A Busy Start to Spring

Over Ristow's spring break we were able to take a few days and head up to the Great Wolf Lodge in Cincinnati for a mini family reunion with my brother and his family and my parents. It was such a wonderful time. The kids laughed and played together and loved the water park. It is funny how different it is when you grow up and spend the time playing with your kids at the water park and not so much time playing with your brother at the water park. But luckily we were able to put all the kids to bed in Mom and Dad's room one night and spend some time just us kids, I mean grown ups, hanging out as couples. I love hanging with Jimmy and Zan and had a great time.

My Birthday also fell during spring break and my wonderful husband organized a bunch of friends and family to go out line dancing at the Wildhorse. It was so much fun! It was the first year that the number I was turning made me feel like I was getting older. But at a fun night out, 35 felt pretty good!

We also had a chance to hit a Nashville Predators hockey game! We took Ristow and my Uncle Ed who was visiting and the four of us cheered and yelled and had a blast watching the Preds win.

So you can see, we have been busy and having a blast. I am truly thankful for my many blessing and the opportunities to spend time with the people I love!

Still as young as I pretend to be!

I went with Jessica to the Driver's License center today to get my license renewed and a new photo taken. Very important since the last one I got was 10 years ago and looks very different to how I look now. Well, unfortunately the Center was closed due to the computers being down, so we will aim for next week to say cheese for the camera.
Instead, on the way home, we stopped at a playground and enjoyed the beautiful weather and a snack. I was chasing Jess around the playground and having fun when I spotted it....The flip bar.
Now I know that is not the technical term for it but that is what I used to do on it, so that is what it is called. I slowly walked over to it and wondered...could I? should I? Will I hurt myself? and the most important question, Is anyone looking?. With Jessica close by picking up sticks, I propped myself up and flung over and around the bar and landed safely with both feet and the ground. My poor sunglasses that flipped off my head and across the playground were the only casualties. No one saw and really no one cares, but with my 35th birthday approaching this month, I walked a little bit taller afterwards knowing that I could still do it ;)
I can't wait till the day when Jessica is old enough for me to teach her to do flips on the playground ;)

fyi... if you google flip bar images, you don't just get playground images ;) you get people flipping other things too. Just a warning ;)

Karate and More

Ristow sure knows how to make a Mom proud. Tonight he received his Jr Orange Belt in Karate. He is really enjoying it and is doing really well. I am so excited that he has found something that he can get into. Now comes the head gear and the sparring, should be interesting ;)

Now is when I take a moment and brag, now I know I kind of just did that, but Ristow is just so smart and I am amazed by him just about on a daily basis. (Between all of the ridiculous knock knock jokes that don't make any sense, of course)
He is doing above and beyond his kindergarten work and is reading, spelling and doing math wonderfully. He asks for more worksheets for me to print out for him to do. It is fun to watch his little brain work.
Tomorrow he gets to go to the State Capitol Building for his school field trip and he is super excited, mostly because he gets to brag that his Poppy built 70 of the windows for the Capitol Building but also because it is just cool. The most interesting place I got to go on a field trip was to the water treatment plant. ;)
I can't wait to hear how it goes and what new ideas it creates in Ristow's mind. I am sure it won't disappoint ;)

Smiling Again

The smiles that normally fill the McClintock household had been MIA for the last week. Jessica has been sick with throwing up and runny nose and the cough monster. After just four days of it and her not sleeping much I decided to be a "Good" mother and take her to the doctor. Of course, she didn't cough or sniffle one bit while we were there and her fever even broke just in time for them to take her temperature. Aaaargh, they looked at me and smiled and said "well she must just have a cold". I was soooo frustrated as I drove home listening to my child cough and hack the whole way home. What a lovely waste of time ;)

Now we are on day 11 of the yuck but with much improvement. No throwing up or fever and the runny nose and cough have lessened, and she is sleeping again for the most part!
But the best part of all is that she is finally smiling again. Last week she would cry all day long and now she is laughing and happy again! We have even been outside enjoying the warm weather.
We all ended up with some form of the yuck this past week, sniffles, runny nose, sore throat.
But now I am off to Lysol the entire house and hopefully keep us all healthy again.
I am very thankful that the smiles have returned!

Jessica's Beautiful Eyes

Today I was looking into my daughter's eyes and got to see how beautiful they are.
Since she was born she has had blocked tear ducts that have caused her eyes to crust over and gunk up ALL OF THE TIME. We were constantly wiping and cleaning and wiping.

This past Tuesday we had a procedure done where they put her under anesthesia for a short time and snake a wire through her tear ducts to unclog them. The one healed on its own two days before the procedure so they only had to do one eye. They said there was a substantial amount of blockage but it should clear up fine.

For the last two days her eyes have been perfectly clear when waking up and throughout the day. What a huge relief! I know that compared to what some families have to endure with their children with sickness or other health or development issues, this is a teeny tiny minor thing. But we are thankful that it is cleared up and Jessica will not have to deal with that anymore. She is such a beautiful blessing to us and I am so thankful for my precious daughter.
Here is her cheesy clear eyed grin...

11years and counting

This past weekend was Christopher and My 11th Anniversary. On Friday night my parents came over for dinner and Christopher's mom was in town visiting and the request was made to watch our wedding video in honor of our Anniversary. Ristow was very excited to see the video and had tons of comments and questions all the way through.

When he saw the line of groomsmen at the front of the church, he said " wow, and you picked Daddy out of those guys, right mom?"

After seeing the church we got married in he says "oh, I thought you got married in the field with all the gravestones." "You mean a cemetery?" I say. I guess he kept getting married and buried mixed up ;) To which Christopher replied "Well, it's kind of the same." Nice

Ristow's favorite part was the part where Christopher and I smashed the cake into each other's face. He said that he couldn't wait to do that at his wedding except he would have a cake that was half spiderman and half butterfly (for his wife).

We laughed a ton and enjoyed remembering all the good times we had that day and all of the wonderful family and friends that joined us.
Then we celebrated our day by going to the Circus with the family and then Christopher's mom watched the kids and we went out to dinner and then overnight at a hotel. We had a great time and are very thankful for the 11yrs we have had and all of the people that have supported us this far. Hopefully many more years to come ;)

One Tough Snow Bunny

Jessica is a tough little girl. She can take her fair share of tumbles, bumps and bangs and still keeps on rocking. We are always very impressed by how much she can take before a tear drops.
Today was a great example of that.
We got about 4 inches of snow last night and before lunch we bundled up to head out for some wintery fun. After my last ordeal trying to get the kids bundled for snow play, I learned the best way and the best clothes to use. Ristow grabbed the sled (which was NOT locked in the shed this time) and we headed out.

Ristow and Jessica piled onto the sled to make their inital run down our little hill. They slid down the hill and right into a snow covered bush at the bottom of the hill. Poor Jess was in the front and ended up with a faceful of snow and branches. Surprisingly she didn't cry a bit, though her face was all scrunched up waiting for me to brush all of the snow off. It filled up parts of her hood too. I couldn't help but chuckle a little at the situation.
Lots of fun sledding and snowball fighting ensued. Then our neighbor invited us to sled with them down their driveway which is much steeper than our little hill. Ristow was very excited. His first run down the hill, he runs right into and under the front of their van (which had been moved to the side so no one would hit it) Normally he would get really upset but I think he must have been taking his cues from Jess. I went down with Jessica and everything was great.
While we were waiting at the top of the drive, Jessica stood up and due to the crazy amount of clothing she was layered in, lost her balance and landed face first into a big puddle of slush on the side of the road. I couldn't help but laugh! Man, that poor girl. Her face was covered in slushy snow. It was packed in her hair, her nose, her pacifier was even packed with slush. She was not happy. After I cleaned her up though, she was ready to ride again. I pulled the kids home on the sled and we went down our little hill a few more times and headed inside.
All in all, I would say it was a successful day of winter fun! Looks like we will get another chance tomorrow and Jessica will, I'm sure, be a champ again!