Future author

Avery loves to write stories... here is her latest:

P.E. Class

They invited the parents to come for PE classes one day, so I went up for both of the girls classes.

The girls' PE teacher studied dance in college, so we started off with a warm-up dance. For Avery's class, I was in the front facing the kids, so had to do everything backwards. Ha! I smartened up for Morgan's class and stood by her so I could do everything the same way they were doing it!

We did lots of hula hopping, basketball, jump roping and even cup stacking. The kids have been doing this in PE and loving it!

Here is Avery with her best friend, Daphne.

Then, Morgan's class came in and Morgan played basketball most of the time.

Such a fun time! I love seeing the kids during the day at school and get a glimpse of what they get to do while they are away from us!

Sunshine!

The snow melted and we got outside for some beautiful sunshine!

Girl Scout Field Trip

We went to the Dupage County History Museum in Naperville to learn about the founder of the Girl Scouts, Juliette Gordon Lowe. The museum has a huge model train set in the basement that the girls loved watching.

Disney shirts - ha!

Thought these were so cute and just had to order them! Guess who Grumpy is?!?! :)

Snow!

We got outside to enjoy the snow and sunshine! So glad everyone is feeling better!

Happy Valentine's Day

Avery was still on the mend from the flu and pneumonia, but Morgan was back to school. She took Avery's Valentines and box and hers to school. It's nice when you have a sister to do this so you don't have to totally miss out on Valentine's festivities.

Daddy sent us flowers and stuffed animals for the girls. :)

Avery loved going through her Valentine's from school. A big thank-you to super sister Morgan for carting all this home!

We ordered a heart shaped pizza to celebrate!

Matt and I got to get out and celebrate with some fancy drinks and food! And even fancier dessert! Matt got photo bombed by the cotton candy tree! :)

And then the flu hit our house...

It started out with Morgan telling me one morning that she didn't feel that great after breakfast. I took her temperature and she had a fever. So, she stayed home.

Here she is on Day 1... still watching her iPad and hanging out with me on the couch.

It quickly turned into this... for days! No eating, just drinking. Lots of sleeping. Did not even want to play on her iPad. You know a kid is sick when they ditch the iPad!

I had signed the girls up for an American Girl party during this time. Avery was still ok, so I took her and Morgan stayed home (obviously!) During the party, Avery started feeling crappy. Ugh.

Another one is down... :(

I was really worried because Morgan sounded like she was wheezing, so I took her to the doctor. They tested her for the flu and she had Influenza B. By the way, Morgan HATED the flu test because they stick a plastic straw like thing way up your nose. She cried all the way home... "why did she have to do that?" Sorry, kiddo! So, back home we went with instructions to get lots of rest and push liquids. The doctor said Avery most likely had the same thing, so we didn't have to get her tested. We were told that since we all had the flu shot that hopefully that would decrease the duration and symptoms.

We spent the next week trying to keep the girls hydrated and rested.

Morgan finally started feeling better and actually sitting up, watching her iPad and eating a little bit. And mugging for the camera!

We got our Girl Scout cookie delivery during this time also. Yum!

Avery was still not doing so great. We tried hard to get her to eat, but this is what usually ended up happening. Luckily, she was drinking a lot of fluids. She actually lost quite a bit of weight for her size.

We thought Avery was finally turning the corner... she worked on her homework from school and watched Frozen 2. She got out of bed and even ate a little food! Didn't want to brush her hair, but oh well! She was fever free for a little bit.

But, then she spiked a fever overnight. Ugh! So, I took her to the doctor and found out she had developed pneumonia. So, a few more days home for her and some antibiotics and breathing treatments.

She finally started feeling better and we were all glad! The 1st grade class at their school was hit really hard by the flu. We would get reports from Morgan's teacher on how many kids were missing each day. There was one day that 11 of the 24 kids in Morgan's class were out sick!

Luckily, Matt and I avoided the flu, which was surprising for me considering how much time I spent with sick kiddos sleeping mere inches from my face!

Happy 70th!

My Dad is celebrating his 70th birthday this year and as is a tradition with his brothers and sisters, they all get together and have a big fun weekend. We started off with a pizza party on Friday night at Erin's place. Then, Saturday was time with his family reminiscing about all their favorite memories of my Dad (which we missed because of the Variety Show), then an Escape Room and a fancy dinner out! So much fun!

My Dad's school pictures

The kids got to help open Papa's gift

There were a few "tricks" to getting this open!

Inside were some tools for the kids to help Papa with his projects!

Atomic Cake from Busy Bee Bakery - this is famous in DG!

Morgan modeling some of Papa's gifts

Singing Happy Birthday with a little help

Not even a chance that he'd get to blow out a candle - ha!

The escape room was a ton of fun. We split up into two groups - one did the Titanic room and the other did the Jack the Ripper room. Both groups made it out in time! (the Titanic group got out a few minutes faster... just sayin'!)

We had dinner afterwards at Wildfire. Lots of wonderful food! My Dad got gifted the "rock", which makes it way around the family members on significant birthdays.

My Dad and his siblings - Rich, Dad, Dave (back), Mary Alice, Lucy, Ruth Ann, Amy (front)