Friday, July 25, 2008
Creative Discovery Museum
Last Saturday, the four of us went to the Creative Discovery Museum in Chattanooga. They have a special Clifford exhibit right now that Lindsay really enjoyed. It was a great family day!
Backyard Fun!
We love our neighbors. Lindsay especially does. They have three daughters and one son, and Lindsay LOVES to play with them. Last week, we asked Ellie, who is a year older than Lindsay and one of her best friends, to come over and play in the sprinkles in the back yard. All the sisters ended up coming over and playing. Ellie stayed for a little while to play with the princess dolls and music toys for a little while. The two girls had a great time together!
Gracie woke up from her nap while everyone else was outside playing. She liked watching the big girls play!
Gracie woke up from her nap while everyone else was outside playing. She liked watching the big girls play!
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Fancy Lindsay
We are all doing much better. Thanks for everyone that has been praying for us! I found these pictures from last month that I never posted. Lindsay finished another one of her incentive charts (I know the teacher in me still comes out sometimes). Her goal for finishing this chart was to get a Fancy Nancy doll and costume from Target. Lindsay is slightly obsessed with FN. Anytime we do something special she'll say, "That's so fancy, Mommy!" And she wants to use a pen with a plume just like FN does. Anyway, we saw this doll at Target and Lindsay wanted it so badly so I suggested that she get it when she completed her chart. She was going through a rough patch behavior-wise so I thought this might do the trick. Did it ever! She was so worried that they would sell out of the dolls and costumes before she could finish the chart that she asked me about it everyday! Constantly! We finally decided that we would go ahead and purchase everything and put it away until the chart was complete. The day we opened FN was a very special moment for Lindsay.
Anxiously waiting for me to FINALLY get the doll out of the box
As soon as FN was out of the box, Lindsay hugged and squeezed her as tight as she could!
The complete ensemble and the finished chart
I have to do a little bragging on Lindsay too. I guess she is growing up, but she has been such a good girl lately. She is a huge help to me during the day always wanting to do things for Gracie. She's even started doing things like cleaning out her plate and bringing it to the kitchen sink without being asked. I am so proud of her! She's always been such a sweet little girls, but she seems to be going the extra mile lately.
Anxiously waiting for me to FINALLY get the doll out of the box
As soon as FN was out of the box, Lindsay hugged and squeezed her as tight as she could!
The complete ensemble and the finished chart
I have to do a little bragging on Lindsay too. I guess she is growing up, but she has been such a good girl lately. She is a huge help to me during the day always wanting to do things for Gracie. She's even started doing things like cleaning out her plate and bringing it to the kitchen sink without being asked. I am so proud of her! She's always been such a sweet little girls, but she seems to be going the extra mile lately.
Thursday, July 10, 2008
The Saga Continues...
First, thanks for all of you sweet well-wishes after my last post. Thankfully, Lindsay was better by Saturday, but Tanner and I still cancelled our trip to the beach and decided to just go to Atlanta for a couple of nights while my parents came here to keep the girls along with my nieces. They got here Monday afternoon and we ended up getting to Atlanta around 6pm.
On the drive down, my stomach started feeling a little funny, but I was determined to go out to dinner at the Cheesecake Factory with Tanner. Well, by the time we got our food, I told Tanner we were going to have to pack it up and head back to the hotel. Within an hour or so, I had the full blown stomach virus! And twelve hours later, Tanner had it too! We spent all of Tuesday, laid up in the bed sick as dogs. As Tanner said as we were sitting in the hotel room, "Nothing like a romantic getaway to strengthen a marriage!"
All I can say is the Lord works in mysterious ways. I am SO thankful that we did not drive all the way down to the beach and end up being sick. I'm also thankful that I was not with my girls to get them sick again and that my parents were here to take care of them. Tanner and I were certainly in no shape to take care of them. Lindsay would have been taking care of Gracie the entire time!
We are home now and feeling much better although a little weak from the last few days. I pray that our sicknesses are over. We have never had illness like we have this summer! Hopefully, we will be back to our normal routine next week and see all of our friends that we haven't seen all summer! We miss all of you!
On the drive down, my stomach started feeling a little funny, but I was determined to go out to dinner at the Cheesecake Factory with Tanner. Well, by the time we got our food, I told Tanner we were going to have to pack it up and head back to the hotel. Within an hour or so, I had the full blown stomach virus! And twelve hours later, Tanner had it too! We spent all of Tuesday, laid up in the bed sick as dogs. As Tanner said as we were sitting in the hotel room, "Nothing like a romantic getaway to strengthen a marriage!"
All I can say is the Lord works in mysterious ways. I am SO thankful that we did not drive all the way down to the beach and end up being sick. I'm also thankful that I was not with my girls to get them sick again and that my parents were here to take care of them. Tanner and I were certainly in no shape to take care of them. Lindsay would have been taking care of Gracie the entire time!
We are home now and feeling much better although a little weak from the last few days. I pray that our sicknesses are over. We have never had illness like we have this summer! Hopefully, we will be back to our normal routine next week and see all of our friends that we haven't seen all summer! We miss all of you!
Friday, July 4, 2008
A Hectic June
June was quite a month at the Hopkins household. We have just been going nonstop!
It turned out to be a busy month for us. Some of it planned and other parts unexpected. The month started out very well with Lindsay going to Cheer Camp. At the end of that week, the girls and I went to Corinth for a long weekend to go to their cousing Will's first birthday party. We had a lot of fun visiting with all of our family.
We came back and the next day my neices Kate and Sadie came to stay with us for a few days. They are 11 and 9, and Lindsay just adores them! They are so sweet playing with her. Here is a picture of Lindsay...this is pretty much how she looked the entire time they were here. She just watches them in awe. Gracie got in on the dressing up action too.
While they were here, we went to Chuck E. Cheese and swam a LOT! We also took them to the mall where Kate and Sadie insisted on doing the huge bungee trampoline thing that they have there. We tried to get Lindsay to do it, but she was not having it.
My parents picked up Kate and Sadie on Saturday so I got to at least see my dad on the weekend of Father's Day. We got to all go out to eat together.
The next week, my mom was going to come back with Kate and Sadie and keep my girls while I went to Southern Living at Home convention in Nashville. Mind you, this is the first time I have left my family in about a year and a half. Monday night, Gracie woke up in the middle of the night crying for some unknown reason. I went into Lindsay's room to turn her sound machine on, and she woke up wanting a hug. When I hugged her, she was burning up! Her temperature was 103 degrees. We got it down the next day, but by Tuesday night it was up again and Gracie had a fever too. So Wednesday we headed to the doctor's office where Gracie had an ear infection and even though Lindsay was tested for everything she had no infections just a virus they guessed. On the way home, we stopped at Target to get medicine and Chick-fil-a to get lunch. By the time we got home, Lindsay's fever was 105 degrees! Neither of my children have ever had a fever this high so I was slightly freaked out. We ate our Chick-fil-a nuggets with Lindsay soaking in the bathtub, Gracie in the exersaucer beside her, and me sitting on the potty checking Lindsay's temperature every two minutes to see if the Motrin and cool bath had done the trick yet. All during this time, my mom was on her way to Chattanooga so I could go to Nashville the next day (I had already called my brother and told him not to send Kate and Sadie). After naptime, we had to go to Walgreen's to get medicine for Lindsay. Well, Gracie got sick in the car in the drive-through. They really don't give you a lot of space to open the driver's side doors at Walgreens, but somehow I managed to hop out of the car and pull Gracie out. Luckily, by this time, my mom was with us so she could drive us home. It was quite an afternoon. Needless to say, I did not go to Nashville the next day. By Thursday though, they were doing somewhat better so I got up at 4:30 Friday morning and drove to Nashville and came back Saturday night after our Convention Gala. So much for my nice weekend away after a year and a half. Luckily, Gracie did hold off on the walking unitl I got back so I got to see her when she really started getting with it.
We thought that both girls were getting better, but on Wednesday I noticed that Gracie has some little red spots on her legs. We had been to Target (again) and out in the heat so I just thought it was a heat rash. I was helping at VBS everynight that week so I wasn't home when the girls went to bed, but Tanner said that there were a few more spots on Gracie's face now. Well, Wednesday night she woke up at midnight, and Tanner brought her downstairs to our room to drink some milk (this is not a normal occurence, but by this time Tanner and I were so tired we were resorting to giving her milk during the night). He said, "Let's look at her to see if the red spots have gotten worse." He turned on our bathroom light and cracked the door open. When I looked at Gracie's face, I about starting crying. She was so swollen and splotchy. She was obviously having an allergic reaction to her antibiotic. The night nurse finally called us back after almost two hours and told us that she would make it through the night and just take her to the doctor the next day. This is how she looked at midnight and how she looked the next morning. It was so pitiful.
She has finally recovered from that, and I was all set to go to Corinth this morning with the girls. Tanner and I have plans to go to Orange Beach next week for our first trip by ourselves in two years. I was going to stay until tomorrow or Sunday and then leave the girls with my parents for us to go. But Lindsay woke up this morning with a stomach bug! Can you believe it??? Something triggers sickness in my children when they know I am leaving. Hopefully, this will pass quickly and Gracie won't catch it. We haven't cancelled our plans yet, but it's looking like we will probably have to. I guess we'll see how the weekend progresses.
Sorry for such a long post. I suppose I just needed to vent a little bit. Hopefully, next week I will be posting pictures of Tanner and me at the beach!
It turned out to be a busy month for us. Some of it planned and other parts unexpected. The month started out very well with Lindsay going to Cheer Camp. At the end of that week, the girls and I went to Corinth for a long weekend to go to their cousing Will's first birthday party. We had a lot of fun visiting with all of our family.
We came back and the next day my neices Kate and Sadie came to stay with us for a few days. They are 11 and 9, and Lindsay just adores them! They are so sweet playing with her. Here is a picture of Lindsay...this is pretty much how she looked the entire time they were here. She just watches them in awe. Gracie got in on the dressing up action too.
While they were here, we went to Chuck E. Cheese and swam a LOT! We also took them to the mall where Kate and Sadie insisted on doing the huge bungee trampoline thing that they have there. We tried to get Lindsay to do it, but she was not having it.
My parents picked up Kate and Sadie on Saturday so I got to at least see my dad on the weekend of Father's Day. We got to all go out to eat together.
The next week, my mom was going to come back with Kate and Sadie and keep my girls while I went to Southern Living at Home convention in Nashville. Mind you, this is the first time I have left my family in about a year and a half. Monday night, Gracie woke up in the middle of the night crying for some unknown reason. I went into Lindsay's room to turn her sound machine on, and she woke up wanting a hug. When I hugged her, she was burning up! Her temperature was 103 degrees. We got it down the next day, but by Tuesday night it was up again and Gracie had a fever too. So Wednesday we headed to the doctor's office where Gracie had an ear infection and even though Lindsay was tested for everything she had no infections just a virus they guessed. On the way home, we stopped at Target to get medicine and Chick-fil-a to get lunch. By the time we got home, Lindsay's fever was 105 degrees! Neither of my children have ever had a fever this high so I was slightly freaked out. We ate our Chick-fil-a nuggets with Lindsay soaking in the bathtub, Gracie in the exersaucer beside her, and me sitting on the potty checking Lindsay's temperature every two minutes to see if the Motrin and cool bath had done the trick yet. All during this time, my mom was on her way to Chattanooga so I could go to Nashville the next day (I had already called my brother and told him not to send Kate and Sadie). After naptime, we had to go to Walgreen's to get medicine for Lindsay. Well, Gracie got sick in the car in the drive-through. They really don't give you a lot of space to open the driver's side doors at Walgreens, but somehow I managed to hop out of the car and pull Gracie out. Luckily, by this time, my mom was with us so she could drive us home. It was quite an afternoon. Needless to say, I did not go to Nashville the next day. By Thursday though, they were doing somewhat better so I got up at 4:30 Friday morning and drove to Nashville and came back Saturday night after our Convention Gala. So much for my nice weekend away after a year and a half. Luckily, Gracie did hold off on the walking unitl I got back so I got to see her when she really started getting with it.
We thought that both girls were getting better, but on Wednesday I noticed that Gracie has some little red spots on her legs. We had been to Target (again) and out in the heat so I just thought it was a heat rash. I was helping at VBS everynight that week so I wasn't home when the girls went to bed, but Tanner said that there were a few more spots on Gracie's face now. Well, Wednesday night she woke up at midnight, and Tanner brought her downstairs to our room to drink some milk (this is not a normal occurence, but by this time Tanner and I were so tired we were resorting to giving her milk during the night). He said, "Let's look at her to see if the red spots have gotten worse." He turned on our bathroom light and cracked the door open. When I looked at Gracie's face, I about starting crying. She was so swollen and splotchy. She was obviously having an allergic reaction to her antibiotic. The night nurse finally called us back after almost two hours and told us that she would make it through the night and just take her to the doctor the next day. This is how she looked at midnight and how she looked the next morning. It was so pitiful.
She has finally recovered from that, and I was all set to go to Corinth this morning with the girls. Tanner and I have plans to go to Orange Beach next week for our first trip by ourselves in two years. I was going to stay until tomorrow or Sunday and then leave the girls with my parents for us to go. But Lindsay woke up this morning with a stomach bug! Can you believe it??? Something triggers sickness in my children when they know I am leaving. Hopefully, this will pass quickly and Gracie won't catch it. We haven't cancelled our plans yet, but it's looking like we will probably have to. I guess we'll see how the weekend progresses.
Sorry for such a long post. I suppose I just needed to vent a little bit. Hopefully, next week I will be posting pictures of Tanner and me at the beach!
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