Doc Visit & Noah's Birthday Outing

First time in this kind of cart for Colby.  Who knew the ceiling was so interesting?

I am going to try and keep this pretty short since I posted a few days ago and also because I have a bit of a cold and need to get to bed.  If we're being honest, I'm pretty sure I jinxed myself on the cold because we were out to eat a few weeks ago with my mom, Aunt Toni and Uncle Terry, and Ricky and Ana and somehow the topic of putting toilet paper on the seats in public bathrooms came up.  I'm going to go ahead and say this...I do NOT put TP on the seats in public bathrooms.  Did I just rock your world??!  To be fair, I inspect it closely to make sure it appears clean and if not, I wipe it down.  But no, I do not go to the effort of putting a covering or TP on it.  Too much work.  What can I say, this is how I was raised.  I actually feel pretty vindicated with this because Ana was telling me that in one of her lab classes last semester, they did testing on various things to see what germs they contained.  They tested a toilet seat and there were very minimal amounts of germs...probably because most people do put TP on it.  So see, I'm safe!  She said a cell phone contained WAY more germs.  Anywho, the point is that when I made this bold statement over our meal I said "And I'm never sick!" I take it all back.  Actually, I'm not even certain it's a cold.  It could be allergies but I've never had allergies in Florida so this would be a first.

Moving on...on Tuesday, I took the girls for their annual well visits.  Yes, they had their birthdays weeks ago but due to the darn insurance rule, you can only do a well visit once every 365 days so if you went on May 30 last year, it has to be a date after that.  Such silliness.  Aubree knew she had to get shots this go around (thanks Calleigh!) so she was not excited about the visit at all.  But she put on a brave face and made it through everything else very well.  Both their hearing and vision were perfect.  Dr. Holson had Aubree draw a square, identify a few letters, and a few other things which she was able to accomplish.  She had Calleigh read which she did.  She recommended that I give the kids Vitamin D one way or another, I guess through taking vitamin gummies, so I need to look into that.  Apparently not getting enough Vitamin D is a new thing the last few years even when you live in Florida.  As for the shots, boy, was that sad.  Poor Aubs had to be held down and it was all so pathetic listening to her pitiful screams.  I was in tears myself afterwards.  You just hate to see your kid in pain even for a good cause.  Plus, I hate shots myself so I know how it is.  But she got through it and she got a little prize at US Toys later in the day for her misery.

In their "gowns"

Here are the girls stats.  Pretty much the same as last year as far as percentages.

Calleigh - 7 Years

Weight - 57 pounds, 75th percentile (unchanged)
Height - 49 3/8 inches, 75th percentile (unchanged)
BMI - 16.5 (was 16.4)
BP - 109/59
HR - 90
Shoe Size - 1
Clothes Size - 7/8

Aubree - 5 Years

Weight - 39.5 pounds, 50th percentile (unchanged)
Height - 43 1/8 inches, 60th percentile (up from 50th percentile)
BMI - 14.9 (was 15.2)
BP - 93/52
HR - 101
Shoe Size - 10.5
Clothes Size - 5T

After we left the appointment, we made an attempt to meet Amanda and the boys at Lake Lotus Park only to discover it isn't open Monday - Wednesday which is kind of weird.  Not sure why you would have a nice park closed three days out of the week but what do I know.  So instead we went to Magnolia Park (aka, Peacock Park) which is closer to our house.  I brought a picnic lunch and we enjoyed that while we waited for Amanda to arrive.  It did get a little dicey for a minute though.  We call it Peacock Park because the place has so many peacocks just strutting around making the weird noises that peacocks make (which 99% of you probably don't know).  Apparently these peacocks have no fear because it came right up to our table and ate a potato chip from under it while we were all sitting there.  The kids all freaked out and were huddling around me but I figured the thing wasn't going to attack us.  I did have a knife just in case though! Eventually Amanda and the boys got there and you would think the kids would be playing on all the playground equipment, there are at least three separate playgrounds there, but nope, after hitting a ball around for a few minutes, they all ran over to the volleyball court so they could build stuff in the sand.  And there they remained for the duration of our playground visit.  I had Colby play in it for a minute but only a minute because he promptly starting eating the sand when I put him down.

Here he comes!

And there he goes after stealing the chip.

Better than eating sand.

After school and naps, we met them at Cafe Positano's for Noah's birthday dinner as it was the actual day of his 7th birthday.  We were happy to hear that Cory will be coming to Florida for meetings at least three or four times a year now.  So now we just need to get Amanda to do home school with Noah next year so they will be free to come with him on his trips!



After dinner we got some ice cream from a place nearby.  The girls got cones but Brady got his in a bowl which is what apparently prompted this exchange:

Brady (pointing to his bowl of ice cream):"Can I eat this?"
Me (thinking this was an odd question since he had already been eating it):" Yes."
He then proceeds to start biting his actual bowl as if it were edible.  Evidently he saw the girls eating their cones and thought the apparatus holding his ice cream must also be edible.  Mercy.  He was totally serious too.


Yesterday we got our new server delivered to us from Haverty's.  It's matches our dining room table and I'm thrilled to have a place to put the "fancy" dishes my mom gave me that she had for years and years.  Brady was oddly excited about the teacups when we unpacked them and kept picking them up to try and have a tea party.  Must be his British blood.  We also had a visit from two ladies from Haverty to give us a interior design consultation. When we were there picking out the server, the sales lady said "Do you know we offer free interior design consultations?  We'll come out to your house." Ah, no.  We sure didn't.  Wished we had known that a few years ago.  Obviously they want to sell us stuff but that's okay.  We're interested in buying some things.  It was really great, actually.  She gave us advice on how to rearrange some of the art we already have, told us we need a bigger area rug in our living room, need to move our flower art out of the dining room, and other good tips.  I did not spend weeks, days, or probably even hours on the decorating scheme of this house so my feelings are not hurt...any help is appreciated.  They will get back to us on some recommendations for where we have blank walls and I'm very much looking forward to that.  We aren't purchasing any furniture, except maybe one chest/dresser for our pass through between the dining room and living room.

The new server.  The flowers will be relocated to the girls' room.

This was our next to last week of school and I'm very much looking forward to the break to recharge. Speaking of breaks, I caught a break this week when one of the books Calleigh was reading was about a "book bug club" where the kids are part of a book reading club and have to read a certain amount of books. That inspired me to create a reading chart for Calleigh which we will use during the summer to keep her reading.  I have 35 squares on it and each time she reads a book (aloud or to herself - - I told her Jesus will know if she cheats!) she'll get to put a star sticker on a square.  For each sticker she gets, she'll get $.50 and when she gets all 35, I'll double what she's earned.  I know, I know.  Maybe I shouldn't be paying my kid to read.  But I'm doing it because she doesn't just pick up a book and read on her own accord and I'm hoping this will motivate her to do that.  It's off to a great start!  She was very excited about the chart...we laminated it, she picked out her stickers, etc.  So far she's read four books (the books she reads in school don't count). Please pray it continues.


On that note, a comment from Aubree.  Calleigh had to write a two sentences about a Bible lesson she had read and then draw a picture.  But after she did her sentences, she started giving me a hard time about drawing:

Calleigh: "No, I don't want to do the picture."
Aubree: "But Calleigh, drawing is good exercise for your hands!"

Lastly, I wanted to say a big congratulations to my cousin Rad who graduated from law school today with high honors.  Not only that, but he was chosen to give the student address at the graduation.  There aren't too many people I put above Rad when it comes to an all around wonderful person and I couldn't be more proud of what he's accomplished.  He's come a long way since I did a speech on him in seventh grade about how he got Diabetes at age 3!

With his lovely pregnant wife Jen.

A few more pictures:

The girls saved up their money and got this car for their American Girl dolls at Target.  Colby loves to hold on to it and even took a few steps pushing it.

Some more science experiments.

We came outside one morning to find the nurf football torn apart into a bunch of pieces.  Duncan questioned Brady but I was like "That would take Brady like two hours to put into that many pieces!" So it's a big mystery.  I didn't think an animal would do that but it must have.

Found this remote control airplane at a yard sale today.  He's been asking about a remote control helicopter for weeks but all I can think about is that kid who chopped his own head off a few months ago.  So no and no!  This is obviously for much older kids anyway.

I usually write Corey on my cups but decided to write this on it this time.  But now I keep looking around expecting to see my mom appear.  Even after seven years, it's sometimes strange to think of yourself with this name.

You know you're tired when you start eating your food and realize that you had mindlessly cut it up into small pieces beforehand.

Have a Happy Sabbath!