National Waffle Day!

Next up on the list of silly holidays that we like to celebrate around here: National Waffle Day! :)

Apparently, we really enjoy the food ones haha! But honestly, they're the easiest ones to catch. We have to eat anyway, so we might as well have a day to "celebrate" the things we like to eat, right?

Because of some scheduling stuff today, it worked out best for us to enjoy our waffles for lunch. I prepared the waffle mix and the kids were so excited to watch their waffles cook in the waffle iron. There was so much anticipation for the cook light to change to green and the beep to sound.

I did get a resounding "I love waffle day!" so I think that would count as a success. That, and the fact that they each ate about 9 pounds worth of waffles haha.

I had also picked up a few books about waffles at the library, which was another fun {and silly} way to celebrate the day. Making waffles {something we would eat anyway} and reading books {something we would do anyway} was such a simple way to make an ordinary day more fun. 

I truly love watching the kids enjoy the little things, and I pray that these can be the sweet memories of childhood that stick with them for a lifetime. At the very least, Mommy has the photo memories of it :)

1000 Books Before Kindergarten :: 1100!

We hit our goal of reading 1000 books before Kindergarten...and we still have some time before school, so we decided to keep going and see how far we get!

You can find the books we have already read here:

• 1-100
• 101-200
• 201-300
• 301-400
• 401-500
• 501-600
• 601-700
• 701-800
• 801-900
• 901-1,000

1. Wheels! by Annie Cobb
2. The Diggers by Margaret Wise Brown*
3. A Day at the Police Station by Richard Scarry
4. Squirrel's Family Tree by Beth Ferry
5. Duck & Cat's Rainy Day by Carin Bramsen*
6. Ranger Rick: I Wish I Was a Bison by Jennifer Bove
7. Love From the Crayons by Drew Daywalt
8. Big Tree Down! by Laurie Lawlor*
9. Pete the Cat's Groovy Guide to Kindness by James Dean
10. Minnie's Bow-Toons: Trouble Times Two by William Scollon*
11. Daniel's Potty Time by Alexandra Cassel Schwartz*
12. Daniel Goes to the Dentist by Alexandra Cassel*
13. Bears on Wheels by Stan & Jan Berenstain
14. Shampoodle by Joan Holub*
15. The Helpers in Your Neighborhood by Alexandra Cassel*
16. Thumpy Feet by Betsy Lewin
17. There's a Pest in the Garden! by Jan Thomas
18. Sleep Little Angel by Margaret Wise Brown
19. Vote for Minnie by Disney Book Group*
20. Mickey's Perfecto Day by Sherri Stoner
21. Pups on a Mission by Lori Froeb
22. If I Ran the Circus by Dr. Seuss
23. What is Inside the Box? by Drew Daywalt*
24. The Fish with the Deep Sea Smile by Margaret Wise Brown*
25. Big Shark, Little Shark by Anna Membrino
26. Little Puppy and the Big Green Monster by Mike Wohnoutka
27. The Noon Balloon by Margaret Wise Brown*
28. Wild Baby Animals by Karen Wallace
29. Cowboy Roy by Cathy East Dubowski
30. Owl Babies by Martin Waddell*
31. Mr. Putter and Tabby Smell the Roses by Cynthia Rylant*
32. Flat Stanley on Ice by Lori Haskins Houran
33. Pete the Cat: Play Ball! by James Dean*
34. Frozen Worlds by Caryn Jenner
35. Red is a Dragon by Roseanne Thong*
36. Hello, My Name is Octicorn by Kevin Diller and Justin Lowe
37. Racing for Good by Ruth Homberg
38. Wish Upon a Dream by Margaret Wise Brown*
39. Sunshine and Snowballs by Margaret Wise Brown
40. Green Animals by Teddy Borth
41. Ponies by Pan Pollack
42. Puppy Parade by Jill Abramson and Jane O'Connor
43. Froggy Goes to School by Jonathan London
44. Mr. Putter and Tabby Stir the Soup by Cynthia Rylant*
45. Nina, Nina Ballerina by Jane O'Connor
46. I Am So Brave! by Stephen Krensky
47. Mr. Putter and Tabby Catch the Cold by Cynthia Rylant*
48. When Tiny Was Tiny by Cari Meister
49. Little Owl's Day by Divya Srinivasan*
50. Penguins, Penguins Everywhere by Bob Barner
51. Monster Machines on the Go! by Nickelodeon Publishing
52. Meet the Dinotrux by Chris Gall*
53. Barkus by Patricia MacLachlan*
54. Soup for One by Ethan Long
55. Penny and Her Doll by Kevin Henkes
56. Now One Foot, Now the Other by Tomie dePaola*
57. Go Baby Go! by Marilyn Janovitz
58. Crunch, the Shy Dinosaur by Cirocco Dunlap*
59. Too Many Dogs! by Lori Haskins
60. I See a Cat by Paul Meisel
61. Hide 'n' Sheep by Jennifer Sattler
62. Baby Max and Ruby: Shopping by Rosemary Wells
63. Hooray for You! by Marianne Richmond
64. How Rocket Learned to Read by Tad Hills
65. The Giant Hug by Sandra Horning*
66. I'm Grumpy (My First Comics) by Jennifer L. Holm
67. Trains! (Big Busy Machines) by Charles Reasoner*
68. Bob and Flo Play Hide-and-Seek by Rebecca Ashdown
69. Cowy Cow by Chris Raschka
70. Crabby Crab by Chris Raschka
71. Buggy Bug by Chris Raschka
72. Clammy Clam by Chris Raschka
73. T-Rex is Missing by Tomie dePaola
74. Curious George and the Bunny by H.A. and Margaret Rey
75. Dragons Love Tacos 2: The Sequel by Adam Rubin
76. I'm Sunny! (My First Comics) by Jennifer L. Holm
77. Baby Ruby and Max: Clean-Up Time by Rosemary Wells
78. Thomas and the Jet Engine by R. Schuyler Hooke*
79. Ninja, Ninja, Never Stop! by Todd Tuell
80. Trucks! (Big Busy Machines) by Charles Reasoner*
81. Telephone by Mac Barnett
82. Going to the Zoo with Lily and Milo by Pauline Oud*
83. It's an Orange Aardvark! by Michael Hall*
84. A Fish Named Glub by Dan Bar-el
85. Marvin K. Mooney, Will You Please Go Now! by Dr. Seuss*
86. What This Story Needs is a Hush and a Shush by Emma J. Virjan
87. Whose Hat is It? by Valeri Gorbachev
88. Mittens, Where is Max? by Lola M. Schaefer
89. The Bravest of the Brave by Shutta Crum
90. Show Me the Honey by Tish Rabe
91. Axel the Truck: Beach Race by J.D. Riley*
92. Fred and Ted's Road Trip by Peter Eastman
93. Go to Sheep by Jennifer Sattler
94. Big Bird's Copycat Day by Sharon Lerner and Joe Mathieu
95. Peter Spit a Seed at Sue by Jackie French Koller
96. Perfect Soup by Lisa Moser*
97. The Good Egg by Jory John
98. The Good Egg Presents: The Great Eggscape! by Jory John
99. Max Counts His Chickens by Rosemary Wells
100. I'll Teach My Dog 100 Words by Michael K. Frith

*Some of our favorites

Crohn's Chronicles :: Oh, Flares

The last 10 days have been rough. I have not been feeling my best, and I have quickly been reminded of the realities of my disease. I have been flaring {which means that I have had active symptoms}, and have been pretty miserable. Poor Mike has had to step in a lot to help with the kids, and I have pushed off all of my to do's because I basically just collapse in bed at every opportunity I get. If I'm not in the bathroom. Did I mention that I really dislike being back in this place where my disease is active again? Sigh.

I am in that hard in-between time, where my disease is active and I'm waiting for my new medicine to start working. And unfortunately, the steroids I took before only helped while I was on them; I started flaring almost immediately after my regimen was done. So my doctor put me on another prednisone taper. I will do another 4 weeks of steroids to get the inflammation in my intestines to calm down, and hopefully allow my Entyvio infusions a chance to work. There were some side effects to the prednisone, but I'll take those over a flare any day. 

I had my second infusion last Friday. Thankfully, again, I didn't have any reactions, and it was an easy, in and out appointment. I got a window seat this time, which was nice, though I did have to listen to the person in the infusion station next to me snore the whole time. No judgment here...I'd sleep too, if my infusion time wasn't so short :)

One of the sweet girls in my community group sent me a text that she had dropped something on my front porch. She left me an incredibly thoughtful gift, filled with items for someone with Crohn's. She had read a blog and learned about some helpful items, thinking they would be helpful for me. How sweet is that?? It was just the encouragement that I needed, and I am so thankful for all the prayers and encouragement that the Lord has brought through sweet friends and family. It makes it easier to face the harder days.

The card was my favorite haha

National Watermelon Day!

We love the silly holidays around here, and we definitely love watermelon! :)

To me, watermelon = summer. As soon as they come out in the grocery store, we add it to our normal shopping list so we can enjoy as much of it as we can for as long as they are available. So we couldn't let the day go by without enjoying some! We {by "we," I mean my children} eat an entire watermelon every couple of weeks. And that's because I limit them haha.

Today, we enjoyed some watermelon chunks with our morning snack, and then we also had some watermelon popsicles for our afternoon snack. I also got some fun books about watermelon at the library to read...because we might as well celebrate big, right?

We have smiles all around, so I think that makes our celebration a success!

{iPhone Rewind} :: July

When you call out for Aiden and hear giggling...he's not very good at hiding :)

Eli showing his true feelings about wearing his eye patch. Haha- sorry kid! {the patching and checkered patterns are supposed to help him strengthen his eye until he is old enough for vision therapy}

Reading time with the crazies :)

When you wake up in the morning, having felt really cold all night, only to realize that a nameless toddler girl had turned the A/C down to 50 degrees so it ran all night long. Because she's tall enough to reach. And has zero self control. Sigh. 

Having a freezer full of homemade popsicles is a must for us during the summer. Our favorites are watermelon and mango/pineapple. Super easy, and healthy too. Frozen fruit for the win!

Stuff that popsicle in there!

He loves his stickers :)

And he loves his puppy dog :)

We gave the boys haircuts, and then Eli and Maddie wanted to do Mommy and Daddy's hair

Candyland is entertaining with these kiddos haha

She has the patience of a saint.

It's 100 degrees outside, but he insists on wearing a beanie

Painting with water is always a hit!

And little guy gets to "color" ... we're still trying to keep the crayons out of the mouth, but he insists on being like the big kids :)

When you need the entire hallway to play with your LEGOS

My little artists

He just wishes he was a little taller...

Our sweet friends Lauren and Miguel sent a fun gift for our little readers!

Daddy gets the royal spa treatment

My Maddie Girl :)

He loves ALL the water!

Not so sure about this grasshopper friend...

"Daddy, do you want to build LEGOS with me?"

He will never be too big for snuggles

Morning reading time!

Can we just take a moment and mourn that it feels like 93 at almost 10 o'clock at night?

My sweet girl has latched on to the idea that she was once frozen as a teeny tiny embryo. She will often yell this out in excitement :)

Cuties :)

My co-workers are cuter than yours :)

I think our anniversary plate turned out pretty good!

Show me your muscles!

This is by far our favorite Kiwi Crate- help the chameleon "eat" the bugs :)