Another Anniversary

Today we celebrate the day we FINALLY became a family of five living in the same house.  Seven years ago today we brought Addie home after almost 4 months in the hospital.  We celebrated, sort of.  I guess it's more accurate to say that we acknowledged it.  It's been one of those days.  And there begins a story...

Saturday morning at 3:30 I woke up with a sore throat.  I don't have tonsils, so I don't even remember the last time I had a sore throat that wasn't accompanied by nasal stuff.  I trudged through Saturday fully and punctually medicated with Motrin & Tylenol to keep the pain away and thought there might even be some achiness.  I just kept going.  I slept on the floor Saturday night with the twins and woke up again at 3:00 and had to have more Motrin in the middle of the night.  I was awake for about three hours, and ended up getting one more hour of sleep before the girls woke up at 7:00.  I felt okay yesterday morning/early afternoon, but by evening I was near tears from feeling so awful.  The Motrin was no longer doing anything for the pain, and I knew today would be a doctor day.  The fever I had been unknowingly treating finally broke around 3:30 this morning, thank goodness.  I got in to the dr. this morning and got a whoppin' shot of penicillin for strep throat.  The girls and Gary also stayed home today because they woke up with crummy throats.  They are all now on ten days worth of meds to treat round two of this nasty strep.  The toothbrushes are discarded, and I'm already planning to thoroughly disinfect the house in the coming days.  Hopefully we can totally get rid of this stuff soon.  I will say, though, that the kiddos have handled all this better than the adults.  The mama can't get sick, or at least can't get sick and be the vegetable she'd like to be.  The dad, well, he's not used to being sick and therefore doesn't realize how bad it can be.  I'm keeping him on a rotating Motrin/Tylenol schedule just like I do the girls until his fever breaks.  It's just like adding one more kid to the mix...

Happy Olympics!

If you haven't yet read the previous blog entry, you might want to check it out first.  We've taken care of the problem of it not being the holiday season and have this little beauty to present.  Happy viewing! :)

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

Happy Holidays...Late or early, I'm not sure which.

So we've been playing on JibJab this afternoon, and the girls thought this was the funniest thing they'd ever seen.  And since we're still living in winter, it's not too far off base!  You might hear Hope cackling if you listen closely! :)  Word to the wise, though, you might want to click the pause button on the music player on the lower right of this blog page prior to hitting play.  It's a little hard to enjoy the video with the music on.

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

Terrific Thursday

Today is “Terrific Thursday” at school, which amounts to some different activities in the afternoon for the kiddos.  Maybe it’s just a way to make Thursday into something special.  I’m all for it, so I think it’s going to be “Terrific Thursday” at home too.  I’m not sure what that’s going to mean, but there’s time to decide.

I found something new on my website this morning and wanted to share it.  Check out the "Look Beautiful For Less" eBrochure, and you will find great sale items, in all areas of skincare, makeup, jewelry, etc.  (I’m always looking for a sale!)  To get there, go to my website, click on "eBrochure" in the top right corner and proceed to the Look Beautiful For Less brochure (This is the picture of it.). Might shop there myself...

http://www.youravon.com/dvan-cleave

I've now used the Anew Reversalist Night Renewal Cream for two nights in a row and am still amazed.  I don't know how it has done it, but it has made a significant difference in my expression lines...all of them.  I am one of those people who communicates in more nonverbal ways than verbal ways, most of which result in lines on my forehead as well as the rest of my face.  I say a lot without saying anything, so it takes a little more effort to get rid of those lines.  I'm impressed so far with the results I've had in two days.  At this point, if I can tell a difference in that amount of time, I'm sold!

We're all looking forward to the weekend for no other reason than it's the weekend.  We have no plans, but hopefully everybody will be healthy.  Maybe, although I'm not going to bet on it, the weather will even be normal (not recent normal, but normal normal).  A girl can dream!

Mama's Girl

Yesterday while we were getting ready to go to the dentist, Hope told me something big.  I knew she was a lot like me, but this cinched it.  She told me that her two favorite places to go are the library and Barnes & Noble.  It was one of those "Well I must be doing something right!" moments! :)  Those are probably my two favorite places too. 

Avon anyone?

As a child, I remember always being excited when Mom’s Avon lady showed up at our door.  Looking at that brochure/catalog was a little taste of the Christmas catalog every 2 weeks.  Granted, Mom’s Avon lady has always been older (much – or at least she always seemed that way to me).  To make a long story short, I am now an Avon Sales Representative.  So, if you are interested in seeing the current array of products, please visit my website:

http://www.youravon.com/dvan-cleave

Our current campaign ends on March 3, but there are really some great sale items.  SuperExtend Mascara is only $3.99 – I’ve tried it and it’s fantastic. The Ultra Color Rich Mega Impact Lipstick is also on sale at $4.99 and is one of my absolute favorite things as well.  My favorite lipstick has always been an Avon product, so maybe I’m a little biased.  I’ve also been given the opportunity to try the new Anew Reversalist (so new that the day cream will not be out until next campaign) and it is absolutely the most amazing thing I’ve ever used on my face.  After one night I literally woke up with my skin already feeling wonderful.  I had never used Anew before because my skin is so sensitive, but I had only good results with this product.  It’s exciting to get to try these products and even more exciting to be able to review them and share my thoughts.  If I don’t love it, you won’t hear me talk about it!  (Obviously…  Check out the cheapo recommendations on the cooking blog!) 

Ugly Weekend!

The outlook from our windows this morning is downright nasty.  We had a mixed bag of snow, sleet and freezing rain throughout the day yesterday and have apparently had freezing rain most of the night. It's just cold enough to freeze on the trees and just warm enough for it to be drippy.  I guess that's a good thing.  At least some of the ice is falling off the lines, so hopefully we'll keep our electricity for the day.  It's not pretty, though.  I'd take pictures, but I really don't want to until the muddy ugliness is covered in a blanket of white.  I took pictures of yesterday's snowball-sized snowflakes (I can hardly call them snowflakes, they were more snowclumps) but I just couldn't do them justice.  They were amazing!  I've never seen it snow like that before.  Today's not so pretty. If it gets prettier later in the day, I’ll probably take a few pictures.  Until then, however, it’s not happening. 

Gary & I had planned to go out to Lawrence or Topeka to eat last night while the girls were at Meme & Papa’s, but due to the weather, we settled on just going to eat Chinese food in Ottawa.  It was my cheat meal of the week and was really, really good.  We’ve already decided that we’ll go back again soon and take the girls.  I’m sure the twinkies will love it, and Hannah will inevitably find something she likes as well.  She’s really more of a meat & potatoes/gravy kind of girl, but I think she’d like some of the things we ate last night.  Obviously we didn’t tell them we were going last night, or we would’ve probably had two little tag-alongs.  I’m pretty sure we haven’t had a meal out by ourselves for roughly a year, so it was nice.  It’s much more exciting with the kiddos, though! :)