My favorite time of year... Spring!

I am so happy that Spring is finally here!! It has been a long COLD winter and I am ready for the flowers to bloom and for everything to turn green. I love the smell after a Spring rain, all the sunshine and best of all it's warm. The weather has been wonderful ,we get out and enjoy it as much as we can. Some of the things we have been doing are playing at the park, ride bikes, color the driveway with sidewalk chalk, and we even went to Lake Arlington to play in the sand. We got the cars out for the kids and gave the Moon Sand, that Uncle Matt gave us, a try. It is really neat stuff.

The Moon Sand is cool because you don't need any water to make it stay together. As you can see by the pictures below all you have to do is apply firm pressure to make it stick together. It says that you can play indoors but I found it to be pretty messy so we played outside. The girls loved it and Areya didn't need help making a sand castle.

On Thursday we had a play day with some of the kids from our ward. We went over to the Rubow's house and had a picnic out on their deck. Then the kids ran around in the huge field behind the house and when they were finished we went inside movie and play time. The kids had a blast playing together. After the movie was finished they all danced rocked out to the music. (Areya got a little wild, but what else is new?)
Thank you Sandi for letting us come play and Thank you Lori for lunch. We had a great time and will have to get together more often.

Sleep over at our house

Areya got to have her friend Kirsti over for a fun sleep over. They watched movies and ate popcorn, played doll house, cooking, dress up and had a great time talking and playing together. Areya loves having another girl her age around to play Princesses and make up with. Thanks for coming over Kirsti we had a fun time with you here. Areya can't wait for the next sleepover!

I love the look on Kirsti's face in this one. It just proves how crazy Areya really is, even her friends think so!

Silly girls getting ready for bed.

Building an Eternal Family

This year in Primary we are learning about building our Eternal Families. To go along with that theme we had an activity where the kids got builder hats and working together to built a home. They went from station to station preparing the things that were needed to make our house a home. Each group got a chance to make furniture, create things to hang on the walls, and to build our house. When we were finished we had a home with a garage, fireplace, curtains, art on the walls and brick path lined with flowers. They all did such a great job and had so much fun doing it.

Areya in her builder hat.

Aniela helped too.

I love my calling and am so thankful to be part of this ward and this Primary. I will truly miss them when we move.

Home Sweet Home

Home Sweet Home or at least it will be. That's right we finally found a house and our offer was accepted. The seller (a bank) had given us until April 10th to close and are now waiting for the loan to be processed. Next we will need to get a home inspection and if every thing looks good we can buy it. We are getting pretty excited, we have been looking for so long that we thought that day would never come, and can't wait to move in.

The only down side of it all is that we will be moving about 22 miles from here. We really like this area and have made some wonderful friends at school and church which we are sad to be leaving. I know I make it sound like we are moving to another state or something but it kind of feels that way. It will be hard to start all over again.

Our 5400 sq. ft. home sits on 2 acres, it has 6 bedrooms 4 baths. This house has a full in-law apartment in the basement which will be for Damian's sister and parents to live in while they are here. It also has a 4 1/2 car garage with a workshop area for Damian and his father. The house does need some work and we are still waiting to see what the home inspector finds. We also will need to paint, put in new flooring and maybe a new roof. Let's hope that is all it will need.

We can't wait to get it all fixed up and move in. We are looking forward to having friends and family over. I know for some of you that would mean a long trip, but we would love for you all to come for a visit.

Damian won't let me post a link to the listing because he is worried that the crazies will find us, so if you want more information let me know and I will e-mail it to you.

Another year of Preschool

Areya is one of those kids with the late Fall birthday who get to have 2 years of preschool. Which I guess is good thing because we can't seem to finish a full school year. Last year she only made it until the end of February because we sold our house a bit faster then planned and had to be out in a month. This year we will only make it until the middle of April because we finally found and are buying a house which is just over 45 minutes from here. Call me crazy but I am not willing to drive that far 3 days a week for a 2 and a 1/2 hour class. (Yep, that's right I have a preschool dropout.) I guess between moving and unpacking I will have to find some time to work on school stuff with her.

Here is her Preschool picture from this year.

This is the one from last year.

I know that this move will be hard on her because she has made some good friends both at school and church. I am just happy that we found a place before she started Kindergarten.

Valentines

For Valentines this year we gave the girls little bags with goodies from us and my Aunt Kimmy. I also made cookies and let the girls decorate them. Areya had a party at school on Friday and wanted to ware her heart dress that Grandma Great made for her. She looked so cute!

Damian got me a really pretty necklace and I got him a tungsten ring. Damian did have to work so we spent the day just sitting at home and hanging out.

Thank you Kim, Tj & Shaylee for the Valentines. It was really fun for the girls to get them in the mail. We love you all and hope you had a great Valentine's Day.

Aniela & House update

Aniela
Aniela did get her cast off at her doctor's appointment on the 2nd. She has had it off for 2 weeks now but is not fully walking on it yet. We are going back in for a check up and x-ray on Wednesday and hoping that every thing looks good. We are a little worried that she might need some PT if she does not start using it soon though.

House
As for the house we are still back at square 1. We don't have any prospects and are running out of houses to look at. We have not been out to look at any for almost 3 weeks but are scheduled to see some tomorrow. We found a house on-line that has two houses in one and are hoping that it will be what we are looking for. 

Brookfield Zoo

Tuesday was absolutely beautiful. Sunny and 65° so we got out of the house and went to the Zoo. During the winter it is free on Tuesdays and Thursdays so we took advantage of this. They had a lot of animals and most were up and active. The lion even jumped up on the window to say hi. The gorillas were running around playing and were really fun to watch. They kids had a great time and I enjoyed the fresh air and exercise. To bad the weather is not going to stay that nice. Oh well, I guess it is still winter. I guess I should just be happy that most of the snow has melted.

There are a few more Zoos in this area so we will have to take a day or two to explore them too.

Silly faces

Here are a few pictures of the girls pulling silly faces. They were to funny not to share.

3 casts and counting

As you know Aniela is in a cast because of a broken ankle and man had it been an adventure. We started out with the purple one which lasted almost a week. (She thought that Areya's bath looked like fun and decided to join her.)

Then was Pink and again lasted about a week. This time she was sick and had a BM which ran down her leg and into her cast. Really gross!

The third one she picked was light blue and lasted a little longer (10 days) but got wet while Damian was giving her a bath.

So on our next appointment (Monday) if her ankle is not healed enough (crossing our fingers it is better) she will have to get another one.

January has not been very kind to us. Not only did we both fall down the stairs but last week Aniela chocked on a corn chip and almost died. She started to gag and then turn purple and I had to do the Heimlich maneuver on her. It was so scary! I am so glad that I was home because Damian has not clue how to the Heimlich or CPR. After all was over and the kids were in bed I went though the basics with him. Let's hope he'll never have to use them.

We're praying that February goes smoother.

House update

We found out that the house that we like is a short sell. It will still be 2 months until the bank has foreclosed on it. We could buy the house right now but they won't take any thing less then the asking price and we were hoping to get it for less. (Due to the fact that the banks are not willing to loan much money right now.)

Here is a link to a site that explains what a short sell is for any of you that don't fully understand it: http://www.shortsellhouse.com/

Anyway we decided that we are going to keep looking and see what else there is out there. If we don't find anything we will probably try to get approved for the full asking price on this one. http://www.redfin.com/IL/Gilberts/555-Welch-St-60136/home/16910681

Wish us luck, we are going to need it.

Keeping the monkeys busy

With Aniela's leg being broken I have been trying to come up with sit still actives. We made cookies and pasta necklaces. We also made a rainbow art activity that uses Karo syrup and food coloring. The girls had had fun and it helped keep them busy. We have also been doing a lot of puzzles and coloring but those only last so long.



If any one has some sit still activity ideas will you let me know. 4 - 6 weeks is a long time for a toddler not to be able to run around and I need all the ideas I can get.

Areya's Sleepover

Areya got to go to her first friend sleep over. The day Aniela and I feel down the stairs Areya was at the Smith's house playing. On our way home from the hospital we stopped to get Areya but she was having so much fun that she was still not ready to leave. Amy and I talked it over and thought it would be easier for me to take care of Aniela if she stayed. Thank you again Amy for your help.

Areya and the Smith kids had so much fun together, all they could talk about was when they get to do it again. Here are a few pictures Amy sent me.

"The Fall"

On Friday last week I had a Primary Presidency meeting in the morning, so I packed up the girls and headed to Amy's house. Amy Smith has 5 kids, Lisa Smith has 3 1/2 kids, Sandi Rubow has 3 kids and I have 2 kid, so with just us 4 in the Presidency there are 13 1/2 kids. Anyway the kids all got to play together while we were having our meeting and loved it!

When it was time to leave Areya and Kirsti (Amy's 4 year old) were having so much fun that they were not ready to give in so I let Areya stay and play while I took Aniela home for a nap. After her nap I was holding her as we went down stairs, when I lost my footing and down we went. We ended up falling down 5 or 6 stairs. I landed on Aniela's leg and she was screaming, I was extremely light headed and almost passed out so I handed her off to Ida (lucky for us she was home) and tried to clear my head. After holding Aniela for a little and not being able to calm her down I tried letting her stand on her leg, she screamed even louder and would not put any pressure on it, so I told Ida that we needed to go to the hospital. My head was still spinning at this point so Ida agreed to drive us, by the time she got Aniela loaded in the car I was feeling better and was able to drive us.

I called Amy and let her know what was going on and then headed to the hospital. After a short wait they did a x-ray of her ankle and it was broken in two places. They gave her meds put a brace on it and sent us home. It was to swollen to put a cast on that day so we were scheduled to go in Monday for a follow up.

This is Aniela after we got home.

She has been doing pretty well. After the first few days of meds and lots of loves she was ready to play. On Monday we took her in for the follow up, the doctor said that she would need a cast but that it should heal fast without any other problems, which is great news. They let her pick the color of her cast and as the nurse was saying the colors Aniela said purple. I was so surprised, I had no clue she knew how to say that. Aniela did great, she did not cry or move the whole time, the doctor and nurse were amazed that she just sat there.

The cast goes all the way up to the middle of her thigh. She will have to have it on for 4-6 weeks. We go back in on Monday for another x-ray to see how it is healing.

As you can imagine bath time can be pretty tricky with a cast. We had to cover it with trash bags and tape it to her leg, then prop it up. She has been taking all her baths in the kitchen sink.

I also painted her toe nails purple to match.

As for me, I got a few bumps & bruises and messed up my back & neck again. I guess that means a few more trips to the Chiropractor.

I just wanted to say thank you so much to Amy and Lisa who have been wonderful to help us out. I am so grateful to both of you for every thing you have done for us, it really means a lot. THANK YOU!!!

Happy 2009!

This year for New Years we just stayed home and hung out as a family. Damian got home from work at 9:00 p.m. so we waited for him to get home before we got out the snacks. When I was growing up the tradition was to eat lot and lots of junk food and play games. Damian is not much of a game player but loves to eat (what boy doesn't?) so we had plenty of yummy snacks to enjoy.

The girls were on a sugar high and had no problem staying up. I think they would have stayed up all night if we would have let them. As for me, I was not feeling well and would have been more then happy to go to bed at 10.

Here is Damian, Ida and the girls watching the ball drop in New York (one hour ahead of us).

Here we are after the New Year. I was woken up by Damian kissing me and the girls screaming. (I had fallen to sleep on the sofa watching tv)