Halloween Sugar Cookies

Today Coralee, Jecca's mom, sent us a big bag of sugar cookie dough and 4 different colors of frosting, so that we could make cookies with the girls today. She even provided Halloween cookie cutters - a bat, witch head, ghost, moon and small and large pumpkins.

The girls had A LOT of fun and it was a wonderful change to our mundane lives these past few weeks. Here are some pictures:

We baked the cookies in the morning before bath time, lunch and naps. Here is Kaelin helping Jecca cut out the cookies.

Though she may have had more fun just flinging around flour. :)

Hailey started playing with small bits of dough. First she was rolling them into balls (which she usually does with playdough), then she was making pies (copying her sister).

I loved Hailey's face in this picture - and the fact she is covered in flour - face, nightgown and arms.

We started frosting after nap-time. Thankfully we had this fun project waiting, because Hailey woke up CRABBY!

Kaelin worked very hard on her first few cookies. We have never seen her try to make them look realistic. It only lasted for a few -but here is her first pumpkin.

Yep Hailey is licking her knife (side note - it is a kids' plastic IKEA knife =harmless). Her idea of frosting cookies.

Now that she has eaten all the frosting for the cookie - time to eat the actual cookie.

Attempt number 2 - it went about the same :)

Hailey is telling me she is all done here, but it looks like she is saying, "What Mess?".

Close Up of the Messy Face

Kaelin had SO Much fun - she was actually a little upset when the cookies were gone

(though I will admit that Jecca and I were ready to be done).

These are the 5 cookies that Hailey started to frost/decorate, and instead licked clean or ate.

Here are the 2 that actually made it through Hailey's process.

I frosted them and she was the decorator.

Here are Kaelin's finished masterpieces. The first few were simple and realistic. Each one after that became more mounded with frosting and sprinkles. Only the brave will eat these cookies. :)

Here are the cookies Jecca and I plowed through. There were a few creative in the beginning. But then it became frost and sprinkle.

All in all it was a fun activity. We were very thankful to Coralee for providing the supplies :)! To finish the day, they took an evening field trip with Jecca to visit her Mom, Grandma and Aunt. They took a plate of cookies with them (of course), and came home with candy corn and apples.

Jecca is even staying the night tonight as Justin is on his first business trip since my surgery (he will be home tomorrow). The girls are excited that Jecca is sleeping over and will be here when they wake up!

We are so blessed by Jecca in all her help during my surgery and these weeks of recovery - and thankful to her family and Uncle Chris for sharing her with us.

Pumpkin Carving and a day visiting in Grove City

Saturday was a busy but fun day for our family. It started with a Pumpkin Carving party at the McCreadie home in Grove City. We had so much fun!

Hailey wanted nothing to do with the pumpkin carving - but loved to 'mow' and eat MANY pieces of watermelon.

Kaelin dug right in, helping Daddy to clean out the pumpkins.

She wanted a heart for her pumpkin nose and Daddy did exactly what she wanted.

I loved this picture of Hailey, Daddy and the pumpkin he carved for her.

She then had to point out features of the pumpkin for me - eyes, nose and mouth.

Matt Donnelly brought an electric saw to carve his pumpkins! I thought it was Awesome!

He managed to make a Mike Wasowski (sp?) from Monsters Inc. with the saw.

I was impressed.

Mandie and Justin's nephew's pumpkin - very funny!

After the pumpkin party we had a brief visit with Papa Tom and Grandma Barb and then headed to Great Grandma and Grandpa Trezona's for the evening. It has been a long time since we have gotten to just visit with Grandma and Grandpa. It was a very enjoyable evening. The girls had a blast playing with all the toys, while Justin and Grandpa visited and watched some game :). Grandma and I got to visit as well - which I loved.

Grandma gave the girls each a Gogurt. Kaelin has had them before and likes them, but this was Hailey's first time. You can tell from the next two pictures she LOVED it and LOVED that Grandma was helping her!

All in all it was a very fun day for the whole family!

GCC Homecoming 2010

We made it to Grove City College Homecoming 2010!

The girls LOVED getting candy at the parade - though Hailey needs to be a bit quicker :). They both got painted (hands/faces), and got to play in a bounce around. We mostly spent the day with the McCreadie Family - and had a blast!

Funny thing - Mandie has a picture of Kaelin and JJ the year before walking in front of us holding hands. AWWW

After we were done at the college we walked over to the Pee Wee football game where a friend's daughter and a cousin of Justin's girls were cheering. Today happened to be daddy day. So - Uncle Brian and Paul got to cheer WITH their daughters at half-time. Yes - it was hysterical and adorable! Yes- I have a video. I have it posted on Facebook but not here :).

Hailey was attached to Uncle Brian this afternoon, which was cute - but odd, as she is usually slightly afraid of him.

The girls definitely let us know when the day was over. No naps = a lot of whining! But all in all it was a great day. Time for me to rest now!

Kaelin and Abby

This is a picture of Kaelin and her best friend, from next door, Abby. They have so much fun together. Hailey has recently started to try to play with the big girls :)

Update on me

I am good. Surgery went well. I was out of the hospital on Tuesday around lunch time. Many more restrictions than I thought I would have - no driving for one! ahh Justin and Jecca are my two life savers. Justin has been doing laundry, vacuuming, bath time with the girls and the grocery shopping. Jecca has been my right arm Monday-Friday. She takes K to school, gets meals ready, and in general just helps! I would be lost without either of them.

Pain has been rough in the morning, last night I took some meds in the middle of the night and that defininitely helped! Other than that, very stiff and ITCHY! 3 more weeks of restrictions and wearing the brace. Follow up dr. appt is on October 27th. On a positive note - I have had NO arm pain/numbness or migraines since the surgery!!!

Here are pics of my progress- WARNING - one is graphic :)

Surgery Soon

I am scheduled for surgery Monday am at 9 for my neck. I have a bulging/herniated disc between my C6 and C7 vertebrate. They are removing the bulging part and fusing the discs together with a titanium plate. I will stay at least one night in the hospital (which is amazing - Southwoods Surgical Hospital in Boardman, OH).

I have done everything possible to avoid this surgery - 6 weeks of physical therapy, 3 different rounds of neck epidurals, and countless medications.

I am nervous for the actual surgery, but am very nervous for the following 4 weeks of recovery. I will wear a soft collar. I am not allowed to pick up anything heavier than a gallon of milk (3lbs.) for all 4 weeks. I am also supposed to avoid bending or reaching up, and avoid stairs if possible.

Plus - I am a little OCD :). No vacuuming, mopping etc. I am worried about my kids, preschool pick-up/drop-off, loading/unloading the car for drop-offs to babysitter's etc, grocery shopping....need I go on?

I know I will have some help in Justin and in our wonderful Jecca, but I am just uneasy about the 4 week time period. I don't know how I will feel, if I will be able to do things like walk around a lot or really what to expect as far as recovery pain.

Please pray for me and my family during this time! Thank you!

Week in review :)

This week has been crazy busy and full of fun! Thursday night, our friends - The Navarro's - came and stayed overnight with their little girl, Landry. Unfortunately, late that night Bandit rolled in something outside that made him smell FOUL! Thus - he received a bath - somehow he ended up getting a mohawk that totally cracked me up, so I had to take a picture:

K brought home more artwork from preschool. In this one, they used orange and apple halves to paint. They also had red show and tell on Friday - she took in her Tickle Me Elmo. Next Friday is their first field trip to a learning farm.

Most exciting though, was Grove City High School's Homecoming. Justin's cousin, Carlee, is a senior this year and was chosen as a princess. For their Homecoming festivities, the princesses choose an aide to 'help' in their duties :). Carlee chose Kaelin. It was SO adorable to see the only redheaded girls in the family dressed up together. Kaelin got to ride in the convertible with her and throw candy during the parade, ride a golf cart during the beginning of the football game and then go out on the track for the half-time announcements. It was cold, but she did pretty well. She was not able to stand still during the half-time announcements....the band was playing in the background and she couldn't help but dance a bit :). She felt so special to be with Carlee and loved EVERY minute of it.

Hailey did great that night as well, cheering for her sister and staying up WAY past bedtime (10:30)! She was such a trooper!

Where's Hailey?