See Ya Later Terrible Two's!

Three years ago we had the privilege of becoming parents to this little girl

Seeing as how we were already parents, we thought we knew what we were in for, adding one more to the family

HA! This little one has been nothing short of a learning experience for us. We had to (and continue to have to) relearn how to parent.

She is her own person and respond differently than her brother from how she feels and shows love to what is affective discipline

She keeps me on my toes and melts my heart every single day

She loves to laugh and she loves to cuddle and she loves her family

She's a summer girl at heart and is never more happy than being barefoot and outside (naked if we'll let her)

Where her brother was robots and books, she's stuffies and animals.

She refuses to take naps and still doesn't usually sleep through the night, but if you can catch her sleeping, its beautiful

Happy third birthday my sweet Lucy.

Do You Wanna Build a Snowman?

Yes, the Frozen craze has taken over our household too and we're not ashamed!!

The Month Long Sickness

 Never have I more despised cold and flu season as I do this year. We average 2 doctor visits per kid, per year. One well check and one sick visit.

  So far, in the past 30 days, we have gone 4 times! 4 TIMES!! That's four times in the waiting rooms surrounded by sniffles and coughs and goodness knows what else, 4 times of being weighed and measured and inspected, 4 times of dropping off and picking up prescriptions

 . We have fought pink eye, ear infections, bronchitis and pneumonia. Both kids have done multiple rounds of antibiotics, I have done more laundry and used more Clorox wipes than in the past 6 months combined.
Spring felt like it was just around the corner, but now it seems like an eternity!

 Fortunately, Ethan will be out of school for 2 weeks  at the end of the month and we're out of here!! Give all the germs time to die off, all the kids in class time to heal, and a much needed vacation!!

We did manage to celebrate a birthday during all this crazy sickness though... Here's a pic of the party animals (neither were actually party animals that night though)

What's That Smell?

Could it be? Is that a hint of Spring??? I hope so, we are ready for some outdoor activity on more than a weekly basis. Parks, sandboxes, fishing, SUNSHINE!!
Today was a gorgeous day, I think our blood thickened after all the cold weather we've been having. We used part of the day to do some exploring and have a picnic at Rock Ledge Ranch where they've got some chickens, some horses and a whole lot of ducks!

Such a nice change of pace. We've been stuck inside, between the frigid temperatures, snow and, oh yes, double ear and eye infections. That's right, pink eye!!! EWW! Ethan's first sick days and I didn't have to call him in due to 2 snow days! The kids got on antibiotics before any pain from their ears could even set in. The hardest was them waking up with their eyes gunked shut. Michael and I must have washed our hands at least every 5 minutes.The sunshine will do us good, I'm hoping we see at least a few more days of it.