Happy Birthday Halle!!!

I would have loved to post this yesterday on her actual birthday but it just didn't happen. Halle had a wonderful birthday party complete with friends, food, and her very own smash cake made by yours truly. I've never made my girls birthday cakes before but in an effort to be thrifty I decided I'd do it this year. I've wanted to make their cakes but always thought I'd have to buy too many tools thus being cost prohibitive but I opted for simplicity and bought funfetti cake and icing and a can of decorator icing that comes with its own decorator tips and I was in business. It wasn't perfect or extrordinary but I was happy with the way it turned out and Halle seemed quite happy as well. The Kelsos and Fadelys joined us for a BIG party considering the size of our apartment but it was nice having everyone here- LOUD but nice. I found myself being a little hoarse from trying to "yell" over everyone else.

Her actual birthday was not as much fun for her since she got shots that she's been behind on and then had to spend four hours at the mall with Mommy and Daddy who were frantically trying to catch up on Christmas shopping before we go out of town. She made sure to alert us to her displeasure as well as all those around us- that was fun! She didn't have any birthday cake but she had some cranberry brulee chiller from Gloria Jean's and a pretzel from Auntie Anne's and that helped make some things better.

And I'd like to take this opportunity to brag on Amanda. I was really busy yesterday with a Dr.'s appt., working out, and Christmas shopping so I wasn't that much help with the ton of laundry that has to be done before we leave and she worked from the time she got up until after we got home last night doing laundry and cleaning without being asked!!! When we got home the house was completely spotless! She really does so much around here so I rewarded her by telling her she's never allowed to move out. Seriously though, I think I'd have a nervous breakdown if she wasn't here.

So, Florida...I feel relaxed already. It's supposed to be in the 70's on Christmas day and I can honestly say that I'm glad it won't be cold. I can hardly wait to walk on the beach, stick my toes in the sand, and walk in the water- if the water's not too cold. There are a hundred places I want to visit but obviously we won't be able to in the amount of time we'll be there but I'm sure we'll be able to visit several and I can hardly wait!!! Well, I'm off now to pack some shorts and T-Shirts :)

Merry Christmas and Tisra, enjoy your Holiday Cake! 

Man-O-Man, What a Week

Man, has this been a rough two weeks! Last week Luke was sick, I could describe his symptoms but for the sake of your stomachs I'll keep it to myself. Then Jaren was sick. Then Halle was sick. Now it's rough when you're babysitting sick kids but when yours get sick too it's different. She started with a fever and runny nose and then the cough. I mean the nasty scares me cough. It started on Sunday and by Monday night it was pretty bad. Tuesday morning it sounded like she was wheezing and it was taking much too much effort to breathe so we went to the Dr. After listening to her chest the Dr. confirmed the wheeze and suggested pneumonia or asthma which was not what I wanted to hear. If she'd been running a very high temp there would have been blood work and the like but since it was relatively low she prescribed a steroid for the cough and an antibiotic for her very first ever ear infection. No wonder she was cranky! The cough/wheeze has persisted but was much better by yesterday and it's a good thing it was since Chloe woke up with a fever and vomiting that morning- did I mention that Travis was sick this past weekend too? Thankfully she's better after a dose of Emetrol- a medicine that somehow settles sick stomachs; I wish I'd had it as a kid. It did not help her sleep, however and I think I may have had 3 or 4 hours of continually interrupted sleep so I'm feeling a little sleepy. But I'm waiting up for Amanda to come home from watching "Narnia" so I'm typing.

I'm also religiously taking Airborne and I haven't had more than a little sore throat- I'm so thankful! I'm also hoping that since everyone is sick now we've kind of gotten it over with so everyone will be healthy in FL.

And now I'm off to bed and tomorrow will be cleaning, shopping, and a Christmas party. I'm really looking forward to a vacation.

Our Life in Pictures

I was looking back through my blog a few days ago and realized that I hadn't posted any pictures since July! Of course, it's not as important now since we've moved back and our friends see us regularly but it was also a way for me to not have to try to come up with something interesting/witty to write.

Well, Chloe lost her first tooth Thursday night. It had been loose for quite a while and finally she just couldn't eat with it in her mouth because it hurt. So I asked if I could pull it and she gave me the standard reply- No, it will fall out alla by itself. Since I'd been trying to get her to acquiesce to my pulling it for a couple of days to no avail I decided to try another angle- You know that if I pull your tooth it wont hurt anymore and you can put it under your pillow and the tooth fairy will bring you money. Well, that was it she decided that the tooth would come out immediately. She helped me tie the dental floss around it and I expected her to back out or beg me not to (flashback to Amanda's first lost tooth) but she never did. After one quick yank the tooth was out! Her gum was bleeding some and I thought she'd freak out (like her big sis) but she didn't she just held a cloth on it until I said to take it off. She then, in typical Chloe fashion, thanked me profusely for pulling her tooth:

Thank you so much Mommy for pulling my tooth, it doesn't hurt anymore, now I will get a Tooth Fairy Coin!

A Tooth Fairy Coin! Priceless!

Her tooth is really loose!!!

Her first lost tooth!!!

Much Happier!

 

Amanda's new haircut-given by Mom

Halle and Daddy

Chloe is really happy to be with her dad

My new favorite picture

Halle's new favorite Christmas present

Chloe at Opryland

Chloe and Lobsters

Halle and Nanni

Halle and Poppi

Halle's favorite past time- playing in the wipes

Halle trying to clean up some spilled water for me

No photos please

The princess retires for the evening in her carriage

Mommy and Halle

Jaren and Chloe

The glitter princess

Fun at the zoo

Still more fun at the zoo

More fun at the zoo

Girls having fun

Chloe at Kid's Kingdom

Luuukkkeee, I am your father

You Know You're Truly a Mom When....

You know you're truly a mom when...

You are doing Pilates to regain you're figure while you're drooly, snotty nosed, cherub like infant beats on your head with a squeaky rubber ducky.

You are doing Pilates while said cherub like creature is biting your forehead.

That's all I have for today. And "no" I didn't quite finish my workout.

Busy, Busy, Busy

I know everybody is busy this time of year and I'm no exception. The sad thing is I'm not busy with Christmas stuff yet. I mean, I should be busy with that because there's plenty to do but I haven't gotten around to it yet. I have Christmas cards to write and send, cookies to bake, presents to buy, and an endless list of housekeeping things to do and I feel like I'm spinning my wheels. So I'm going to have to really buckle down and forget having much relaxing time until we get to FL for Christmas! I don't know if I'd mentioned that our Christmas present from Trav's parents is money for a trip to Fl. Everybody is sooo excited. We haven't been to FL in more than 2 years so this will be really nice.

There really is so much to report especially on the Halle front. When I get a chance I'm going to post our life in pics because we really have done a lot lately. But anyway, where to start? I could start with teeth- she's had an eruption lately! She had been working on getting her bicuspids (I'm pretty sure that's what they are) and it took them about 3 months from the time you could see them before they actually broke through. So, I wasn't really paying attention to the rest of her mouth. But I noticed on Monday that she was getting two more teeth in the bottom to match the ones on the top and yesterday I put my finger in her mouth and felt a molar that had broken through! Then on closer inspection I realized that she's getting 4 molars! It's not as soon as Chloe got hers (6 months which is freakishly early) but I think she's still 6mths ahead of schedule.

And since we're talking about teeth, Chloe has had a loose tooth for about a month! I'm so bummed! From time to time I check on how loose it is- you know wiggle it- and when I did that the other day I noticed that the new adult tooth has already broken through. Then I checked the baby tooth next to it and sure enough, it was loose too! My poor little four year old is already losing teeth. Travis was just like that as a kid and had to have braces and extra teeth pulled and all sorts of bad stuff so I really hope that Chloe doesn't have to go through that. My teeth are pretty straight and I haven't had any work done so hopefully she'll at least get that from me.

This has been an eventful and busy week and one of those reasons is that Mary had her baby a month early. The birth and subsequent events have been recorded in at least 3 blogs so I won't recap but we were able to visit Kris and Mary last night and even though we were in the NICU waiting room we had a great time. You wouldn't have thought we were there because their son isn't completely well. But I've written this at least 3 times today but I'll write it again, that is a gorgeous little boy they have and I can hardly wait for him to get well and go home!

We have Lael's 1st birthday party tonight and I'm excited to go. Don't tell her but I bought a little prince and princess set because I wanted her to have a truly girlie toy and bought bright pink wrapping paper and a large pink bow and a card with ladybugs. After so many years of buying boys things for the Fadely boys I think Tisra will like the girlie-ness of it all. I don't think Lael will notice so, I guess the girlie gift is as much for Tisra as it is for Lael.

Well, I shall go now as I have a poopie diaper to change and children to feed. But hey, it's a gorgeous day!