We have had one week back at home and we are getting settled again. It seems like it always takes a while to get things back to normal when you have been gone for a while. Eric jumped right back in at work, mostly working 10 hour days this past week and the girls and I have been busy planning birthday parties and getting the housework done. The girls were able to enjoy playing with a lot of extra kids this week because most days we babysat for our friends who had things going on. It was a busy week with a lot of extra kids, but it was fun.

On Friday evening we spent a quiet night at home. The girls got to watch a movie with popcorn and Eric and I rented some movies for when the girls were in bed. On Saturday we got up and did some shopping and then headed over to a birthday party for Hadley’s friend Emma. Hadley marches to the beat of her own drum, that is for sure. During the party the kids were all doing crafts and Hadley worked on one, and then moved on to the next activity of playing with balloons. She had been super well behaved the whole morning, but at the party her defiant side showed up and she got attitude with me and had some rotten behaviors. It is so frustrating sometimes to deal with that when it is supposed to be a time of fun. I really wanted her to enjoy the party, since she just loves Emma so much, and I was really disappointed that she was behaving so poorly. She was just being disrespectful towards me, so as weird as it sounds I am grateful that she wasn’t treating any other adults badly and was having fun with the other kids. As soon as the party was over, she got home to tell Eric all about it and within 10 minutes had crashed on the couch. So, it appears some of it was being tired.

Later that afternoon the Schwarz family came over and we got some supper together. Then we had a few friends come over with their families to play games for my birthday. We had a game night last year and it was a blast, so we decided to do it again. Jenna made me an amazing cake, and we all had a ton of fun. We are very blessed with wonderful friends.

This morning we got up and went to church. It was really good to get back to our Sunday routine because we have been out of it for so long. Zoey Belle was very excited for bible class and continued to say “bible class” over and over again. This weekend Zoey also said her first three word sentence besides “I love you.” It was “maybe next time.” We thought that was pretty funny and Eric and I both are left wondering what that says about our home life.

This week is probably going to shape up the same way that last week did. The girls will have a lot of friends to play with since we are doing a lot of babysitting and Eric will be hard at work and launching some new websites for clients. This is our last official week of babysitting for Cami because her mom is having another baby and she will be staying at home now. I think we are really going to miss Cami a lot. She is so much fun and the girls really love playing with her. But I have a feeling we may steal her away from her mom every now and then so the kids can still play and maybe her mom can have a break with a new little one.

This next weekend will also be full of parties and celebrating because Hadley is turning 4. I am currently working on how to make her a batgirl cake. Her only other request has been “lots of balloons in different colors.” We are just letting her have some friends over to play and enjoy some cake and balloons since that is all she really wants anyway. It should be fun.

So it was time for our big trip to Mexico.

Lindsey and I got the kids all ready to go to Grandma and Papa’s house for the week and we got into the car.

We made it to the interstate interchange in York before having to turn around because of the white-out conditions. An hour and a half later, we made attempt number two. It seemed better outside, until we actually got on the interstate. Just a mile or so down the road we were slammed with a complete white-out. I couldn’t the the entire hood of the car. I knew at this point it was going to be a long drive.

Eventually we made it to Lincoln and we got onto highway 77 to Fremont. It was much better to drive on since the wind was coming at us instead of broadsiding us. There were few drifts and the roads weren’t too bad. When we arrived on the south side of Wahoo, the sheriff could be seen ahead turning vehicles around. This appeared to be a bad sign.

I rolled down my window and asked about getting to Fremont. The only two roads both had major accidents on them and were impassable. Awesome. As I turned around and headed back for Lincoln, Hadley pointed out that we were headed the wrong way. We tried to keep her mind at ease and let her know that she was still going to get to stay at Papa’s house. The girls had been great so far and Linds and I began to wonder how long they could last.

Once back in Lincoln, we were welcomed with the interstate now being closed. Our option of driving to Omaha and then backtracking to Fremont crumbled, so we went to Target for an hour or so hoping the roads would open. They did not so we headed over to Craig and Erin’s house. They graciously accepted us and it was nice to sit for awhile and let the girls all play. After eating supper with them we got word that the eastbound interstate was open and we left for Omaha. The roads weren’t bad at all and we made great time.

Grandma and Papa met us there and picked up the girls. Hadley was excited to see them, but began to cry as I gave her hugs and kisses goodbye. I wasn’t having trouble leaving them until this point. It was tough, but I knew they would have a great time. Zoey Belle couldn’t have cared less that we were leaving or probably didn’t understand what was happening. Finally we left for a hotel and the kids left for the farm.

Lindsey and I safely arrived in Mexico the next day and spent a wonderful week relaxing in the sun. The kids got to spend lots of great time with the grandparents and had a blast. Hadley got a little homesick but overall seemed to enjoy it. She definitely didn’t want to leave when it was time to head back to York.

Speaking of heading back, we got to Lincoln just fine, but then it was ice world and another wonderful trip of driving 30 mph on the interstate. At least we could see where we were going this time.

Business has caught up with me, but i figured I should try and get some pictures up before we leave for our trip.

Check them all out HERE

Zoey Belle was given a clean bill of health this morning. Poor thing got an RSV test done and I hated having to do that to her, but there was no way I was leaving her without knowing FOR SURE that she is A-Ok. The doctor said everything looks great, and it is just a cough. She gave us the same old prescription for cough syrup, which I filled, just in case this cough starts to interrupt her sleep. I am not a big fan of giving my kids medicine, especially when it is something that can clear up on their own, or with a little vitamin C. Seeing as how we will be gone though, I wanted to have all our bases covered.

I feel like I have been on a bit of an emotional roller coaster over this trip. First, I couldn’t wait to get the heck out of Dodge. Then, I was consumed with anxiety, thinking of all the things that could go wrong with our kiddos and how I shouldn’t leave them (obviously I wasn’t being very rational). Now that I know my kids are healthy and will probably be fine (let’s face it…they will be more than fine. They won’t even know we were gone because they’ll be having too much fun) I feel as if time is standing still. This day just won’t end. The worst is that I kept thinking today was Wednesday! I am sure I will cycle back through to not wanting to go because I will miss the kids, but I think that it is good for them to continue to build relationships with family members outside of Eric or me.

Hopefully the rest of the time will go by fast and the kids will stay healthy!

The past week Hadley has displayed some behaviors that are reminiscent of her two year old days. I won’t go into detail, mainly because I don’t want to relive it, but it has just not been pretty. Eric and I have put her on lock down mode and we are starting some rewards based “scheduling” with her so that we can get some things back on track. So far, so good. Today we had an appointment and she did great. She was immediately rewarded with stickers, praise and one on one time with mommy. We really wanted to lay it on thick these first couple days just so she will see how much fun she can have when she is good. We must have had a lot of fun because today, she conked out around 4:15pm. Getting her to bed tonight is probably going to be rough, but I don’t care. She needed the sleep, and I have needed the break.

And, like always, anytime the girls are going to see Grandma and Papa, one of them gets some sort of sickness. Zoey Belle is coughing away. Three little babies from church have had RSV and have been hospitalized for it, so she is going in tomorrow morning to get it all checked out. I think she is probably fine, but just in case, we are going to get it checked. The starts aligned for us because usually we cannot get in to see our doctor for weeks and once you are there you wait for an average of an hour because she is ALWAYS running behind. Tomorrow though, she had numerous appointments available (that NEVER happens!!!) and one happened to be the first appointment of the day!!!!! Can you tell I am excited about this? It is the price we pay to have good health care in small town USA where there is an overabundance of incompetent doctors. (You know the ones that throw prescriptions at you for all the symptoms instead of getting down to the problem? Yah, I don’t love them.)

On a side note, I bought the girls the most adorable Easter dresses at Target. It was too much to bear and I could not walk away from them. Hadley wanted to wear hers all day and I kept telling her no because I want to get some cute pictures first before they are destroyed.

Eric and I are on the verge of going crazy because we are so excited about our upcoming vacation and time is just creeping by. I am in the middle of packing up everything and hoping to get the house cleaned before we leave so our house sitter isn’t totally grossed out by us. I will try to update the blog again before we leave so no one is terribly worried about our little Zoey Belle. She is a trooper.

There are some pics up from the weekend in Minnesota with Lindsey’s brother Chris who was back from Iraq.

Also, if you missed the video we added yesterday, make sure you go back and check it out!

It was a crazy weekend.

I was in Omaha for a conference, Linds brought the girls up on Friday morning and then we headed for Minnesota to see Lindsey’s brother who is back from Iraq on leave.

The ride went fairly well. The girls enjoyed watching movies and only said that they were hungry/thirsty a few dozen times.

Once at Lindsey’s mom’s, we basically just hung out with Chris and his wife and got to spend some good time with him. Hadley and Zoey Belle loved playing with their dog and I think they would’ve kept her if I would’ve let them.

After what seemed like a short weekend, we made the long trip back to York. Hadley vowed to stay awake the entire way home. She almost made it and slept for the last hour. Zoey Belle didn’t fare so well. She would just scream and really want to touch someone. As long as she was holding someone’s hand, she was quiet. Lindsey held it long enough for her to pass out and get some much needed rest.

Monday morning came quickly and the girls got up just before 7, as usual. I was already at work, so Lindsey got up and started her day with a couple of sleep deprived kids. They were whiny and needy until the afternoon when they both took decent naps and got refreshed. The rest of the day went much better.

Lindsey and I were representing our youth by letting the girls watch Duck Tales, a classic cartoon from 23 years ago. That makes me feel really old to think that I watched something on TV that long ago. Zoey Belle loves dancing to the opening credits and both girls have been singing the theme song all night.

I plan on posting photos from the weekend soon, but here’s a video of the kids to enjoy: