Memorial Day Weekend

So this year, we were planning on going camping for the long weekend because we normally go up Labor Day Weekend with my sister and her family but with Trav starting school in August, our chances of going will be small. The month of May sort of happened upon me and became incredibly busy. All of my wishful thoughts of getting the trailer ready two to three weeks ahead vanished as birthday parties, swimming lessons, trips to the store, and Mother's Day bbq's filled in all the vacant time.



We stayed home and the result was incredible sense of relief and excitement to just be together as a family. On Friday night, our friends Josh and Meredith came over for a couple of hours. We had bought a used firestove from my co-worker Jeanine and Trav got that going. That thing was like a real campfire! We all sat around it in the backyard and chatted - we even smelled like campfire when we went inside. Funny!



On Saturday, my neighbors were having a bbq. They are moving in about a month so I thought it would be fun to hang out with their friends one last time. They also invited Josh and Meredith - but they already had plans, and Bryan and Jenny. They had a HUGE turnout. I think everyone they invited showed up. They had some really good food and we hung out for a bit and came back to our house. Mia was completely out of sorts. I was almost getting scared because she was crying so hard and not calming down, I didn't know what to do. It reminded me of the very young days, when babies are so little they cry and cry because they can't communicate to you what's wrong. I think she had a tummy ache because she kept tooting and I finally got her calmed down when she was lying on the floor of her room on her back with her bottle. I figured out she was teething so I gave her some Tylenol and Oragel and that seemed to help a bit. I put her in her bed, hoping she might fall asleep again. Trav and Bryan hung out inside and watched this nerdy sci-fi show they both like (lol) and Jenny and I took Keira and Gabe to play outside. They stayed for a couple of hours and we had fun in spite of Mia's issues.

On Sunday I had decided in advance that we were going to take a hiattus (sp) from church and have another relaxing day. I made crepes for breakfast and the kiddo's slept in pretty well. Mia still wasn't having a good day, and Travis had announced on Saturday night that his throat hurt and he didn't feel well. We stayed pretty close to home, running a couple of errands during the day and stopping to get slurpies on the way home. It was so cute to see Mia standing in line with her tiny slurpie in her hands. So cute! So, she was still not quite herself today and she had been pulling on her ears. I began to wonder if she DID have an ear infection. One of my friends had suggested puting olive oil in her ears, stating that that had helped her daughter when she had some ear infections. I wasn't sure what to think about that so I talked with Travis about it. He actually confirmed that olive oil can be good at healing a lot of different things, but the reason it is good for ear infections is that it covers the bacteria and makes it so they can't move anymore. SO, I thought - what the heck? I'll try it. I found one of those nose bulb syringe things that had never been opened and I got a little bowl of olive oil and squeezed it into both of her ears. To my surprise, she actually LIKED it. I ended up doing it twice that day, and the second time I did she giggled! She has not complained about her ears hurting since that day, so I guess it helped. Who knew?

Sunday evening Trav's mom and the neighbors came over for a bbq. We combined all of our food and had a great yummy meal!

On Monday we had another beautiful day - bbqing and roasting smores on our neighbors coal barbeque.

All in all, we had a fun, relaxing weekend - in spite of the the two of us that were still feeling under the weather. Trav managed to start several more projects in our yard and we had lots of quality time together with the girls. We couldn't have asked for a more beautiful weekend weather wise, either!

Some cute stuff

OH, I can think of so many things to write about - things that have been circling around in my mind about things that I'm learning as well as all of the things I want to say about my girls. For now, here are a couple of cute things I don't want to forget.

The last week or so Keira has been asking how to say things in Spanish - I think because Seasame Street does a lot of stuff in Spanish. She has been "trying it out", so to speak. She surprised me the other night when she wanted to have the music turned up in the car...she told me she wanted it turned up. She knows better - she needs to ASK and say please. Here's the conversation:

K: "Mom, turn up the music."

Me: "Excuse me? I'm not sure I understood you."

K: "Por favor! Turn up the music?"

LOL! Okay! It surprised me how easily she used it in the right context.

The next cute thing she did was yesterday on the way to church, she was talking. I wanted some time to think without having to answer a hundred questions so I told her to play the "quiet game". After a couple of minutes she told me she was bored. I told her she could talk in her head, and she said, "Well, I can't talk in my head. God is talking in there!" I was again, pleasantly surprised so I asked her what God was saying to her. She said, "Well, He's saying, I love you dear, Keira." CUTE!

I told her I hoped she always is able to hear God's voice that clearly.

Mia is still learning her words but that kid takes in a lot more than she communicates. Last night, the beginning os Extreme Makeover Home Edition was on and the people on it were crying. She comes over to me and leans her head to the side and says, "Mama" points to the TV "sad". "Why mama, saaad??" She was concerned for the people on TV who were crying. I tried to explain it to her the best I could that they had had hard times and they were sad. She seemed to understand a little - she nodded and stared at least. I was amazed at how she was visibly moved by the emotion she saw in front of her. She has a sensitive heart for how rough and tumble she can be.