Happy Birthday Grandpa!!!

On Wednesday we had dinner out at Mom and Dad's house. Grandpa was there too. We enjoyed each other's company. After dinner was time for Grandpa (Dad) to blow the candles out on his cake. Of course, Mallory and Miles were on each side ready to assist him. It has become a tradition for them to help their grandmas and grandpas blow their candles out. It is something they always look forward to.

After blowing out the candles, Mallory served the ice cream and Miles served the cake. They were so excited that Grandma had given them special responsibilities. The cake was yummy:)!

After dessert Mallory and Miles went crazy. Miles spent most of his time on the screened in porch. He was so excited because he could finally play in there. He had noodle fights with the person who was back with him and would literally bounce from thing to thing. He spent time in Ryan's kayak, jumped from seat to seat of the picnic table, jumped around the floor, it was obvious that he had been waiting for this moment all winter long.

Mallory was excited to give Grandpa her present. She has been playing around with pastels (it is amazing what kind of teacher YouTube can be) and wanted to do something for Grandpa's birthday. She used some new techniques she learned about online and did a great job. I cannot wait to see what she does with pastels in the future. Her art teacher recently asked me, "Dawn, does Mallory ever talk about the dreams she has at night?" When I asked her why she said, "Her mind is never at rest and she must have the most vivid and amazing dreams." It was quite an observation and I think she might be onto something.

A Day Out for the Girls

On Monday Mallory and I had a day to ourselves. We started the morning by dropping Miles off at daycare and went grocery shopping (she thought it was fun). Then we traveled to the big city for her surprise lunch. She was thrilled when we pulled into Chuck E Cheese. I had only been there one other time when Mallory was three so this was quite a stretch for me. We had a good time together. From there we went to a bookstore and bought some books and ended up having something yummy from Sonic (I am addicted to their cherry Sprites...yummy!!!). It was a great day for the two of us:).

Enjoying the Day

This afternoon Mallory, Miles, and I packed the bikes up and headed to Mom and Dad's house. They were so excited to be outside and it was a perfect day. Neither one of them wasted any time jumping on their bikes and taking off. I realized very quickly that Miles is ready for a big boy bike. I'm sure he will want a blue one! He was doing a really great job pedaling when his little feet would stay on the pedals.

Mallory continues to ride into the wind with no problems at all. I cannot believe how much she has grown though. Ryan needs to raise her seat. Even with her legs being too long for her bike (at the moment) she rode up and down Mom and Dad's road having a good time. She was pretty good about listening when a car would come and I appreciated that.

Miles liked riding down the hill and even figured out how to put his feet up so he would go a little faster. He nearly fell over twice but caught himself...thank goodness!

After riding bikes, and running around the house countless times, the two of them created a store behind the row of bushes in Mom and Dad's driveway. Mom, Dad, and I ended up paying pinecones for an assortment of flags (sticks that had leaves for the flag). Mallory and Miles were so excited by this. Oh, to be young again!

It was a great day to be out and about. We are looking forward to a few more days like this during the week too:).

Our Budding Artist

Today we headed to the big city to the annual art festival. Mallory's artwork was chosen from her school to be on display (second year in a row...not that I am keeping track or anything). This festival is really neat. Students from schools all over the area come to sing, there are special groups that perform, and there is an activity spot for children to work on artsy crafty things. Right when we walked in Mallory said, "There's Jared and Josh!" and sure enough there they were. Congratulations on Josh for having his artwork chosen for this honor as well:). Now Ryan will be working to make another frame for Mallory's artwork. I told her she needs to stop doing so well because we will soon run out of wall space! We are very proud of her!

A Fun Date/A Not So Normal Week

Mallory, Miles, and I were very excited to have tickets to see Disney On Ice. We went with Gail, Jared, Josh, and Abby and had so much fun. The seats were great and the skaters were entertaining as well. The show went through The Little Mermaid, Peter Pan, The Lion King, and Lilo and Stitch. Mallory and Miles were very excited to see Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisy, and Goofy too. Lots of fun for us!

At the souvenir shop Mallory chose this Tinkerbell doll and Miles (much to my dismay) chose Peter Pan's sword...oh help me here! Needless to say he has had fun with that sword. Unfortunately Miles was a little camera shy and did not want me to take a picture of him with his new possession:(.

This week we have been out of our normal routine. Mallory woke up on Monday night wheezing and hardly able to breathe. We gave her one of Miles' breathing treatments and I ended up taking her to the ER. She took Plumpy, her bear, with her and the quilt her Grandma J made for her when she was two. Before the doctor came in she said, "Mommy there are worser things that could be wrong with me." I about cried because at that point she was having problems talking and breathing a little too.

Everyone we came in contact with was wonderful. The doctor came in and after a breathing treatment, motrin, and steroids, she was ready to come home (a total of two hours).

I stayed home with her on Tuesday and Wednesday she was with Mom. This morning Ryan and I decided to keep her home one more day. She was anything but happy with this decision but I still feel it was the right one because she is still coughing here and there and her nose is running like a faucet. Poor babydoll! She is very disappointed because tonight after school is Jump Rope for Heart for the American Heart Association and she has been practicing her jumproping just for this event. It sure is hard when our children have to learn disappointment. Ryan and I are hopeful that tomorrow we will be back to normal and all on our regular routines.