Here we go...

*Jack and Emma are both sick. They both have ear infections and bronchial infections. Today they had their 2nd doses of antibiotic and is has made a huge difference. Emma was able to fall asleep in her bed, on her own again. The past two nights I have had to rock her to sleep. Jack's cough is almost gone, as is the runny nose. I stayed home with them today and it was fantastic. We stayed in our jammies and watched movies.

*Finley is sick too. He has an ear infection as well! It's nothing some ointment won't cure... but we're babying him just the same. He had an appointment with Judy the groomer this week and he looks very fine indeed.

*Brandon will be making his last assessment trip for his old job next week. He'll be headed to our old stomping grounds- Kansas City. Too bad he's only there for 48 hours and will be driving to Hays, Kansas and back also in that time. He'd love to visit all of our friends and favorite places, it's just not going to happen. With his new job he'll do a bit of travel every once in awhilep- but nothing like this has been.

*A week from Sunday the kids and I will be headed to Florida with Moe Moe for 8 days! We can't wait for the warmth and adventures with Nae Nae and Dude! The summer clothes we bought for the trip are all in a shopping bag in Emma's room just waiting to be packed!

*I have no school on Friday of this week and next. So since I had jury duty on Monday and Tuesday of this week, plus I was home today... and tomorrow is one of my 1/2 days for my maternity leave.... that means I will have worked 1/2 of a day all week!!! Wahoo!!!

*I've been trying to plan our trip to South Carolina for the past few weeks. Just when I think we've found the perfect house to rent... the added costs of taxes and cleaning services throws the price WAY out of our range!! Darn it!!

*I've entered a "healthy living/weight loss challenge" with Brandon and some friends he works with at Harley. So far I've only lost two points since Monday. Or, it's only Wednesday and I've already lost 2 points. This might be harder than I thought....

*Emma has started showing just what life will be like in the coming months. When Jack comes too close and bugs her, or takes a toy- she totally yells at him! It's pretty funny now... but I'm already anticipating how many little "fights" we'll have to break up once she's crawling and walking.

*I'm trying my "old reliable" classroom behavior modification trick with Jack. The more positive and upbeat about things I am- the more positive and upbeat HE will be. So far so good. His level of testiness has really dropped with me in the past few days. Not to say that he's been perfect- he had a time out this morning for hitting Emma on the head with a stuffed animal... but he's handling it better, and so am I.

*There has been an outbreak of babies around us recently! Our neighbor had a baby girl named Grace a few days ago, a friend of mine from high school is expecting a baby in September, a woman Brandon works with had a baby boy named Callahan (Cal) a few weeks ago, and a friend of mine from teaching in Kansas had her first baby, a girl named Katie a week ago. Yikes! That's a lot of baby gifts I'll be sending!! :)

*Just in case you're already thinking about what to get me for my birthday (April 24th!) I'm starting my list now. ;)
1. a potato masher/egg salad masher
2. earrings
3. a gift card to amazon.com
4. new slippers

I took a few cute pictures of the kids today... do you think I'll get around to posting them tonight??