Guess Who Got Their Ears Pierced?

 I decided to have Mia go first. I knew that if she saw Riley do it first, she wouldn't want hers done. She was  so excited to pick out her earrings. She picked out some white diamond studs.

 They gave her a bear to hold while they did it. She did really well holding still. She was definitely surprised when the earrings went in. I think she was trying to figure out what the heck just happened.

 Here she is right after it was done. She didn't shed one tear. She was so happy when she looked in the mirror! I couldn't believe how well she did. While Mia was getting hers done, my mom had Riley out in the hall. I didn't want her getting scared.

 Riley was up next. She also did really well sitting still while they marked her ears. She also picked out white diamond studs. She was so excited to finally get some earrings.

 She held the Claire bear as well. Both kids also got stickers and suckers.

 Mia stayed and watched Riley get her ears pierced. She was very interested in it.

She didn't cry either. I couldn't believe it. I was convinced that they were going to cry! They definitely surprised me.

Toilet Monster

I never did do a post on the toilet monster. Mike put it on the kids' Christmas list. (Don't ask me why.) And his parents actually bought it. (Don't ask me why.) What an awesome way to scare the crap out of kids that are potty-trained. :) We'll let you borrow it! These videos were taken on Christmas Eve.

We set it up and lured Riley and Ethan into the bathroom. Enjoy!
  Of course, we had to have Mia do it. The funny thing is they still remember the toilet monster and are still kind of scared of it.

Isn't That the Truth!

Brother Sister Love

"Our paths may change as life goes along, but the bond between us remains ever strong."

Riley's Birthday Party

We decided to have a swimming party for Riley. We had it at the Best Western Plus Ramkota. They have a very cute little kid swimming pool with a couple of water slides. The downside is they only give you a certain number of bands and they won't let you purchase more. We could only invite a small number so it ended up being our kids plus their cousins. Sorry if we didn't invite you! We wanted everyone to come!

The party started out really well. The kids had a blast splashing and jumping in the pool. We brought life jackets for our three kids so we felt like we were being safe. Riley took her life jacket off and disappeared. She wasn't gone for very long before I noticed she wasn't with us.

My dad took off to look for her and found her being held by a mom whose child was also having a birthday party. She had pulled Riley out of the water. We think she got stuck below a rope that was supposed to section off the water slide.

She was still conscious when they pulled her from the water but just barely so. My dad said she was gasping for air. She had absolutely no color to her and her lips were blue. She held her hands out to me and almost instantly fell into a deep deep sleep. I could do nothing to wake her. I don't think I've ever been so scared.

An EMT that was attending a party came over to check on her. He said that they pulled her out in the knick of time--a second later and she would have been unconscious. He said if he came across this while in the field, he'd have insisted the child go to the ER. I wanted to leave right then and there to take her in. Mike and my dad calmed me down and suggested we wait a little to see how she did.

This all happened within the first 30 minutes of being there. I spent the rest of the party crying. I'm sure everyone thought I was mental.

She slept for 45 minutes and then Mike got her to wake up. She was kind of out of it but was at least smiling a little bit.

The pool was only 3 feet deep. It goes to show you that you can never be too careful with kids around water. It still makes me cry to think that we could have lost her that day. I don't think I'll ever do a swimming pool party again. And they are taking swimming lessons this summer.

Riley's birthday cake. She was so excited for it. She slept for over half of her party so we let everyone have a cupcake while she was asleep. We saved her a couple and put candles on it so she could blow them out.


Here I am sitting with Riley just bawling. My dad was trying to make me feel better but I just felt awful.





Here she is after she woke up. I felt better seeing her smile. She ate two cupcakes in a matter of minutes.

She finally was able to open up her presents. She perked up while doing this. She got a lot of cute gifts.




Mark, Tom, and Andrea bought her some princess dress-up clothes with shoes. All of the girls stripped down and had to try the dresses on.
I turned around to see Mia completely naked with a little skirt on. Her butt was showing. She could have cared less.