Spring Break and Sleep

I'm sorry for neglecting my little blog........but MAN HAVE WE BEEN B-U-S-Y!
Here are a few updates on what we have been doing

Last week was Kaylee's Spring Break, I know that sounds sort of corny, i mean she only goes to school 2 days a week, so she basically gets a Spring Break EVERY week. But I decided to make it sort of special for her (as if she even knows what the heck is going on, but oh well). I had a friend (at gymnastics) ask me the Friday before Spring Break where we were going for SB. As if EVERYONE goes on a vacation for SB. Anyways we didnt go anywhere, at least out of town, but we sure did rack up some miles running around to all the activities we DID do.

Monday we just chilled at home, preparing for the days to come, and getting some housework done.

Tuesday I took Kaylee to Paint a Piece. Kaylee painted a light switch cover for her room and a tile. While at paint a piece, I decided to start a tradition in our family. I am going to take the girls every year and have them paint a tile, and someday I have big dreams of using those tiles as some sort of artwork in our house. What sort of "artwork" is yet to be determined. I mean I want it to be portable in case we decide to move, but I also want it to be permanent too. I will have to think of how I can use them. I think it will be really fun and interesting to watch their artwork grow and evolve as they get older. And it is a great excuse to do something fun and fairly cheap, and we can do it as a family or one on one with each child. So many possibilities.
After Paint a Piece I took Kaylee out to lunch, she picked her favorite restaurant....Booyas. Then we ran some errands, got our allergy shot, and headed home for dinner and bed.

Wednesday I took Kaylee to Tikes and Trykes, which was really fun because 2 of her friends that have never been to T&T came. And on top of THAT she got to ride their "big girl bikes!" I was hesitant at first, I didnt think she would know how to ride, but boy was I wrong. She got on that thing and acted like she has been riding for months, granted there were training wheels on it, but still it surprised me how well she rode.

Thursday I attempted to take Kaylee to the Children's Museum, but as Kaylee put it "our ticket didnt work!" We bought a membership to the Children's Museum in Hot Springs last year when we went for my birthday, and at THAT time we could have gone to our museum, the one in Boston, along with 100's of other museums around the country, for FREE. Well apparently much has changed in "museum memberships" department since then. Our museum is no longer affiliated with our membership (and neither is Boston's) so they wouldnt let us in. And since I refused to pay 20 bucks, we left. Kaylee was sad for about 10 seconds, especially considering we were actually INSIDE the museum and she could see all the kids and fun stuff to play with, and she was thinking in her head how incredibly awesome the Boston Children's Museum was. I quickly assured her that the Boston museum is MUCH better and that I would take her to the zoo instead. When we got in the car, we decided to do lunch first. So we ate at Pei Wei . I LOVE PEI WEI!!! and so does Kaylee! She ate a ton, and thank goodness for the free orange slices, she had about 16 of them (not exaggerating). While we were eating I realized how incredibly close we were to LeBonheur Childrens Hospital. So I asked Kaylee if she wanted to go visit her friend J who just had surgery on his head. Her eyes lit up and she screamed "YEEAAAHHHH!" So we moseyed on down to the hospital, conquered the mazes of hallways, and found our way to his room. We sat waiting for him to return from recovery (he had a somewhat minor procedure earlier that day), while we waited she asked questions, and I answered, nurses came in to check on J and found that he wasnt back yet, so they enjoyed talking and playing with Kaylee instead. When he came into the room, he and Kaylee talked and played. I chatted with the parents and we visited for about 1.5 hrs. J's mom mentioned that during our visit, J's heartrate was the lowest it had been since his surgery, and she attributes that to Kaylee. It was so sweet/ comforting to see that just a little visit from a friend, even if he couldnt get out of his bed and play, made such an impact on him. But, Kaylee was getting more and more tired as the minutes past, I knew at this point that the zoo was out of the question, so my plan was to not mention it and try to get her to nap on the way home. And that is precisely what I did. We made it all the way home without a melt down about the zoo or the Children's Museum for that matter. But when we got home and Amma and daddy asked Kaylee about her day she told them BOTH that she went to the zoo. Now Im not sure if she thought that the hospital was the zoo (becasue of all the beautiful artwork on the walls) or if she dreamt about the zoo on the way home. Either way we had a very fun and rewarding day!

Friday we tackled the Memphis Botanic Garden's - My Big Backyard! We had so much fun, and daddy was even able to join us (he took off work so that he could go). It was such a treat to have daddy there too. We didnt quite know what to expect so we werent exactly as prepared as I wouldve liked to have been, but we will know better next time. Friday was the PERFECT day to be doing an outdoor activity. It wasnt too hot or too cold. The sun and the nice breeze were nothing short of PERFECTION! We all had such a fabulous time. Then we grabbed a bite to eat at Humdinger's before our hair cuts.

Saturday we had a friends' 1 year birthday party. And once again it was a great day for an outdoor activity! Sweet little MT and her family sure did show us a thing or 2 about how to throw a birthday party. It was so cute! The decorations to the party favors, which I have to add were the cutest little things EVER! MT's mommy made a CD of all of MT's favorite songs and put them on a CD with her picture on them. What a fabulous idea! But then again I wouldnt expect anything less from K. We had a great time at the party!
After the party we decided to make our big trip to Costco for all our food necessities. Then home to eat, bathe, and bed.

Sunday we had tickets to go to the circus. We arrived a few minutes later than I had planned so the choice of seating was......well there wasnt really a choice of seating left. You see your tickets arent for a particular seat, they are first come first serve, and we definitely WERENT first! After walking around for a few minutes I spotted a section of bleachers located ON THE FLOOR, that looked just big enough for our be-hinds. I asked the guys sitting near the empty section, just to be sure they werent saving them, and then we made a BEE line for them. Oh and might I add that not only were they on the floor but they were basically center stage! Man did we luck out?!? Both girls thoroughly enjoyed the show! and by "enjoyed" I mean that the first HOUR AND A HALF (before intermission) flew by. I couldnt believe how well behaved they were just watching everything. It was so great! During the intermission, Marcus had to take out a second mortgage on the house to let us take a ride on the elephant. Just kidding about the 2nd mortgage part, but man were those ticket ridiculously expensive! Oh well how many people can say they rode on an elephant? The second half of the show went by even quicker than the first. We snapped a few more pictures before leaving and heading straight home to bed.

So like I said we have had quite an eventful week. Dont get me wrong, I had a blast doing all sorts of new and interesting things, but i am glad it is over. We are back in full swing now with school and my eBay work, and trying to dig out of my "housework hole." It is amazing how just a few days of neglecting housework can really catch up with you. There is laundry to be done and floors to mop and much much more! i will try and get some pictures (and a few videos) of all the fun things I just mentioned up this week, but I'm not making any promises.

I hope you all had a fabulous Spring Break whatever you did!


Oh yeah and this post is also about SLEEP!
well lets just say that not much of that has been going on around these here parts! Ainslee is obviously getting the most sleep out of all of us, and she needs the most sleep so that is ok. Her sleep schedule has probably the least disrupted, but the tooth she cut on St Paddy's day and the others that are trying to make their way in arent helping! Marcus' sleep has been somewhat disrupted too, but nowhere near as bad as Kaylee's! On top of pretty much refusing to sleep in her bed for naps AND bedtime, Kaylee thinks it is fun to get out of her bed 5000 times! She also thinks that it is cool to revert from her previously potty trained self, to this crazy bedwetter that has to wear diapers again! UGGGH it is SO FRUSTRATING!!! But she isnt the only one not getting any sleep, I havent slept much in the past couple of weeks either (actually it is probably more like months). I dont know what is wrong with me. But I sure do know what insomnia feels like! I am so tired but just cant fall asleep. My mind races, I toss and turn, and jsut as i am about to slip away to sleep something or someONE wakes me up. Then the process starts all over again! I think i am averaging about 4-5 hours a night, which that might seem like a lot, but when it isnt CONSECUTIVE hours of sleep it suddenly isnt considered "a lot" of sleep. I sure do wish that someone would just knock me over the head so I can get some rest at night. But for now I have decided that I will try and be happy with the sleep I do get and try and get some things accomplished when I am not able to sleep.......hope it works!