Palm Sunday

Nothing like a little bump on the forehead right before bedtime.  Something happened on the stairs, but I don't know what because I was cleaning the kitchen.

Clark is very content to sit and cut paper for a long time.

This year I have finally gotten around to looking up Easter week activities for the kids.  I've wanted to do it in the past, but have never been on top of it.  I finally found a website to follow (https://mercyrivermusic.com/blog/2015/03/how-to-celebrate-easter-holy-week?rq=easter).  Every day for a week we review what Christ did in his final hours on the Earth.  Today was palm Sunday, so Madison cut out leaves from construction paper.  Then we read some scriptures, watched the Bible video and finally acted it out.  Our donkey was a smart one as I had to take a book away to get him to move.  The kids had a blast.

Clark was very excited to shout "Hosanna".  The donkey apprently had a hard workout yesterday and was a little sore and slow moving today.

It snowed a few times this week.  We had to go out.  My kids love the snow.  I had to wear Tyler's jacket because I couldn't get mine zipped up.  Clark was so tired he almost fell asleep on the couch right as we were heading out.  He perked up a bit once outside.  We walked for a few blocks to the YMCA where they have a huge hill for sledding.  We weren't the only ones there.  The kids had a blast.  Madison and Clark wanted to stay, but after an hour and half I was tired and ready to go home.  Tyler stayed and did school work.  Afterwards we made some chocolate chip cookies.  Tried this one for the first time and liked them a lot!  Best straight out of the oven.  Don't overcook.  https://www.melskitchencafe.com/thick-and-chewy-chocolate-chip-cookies/  Mel has a ton of great recipes!
    

Clark gave himself a hair cut.  I never thought I would cry again after Madison's tramatizing hair cutting experience, but I couldn't help the tears when Tyler took a #1 attachemnt on the clippers to his sides.  I personally am not a fan of buzzing my boys hair.  

Port Discovery

Yesterday we went to the children's museum Port Disocvery.  It is one of our many memberships and one of the kids favorite places.  There is so much to do here.  We were going to go onto the USS Constellation ship in the harbor, but it was cold and Tyler didn't bring a coat.  The center of Port Discovery is a 3 level climb area.  Apparently Saturdays are really busy and there were tons of kids.  (We usually go on Friday afternoons when it is calm.)  

Making jellyfish crafts.

Clark singing part of a song.

Ward Council

What my kids do while we wait for Tyler in ward council.

Weekly smatterings

This week has been exhausting.  In all honestly, I'm glad it is over.  It all started last Sunday when Madison complained about her side hurting.  Tyler was very confident that she was constipated (he had experienced this as a child) and so we did nothing.  Monday morning she was in more pain and had a fever and was shivering.  Lucky for us, our thermometer didn't work as the batteries were low.  I tried using our meat thermometer from the kitchen, but her temperature was so low on that she would have not been alive.  Luckily we were able to get into the pediatrician that afternoon.  It's always a question..should we go, should we not?  Of course Madison hasn't touched her deductible at all this past year (ours restarts in August), which makes it that much painful knowing we would be paying the majority of the bill instead of a 20% copay.  Fortunately for us, our deductible is only $250!  Upon arrival we find out her temperature is 104 and she has a kidney infection.  I have no idea how she could have gotten a kidney infection.  It took about 3 days to break the fever.  They put her on amoxicillin, and then switched it to something stronger after cultivating her bacterial a little longer.  This new medicine would cost us $80 without insurance, and only $15 with insurance.  I really like our insurance actually.  Most medicines at a max cost us a $15 copay and generic is even cheaper.  The only thing I can think of that has cost us more were Clark's epi pens.  I think we paid $50 and insurance paid the other $600. 

Tyler was also sick for a few days.  I think he just had a cold, but he is a little weird because he also gets feverish with colds.  I'm not sure I know anyone else that gets a fever with a cold.  Maybe it was the flu, but I doubt it...plus that has happened in the past.  With Tyler out with Nyquil at night that left me to fend for the kids by myself.  Tuesday night I think I only got up 5 times or so.  We are training Clark to sleep in his bed, so he isn't in ours.  He gets a gummy worm in the morning if he sleeps in his bed.  The only problem is I end up sleeping in a toddler bed part of my night and that seems even worse than letting him sleep in our bed (He feels the need to sleep on my pillow right up on my neck and he kicks.)!  At least I can stretch my legs out in my own bed.  I was in Clarks bed at 3 am Wednesday morning and couldn't fall back asleep once I returned to my room.  I got up at 5 and Clark woke up at 6:30.  By 7:30 I was so tired I woke Tyler up so I could take a nap...I slept right through my dentist appoitnment.  That was embarrassing--although I'm sure I would have missed it anyways as I for some reason thought it was Friday and double booked myself with another doctor visit for Madison a short while after my dentist appointment.

This morning Clark came into my room to gather me for his bed--"Mom sleep in bed."  These gummy worms are very motivating to him to stay out of my bed.  He is so smart he has found a way to work around it and still share a blanket with me.  He doesn't want Tyler in his bed.  Clark adores Tyler during the day, but doesn't want anything to do with him at night.  If I send Tyler in at night to help I hear a louder cry with Clark saying "no, go away" to Tyler.  I think I might add a gummy bear if he sleeps in his bed without me.  When he wakes up in the morning he comes into our room and says, "Sleep in big boy bed. Get gummy worm."  I gladly give it to him.  He has been cutting his 2 year molars, along with some congestion at night, and been pretty scratchy at times from his exczema.  Hopefully all these will resolve soon (his molars come in so slowly!) so he can sleep through the night. 

Tyler taught Madison how to ride a bike yesterday.  She caught on pretty quickly and is very pleased with herself.     

We had to make a short stop at the zoo this week to pet the goats and visit the farm animals.  I was cold, but my kids didn't seem to care.  They did run around more and had a jolly good time.

We had a Target that was closing.  I wasn't planning on buying 8 pairs of shoes, but I paid between $3.50 and $5 (Clark's were more expensive) per pair.  You can't find shoes any cheaper than that!  Now I just need Madison to leave them alone until they fit!

This was the time Tyler went to church meetings and my kids wouldn't go to bed.  After two hours I gave up on them staying in their room, locked the stair gate, told the kids they could go play, sent Tyler a text that he could deal with them when he got home, and went and ate some cheese and crackers.  Tyler had them in bed in 5 minutes (it was 10 pm) with tears from both of them.

10 lbs of flour.  It only took me 4 hours to clean, which included mopping my floor on my hands and knees.

Madison took this picture of Clark with his Valentine from grammy.

An afternoon trip to the Museum of Art in D.C.

The polar bear was out at the zoo.  Clark is very fascinated with bears these days.

Naturally the kids had to pull all my clothes out right after I organized it.

Madison finally lost her first tooth.  She was so excited.  Tyler kept saying we should just wait for it to fall out.  I yanked it out fast.

Painting on a cold day.

Winter Storm

This past Friday we woke up to it snowing!  We have had a pretty big storm hit us.  It only snowed for a few minutes, but the wind blew like crazy!  It was howling all night long.  I had to leave for my ultrasound quickly, so we left Tyler at home to do school work while I took the kids with me for the day.  I dropped my kids off at a friends house and headed to the hospital.  All looks good and I guess we will find out in 6 months what we are having.  We are predicting a boy.  Upon picking up my kids, my friend informed me that Clark had a blow out!  I felt so horrible...there is nothing worse than having to change a poopie diaper of a kid that doesn't belong to you....oh wait, yes there is--when that poop is smeared all over the back.  Surprisingly Clark fits some size 4 clothes pretty well that we borrowed.  (He just went on a growth spurt--that kid can eat on growth spurts!)  The kids and I couldn't return back to our house just yet because Tyler wouldn't get anything done.  We decided to run errands.  Remember that wind?  We got to Target and I told the kids to let me open the door for them because the wind was swinging the doors wide open.  Madison chose to ignore my advice and started to open the door and the wind blew it right into the car next to us.  Yep, we put a nice black dent into a white car.  We didn't leave a note.  We didn't need to as the person was sitting in her car.  She was so very kind and said it was okay, although I am not sure she realized the damage that was done.  We also hit up Staples (recycled an old printer), Costco, Aldi, the library and Joanns.  There were some massive trees that were blown down and we even watched a street lamp go down while waiting at an intersection.  We even got to drive under a fallen tree.  When we got back we parked our car a block away just so it wasn't by any trees or lights.  Maybe we shouldn't have gone out... I'm pretty pleased to say that we stayed out of the house from 9 until after 5 for Tyler's sake.  We are pretty lucky as many of our friends haven't had electricity for a few days and their houses are currently freezing.  We had some friends over yesterday to get them out of their house.  They helped us clean our basement before we had a late lunch and then played a 3 hour game (in which time the kids destroyed the house).  The game ended late, so they stayed for dinner also.  We ate dinner at 8.  Another set of friends came over for dinner and ended up staying the night so their baby wouldn't freeze.  Our house was warm, but we found out the next day their air mattress deflated, which was really too bad since we have a fairly nice one they could have used. 

My kids thought it was fun to drive under this tree.

The Big Boy Bed

It was time to put Clark into a toddler bed.  Madison has taught him how to climb out of his crib, so at this point it didn't seem to make a difference whether he was in a crib or bed.  It has been difficult recenlty getting him to stay in bed at night.  Plus he has been coming into our room every night recently!  BOO!!  Last summer we bought a ton of walnut for super cheap...like, cheaper than pine 2x4's at Home Depot.  We put Tyler, with Madison's help, to work to build Clark a bed for about $5.  It took a few weeks for him to complete, but now Clark has his own little bed.  Currently the big thing is trying to keep him in his bed.  I've started to bribe him with two tic tacs in the morning if he will sleep in his bed during the night.  It's still a little iffy.  He still tries to come into our bedroom at night.  Depending on how tired we are we might let him in and then take him back to his bed.  First thing Clark demands are tic tacs in the morning if Clark wakes up in his bed, regardless of whether he actually slept in it all night.  Baby steps I guess.  We should take that crib down now...

Winter Time

I was trying to take pictures of Clark playing with his trains, but Madison wanted to be the main attraction.  I do love this picture of her.

Building a snowman with Tyler.  Not sure where I was--probably sleeping or making dinner.  The olives or raisins or whatever was making the face were gone in the morning.

Christmas Eve new pajama picture.  Madison is right outside the picture frame throwing a huge tantrum (I can't remember what it was about).  Remember that growth spurt I mentioned earlier?  These pajamas are already too small (2T).  I had to buy him some new ones from Target in a size 3.

A little while after she calmed down she came back downstairs and begged for a bed time story.

The Grinch Who Stole Christmas was a favorite of Madison's this Christmas season.

Christmas morning.

Hiding under the computer desk, which is a popular spot for these two.