Great send off!

We've been missing the Lee family since they've been in St. Louis with Maggie.  They've been a little homesick as well so they decided to head home for a little pre-Thanksgiving dinner with friends, but we were headed to Ohio.  So, instead we had a quick Zaxby's take-out dinner here before we got on the road to Ohio and let the kids play and we caught up with Amy and Pete and snapped a few iphone pics.

 

 Then, we decided to be crazy people and got on the road to drive through the night to Ohio!   The kids were really excited, especially when I busted out the glow sticks!

We made GREAT time and it wasn't too bad driving through the night, but Jarrod did do the majority of the driving.  The kids were troopers and enjoyed their 5am snacks from the cool bins I made from them.  We watched a couple movies and the slept for the rest of the trip! 

We pulled into Mimi and Beepa's house at 6:30am!  I'm sure they loved that wake up call. :)  They played with the kids and Jarrod and I went straight to bed.  More to come...

Wordless Wednesday

Room Makeover

Back in October, I wrote about wanting to redo Gavin's room.  Well, things all fell into place and we pulled off the surprise!  Jarrod took a Friday off and we did it.  :)

Gavin's room BEFORE

And AFTER!

{This is my favorite area!  The whole reason I started this room makeover...his brand new Lego work area!}

Close up of his new quilt...Darth Vader, of course!

He loves it so much!  AND, it was perfect timing since he got a lot of new Lego toys for Christmas while we were in Ohio and spends 95% of his time playing with them now (not always in his room...but we're working on it!) 

Wake Up Call

We're back from our Ohio trip and though it didn't go as planned, it was wonderful.  Unfortunately, Gavin got sick the same night we arrived and put a stop to many of the plans we had made, but we still enjoyed lots of quality time with the family.  The week ended with an earlier-than-planned departure because Riley was then sick.  I'm telling you...I'm over this.  Three unexplained fevers for Gavin, the flu for Jarrod, a bronchitis diagnosis for Gavin, a couple bad colds for me, croup for Riley, and now an ear infection for Riley.  All in two months.  D.O.N.E.

I'm working on getting my pictures from the trip uploaded and will be blogging about everything soon.  While we were there, we did our annual Christmas exchange (or exchanges as it ends up being since we're never all ready at the same time...)  One thing I got was a gift card for making another blog book.  I was so excited...I love my other two and really do want to keep them going.  With the Black Friday deals, there was also a special going this weekend, so I spent this morning working on a book before it ended and it was a major wake up call.  I knew I'd been lacking in the blogging department.  I just didn't realize how bad!  Thanks to Rosi's gift card, I finally am caught up through 2010.  But, I had to split 2010 into two books because there were over 300 posts that year.  This year, I only have about 90.  :(  It really makes me sad now.  I know I've said it before, but I MUST get better about it.  I love looking back at my books and in making the one this morning I realized how much I loved doing certain things with Gavin when he was Riley's age that I want to start up again (like Tot School).  I'm looking forward to getting into a new routine after the holidays that will include more photography, more blogging, and more Tot School! ;)

Now...I have to get some things done.  We've been home for four days and I still can't seem to get caught up.  My house is a disaster, I haven't finished unpacking everything, and my to-do list just keeps getting longer and longer.  Such is the life of a mom, right?

Our Littlest Rascal

It's amazing to us how she can drive us completely crazy and yet all we can do is laugh.  Of course, I'm talking about our one and only, Riley Savannah.  

There's no one else quite like her.  I've told Jarrod for a long time now that she is just going to have this magnetic, goofy personality.  I could tell from a really early age...she's just silly and makes us laugh.  But boy have we had some trying days lately.  She's pushes our buttons like no one else does, smiling the whole time. People tell me it's a second child thing.  I don't know if that's true, but I'm just glad it wasn't a first child thing or I'm not certain Jarrod and I would have had more than one kid!  

As difficult as she can be, she makes us smile every single day and I can't imagine when she wasn't here.  There have been a lot of blog posts and videos circulating around social media lately about parenting - all about kids just needing you, about not rushing, not yelling, taking in all the little things - and they've been on my mind a lot.  I feel so lucky to be with her 24 hours a day.  My few hours away at a TS party each week is my time to recharge my batteries and I'm cherishing every second I have with this goofball, no matter how challenging she may be.  One day, she'll be gone at school all day like her brother, and I'll miss her just like I miss him.  So for now, I'll read The Strong Willed Child and take notes for Jarrod...and we'll brace ourselves for when she's a teenager.