Happy days are here again

Thanks to the hard work of my talented brother-in-law and Ryan we have a gorgeous new floor. We went with a darker color and engineered wood floor instead of a floating laminate again. (I still LOVE Pergo and would highly recommend it.) Our insurance is going to cover some of it so YEA! Once Ryan finishes the baseboards, I will post a picture of it to show you all. It does make our house look way different and some of our accessories now need to be changed. So I am going to be on the hunt for a new rug and new curtains. :) I am so glad to have this almost all over!!!! Whew!

I think I am ready to move outta here!!!

Ok, so I have finally had it! Here's what's been going on at our household.
two weeks ago: I walk out to do my laundry and find a mouse scampering about; ryan sets a trap and two days later-snap!
Friday: Ryan rips up the entryway flooring due to the floor lifting and discovers a mysterious white and brown powdery substance and an awful smell. (mildew? mold?)
Saturday: Ryan's brother, R, flies in and says," looks like mold and mildew, we'll know the extent of the damage in the morning."
Sunday: Guess what? It is mold and mildew and the seams are lifting throughout our flooring so we have to get new flooring immediately. We all start the demo-ing and R finds out the source of the mold and mildew. (our waterheater leaked 2 1/2 years old and apparently that caused it. The mold and mildew took this long to manifest. (grrrrrr....) We head out to find flooring and talk to our insurance agency. We take lots of pictures to document the damage and then R and R set about cleaning it up. (They use a strong substance that is so smelly, I take the kids and head to a hotel for the night.)
Monday:Talk to the claim adjuster and our insurance is sending someone out to look at the floor and pictures. Ok, no problem. We'll start redoing the floor tonight so all is well. UNTIL...I go outside to my backyard to do some cleaning up. (it finally rained after two years, seriously, so I had to hose all of the gunk off.) Well, guess what I find? A dead mouse half stuck under our house and half stinking out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I screamed!!!!!!!!! That was it!!!! Wanna know what is even worse? R and R couldn't get the dead thing out!!! It was stuck!!!!! oh, and it smelled!!! So, I just want to move! This is so gross!!!!!!!!!! HOWEVER, a longtime friend had it WAY worse a few years ago so I know that this is only minor. (L, I am talking about you!!) ok, that is all for now.
PS: HAPPY 33RD BIRTHDAY RYAN!!!

I thought this was cool so I copied it!

Hi, my name is Melanie.
But you can call me Melanie until I get to know you well and then you can call me Mel.
Never in my life have I gotten a speeding ticket.
When I am nervous my heart beats really fast.
The last song I listened to was down by the bay which is a kids song.
If I were to get married right now, it would be in a place that was filled with my friends and family.
My hair is cut just above my shoulders.
When I was four, I loved to play dolls and house.
Last Christmas we flew to Indy and had a fun time.
I should be getting ready for my brother-in-law to come here.
When I look down I see that it is time for a pedicure.
The happiest recent event was lying on the floor being tickled by my Makena and making Brody laugh.
If I were a character in Friends, I’d be Monica because she's ocd about cleaning. Although my house is not 100% clean all the time but....
By this time next year, I will have been married five years, have a four year old and a one year old.
My current distress is my floor and what is underneath it.
I have a hard time understanding tragic events.
If I won an award, the first person I would tell is my wonderful Ryan.
I want to buy a new rug and curtains.
I plan on visiting Napa with Ryan this Spring when my parents are here but they don't know that yet.
If I could spend the night at any house, it would be my parent's.
The world could do without mean people: terrorist, child abusers, elderly abusers, prediators (sp?).
The most recent thing I bought myself is contact paper to try to do a craft and line a shelf.
The most recent thing that someone else bought for me was dinner.
My middle name is Ruth.
In the morning, I drink coffee with lots of fat-free creamer.
Tomorrow I will be going to church!
Tonight I am going to find out what is under my floor (hopefully).

check this blog out

i was looking at a friend's blog tonight and i hit the bottom at the top that lets you view the next blog that is randomly assigned. a really neat blog came up and i checked it out. it is very interesting and when you have about 15 minutes go check it out!!
http://ourultimatedate.blogspot.com

Daily Life

This morning, I apparently did not hear the alarm clock go off and was an hour late waking up. When I finally woke up, I jumped out of bed and raced around trying to get Makena's breakfast and juice while Ryan got her dressed. Then I quickly fed Brody and did Makena's hair all the while trying not to impose my "need to be on time-ness". Why the rush? Because she was going back to preschool after missing last week. I did not have time to get dressed and put on Makena up so I stole an idea that I read about a year or so ago from another blog. (Wear workout clothes and act like I am on my way to the gym after I drop her off. Ha ha!!! ) Well, we finally made it! Luckily they have a floating arrival time so it was ok that I was 15 minutes late. After dropping her off, B and I went drove home. He fell asleep in the car and actually managed to transfer and then sleep for another 40 minutes. Yea! I cleaned Makena's room and organized her bookcase. I also got B's room cleaned and gave him another bath as he had a huge blowout. :) (oh the joys of poop! Then I threw in a load of his laundry. (have i mentioned that i figured out that his clothes have to be rinsed twice so there is no dreft left?) I did manage to take a shower but the whole time, B was SCREAMING his head off while I thought he was quietly resting in his crib. Oops! So I quickly hopped out the shower, and grabbed him before the neighbors could call CPS. I now had 25 minutes to get dressed, do my hair and make up, grab lunch and head out the door to get Makena. Here's what it looked like:
7 mintes to calm Brody down He was really, really upset at the crib thing...(I achieved this by having him look in a mirror while holding him and making funny faces.)
7 minutes to sort of dry my hair and put on my make up (all the while playing peek a boo with brody who is sitting in his bouncy seat and fussing)
3 minutes to get dressed
5 minutes to make a sandwich and chat with Ryan on the phone
3 minutes to eat my sandwich and clean up the kitchen
Then it was brush my teeth, put B in his carseat, grab a water, and walk out the door! WHEW!!!!!
I hopped in the Expedition and drove to preschool where I was greeted by an adorable little three year old with pigtails with a huge smile on her face saying, "Mommy!!!" What a great treat!!! So my morning has been a busy one but not too shabby. Time to go tell Makena to stop singing and go to sleep and then I am going to take 15 minutes to read. What a great life I have!

bragging

My 4 year old nephew can tie his own shoes!!!!!!!!!!!!! My 15 year niece may be the fastest texter in Indy. My 2 year old niece is already a gifted gymnast! WOW! WOW! WOW!

three years old

I took these pictures this morning of Makena. She was a great little model for me. The one picture is of her sneezing! I showed it to Makena right after it was taken and she just thought it was sooo funny. She then kept on laughing and laughing so I got lots of good shots!

favorite outfit

This has been my favorite outfit for Brody over the past months. It is a romper that has a cowboy on it and says "Cowboy up". He has worn it on a weekly basis!! Well, as my little cowboy is growing so fast, I put it on him the other day and realized that it is going to be too small soon!! So, I set up my camera and took some shots of Brody wearing it. I am addicted to taking pictures. (Brody has always been a strong little guy but last night, he pushed up on all fours briefly and did it agian just now. WOW! Way sooner than his sister did. hmmm will he crawl soon?? )

Hi Everyone! I am finally feeling much better. My fever is gone! Yea! This morning I ate breakfast and drank my juice. Thanks for your prayers!
love,
Makena

choc here we come?????????

this morning at 1:30 we just about went to choc. makena had a 104.5 fever and it was awful. we gave her meds and decided to wait to see if it would go down. it did and at 4 we gave it to her again. then we took her to the dr this morning and guess what? her illness is most likely not related to the shot. it is probably from preschool and will just take its course....whatever!!!! we just want it over...now!!! she is now sneezing tons but seems happy. the bad news: her super good friend is sick too and probably got it from Makena or the preschool. :( we've cancelled plans for tonight and the b-day party tomorrow. luckily she did really know about the party or she would be really unhappy!! i will keep you updated and thanks for the calls everyone!!! it is great to have such caring friends and family!

It just won't break!!

Makena has had a fever since 3 am Tuesday morning!! It has hit 104 a few times and I have called the DR. twice. We have an appt tomorrow morning to make sure that there isn't something else going on. She has never had an earache and tonight she mentioned that her ear hurt when the thermometer went in. We have been homebound since Monday afternoon with me getting hour long breaks each day by Ryan. I know we are all sick of being home. Makena had to miss preschool this week but her teacher called to see how she was feeling which I thought was so sweet. Pray that she gets better!!!!!!!!!

Adorable One

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never again

Makena had her three year old check up on Monday and I had them give her the flu shot. Well, she has had a fever since Tuesday morning at 3am!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1 GRRRR....5% of kids react to the flu shot and she is one of them. After spending two nights and days with her having a fever, we are all spent!! I called our ped. and chatted with him b/c the fever has lasted so long. I asked him to put it in her chart that I do not want her to get another one next year. He complied. I sure hope she gets better soon!!!

Playground sand causes what???????????

Ryan picked up some playground sand from the store to refill our sandbox because over the years our sand had "disappeared". Imagine, to my dismay, I found out that the State of California has put out a warning on the sand stating that it can cause cancer. My sister Lori told me this and had me check the bag to see if we had purchased this type of sand. Guess what? We had. So, I googled the topic and found that the ingredient that causes cancer is crystalline Silica. (That may be spelled wrong.) Now, this has been around for many years and we all played in sand sooooo what to do??????? I thought over this for 24 hours and just cannot get comfortable with knowingly exposing my children to this harmful ingredient. So, we will be dumping out the sand and purchasing another type. (I have to ask Lori what it is and where to get it.) Now, at M's preschool they have a huge sandbox filled with sand and it is covered so animals cannot get into it which is great. But, what about the sand that is in it? I know that many things can be linked to cancer so am I just being too intense? I chatted with my friends about this, and they too are concerned with the sand. So, to all of you who have sandbox loving kids, watch out!

ummmm, yea I'm not ready for this

Makena has had two successful days at preschool. She really enjoys going and it seems to be great. I am happy with it so far. We have our first home to school work. They are learning about God creating the world so we get to go a nature hunt and find things to fill a brown paper bag. I think it is great that we get to further support the learning at home. :)
Makena has been three for about three weeks or so. It is so neat as she verbalize everything and even talks about memories of things that happened months ago. She has started asking for another brother or sister. (yea, not going to happen for a while) Makena is just so much fun; however, our little three year old does not want to take naps!!!!!!!!!!!!! Grrr...she just plays in her bed for over an hour before she MAY fall asleep. I have to go in so many times and tell her to stop talking and lay down. Grrrr...she is not ready to give up her naptime.

Makena's First Haircut

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Makena's first day of preschool

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