Visitors

Ryan's parents came to visit for a couple days and we could not have had a better time.

They flew in on Thursday evening. Tracker wasted no time loving on them and became instantly obsessed with his Papa. Grandma was a very close second.

We had a great time relaxing, eating great food, going out to dinner, celebrating valentines and Randy's bday and even getting a date night out of it. 

Tracker loved watching hunting with Papa and Dad. Got to order both Grandparents around. Loved that Grandma would play in the bath with him and read to him. Wondered around anytime he didn't know where Papa was calling his name. The morning they were leaving he even sat outside the bathroom door crying as Papa showered. He really loved these 2 the entire visit. Our visit once again ended far to quickly and they were headed back home Monday morning.

Randy is such a great sport when I make him sit in the chair in front of his banner to take a picture. He loves pictures even less than Ryan and I doubt I would have been able to get Ryan to do this.

Randy got some new boots at Ranch and Home and we went to a late lunch at Red Lobster.

I made him a Rolo cake which I was told was his favorite candy but to my surprise he said he only "Liked" those candies. agh! Just when I thought he would have been blown away.

Valentines Day

I love holidays. Valentines might be one of my most favorite. Not because its the only day in the year that is full of love... but because it gives me an excuse to decorate, make fun activities and meals and do it all in the name of LOVE for my little family. I was especially sad I didn't get to do my annual Kenzie Day Vday party like I have every year with my nieces and nephews but I did a mini version with the kids I babysit... More on that later.

On Vday morning we were lucky enough to have Ryan's parents here visiting.

I set up the table with a couple treats for the adults and a few more MICKEY themed treats for Tman.

He was just a little excited to see his goodies. He looked at every single item very carefully but loved his new MICKEY book more than anything.

Grandma and Papa gave Tracker some fun treats and Grandma made him 2 new blankets which he LOVES!!!

Papa and Grandma took Tracker out that day for some special one on one time and got him the cutest balloon cow. He has been obsessed with it since the moment he laid eyes on it. Its the funniest thing to watch him walk around with it. 

I made a Valentine themed dinner for my sweet family.

I only took pictures of Trackers food and forgot about the adults.

We ate pork chops, baked potato, heart shaped carrots, x's & o's cucumber, heart shaped garlic bread and strawberry mouse for dessert.

It was really really yummy.

Tracker ate Hot Dogs instead of pork chops.

After dinner Ryan and Tracker had their daily wrestling match and we ended the night watching a movie and enjoying some of our most favorite people.

 My sweet family back home made sure Kenzies spot was decorated and had lots of love as well.

It really is so sad we dont get to be there ourselves.

A couple days later Ryan and I went out to dinner at Bonefish and to see a movie while his parents watched Tracker. It was so nice to get out and be out for a good amount of time with my Valentine. I love my boys so much and I am so so thankful each and everyday I get to call them mine but I love it just a little extra on this LOVE holiday. 

Tubes

2/10/14

Tracker has had non stop ear infections since October. Its been so horrible for him and it completely breaks my heart not being able to help him. Among his constant ear infections he has had a number of other illnesses including strep, respiratory infection twice, croup twice and pink eye. 

Its been one thing after another and I think there might have been a day or two in the last 3+ months where he wasn't really sick. We have pretty much gotten used to NO sleep at night and we really are trying everything we can think of to help this little boy at all times.

We rarely leave the house which has made us all really really stir crazy. We are begging mother nature to please bring some warmer weather ASAP.

In an attempt to get this sweet boy better we took him to an ENT and they ordered him to get tubes.

He had a ton of fluid built up in his ears and both were still severely infected.

Tracker was schedule for surgery early Monday morning. Ryan took half the day off so he could be there with us... mainly me since I was a complete mess thinking about my baby being put under. The entire procedure took 15 minutes. We were away from him for maybe 30 minutes. It was seriously NO big deal but I was still freaking out and having horrible nightmares the days leading up to Monday fearing Tracker wouldn't wake up from the anesthesia. It was really a bit ridiculous for me to be so worried but I am so glad its done. 

He was so funny when they gave him the happy drugs before. He was so happy and a wee bit to relaxed. He couldn't sit up and was constant entertainment for the entire staff. People kept popping their head in to see this silly boy who was extremely friendly waving, smiling and laughing at everyone. Who was "driving" his face mask and going nuts over his mickey stickers and pretending to drink out of his cup. When they took him away he was still happy as can be but when we came back in the room after it was done he was a completely different boy. It was so sad. He was hysterical and completely out of control. I was trying to hold him and with all my strength could not hold him. He was flailing his body in every direction and screaming uncontrollably. Ryan, 2 nurses and myself held him down so we could dress him. They kept us a little longer than needed because he was so upset and they wanted to help him calm down a little but when we finally left he fell asleep in the car and continued to sleep for the next 4 hours. After he woke he was acting a little cranky but pretty much back to his normal self. 

Its been a couple weeks and other than having a few minor issues with the tubes including excess drainage and continued infected ears... We finally got some ear drops that seem to be helping and Tracker seems to be doing a lot better. We go back for another follow up tomorrow and I am hoping we get a clean bill of health and don't have to worry about ear infections anymore.

Letter of the week A-D

I have started doing a letter of the week with Tracker and the kids I babysit. I am really good at planning and preparing things but have failed at taking pictures. Now I don't mean I have the best ideas and I always have the best things for them to do. Its usually very simple, doesn't take much time to prepare and many things I got off good ol' Pinterest. 

The oldest of the group is 3 so its kind of hard to figure out things to keep their attention, get them excited and to help them actually learn. I decided to do it because I need some kind of structure so this is more for me than them.

So far its going so good. They love it. and they are really learning which I LOVE.

I have the letters hanging on the wall-- or I did before Tracker ripped them all up so I need to make some more. We started at the beginning of the year and have done 1 letter each week. however we spent 2 weeks on the letter C and have not moved past D right now. Mainly because everyone is sick. So we have not seen our friends as regularly the last few weeks. Because I plan the activities for all of them I want to save it for them all. We find other things to do and have spent a lot of time on C and D and went back to B for a few days. I am hoping now that all our fun valentine activities are over we can all feel better and get back on track. I wanted to remember what I came up with because I don't think my binder will last forever. 

Aa.

A is for Apple, Airplane, Alligator, Ant, Adventure.

We made paper airplanes and raced them.

Colored Alligator pictures and glued their teeth on.

Went on an adventure to find ants.

Watched the movie A Bugs life (for the ants).

We did a whole lot of Apple snacks including applesauce, apple pie, caramel apples and just sliced apples. We had ants on a log one day but no one ate the celery. Just the peanut butter and raisins. 

Bb.

B is for Ball, Balloon, Bike, Bus, Boy, Bear, Banana, Blueberry, Box, Blocks, Books, Bubbles, Bird.

We played with balloons just about everyday because they loved that the most. The colored several B themed pictures. We went to the bus stop and watched the buses come and go.

We built with blocks and made houses and towers and forts.

Played with the balls. Filled the tub with balls and took turns playing in there. 

I collected some boxes for them to get their own to color and play in.

Read a billion books.

Watched the birds out the window.

Blew and played in bubbles.

Watched the movie Brother Bear.

We ate bananas, blueberries, bear cookies, bread and butter.

We baked brownies.

Cc.

C is for Cow, Cloud, Candy, Coin/Change, Coconut, Celery, Carrot, Cucumber, Car, Cake, Crayons, Chicken, Cat.

We counted coins and put them in a piggy bank.

We went on a walk to visit the cows down the street and named them.

We watched the clouds and then glued cotton balls on a paper making clouds.

I made streets in the kitchen with duct tape and they drove their cars around.

They helped me get all the broken crayons and break them a little more so we could make new crayons.

We colored with crayons a lot.

We learned about chickens and we drew cats.

We watched the movie Aristocrats.

For treats they had celery, carrots and cucumber with ranch (except Tracker had his with ketchup). Coconut milk, shredded coconut and we made cake pops.

We had chips, crackers, cheerios, cheese and cranberries.

Dd.

D is for Dog, Dirt, play Dough, Dinosaur, Dance, Dessert, Duck.

We made play dough.

We had a Dog day where they acted like dogs, ate their snack like dogs and played like dogs. They got to play with Harley and we went and met some of the other dogs in the neighborhood. They colored dog pictures and played with dog figure toys. They got to watch 101 Dalmatians.

We pretended to be dinosaurs.

We played with dinosaurs.

We had a dance party.

We collected dirt and played in it a little.

We made dessert (cookies). 

They had donuts just about every morning for breakfast. (I couldn't think of many D foods)