Night TERROR!

We have entered a new phase in our house....and it isn't a pretty one.  NIGHT TERRORS!  Grant (almost 5), is waking about an hour or 2 after falling asleep at night.  His pillow and sheets are SOAKED with sweat, his eyes are WIDE with fear and he screams and shakes and looks utterly TERRIFIED!  He isn't easy to wake, almost looks THROUGH you to whatever is scaring him.  It is horrible to watch.  I understand it isn't supposed to be a big deal and that kids usually outgrow it, but I don't like it.  If it is a central nervous system response during sleep, then isn't there something we can do to aide his nervous system?  Scary stuff...will keep you posted.

First Day of School 2011

It's hard to believe Summer is over and the kids are headed back to school. Why can't Winter pass that quickly?! This year I have both girls in school all day and Grant will be starting Preschool 2 days a week early next month. Am I emotional about this? ummm....not really. The years DO go by so quickly....but for now...I'm happy to have a couple of hours without distraction and interruption. Selfish? maybe....but it's true.

Here are my girls this morning...all ready to begin their adventures at school this year. There are WAY more pictures of Lauren...it's her first year of all-day school. Plus I was lucky I was allowed 2 minutes of photo time w/my high schooler. Here she is....Junior year:

And here is my FIRST-GRADER!!! (The Littlest Pet Shop lunch box that took 30 minutes to choose)

Like my new backpack?

Because this Mom won't have it together someday to remember:

A vet....2 years in the running! We shall see!

And this year, a little something new. I wish I had saved where I borrowed it from...some wonderful blog somewhere online (sorry). But Lauren was visited by the First Day of School Fairy! Check out the fancy note she left her...and the special friend for helping with a good night's sleep!

With her Mommy and Daddy:

The walk to school....

The crossing guard....God bless this woman!

At the school!

Her FABULOUS teachers! Tag....you're it!

Wait! What? It's going on 12:30 already? This day is going fast! I hope my girls are having an awesome first day....and that it's going as fast as it is here at home. I think I will have 2 VERY tired kids on my hands tonight. Happy 1st Day of School 2011!!!

Are you all tired of looking at poor injured Grant? Well today's your lucky day! A NEW blog post! Woo-hoo! It's been so long though...i'm not even sure where to start! I guess we'll just start where we are...or at least where we were recently. How about Easter? We'll start there...and since I'm just getting started with this again...we'll just let the pictures do the talking.

I do have to say...I took about 12 picture of these kids....Grant would NOT look at the camera. I'm pretty sure Bailey is threatening him through her teeth here. Good thing for him he's so stinkin' cute in that tie and cap...otherwise we would have been ready to clobber him.The Grandpa of 'em and the Grandma of 'em...COLORING EGGS!
I'm going to TRY, TRY, TRY to get back to regular posts. (if I'm not talking to myself here...and if I'm not...if you even care).

Respiratory virus, ear infections in both ears, croupy-sounding cough... My little guy's sick. =-(

Tooth Fairy Time!

My 5-yr-old lost her first tooth last night! She was sooooo excited! She's been working on that sucker for weeks now. She really wanted to show-and-tell that tooth at school today, so she dictated a letter to the tooth fairy asking if she could keep her tooth to show her friends. She also requested some Littlest Pet Shop stuff (ha!).

I was really worried she'd wake up when the "tooth fairy" arrived...she's a light sleeper. Luckily the "tooth fairy" made it in and out without incident. She DID leave fairy dust (silver glitter) next to the pillow and in a trail from the door to the bed. (bad idea in hind-sight...now I have to vacuum).

Here we go...down the fast road to growing up. =-( Here's a picture of the proud missing-tooth girl.

I have no idea why it looks nothing like her...maybe a weird angle..who knows.

A post about our late family Christmas 24-hr crazy getaway coming soon!

Soon we are getting together with my Dad's side of the family for Christmas. Yes, it's mid-January...but it's the only time my brother can make it. Ye who lives farthest wins. I'm SOOO excited to see my nephews! All four of them! I'm especially excited to meet my newest nephew, EJ. He was born in September and I haven't held him yet! Horrible!

It will be a 24-hour gathering (wish that was a joke). We'll drive about 5 hours there, stay 24 hours and head right on back. The kids will be out-of-control. As Oprah says, "This I know for sure." We are going HERE and staying in one of the villas. Now that is my kind of "camping!" A waterpark AND amusement park indoors? My kids are going to go NUTS! And a Bears game with the whole Schlafer side of the family? AWESOME! (please win, please win)


I have a million things to do before we leave. Wrap gifts, pack, finish MAKING gifts, cook breakfasty stuff to share, etc.


I'm actually sewing a gift for my Grandma (and hopefully Grandpa too if I have time). I do NOT know how to sew. If it weren't for online tutorials, I wouldn't even know how to thread my machine! I found this great tutorial (perfect for grandparents) at I Am Momma - Hear Me Roar. It LOOKS simple, but I didn't have anything circular in the house that was 22 in. in diameter to use as a template. Enter: math. (strike ONE against sewing). I finally figured it out and had my material cut and ready to sew. THEN she says to iron. IRON?! (strike TWO for sewing). I can't believe I didn't quit right there. Ironing +math=my personal hell. But I pressed on (get it? iron.."pressed" on? ha ha). My stitching is horrible, there isn't enough rice in one section....but it resembles the example given! SUCCESS! AND it's heated and around my neck as I'm typing this. It works! Here's my version:


I bought the fabric last summer at a garage sale for 75 cents. (score!) I skipped the button closure on this puppy though. The weight of the rice inside holds it in place, so I'm not messing with any sort of closure on it.

In other news, I happened upon Target's 75% off toy clearance this morning. We are now set for Valentine's Day, Easter and birthday parties....under $85 spent. GREAT deals on some very nice things. I'm so happy I shopped ahead last summer at Target's SUMMER toy clearance - I only purchased one toy this Christmas. The rest came from my secret hiding place in the basement. Although I'm totally toy-ed out after Christmas and cleaning/purging old toys, I knew if I didn't pick up some things now, I'd really regret it later.

Well, back to sewing. Happy Friday!

SNOW DAY!

Today was a snow day for my preschooler. I was excited to avoid the cold trips to and from school, but I would be lying if I didn't say the day grew LONG.

We filled the day with a little painting, Play-Dough and Polly Pockets (today's snow day is brought to you by the letter "P.") We watched a movie, made lunch, folded laundry and still they were bored. (the nerve!)

I should have thrown them outside to play, but it was pretty windy and we have BIG PLANS this weekend, so there is absolutely no getting sick allowed.

In desperation, I pulled out the glue sticks and paper and craft supplies. Lauren had "Family Fun" homework (so not) that had to be done, so we busied ourselves with creating our very own dinosaur. Here's Lauren's creation:

I helped her (obviously), but she was very decisive about each detail. I think the girl had a vision...unfortunately, my artistic abilities ruined her dream and "Crystal the Princessaurus" was the best we could do. Still to all who know Lauren, I think you'll agree that there is quite a bit of her portrayed in this assignment.

We finished that up, ate dinner and by then I was exhausted. But what kind of Mom is too tired for a bedtime story? Enter the perfect compromise for days such as these. Have you heard about it? Barnes and Noble has ONLINE storytime! Check it out!!! This month's book is Strega Nona by Tomie dePaola. Scroll down for a link to past books. My kids listened to four of them tonight.