Lately...

We have had a kind of crazy week around here! This past weekend, Randy and I had a conference in Conroe, so Gigi and Peeps took both the girls up to Ft. Worth with them! We left on Friday, came back on Saturday, but didn't meet them in College Station to get the girls until Tuesday. We were very much looking forward to a few days of vacation, but we both got really sick! We spent the whole time in bed, and both went to the doctor on Monday. I had a sinus infection and Randy had the same plus an upper respiratory infection. Ugh. Anita told us that the runny nose Cooper had when they left had developed into more of a cough with fever, so I called and made her a doctor's appointment for when they were back Wednesday morning.

We met them in College Station Tuesday night, loved seeing our sweet girls again, and everyone slept great that night. I debated about taking Cooper in to the doctor Wednesday morning, but didn't want her cough to get any worse, so went ahead and took her. We were able to see Dr. B and he said that she did have bronchiolitis, caused by RSV. Eeek! He put her on an antibiotic just to be safe, since we were all sick, and also said she needed to do breathing treatments.

*Sidenote here - we have been so fortunate that neither one of the girls has ever been on an antibiotic before or ever had to do breathing treatments. No ear infections, nothing. So this was all new to me! We are thinking that Cooper may have some of the same allergies Randy does...we'll see as she grows.

The doctor's office loaned us the breathing machine, we got (more!) perscriptions and went home to try this all out. Turns out Coop doesn't like to sit still for the 7 minutes she is supposed to to do the treatments. Not even really for 2 minutes. Poor thing. On top of all this, she has four molars coming in and at least one other tooth that we can feel. All at once!! Really??! She is always so happy and easy-going, and even when she had just a cough and fever she was still content to play and be happy. But we really think her teeth are hurting her pretty bad now because she is so fussy and is not happy doing anything. Thankfully she is still sleeping really well (even took an extra morning nap today!) so that helps - a lot. We just feel so bad for her and wish we could make it stop!

Here's one of the only things that has made her happy the past few days - her "ba." She loves baths so much and when we tell her she is going to take one, she squeals and smiles and runs to the bathroom saying "ba! ba!" over and over again. Sweet girl!

So we have been laying pretty low this week. Randy and I are feeling much better finally, and Kendall has still (thankfully!) not been sick. Cooper and I ran a few errands yesterday while Kendall was in school, but stayed home most of the day today. I had a hair appointment this morning, and Randy texted me this picture of what happens when you turn your back for just a second! She is such a climber - we had to have a talk with Kendall about keeping the chairs pushed in. It's so funny to us to watch the things that Cooper does that Kendall never tried as a baby. We never had to worry about her climbing things! Cooper is our little monkey!

If you think about it, please pray for Cooper to feel better quickly! We hate to watch her hurting and not be able to do anything other than give her medicine. Hopefully she will be past all of this in a few days.

Getting outside!

The weather was so great yesterday that the girls and I were able to spend some time outside playing after their naps! They were both very excited to get outside to play - I think they are ready for spring!

Kendall was so sweet, pushing Cooper in the car and playing with her. She's such a sweet big sister!

Cooper's new thing she is doing this week is running to give hugs! She loves to hug and it is so cute - she runs to us with her arms out...best thing ever!

After we played on the driveway for awhile, we moved to the backyard to play in the house and on the swingset.

Happy girls! Thankful for nice weather!

Children's Museum!

These days are just the best days ever. I love having a preschooler and a toddler. I love our days with no schedule, no places we have to be, and just time to be together. They are so fun! I'm so thankful and don't take any days for granted - I know pretty soon they will be in school and the pace of our lives will pick up. And I know those will be fun days, too! But I just really love these days. And these girls!

Wednesday we met Holly, Ethan, and Ella at the Houston Children's Museum! We are thankful that we've still been able to see them a bunch, even though they moved to Galveston. It was a fun morning of playing at the museum, followed by a picnic at the park, which included the oldest three trying to catch squirrels.

I love the Houston Children's Museum. There is so much fun stuff to do and we always have so much fun there! I love this picture of Ella and Kendall...I wonder if they were talking to each other??

Cooking in the restaurant...Kendall didn't want an apron, she wanted a scarf!

Holly kept the three oldest (bless her) while I took Cooper up to the second floor where the toddler play area is. You can't take older kids in there, but I knew Cooper would love getting to play with things her size. It is my favorite part of the museum - so much stuff to climb on, play in, and explore!

See this ball in the picture above? She grabbed on to it pretty soon after we got in there and it was her ball. She sat it down at one point, another kid picked it up and walked a little ways away with it, and she just watched him, thought about throwing a fit, but then he sat it down and she just ran over to it and picked it up and brought it back to where I was. So then she climbed up to the top of this pile of mats and put the ball in the center. This picture is of her getting ready to slide, but this other kid was coming up the side and she thought he was going to get her ball. Love that face! Like, "Mom, he's going to get it. Doesn't he know this is my ball???"

This was a bridge-type thing that had steps up one side, the floor kind of rolled in the middle, and then a ramp down the other side. She loved it and stayed on it for so long.

I kept trying to get her to peek over the side at me so I could take her picture, but this was the best I got.

Back with the big kids, we played in the diner and then in the vet's office.

There is also an outside area where there is a big thing for water play, a playground, a butterfly garden, and an outdoor puppet theater. Kendall and Ella tried to work out a puppet show.

Such a fun day! Thankful for good friends to spend our days with!

January so far

We've been back home for a week now and we haven't really been doing a whole lot! Christmas decorations got put away, the house has been cleaned, and we have found a home for all the wonderful Christmas presents we were given! Kendall had school last week on Tuesday and Thursday, but she has had a cough with a low fever the past two days so she didn't go to school today. We've played with all our new Christmas toys, cleaned house, watched movies, and today I went through the girls' closets. It's been a nice, relaxing January so far!

Cooper and Kendall got these Hello Kitty bags in their stockings at Kiki and Pops'. Cooper's favorite thing to do these days is fill up one of the bags with important toys and carry it around on her shoulder. It's so cute and makes her look so big!

 I went away Friday to Saturday with the rest of the staff wives from our church! We got to go to Houston, stay in a nice hotel, shop, and eat and we had a blast. Randy and the girls had fun at home. Saturday was a nice day, so he got the new princess table and chairs out that Gigi and Peeps got the girls for their playhouse. This was the picture I got on my phone (they're inside the playhouse).

 Yesterday Cooper was playing in her room while Randy and I were in the kitchen. I peeked in and noticed her sitting on her bear rug reading. She went through each page and then got up, went to her shelf, got another book, came back to the rug and sat down again. So cute!

 Organizing our bathroom cabinet the other night while the girls were taking a bath, I found this duck robe for Cooper! It's so precious - when I took her in to Randy to show him and have him take her picture, we told her to say cheese but before she could do that, she had to drag her chair over so she could sit in it. She cracks us up!

 Holly, Aaron, Ethan, and Ella moved into their new house in Galveston while we were in New Mexico. We were sad to not be there when they were moving, but we got out to see them as soon as we could last week. Thursday night we drove there for dinner and then walked down to the sea wall so Ethan and Kendall could do a little fishing. I know the picture isn't great, but we are standing on the sea wall, looking at the ocean. We miss them being right around the corner, but so far we've been able to see them a lot!

Sorry these were all pictures from Randy's phone. I haven't used my camera once since we've been home! I finally feel all caught up on blogging, though. Now it's time to get ready for Kendall's 4th birthday! It's coming up so soon!! I hope you're having as great a 2012 so far as we are!

Cousin Pictures!

When we were in Ft. Worth for Thanksgiving, Val and Jeff brought Gracie and Evy over to my Dad and Lisa's house for a little cousins photo session. We wanted to give Mike and Anita  nice canvas picture of all four girls together, but we wanted to surprise them. My dad is great at taking pictures and has a nice camera, so he gladly said he would do it!

We got a lot of great pictures, but ended up using this first one. The canvas turned out great and Randy's parents loved it!

I wanted to put some of the pictures we didn't use on the blog, because there were so many cute ones!

This is the picture we used on our Christmas card.

I love this "W" tree in their yard! We took lots of pictures on it, but there was always someone not looking. :)

Val brought suckers to use as bribery motivation while we were taking pictures. It worked! The girls were all so patient and did a great job!

I love these four cousins!

Graduation Party!

So, Sunday night when we got in from New Mexico, I thought we were going to my Dad and Lisa's to eat dinner with them. We got there and I was totally surprised to find all of my family there, too!! Randy had planned a surprise graduation party for me and I had no idea at all. So much fun!

My mom and David, Dad and Lisa, Mike and Anita, Granny, Grandma and Grandpa, aunt Christie, aunt Donna, Alden and Scott, Maegan, and Val and Jeff and the girls were all there. It was so wonderful to have everyone together and I was very surprised. I finished my Masters in Educational Administration in December and Randy wanted to find a way to celebrate. It was perfect!

We had lots of great food, watched the football game, and I even had cards and presents to open! I am very thankful for all our family, but one thing I am so thankful for is that we can do things like this where we are all together and are able to have fun! I don't take that for granted for sure!!

Kendall, Gracie, Evy, and Cooper had fun getting to play together some more. Gracie loves to give Cooper sweet hugs!

Alden, Mom and me. I love these two!

I am so thankful for my supportive family and especially my supportive husband! The past 18 months have been crazy with schoolwork non-stop and I couldn't have finished without his encouragement. I love my family!