Gracie

Last weekend we discovered a large lump on Gracie's chest. We took her to the vet today and learned that it's cancer. She is having the tumor removed on Tuesday so once they get a better look, we'll know more about her prognosis. The vet said this type of cancer runs the gamut from going away after the tumor is removed to spreading so fast there's nothing that can be done. We'll be eagerly awaiting news from the surgeon on Tuesday. I hadn't really noticed a difference in her demeanor but I swear she seems a little sad today, like she knows something is wrong. Gracie just turned 8 in January.

Uncle Jesse

My brother Jesse and sister Erin came back from Denver this past weekend for our Mom's birthday. The kids really liked hanging out with them. Chloe is particularly fond of her Aunt. When it was time for bed on Saturday, she asked for Aunt Erin to tuck her in. When I came around the corner to help her to bed she said "I said I want Auntie Erin, are you Auntie Erin?"

They wanted to be cool like uncle Jesse and wear their shades in the house. 

Parker really thought he was hot stuff, showing off his shades. He also likes to show off his new Adidas too.

Dog Door

As you can tell, my darling son has become fascinated with our automatic dog door. He loves to hang 1/2 in, 1/2 out and look around the back yard - even if it's 12 degrees outside.

Superbowl Sunday

Do you ever have those moments where you watch your kids do something and think, wow, you are so my kid? Here's one of mine: Parker loves HyVee's Southwest dip (just like I do). So much so, he decided to skip the chips and just eat it with his fingers. He also loves chocolate and will grunt as soon as he sees you grab an M&M. He also loves pickles, green olives and as I've posted before, lemons and limes. Chloe won't eat anything green (well, except for green M&Ms).


I had to show this picture to Chloe on the camera and explain that I wanted to SEE her face.


She got a haircut on Saturday. It's sort of a grown up style but it really helps lighten up the curls. She was routing for the Steelers unlike her mom & dad who were cheering for the underdogs.

4-Wheelin'

It was deceptively sunny on Sunday so we decided to break the kids' Jeep out of the basement so they could really cruise. It was still pretty chilly so we had to ride on the sunny side of the road which made it a little nicer. Yes, Parker is wearing a pink hat and helmet. I didn't trust Chloe's driving and he doesn't have his own helmet yet. As for the hat - he won't keep his on so I put this one on him and the velcro straps helped.

Chloe needs some practice at steering. In the basement she can only go forwards & backwards to the steering wheel is all new! They had so much fun.

The shady front of our house - this is why we went across the street. Plus, Ray was washing the cars and we didn't want to get wet or slip on the quickly-forming ice.

Fluff

It's been way too long since I've updated. Sorry to those of you who keep coming back, hoping for an update! If you haven't discovered Facebook yet, you should check it out. You'll understand what (else besides kids, house, work etc....) has been distracting me.

There has been nothing too exciting going on lately. Parker did get a badly needed haircut last weekend but we forgot to take any before pictures and he was so traumatized at the salon that I couldn't go anywhere near him. God bless the women at Pony Tails & Buzzcuts. One of these days Chloe is going to ask to get her ears pierced and we're there!

It might look like Parker likes to do art (which he does) but his favorite thing to do is "rage" on the art stuff. He's at that stage where he likes to take EVERYTHING out of whatever sort of container it's in and put it on the floor. He might even throw a couple things for good measure.


Tonight we received the down comforter I ordered and we had to take it out and fluff it up. It was way too tempting for the kids to ignore so they were the first to snuggle up in it.

Gracie was supposed to be in this one but as you can tell, she's not very good at "stay".

Ray will scold me for the red eye but I'm trying to be quick about this post so no time to correct! These kids are still gorgeous no? They are absolute joy - Parker has actually been sleeping pretty well too (knock on wood). Chloe is so sweet to her brother and he adores her, most of the time anyway. I'm sure it won't be like that forever so I'll relish this time while it is.

Chloe is still in Dance and we got a look at her costume (recital in May). The theme is sailing around the world or something like that and her class's location is Hawaii so she has a cute hula girl outfit. After the recital is over, we're going to go back to gymnastics though as she seemed to like it better. We'd love to get her in some ice skates too!

We booked airline tickets to Portland yesterday! We will go in June to visit Ray's sister Lori and her family. We are so excited to get to spend some time with them and none of us have been to that part of the country. Chloe tells me she wants to stay home with Grandma & Grandpa though as she doesn't want to fly on the airplane. Hopefully she'll change her mind. If you are thinking about traveling anywhere, it seems like now is a good time to buy. We're flying Frontier and our tickets were about $250 which is $100 less than they've been over the last several months!

Children's Museum

Parker enjoyed the children's museum for the first time on 12/30. It was a madhouse but thankfully Grandma Charlotte came along and was a big help. Ray had to work :(

Silly mom left the house without milk or a binky for Parker. I stopped at the grocery store on the way and bought him some binkys but they weren't the right kind and he refused to take it. In fact, he got more mad when I tried to put it in his mouth. I think breaking him of the binky is going to be worse than Chloe. Joy! Both kids had fun - the water was a huge hit (of course). Mom and grandma were worn out!