February 2015 - Love Bugs

February has become one of my favorite months as a mom. There are so many fun things to do with the kids when it comes to Valentines Day. I love seeing their creativity blossom and I love teaching them about showing love to others. It is one of those holidays that I came to love much more as a mom than I did before. 

I started out the month meeting a brand new baby. My friend, Anne, had her first born son and I got to see him when he was just a day old. I love holding sweet little babies! 

Surprisingly it was REALLY warm the whole month long! We were able to spend a lot of our time at the park in our backyard. The kids really love having so many fun things to explore so close to our home!

We made some Valentines for Tyson. He was at work and we thought it would be fun to surprise him when he got home with little love notes and drawings. The kids loved it! 

For Valentines Day breakfast I made some pink waffles and heart shaped bacon! 

Tyson and I wanted to go to the movies for the holiday but those theaters are always so crowded on holidays and we didn't want to find a baby sitter. SO........ Tyson made a theater in our house! He moved the TV into Abe's closet, hooked up the sound so the acoustics were perfect. We then put pillows, cushions and blankets all over so it was a comfy cozy theater.

We started a Harry Potter marathon. Abe watched the first one with us, then he went to bed. Tyson and I then got through the second and part of the third but fell asleep in that one. We aren't as young as we used to be :) Can't stay up all night anymore.

No Valentines Day is complete without decorating some cookies from Grami and Grandpa. This year we didn't have time to decorate them up at Grami's house but Grandpa sent us home with cookies and goodies and we were able to decorate them at home. 

Monet was MUCH more interested in eating than she was in decorating.

Abe, however, took his time making sure every last sprinkle was perfect.

He did enjoy the eating process too though :)

We had some fun times with friends this month. We were able to hang out with my friend Jill and one of her daughters, Kora. Kora is just a month older than Monet and they get along really well! 

We ended the month with a Crown family dinner. I was able to sneak this adorable picture of Grandpa reading to all his grandkids. This is something that happens just about every time we get together, but we aren't always able to capture these sweet moments. I am glad I got this one.

The kids are growing up so fast. I am so glad we can catch a few moments here and there and keep these memories.

January 2015 - The Cold and the Colds

This month was one to go down in the books. It was hard on all of us healthwise. Poor little Monet got hit the hardest. We did learn a lot and we did grow much closer as a family this month than we ever have. There is so much beauty in loving and serving family members. There is so much personal healing that comes from taking care of the little ones. We are so glad to be surrounded by love and support.

We spent a lot of time inside this month. It was really bitter cold, the air quality was not so great and the kids had colds. We spent a lot of our time playing with PlayDoh, cuddling and watching movies and, of course, playing with the bubble machine!

Abe came down with a cold first. Monet and I spent a lot of time taking care of him. She was being so sweet and kept patting him on the head to make sure he was feeling alright.

We took Abe to the Dr and found out he had bronchitis with a touch of RSV. Poor little man was really sick but he was a trooper the whole time! We got him on some medication and he perked up pretty quickly.

Then our little Monet got hit with it. She started out with bronchitis and we had to take her in a few times for breathing treatments.

Tyson's sister, Adrianne, has kids who have asthma issues. So she has an albuterol treatment machine that she let us borrow. We used that at home when Monet needed it but one night it wasn't enough. Monet's breathing was too ragged and forced so we took her right to the Emergency Room.

She was on a breathing treatment there for a while but her oxygen levels were not going up enough so we had to have her admitted to the hospital.  We found out her cold had turned into Pneumonia and RSV, which is not a fun combination!

She was admitted for 4 days. Let me tell you, there is nothing more heartbreaking than watching your baby girl in the hospital. She had an IV, she had monitors hooked up, she was a mess of tubes and wires. Most of the time she was pretty miserable but there were also moments where she was her perky happy self too. She loved the toys they had there and we learned this little lady LOVES Cranberry Juice. Kind of odd, but it was the only liquid she agreed to drink!

The nurses were so sweet and took such good care of our little lady. Tyson's work was also great. He was able to take a few days off to spend with us. Tyson's parents were able to take care of Abe while we were in the hospital with Monet. We are so very blessed with the family that we have! Because of our amazing support system we were able to spend each night in the hospital room with her and help her get better.

Once she was home, her big brother took really good care of her. Abe wanted to help with all the treatments and make sure his little sister was feeling herself again. 

Monet is getting more hair! We are able to play with it more and more and she sits so still while I do it. She is a girly girl and loves to be done up.

It was a long month. It was a REALLY tough month. But we got through it! We are healthy now and hope to remain healthy for a long time to come!

Warm Winter- December 2014

It has been such a mild winter so far! Not that I am complaining! At least we got snow on Christmas! Anyway, a lot went on in the month of December and I am so excited to share!

We kicked off the month with Abe's birthday! We were able to put together an awesome Moustache birthday party for him!

Tyson's work had a really fun party. It was 20s Casino Night! We had so much fun dressing up and gambling!

We were able to go to a charity event as a family called the Beard Bash. It was a lot of fun. The kids got to see cool motorcycles, Tyson participated in a beard contest and we got to see Santa!

We spent Christmas Eve up at the Ellis homestead with Nana and Papa. This year has been so fun with Abe explaining to Monet how things work and how they need to be good for Santa to come. Abe was so worried Santa was going to skip us not knowing we weren't at home that I had to make a special phone call to Santa and let him know we would be with Nana and Papa that night rather than at our house.

The kids got in their jammies and went to bed without a fuss!

Santa came!

Of course we had to take some stair photos before letting the kids go up to see the gifts! Where does this tradition come from!?! We did hallway pictures, everyone I know does hallway or stair pictures!

Monet wasn't happy about having to work to get up the stairs.

It was a white Christmas!

After we had Christmas morning with the Ellis family we had to rush home to make dinner for the Crown family! Our first time hosting Christmas dinner and I think it was wonderful! I always love having family over and it just feels so special when that happens on the holidays.

We then were able to host a reunion party for the Madrigal group I was a part of in High School. It was so much fun to have some of us there together, see kids that we have, catch up on where life has taken us. 

There were a few days of snow where we could play outside! Abe LOVED it!

Monet, not so much......

We tried to go to a movie as a family. It started out really well and the kids were enjoying themselves..... Then about halfway through the movie we left because the kids would not sit still and we were bugging everyone in the whole theater! Maybe in a few years.....

We ended the month and the year with Tyson's birthday. It was his Golden birthday this year so we had a golden celebration! Complete with a golden cheesecake!

We played games all night with great friends!

Finished off the year celebrating with friends that we love!