Beautiful Day!

Today started off on the wrong foot, so I am so glad it improved so much that I could post the title as listed above. First, let me tell you about the morning! Around 5:30am....in which I thought it was the middle of the night, I heard Cody crying. I wake up Matt and we both go into the family room and find him laying on the couch again (like last Monday morning). He was laying around and curled up in a ball and crying his eyes out. My poor boy! He couldn't tell us what was going on so we were prepared in case it started to go down hill. Nothing happened other than crying so Matt took him back to bed and stayed with him. Fast forward 3 hours, I awoke to him crying yet again. So I immediately got up and Matt was holding him. It breaks my heart that he cannot tell us what was wrong. Matt asked him if he was sick and he did say yes. You could tell he was in pain. We kept watching him and discussing whether or not to take him to the ER. Well, then we noticed it was an intestinal issue and after going to the bathroom a couple of times, he was better.

Then, the sun came out again (wow two days in a row!) and we spent most of the day outdoors playing, visiting family, bike riding and grilling out. After dinner, we took the kids to the dam and walked until Carleigh couldn't take anymore. I am seriously considering buying another umbrella stroller because I don't think her legs will make it through Disney!! We came home and then I did Zumba with my niece.....so yeah, I think I got my exercise in for today! I wish all days were like today!!

Bring on the Sunshine!

Today something very unusual happened...a bright yellow ball arrived in the sky all day. We haven't seen it for quite some time now!! This weekend is supposed to be nice so we are going to get out and enjoy it! Grilling out and a hike is a must for the weekend.

Stay tuned for pics.....

Busy Busy Busy

I haven't blogged in a few days. There is just so much going on these last few weeks before summer. Something has been going on every day.....after-school meetings, taking Carleigh to visit her new school for first grade next year, baseball games, doctor appointments, on-line shopping for Disney, schoolwork, and much, much more! I hope I have the strength to get through the next few weeks and have my sanity still with me!

Hopefully this weekend the SUN will come out and I can post some new pics of the kids. We are all tired of feeling like we live in Seattle with constant rain and dreary weather. (No offense to anyone who lives there!) We didn't have a Spring....we just got everyone's rain for the entire year. At this point, I would love to have a day with no rain....the sun would be a bonus!!

Not a good way to start your day!

I got up this morning (a little tired from staying up late thanks to "Survivor" finale) and well, noticed Cody's bedroom door open. I quickly dismissed my suspicions until after my shower when I noticed a mess on the couch. My sweet, poor boy must have gotten up, sat on the couch, and gotten sick. I went into his room to check on him and he was fast asleep. That just really breaks my heart that he was sick to his stomach and did not or could not come and get us up. And I am not a sound sleeper so I am puzzled as to why I did not hear him. I am starting to wonder if he has a very sensitive stomach since these "sick" episodes happen at least twice a month.

On a more positive note....yesterday at dinner, we were talking about last names and Cody looks over at me and calls me "Mommy Schmidt." It was too cute!

Getting ready for 1st grade!

Today was Carleigh's 1st Grade Transition meeting. It feels so wrong to type that. Where did the last 6 years go? Where did my little blonde baby go?? It also felt very strange knowing that we will not be at the Kindergarten Center next year for many reasons (one we will not have another preschool or Kindergartner for who knows when) and (two: They are closing it down and putting all the kids at the elementary schools). We have spent 5 years having one or two kids there. We will so miss all the wonderful teachers, aides, and therapists that have worked with our children there. Of course I am also excited that both kiddos will be in the same school for the next 3 years! Yay! They get to ride the bus together and no more waiting for two different buses in the morning AND afternoon! Oh and I did I tell you that they will be in the same classroom for some aspect of time together?? That should be FUN.

I was impressed when they told us all the progress she has made this year and her scores on her DIBELs test taken this month. I guess I am just shocked that this school year has zipped by so fast!

Wordless Wednesday - Longing for the Beach

Requesting Prayer

Matt and I are requesting prayer. An opportunity has appeared and we need to make a HUGE decision that will affect our family. At this point, I really can't share what it is, but am requesting prayer for wisdom and guidance. Thank you!

Let the Countdown Begin!!!

Today marks one month before we leave for our Disney vacation. In the spirit of fun, I created a Disney Countdown chain to make it more memorable and an exciting way for the kids to count down. I put it up last night and the kids were so very excited! Carleigh cannot wait to pull off the first chain tonight!

I will have just TWO days to pack and get last minute preparations for the trip since my last day of work will be June 7th due to training. So it will be very crazy and hectic on June 8th and June 9th! And just to add to the craziness, the kids have a baseball game on the 8th!!

Is it June 9th yet??!!

Mother's Tea

Yesterday, I took the day off to attend a special event in Carleigh's classroom. Her class was hosting a Mothers' Tea for all their mothers. We shared cookies and lemonade before the children sang songs about mothers. When they sang "You Are My Sunshine," I got a little teary. It was such a sweet, tender moment. After the songs, we watched a slideshow of the year.

When I was in school, I would be THRILLED if my mom picked me up so that I did not have to ride the bus home. Well, Carleigh was upset when we left because she WANTED to ride the bus. I wonder what the fascination is with the bus.

About a month to go!

We have a month and 4 days until DISNEY! This weekend, the Disney countdown will begin! I am making a countdown chain so the kids have an idea how many more days until we leave. This time of the year is so crazy and very busy!

This week.....

I have the elementary spring concert at my school (tonight) so I will be staying at school instead of going home.

I have a Mother's Day Tea to attend at Carleigh's school tomorrow.

We have team and individual baseball pics on Saturday.

Mother's Day is Sunday. Carleigh has a birthday party to attend on Sunday.

Monday is their next baseball game (due to rainouts).

Next week is also almost as crazy as this week! (This is why I haven't been blogging as much!)

All of this craziness will be a distant memory in about a month.....ahhhhh! I cannot wait!

Opening Day!

Despite the minor drizzle that started on the way to the ball fields, Opening Day was not canceled! Last year it was rained out so this was our first time for Opening Day festivities. There were government officials there plus one of the Reds players sang the national anthem to kick off the season!

The Angels played two teams (Athletics and Pirates) because of an uneven number of teams. Carleigh was the first batter and boy was she so excited! Cody did much better this year thanks to meeting a new little friend. Carleigh and Cody fielded a lot more and did lightyears better than last year!!

First Practice of the Season

Last night, the Angels had their first practice of the season. They have a new coach and lots of new players (including 3 girls!) and it went really well. Since this is Carleigh's first season, she was very excited! They fielded first and it was cute to see them catch the ball and throw it back to the coach!

Then, it was time to bat. Carleigh had to bat with the pink bat (of course) and was wondering where a pink helmet was. If she wants to continue with baseball in the future, we might invest in a pink batting helmet for her. She batted off a tee, but I think with a little practice and experience, she will be batting off the coach's pitches very soon! It was hilarious to see her run to third base after her hit so I guided her through the bases. I won't do that again because I was beamed in the back of the head with a baseball!! Luckily for me the ball was thrown lightly!

The practice ended with the passing out of uniforms and the kids were so excited that they put them on before leaving the field! Too cute!

Sunshine for the Zoo Trip!

We were so very thankful that we had wonderful sunshine and weather for Cody's field trip to the zoo today! Since Matt is not working, he had the opportunity to be a chaperone for his trip. They both had a blast and Matt came home with a few cute stories.

Let's just say Cody is a LADIES man! On many occasions, Carleigh was seen holding hands with two girls at a time. LOL!

Our thoughts and prayers are with those in the south who have been in the path of those deadly tornadoes! I cannot even imagine what everyone is going through down there!

Last Day of Break

On my last day of Spring Break, Matt and I actually had ALONE time! Yes, this is quite rare for many reasons and two of those being Cody and Carleigh! Carleigh's school was not flooded so she actually went back to school after having a 5 day weekend!

It was so nice to go out for breakfast ALL alone. No kid messes. No kid arguments. No kid temper tamtrums. No kid anything! I love my kids more than anything in this world, but we definitely need a little time to ourselves!!

After breakfast, we had a doctor's appointment, picked up Carleigh at the bus stop and went shopping. It was a nice day and we enjoyed it.

One of the highlights of the day: our personalized DISNEY maps arrived! June 9th cannot get here any quicker!!

Easter 2010

Easter morning started at 7:30am when Carleigh awoke and saw a trail of Easter eggs from her bedroom to the family room where her Easter basket was waiting for her. We had to wake up our late riser so that he could see what was in HIS basket. The kids LOVED that they received movies: Tangled and Yogi Bear!! I am thrilled that we have something NEW to watch on video!

After getting dressed, we headed to Sunday School and Church. At the beginning of the service, the children stood in a line and marched up on stage displaying their Easter outfits. I am so biased, but I think my kids were the cutest!

Now we are relaxing before having a grill out with my family. We saw the sun today after lunch and am praying it stays out for a little while longer!

"Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here. He has risen!"

Happy Easter 2010 everyone!

Egg Dyeing!

Thursday and Friday Highlights

Thursday was our only day of sunshine since Monday so after celebrating Matt's birthday at breakfast, we went shopping and then hiking. It was such a beautiful day!

Friday arrived with all the nasty rain! We dyed hard-boiled eggs (our annual tradition) and worked on some cleaning. I went outlet shopping with my sister for a few hours before going out with Matt's family to celebrate his birthday. Then grocery shopping happened and while we were there a huge thunderstorm blared down on that roof. Ick!

And let's talk about this rain. I am SICK of it! It rained all last weekend. It rained Tuesday and Wednesday. It has rained Friday and today and it supposed to rain THROUGH next Thursday. Honestly, we cannot take much more! Carleigh's school parking lot and driveway cannot take anymore and let's just say she NEEDS to go to school!! And all the tornado watches and severe thunderstorms happen every day! *sigh* I am so ready for April to be over with!!

WHY we HAVE to visit Disney....

Happy Birthday Matt!

Yesterday was Matt's 42nd birthday. We had a great day of going out for breakfast, some Easter shopping with Carleigh (who didn't have school AGAIN due to flooding), mowing the lawn, a wonderful walk at a different bike trail, riding bikes on the street, and of course THIS. He just had to get a huge branch off the roof! This branch fell when we had our severe storms early Wednesday morning.

Eventful Day and Awful Night

Yesterday, I was very productive. I cleaned, purged, and organized the kids' bedrooms. That was quite a tiring job, but their rooms look great! When Carleigh came home from school, we put her princess bed tent together (that I bought 2 Christmases ago) and we played in her tent. Then, Cody had a doctor's appointment so off we went to pick him up from school and to the doctor's office. After the appt., Cody had PT so Carleigh and I relaxed and fixed dinner at home.

I had a feeling that the weather was changing because the kids' behavior was not great with lots of temper tamtrums!!

After I am asleep for less than an hour, my mom calls me (at 1am) and says the sirens are going off. We turn on the tv and we are under a tornado warning. I call my sister and we discuss going up to the corner basement. Eventually we decide to go up and we woke up the kids and carried them there. Can we say dazed and confused?!! They had to idea why we were in a dank, dark basement in the middle of the night. We stayed there until the major part of the storm died down (about 30 minutes).

We drove back home and attempted to put the kids back to sleep. Cody fell asleep quickly, but Carleigh tossed and turned for quite awhile. Then, I tossed and turned. What was an awful night became worse because at 3am we get a recording about a flash flood. At 5am, Matt's alarm clock goes off. At 6am, our school district calls to tell me that Carleigh doesn't have Kindergarten due to flooding. At 6:45 my alarm clock goes off so I can get Cody up for school. I get up and fall back asleep on the couch until 7:15 when I drag Cody out of bed. At 7:45 I have to drag Carleigh out of the bed to take Cody to the bus stop.

Not a fun night to say the least! I am tired and want to go back to bed. I am thankful that we did not get a tornado, but I really need my sleep. I am so hoping my 6 year old will let me take a nap soon!

A Thief on our Street

Since Matt's birthday is drawing near, he had to get the new license sticker for the van. So, he got off work early, went to the BMV, bought the sticker and placed it on our van.

We then went to the bike trail in our truck. There were people loitering around the trucking company office across the street from our home. We highly suspect that one of those individuals saw Matt put the sticker on and saw us leave since we piled our 3 bikes into the truck and left for a few hours and helped themselves to a new sticker.

I would have never dreamed that someone would steal a sticker off a license plate. If they were very bright, they would know that the sticker has the license plate number and serial number on it and if it doesn't match the current license plate, it doesn't work for them. However, who REALLY checks a sticker that closely?!!

We will be investigating and hoping we catch the crooks. And we are hoping that the BMV will take pity on us and give us another sticker.

Day 2 and Day 3 Highlights

Since Day 1 of my Spring Break was a rain out, I was determined that Day 2 would be better. After church, the kids went outside and played in the backyard for several hours. Their little friend Emily came over and they had a blast on the swing set. Their conversations were priceless and hilarious to say the least! And of course, Cody just had to impress Emily with his bodily functions of burping and you know what else! This caused the girls to collapse in giggles every time!!

Day 3 started a little rocky with grumpy kids who wanted to sleep instead of going to school. After two trips to the bus stop....I had 3 hours of pure BLISS! I cleaned, watched taped shows and chatted with my friend.

All too soon the hours ended and I was waiting at the bus stop for my little Kindergartner. We then played in the backyard for awhile when Matt came home early due to his company being very slow. I decided that a trip to the bike trail was a must since it was only the three of us.

I am so very proud of Carleigh who biked quite a big distance. We rewarded her with rock throwing at the pebble beach. While at the beach, we found some unusual items. The first thing I noticed was a pair of girl/lady's panties floating on the river's edge. Then Matt found a pair of boxer shorts hanging in a tree. We really do not want to know what happened there!!

And yet, while we were throwing rocks, a shirtless guy who I think I know was standing a bit of a distance away from us and was singing and raising his hands in the air. Interesting indeed. Needless to say, we kept Carleigh at a close proximity while there. To reward her for biking all the way bike, we stopped at the playground and let her play for a bit. It was great seeing her playing with a little girl she met on the playground.

HOP

Since the weather was gloomy yesterday and their egg hunt didn't happen due to rain, we decided to get out of the house and take the kids to see "HOP." It's a really cute movie! It has some slow "human" scenes when the animation is in the background which caused my kiddos to be a bit antsy, but overall, it was a cute movie!

The movie is about the Easter Bunny and how his son was being groomed to take over since he was retiring. The candy factory was awesome and really made everyone crave candy!

The Easter Bunny is such a hot topic for Christian parents. I have heard from both sides of the issue. Personally, we do Santa and the Easter Bunny. However, we don't emphasize either one as being the true reason for the holidays. We teach Easter as being about how Jesus was crucified, died and rose again and is alive. We teach Christmas as being a celebration of Jesus' birthday. We "do" the characters lightly without major attention to either one.

The kids are looking forward to finding treasures in their Easter baskets. This year, I am lowering the amount of candy and putting more fun things like bubbles and movies. I have been pro-active this year and the baskets are all put together and hiding out in their secret location until another week!

Gotta get shopping

The kids' first baseball practice is tomorrow so I have really procrastinated on getting Carleigh a mitt. So, tonight we will be hitting a few places in search of a cute girl's glove. I also need to find baseball shorts for her. This could be a bit of challenge for a girl. She is overly excited about playing this year and it will be cute to see her batting for the first time!

I also need to buy a few things for our vacation as well. It will be FUN shopping for those (okay, except for the bathing suit for me)!

And did I mention that in 2 days I will be on SPRING BREAK?!! I didn't think this was EVER going to happen!! Wooohoooo!!!

Wordless Wednesday - The Pout

Rainy Day

(Picture Note: When Cody was a baby, he was up quite a lot at night. In order for all of us to get sleep, he used to sleep on Matt's stomach a lot. Some things never change....although he has gotten quite longer and bigger!)

We wanted to hit the bike trail for the first time this season. HOWEVER, the rain, thunder, and lightning prevented us from doing so. Other than going out to lunch with the grandparents, we have napped and had a lazy day.

So, for the remainder of the day, we are chilling out at home, watching movies, and of course important Disney research (where to get the best 5 day passes!).

Hopefully, we will hit the bike trail after church tomorrow since it is supposed to be a beautiful day.

2 months from now....

In 2 months....we will be heading out for a long van ride that will be well worth it! In 2 months....we will be heading to see the big mouse! I don't know who is more excited....the kids or I! We have our breakfast with the characters set and reservations for Bippidy Boppity Boutique for our two princesses in our group (we are going with our friends). No doubt the kids will be sooooo incredibly happy! The reality of our trip finalizing and coming very soon is so very exciting!

Cody's Spring Portrait

Last year, we opted not to get Cody's pic because of the glare on his glasses and some other issues. This year, we bought the package because they turned out great! He is such a handsome boy!

Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Evening

Yesterday was a great school day. When I arrived home, THAT was when the day spiraled downward.

Checking Cody's school folder, he had a note from the nurse that said he was sent to the office for a suspicious looking red eye and that he cannot come back to school unless he has a doctor's note saying that he is not contagious. Well, we knew he must have gotten the pink eye from Carleigh.

So, Matt runs him down to Urgent Care since the doctor's office is closed. He was diagnosed with pink eye and has to have drops FOUR times a day.

Cody and I hang out while Matt and Carleigh go to church. (see a pattern here?) Cody was in such a crabby mood that I did not get my workout or walking in and it was such a BEAUTIFUL day!

Then, when it was time to administer the eye drops, Cody was given supernatural strength and it took all of Matt's strength to hold him down and I put the drops in. I literally had to pry his eyelids open and drop them in. To be a little guy of like 42 lbs., he is STRONG! It was like wrestling an alligator.

Right before bedtime, I realize that I washed my iPod. Yes, you saw that correctly! I was irate to say the least! So I submerged it in rice and am praying that when it completely dries out, I will have a working iPod again. It is one of my covet, prized possessions. Ugh!

The bright spot in the day was that our lodging has been confirmed and we are staying at an AWESOME resort just 6 miles away from Disney! I guess I will have to focus on that instead of all the other horrible things going on!!!

Not a good Spring Break

Unfortunately for my kids, they did not have a great Spring Break. First of all, the weather was just plain AWFUL with snow and cold temps! This is terrible for my two because they would rather play outside and get dirty instead of staying inside. Second, I had to work since my Spring Break is still two more weeks away. And thirdly, Carleigh caught pink eye from either church or the doctor's office (med check appointment on Friday).

Yesterday morning, her eye was a little swollen. As the day progressed, every symptom known to Conjunctivitis appeared....red eyes, watery eyes, and the tell-tale yellow discharge. So, we took her to Childrens' since her doctor's office was closed. They confirmed our suspicions plus found an early double ear infection. Poor girl! Of course she took the antibiotics like a champ, but it was like wrestling an alligator to get her eye drops in. Not fun!

So Carleigh and I are hanging out this morning while Cody and Matt are at church. I am so glad she got this before Easter!! And now, we are just waiting and praying that the rest of the family does not get it.....I highly suspect Cody will be the next victim!!

Trusting in God's Plan...

With all the uncertainty in our family these days, I have learned that I have no control over the circumstances and am learning to give it to the Lord.

In 2-3 weeks, Matt's temporary job of 18 months ends. We had a few possibilities of this job becoming permanent, but it is just not looking good. We are trying not to worry and are planning ahead. Times like these, I just have to lean closer to the Lord and trust that His plan is perfect.

And despite uncertainty, we are definitely going to Disney. We have the funds set aside for it and I could never disappoint the kids at all. No way! We are just going to have to be creative and tighten that budget until Matt gets a job. We appreciate prayer in this situation!!

Spring Break!

Today marks the beginning of Spring Break for my kiddos! Sadly, my break doesn't happen for another 3 weeks (sigh). They will be spending the week at my mom's and I am trying to plan a big event for them next Saturday if Matt doesn't have to work and if my dear friend is available. Hopefully they will have a little fun this week!

It's amazing how fast this school year is going! In a few weeks, I'll be attending Carleigh's 1st grade transition meeting and I am now trying to rationalize how my kids are grade schoolers! Each day, they amaze me with new words and concepts they have learned this year. Cody can read most any sign when we are out and for him....that is AMAZING!

Carleigh and I enjoyed watching the first season of "Punky Brewster" which used to be my favorite kid show of all time since "Punky" was the me age as me. It's cute because NOW my DAUGHTER is enjoying the same show! She calls her "Peppy."

Let's Play Ball!

We have two official Angels baseball players in the family! Cody and Carleigh will be on the same team. This will be Cody' second year and Carleigh will be the rookie. We are looking forward to evenings at the ballpark watching them have fun and play with children similar to them. We are so thankful to have an organization that allows children with disabilities a chance to play and belong to a team! Opening Day is Sunday, May 1st. If you would like to come, just send me an email!

Let the countdown begin!

In less than 3 months, we will be visiting Disney World! To make it an anticipated event and to help the kids understand when the trip will be, I am creating a "Countdown to Disney" chart. And to be a knowledgeable mom, I bought a book about all 4 parks and will try to get all the tips so that our trip will be awesome!

Carleigh keeps telling everyone that "I'm going to Disney World!"

Wordless Wednesday

Gotta Brag & Prayer Request

Brag Moment:

When you have a child with special needs, you REALLY celebrate the accomplishments! Well, today was Cody's year IEP meeting to discuss if his goals were met this year and to create new goals. Last year's goals were more behavioral and adaptive. For second grade, his goals are more academic and I am so excited about them!

His special education teacher just enjoys him so much! It's such a good feeling and relief when you know that the professionals really care and enjoy your child! She said that Cody can confidently read 81 out of 100 Fry sight words! Amazing! Last year, he was reading 20 - 30 sight words. He is also reading all color and number words plus more words that are not on any list. Just the other day, I was working with Carleigh on her "All About Me" book since she is Star Student of the Week this week. Cody came over and read all the words on the front cover!

His teachers and therapists said that he has quite an interest with words and loves to read. (Like his momma no doubt!) And he is now successfully cutting with scissors. Now if he could fine tune that writing....he would be in excellent shape! Yay! So happy about my little man! He makes me so proud and goes to show that he can accomplish ANYTHING he puts his mind to!

Prayer Request:

Carleigh has to have an ultra-sound Monday and another more extensive (and uncomfortable) test next Monday morning. The pediatrician and I are both concerned about a few things. However, I am really hoping that these tests do not show anything!! My mommy heart is so concerned for her!

Happy 6th Birthday Carleigh!

Today, my daughter turned 6 years old. Where did the time go? I cannot believe she is 6 years old! It seems like yesterday when we brought a 2 day old baby home from the hospital. She was 5 weeks early, but was a whopping 6 lbs! She was such an easy baby and we saw "hints" of her personality even as a baby. Happy Birthday Carleigh!

Carleigh's 6th Birthday Party!

We had a bowling party for Carleigh. Her theme was "Tangled" and her cupcakes were strawberry and vanilla. I made them and I am starting to like making cupcakes! I must say they were DELISH! We brought only 4 home and we made 2 dozen. Yum! She got a lot of cool presents including, Squinkies, two Zhu Zhu Puppies, 3 barbies, 5 movies, Zoobles, an 18 inch doll that looks like her, very cute spring clothes, and much more including money to buy summer clothes! I must say that she is very appreciative of her presents and is enjoying them as I write this!

The party went very well and everyone had a great time. (Please excuse my ghostly color and I did have make-up on!!) Thanks to everyone who came and celebrated our daughter's birthday!

Testing out her present

This was our big gift for her birthday. We also bought her a helmet, horn, Rapunzel doll, Rapunzel lantern and a movie. She is adjusting to the bigger bike and no doubt those training wheels will be taken off soon!

A party is a brewin'

And I am praying I have the strength to get through it! With all my health complications and Matt's crazy work schedule, I am trying my best not it to stop our party festivities this weekend! The fixins' for the cupcakes have been bought and will be baked tomorrow evening after our usual tradition with Matt's parents. His parents take the birthday child out to eat and then we go to ToysRUs to use the birthday coupons they send us. Carleigh is getting.....a brand new BIG GIRL bike from Mommy and Daddy! We are letting her pick it out and we will still have a couple of "surprise gifts" to open at the party.

We are so excited to celebrate our Princess' birthday!

Wordless Wednesday -- Feeling Better!

Not the sound you want to hear....

I awoke in the middle of the night to the sound of what I thought was someone falling out of bed. In reality, Matt slammed the washer lid because he was washing Cody's bed linens because he got sick at 2am. I am surprised I didn't hear him because I am a light sleeper and usually always hears my little guy when he cries at night. The poor boy has the stomach flu again! My premie ALWAYS catches anything and everything! He has had this stomach virus 3 times in the past 3 months!

It hurts my mommy heart to see him or Carleigh sick. When they are lying lifeless on the couch, it just makes me want to trade places with them and in all honesty, I wish I could! Hopefully he gets rid of this virus soon!!

They have each other....

Yesterday, I saw Cody sitting on the couch with his arm around his sister. It was precious to watch. Later that day, Carleigh puts her arm around Cody and says "You're my best friend Cody!" Priceless! There are days that I struggle with parenting two children with challenging behaviors, but this makes it all so very worth it.

I am so very glad that they have each other as siblings as well as having a full-biological link between the two of them. It doesn't matter to them now, but later on, it will be so valuable. I am thankful to have a sister, but times I wish there wasn't such an age gap. Most of the time, they are "twins" in a lot of ways. Despite annoying each other, they do care for each other very much. Ahhhh!!

Rainy, rain weekend

We are having quite the rainy weekend here. Two days of rain creates a LOT of flooding in our backyard that was already trying to recover from the water main break a couple of weeks ago. Rainy days create boredom here and with Matt working every Saturday, I am trying to figure out things to do with the kiddos that doesn't create more messes than necessary. Today, we are having a Video Party and the kids are watching new and old movies that we have had. I love Walmart's $5 bin because I have found some rare "Peanuts" movies and some "Veggie Tales" as well.

I am trying to clean, read a new book, and finalize party preparations. The goody bags have been made, decorations bought, and all I need to do now is to make cupcakes Friday evening. I have also bought one birthday gift and will finish with the BIG gift Friday evening. Carleigh cannot wait for Saturday! She is excited because one of her classmates from school will be coming! Poor thing has to wait another week for her party day!

So blessed

After having an incredibly hard day, it was wonderful coming home to my precious children who give me hugs and kisses. There is nothing quite like it and can change my mood instantly!

Cody knows when I am upset, and so he walked over, got in my face, then he proceeded to hug me. Then, he follows up with a kiss. I am so very blessed to have them in my life and I will never take them for granted! I am so very thankful to the Lord for giving me these incredible blessings!