Easter Time with 3s

We took this picture today with my 3s and I just had to share, because they all looked so stinkin' cute!! Seriously. Do I have the best job or what? Nothing like having the Easter Bunny stop in and take pictures with us. Can't wait to see the look on my 2s faces when they see her tomorrow. :-)

Trading Spaces

A few years ago a show called "Trading Spaces" used to be on TLC. I loved that show and always wanted to do a big reveal like they did. A few months ago Madie started complaining that her room was too "babyish". She wanted something more grown up. I painted that room before we had even moved in back in 2002. Madie was one month past her 1st birthday and I wanted her room to be the very first we painted in our new home. So, Pete's mom and I got to work on painting it. Sue painted most it by the time I got there with Madie, so I didn't help a lot, but over the years we've tried to make it grown with her and with Livie after she was born. But, she was right. It was very pastel and very "little girl", so I decided back in October we would make a change to it for her birthday.

These are a couple "BEFORE" pictures:



That's Madie's bed on the left and Livie's on the right.

That is a shot facing the door with their dollhouse bookshelf that my dad made with a bunch of their toys on it. Now, Livie wasn't thrilled that her room was changing. In fact, she was quite happy with the way it was and was in tears all week as she thought about the changes that were coming.

First thing we did, was take everything off the walls on Sunday. We took the bookshelf down to the basement and started gathering the toys to take downstairs. Only a few were going to end up staying.

On Tuesday night we took everything out but the beds and centered them in the room, so I could begin painting the next day on my day off. The girls really loved having a night with their beds like this. They thought it was great! Even Tater got in on the action. :-)

Starting Wednesday, after the kids got off to school, Madie was officially shut out of her room. She wasn't allowed to know anything that was going on in that room. In fact, if you asked her, she thought the room was going to be chocolate brown with blue bedding and a big picture of Jack Sparrow on her wall. ;-) The first thing up was the paint. It wasn't chocolate brown, but a nice sandy color called "Plateau". I was going for a beach theme here. After finishing the paint on Wed and getting all the furniture and new accessories in place, we were ready for the reveal.

Here are the "AFTER" pictures:

In place of the old bookshelf, we bought Madie a new desk. She has had the hardest time doing her homework without distraction and now she has a quiet space to work. Her bed with the pink comforter is gone and in its place is this new persimmon-colored quilt made by my mom-in-law. Isn't it beautiful?! I hope to put something on her wall behind her bed, but haven't figured out what yet. She doesn't seem to mind that it's empty. We'll look for something together. :-)

I think the new desk is one of her favorite things. Each of the girls get a basket to hold their stuff in on the new wall board. She can hang pictures there and have a quiet place to study now. :-)

This is Madie's bed. You can't see it, but on her nightstand is a picture of Jack Sparrow. A little homage to her desire for something of him in her room. She LOVES the surfboard too! Very tween, if you ask me. :-)

This is Livie's side. I'm happy to report that she's not crying anymore. She loves the changes as much as Madie! I think her favorite is her fluffy "Yeti" pillow. Again, another quilt to match Madie's made by her Nana. Since her Nana had a part in making Madie's room a special place 10 yrs ago, I'm so glad she got the chance to be a part of making her new room something special too. :-)

When we finally showed the room to Madie, she was so surprised and SOOOOO super-excited! She told me, "You should be proud. You did a good job!". Made me feel great! The last present we got her was a scrapbook to scrapbook all about her new room and her 11th birthday. She loved it too and can't wait to get started. I think we made her birthday a pretty special one and one she won't soon forget!

Madie's Birthday!

Yes. I know it's Saturday. And, yes, I know that Madie's birthday was Thursday. But, I'm just THAT behind in my blogging! Besides, we really didn't really fully celebrate Madie's bday all in one day. We've been celebrating a little each day for the past 3 days. Makes it more fun that way, right? ;-)



As with every birthday, we decorated the night before. I'll be honest. I didn't do as much in the decorating department this year for her, because her REAL surprise was her new room re-do, which I will post shortly after I finish this entry. So, we kept the decorating down to a minimum.

She didn't seem to mind. She knew the big reveal was coming and that was what she was most excited about. We did get her a little something to open on her birthday. A little Zhu-Zhu leopard. She was very excited. :-)

We also took her out to eat to the restaurant of her choice. She picked Jardines (yay!), one of our favorites. Noah was happy that he got to go along. Can you tell?

On Friday, Nana and Papa T came out with some surprises of their own. One of them had to do with the room reveal and the other was this adorable new outfit! She LOVED it!! She had to put it on right then and there. SOOO her style! Comfy, yet punk rocker-y (her words).

Then they took us out to Cracker Barrell for dinner. Wow! Two nights in a row eating out aka "no dishes for mom to clean!". I was pretty happy about that arrangement. ;-) I took this picture of Livie to show you the "unique" outfit she picked out to wear for the special occasion. Nana brought out a bag of clothes for the girls and Livie couldn't choose which one to wear, so she wore several.

Today, after Madie's performance, we had steak on the grill and finally had her birthday pie. She wanted a Reeces Cup pie for her birthday and boy was it delicious!

Madie blew out all 11 candles and dug right in!

Shortly after that Nana and Papa had to say goodbye. But, not before I got a group shot with all of them - Tater included. :-) It was a great 3 days of birthday celebrations and I think Madie ran in her tween years in style!

Madie's Ensemble Performance

Today, after many weeks of practice, Madie got to perform at the "Solo and Ensemble" contest in Grand Ridge. She performed with several other girls in her 5th grade class. It was a really neat song.



She got all dressed up and looked very much the grown up 11 yr old that she is. :-)

Her best friend Ashleigh sang in another group of boys and girls right before her. They all sang the same song and both groups did a fabulous job!!

Madie was the loudest in her group and did a really wonderful job! We were SOOOO proud of her! Way to go, Madie! The judge had only nice things to say about their singing. Her Nana and Papa T even got to go, so she had quite the cheering audience. :-)

JDRF Pen Pals

I have a friend who recently joined a group of moms on Facebook that have children with celebral palsy like she has. She was telling me how much it meant to have other people to talk to that are going through what she is going through. We don't know anyone else that has diabetes, so I decided to look for a group to connect with as well. I didn't find anything on Facebook that attracted my attention, but I did find the JDRF (Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation) webside. Why we've waited a whole year since his diagnosis to connect with them, I have no idea, but it's a great site! And, the best part? Noah has a chance to become penpals with kids all over the US and Canada that have diabetes too! He was so excited when I showed him this and he found two 9 yr old boys that have it and he sent off a couple emails to them. One boy lives in Canada and was just diagnosed in Jan. - almost a year to the day that Noah was. Another boy in OH has had it since he was 6 and now has a pump. Noah had questions for him. He can't wait to see if they write back! We even took the picture above and posted a profile for him too, so other kids can connect with him. I'm so excited to finally be opening up to this community and getting kids Noah's age in contact with him, so that he can share his journey with people that are living it themselves. Hoping we get some emails soon!

Picture Day

Yearbook pictures were taken last fall, but today the kids get their spring pictures taken. :-) Usually they have gotten them taken individually, but now that Livie is in kindergarten, I'm having them take it together as a group. Noah got his hair cut yesterday. The girls got their hair straightened. Hopefully they'll have big smiles and take a great picture!

Back to Hiking.. Yay!

After 5 long months of cold weather we finally had a beautiful day and we took advantage of it by getting out and doing some hiking. :-)



The kids were so excited to get back to Starved Rock and explore some more trails. This time we headed for the Ottawa Canyon. Tater, of course, was with us and I think he was even happier than the kids were!

All along the trail we would come up on these little caves.

That is a picture of me and the kids on a big rock outside of the cave in the picture above this one. Pete took it for us.

Here is yet another small cave along the way to the canyons. Livie is doing her "Yeti call"!

There was a LOT of mud surrounding the creeks. We were super-muddy by the time we left. Me more than the kids though. Pete always found a way to discover the best way to pass over and would help the kids. Me? I'd just walk through the creek and get muddy. After falling in, I gave up trying and full embraced the mud! :-)

This was the first canyon we went to. I can't remember its name. It was on a trail that went to the left of the Ottawa canyon. It had a really pretty waterfall. The water was soooo cold though! Definitely still winter, though the outside temps this week prove otherwise.

The kids liked this cavern, because they could touch the ceiling. I don't think Pete could stand up in this one.

I love exploring the canyons more than the topside trails. The beauty down there is all around you.

Because most, if not all, of the rock in that area is sandstone, we found lots of sandbanks. This one had rocks that had fallen off the side of the canyon. The kids liked picking up and loading up our backpacks with the rocks they found.

Tater was cracking us up with his incessant need to pick up sticks along the way. This one was so big, he could barely carry it, but he was determined to make this sticks his!

There were a few times we had to cross big trees like this to get where we were going. This one they climbed, though, just for fun.

Livie wanted her picture taken by this big, giant rock!

This is Ottawa Canyon. We were the only ones there for a while and because the entry into it is narrow, we decided to take Tater off his leash and let him run around. I WISH my video was working, because it was hilarious to see him run around. I would call him from the other side of this pond and he ran right through the middle of it until he couldn't touch, then he got a little freaked out and swam/ran back to Pete. Then he discovered the shallow part and would barrell through there to the other side to run past me and run back to Pete and the kids again. He did this for a good 10min before people started showing up. After all that walking and climbing and hiking, that 10 min was enough to wipe him out. We left to hike back to the van at this point and was a lot slower and calmer on that trek back. And, of course, as soon as we got the van, he laid right down and took a nap on the way home. He might make our hiking a little crazier, but he sure makes it a lot more fun! We had a great time and were so thankful for the beautiful weather, so we could get outside and enjoy it!

Sherm!

Two years after losing Hobbes, my dad decided to adopt again. This is my niece Avery and dad's new little pug puppy, Sherm. Can't get over how little he is!! The kids are sooooo excited to meet him! Sherm is named after one of dad's all-time favorite baseball players, Sherm Loller. I think it's a great name for a precious little puppy, who - from what I hear - loves to take naps on dad's shoulder. He took Sherm to the nursing home today to meet mom and she is already totally in love with him, as is half the staff and residents there now too. When we go back to IN for spring break, we get to meet our new nephew Drew and our new puppy brother Sherm. Should be a fun trip!

Mmmm... Star Wars

My dear sister-in-law Cara sent out some awesome Star Wars cookie cutters! We couldn't wait another minute to use them, so we made up a batch for Bible Study tomorrow night. Livie wanted in on the baking action!



These were a new kind of cookie cutter for me. You push down on them, then push in the top and make the impression. Very cool! Livie loved helping, but realized shortly into our baking session that something was missing...

A crown, of course!

We have an x-wing, a tie fighter, the Millinium Falcon, and the Death Star! I'm not gonna lie. Had to make extra Death Stars. They're just too perfect not to have extras of!

Here is the finished product in all its buttery, sugary awesomeness! I can't wait to make them again for the Trolinger-side of the family, who would fully appreciate the joy of eating Star Wars cookies. :-) Thanks, Cara!!!

Eagles!

Not only did our talk about the deliciousness of Hanks get my dad excited. So did the talk of our Eagle Watch Weekend back in Jan. He's an avid bird-watcher and in his nearly 65 years of life, he's never seen one. Well, I should say, he's never seen on until today! :-)



We headed out for a morning visit to see the eagles nesting, but had to stop first and get filled up on donuts. :-) Dad had tried to go see the eagles yesterday while Pete and I were at work and the kids were at school, since he was at the house with nothing to do, but the minute he stepped outside the restaurant he was eating breakfast at, it starting pouring down rain. So, he just came home. I think that was God's way of giving him the chance to see them with his grandkids. :-)

Dad said he prayed last night (and I prayed on the way there), that he would see them. And, thankfully God said YES! We got there and there was only one other guy there, so we had nearly the entire viewing balcony to ourselves. They were up in the trees and flying around. Even saw one with a fish in his mouth. So cool!!

We brought both sets of binos and they had the viewers there. The guy that was there also had a scope on one of the eagles in the trees and let us look through it.

It was very, very cold, so we kind of would take turns going outside and then inside to see them. Madie liked being out there with her Papa.

So did Noah. :-)

Livie was very cold and very cranky, so she didn't stay out there long, but she looked through that man's scope to see the eagles a couple of times. She liked that part.

Before we left, Dad got the kids a bird call book that has 100 different kinds of birds in it and a thing you push to hear their bird calls. The kids loved it! It was great to see dad excited about something he's never gotten to see or experience and getting to share that with us was a bonus! He loved sharing his excitement with the kids and have them get excited with him. It was a good morning!

Visiting

I have been a TERRIBLE blogger! I had to blog today, so I wouldn't go a whole two weeks without posting! Can't say a whole lot has happened since Noah's birthday party. He had the flu last weekend. I've been teaching. The girls are doing their thing. That's about it. But, yesterday my dad came in for a visit, so I thought it would be fun to post about that!



All our talk of Hank's lately made dad decide we had to go there and get some more prime rib. I swear, 2012 is the year of the beef. We've been there more in the past month than we have in the past 5 years! But, hey, can't complain. I mean, it IS prime rib after all. :-) Dad actually got a seafood platter, but he, Pete, and I all helped the kids out with their dinners and they, of course, got the rib.

Papa did what he always does and gave them cash straight away, which meant a quick little shopping trip to the store. Noah had the most money, because of his birthday, so he picked out his very first electric drill and got a new set of plyers. Madie got some legos and Livie got some LalaLoopsy coloring things. So far, it's been a fun visit! Hopefully the weather will cooperate and we'll get to see some eagles tomorrow!