Microblog Monday: Kids Are Funny

I had to leave the house early Saturday morning, which meant that Tony had to get Rylee ready for ballet and take her. He's taken her several times, but I'd always been the one to get her ready.

When they arrived to class, Rylee told her teacher, "my daddy did my hair today. He did the best he could."

Hahahaha!



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Spoke Too Soon

Whelp, everyone arrived safely home on Sunday, but it turns out that not everyone was necessarily sound. Ayden woke up yesterday morning saying that he didn't feel good, but he didn't have a fever or any other symptoms so I brushed it off. Although, he didn't eat much breakfast, which is pretty unusual. Both kids ate a good lunch and were in good spirits going down for nap. Ayden woke up from his nap feeling puny and cranky, but it didn't take long before he was back to his normal self. So again, I figured he had just needed a little extra time to wake up from his nap, which isn't really out of the norm.

Around the time I wrote my post yesterday saying that we were all safe and sound, I started feeling a little puny. I thought I was just tired, but by that evening I felt very lethargic and nauseous. I felt downright awful! I mustered up enough energy to sit on the floor and help the kids with a few puzzles, and then crawled back over to the couch to lay down again. I forced myself to get up and make them some dinosaur oatmeal for dinner, because it's super easy and I know it's something they both would eat.

Wrong! Ayden refused to even take a single bite! So unusual, because he would normally eat it every single meal if we'd let him. Rylee at about half of it, which is pretty typical for any meal with her. Regardless of not eating much, they both were full of energy and wanting to play, play, play. I felt bad because all I wanted to do was go to sleep.

When Tony got home, he took care of the bedtime routine and put the kids to bed. I went to bed myself and was asleep by 7:45pm. I woke up a few hours later and forced myself to eat a few bites of honeydew and drink some water. I'd barely eaten anything all day, nothing since that morning around 10:00.

Then I went back to bed, only to be woken up by Rylee at 12:30 in the morning after she had puked allllllll over herself and her bed. Ugh. The one that had been perfectly fine all day was the one that ended up puking! Even after just puking in the middle of the night, she was wide awake and acting just fine! She insisted on helping me make her bed. All I wanted to do was get it taken care of quickly so we could all go back to sleep again, but I let her help me anyway.

It seems that this is at least a fairly short lived bug. None of us has gotten a fever and everyone seems to feel a bit better today. They both ate a really good breakfast this morning. But then Ayden didn't eat a single bite of his requested pb&j sandwich at lunch, which is highly unusual. Rylee asked for chicken noodle soup. She ate a few bites of it and that was it, but again, she does that all the time so it's hard to tell if that means something or not with her. I don't have much of an appetite myself, but at least feel a little bit better. Fingers crossed that we will all be back to our regular routine tomorrow!

Microblog Monday: Safe and Sound

We all had a great weekend that ended with us all back home safe and sound. The kids and I survived Thursday and Friday by ourselves, although Ayden had a horrible time sleeping Friday night. He woke up multiple times, even after I ended up bringing him to bed with me at 12:30am. He woke up once crying for his daddy, and several times complaining that his tummy hurt. He was a little emotionally sensitive Saturday morning, but we survived.

Rylee loved that both her Aunt D and Grandma C came to watch her ballet class on Saturday. She was full of smiles and quite the little performer. After class, the kids went home with Grandma C to spend the night with the grandparents. They made their own pizza for dinner and got to spend time with their horse, Lucy. They both came home with several new stuffed animal friends, Ayden got a bag full of 10 matchbox cars, Rylee got new tank top undershirts (which she recently has a newfound love for), and both got new underwear. They are just a little teensy weensy spoiled by their grandparents!

Aunt D and I spent the afternoon visiting and then met another Aunt and Uncle for dinner, before going to see Buzz Lightyear. I mean, Santa Claus. Tim the Tool Ma..... Tim Allen. Did you know his real name is Timothy Alan Dick? I'm surprised that his comedy show didn't include anything about having Dick for a last name. I apologize to anyone reading this that might happen to have that as a last name. 🙊

Waiting for the show to start.

Tony "had a blast" on his guy trip with his friends, but also said that he was going to need to sleep for a week to recover. He was able to pick the kids up from his parent's house on his way home from the airport, which was super nice for me, as I had more time to visit with Aunt D before she went home, and then had the house to myself for a few hours. Everyone was a little overtired and cranky last night, but we all made it back home safe and sound after a wonderful weekend of fun. We had an early bedtime, and everyone is back to our regular Monday routine today.


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You Never Know When

Last night after dinner, the kids were running around being silly and entertaining us. Tony and I were sitting on the couch when Ayden ran up to us and said, "let's all take a picture together, with all of us!" He jumped up on the couch between us and shouted for Rylee to join us. This request was totally out of the blue, because it's something he's never asked to do before. Of course we had to honor his request with a family selfie session! He was so happy and joyful that we were taking these pictures together. Looking at these pictures with all four of us makes me feel pretty mushy and happy as well. I sure do love my family!

You can't have a selfie session without making silly faces!

The way he's looking at his Daddy completely melts my heart.

Last night was Tony's last night home before leaving on a guys trip (to Dallas, TX) for the weekend, so it was nice that we were able to have a little quality time before he left this morning. Reflecting back on these photos, I couldn't help but think about how random it was that Ayden had wanted these pictures taken. The thought crossed my mind of what if these were our last pictures together as a family? I know that's a pretty morbid thought, but I couldn't help but think it.

Maybe it was because of a recent conversation between Tony and me. He had been worrying (as he frequently does) about the dire straights of our financial future for our retirement years. He gets particularly upset because he doesn't think I care about it at all, which isn't true. I just happen to think it's unhealthy to stress about it to the degree that he does, where it effects our quality of life right now.   What good does it do for us, or anyone for that matter, to stress and worry about years down the road when we don't even know what tomorrow will bring. I told him he could get hit by a bus (not likely), or he could get in a head on accident any given day driving to or from work (unfortunately, very likely as there are almost daily accidents on that stretch of road, and way too many are fatal), and then all this stress would be for nothing. Seriously, as much as he worries about our financial future, he's going to keel over from a heart attack and it won't even matter.

You never know when your last day is going to be, or the last day of a loved one. We hear all the time how we should "never go to bed angry," "live each day as if it were your last," and "you never know when you might be seeing someone for the last time."

So right now, I'm solo-parenting for a few days. Then the kids will be spending the night at their grandparent's house on Saturday, while I get to enjoy an evening with my favorite Aunt D, and hopefully Sunday we will all be together again safe and sound. I tend to be a glass half full type of gal, so this premonition feeling I'm having is a bit unwelcome. In the meantime, looking at these pictures brings such a big smile to my face, especially thinking about how that moment made Ayden so happy. May they not be our last; but if they are, I will forever treasure these pictures.

Dinosaurs and Princesses

This is my third attempt at getting this post written over the past week! Let's hope third time is a charm and I actually have a chance to finish it and hit the publish button.

We had our one-on-one dates with the kids last Sunday. Both were major successes! We don't get that individual one-on-one time with the kids very often, so this was a real treat for all of us. Ayden was in dinosaur heaven and Rylee got the full princess treatment for the day!

Tony took Ayden to a Jurassic Quest event. He sent me a text after they arrived, saying "excitement is not a strong enough word" to describe Ayden's reaction when they arrived. He got to ride several dinosaurs, including his favorite Tyrannosaurus Rex. He did some excavating for dinosaur bones, jumped in a dinosaur bounce house, and got his face painted like a dinosaur.

The picture below does not at all capture how excited this kid was to have his face painted, which was quite a shock to us, because he's always been very against having his face painted in the past. He was actually quite upset when we made him take a bath before bed to wash it all off!

Despite how much we scrubbed, he still had green dino eyes the next day!

I took Rylee to a Princess for a Day event that's specifically geared toward foster kids (who get to attend for free), but they invite all kids to participate. Our $50 fee for the event was actually used to sponsor another child, which I think is fantastic. The entire event was very well done and they did an amazing job of making all the kids feel special.

The event was held in a hotel and there was a "Prince" and "Princess" that greeted everyone in the lobby as they arrived. After getting checked in, Rylee had the opportunity to hang out with a few famous princesses while waiting for her turn. Rylee said that "sitting with the Princesses by the fire" was her favorite part of the whole day!

Belle, Rylee, Jasmine, and Aurora

When it was Rylee's turn to be transformed into a beautiful princess, she got to pick out her very own tiara, wand, and goodie bag. Then she got the royal treatment of getting her hair and make up done, and got her fingernails painted.

From there, she got to pick out her princess dress and new (to her) shoes. There were a ton of gently used dresses and shoes that had been donated. Every participant went home with a new princess dress and shoes. Not only did they have dresses and shoes for all the girls, she also got to choose a purse (we opted out) and all the accessories you could possibly think of! They had necklaces, earrings, bracelets, rings, feather boas, and fairy wings. Rylee chose a ring (that was way too big for her), fairy wings, and a bracelet. Once she was ready, she got to pick whether she wanted a prince or princess to walk her down the red carpet. They introduced each of the little princesses as they arrived to the "ball." Rylee requested to be introduced as Princess Cinderella.

I didn't get to the other end of the red carpet fast enough to get a better picture.

Princess Cinderella. I mean, Princess Belle. Or Rylee, or Aurora...
She changed her name several times throughout the day. It was difficult to keep up! lol

Once at the ball, Rylee danced her little heart out with Moana, Belle, a handsome prince, and a few other local princesses. They served drinks, little sandwiches, fruits and vegetables, desserts, and ice cream. Rylee had a couple bites from a sandwich, enjoyed part of a cinnamon roll, and a few strawberries, but she didn't really have time to eat much when there was dancing to be done and princesses to meet.

Getting her picture taken with Rapunzel

My Princess

At the end of the day, Ayden and Rylee both had great stories to tell and both mom and dad were exhausted. It was an amazing day full of making memories.