an everyday day

Today was just one of those run-of-the-mill everyday days. The Mayor went to school, I had a tennis match (our team won our division and we won our 1st round of playoffs today), came home and Love Bug napped while The Mayor played, Meega and Bennett came over to play and the 3 kids had a snack together. D came home from work to some excited kids, we ate dinner and now they are asleep. Just a typical day in the Shirley household...and there ain't nothing wrong with that.

sweet cousins

pretty girl

37 birthdays

Today we celebrated the 37th birthday of the man of my dreams. Unfortunately, D had to go to work for most of his birthday, but that gave me and the kids all day to get a few last minute gifts and decorations. Yes, I am that cheesy. We decorated the kitchen with balloons, banners and crepe paper.

After D got home and was greeted by two very excited children, the kids helped him open his gifts and then we went out for a birthday dinner. After dinner we came home for birthday cupcakes and now the kids are in bed. Although it was a work day, it was still a great day.

Happy Birthday D...I love you so much! I wouldn't want to share this life with anyone but you.

baby powder

You know it is going to be a good day when it is 9AM, you just walk into your son's bedroom and you already have the day's blog material.

I opened the door to The Mayor's room to find this:

After I picked my mouth up off the floor, I closed the door, walked into my bedroom, told D he had to see this, went downstairs and got the camera. I immediately took the advice of a friend of mine with 5 kids under the age of six who tells me take pictures instead of losing your cool because one day you will be able to laugh at whatever it is. I agreed, and so I wanted to document the baby powder debacle.

We didn't even remember the baby powder was in his room. It was on the 2nd shelf of his hutch behind a plate and he climbed up there, got it and must have shook the heck out of that bottle. By the mess you would have thought it was a jumbo size Costco baby powder bottle, but it was a mere 16 oz bottle. Apparently a little goes a long way with this stuff.

After we saw the mess, we got the kids dressed and went for donuts. After the kids enjoyed their donuts, we came home and I got to work on the snow village. It took me almost an hour to vacuum and dust the room clean. But it is squeaky clean and smells like a baby powder factory. I am sure we will find remnants of the powder hidden in cracks for years to come. That's ok, it will just be a reminder of this fun stage.

covered the sheets...

...and the headboard...

...and The Mayor's hair...

...and the carpet, wall and furniture

he loves her

The Mayor and Love Bug were sitting across from each other at the kitchen table enjoying a snack. They were eating quietly while D and I were standing in the kitchen talking. Love Bug dropped her sippy cup and all of her goldfish crackers had been scattered out of her reach. She made a "eh, eh" sound while she stretched her little hands as far forward as she could in an attempt to get her crackers but with no luck. Without missing a beat, or being asked by us, The Mayor hopped out of his chair, went to Love Bug, picked up her sippy cup, put it in front of her and pushed all of her goldfish in a neat pile directly in front of her. He then looked at her, rubbed her head and told her it would be ok. Then he walked back over to his seat, sat down and continued eating his snack. D and I just looked at each other in amazement at the pure love between a brother and sister that we had just witnessed. I stood there with tears in my eyes and D walked over to The Mayor, kissed him and told him how proud we were that he helped his sister. It was one of the sweetest things I have ever witnessed and I am so happy The Mayor is a big brother and Love Bug has him to protect her.

the longest 15 minutes...ever

Today was The Mayor's appointment with the allergist and it was the day for the skin testing. Oh joy. D went with us and Meega watched Love Bug since skin testing on a 3 year old is absolutely a two parent job. For those of you not abreast to the details of skin testing, the quick and dirty version is each panel of testing is 8 tiny needles. Each needle is saturated in whatever it is they are testing to see what you are allergic to and they press each panel into your back. The needles pierce your skin allowing enough of the liquid to get under your skin and you lie flat on your stomach for 15 minutes to see if a welt appears on your back. They did 4 panels on The Mayor's back (which is 32 needles...actually 33 since they also pierce the back with a needle of histamine to ensure it welts and the test is accurate).

Do you think a 3 year old is going to lie flat on his tummy and lie still for 15 minutes after having 33 needles pressed into his back? Nope. So D had The Mayor's head and shoulders and I had the waist and legs and we literally held him down for 15 minutes. The Mayor was literally drenched in sweat after those looooooong 15 minutes finally passed. Nothing welted up. The doctor came in and told us the skin testing only appears positive if you are really allergic, meaning on a scale of 1-10 (where 1 is not allergic and 10 is highly allergic), skin testing will only become positive if you are an 8,9 or 10. It still doesn't mean you aren't allergic. So then comes round 2 of testing...intradermal testing.

Intradermal testing is when they actually inject the liquid into your arm so it really gets into your system to detect an allergy. The nurse came back in with 10 syringes lined up in a row. Me, D and a nurse wrangled The Mayor into a position where he couldn't move while the 2nd nurse stabbed my baby's arm with 10 syringes one by one.

After 43 stabs with needles, The Mayor isn't allergic to anything. So why all the issues? We still don't know. The x-rays he had 2 weeks ago indicted infection in the right and left sinuses and slightly enlarged tonsils. We are on day 12 of a 20 day cycle of antibiotics. After the cycle of antibiotics we go back for another round of x-rays and if he still has infection in his sinuses then we go to an ENT.

Hopefully, one day, we will get The Mayor's diet and sinus issues under control and get some answers.

We are now back home and all of us are just exhausted. Love Bug is tired from being woken up at 7:15 this morning to go to Meega's and I think it is pretty clear why the rest of us are tired. Bedtime is going to be extra early tonight.

marks from the skin testing

(the red dots are where the needles were pressed into this back)

intradermal testing

one sad and tired boy

hoppy easter

Last year, Easter stressed me out. We had a newborn baby and a 2 year old boy. Easter morning, we were running behind and rushing out the door for church so the kids didn't even get a chance to see their Easter baskets, and after church we went immediately over to Mamie and PopPop's where The Mayor got jacked up on jellybeans. I wanted so desperately to get a picture of our new family of 4 but trying to get The Mayor to sit for a picture was near impossible. Of course, at the end of the day, I realized Easter wasn't about any of that stuff anyway. It is about our risen Savior. And that is why we celebrate this amazing holiday.

So this year, I decided to enjoy the holiday for what it is and just take it easy. If we got a great picture or two then it would be icing on the cake. My cake was not only iced, but it was doused with whipped cream, sprinkles and a cherry. It was the best Easter weekend.

Our church has implemented 2 Saturday night services and they started this weekend. We went to church at 4:30 Saturday evening and it was amazing. The service was amazing and the time of day was perfect. After church, we went to dinner and then home to bed. This morning we all slept in (well, except D. He got up and rode 56 miles on his bike...crazy). But the kids and I slept until 9:00 and then went for doughnuts. It was weird not being at church this morning, but it was so nice not getting up early and rushing. After doughnuts, we came home and decorated eggs (Love Bug lasted for 2 eggs before she made it abundantly clear that she wanted to take a nap) but The Mayor could have decorated eggs all day.

After Love Bug's nap, we went out for lunch and then walked around outside enjoying this amazing weather. Shortly after the walk, we got dressed in our Easter outfits and went to Mamie and PopPop's for Easter dinner. The kids had a great time playing with their cousin Bennett and after dinner, we realized the Easter Bunny stopped at Mamie and PopPop's house and even hid eggs! We had an Easter egg hunt and my kids attempted to eat every piece of candy they got their hands on. After a few pieces, I put the rest in hiding. It looks like my kids got my sweet tooth.

I loved this weekend. I am sad it is almost over. But this year I did get a lot of good pictures so I can look back on this and remember how awesome this weekend was.

decorating eggs...could do this all day...

...she, on the other hand, could not. Put me to bed!

finding eggs at Mamie and PopPop's house

loves the new bubble gun

Bennett and Love Bug checking out the goods

showing what she found to PopPop

the martha stewart in me

That blog title just made me chuckle a bit because when my children look back at these blogs 20-30 years from now, they will think "who's Martha Stewart"?

Apparently I signed up at the beginning of the school year to make the Easter treats for The Mayor's Easter party. His teacher emailed me last week asking me if I was still able to do it and the wheels starting churning. I know it is a bunch of 2 and 3 year olds and they would be happy with a plain ol' sugar cookie but I wanted to do something really cute. I thought about making rice krispy treats, molding them into egg shapes then dipping the ends in melted chocolate and rainbow sprinkles (we did this with The Mayor last year at home and they were adorable), but The Mayor is gluten-free and the new gluten-free Rice Krispies cereal doesn't come out until June. Hmmmm, so I went to Michael's to see if I could find anything cute. I found adorable plates and a bunny cake mold on clearance - jackpot.

I decided to make a gluten-free cake and decorate it. But the more I thought about it, the more nervous I got about making a gluten-free cake. I am still experimenting with gluten-free baking...

Then I remembered Cocoa Pebbles cereal is gluten-free! So I made Cocoa Pebbles marshmallow treats, pressed it into the bunny cake mold and decorated it with homemade cream cheese icing. Just hearing about it will send you into a sugar rush...perfect, I know!

It is adorable and I can't wait to see The Mayor and his friends faces when I bring it into class. Hoping for some leftovers...

the cake mold

the Cocoa Pebbles treats pressed into the mold

two ears done

the finished product!

I only decorated the top. Homemade marshmallow treats are not nearly as sweet as the prepackaged ones but the homemade cream cheese icing is. I figured less is more with this crew.