Summer Fun!

10 days ago I wrote that Shay would be returning to daycare...well, she made it 1 1/2 hrs that day before I received a call at work to come get her. So again, she was out of daycare for another week and returned Thursday and Friday of this week, whoo-hooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She made it all day, yeah!!! Seriously huge thank you to my family for helping out, they kept her all day so I could still work. Nate's grandma spent the most time with both her and Conley trying to get everyone healthy and gaining weight ;) Shay will get tubes this Wednesday at the University and I'm praying that this will help our situation. I truly feel she is 100% better having spent many days out of daycare, away from germs, eating and sleeping a lot!

I thought I would include some pics of the scores thus far during garage sale season!


Nate's mom found this sand/water table for Conley...it is awesome. Both him and Shay played for hours last weekend. We didn't have any sand yet, but they love the water with the boats, which was fine for me, less messy;)

Conley also got this tool bench set, and of course knew he must wear his safety goggles when working with power tools ;) Again, Shay loved it also which made for some mommy free time to get some stuff done, yeah!!!!!!!!!!


The BEST find was this blow up jumping toy. The cousins loved it and had a great time! Of course the boys managed to get in trouble and we had to deflate it on the first day due to punishment, go figure. I'm sure this will be the HIT of the summer!!!!!




Conley and Isaac had a blast. Chloe of course designated one side for girls and one for boys. She put up signs indicating which side belong to who, but we quickly reminded her the boys couldn't read, she was bummed ;)

Here we come daycare!

Tomorrow is Shay's first day back at daycare in 10 days!!! Daycare has probably enjoyed taking my hard earned money and not having 2 kids to watch, jk. We have scheduled tubes at the University on May 13 and I need her to be well for that appointment. She seems to be doing SOOOOO much better. She is still on antibiotic and the nebulizer twice a day. I feel she is gaining weight and is getting really close to walking. Overall it has been a beneficial 10 days home away from germs. I on the other hand have a little bit of cabin fever! I'm used to going full speed and running around like crazy...maybe that is problem- Shay is telling me less running around and more at home resting...but that is no fun!


I thought I would include some pics of my healthy gal...

Miss Thing has a little bit of "tude" when I try to get her to smile. She does the "I'm holding it in" smile, until I act crazy enough that she starts to laugh!
Finally I got a good smile out of her! Notice the little piggies...I love doing her hair!!!

April

It has been crazy since my last post, so this post will include many things! We had a nice Easter weekend, my sister was home from Minnesota, the kids enjoyed many awesome Easter egg hunts, and I got a pedicure (MUCH NEEDED, thanks sis!)! Shay is sick again and I was frantically stressed about her health this week, but I am doing better. I scheduled an appointment for her at the University of Iowa Pediatric ENT next week and I am very excited to hear a new doctor's take on her body! She has not been well since before Christmas and it has been emotionally and sleep draining on me! I am sooooo excited for spring/summer and nice weather. We need to air the germs out of our house and get outside for fresh air!!!


Dying Easter eggs with Grandma Shay, Nate, Jamie and Shay! Nate convinced Conley later to dye his hands green, that was fun to clean off! I know my dad was here somewhere, just absent from pics.

Mary bought Isaac and Conley matching Easter baskets. They loved them, Spiderman of course! They had a blast comparing their finds at the North Liberty Easter egg hunt!!! Conley was a little slow to catch on during this hunt, Isaac however had his basket full in about 10 seconds. No shocker for those who know how much Isaac loves candy. Halloween and Easter have to be his favorite days!
This is Shay after a wild day a daycare. They love messing with her hair. She either comes home with pigtails or a mohawk quite frequently.

Conley had a great time today helping Nate build "add-ons" to his trash trailer. I about died laughing when Conley picked out his own outfit today (bob the builder was a perfect choice for today) and put his tool in his pocket ready to go outside and work. He truly is Nate's helper. He is always all up in Nate's business when he is outside working. But don't worry he gets a few things from me...ordering everyone to take their shoes off when they come in, hates his hands dirty-wants to wash them right away, likes to vacuum and clean!!! He is in training, his future wife will appreciate his cleaning skills ;)

I love my kids!

I, like any mother, have days where my kids stress me out. We have been really busy lately and have a busy spring and summer ahead of us. The other day the weather was beautiful and Nate took them on a little ride! Watching this melted my heart!!! Their faces were lit up with smiles and they didn't want to stop.

Our sled didn't get much use this winter (thankfully), so we put it to use in the Spring!!!

Conley is really into holding Shay lately, so he was loving this!

My lovely Shay!

I couldn't resist taking a picture when I saw her sleeping like this!

An update on Shay. We currently are taking medication for our 5th (!) ear infection since Christmas. They are hoping if she does not have any more we can wait on tubes until the fall if needed. She is FINALLY gaining weight, yeah!!! She is over 20lbs. and Nate and I both think she is really starting to fill out and is taller. She is definitely feeling more comfortable standing up, but not ready to take any steps on her own. She will walk if you hold her hands, but only for a short while. We are practicing!

Shades of Green

I am almost done blogging our vacation from about a month ago, how sad. I had a hard time finding the free time to sit here and type. I thought I would show some pics of our amazing resort. We stayed at the resort compliments of Nate's grandma. We stayed at Shades of Green, the military Disney resort on the Magic Kingdom grounds. They provided transportation to and from the parks, amazing!!!! We had the best time, thanks Grammie & Nana & Grandpa Tom.

Conley standing in front of the resort entrance on our final day. This was the warmest day, so we broke out the shorts and short-sleeved shirts, yeah!!!!

The front entrance to the resort. It was amazing. They had shops, ice cream parlor, restaurants, free Wii playing at night, video area for the kids, and much more!

Conley swimming the last day. Wearing Chloe's goggles!!!

Shay chillin by the pool. I couldn't tell that day her nose was so nasty (sorry). Remember she had a double ear infection and we didn't know it for another 24 hours, poor girl.

They had beautiful pond area with fish and you were able to feed them. They also had remote control boats that you could pay to drive. Conley loved the idea but soon lost interest.

This Mickey Mouse was in the lobby of the resort. Here is the gang on our second day on our way out to Animal Kingdom. About 2 seconds after I snapped this photo Conley (mr. clumsy) fell off Mickey's foot and face-planted on the floor.

Shay after day one. She of course pulled out her ponytail, so her hair is sticking straight up. She had more fun climbing in and out of grammie's suitcase.

Magic Kingdom

Our third day was spent at Magic Kingdom, my favorite. The weather was much better, and Shay was of course sicker. This park had more for Conley and all the Princess stuff for Chloe. I think we all really enjoyed this park.

Conley finally took a nap this day for about an hour in the stroller. It was much needed, because the two days prior had NO NAP!!!

Conley and Isaac had a blast trying on character hats in this store. We bought each of the kids a mickey mouse ears hat and had their name put on them. They all were excited to pick out their own style of hat.


Jill, Mindy (holding Kinzie), Nate, Shay, Conley and myself on a ride in Magic Kingdom.

The beautiful castle. Chloe, Mary, Mindy and Pat had lunch with the Princesses inside the castle. Chloe was so excited and had a great time!!!

Greg, Chloe, Mary, Isaac and Conley on the flying carpet ride. The boys got to ride this twice in a row, they were thrilled.

Conley driving Nate on the race cars. Conley did this once with me and once with Nate. He liked being able to steer.

Animal Kingdom

Our second day was spent at Animal Kingdom. It was definitely warmer this day and we enjoyed the sunshine. There was a TON to see this day. We went on a safari ride, played in a HUGE jungle gym, watched the parade, and saw some shows. There were many live animals to see and the kids LOVED it.

Conley in the stroller we rented from Animal Kingdom. He loved wearing his shades when he saw that Isaac and Chloe had some too.

Above is the crew eating lunch. We packed our lunch each day to help save some $$$. It was fun to sit and relax in the sun!

Below is my sister and Conley on the dinosaur ride. My sister lives in Orlando and was able to see us almost every day!!! We don't get to see her often enough, so that was great!!!

The parade at Animal Kingdom. It was awesome!!!

Shay enjoying the parade. It was one of the rare moments she was wide-awake and smiling. Poor thing was sick most of the vacation!