Diaper Dancer

Not even the flu can hold this girl back when her favorite song comes on...



* The song is the Glee version of Golddigger. Considerably different from the original, just in case you were wondering about me, and NO, we are totally not allowed to listen to Kanye in this household. :)*

Veteran's Day

Hailey's choir/drama group, On a Good Note, sang in the Veteran's Day Parade, and at College Park Baptist this morning. We took Delaney to the parade, and we all enjoyed it a bunch.

Delaney had everything she needed to enjoy the parade... milk, blanket, pixel chick and George.
A biker gave her a walrus that shoots water. She thought it was pretty awesome. You can tell from the look on her face.
And then our favorite part...

The kids did such a great job. They sang loud enough to hear from the sidewalk, and they sounded wonderful.
They sang well at church today as well. My dad and Grandpa were able to come, which was especially nice, since they are both former Navy men. I always get choked up when I see the different veterans stand during the song that is a medley of all of the branches' songs. It was a really great performance by the kids, and very respectful to all of the veterans.

And, completely unrelated, last week my 3 little sisters and I went and had a "sister dinner". We did this in September and every one of us laughed until we cried at one point or another during the meal. We decided that this DEFINITELY needs to be a (hopefully) monthly occasion. We were planning to go to Chili's, but my sister Sarah's hubby had to work late and she had no babysitter. We LOVE her children, but it is kind of nice to get out once in awhile kid-free. Cullen graciously offered to play with them, since he was going to be playing with Laney anyway. He took some super cute pictures of the girls at the piano together.
Delaney is starting to put a few more words together. Her latest favorites are "uh-oh Laney!" and "uh-oh Mommy". Tonight she said "help me!" and "help me, mommy". :)

Happy Birthday, Honey...a few days late

I am sitting at home with a sick Delaney again today, waiting for the doctor's office to call me back. She is napping at the moment, and I have been unusually productive...mopped all the floors, did the dishes, and I am getting ready to make desert for Cullen's Rotary meeting tomorrow night! I think this is my subconscious (or not so sub...haha) effort to prove what a good stay-at-home housewife I would be. ;)

HOWEVER, even though my productivity is nice, my forgetfulness is not! I totally forgot to post a "happy birthday, Cullen" note last week. Cullen's birthday was last Thursday, and we planned to celebrate on Friday night. Hails and I bought Mario Kart for him, and I planned to make him an awesome ice cream cake that looked like a Scrabble board. I even asked for half of Friday off to decorate it just right.

Instead, though, I ended up cuddling my sick little love, and improvised on the cake.


Not as cool as originally intended, but tasty nontheless. And my hubby appreciated the efforts.

Had I remembered to actually post on his birthday, I would have mentioned how wonderful he is. He gets up early, works ALL day (like from 4:45am to 5pm) and still helps me out in the evenings, whether it is playing with the kids or washing the dishes. He always has a great attitude, and is so kind and thoughtful. I know his dream day would be a sci-fi marathon and lots of ice cream, so if anyone knows of some great sci-fi movies that I could rent for him to veg out on some Saturday, please share! Instead, he spends his Saturdays either working for or playing with the family, and rarely just takes time for himself. I don't know that I have ever met a less selfish person. He puts up with my craziness every day, and still tells me he loves me.

So, dearest, I love you and appreciate every thing you do. Happy Late Birthday. <3

Happy Halloween!

Pumpkin carving may be one of my favorite Halloween activities. The first time I carved a pumpkin was my first year teaching preschool, and I was terrified. I had never done it before, and now I had an audience! Turns out, I am not half bad.

We carved our pumpkin yesterday morning. Delaney enjoyed her first pumpkin-goo experience, despite not feeling so well. Hailey was quite creative in the design department, and I carried out her requests. Cullen was our chief photographer and dont-let-the-baby-get-the-oh-stink-she-grabbed-the-knife! catcher.

My best crazy-carver face...


Delaney decided to taste test...And, because nothing is complete without her Blankie, she tried to stuff it inside. This kind of happened faster than I could do anything about. Thank goodness for washing machines.
And here is our guy all finished.

We were all supposed to dress up as The Incredibles, but our Jack-Jack was too sick to go trick-or-treating, so she and Mr. Incredible stayed home to play Mario Kart and hand out candy. Hailey and I got dressed up and headed out...

Elastigirl and Violet...
We went to Brandi's party for awhile, visited some family, and went trick-or-treating at the Gardens Care Center. It was fun, and Hailey got enough candy to keep us sugared up for quite some time.

I was worried that Hails would be a little bored just hanging out with just me for the festivities, and when I expressed this to her, she replied, "Mom, you are my best friend! It's like hanging out with a friend all night!" *Happy Sigh*

We got home just in time to help Cullen and Randy hand out candy to the last of the trick-or-treaters. We had a blast. Now I have to start thinking of our costumes for NEXT year. :)

The Sweeter She Gets...

...the worse we know she feels. :(

Delaney has been sick since yesterday. We started the day fairly well. She was acting normally, despite a TERRIBLE diaper rash and a few seemingly teething related diaper yuks. I dropped her off at Valerie's and went to work. Ten minutes later, Valerie called to let me know that Delaney had thrown up all over the place. I picked her up, and we went home to snuggle and change diapers every 20 minutes for the rest of the day. Poor kiddo. She was miserable. Thankfully, no more vomiting, but who knows...that might've been less uncomfortable for her! She just wanted to be loved and cuddle all day/night. She got a little mischievous after Cullen brought some Pedialyte home for us, and played with her a little bit before heading back to work, and I thought she might be coming out of it, but after a while she resumed her stationary on-mom's-lap position.

So far this morning, she has just either snuggled with us, or collapsed on the floor with her George and Blankie. This child NEVER sits still, so we know when she doesn't move for a few hours, she must feel awful.


Think good thoughts for her...she is supposed to get to dress up as Jack-Jack tonight for Halloween, but her costume might just turn into pajamas.

Wiiiiiii!!!!

She's quite the player...

Nighty-Nite

A few weeks ago, I bought the Wii Fit Plus. It is totally awesome. Not only does it have all of the yoga moves that I love, it has some new features and a bunch of new games that are super fun. Tonight, Cullen taught Delaney how to play the cycling game. She stood on the balance board and "jogged" to make the bike go, and he did the steering. Hailey and I got home just as they were finishing up, so unfortunately there are no pictures, but it was so cute. She also attempts to do yoga with me. She puts her arms up in the sky, squats to touch her toes, and almost does the downward-facing dog.

When I put Delaney to bed tonight, she tried out her latest routine. I rock her for about a minute (that's as long as she will stand to sit still and cuddle with me), turn on her aquarium and put her in bed. She is quiet for 5-10 minutes, then starts screaming her pitiful little lungs out. I go in to her room, and just say, "Delaney. Lie Down. It's bedtime." and leave. She stops, literally just throws herself back on her pillow and goes to sleep. I don't know what this is all about; she's been doing it for about a week. I have considered letting her cry, but it is a lot faster/less painless to just tell her to go to bed. Crazy child.

Now time to read and get ready for bed with Hailey, and maybe even finish our Halloween costumes. :)