Just a few things I am thankful for...

I feel as though the feelings and spirit of Thanksgiving are so much more noticeable for me this year. I think maybe it has to do with having family in OUR home this year, when we are so far from the rest of them and that I just was with more family a couple of weeks ago. How grateful I am for this time to relfect and for the Lord blessing me with a little more insight to all I have been given-which in turn makes me realize how amazing and blessed my life is! So, first and foremost this year, I am grateful for my Savior, for our Savior, who has given me my life as I know today. Because of Him I have an amazing and wonderful husband, 2 beautiful babies, the gospel, 2 families that have taught me more than they know, the scriptures that allow me to know Him and the path I need follow to find happiness, the temple which brings more peace that I could ever hope for, and just plain and simple HAPPINESS. I am forever indebted to Him for His love for me and for all. Thank you to each of you for your examples and amazing friendship-another great blessing I couldn't live, happily, without-I am thankful for you! Have a wonderful and Happy Thanksgiving!

The greatest gifts/blessings I have ever been given!

Lowes Creations...

Since Maddie had improved by drastic measures Saturday we headed over to Lowes to be creative and to build! They have kid workshops every Saturday with a different project, this week it was a car garage and the kids LOVED it...by kids I mean Maddie and Daddy! :)  It was lots of fun and Maddie LOVED the lawn mowers too! :) Oh, I don't know if you see it so well, but check out Mikey's THICK BEARD! It is quite the beard, and it is driving him CRAZY! We can't wait until he gets to shave it off-we're almost down to a month left!

So More on the Madds...

Under the spots is a beautiful and fun loving little angel girl! Poor girl has been a MESS! After the last post on her health she got sick again with the high fever for days and we came to find out she had strep throat-thank goodness there was an actual diagnosis this time! They put her on Amoxicillin and we headed out to CT 2 days later. All was well until the following Wednesday-the day we were to head home and she woke up with hives-not as bad as in the picture but still pretty bad. We waited one more day and then went home. She had a good fever the entire 9.5 hour drive home but I kept her doped on the Benadryl. We got home at 5 and Mike took her to Urgent Care at 6ish-her hives were bruise-like in the middle of them and she was shaking terribly with fever. He couldn't understand half of what the Dr. said and they weren't real clear or good with Maddie. We took back in-per the Dr. due to still having a fever-to her Peds Dr. the next morning. She's allergic to Amoxicillin! Poor girl! The pictures don't do it justice, she was a MESS. So, some steriods and continual Benadryl have mae significant improvements as of today. Hope she stays better for a while-bless her heart!

A bit of sisterly love...and mom too!

While we missed Jamie, Nicki, Cara, Terra and Michelle we did have GREAT time together. Sometimes you don't realize how much you miss things until you have them again. That was what it was like for me...and so I cried when I saw them again-especially my mom-it's been 2 years! I had a wonderful time and I love you Mom and Kelli TONS!

Got Mom and Kelli but none of me and Mom...arg! Cute though, huh?

Kelli was a gem and treated us, a lot, to this fancy restaurant, MMM-MMM good! It was amazing and lots of fun!

Life with some family! (Tons of pics but TONS of cute kids too!)

We had A LOT of this craziness happening this past week or so in CT with my sister, Kelli, and Mom...

Fun times playing in the dirt and getting DIRTY...

some of this cuteness with a handsome nephew, a beautiful niece and 2 CUTE kids...

some more craziness at the playplace...

some staright-up cousin cuteness like this...

a cute chub-a-licious baby like miss Chlo-Bug...

some fun family home evening time with LOTS of kids...

well, more of that...

some cute gymnastics time with miss Sadie girl and much much more fun!

We had a great trip and thank Kelli and Jeff for their love and hospitality and all that they did for us while being there. We love them more than words can say!

Still Alive...

We are still alive here, we have been in Conneticut for the past week and got back today. We had a great time and I have PLENTY of pics to come. We have some more news on Maddie and some extra stuff that has happened with her as well... :) JOY! :) Anywho, too tired and have too much to do. Just thought I would let you all know, all is well!

We are back again...

From where you may ask? From the Doctor! It has become our second home between Maddie and Mommy these days. Again though, it was for Maddie. Poor girl! This is the 3rd time in 2 weeks that she has been down and out with a fever, a high fever too. She woke up Saturday with it and it lasted through last night, or this morning, around 4 am. She has had a break for a few hours from fever and it is now back (now that we are back from the Dr., of course). So, what is the verdict??? Well, let me say, 1 1/2 weeks ago they did a strep and flu test, both negative. They did a CBC prick to check some levels in her blood, saying that her bacterial levels were higher and her white blood cell count was on the higher end of normal but they couldn't do anything because they didn't know what she had...ARG-that's why we were there! Keep an eye on her and if she has a fever by Friday bring her in for blood work. Of course, and thankfully she didn't. Now, 1 1/2 weeks later it's back! Well, she does now have strep and something is "off" in her urine sample. She had blood, protein and white blood cells in it but no bacteria so it is off to be cultured and then us taking another sample in, in about another week. I am thankful that we aren't just going crazy and that something showed up because she has been miserable and we have too having to watch her go through it all. She is a tough cookie but this is NO fun! I kind of wish they would have gone ahead and done some blood work because I just feel like they need too-why? I don't know, maybe it would just calm my uneased nerves. We are thankful our children our healthy and we don't have bigger issues to worry about-we just hope our our little "sweet pea" or Maddie Moo gets to feeling better quickly! We love you sweetie!

Pumpkins, a Fairy and a Monkey Too!

 Miss Maddie was our cute fairy this year and Mom had a BLAST doing her hair, poor girl has to suffer because of me! :) She also thought that because she had wings that she could fly! hahaha! Patrick's costume couldn't have fit him better (personality wise) our little Monkey (he climbs on everything)! They had a lot of fun, Bubby was pretty hot in his costume because it was suddenly scorching hot on Halloween (80*) and then the night before, at the "Trunk or Treat", it was hot inside; he still had tons of fun though. It was so much fun this year and the kids had a GREAT time!

A family fun night of pumpkin carving! Mike was the creative one with the Cinderella face!

The after-bath...too cute huh?!

A Halloween lunch of Mummy Dogs, Bug Juice and Bloody Fingers (aka: french fries w/ ketchup)

Fall Fun Outside

The kids looked so cute the other day that I couldn't resist getting a couple pics. Do you like how they get as close to the street as possible without ACTUALLY going in it?? I don't! :) And their twinner pics-the huge cheesy grin couldn't make them look more alike!

I REALLY LOVE these kiddos!

I have these moments of time where I can't get enough of my kids! Don't get me wrong, I love them ALL the time but there are days I am so ready for them to nap and for them to go to bed at night. However, lately, I feel like I need them awake at night to play or just to watch play or snuggle. They are in such fun stages, with some roughness around the edges, but overall WAY fun because they are learning so much right now and they play well together! Just needed to tell them how much I love them and love being their mother!

A little time outside

We had some fun the other day, in between sick days...it's been quite the crazy sickness in this house, and I got a couple cute pics of the kids. Notice Maddie's boots-she still LOVES them, toned down a little but she is not over them yet. She is also into making this "nest" outside-she works on it everytime we are out saying it is for the eagle-she is a funny girl. (It is actually quite the impressive nest though) Bubby is a bit of a fussy/clingy boy right now, he is working on getting some canines in I think but still such a fun and cute kid!

FHE

We had fun this past Monday for our Family Home Evening. Mike shared a lesson out of the "Friend" magazine and Maddie, for the first time, listened and remembered the lesson! AMAZING! We then went and decorated a few Halloween cookies, a fun time was had by all!

I Can't Believe it's Only Been 4 years!

Our anniversary always seems to pop us on both of us, our lives seem so busy and hectic in the month of October! Anyway, HAPPY ANNIVERSARY SWEETIE!! I love you so much and this truly has been the best 4 years of my life thus far! I look forward to the rest of eternity with you by my side! It's hard to believe in just 4 years we have 2 babies, you are working on your masters and we live in Virginia but it has been the best ride ever! Thank you for the amazing example you are to me and to our children...I couldn't have found a  better man to be a husband and father and truly am more than lucky and blessed than I deserve! I love you, forever and ever and ever, my handsome scruffy!

What else is there to do???

Our sweet little Madds has been a sick little miss since yesterday and it has not been too fun. Poor girl hit a temp of 104.1 last night! It was all kind of random and crazy. I have actually thought Bubbers was getting sick because he has been super fussy and clingy, but I was wrong! So, when you are 2.5 and sick what else is there to do but...watch movies??!!!! She has been in Heaven for that reason alone! She did get tired of laying down and played with puzzles and potato heads for a while but really it was movies and tv shows ALL DAY LONG! Bubs was bored to death, poor kid! Maddie got to nap in Mommy and Daddy's bed and thought that was great. She didn't think throwing up in her own bed was too great though! :( She is doing a little better today, the fever has recently come back-not near as high-but other than that she seems alright! Let's keep our fingers crossed!