We went to church today for the first time since Christmas. Not that we haven't wanted to every week, but it is so difficult to wrangle 2 toddlers into sitting still and quiet for an hour (or even a minute!). I've been really wanting to go recently, especially because of several life obstacles that have come up in the recent months, the most recent one being Grace's hospitalization. Today we took them to the church nursery where they both seemed to have a good time. They met some new friends, played outside, got to play with all kinds of new toys, and read a Bible story. Hopefully next week will go so smoothly.  I took some pictures before we left:

Also, Gracie's language has realllllllllly developed lately, as in the last few days. Here are all the words that she says: dada, dog, hot, more, thank you, please, Jack, mama, papa, fish, turtle, sticker, cracker, DVD, baby, ut-oh, hi, byebye, poopoo, peepee, trash, shoe, up. That's all I can think of right now. She pretty much went from saying nothing to having all of these words!

Yesterday we had quite the eventful day. The night before last I kept hearing a tapping sound in the middle of the night. I was yelling at Roi because I assumed he was laying in his crate and dreaming that he was running, making his toenail tap against the plastic bottom. Well Colin left for work that morning, and I was still hearing it after I let Roi outside. I knew some kind of critter must have been trapped under the crate, but I wasn't brave enough to look. I was envisioning a snake or something like that. I waited until about 8:30 and then called the neighbor. They showed up at my door with the teenage son in gloves ready to wrestle a snake. Well, he no sooner pulled the crate out and the tiniest little hard shelled bug came strolling out. At first we thought there was no way that could've been making that loud of a tapping. But then we saw it jump up about a foot repeatedly, so then we knew.

Then...I was in bed last night watching TV when I got up to check on the babies. I came around the corner after leaving my door and see a lizard-like critter sprinting up my wall. I screamed, but somehow it didn't wake up the babies. I tried to trap it with a tupperware, but that wasn't working out so  well. So I called the neighbor back over to get it for me. He caught it without a problem. ....the joys of living in the middle of a bunch of lakes in Florida!!!

Enjoy your Sunday!

Just some pictures from our morning. Kids are napping, which means I have about an hour to eat lunch, clean up, and shower!

Okay, who can help me or guide me to a place where I can create a banner or photo collage for the header of my blog? I tried today, but as you can see...it's a little less than perfect. :)

Today Grace's fever rose even higher. I'm willing to bet money she has Roseola. Click here to read about the time Jack had it. Poor little baby doll slept in until almost 8 (unheard of for our kids) then napped for almost 3 hours before I finally woke her up. Her fever was 104.4, so I gave her Motrin. It came down to 101.1, but then started spiking again after dinner tonight. It was 103.5 when she went to bed. We called the doctor, and he said to alternate between Tylenol and Advil ever 4 hours, so we will be up quite a bit tonight. Tomorrow she is going in first thing in the morning. She was a happy camper all day today.

I did a little photo shoot this morning, and got a few decent pictures.

We took a stroller walk down to the "purple park" as Jack calls it.

We went to Publix to get a few things for the week, then headed to visit daddy.

Who are you and what have you done with my kid? He put down his sugar cookie to eat a piece of ham...what!?

His favorite thing to do at the fire station! Put water from the cooler into the little cups.

 We had a very hectic evening tonight (understatement). I had both kids in the tub when Grace's lip started quivering. I quickly got her washed so I could get her out to get some medicine to break her fever. Jack was running around dripping wet, peeing on the floor. Our thermometer was broken. The kitchen was a mess from dinner. Toys everywhere. I got Grace to bed and I told Jack he could watch T.V. until I got everything cleaned up (I will not allow myself to go to bed with a messy house). It was almost an hour past his bedtime. I was doing dishes, and he came into the kitchen and asked, "mom, why do tigers have stripes?" :)

Jack "peedid" on the potty all by himself this morning. He went in the bathroom, took his pajama pants and diaper off, and peed. I gave him some M&Ms for doing that. He put them down at some point, and Grace found them. I saw her pick up the bag, take off in a sprint walk for her "safe spot", and sit down to enjoy the rest of them. So funny! This toy is arranged in a corner, so when she goes back behind the door, she is safe! Look closely, you'll see them in her hands!

We took a trip to BJs this morning. We wish every place had double shopping carts.

This afternoon we went to a BBQ at our old neighbor's house. The kids had a blast enjoying all the water fun. We had a good time seeing everyone too! We neglected to bring Grace's bathing suit...

This girl was fearless! This was a giant slip and slide that led to a baby pool at the bottom of the hill. It isn't shown in the picture, but there's actually a big slide that you go down first before you get on the tarp to gain momentum. She went right for it. Jack didn't want anything to do with it! Colin was at the bottom to catch her.

 T.V. before bed

Jack had a "Pirates and Princesses" end of the year party in his class on Friday. He came home with all kinds of goodies. Here he is sporting a tattoo and eye patch. He's going to continue to go to school part time (1-2 days a week) this summer and through my maternity leave. He thrives off the structure and learns so much. Plus the socialization is great for him. I'm going to keep Grace at home with me, so her last day will be this week. She will return like normal in October after my maternity leave.

I've been sick sick sick with the stomach flu for 3 days. I was out of work last Thursday and Friday because of Grace's episode. Then we didn't have school Monday. I went Tuesday and was out sick Wednesday. Thursday and Friday I felt terrible and shouldn't have been at school.  Today I'm finally feeling back to myself, thank God! Jack passed it on to me, so now we are just hoping Colin and Grace don't get it. Grace had a fever last night before bed and has been quite crabby today. I'm guessing it's because she is getting teeth, but hoping she isn't catching a bug!

Tonight Jack was sitting up on the counter, which he knows isn't allowed. I started counting, warning him to get down before he goes to time-out. I said "one, two...", and he goes "three, four, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, fourteen, sixteen, seventeen." Then Colin came and took him to time-out. Colin said something like, "we don't get up on the counter, so now you go to time-out." Jack followed that up with, "no I don't, Colin!"

This morning he ate a bowl of cereal with milk for breakfast. I came into the kitchen and said, "wow! you ate the cereal AND all the milk?!" And he said, "no mommy, we don't eat milk. We drink milk."

Grace is getting more and more words, slowly but surely. Tonight she brought me the above eye patch. She wanted me to put it on her eye. I asked her, "what do you say?" She said, "plsss". I was so proud!

That's all I have for today. I'll try to make an effort to take some camera pictures tomorrow. Hope everyone is enjoying the weekend!