Breaking News...

...This just in...

Stellan has been discharged from the hospital!!

After 5 1/2 weeks of [pardon my choice of words] hospital hell, he and MckMama will return how to the Rainy Tundra tomorrow! Read all about his story and his journey here.

Please keep praying for this family!!

Happy Dance. Happy Dance. Happy Dance...

200 Interesting Facts About Moi Let's Do A Giveaway Instead!

Please, like I have time for that!

Welcome to my 200th blog post! Wow! I've enjoyed keeping this blog in immeasurable ways, and I thank you all for sharing in the fun.

So, in honor of #200, one of you lucky duckies will win an awesome messy flower from one of my favorite etsy shops, Joy's Hope! Hop on over to her shop and browse her messy flowers.



Once you find a design you ♥, leave me a comment with the design name, and also whether you would prefer the headband, the pin, or the hair clip. Be sure to leave me way to contact you if you do not have a blog link.

Are you interested in extra chances to win? You are? Here's how:

In a separate comment for each:
♥ Let me know you are a follower of my fun little blog. Or, become one!
♥ Refer someone to my giveaway and let me know you did. Blog about it. Tweet Tweet it. I love new readers!
♥ Ask me a fun question! I will blog all the answers at a later date.

The giveaway will be open until Friday, May 1st at 8 pm, CST. So, here's your chance. Even if you've never, ever left a comment before- now is the time! Crawl out of the woodwork, people.

Hey, your chances should be fantastic... [My blog is, as Shelley best puts it: read by tens of people. everyday.]

Have a fantastic week!

The Zoo, Swine Flu, and #2(00)...

Yep, we did it. We went to the zoo AGAIN today! This has been Tyler's first weekend without overtime in a while, and we were determined to do something fun as a family, regardless of what mother nature gave us.

Sassy was super excited to see the "aminals" again. We were able to spend about 2 1/2 hours walking around before the rain started coming down. Now, we are under severe weather alerts, and I am trying to post a quick blog before I unplug my computer for the night (yes, I have learned the hard way...).

Here's the obligatory zoo entrance picture. Sassy was in her own little world. Can you see the owie on her cheek? She woke up in the middle of the night screaming. I though she had a bad dream, and scooped her up and brought her into our bed. Turns out, she whacked her face on the bed. Poor girl. Little A seemed pretty excited to be back in zoo-land:



Here's one of Sassy and the chimp statue:




Little A enjoyed sitting in the "pwetend" chimp nest. Sassy assured me several times that it was just "pwetend":



My peeps:



We had a great time watching the elephants today. Isn't it amazing how they can stretch out their trunks?:



I was really fascinated by these trunks of theirs today:



What a site to see:



I couldn't believe that these huge animals would kneel down and reach so far out for food! It cracked me up watching this one- do you see his tail? It's like he was using every last inch of his body for balance:



This Colobus Monkey just had a baby on April 20th. Isn't he cute?:



Sassy feeding Daddy some popcorn. I had to document the fact that she was sharing. Food. Voluntarily:



Little A playing "So Big!":



My pretty baby girl:

---

The Swine Flu? Seriously? OK, let me just explain a little something to you.

I am terrified of pandemics. I know most people are terrified of pandemics, but I am extra terrified.

I think it all began in third grade when I was assigned The Black Death for a school report. Basically, since then, things have snowballed. Anthrax. Who needs mail? Bird Flu. Yikes. Threats of another huge pandemic. Where's my plastic bubble?

So, now, swine flu? In the U.S.? Mere days after I first learn of it? What's that, you say? In Kansas? From Mexico through Mid-Continent Airport to somewhere in Dickinson County? I'm never leaving my house again.

Seriously. Should we have even gone to the zoo today? Should I send Sassy to preschool? I can't take this right now...

Laugh now people... if I perish due to swine flu, you will all feel terrible. Very, very terrible. I do have a cough, you know? And, I think my lymph nodes are a bit enlarged...

---

In case you didn't know... this very post is my 199th... which makes my next one number 2-0-0! Who hoo! If I make it through to see the day (see above), I will be hosting my very first giveaway! Stay tuned...

My Little Cupcake is turning 3!

Well, next week, anyway...

However, as I have been vehemently trying to explain to her, we celebrated her birthday last night with her friends, even though her real birthday isn't until next Friday. (Note to all readers: save yourself the hassle and plan the party for after the birthday if the actual day doesn't work out...)

Sassy and I had many important conversations dreaming up the details of her third birthday party. After many ideas were tossed aside, she finally declared that her theme would be the cupcake. She wanted all things cupcake for her birthday party. After a little bit of research, we decided on hosting the party at Sugar Sisters Bakery. Each child would receive dinner and lemonade, followed by cupcake decorating, a giant strawberry cupcake with pink frosting for singing happy birthday, and a personalized apron as a party favor.

Here are a glimpse of the invites:



Here is a picture of Sassy before we left for the party. I ordered her a cupcake shirt and matching cupcake hair bow on etsy at Simply Chic Bebe:



The kids had so much fun at the party. The cafe was still open for business, so I do feel a bit sorry for the poor folks who may have intended to stop in for a coffee and scone and relish in their peaceful quiet Friday night. What they encountered was anything but peaceful and quiet! Did I mention that Sassy had 16 of her friends in attendance? With siblings, there had to be at least 20 kids ranging in age from 8 months- 6 years old. Yeah. We pretty much overtook the place! Here is a picture of the scene... see all of our pretty aprons hanging on the chairs?



The kids and adults had some sandwiches and lemonade, and then proceeded to run like crazy people until it was time to decorate cupcakes. The aprons were a huge hit! Here's a picture of Sassy and a few friends:



Little A was as sweet as can be. Since Tyler and I remained fairly busy taking pictures and helping out, she was passed around to nearly everyone, and our friends were just delighted with what a happy baby she was the entire time. Sweet girl:



The cupcake decorating went well. Each of Sassy's friend was given three teeny-tinycakes to decorate with yellow frosting and assorted sprinkles. They were given a small take-home box to put them in, but as we all know how the world works for two and three-year-olds, not many of them actually made it home. Well, at least ours didn't!





Here's a cute one of Sassy and her Daddy. She was SO hopped up on sugar at this point, it was cRaZy! During the party, she ate a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, lemonade, 3 tiny cupcakes loaded with frosting and sprinkles, and a giant cupcake when we sang happy birthday! Whoa! You only turn three once, though!



When we sang happy birthday, the girls at the bakery brought out a giant platter of strawberry cupcakes with pink icing and sprinkles. Yum! Sassy got pretty shy when everyone sang to her, and it took her a few tries to blow out her candle, but she did it!





I'm pretty sure she was in cupcake heaven with that strawberry cupcake, too. Mom was jealous!



We wrapped things up by opening gifts and thanking everyone for joining us and making Sassy's third birthday party so special!

...And thanking Sugar Sisters for putting up with us and our rambunctious crew!

Accidents & Elephants...

We have had an interesting couple of days around here!

Yesterday, I when I picked Sassy up from preschool, LMB came home with us. Lynzee had a few errands to run, so I brought her home with us for a while. As soon as we arrived home, I took a couple of pictures of the girls out front. Here are a couple cute ones:





Here's what transpired next. We came inside and I got the girls ice water and goldfish for a snack. We went down to the basement, and less than 5 minutes later, Little A needed a new diaper. I was just about to go upstairs and change her when Sassy told me that she needed to go potty. On my way upstairs, I checked the bathroom in the basement to make sure the potty seat was on, and then I told her to go ahead, and that I would be right back.

I was in the middle of changing Little A's diaper in the nursery when I heard a scream coming from the basement. I ran down to see what had happened, and apparently (since everything is a competition between the two of them), LMB decided to jump on the potty before Sassy could, and Sassy had an accident. For a lack of better ways to say this, Sassy tried to take off her wet pants and panties, and slipped on the wet tile floor and basically fell into her own urine and hit her head. Awesome.

So, I have Little A screaming in her crib, LMB pooping on the potty, a very dirty tile floor, and Sassy in desperate need of a bath. I ran upstairs and gave her a 3-minute bath, got her dressed, started the laundry, ran downstairs, helped LMB "finish up", cleaned the bathroom floor, washed my hands, ran and got Little A, and finally fed her a bottle- all in about 10 minutes time. Where is my medal??

---

This morning, we decided to take advantage of the beautiful day outside and take the girls to the zoo! Sassy was so excited, especially when we decided that we would pack a picnic lunch. She talked about seeing the elephants for approximately 87 hours last night before bed...

You all know about my uncontrollable urge to dress the girls alike, right? Well, I had the perfect matching outfits for the zoo, and they looked so cute! I think Lynzee was a little nauseated, but, oh well!



The girls had so much fun. We did a lot of switching places as far as strollers, wagons, and walking, but it all worked out! Sassy and LMB thought it was so fun to hold hands and walk "by themselves". We saw the orangutans first, then did a large path through the Australia and South America exhibits, saw the elephants and zebras, had our picnic lunch, and then stopped at the penguin exhibit on our way out. Here are some of my favorite pictures:

Sassy & Little A enjoying their stroller ride:



Sassy & the orangutan, up close and personal:



Sassy & LMB in the Australia exhibit:



BFF's (when they feel like it...):



The moment Sassy was waiting for:



Lu Lu & Little A:



Am I the only one who thinks Lu Lu looks like Mike Wozowski here??





Sassy enjoying some lunch and taking it all in:



Mmm... Peanut butter and honey! Aren't her pink nails the cutest??



Tonight is Sassy's cupcake birthday party, so we will have plenty to post about later!

I must ascertain that Sassy is, indeed, still two...

After going through a grueling 48+ hour labor with multiple unsuccessful epidural attempts and an eventual c-section, you would think that I would never forget those days. That I would never forget holding my sweet baby girl in my arms for the very first time. This would seem logical.

However, I have found myself looking back to late April of 2006 and asking myself, "Did I really enter the hospital to have her on April 29th? Was she truly born on May 1st? Am I remembering these dates correctly?" You may wonder why I am questioning the very thing that no mother ever forgets. Ever.

Well, based on outward actions around the Sweet Pea household lately, it surely seems as though someone has entered the terrific threes a few weeks early [insert sarcasm]. Dear Lord.

Sassy has been a CHALLENGE and a half as of late. I'm nearly at a loss for words. It's pretty bad when my most stated phrase has become, "Speak with your words, not your whines, please." It's like she has created an entire alternate language that consists of nothing besides high-pitched squeaks, unintelligible run-on sentences, and other sounds generally unpleasant to any human ear.

We are having meltdown central several times throughout the day. The worst part... it's over nothing at all nothing I hold to any level of importance. I try hard to remember that she is trying to find her voice in this world, but it's relatively hard to do when I know she has had a strong and powerful voice for so long. A voice projected by sweet sounds, songs, and loving words to her mommy.

I do think part of the problem has been that she has had a very hard time taking her rest in the afternoon ever since the bippy fairy came. Poor girl- I think she is just so used to that comfort to soothe her to sleep. The fact is, she is just not ready to lose the nap completely. It's a sure bet every day: skipped naps equal meltdowns at dinner time and beyond. Big ones.

I do love my Sassy dearly, though. Tantrums and all. I also try to pick my battles, a skill that I am still very much developing. Still being a relatively new parent, I have found that possessing this ability is paramount to the balance of our family life.

So, last night, we were getting ready for bed. I had Sassy looking forward to all of the exciting things we would be doing over the next few days. We got the teeth brushed, and I sent her in her room to pick out her jammies. We keep her pajamas in her bottom drawer, and it's something we always let her choose. Well, out she comes with a little pair in her hands. After taking a closer look, and then having the epiphany that Tyler put away laundry last time, I realized that she had a pair of Little A's pajamas in her hand...

I tried to make a joke out of it. "Oh, you're so silly," I told her. "Those are Little A's mermaid jammies." "Notheyrenottheyrem-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-ne!!!" she wails. "Sweetie, I think they are Little A's. Look," I said, placing the shirt up to her chest and showing her how small it was. "I don't think they will fit you, babe." General chaos ensues, including Sassy wedging herself into the darned pajamas.

Battle-picking time. Since I hadn't told her outright that she absolutely could not wear the pajamas, but instead suggested picking different ones, I wasn't going back on my word. Since she had gone to the trouble of figuring out how to get them on, and since they were sized 12 months instead of 9 months, I just let it go. The funny part was, they weren't nearly as small on her as I thought they were going to be.



Truth be told, she was pleased as punch with her pajama selection.



Oh, have I mentioned to you all that Sassy has come into our bedroom every.single.night since the bippy fairy came, too? Hey, it's a process...

Well, anyway, this is what I saw when I called for Sassy to wake up this morning for preschool. I had to run and get the camera. Holy hair!



Oh, and here's a super-cute one of Little A right after we dropped Sassy off. She was still in her car seat and just smiling and cooing away. Love it!



Have a great Thursday, everyone!

Tangerine Dreams...

Those will be what we hope for as we drift off to sleep tonight and reflect on our orange-filled day!

This will be a quick wrap-up, since I have my own little Sweet Peas to attend to!

We had a fabulous orange dinner- Asian Orange Marmalade Salmon, Orange & Ginger Rice and fresh broccoli. Yum!



After dinner, I had to go to work (which involved a change out of my orange attire... boo!), but I gave Tyler some ideas for orange-related crafts to do with the girls while I was gone. Sassy and Daddy made pretty (I use the term loosely) orange-stamped paintings.





After work, as our last orange adventure, we took a family trip to Braum's, and each of us parted from our norm and ordered orange sherbet in honor of Stellan! (Little A admired and we enjoyed...) It never tasted better than tonight, my friends.









Tomorrow, the abundance of orange may be out of sight, but it will never be far out of mind.

Have a restful night, and go hug your sweet peas, young and old!

I'm pretty sure orange just makes people smile!

We've continued to have a fabulous orange day in honor of Stellan and his heart surgery this morning.

Guess what guys... he PULLED THROUGH! MckMama is currently working on an update post. So far, she has said that things were complicated and he did require a blood transfusion. But... he made it through surgery to recovery! Woot Woot!!

After preschool, Lynzee and I took the four girls to McDonald's today for lunch and to play. I decided not to lug my camera, thinking to myself, "What does McDonald's possibly have to do with Stellan and our orange day?"... Oh, I don't know... maybe the fact that MckMama refers to her MSC (many small children) as Big Mac, MckNugget, Small Fry, and MckMuffin... duh! Oh, well... once I made the connection in my slow & feeble brain, we delighted in the fact that we were doing another thing Stellan-related during our super fabulous day of orange!

After a quick stop at Target for some diapers and formula, Little A was pretty tuckered out. I fed her and put her down for a nap, and Sassy and I went out front to try again at pictures, since I forgot her earlier. We had fun, and this time, the sun wasn't directly in our way!







We also decided to do something fun with every one's favorite orange snack... goldfish!!! Here are a few of our creation:







Now, both girls are happily resting, and I am off to start preparing our orange dinner! Stay tuned...