Hayden in the Kitchen

Hayden has taken a real liking to helping me in the kitchen! She loves to cut veggies, season meats, make pasta and delicious salads.

On this night she made a pasta dish with chicken, veggies and herb cream cheese!

Girlies Night Out!

Hayden's gym had a Girlies Night Out this Spring. Drop the kids off on Friday night at 7:00 and pick them up Saturday morning at 7:00. Hayden came out of practice one night asking if they could do it. It was $80 for both of the girls to attend. But since she's not invited to birthday parties or sleepovers, I just couldn't say no. It was priceless to me!

They danced all night, watched movies on the wall, ate junk food, made hair flowers, and dressed up and took candid pictures at various stations. They both had a ball!

My Village

As the old African quote states, "It takes a village to raise a child". Or children, in my case.

When I scheduled a date for my knee surgery, the whirlwind that circulated my brain nearly sent me into a spiral. I learned that I would be incapacitated for quite some time. Laid up and on pains meds for at least the first weekend, no driving for six weeks and physical therapy for five months.

As I learned over the six weeks prior to my surgery, from when I was injured..a leg injury is a real pain in the ass! When you cannot walk or apply any type of pressure on that leg, it really limits your activity. When you add crutches to the mix, you do not have the use of your arms or hands to do things like cook, clean, carry groceries..or even a purse. In the grand scheme of things, it's only a knee, it was to be repaired and I had to find some light on the brightside. (Like buying an office chair on wheels to get around my house so that things like meals, laundry and caring for my kids could be done!)

Before my brain spiraling could even settle, there was no need for me to wrap my mind around a game plan. That is because my sister took hold of my family and figured it all out for me. What on Earth would I have done without her? She had my girls over for sleepovers, cheered them on at their running club race that I couldn't go to, made sure they were still having fun amidst the downer their mother was, and showered me with more love and support than she will ever realize.
She put together a meal train and sent an email out to my friends, who fed us three nights a week for three weeks!
My neighborhood friends John and Erik worked out a school pick-up schedule for days that they knew Conal couldn't make it to the school on time to get the girls.
Besides the fact that my parents took the girls the night before my surgery on a Wednesday and took them to the cabin for the entire weekend so I could recover after my surgery on Thursday, (which was ugly..really, really ugly!) they were truly Godsends. In every aspect of the word. They worked out an amazing system between the two of them to get my girls up, ready and out the door to school each and every morning. My mom temporarily adjusted her work hours for days that she needed to come over in the morning, or leave early to help me with afternoon appointments, dance lessons, running club races, etc. She helped me prep meals the week before my surgery, so we could just grab from the freezer when needed. My dad came over almost every morning during those months to take care of the morning duty. More mornings then not he'd show up with breakfast for the girls and coffee for me. There were days that my mom would just pick the girls up after school and take them home, help with homework, feed them dinner and return them bathed and ready for bed.
Pam, Lisa and my dad hauled my butt to and from rehab on alternating days over the course of 7+ weeks, ran me on errands and made sure I was eating on the days I was under their care.
Amy helped take me to doctors appointments, Costco, grocery shopping, had my kids over for countless hours while I was at said appointments and was my therapist. Shannon loaned me crutches, a shower chair, candy bars ;) and movies.
Truly, I can't even find the right words to describe my love and appreciation for these people. MY family. MY friends.

MY VILLAGE.

Me and my dad, June 2012

Mom and me, March 2012

Sisters, March 2012

Conal and Erik, May 2012

Lisa, Shannon, Amy and Aaron; May, 2012. 

Mother's Day

Since Conal and Bubba went on a 'scouting' trip over Mother's Day weekend this year, my mom decided that Pam and I shouldn't be stuck with the kids...my dad should! So we booked ourselves a day at Camelback Spa!

WOW! What a great day it was! Lounging by the pool, pedi's, cocktails, lunch, no nagging! We finished off the day by picking up Rigatony's and hanging out at the Winnett's. Days like that are so rare for us, especially to get to do together. It was fabulous!

Dairy!

After a six year battle with EE (eocinophilic esophogitis) and numerous food allergies, Taylor overcame her last and final intolerance! Research shows that EE may rear it's ugly head over the course of a lifetime, until they find a cure for it. However, she is in remission, and has shown no symptoms in almost two years. She also tested free and clear of the dairy allergy.
This girl loves her some YOGURT! She loves ice cream, cookies (made with butter!), cheese, cream cheese and milk chocolate M&M's.

Here she is trying her first ever, glass of milk!

Taylor Lost Her First Tooth!

On 8/7/11, Taylor lost her very first tooth!

She lost her second tooth 11/11/11.

And a third tooth. And a fourth. And so on...