters). She loves to watch them dance.

Her party is Saturday morning so I'm sure I'll have more info later. I'll do my best to get the pictures loaded so I can blog and everything.

Update of the family

Luckily, nobody got real sick (well Riley did on Wed, but I don't think it was related). My sister in law made it home with her girls that day (Saturday) with hardly any incident. She did say our niece was really pale and weak at the airport, but she hadn't had any food and hardly anything to drink so that is understandable. I know she (our niece) felt better the next day and went back to school on Monday. I don't think her sister has been as lucky. It seems like she gets better for a day or two and then either gets sick or runs a fever. I feel so bad for her (and the rest of the family). Hopefully, she'll kick it soon and nobody else will get it.



I need to take a moment and let my niece know how proud we are of her. We all know it is no fun getting sick and like being in our home with our comfort items, etc. She got sick at night, in a strange house (meaning not hers) and without her mom to comfort her. I know adults who would not have coped as well as she did. Although she felt better in the morning, she also didn't complain about having to leave and go back to the hotel. We know she had really been looking forward to this trip and seeing her cousins so some tears or pouting would have been warranted, but there wasn't any. At least, not at our house. What a trooper!! We look forward to another visit from them so the girls (all four) will get some proper playtime. Then I'll have pictures I can post and scrapbook!

Long Night & Messed Up Weekend

We have been planning this weekend for a little while. Doug's sister was coming to FL with her girls and his brother was coming in from MO. We had planned on an afternoon together in Ocala at his other brother's house. It would be the first time all the family was together since before Kamryn was born (I'd guess 6 years or so). Well, everything got messed up and we had a long night here at the house. Since the cousins from Chicago don't get down here very often, we had planned to have the oldest over for a sleepover (she is a year younger than Riley). Well, everything started off great - the girls played, we had dinner, they took showers, we got ready for bed. Now, we had known that our youngest niece had been sick the night before they were to head to FL but had shown no more signs of anything so we thought it would be ok. Well, it wasn't. Riley woke me up at 1:20 or so telling me that her cousin felt sick so I went to check. She had actually gotten sick all over the bed while she was sleeping. I took all the sheets off and put them in the laundry, then I got Riley and Peyton situated. I put Peyton on the couch and I decided to sleep in the recliner next to her just in case. It was a good thing I did as she got sick again at 3:00, 4:00, and 6:20. She seemed better when she woke up, but Doug was still taking her back to her mom who was staying at a hotel in the Villages (turned out little sister had gotten sick again over night as well). Desta decided it best if they go ahead and head back to Chicago today rather than wait until tomorrow. I know Peyton got sick in Doug's car on the way to the Villages, but I don't know what happened after that. I can only hope they all make it back to Chicago and get over this thing quick. But, since the girls and I had been exposed, we opted to not go see any family today since we don't know what will happen with the girls. We're hopeful that we'll get lucky (there have been some prayers) since we have lots of fun family things coming up - Kamryn's bday, a bday party, Disney cruise, etc. I guess all there is left to do is wait and see. We'll just have to make sure we plan another family gathering and not wait so long to make it happen (we have a high school graduation in 2 years if we can't make it happen before). Then, we'll hope everyone stays healthy! At least this house should rest good tonight.

Morning

Every morning, Kamryn wakes up before it's really necessary. It's usually around 6:30 or 6:45, but today it was 6:00. When she wakes up she doesn't wait in her bed until she hears us and she doesn't yell for us. She just comes into our room and over o my side of the bed and wakes me up. Then, she climbs up and gets settled in the middle and goes back to sleep. I asked her this morning why she does this and she said because she likes to cuddle with us. While I don't really like getting woken up, I can't refuse such a cute girl. If she didn't fall back asleep we might have a problem, but so far so good. Of course, just because Kamryn falls back to sleep doesn't mean Doug and I do. Oh well!

Birthdays

Just wanted to wish my mom a happy birthday! Her birthday is tomorrow and we want her to know we'll be thinking of her! Thanks for being a great mom and grandma.

We also want to wish Josie a happy birthday because her special day in Monday! You are an awesome sister-in-law and aunt and we're glad you're part of our family!

Birthday Background

I decided to change the background since Kamryn's birthday is approaching. It's hard to believe that she'll be 4!! It seems like yesterday that she was born. She is such a wonderful little girl and is usually happy and cuddly. Of course, being a girl, she can pout and whine with the best of them. We try and not give in when she acts like that and often say we can't understand her until she acts like a big girl. This usually works and is much easier to deal with. She often thinks she is older than she is and tries to keep up with her sister and the other kids in the neighborhood. In fact, she wanted to have a sleepover for her birthday and the "friends" she wanted to invite are all middle school girls that have babysat for us over the last year and dance at the same studio. We tried to explain to her why that wouldn't work and then she wanted one with friends her age. Finally, we got her to agree to something else (her original idea). She is SO excited for her party! It's still a few weeks away, but she is ready!!