Catching Up

One major perk of my job is the laptop computer that each teacher is given. The technology director actually told us she wants us to take the computers home each night. We do have to turn them in on the last day of school so that she can make necessary updates but we get them back after just a few weeks. However, since our district was hit by the tornado I'm not sure how quickly I will be getting my computer back this summer. We do have our own desk top computer at home, but it was out of commission for a little while there and so that is why I have been backed up on my posts. This post is going to be a bit of mixed events......the girls playing in their new tunnel, a family wedding and Will's 3rd birthday party.

Wes and I decided that we wouldn't go nuts buying things for the girls' birthday since we buy them things pretty consistently anyways. We also knew they would be spoiled by family and friends and they don't even know what is going on yet. So we just bought them two pairs of shoes, a few books and a pop-up play tunnel. Will and Soph have one and I knew the girls would like it. Well I was wrong....they don't like it, they LOVE it! Whenever I bust that sucker out they get so excited! I try not to do it every day so that it is exciting every time. Here they are playing in their tunnel. It cracks me up how they just climb over each other when they both are in it at the same time. Also, Stella's expression cracks me up in the last picture. It is not her normal smile but it is so cute.June 5th we had a wedding in Fort Loramie for Nancy's (Wes' step-mom) niece. The girls looked adorable in their dresses from Sandy that they got for their birthday. As always, Aunt Mo and Aunt Kayla were super helpful with the girls!
June 6th we celebrated Will's 3rd birthday. His actual birthday was June 8th. Ashley had a monkey theme. It was so cute watching Will get so excited to open his presents. I have to try to remind myself to cut back a bit on the gifts. I just love shopping for my niece and nephew and I do it over time so I don't realize how much I have for them until it's time to wrap. We got Will a cool wooden game that I found online that works on balance, a Diego puzzle, Melissa and Doug wooden pattern blocks, an outfit, rhyming cards, magnetic books that he can make silly faces on, a Dora book and possibly some other things. I cannot even remember....kinda ridiculous. We also got him a Dora balloon and a giant Dora card. Will LOVES Dora. It's kind of funny, if he's watching Dora and you are talking to him he doesn't even hear you. My sister once said it's like crack for toddlers and it is so true. LOL Anyways, I am going to try to cut back because I do realize I will have many more nieces and nephews in the future and we would be in the poor house if I spent that much on all of them each year. It was a fun party and we had a great time. My cousin, Molly, even brought her family which included 4 day old Lincoln James! Her little girl, Cora, was again too cute for words. She enjoyed playing with Will's new jumbo magnifying glass...check out that picture below!

No More Baby Tub

We have always bathed the girls in their baby tub that we registered for. It is wonderful. It is an infant to toddler tub and they still fit very nicely in it. They are contained in one spot and easy to bathe this way. However, we couldn't take it with us to Florida and they were definitely going to need several baths over the week. We decided to put them in the tub together and just see what happens. They had a great time splashing together and really loved the freedom of moving around in the tub. Although, it makes me a little nervous and cannot be done with just one parent, I think this is how we will continue to bathe the girls at home. At least, it gets their baby tub out of the bathroom which is nice because it was annoying to have to take it in and out of the shower every single day.

Here are some pictures to enjoy. I especially love the one where they are standing up and looking back at me.

Water Table Fun

Saturday morning Aunt Ashley called and asked if the girls would like to come over and play in their outdoor water table with Will and Sophie. Mya and Stella LOVE to splash and so I said of course. We headed over to their house and I got the girls dressed in their super cute swimsuits from Aunt Kacie and sun hats from Grammy Jo. They looked over-the-top adorable! Check out Mya's pose in the second picture.....pure sass with her leg kicked out and her arm up!Both girls had so much fun. I was wondering how Stella would do, because although I know she loves the water I also know she hates to have grass touching her. LOL Sophie let Stella borrow her jelly sandals because we don't have any shoes that should get that wet. In the end, Stella enjoyed the water table more than any of the kids, but check out the picture of her crawling in a way that her body barely touches the grass.

Is my niece the sweetest little thing, or what? I love her expressions!
We also played with Will's soccer ball and pushed Will and Soph on the swings. Uncle Dub even swung with Will for a little bit.Will had to pee and Ash decided he could just do it outside. Since she didn't want any dribbling she held him and I, of course, took a picture of the comical but smart situation.
After we played, we went inside and got changed into dry clothes and Aunt Ashley made a yummy lunch for the girls. We had a great time and hope to do that many more times this summer!

*Sidenote: I came to Ashley's house first with Stella because Mya was still napping. I took a bunch of pictures with Ashley's camera of Stella, Will and Soph. When Wes came over with Mya and the camera I started snapping away. Now I'm noticing that I didn't get as many of Stella on our camera. Bummer! I'm sure Ash will have a post about this soon though, so stay tuned.

Absolute Devastation

Saturday night we were headed back home from a wedding in Fort Loramie. We passed by the school that I teach in on our way and it is a habit for me to always look at it as we pass. It was 10:00 at night but I just always glance at it. Little did I know one hour later it would be destroyed. I was so tired so when we got home and got the girls into bed, I went straight to bed myself. Wes was staying up and around 10:45 he came into our room and was a little nervous about the weather. He wanted to wake the girls up and head to my parents' house because we don't have a basement and there were tornado warnings all over the place. I thought he was being dramatic and I didn't want to wake the girls up a second time after they had already been woken up after the drive home. The weatherman said the storm would hit our town at 11:28 and so by 11:15 it was too late to load the girls up and head over to my parents' house. We did go up and get them and sat in our stairway (the only completely internal spot in our house) and waited for it to pass. The sky was creepy to say the least. After it passed we put the girls back to bed and continued to watch the news. It was late and dark so you couldn't see much but we they were reporting that Lake High School (where I work and 10 minutes from where we live) was hit and there were 2 reported deaths at that point.

My parents called around 12:15 and said they really wanted us to come over because there was a second round of storms that were coming around 3:00 a.m. So we packed up some things, grabbed Milo and woke the girls for a 3rd time that night. We got to my parents and we just held Mya and Stella instead of putting them to bed because we were going to have to wake them up shortly to head to the basement when the storm came again. It was such a crazy and scary night. My parents' basement ended up flooding. In the morning when the sun came out we were able to see all the damage. It was absolutely surreal. The death toll climbed to 7. The high school was completely destroyed. The elementary that I teach has not been decided on yet. The roof had been lifted up and slammed back down in the storm so they have to decide yet if it is structurally sound or if it will be condemned, as well. Graduation was supposed to be Sunday afternoon and that was obviously cancelled and rescheduled for Tuesday evening. One hundred houses in the district were affected. 50 are demolished and 50 have major damage. The feeling of not being able to do anything and just wondering if all of my students are okay was making my stomach sick.

Monday afternoon they had all of the teachers meet at the K-1 building and assemble ribbons to be passed out at the graduation ceremony. It was something small that we could do, but we all left feeling like we contributed. We really just wanted to be together at this time. I have been frustrated with many things at my job over the years, but I cannot even begin to tell you how much I absolutely love all of these people. In the face of tragedy we all banded together. We really are a family and the support that everyone showed today was heartwarming. I am very much looking forward to graduation tomorrow evening to see what this community really is made of. Our superintendent told us today that we aren't going to sit around and feel sorry for ourselves. We are going to rebuild because our kids are worth it. He said "Tough times don't last, but tough people do!" Well said!

1 Year Appointment

Yesterday was my last day of school and so there was no way I could take off to go to the girls' check-up. Nana said she would watch them and she could bring them to their appointment where Wes could meet up with her. He had field day and so his principal said it would be okay for him to leave for a little bit and return after the appointment.

Here are their stats:

Mya Alyse ~

weight - 23 pounds even (75th percentile)

length - 28 1/2 inches (75th percentile)

*Since our 9 month appointment Mya has gained 2 pounds, 13 ounces and grew 1/2 an inch.

Stella Grace ~

weight - 19 pounds, 11 ounces (40th percentile)

length - 28 inches (50th percentile)

*Since our 9 month appointment Stella has gained 2 pounds, 11 ounces, but did not grow in length at all.

They also had shots to get. I totally forgot about this part so I didn't tell my mom to give them Tylenol before she left for the appointment. They had to get 3 pokes in their thighs and 2 finger pricks. Thank God I wasn't there, because I just don't do well with it. My mom said that Mya had a hard time with it but she eventually calmed down. I felt horrible. There was medicine in the diaper bag so they gave it to them before they left the doctor's office. My mom brought the girls to my classroom for a short visit with my students. The girls were pretty vocal and my class LOVED seeing them. I talk about them all the time so they really enjoyed interacting with them. Stella was such a little flirt and smiling a ton. Mya was still a little upset about her shots so she was not quite herself. Afterwards, Nana took them home to feed them lunch and lay them down for a nap.

I had gotten some really sad news at work and I was majorally bumming as I left school. But when I walked in to my parents' house to get the girls they were the first things I saw sitting in their booster chairs eating a snack and when they saw me they got the biggest smiles on their faces. Boy, can that ever change your mood! My family is the best!

Birthday Girls!!!!!!

My beautiful babies are officially 1 year old.....well they actually will be at 9:33 and 9:34 p.m. They had a great day with two really good naps. They ate a ton and enjoyed playing all day. They looked super cute in their birthday t-shirts, shorts and new shoes.

So grown up!

Opening their new shoes.

I think Stella looks just like my sister in this picture.

Nan brought their signs over to our house and we got some pictures of them near them. I think it will be so fun to see their size difference each year.

Miss Mya.....standing all by herself in some of the pictures!

Stella....not liking the bark touching her. I LOVE how she now reaches for us when she wants to be held. She also opens and closes her hands like she's grabbing something and has a huge smile on her face......melts my heart!

Thank you two for blessing our lives. We love you so much!