I've Been Sick -- Again!

Sorry I have been a bad blogger lately. I've been sick. At first I was in denial that I had yet another cold, but I finally admitted that I was sick. It all started last Wednesday when Lily and I went to get flu shots (actually we got flumist instead). I never get flu shots, but when they asked at the pediatricians office if I wanted one too, I figured what the hell and got one with Lily. Then Thursday night my throat started hurting and I wasn't sure if it was a "flu symptom" from getting the stupid flumist or if it was because I dyed my hair and cleaned the shower with bleach and a toothbrush earlier in the day -- I figured breathing in all those chemicals could have totally given me a sore throat! Friday morning we went to playgroup and my friend Lori mentioned that strep throat was going around. Of course by the time we get home from playgroup my throat was burning up and I was still not sure if I was sick, or if it was from the flumist or the chemicals. So I went to the Dr to have them look. If you know me at all, you know it is a pretty big deal when I go to the Dr's, but I wanted to make sure I didn't have strep and since it was Friday afternoon, I didn't want to have to go to urgent care over the weekend if it got worse. Of course the Dr says it is not strep and there is nothing wrong with me -- probably just a side effect of the flumist. So, I feel much better about that and figure I am in the clear to go take Lily to Ashley's birthday party on Saturday morning. Then Saturday afternoon I really start feeling crappy. The throat doesn't hurt so bad, but I feel kinda sick and tired. But I am still not convinced that I am sick!!! Sunday morning I took Lily to my parents house to play for a few hours since were leaving for California Monday morning. They will be gone awhile since they are staying for my nephew's birth and then after to help my sister out. So they wanted to see Lily before they had to leave. That was great since I was still not feeling 100% and I got to rest. Yesterday morning I finally accepted that I had a cold and just relaxed all day. But today I am feeling much better and actually got some cleaning and stuff accomplished!! Not sure why I felt the need to type all that out, but there you go. I still think the cold originated with the flumist -- if not from the vaccine, then from sitting in the germy Dr's office!! Yuck. I hate going there. I can't believe how many colds I have gotten in the last year. I guess I am making up for years and years of not being sick at all. I have to build my immune system back up.

Here are the 2 pictures I took recently:

Both of them working hard on their laptops.

From today, having an after school snack.

Chuck E Cheese

This morning we went to Ashley's 3rd birthday party at Chuck E Cheese.

Lily had to carry the present in (we got her a My Little Pony).
Having fun! We hadn't been to Chuck E Cheese yet, only Peter Pipers. But Chuck E Cheese had a huge toddler section and seemed to have more stuff for Lily to ride and play with.

Of course she loved the stupid phone game and kept going back to it over and over. I drowned the poor phone in Purell, but it still kinda freaked me out. :)

Lily, Emily and Abby.

They rode this carousel at least a dozen times.

Driving the train.

The birthday girl, Ashley, and her Ariel cake.

Lily had the most fun dancing! They had this little "studio" up by the stage where Chuck E Cheese is with a camera projecting them dancing up on 3 TV screens. Lily loved it!!
It was hard to get a good photo since they were all dancing and spinning, but from left to right:

Calli, Emily, Abby, Christie (Lily's best friend from school) and Lily in front.

Holding hands and dancing -- Lily, Emily, Ashley, Brett and Christie

Lily, Emily, Christie, Dylan, Brett and Ashley

Lily got so excited and screamed with joy whenever the mechanical Chuck E Cheese came on up on stage -- she LOVED him! But you should have seen the look of complete horror and panic when the real Chuck E Cheese came out to sing Happy Birthday to Ashley! I was too busy comforting her in my arms to get a photo, but it was pretty funny how she went from loving that mouse to being terrified of him.

more games.

For a token they had a photo booth where Chuck E Cheese would sketch your photo. Lily and I were the first to try it out:

And then we decided to try to get one with Hannah, Emily and Lily . . .

. . . . not quite . . . .Lily, Hannah and Emily!

More Froggy Friends

Grandpa came over last night with 3 more little frogs he caught at the golf course. He said that Lily can play with them for the day and then tonight (or tomorrow) we can go to the pond and free them. These are actually water frogs, not like the last one which was more of a toad.

She was really excited and funny when she first saw them. Unfortunately, I didn't start the camera in time to get her great reaction -- but here she is right after checking the frogs out.

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

The spent the night outside, since I did not want to take a chance on them hopping out of their bowl! We haven't had a chance to play with them today since Lily had school, then we ran errands, ate lunch and now she is napping. But she has been talking about them, so I am sure we will be checking them out as soon as she wakes up!

School Work

Lily came home today with some more marvelous art and craft projects from school. I am sure I will keep them all, but I like the idea of also having them documented in the blog and book, so here you go. . .

They are learning all about RED right now.

Jackpot!

Last night I had a room parent meeting at Lily's school. It is official, I am one of 2 room parents which means we have to coordinate parties and school socials and help coordinate classroom volunteers and generally act as a go between for teachers and other parents. Personally, I won't be volunteering in the classroom anytime soon. I went in yesterday morning for reading time to read a book to the class. Reading is the last thing of the day, so I figured it would be best to do that (instead of art time in the middle of class), so I wouldn't have to leave again -- I could just take Lily home with me. Lily and I had been talking about me coming in to read for days ahead. I read the book to her that I was going to bring to class, "The Biggest Bear" and she was pretty excited. But as soon as I walked into her class, she started crying. She sat on my lap and cried through the whole story and cried all the way home. So, I won't be going back again anytime soon. Hopefully after a few months of class, I won't be as disruptive to her day.

Anyway, last night while I was at the room parents meeting, Lily was at my parents house where she had a great time playing the old slot machine in the office with Grandpa.

Putting her nickle in . . .
and pulling the handle. It is tough to pull, so it takes two hands and some effort for her.

and doing it all again and again and again.

JACKPOT!!

We finally made her stop playing since my mom and I were concerned that her little arm would be sore the next day. So her and grandpa then went looking for spiders (?) and made shadow puppets in the safe room. Lily loves playing with grandpa!

Happy Birthday Chip -- part 2

Last night after Lily's nap, Chip's birthday celebration continued. My parents came over and took us out to eat at Chuy's for dinner. It is one of Chip's favorite restaurants -- according to Chip the steak burrito there is the best burrito ever!

Lily insisted on feeding Grandma her meal. It was funny and cute. I didn't have a great angle to get a good photo, but wanted to post it anyway in order to preserve the memory.


After dinner we went back home for presents and cake. I didn't really get Chip anything exciting this year for his birthday since he didn't really ask for or need anything. But Lily and I got him some new shorts for lounging around the house, a sweatshirt, a jacket, a CD, some Dallas Cowboy notebooks for school and Lily picked out a Sesame Street T-shirt for him to wear. She was really excited about it. In fact, she actually told him yesterday morning that she bought him "Sesame Street clothes" for his birthday, but he didn't pick up on it. I figured he could wear it around the house, but she really wanted him to wear it to work and school today! Luckily it is cool here today, so he had to wear a jacket and was able to sneak out without the Sesame Street shirt on. :)

Lily loves helping people open their presents.

My Dad went shopping for Chip and got him a Dallas Cowboys golf towel, DVD and book! The book is pretty cool, but we haven't had a chance to watch the DVD yet.

Lily was super excited about the cake. She got her stool from the bathroom, and she was all ready to help daddy blow out the candles. In fact, apparently we were taking too long to get going so Lily started singing "Happy Birthday" and got us going!

She actually ate her cake. But it was Rainbow Chip (my all time favorite), so who can resist that?

Later she was playing golf and catch with Grandpa.

Happy Birthday Chip!! I hope you had a great day!

Happy Birthday Daddy -- part 1

Today was Chip's day off work, so we are celebrating his birthday today -- only a day early. Chip slept in and then ate some of his birthday coffee cake for breakfast (it is his favorite, so I always make it on his birthday and Christmas morning). Then we decided to drive up to McKinney to the downtown area. Lily and I have been there a few times, but since Chip is always so busy with work and school, he hasn't had a chance to get out and explore Texas like we have. We drove around some and then stopped downtown and ate at Rick's Chophouse. It was yummy. Even Lily yelled out "So yummy in my tummy!" I was a little nervous going in since it is a nice restaurant -- I mean they had a kids menu, but it was in a nice leather cover and didn't come with crayons, so I wasn't sure how Lily would behave throughout the whole meal. But she was perfect! I was so proud of her. It was a really nice lunch. After we ate we walked over to the candy store for a treat and then came home for nap time. Tonight we are going to dinner with my parents and then it is present and cake time!

Sitting with Daddy at lunch.

She wanted to sit on Daddy's shoulders on the way to the candy store. Chip was happy, he loves that.

A kid in a candy store.

I took a zillion photos on the walk back to the car -- Lily was SO cute on Chip's shoulders with her lollipop!!!

It was a great morning and the perfect way to celebrate Chip's birthday.