February 12th- February 18th 2012

As of today, Sunday February 19, 2012, I am 33 posts (33 weeks, 8 months) behind on my blog. I have outlines made for each week, but haven't had the time to actually sit down, write them out and upload the pictures. Ugh. I think about it every single day. I have the desire to do it, but I just don't do it. It frustrates me. I want to do it, so I can make it into a book and have a record of our lives, but it's hard to find the time. And, it's hard for me to find the words. I read other blogs and I love the format of all of them. But they are all sooo very different and I can't decide how I want mine to be. Simple, short and sweet or a complete detail of our daily lives. I am not a writer. I don't like to write. I get embarrassed when I know people will read this. But I like to look back and read about the things we've done and how the girls have changed and grown. Ugh. A constant battle for me. Until I figure it out and get caught up, I guess I will start from today and work on this past week. Whether it will be 10 pages per week or a single sentence, I don't know, but I guess I will get started again.

We stayed home from church on Sunday because we have all been sick and now the girls both have croupy/ wheezy coughs. We lounged around watched TV, played with toys, browsed around on Pinterest and made a birthday card with finger paints for Grandma Colleen. Later we got ourselves together and headed to Tawnies for Grandmas Birthday dinner. We ate dinner, had brownies, ice cream and fudge and talked and laughed. Grandma gave all the kids balloons, coloring books and lots of candy for Valentines Day. Kailee and Ellie even got a cute pair of Big Sister/ Little Sister heart pj's! Good times with good people! Happy Birthday to a wonderful mom, mother in law and grandma!

On Monday my mom and Steph came up to help me make some treats and gifts so I could take them to Ryans office. I decided last minute (at about noon) that I wanted to surprise Ryan and decorate his office for Valentines Day. To make it happen I had to get the treats and gifts made before 3pm so I could make it to his work after he left at 3:30pm and before 4pm so his boss could let me in. Why I always think of things at the last minute is beyond me! Even so, my family jumped in to help me and make it happen. They came up and made the treats while I made a hand print/footprint picture from the girls and put together some decorations. Once we had it all finished and together, we headed down to SLC in a hurry to decorate his office and leave the treats. I am so thankful that my family was willing to help me with something that I should have been able to do myself. While we were at Ryans office my mom and I were standing on the desk counter to hang a banner on the wall. Kailee asked, "Mom, why are you standing on the counter?" After saying it a few times she said, "Mom is being naughty!" Haha! I know I have said it before, but that girl makes me laugh! We aren't allowed to get on the counters and tables in our family and she knew I wasn't supposed to be doing that! Cute kid! We all got a good laugh at that!

For Valentines on Tuesday, I took the girls to Kneaders for breakfast (actually brunch since we didn't get there till 11am!). When we got home Kailee found her and Ellie's Valentine Baskets sitting on the counter. She was so excited and kept asking, "Mom, what did you get for Christmas?" They each had princess fruit snacks and a little princess doll. Kailee got an I Spy valentines book and Ellie got a book called Mommy, Will You Hold My Hand. Ryan had bought both of them new cups too, but I forgot to put them in the baskets. Ooops. When Ryan got home from work, we got ready and headed out for the evening. Ryan had made dinner reservations, but didn't tell me where we were going. Ryans mom agreed to watch the girls for us, but since our reservation was so early she had to watch them for 1/2 at her work till she got off. Ryan surprised me with a wonderful dinner at The Melting Pot, one of my favorite places! The food was yummy and we had a good time! I am definitely lucky to have a husband that still likes to surprise me and plan fun dates!

Kailee had preschool at Ghislaine and Chloe Richards house on Wednesday. The lesson/activity was on Valentines Day. She took candy conversation hearts and a mini coloring book kit (compliments of Grandma Colleen) for her 7 friends. She came home with candy and valentines from her friends too. They also made a cute little Valentine for their parents. It was a cut out of a hand print with candy conversation hearts glued to each little finger tip. On the palm it said, This isn't just any hand print, as you can plainly see. For it is a special hand print, made with love by me. Along with the hand print I send hugs and kisses your way, and wish you a very "Happy Valentine's Day!" Cute! I love the little things that she brings home from class. I struggle with knowing what to do with all the cute little things. I know we can't hang on to all of it, but it sure is hard to get rid of them! Kailee seems like 'going to school.' She always comes home so happy and so full of energy. She is even getting to the point where she will talk to her teachers. Sometimes this playschool/preschool seems so silly, but Ryan and I have noticed a difference in Kailee. If it wasn't for 'school' she would never get out of the house to socialize.

Poor Ryan came home after work feeling sick again and it just got worse through the evening. He was feeling as if he was re-living Christmas, but thankfully it didn't get that far.

Kailee had her second dance class Wednesday evening. Since Ryan was feeling crummy I decided to take Ellie with us so he could just rest. Kailee got a little nervous to go into her class when she saw a 'dance dad' there, but when he walked away she went into her class just fine. I don't know what it is, but she gets sooo nervous around other men. While Kailee was in class, Ellie and I sat in the waiting room. I worked on my blog via Ryans laptop and Ellie sat calmly next to me for an hour eating graham crackers and a granola bar. She hasn't been feeling the best either. I ended up giving her a dose of a steroid mid-day because her breathing was getting pretty wheezy. The medicine helped, but I could tell that she was still feeling yucky too. I will be so very grateful when we are all better. Kailee seemed to enjoy her dance class and came out as happy as could be! When we got home, Ryan was still feeling yucky and ended up falling asleep on the couch with Kailee while Ellie was next to me on the other couch asleep. The longer I sat there, the more I started to feel sick. I thought for sure I was going to have a repeat of Christmas too. Ugh. I left everyone on the couches asleep and headed to bed. Ryan eventually brought Kailee up to sleep with me and he went back downstairs to sleep with Ellie.

Thursday Ryan ended up going into work around 10am. We both still had a stomach ache, but were starting to feel a little teeny tiny bit better. I didn't feel like I had the energy to stay home to be a referee for the girls all day so we got ready and went to the mall to walk around. We were there for a couple hours and it totally wore me out. It seemed to wear the girls out too. Kailee fell asleep on the way home, which is about a half mile, and Ellie fell asleep shortly after. I can't wait to have our health and energy back!

When Ryan got home from work on Friday we tried to go out on a family dinner date to Olive Garden. When I say 'tried' I mean, we went and Ellie was absolutely miserable. She cried and screamed and cried and screamed. We ate quickly and left. Ryan stopped at Walmart for me and Kailee and I ran in. Ryan sat in the car with a crying Ellie. We then stopped at Hancock Fabrics and we all went in. Again, Ellie cried and screamed and cried and screamed. I CANNOT WAIT UNTIL WE ARE ALL FEELING BETTER!

Ryan spent Saturday working at Kate's house tearing out carpet and installing a new front door with Tawnie and John. I decided to let Ryan go solo so I didn't have to go and chase two little kids around the whole time. Instead, my mom and I spent the day at Ikea. Every time we go, we spend hours and hours and this trip was no different. I think we ended up staying there for about 4 hours. We like to wander and look at everything! I went there for storage containers for the snacks in the pantry and pillow inserts for pillows I want to make for the couch... and that's what I left with. I was tempted to purchase a whole lot more, but I didn't. After Ikea, my mom took us to lunch at Zuppas, her new favorite restaurant. Once we got inside, Kailee decided to have a tantrum. I picked her up, took her outside, stood her against a wall and turned my back. She cried and cried, but I had her stand there for two minutes. Just like she would have had to at home! Once the time was up I talked to her, she calmed down and we went back inside to enjoy our meal. I know it's my fault for keeping the kids out past naptime and bedtime, but I get so frustrated with the tantrums. I don't think I will miss them when they stop. After lunch and on our way home, I made one more stop at a dance store to get Kailee some ballet shoes for her dance class. So cute! I love dance wear for little girls. It's all so stinkin cute!

Ryan had a service- filled day and I had a fun-filled day spending some time with my mom.

I forgot to mention...

Ellie has started to really talk a lot this week. She says help, shoes, 'I want cheese' (meaning the camera), mine (when she is being possessive and doesn't want something taken from her), juice, drink, book,  poopy (for a clean diaper) and I am sure many other things that I am forgetting. She even sings parts of the turtle song and the peanut song (that I sing to them when they are wrapped up in their bath towels). My cute little baby is starting to seem like a cute little girl now. Oh yeah, when we ask her to do something, she takes off running with excitement. When tell her we need to do her hair, she will run and find Kailee's step stool and put it in the bathroom in front of the mirror. Silly girl! She is a smarty!

And Kailee. Her memory blows us away. It seems like this girl remembers an awful lot for how young she is.

I was laying with her one night and she said, "mom, I want to go to the dance class by the hair cutting place." While Ryan got his hair cut a couple weeks ago, I took Kailee and Ellie with me to get some info from a Dance and Tumbling studio that was a few doors down. The studio must have made an impression on Kailee because she remembered it. Then, Saturday night we stopped at Noodles to get some dinner. Before we got out of the car Kailee said, "I don't want to go to Noodles." After sitting in the car for a few minutes trying to decide on somewhere else to go, she said,  "I smelled like this at Noodles last time (followed by a sniff, sniff) because I falled. Daddy made me falled." Again, what?! Back in October, after our Ward Halloween Party, we went to Noodles for dinner. Kailee was playing around with the stuff on the table and ended up falling off her chair. She was holding soy sauce and it spilled all over her. On the way home that night she kept saying she smelled. Haha! Neither Ryan or I could believe that she remembered that. We had both forgotten that that had happened. Seriously. The things that this girl remembers amazes me. I sure hope her memory stays that way. How lucky!

Kailee has also been so cute with Ellie occasionally. These two are really starting to play cute together at times. On Sunday while we were lounging around, we caught these two playing nicely with each other. Kailee was talking so softly and sweet to Ellie trying to trace her hand onto the drawing board. Cute girls!

Good Times!