Kid's Night at Texas Roadhouse

     A few weeks ago when we went to Idaho Falls for our WinCo shopping trip, (We go about every 2-3 weeks. I love WinCo!) we decided to make an FHE evening of it and stop at Texas Roadhouse before going grocery shopping. 

     When we got there, though, we found out it was kid's night. Lucky us! We got a coupon for a free face painting, and there was a guy walking around in an armadillo suit waving at the kids. At first Ellie was a little afraid of the armadillo, (she thought he was going to take Nathan... ???) but we told her what it was and that he was nice and everything. After that she wouldn't stop saying "'dillo." She wanted to show the 'dillo that she ate her food, that Nathan was eating Cheerios, what mom and dad were eating, her shirt, etc.

     On the way out we stopped to get Ellie's face painted, and she was a little unsure about the whole thing. But Sam kept telling her how cool it was, and after that she was sold. As soon as we got in the car she started begging to show "gmma" and "gmpa." So, what did we do? We pulled both sets of grandmas and grandpas up on FaceTime to show them.

     Once we got to WinCo, she started showing random people her face paint... Yeah. She really thought it was great, apparently.

     Oh, and don't forget Nathan. He was there too. I don't have any pictures to prove it, but I do have the memory of him spilling his entire tupperware full of Cheerios on the floor at the restaurant... Awesome.

     Good thing it was kid's night.

Love,

I am Now Employed

     Yep, I now have a job. I will be working at a local home health agency for pediatric patients. I'm grateful for the job - especially for the hours. I will only be working Wednesday and Thursday from 8-4 with every third Friday night. But I am also not excited to leave my kids! It was so hard when we had to take Ellie to daycare while I was getting my RN - I think there were only a handful of times I didn't cry when dropping her off. And I've never left Nathan except with babysitters for a date night. We are planning on getting a babysitter to come to our house so we don't have to do the whole daycare thing again, but it's still getting to me. So while I'm extremely grateful for the job so I can keep up my skills as well as my license, I'm dreading leaving my kiddos.

     I guess you could say it's a love/hate relationship.

Love,

The Back Door

This cute little boy can't stay away from the back door lately. All he wants to do is look out the window, bang on it, lick it, and hide in the curtains. There have been a couple of times where Sam or I have asked "Where's Nathan?" only to find him in the curtain laughing.

     We sure love this little man.

Love,

Pony Ride

      Sam's brother has neighbors that have 2 ponies and a cart that they pull, and they invited his boys and Ellie to go for a ride with them. I can't tell you how excited the kids all were!

     Ellie was a little bit afraid of the ponies at first, but she warmed up quickly. I don't know if Sam enjoyed the ride as much as Ellie did... :)

    Tomorrow I am off to Yellowstone with Sam for a work thingie, and I'm excited! I love my kids of course, but it will be fun to be with Sam all day, with no kid interruptions. And we are so grateful for family that is willing to babysit for us!

Love,

Drunk on Milk

This picture cracks me up. He looks drunk - drunk on milk I guess! (Please excuse the blurry photography. The swing was moving and I didn't want to wake him up.)

Love,

Good Ol' Life

     Nothing too exciting today, just regular life. :)

We made brownies while Dad was gone at a scout activity.

Ellie was so happy to have both of the frosting beaters to herself!

This little boy was so tired he could hardly finish his dinner. Cute little tired eyes. 

But he was still happy!

     Everyday life with these two can be stressful, but it's what I love about being a mom.

Love,

No Strep!

     Good news! We don't have strep - just some nasty-looking throats. At the doctor yesterday after they ruled out strep, they did some blood tests (looking for mono, checking for white blood cell counts, etc.) that all came back normal. When the doctor came back in, he told us everything looked normal, that it was probably a viral thing, and that we should be better by the beginning of next week. Then he off-handedly asked us if we had been camping or around mosquitoes lately. We said no, and he said "Ok, good. Because if you had, we might be looking at a local case of West Nile." Wow, thank you. How comforting.

     Ellie was really wound up for some reason. She wasn't being naughty, she was just hyper. I think she had fun. Except she kept asking the doctor for a shot.... I'm thinking she doesn't remember what they feel like.
   

She wanted to sit with me the entire time. I'm just glad she didn't plummet off the table and get a concussion. Don't mind me. I wasn't feeling well, alright?

Sam got to wrestle the kids while the nurse took my blood. Lucky him.

     All in all, I'm glad that trip to the doctor's office is over. I'm glad we don't have strep, and especially glad we don't have West Nile.

Love,

Sickies

     Sam and I have been sick for the past few days. Sore throat, chills, fever, exhaustion... You know, all the fun stuff. 

     After looking at our throats last night, I think we both have strep. So we are going to the doctor this afternoon to see if that is the case.

     It's hard to still have to be the parent when you're feeling sick. (At least the kids don't have what we have! Nathan has an ear infection, but he's taking antibiotics so that should be gone soon.) Sam was cold on Tuesday night, and while I was getting the kids in the bath he came in like this. I couldn't stop laughing, and apparently the kids couldn't stop staring.

     Poor Sam had a really busy day at work today, and he had to go back today to get some things done. He's awesome.

     Here's to hoping we feel better soon, and especially that the kids don't get it!

Love,