Happy Valentines Day!! Nothing planned for tonight. Ben and I are taking a night away in Mpls. this weekend for dinner and shopping. Nice dinner at home tonight and then I am headed to the gym. How romantic!
Kid update:
I decided to have a Language Evaluation done through the school for Collin. It has sorta been in the back of my mind since he was 2. With my background in language and doing birth to 3 speech and language in the past I knew that it wasn't uncommon for boys and second children to develop their language skills a little later. So I had planned on waiting until Collin turned 2 1/2 to see where he was at and knowing that if not much had changed that it would be easier for him to qualify for services when he was a little bit older.
So, Collin had his language evaluation yesterday. They are still finishing
but it looks like he will qualify under Expressive Language. It scores
it 1 to 100. 100 being the high score. He had to get a 78 to qualify for
services. He got a 77, so just barely qualified. Which is what I was
assuming he would do. He scored real high on his Receptive Language so
he is understanding everything, just can't get the words out. They are
also going to do an Articulation Eval. to see how he does on forming the
sounds. He may qualify for that too. They will do that testing next
Tuesday. Ben is going to take him to an audiologist at the end of the
month to check his hearing and/or any fluid blockage although I am not
concerned that he does. He has never had any issues with ear infections
or anything. I think it is just an overall Language Delay. The speech
therapist will come right to our home and work with him. We had the
speech therapist and Early Childhood teacher here yesterday and he
worked really well with them. Followed their directions really well and
didn't even need me in the room when they worked with him. So I think he
will respond well to the extra help and get caught up fairly quickly. So, that is the latest with Mr. Collin.
Hope everyone has a lovely Valentine's Day and gets to spend it with the ones they LOVE!!
Thursday, February 14, 2013
Saturday, January 5, 2013
Birthday Night
Ben and I spent a night in Mpls. at The Grand Hotel to celebrate my birthday. It was newly updated and very modern and cool. Very reasonable in price and would stay there again for sure!!
We did dinner at Union, a new restaurant with a cool glass rooftop that I wanted to try. http://unionmpls.com/
The atmosphere was fun. They have a great drink selection. Food was fancy, smaller portions, but yummy. After dinner Ben and I headed over across the street to one of our favorite spots, Seven, http://www.7mpls.com/, and had a drink and some sushi.
The next morning we actually slept in until like 8:00. I am usually an early riser so the fact that I slept that late is almost amazing. We got up grabbed some coffee then headed to Hell's Kitchen, for breakfast, http://www.hellskitcheninc.com/ The food was so good. We happened to get seated right in front by their entertainment, a Johnny Cash band, called Church of Cash. It was right up our alley and the best stop of the whole weekend, which is saying a lot because it was all so good.
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| The big tub with the TV was AWESOME!! |
We did dinner at Union, a new restaurant with a cool glass rooftop that I wanted to try. http://unionmpls.com/
The next morning we actually slept in until like 8:00. I am usually an early riser so the fact that I slept that late is almost amazing. We got up grabbed some coffee then headed to Hell's Kitchen, for breakfast, http://www.hellskitcheninc.com/ The food was so good. We happened to get seated right in front by their entertainment, a Johnny Cash band, called Church of Cash. It was right up our alley and the best stop of the whole weekend, which is saying a lot because it was all so good.
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| Hell's Kitchen. |
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| Church of Cash |
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| Lobster Bennedict..YUM!! |
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| We stopped at this fun bakery/coffee place, Angel Food, and picked up some treats for mom and dad. They had lots of yummy things too. |
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
MERRYCHRISTMASHAPPYNEWYEARHAPPYBIRTHDAY!!
We have...and still are doing much celebrating around here. The holidays this time of year just get smushed together and in a way just don't seem to end. We have had the last 10 days off and it was really quite nice. A little hard to get back at it today but at least it is a short week.
Celebrating my birthday today..sorta. Ben and I are doing a night away and dinner this coming weekend. And Happy birthday to my brothers' whose birthday is tomorrow!!
We did Christmas eve at the Cade side. Christmas morning at home opening gifts. Christmas afternoon at Papa and Grandma Stumpf's. Then we continued our tradition of doing our weekend at Grand View. We didn't do anything for New Years. Too hard to late night parties with little kids. Almost made it to midnight. It must have been at least 10:30 before I fell asleep. I'd say that is pretty good.
New Years "resolution": (Not really a resolution but just a goal) is to do 280-300 workouts this year. I'm off to a good start, I have 1 in for the year. Hopefully will get one in today too.
Celebrating my birthday today..sorta. Ben and I are doing a night away and dinner this coming weekend. And Happy birthday to my brothers' whose birthday is tomorrow!!
We did Christmas eve at the Cade side. Christmas morning at home opening gifts. Christmas afternoon at Papa and Grandma Stumpf's. Then we continued our tradition of doing our weekend at Grand View. We didn't do anything for New Years. Too hard to late night parties with little kids. Almost made it to midnight. It must have been at least 10:30 before I fell asleep. I'd say that is pretty good.
New Years "resolution": (Not really a resolution but just a goal) is to do 280-300 workouts this year. I'm off to a good start, I have 1 in for the year. Hopefully will get one in today too.
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| Tayah's Christmas Dance Concert. They were toy soldiers. |
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| Girls on stage. |
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| Tayah and her Brave doll. |
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| Collin checking out his game. |
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| Santa came. |
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| Yes, Santa brought my kids decoys. |
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| Collin liked his train table. |
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| New robe and cardboard coloring playhouse. |
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| Tayah waking up. |
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| Big girl bike. |
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| Santa brought me a case of my favorite wine. |
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| Christmas church hat and new jammies. |
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| The group up at Grand View Lodge |
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| Opening gifts at Grand View. |
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| Grandma and Tayah and Tyke. |
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| Bella and Tayah @Grand View. |
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| Collin and Tayah coloring. |
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| sliding with papa. |
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| Tayah sliding. |
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
This is what 6 looks like
Being a mom of a 6 year old I can easily put a face and a personality to those 20 little boys and girls. It breaks my heart.
I read this in the Huffington Post.
Written by: Jennifer Rowe Walters (a mother and preschool teacher)
I am not really a major cryer. I mean, don't get me wrong, I cry -- when it's appropriate to do so. Funerals. The occasional wedding if it's particularly beautiful or meaningful. Schindler's List. Things that normal people cry at. I am definitely not an over-cryer. I don't cry at commercials or cheesy Hallmark movies or at the drop of a hat. And, when I do cry, there's usually a beginning and an end. I cry. I get it out. I stop. Normal crying.
However, since I first started to understand the magnitude of what happened at Sandy Hook Elementary School on Friday morning, I have cried a lot. I cried when I heard the terrible news. I cried when I went to pick my son up early from school. I cried when I told my husband what had happened. I cried when I talked to my girlfriends about it. I cried at church when we prayed for each victim by name. Off and on for going on three days now, I have cried. And this is despite going out of my way to not watch anything about it on TV or read too much about it online. I'm actively trying to avoid it, but I still find myself crying more than usual.
I mentioned this to a friend last night and she said that she couldn't seem to stop crying either. When I asked her why she thought that was, her answer was, for me, a revelation. She said, "I think it's because we know what six looks like. We see it every day... in all its glory." And she was right. Because, you see, this friend and I both have a six-year-old child. I, a six-year-old son. She, a six-year-old daughter. Both are in first grade. Both, I imagine, so heart-breakingly similar to those 20 kids who were so brutally and senselessly killed on Friday morning. And we do, indeed, know what six looks like. We do see it every day. In all its glory. We see the good, the bad and the ugly. The beautiful and the infuriating. It's in our face. We live it and breathe it.
We know what six looks like. We know what it smells like. How it can go from the fresh scent of shampoo and soap to the musky aroma of "dirty child" in what seems like minutes. How it resists getting in the bathtub... and then resists getting out half an hour later. How sweet its hair and skin and clean jammies smell when it sits on your lap and asks you to read it a bedtime story. We know the unmistakeable fragrance of the occasional accident in the middle of the night caused by too much milk and no last-thing-before-bed visit to the toilet.
We know what six looks like. We know what it sounds like. How it cries and whines. How it sings and laughs. How clever it is and how much more clever it grows every day. How it sounds out words on signs as we drive past in the car and how happy it is when it gets them right. How annoying it sounds when it teases its little sister and how kind it sounds when it soothes her when she falls down and hurts herself. We know how lovely the words "Mommy" and "Daddy" and "I Love You" sound in its six-year-old voice.
We know what six looks like. We know how it tastes. How picky it is. How it thinks chicken nuggets or macaroni and cheese are gourmet foods. How much it loves candy and cookies. How it tolerates broccoli and carrots. How it absolutely abhors Brussels sprouts. How it thinks French fries are a vegetable. How it thinks chocolate milk was created by God himself. How it thinks pizza is its own food group. We know that six is happy when it finds "I love you!" written on a napkin in its lunch box at school.
We know what six looks like. We know how it feels. How big it's getting. How fast it outgrows its clothes and how it's no longer a baby, but not quite yet a big kid. We know the weight of six in our arms. How we can barely carry it anymore, but try anyway because we can't quite bring ourselves to accept the truth. We know how easily six gets its feelings hurt if someone says just the wrong thing or if this friend or that one doesn't want to play with it or it gets in trouble at school. We know the velvety softness of six's skin. We know the still-silkiness of its hair.
Yes, we know what six looks like. We know six's gap-toothed smile and its gangly arms and legs. We see how it jumps and dances. How it twirls and runs. We know how funny six is. How absolutely charming it can be. We know six's terrible jokes. We know how obsessed it is with "Minecraft." We know its crooked "S" and its backwards "3." We see how it teeters on the cusp of the world of books and all the joys of reading, but how it's not quite ready to fall in yet. We see how six can't decide if it wants us to stand beside it or not. We watch it take two steps towards independence and one step back towards us every day. We know how sturdy and strong six is... and yet how frail and fragile.
We know what six looks like. How beautiful it is. How precious. How brightly it shines with promise. How much it looks towards the future... toward 7,8,9... How much it looks like forever.
We know what six looks like and can only in our worst nightmares imagine how devastating its loss in this senseless and evil way would be. We can only barely imagine the wreckage and the despair and the utter hopelessness that would be left if six were brutally and suddenly taken from us. We know we couldn't bear life without it.
Yes, we know what six looks like. And we know that, to us -- like it must be for those other mothers and fathers in Connecticut -- six is the whole world.
I read this in the Huffington Post.
Written by: Jennifer Rowe Walters (a mother and preschool teacher)
I am not really a major cryer. I mean, don't get me wrong, I cry -- when it's appropriate to do so. Funerals. The occasional wedding if it's particularly beautiful or meaningful. Schindler's List. Things that normal people cry at. I am definitely not an over-cryer. I don't cry at commercials or cheesy Hallmark movies or at the drop of a hat. And, when I do cry, there's usually a beginning and an end. I cry. I get it out. I stop. Normal crying.
However, since I first started to understand the magnitude of what happened at Sandy Hook Elementary School on Friday morning, I have cried a lot. I cried when I heard the terrible news. I cried when I went to pick my son up early from school. I cried when I told my husband what had happened. I cried when I talked to my girlfriends about it. I cried at church when we prayed for each victim by name. Off and on for going on three days now, I have cried. And this is despite going out of my way to not watch anything about it on TV or read too much about it online. I'm actively trying to avoid it, but I still find myself crying more than usual.
I mentioned this to a friend last night and she said that she couldn't seem to stop crying either. When I asked her why she thought that was, her answer was, for me, a revelation. She said, "I think it's because we know what six looks like. We see it every day... in all its glory." And she was right. Because, you see, this friend and I both have a six-year-old child. I, a six-year-old son. She, a six-year-old daughter. Both are in first grade. Both, I imagine, so heart-breakingly similar to those 20 kids who were so brutally and senselessly killed on Friday morning. And we do, indeed, know what six looks like. We do see it every day. In all its glory. We see the good, the bad and the ugly. The beautiful and the infuriating. It's in our face. We live it and breathe it.
We know what six looks like. We know what it smells like. How it can go from the fresh scent of shampoo and soap to the musky aroma of "dirty child" in what seems like minutes. How it resists getting in the bathtub... and then resists getting out half an hour later. How sweet its hair and skin and clean jammies smell when it sits on your lap and asks you to read it a bedtime story. We know the unmistakeable fragrance of the occasional accident in the middle of the night caused by too much milk and no last-thing-before-bed visit to the toilet.
We know what six looks like. We know what it sounds like. How it cries and whines. How it sings and laughs. How clever it is and how much more clever it grows every day. How it sounds out words on signs as we drive past in the car and how happy it is when it gets them right. How annoying it sounds when it teases its little sister and how kind it sounds when it soothes her when she falls down and hurts herself. We know how lovely the words "Mommy" and "Daddy" and "I Love You" sound in its six-year-old voice.
We know what six looks like. We know how it tastes. How picky it is. How it thinks chicken nuggets or macaroni and cheese are gourmet foods. How much it loves candy and cookies. How it tolerates broccoli and carrots. How it absolutely abhors Brussels sprouts. How it thinks French fries are a vegetable. How it thinks chocolate milk was created by God himself. How it thinks pizza is its own food group. We know that six is happy when it finds "I love you!" written on a napkin in its lunch box at school.
We know what six looks like. We know how it feels. How big it's getting. How fast it outgrows its clothes and how it's no longer a baby, but not quite yet a big kid. We know the weight of six in our arms. How we can barely carry it anymore, but try anyway because we can't quite bring ourselves to accept the truth. We know how easily six gets its feelings hurt if someone says just the wrong thing or if this friend or that one doesn't want to play with it or it gets in trouble at school. We know the velvety softness of six's skin. We know the still-silkiness of its hair.
Yes, we know what six looks like. We know six's gap-toothed smile and its gangly arms and legs. We see how it jumps and dances. How it twirls and runs. We know how funny six is. How absolutely charming it can be. We know six's terrible jokes. We know how obsessed it is with "Minecraft." We know its crooked "S" and its backwards "3." We see how it teeters on the cusp of the world of books and all the joys of reading, but how it's not quite ready to fall in yet. We see how six can't decide if it wants us to stand beside it or not. We watch it take two steps towards independence and one step back towards us every day. We know how sturdy and strong six is... and yet how frail and fragile.
We know what six looks like. How beautiful it is. How precious. How brightly it shines with promise. How much it looks towards the future... toward 7,8,9... How much it looks like forever.
We know what six looks like and can only in our worst nightmares imagine how devastating its loss in this senseless and evil way would be. We can only barely imagine the wreckage and the despair and the utter hopelessness that would be left if six were brutally and suddenly taken from us. We know we couldn't bear life without it.
Yes, we know what six looks like. And we know that, to us -- like it must be for those other mothers and fathers in Connecticut -- six is the whole world.
Monday, November 19, 2012
Honey Do
I love updating and doing projects around the house. It usually consists of me coming up with some sort of idea and putting Ben to work. He is really pretty handy and usually likes my ideas...I think, and is willing to have at it. So this weekend we worked on updating our fireplace. Adding a mantle and getting ideas for stone to put up the wall. Hopefully we can do that during Thanksgiving break. I have been making some small, little updates to our guest bathroom upstairs so we did a little work in there too. I told Ben that all I want for Christmas is for him to do projects around the house. Nothing would excite me more than a box of stone tile planks or nice Kohler faucet from Santa.
Honey Do List:
Update Door Knobs
Feature wall down the stairs
Kitchen Backsplash
Kitchen Hardware
New Kitchen Faucet
Quartz Countertops
Fireplace Mantle
Stone on Fireplace Wall
Bathroom Backsplash
Brushed Nickel Bathroom Faucet
New Bathroom Floors
Paint Kitchen Cabinets
Complete Master Bath Remodel
I'm taking before and after pictures so I will be adding the photos when projects are complete. Stay tuned!!
Honey Do List:
Quartz Countertops
Brushed Nickel Bathroom Faucet
New Bathroom Floors
Paint Kitchen Cabinets
Complete Master Bath Remodel
I'm taking before and after pictures so I will be adding the photos when projects are complete. Stay tuned!!
Saturday, November 3, 2012
Happy Halloween
I just realized I haven't posted any pictures of the kids in their Halloween costume. So, here you go.
Tayah decided early on she was going to be Merida from Brave (Newest Disney princess in case anyone is wondering, who??). Then we were trying to decide what Collin should be? Tayah came up with the idea of a bear because anyone who has seen the movie will know bears are sorta a big part of the movie. Merida changes her mother and triplet brothers into bears with a magic spell. So a bear for Collin it was.
My only issue was trying to get the bear costume on Collin. He really wanted nothing to do with putting the costume on so we had a "back up costume" of a duck hunter which consisted of camo, a duck call lanyard, and his Avery hat.
The Sunday before Halloween we did trick or treating at the family houses so we wouldn't have to hurry and try and make it to see everyone on Wednesday night. We were about to get Collin dressed in his hunting gear but then decided last minute he wanted to wear the bear costume. So, in pajamas and all, we put the costume on with success and once we had it on the jammies stayed on for the day too. So we headed over to Grandma Val's and Papa Dave's to see Cousin Blake and then stopped at Auntie Christa's, then went over to Grandma Julie's and Papa Dan's with Cousin Grace to visit Grandma and Papa Stumpf, and Christa (again) who were at mom and dad's.
Then Wednesday we just went trick or treating down our street to a few houses and back to our house to pass out candy and so Ben could scare trick or treaters. See photo below.
Tayah decided early on she was going to be Merida from Brave (Newest Disney princess in case anyone is wondering, who??). Then we were trying to decide what Collin should be? Tayah came up with the idea of a bear because anyone who has seen the movie will know bears are sorta a big part of the movie. Merida changes her mother and triplet brothers into bears with a magic spell. So a bear for Collin it was.
My only issue was trying to get the bear costume on Collin. He really wanted nothing to do with putting the costume on so we had a "back up costume" of a duck hunter which consisted of camo, a duck call lanyard, and his Avery hat.
The Sunday before Halloween we did trick or treating at the family houses so we wouldn't have to hurry and try and make it to see everyone on Wednesday night. We were about to get Collin dressed in his hunting gear but then decided last minute he wanted to wear the bear costume. So, in pajamas and all, we put the costume on with success and once we had it on the jammies stayed on for the day too. So we headed over to Grandma Val's and Papa Dave's to see Cousin Blake and then stopped at Auntie Christa's, then went over to Grandma Julie's and Papa Dan's with Cousin Grace to visit Grandma and Papa Stumpf, and Christa (again) who were at mom and dad's.
Then Wednesday we just went trick or treating down our street to a few houses and back to our house to pass out candy and so Ben could scare trick or treaters. See photo below.
Thursday, November 1, 2012
Peanut...the cat
Anyway, he was out Tuesday afternoon for a couple hours and came back with burs in his fur and looked a little "messy". That night he was sleeping on Collin's bed and was being "weird". He was a little aggressive and didn't want us to touch him. The next morning I woke up and noticed he wasn't begging for food, again "weird". He was sleeping on the couch and looked ill. His jaw was open and he was drooling. I called the vet to see if we could drop him off. Ben dropped him off and I got a call from the doctor later that morning to find he thinks he has a broken jaw. YIKES!! I asked if it was fixable and they said yes, but he may need to go to a specialized orthopedic surgeon. UGH, can you say $$$$$.
I called Ben and after our discussion we decided we would see how the xrays show up but we were not going to do any sort of drastic surgery. We love him but at almost 12 years old, even I couldn't rationalized it. I had the dreaded talk with Tayah that we were going to do our best to fix Peanut but if it can't be fixed he would need to go to Heaven because he wouldn't be able to eat and we didn't want him to be in pain. There were many tears by both of us and it was hard to make that sort of decision with a family pet.
So, I get a call later that afternoon that his jaw was NOT broken after all and it was just dislocated. He was able to pop it back into place and said it was pretty stable. YAY!! Back to a happy Tayah!!
So, with making sure he gets soft food for the next couple weeks and keep him in to rest he should be back to normal soon. And we won't talk about the vet bill because we have Peanut back and a happy Tayah, so it was all worth it. Right Ben??
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