The girl loves to dance

Taylor and I went to her 3rd music class today and she really made herself at home. Dancing around in a circle in the middle of the class and twirling around to the music as we all danced around the room. At the end of class, the teacher made the comment that I had a dancer. I was ecstatic, of course, with my own love of dance. I would be so thrilled if she had a love for it, too, and wanted to pursue dance classes, but we will just take things one day at a time and see where her interests lie as she grows. I love to watch her dance, though, and she seemed to have no inhibitions while dancing around the room...reminds of someone else I know well...

Snow Ball Fight...at school!

Joshua had his 100th day of school party today at Covenant...although he personally has not been to school 100 days...more like 88...it's been a rough couple of weeks. Going to Indiana for my grandfather's funeral and then missing 4 days of school for having a fever already put him out 6 days the second semester of school! Nevertheless, he is doing great in school and we are working on catching up from the days lost from travel and illness. The kids had a great time at their party today, counting all kinds of food items like fruit loops, marshmallows, pretzels, m&ms, etc...having to count to 100. They made fruit loop necklaces and played all kinds of games. Taylor and I made it for the last 45 minutes of the party which included a snowball fight in the classroom...yes it can happen! They had one hundred snowballs made of crumpled up paper and they drew an imaginary line in the room...girls against boys. The room got quite crazy and loud and Ms Garrett joined in on the fun throwing "snowballs" at the kids. It was really funny to watch and I got it on video so that Doug could see the festivities. Taylor thought it was funny, but did not participate in the event. Fun was had by all and Joshua ate so much of the treats provided that he came home and ended up with a stomach ache! Maybe next time he will pace himself a bit more with the sugar! Ms Garrett told me that he had had a lot of sugar that day because he was talking all day long...too funny. It really doesn't take sugar for Joshua to talk all day long, but I guess that he was much more talkative than his normal school day self. Wow, Joshua, you made it through another 100 days of school!

Two sicklings!

It's been a rough start to 2010! Joshua missed 4 days of school last week due to a cold/fever/virus bug that he had. Taylor had a cold two weeks ago and I thought that she had passed it on to her brother, but Joshua started having a fever on Tuesday which went through Saturday. We took him to the doctor on Wednesday, and Dr Wolf told us that he just had a virus that would take it's course. On Wednesday, his lungs sounded OK other than some wheezing and everything else looked alright. She checked out Taylor because she was coughing in the office, and found that she had an ear infection. I take one child to the doctor, and the other one goes home with a prescription! She didn't have a fever and I didn't notice her pulling at her ear, but the doctor said that she noticed Taylor pulling her ear in the office. When Joshua still had a fever on Saturday of 100 degrees and was complaining that his right ear hurt, we took him back to the doctor. The nurse practitioner saw him and said that he had a really bad ear infection and that one of his lungs sounded full, so he came home with a prescription for antibiotics and steroids for his lungs. Oh, the joy of steroids! He gets so irritable on them and last night he didn't sleep well because of them. I'm hoping that he will sleep better tonight just from sheer exhaustion. His lungs seem to be getting better now. I haven't heard the wheezing today that I heard often earlier in the week. Taylor seems to be feeling better, too. She wasn't eating much last week and her appetite seems to have picked up some now. Joshua has now missed six days of school and we are only in the first month of the semester. He missed two days for his great grandfather's funeral. I hope that we can keep him well for the remaining of the school year. I would hate for him to miss more days, along with the catching up of homework that comes along with it. Joshua weighed 56.2 pounds on Wednesday and Taylor weighed around 31 pounds...she didn't stay on the scale long enough to get an exact reading! Praying for good health in the months to come!

Mommy's 37th birthday

Joshua and Taylor and Doug all made my birthday special in their own ways today in which made me smile to see them enjoying the day along with me. Doug started the morning out with flowers for me which were very pretty. Doug and Joshua baked a cake for me that was chocolate on chocolate (my favorite). Joshua decorated my cake with a big 37 on the bottom of the cake with hearts drawn on it. Very sweet. He was SO excited about decorating and making a cake for me! He also cut out a flower for me out of construction paper and cutting a stem out of cardboard and giving me the flower. So sweet! I loved it, Joshua! Doug brought dinner in from Los Bravos (yum!) and we enjoyed Mexican and yummy chocolate cake. Everyone sang "Happy Birthday" to me, including Taylor!! She was very excited to dig into the cake, as we all were and we all devoured the chocolate bliss:) Thank you, everyone, for a very special birthday...I really enjoyed it and love it that you both were so sweet to me on my birthday.

Art for All

Taylor and I got to visit the Mable House for the first time in which we took a class there. Mom's Club was hosting an "Art for All" class which cost $5 for an art class with the kids and this also included a free Music class for the kids as well. This class consisted of a project based on the book "The Rainbow Fish" in which the kids got a blank sheet of paper that they painted blue and then were given a rainbow fish to glue onto the paper. We then helped the kids glue tissue paper scales on the fish and one glittery scale, followed by tissue paper seaweed. The pictures turned out so cute and Taylor had a ball getting to paint and glue on the pieces. We then proceeded to the music class called Musikgarten and she loved the class. It was mostly singing with the use of a few wooden instruments and dancing (her favorite part it seemed). After I saw how much she enjoyed the class, I signed her up for the class because of her early love of music. We will see where this may take her in her musical journey!

Great Grandpa Weatherholt

Your great grandfather Weatherholt passed away on January 6th of this year from heart failure. Both of you met Great Grandpa, but it has been about a year and a half since we last saw him in the nursing home in Hartford City, IN, and so neither of you remember him...which makes me a little sad because he was such a spunky, sweet man. He had had a stroke about 15 years ago which left his left side paralyzed, but he was able to stay in his home with your step great grandmother, Lorada, for many years because she was able to take care of him. About a year and a half ago, he had another major stroke which mostly paralyzed his right side. She was no longer able to take care of him on her own, and so he was admitted to a nursing home about 20 minutes from their home. Joshua, you met your Great Grandpa in Florida in their mobile home when you were a baby and also in their home in Montpelier, Indiana. Taylor met him in Montpelier and then both of you saw him in the nursing home a year and a half ago and entertained the other residents as you two strolled down the halls. You made their day! Great Grandpa was quite the jokester in his day and even after his first stroke, he still had his sense of humor and would crack jokes here and there. My favorite memories of him were him smoking his pipe at his farmhouse in Montpelier and the smell was minty and sweet. I really loved the smell of his pipe. He let us ride mopeds down the lane in between the fields and climb into the tractors and combine. We also liked to ride his bicycles down the country roads which was always a treat. Your step great grandmother, Lorada, was the only grandmother I remember because my grandmother, Delight, passed away when I was only one and a half. She and Grandpa always seemed very much in love, and your Grandpa Price told me that he loved both of them very much. We went to his funeral on January 11th in Montpelier and both of you spent most of the time running around and playing with Daniel, Lindsay and Ashley. Taylor had so much fun climbing the stairs in the funeral home and Joshua was running around with his partner in crime, Daniel. This was the first funeral that any of you had been to and I could tell that you, Joshua, were trying to figure it all out. You told me that Great Grandpa's body was fake, and I told you that that was really him. You just don't remember meeting him before. You sat through part of the funeral with me, which was comforting, and then when you started getting antsy, I took you downstairs with Daddy and Taylor for the remainder. Daddy got to meet all of my first cousins and it was good to see family members that I hadn't seen in years. We spent two nights with Aunt Angela, Aunt Christina and Grandma and Grandpa in the same hotel and all of you kids enjoyed the pools and hot tub. I hope that this experience was one that turned out to be a learning experience a life lesson that won't hold any scary or traumatic thoughts in your head. I remember my first funeral, and it was difficult to experience. You seemed to handle it really well and you went up to Great Grandpa's casket several times with Daniel to wrap your mind around the idea. I am proud of your bravery, Joshua, and know that your Great Grandpa and Grandma love you both very much!

Snow Day!

It doesn't happen often, but Joshua got a taste of snow this Winter...it was only one half of an inch, but school was cancelled because the roads were covered in black ice, and were not safe to drive on (as I found out that night trying to go to Kohl's). Doug stayed home from work as he was not able to get out of our driveway, so we all enjoyed getting out in the snow for a bit. Joshua and Taylor got bundled up in their snow pants (courtesy of Grandma Price, who makes sure that the kids have snow pants every year...just in case it snows). We headed outside and even Bailey got out there for a few minutes, trying to avoid the snow. The kids had to scrap snow from all over the deck to make it amount to a pile of snow, and it wasn't wet enough to make a snowman (which really disappointed Joshua), but they made the best of it and played in it as much as possible. Taylor was taking snow and throwing it up in the air saying "It's snowing, it's snowing"....too funny. Later in the day, our neighbor, Mason, came over and had a snowball fight with Doug and Joshua. They were having to scoop snow from all over the yard to gather enough to throw at each other, but they had a blast getting out some energy and aggression on each other. I wish that I would have gotten some of it on video b/c it was quite the scene! I'm glad that the kids got to play in the snow (even if it was only one half of an inch:).

Taylor takes her first gymnastics class!

We signed Taylor up for gymnastics through the Cobb County Parks and Recreations Services. This is where her little playgroup friends took gymnastics last year and so we signed her up this time and she started class with playgroup friends Zoe, Nicole, and Ryan. When we got to the Cobb Civic Center, we also found out that she is in class with Maddux Eliason, who is in MOPS with us. Joshua didn't have school today, so he and Zoe's older brothers sat up in the bleachers and watched the class. Taylor really enjoyed herself, and many times wanted to go do her own thing in the gymnasium...as I am chasing her around trying to bring her back to the class. Little Squirt!! We stretched, then she got to walk on a little balance beam, jump in in foam blocks that were on top of a trampoline below, do a gymnastics obstacle course, and then twirl ribbons on a stick around (which she really loved). I think that her favorite activities were the obstacle course and the ribbons. The first lesson was definitely a success and I think that she is really going to enjoy going!! Joshua also wants to take gymnastics now, so I'll have to get him signed up when a class becomes available for his age.