Park It

We picked Amelia up from school yesterday and drove to the park. She was just eating a little snack and talking about school and thought we were going home. We pulled up at the park and when she realized it she started screaming. You would have thought that we pulled up at Disney World!!!

Which reminds me of one of my favorite stories and memories. One time Mom and Dad picked me up from gymnastics? and we got in the car and Steph and I realized we weren't going home. They told us that they had packed our suitcases and had them in the back and we were going to spend the night in a motel at Branson. One of the most exciting times ever. That memory has stuck with me so vividly.

Okay, we are back. Park time.

Look who feels like swinging!


Thanks G for the new bucket and digging tools!Amelia continually wants to hold Elise and go down the slide. We really hold her, but it is hilarious because Amelia is coaching her the whole time on what to do.
And, on an entirely different note than the park, this article is thought provoking. I have read it several times. It talks about the under-protective parent. I think you'll like it if you have a few minutes to read it. Definitely got me thinking.

Parenting seems to be one big think-fest :) And a love-fest, of course.

Gee Whiz

It's been seven days since I posted. Elise has been sick. Very sick. I don't know where to start other than by saying she is better now!! Thanks for the prayers, texts, and calls. I think I will just bullet list some things before moving on.
1. Went to (new) doctor on Wed and said allergies or virus. She had no fever at this point.
2. Got 102-103 fever that very night.
3. Still very high fever for two straight days and went to urgent care Friday night when we could not get fever down.
4. Double ear infection diagnosed and 104 fever that night.

Okay, I will skip the emotion and stress of holding a burning hot baby and wanting to just cry and cry for her, but trying not to scare Amelia. After we left urgent care, I was livid the whole way home because the doctor on Wednesday MISSED the ear infection and could have saved my baby two days of extreme pain and high fever. However here is the amazing part. The fever of 104 just would not go down. Advil and Tylenol were having little effect. I called my family to pray specifically for it to go down and it went to 100.4 without any medicine in a matter of 30 minutes. Such a miracle!

She went through a scary phase the next 30 hours of not drinking or eating anything and we were afraid she was going to get dehydrated. Again, more prayers! The girl is on the mend and we are so thankful. What a wonderful think good health is.
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Mom came up Thursday so that we could go to Pa's birthday party celebration in Branson. Thankfully Elise loves my Mom so much that she went right to her- even feeling so sick. We couldn't miss Pa's party and Gammy rushed up to bail us out. (again, again). Amelia had a blast at the party!

And, Amelia got to stick with our plan of going to her first fair Saturday, just without Mommy, Elise, and Daddy (on call). She never missed a beat and loved every ride and every second of the fair. Thanks to Gammy and Gampy for taking her and letting her have a wonderful weekend. Cotton candy, elephant ride, animals, giant slide, games, prizes--she hasn't stopped talking about it.
I was so sad that I wasn't with her, but Dad was awesome in sending me tons of picture updates.
She even went to Sunday School at their church! Talk about a shock. No tears, just went right in to a new class, new teacher, and new kids. Bizarre.


While I am in the Amelia section, let me just say how wonderful she was while Elise was so sick. She knew Elise needed to be held 24/7 and was patient and understanding and kept praying for Elise and telling her how sorry she was. It was so precious. Thanks to Jessalyn for coming over to play with Amelia for some fun time one of those days.

And just a precious picture--here she is when we checked on her with her new dog she won at the fair covered up beside her. And yes, she sleeps BESIDE her bed on a COUCH. Whatever works, right? Oh, and I know, I know...the paci.....
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Amelia went to school today and is seemingly back to normal without a hitch. Her teacher said she is definitely "coming out of her shell" and she didn't get sad or cry today at all. Whew. Here she is giving her "shy" face while we were sitting in car line this morning.

After school we surprised Amelia by having Ross in the car. He had the afternoon off and that never happens. Then we had Orange Leaf. YUMMMM. Okay, I feel semi caught up.

Sisters

Amelia had another FABULOUS day at school today. I am so blessed that she has loving teachers who are praying for her and who update me during the day. Today was Wear Red day and she animatedly reported to me that, "Two of the boys forgot and wore a different color. Poor things." Doesn't she look presh?

We had a fun afternoon and Amelia picked out a few Halloween decorations at the Dollar Store for her "treat." Her choice was a few sheets of window stickers :)

Then we went to dinner with the Hahn's and had Andy's for dessert. They are such a blessing to us as well. Ross is out of town again after a glorious week of vacation and it was such a nice way to spend our evening. And now it is almost ten and Elise has already been up three times. Typical. However, I had to sneak in a few of these sister shots. As you know, my sister is the greatest this in the world and I pray that these two have that strong of a relationship. It is already so much fun to watch them. Amelia has been calling her "little cutie" lately and I get so tickled.

Amelia always wants to get a picture with Elise in her green chair. She was trying to make Elise smile before church Sunday.


Somehow...it worked...Then she began the slow wiggle away and made it look like they are the same size.



Love these two little ladies. LOVE. Finishing this post one handed because Elise is up for the FOURTH time and it isn't even eleven. This is where I usually give up and just go to bed- with her- all the while thinking, "Really? Another one who doesn't sleep?" Oh well. This cutie and I are off to bed.

Victory

YIPPEEE. Amelia's preschool director texted me yesterday morning that she was having a fabulous day. I am so grateful and will continue praying that she has fun and loves it. She looked adorable, so maybe that helped, haha. (she wanted to hopscotch before we left??)


It also turned frigid yesterday afternoon while Ross, Elise, and I were in Branson shopping. I bought Buzz quite a few outfits. She has no fall clothes at all and it delights me that I get to buy all new ones. Ross keeps reminding me we have no money and I keep reminding him she can't be naked, duh. The girls bundled up to swing yesterday evening. Elise falls asleep almost every time that she swings and it is so precious.


Amelia wanted her DADDY to push her because HE pushes the HIGHEST. Excuuuuse me.

Oh, and I just thought I would show you how excited Elise gets when her Dad comes after her. Hilarious.

Moms And Muffins and More

Amelia had a special day at school Monday and I got to go have a muffin with her and do a craft and listen to her sing a song! It was so exciting--for both of us.




We picked chocolate chip muffins and they were so yummy. Then I played with her and her friends and it was so nice to see her happy. Then the kids sang a song to the moms and Amelia was a ham doing all the motions and singing.

Here she is with her friends Kinley and Evangeline. Precious.
Amelia has been having a hard time at school the last few times. Like hard, as in we have been thinking about pulling her out, hard. Crying off and on all day. It all started with a new boy in her class and I won't get into all the details but she is very scared of him and bothered by his fits. She moved classes and has a new teacher, but is still having a hard time. This really sent her backwards in terms of progression with being away from me and it is such a shame because she was loving the first few days so much. However, we are pressing on for now because she had an improved day on Monday. We are sticking it out for September and will then re-evaluate. Love my sweet girl and hate seeing her sad. Thankful our morning together was fun.

Tuesday we went to the Discovery Center Museum and I was so looking forward to it because Amelia loved it so much the last time we went. Remember this post? Well, she was a whole year older and loved everything even more this time. Here she is loving the air tunnel, "grocery store," launch pad, and magnet table.

WAY into it all. They had a big box with bees in it and then a tunnel outside for the bees to go collect nectar and come back in to make honey. Even I was WAY into watching that. It was so cool. I think Ross would have stood there for hours trying to find the queen. How I wish I had a video of him in the science museum. Classic.

And, Elise had a great time too. Her favorite was the Lego house by far.


It has been so nice having Ross home! I love vacation for hubs. Especially one who works all the time :)

September is a Swingin'

This has been a month of so many fun things! For Ross's birthday, he wanted to take Amelia to Silver Dollar City. I was dragging my heels all summer because I thought she would be scared of everything and not have much fun, but he wanted to try it. Thankfully Barbara found us free tickets and so we granted his wish. Aaron, Rebecca, and Caleb came up to go with us also. It was the first day of their Fall Fest and everything was decorated all cute and gloriously fall.

I really don't know where to start. She loved the elephant ride, the swinging bridge, the tunnel slide, the rope walk, the frog ride, the swings (which went WAY too fast for a kiddie ride), and the merry-go-round. And I do mean LOVE. She was enamored with the rides and I walked around with my mouth wide open in disbelief much of the day. It was so exciting. I couldn't believe it. My little cautious blonde was just as brave as can be.


She loved the ladybugs (which she had to ride alone and still didn't care), the train (she even stole the show and gave the train robbers a graham cracker), the frozen lemonade, the toy store, the water ball, and the wiffle ball game (where she won a pig that she promptly named Piggy Pig). She loved the square dance-off and even went out on the floor and started dancing, lol.



I'm telling you she was perfect. Totally wonderful all day. We let her skip nap and stay until five. And I'm still questioning this decision. I don't recommend taking a two year old to SDC from 9-5. Even though she was an angel, when we left, she melted down. And she continued to melt down the rest of the evening. We just couldn't bear to make her go home at 1:00, which was our original plan. We should have, but we didn't. She went to bed very early and was asleep in one minute. Then, the fun continued and we went out to eat with Aaron and Reb while Mom and Dad watched Elise, Caleb, and Amelia. A big thanks for this and to Mom and Dad for watching Elise all day too.

Dinner at Houlihans was long and delish and fun and then we went to Hebrews coffee for more laughing. A fabulously long day. Here I am with the birthday boy. The big 28! Oh, and I was cold so my knees are curled up in the booth--those aren't giant boobs.


Yippeee for our wonderful weekend. And Ross is on vacation this week, so the fun has continued :)