I thought that our bout with illness this week could be attributed to allergies and/or the common cold. That was until Miss Caroline decided to have her asthma re-enter the picture around 6:00 last night. So, off to the urgent care we went!

I happen to really like our local children's after hours care-they are close and really do a great job. We didn't have to wait long and the kids behaved-two great things.

We found out that yes, Caroline was having breathing difficulties and she also has an ear infection. We will be on breathing treatments for the next ten days...but Caroline should be looking and acting like her old self by tomorrow. Poor girl.

No pictures of Caroline today-not quite ready for the camera flash just yet.


One girl who is ready for her close up, though, is our little dancer Brooke.
Yesterday in dance class we finally got our costumes in. I am not sure if the girls were more excited or the moms. I simply cannot.wait for this recital. I am hoping that Brooke whips out her big moves on recital day...but right now we are 50/50 in class. Half of the time we are going full out...and the other half of the time we are admiring how gorgeous we look in the mirror (but, seriously, can you blame her)??

This costume may be the her all time favorite thing about dance class...tied only with the bear that came with.

Good move right?

This is the Walking on Sunshine costume (additional hairpiece still to be added).
She loves it right?

This train may never make in off the stage with Brooke as their leader...it will lead to one of those awkward laughing moments in the audience (I cannot wait).

Sick

Today we are sick.

 Brooke woke up with a fever and cough and is being treated with Tylenol and honey (which is amazing for a cough btw).

 Caroline has the reddest cheeks I have ever seen and refuses to drink anything (Pedialite is on the way). Tylenol is also her friend-as is mom's lap.

 Mom is currently waiting for her Allegra to kick in and hoping that coffee does it's magic.

There are few rules today.

 Toys will not be picked up right away, snacking is allowed, movies may be watched and PJ's will be worn.

Back to my babies....a runny nose with tears is just too much to take :(

To all my blogging friends....

Who doesn't love a good deal and who doesn't LOVE a monogram!!

I thought that I would share with you all some of the new items we are carrying at my work and the AWESOME deal we have running today.

FREE MONOGRAMMING!

Today, and Today only.

Yep.

Who doesn't need a lovey :)
My girls adore theirs and a monogram is the finishing touch!

Adorable Hippo Pillow with removable cover for monogramming (and washing!)

Love this!

Yes, yes...I know we are craving Spring...but 70 days = 50 nights!
Nothing like this classic to throw on for chilly evenings (or the current snow we have!)

Ah yes...back to Spring.
Does this scream EASTER or what??
Interchangeable ribbon too.

Tons more colors on our website.
Love the classic white/navy.



To.Die.For.
The-hands down-softest blanket around.
Every new baby needs one...and every toddler will steal the babies (maybe mom will too).



So, hit up www.justmeapparel.com, and visit our new JMA Monogram Shop (left side).

New items are added daily...and let me now if there is anything out there you want to see...or just have to have :)

Brooke Update

Caroline gets her own post, monthly, on or around the 3rd. I thought we would give Brooke an update all her own-in photos of course. This girl loves having her picture taken. At (almost) three and a half, she continues to be a bit shy in person, but get her at home (or anywhere in her comfort zone) and she is a diva. When she saw that I had the camera out, she requested a photo shoot immediately. I obliged.

I think that this may have been a practice shot for our dance pictures we have coming up.

Finger point, check.
Backwards glance, check.
Laughing mom..oh yes.

This move I take full credit for.
I have plenty of college pics with this shot :)
Love.

Jelly Bean Mom

Last week, while running errands, I found a great deal on Easter eggs and candy to fill them with. In my excitment, I snatched up bags of goodies that I knew the girls would love to discover on Easter morning.

Since then, I have prepared myself a small jelly bean snack (nightly) after the girls have gone to bed. I have been nice enough to leave the non-delicous selections (i.e. orange, green and no doubt black) in the bag - still availabe for their Easter baskets.

What kind of mom puts the nasty flavored jelly beans in their kids Easter eggs??

I will be headed back to the store to buy new treats. Maybe I will buy some of those Cadbury Eggs. Lord knows I will not touch those-I mean, they just creep.me.out.

In other news...isn't Caroline cute??

True MOM

Today I witnessed some high school kids speeding through my neighborhood. I have seen this before, but this time it was different. They were driving behind another car when that car slowed down to make a left hand turn onto their street. The teenagers picked up their speed and passed the car in front of them on the left hand side.

Ok. First off-you don't pass cars while driving in a neighborhood. Secondly, you certainly don't pass a car on the left...when they are making a left.hand.turn. It is also worth mentioning that there were a handful of tweens hanging out at this neighborhood intersection who, without a doubt, would have been injured had the two cars collided.

This made me so mad. I watched the car full of teenage boys drive by and made a mental note of their license plate. Not sure why...but watching them accelerate down the street after almost causing a major accident just pissed me off.

The girls and I continued on our walk-all the while I am trying to come up with a way I can 'help' this situation. Low and behold, a police car happens to drive down the street. I happened to have run into my sister-in-law during our walk and was mid-conversation with her (filling her in on the situation I had just witnessed) and gave him a friendly wave. I am not sure what it was about my wave, but her turned around and pulled up next to me.

This is when I became THAT parent. I filled him in on the whole story (including my memorized licensed plate) and the color of the car.

How could I forget make and model??? So disappointed in myself.

He was headed in the direction of those speed demons and was going to be on the lookout. I am sure nothing will come of it, but I hope that it does. There are way too many kids playing out in the streets with the weather getting warmer and it is a HUGE worry for me.

I have a feeling that I will continue to be THAT parent. My girls may be totally embarrassed of me when they get older and I call and inform every neighbor that we will be out of town and if they notice any funny business to give us a call...but you know what, Tom and Etta don't seem so bad now :)

Playing catch up...

Well, warm weather is lots of fun...and way better then Monday mornings in March filled with snow. Along with the sun, though, come mom's allergies...hence my lack of posting...I will work on that.

This weekend with had my cousin's daughters 4th birthday. It was a Toy Story theme and it was so fun!! Her parents are WAY more creative then I will ever be and put on quite the party!

The beautiful birthday girl!!

Jack was in dino heaven.
Dino blow up, Dino shirt, Dino name tag...and more to come

Brooke hard at work at her non-dino butterfly name tag.

The Claw!
I haven't seen Toy Story 3 yet, but from what I hear, "The Claw" plays a pretty important role

One little girl loved The Claw :)

Caroline LOVES a good party :)

Next up was the highlight of the party..FACE PAINTING!!

This was not your run-of-the-mill face painting either. This was top-notch. We loved it!

What did you think the boy would have done??

I swear I didn't force her to get her face painted. She is SO serious sometimes.

Loves it.
Didn't wash it off for two days...I tried.

Little Artist

Enough blogging about my online shopping obsession...back to the kids!!

Our city offered a free art class for ages 3 and up this past week. It is called Young Rembrandts. I thought I would take Brooke seeing how she loves anything involving markers, crayons and paint...

The teacher told Brooke that she was a 'natural' and that her butterfly was 'beautiful!'

Maybe she will take after her Uncle Brian & Grandma Mary Anne!!

The face of a future artist??
:)

Still shopping...

This may be an addiction...but it is one that seems quite frugal...which in my life is great.

A few more current wins/purchases. That's right! I have acutally won some auctions!

Shopping.

A couple weekends ago, I went to a children's clothing resale hosted by a friend. I got adorable clothes for the girls...in fabulous condition...for an amazing price. After having the girls try on their new outfits, I became obsessed with hunting down more good deals on spring/summer clothes for Brooke & Caroline.

I turned to ebay to begin my search. Did you guys know how much is out there? I am sure I am the last person on earth to turn to ebay to find 'deals' for their kids clothes...but seriously-there is amazing stuff out there!! 

Here are two of the dresses that I have bought for Brooke so far. 

 

Cute right??!!

Here is the thing, though. The dresses above I ended up buying through the 'buy it now' feature. I still got amazing deals on these dresses. WAY lower then resale. AND, they are both brand new. Everytime I have tried to bid on an auction, though, I have lost. There are some bidders out there that really know there stuff! At the very last second they always beat me by $0.50.

I always know exactly what my max will be for the item. I have just been inputting that number as my 'max bet.' For any of you out there that may use ebay, is there a better way? Do you not bid at all in advance and wait until the last few seconds?? If your a ebay junky like I am turning into...fill me in on yoru secrets!!

Have to go-I have three auctions ending in 1 hour....

Swimsuit Ready

Today I got the girls swimsuits in the mail.
Caroline couldn't have been more excited. I think that this girls is ready for warm weather and Innsbrook!

Brooke also got this matching suit...but refused to let me take her picture.

Apparently showing off her tummy is not something this newly modest girls is used to. At first she was all right with the idea. She said that she could wear the swimsuit and still be a princess since Jasmine shows her belly...but when she realized that Jasmine wore pants and this was a no-pants outfit...she got shy again.

And now the debate...to monogram the swimsuits or not.

Thoughts/Opinions??

Stats

Caroline Fleming at 15 months weighs 25 lbs (75%) and is 31" (75%)

In other words, "Practically Perfect in Every Way"

as both May Poppins and Brooke Fleming would say.

In other news, the following photos are evidence of what will is likely to happen if you leave your children alone for five minutes to empty the dishwasher.

I think that a lesson in make-up application may be necessary for Brooke.

15 Months

9 months until this child is two??? How is that possible??

Caroline is 15 months and Caroline is Fabulous.

She is becoming more and more of a chatter box. Her favorites include shaking her head while telling me, "no", "all done", "dad", "mom" and the ever classic "uh oh!" Occasionally I think that I hear a Bella, but maybe not.

Caroline's desire to play with her sister is becoming more apparent this month. Before, Caroline would just do her own thing. If Brooke took a toy away she would just shrug it off. Not.Any.More. If big sis takes her doll away...you better believe we (and the neighbors) will hear about it. Caroline has quite a set of lungs on her. She is also so good at sharing. She is always bringing toys and books to mom, dad and Brooke so we can all play together.

Getting up in the morning is her favorite time of the day. When you walk in Caroline's room, she smiles like nothing I have ever seen. She is SO excited that your there to bring her downstairs...to her next favorite time of the day, breakfast :)

Lately she has become more a cuddler. This may be my new favorite trait :) There is nothing better then this little girl climbing up on my lap for a quick snuggle. Two times this month she has fallen asleep on my chest which she hasn't done since she was a baby. Love this.

Happy 15 months to Caroline! We love you more at 15 months then we thought was possible. I cannot even begin to imagine what the next months (and years) will bring...but I can't wait.

*15 month doctors appointment to come tomorrow

Brooke's Wedding

The other day, while uploading some pictures on the computer, Brooke saw her flower girl pictures. She proclaimed that, "she hadn't seen those pictures in FOREVER!!"

She then informed me that she 'loved those pictures, because they were from her wedding."

When I asked her who she married, she let me know that she had married Jack that day. You see (as she let me know) she wore a white dress and Jack was dressed as 'prince charming.' As she informed me, they were now married and Jack would need to move in with us.

I guess I will have to let Gary know. I think he will be excited to have another boy in the house!!