Fun with friends....and a hospital visit for Nathan!

On Friday, I watched my friend's little girls for her. Madison had a ton of fun having her friends over to play for the day. It was just Hannah most of the day, but they had sooooo much fun together. And it's so neat to see them play so well together, because Misty and I were friends in highschool!

Nathan wanted to join in the fun too!

Then, of course, we always have to play dress up! And hey, don't look at me, HE wanted to. Seriously! I couldn't leave him out, now could I? :)

We headed over to the park for about 15 minutes before we realized it was really cold!

Notice the tongue!

And then Kingsley got out of school and came over for a couple of hours!

Now for the hospital part....
Nathan has been sick for almost a week now, but it was nothing serious. He was coughing a bit, and had a low-grade fever, but other than that, he was okay. Well, Friday afternoon, he took a turn for the worst, so we took him in to see the dr. (Thank you mom, SO much for helping with that!). His oxygen level was low after 2 breathing treatments, so they sent him to the hospital for chest x-rays. After no nap, a late bedtime, and many breathing treatments through the night, he's doing much better today. He's still pretty sick, but he's much better. They said it was "reactive airway disease"....which COULD be leading us to a diagnosis of asthma. I'm praying it's not going to lead to that, but we'll see. My sweet little guy was so good yesterday, and he's so good for his breathing treatments! He sits completely still the entire time, and goes cross-eyed trying to look at the mask! But talk about feeling like a bad mom letting him go outside in that cold yesterday...I had no idea!

A beautiful day at Firewheel...

It was too pretty to stay inside, so Nathan and I headed to Firewheel to play! He loves loves loves walking around Firewheel, with all the rocks, water and steps. And he loves the music too - he dances while he walks from store to store. :) He's been a little sick the past couple of days, so I figured the outdoors might cheer him up, and it did!

The second we got out of the car, he started running towards the fountain!

My big boy can even walk up the steps by himself now.

Then we went to the play area for a bit.

His favorite....throwing rocks into the water.

Stopped at Sonic for a drink for mommy (it was hot outside)! And Nathan thought it was much better than his drink. He almost didn't give it back to me. :)

Bad angle, but it's still cute. He loves walking around the fountain!

We stopped and Nathan ate his lunch. He actually ate a sandwich, which he normally won't touch! Yay for being less picky with eating!!!!!!! Can you tell how excited I am?

If this isn't the picture of a BIG boy, I don't know what is. Sometimes, I don't notice how grown up he's getting, and then it just hits me when I see things like this!

We were about to leave to go get Madison, but Popcorn Papa was calling our names. So, we decided to get us all a yummy surprise. *Surprise daddy!* Nathan LOVES this rainbow popcorn...he'd eat the whole bag if I let him. We picked up Madison, and she just about screamed when she saw her surprise! :)

Our day with daddy!

Since Michael has been working so much lately, they gave him a comp day. I wish it was more, but we'll take what we can get! Madison still wanted to go to preschool, so we took Nathan back to the Heard Museum so daddy could see what it was all about!

Trying desperately to get Nathan to look at the camera! Have I mentioned he's not too into the camera?? :)

He was a sleepy little boy today....wanted to be held by daddy the entire time!

Rest time...

Our attempt at a group picture....it wasn't working out like I had planned!

Nathan is ALL about daddy these days. It's very sweet how he is attached to him sometimes.

Playing around in Photoshop. I have one of these pics (at a different place) with Michael and Madison - by a photographer - and I just loved it! So, I was trying to re-create the picture with Nathan!

The Heard Museum....

I was really iffy about going today, because it was pretty chilly outside, but it actually turned out beautiful! At the end, we were all even a little warm! We had so much fun, and got some exercise too!

My little Nathan is Mr. Independent now. He would not hold my hand, and wanted to do everything by himself. If I tried to hold his hand, he'd squat down and resist. Little stinker. :) He actually fell down flat on his face, and got dirt all in his mouth, but he still wanted to do it by himself after that!

There were lots of trails, and a lot of things to learn! The only thing I was disappointed about were the dinosaurs....they weren't there anymore. Recently, they had an exhibit where they had HUGE dinosaurs outside, and you could actually see how big they were and what they looked like. We were bummed, but at least they're coming back in October!

First to the indoor exhibit...the kids got to see real animals that were stuffed. It was a habitat with all kinds of animals and insects.

We had to get a picture by the butterflies!

Onto the trail...

And here's a short video of Nathan walking down the steps. It might be a little hard to hear, but he was laughing the entire time!

Notice a child missing? He was in no mood for the camera - too much to do!
This tree was HUGE. Nathan was funny trying to look at it...he kept losing his balance!

There was a little wooden "house" and they loved running around in it! Here, Nathan was turning around in circles, because I think he liked the noise it was making. :)

We saw a lot of different animals, and Nathan loved saying "hi" to them.

The best part? A stick they found. :)

Before we left, we played in the sand with the dinosaurs!

It was definitely great getting outdoors and enjoying nature! I'm not normally an outside person, but I'm trying to be for my kids. And I actually enjoyed it!!

A very proud moment...

I picked Madison up from Bible class this morning, and her teacher said that she got up in front of the whole class and sang the New Testament song, all by herself! If you know Madison, you know this was HUGE for her. She got a new Bible from her teachers because she did this! I'm SO proud of my baby. It seems like these last couple of weeks, she's really grown up.

An extra special Valentine's Day!

First, daddy came home on Friday night with a rose for mommy, a rose for Madison, and a stuffed monkey for Nathan. What a sweet surprise, and a good daddy!

On Saturday, the kids opened Valentine's presents from us. Nathan was more into his sister's gift, and the tissue paper. :)

And for the "extra special" part....

Yesterday, on the way home from school, Madison said, "Mommy, I want to get my ears chopped so I can have earrings." Chopped? I'm guessing she meant pierced...I thought that was pretty cute! So, I told her it would hurt (I wasn't going to lie) and I kept asking her if she was sure. I thought of your post, Holly! Anyway, she kept telling me YES. She was so excited.

It was a little bittersweet, because I've been waiting for this day. I didn't want to get her ears pierced as a baby, because I thought it would be neat for her to CHOOSE to do it herself. And this day is here. It just means she's growing up, and it makes me so sad! But on the other hand, it's so wonderful to see her grow and develop into her own.

Here she is beforehand...very excited!

And not one tear later (she was SO brave!)....

Aren't they too cute?

And I caught her looking at herself and smiling in the mirror when we were shopping!

She is so happy! She kept saying all day, "I LOVE my new earrings. I can't stop loving them, and I can't stop looking at them!"

I feel so blessed on this Valentine's Day (and every other day). I love my sweet family and am so lucky to have these three wonderful people to share my life with!