Easter Egg Hunt....

Luke, Grace, Lyla and Jilli enjoyed the Easter Egg hunt at church today!!! It is a gorgeous day here in Michigan and getting outside was just what we all needed!!!!! My little man is really looking forward to the Easter Bunny tomorrow.

He also really enjoyed painting eggs without his big sister telling him how to do it. This week of only child is a nice treat for my boy. :-)

Fun in the Sun...

My baby girl is having fun in the sun!! She has arrived in Florida and she is having a blast already. She keeps me updated with texts and pictures. She called to chat last night. She facetimed Scott yesterday as well. It's been great hearing from her so often.

I've heard from the mom that the girls are so awesome and easy together. I am happy to hear my girl is using her manners. She will text me "don't worry mommy, I am saying my please and thank you's". Adorable.

She wasn't car sick at all on the way down. Ally seems to have stopped getting car sick which is so wonderful. I think it's the adjustments. I felt like she had some ear issues or something and getting her nervous system in alignment has helped. Whatever it is, we are all grateful.

Hope she has an amazing week!!!

Spring Break....

Spring Break has officially started for us!! And here I still sit in Michigan! Yuck!! Ally on the other hand, is on her way to sunny Florida with her BFF and family!! Yes, my ten year old daughter is headed to Florida
without her parents. Man times have changed. I was a senior in high school before I spring breaked without my parents!!! Haha!!!

We couldn't swing going away this year and when Ally's friends fam heard that.... They made the offer. I thought about it a long time. The decision did not come easy honestly. Ten days away is a long time. Florida is far away. But I adore the family.... And Ally would have such a great time. How could we say no? And why would we? Because we would miss sharing the experience with her?? Because we weren't going, she couldn't either? Seemed silly.... So Scott and I decided she could go...

So..... She is on her way!!! God bless modern technology. They have a WIFI hotspot in the car so Ally can chat with me. I am already receiving updates and Waffle House counts. :))))). Love sharing it with her.

I miss her already.... Knowing she will be gone so long. And over Easter too! But knowing she is happy and loved right where she is makes my heart smile. I love my independent baby girl!!!!

Luke and I are off too. I have to go into work periodically, but not regularly. So we are going to have some fun day trips!!! Scott is taking Monday off and we are heading to Ann Arbor and the Treehouse in Chelsea. He would also like to go to Make it Yours Pottery. His fave! Maybe a trip to the children's museum in GR if I feel up to it!! And some time with his cousin, Grace, who is on break too!

We shall see what the days ahead bring!!! In the meantime, prayers for safe travels for my girl!!!

Number 2...

Luke is home with Nana today. He had a case of the poops and we didn't think school was the best idea.

At around 3:00 am.... Luke came in and informed me that "the thing happened again." Being that he wasn't wearing any pants and I heard him get up to go to the bathroom, I knew exactly what "that thing" was.

Ugh.

The morning before "that thing" happened to our bathroom. It was everywhere. And he tried to clean it up himself. He used about 100 wet wipes. The hand towel. And Scott's bath towel. Both towels were behind the toilet. Like we might not see them.

We smelled them before we saw them. You've not seen anything like it. It was like a poop murder in there!!! We wanted to reenact the crime scene to determine exactly how one gets poop in the places we had poop.

Luke himself.... Was clean. THAT was really interesting.

So at 3 am "that thing" happened again. But this time, Luke was obviously too tired to attempt clean up. Really... That's a blessing.

Scott got up and took on the bathroom while I cleaned the Lukester and got him back to bed. I hear Scott laughing hysterically.

I go out when I have Luke tucked in. Scott cannot stop laughing. Seriously people. You don't understand!! He had to have pulled his pants down, and started to poop while spinning in a circle furiously. This is the only explanation.

Best part. There was poop in Scott's Ugg slippers.

He won't leave those in the bathroom again.

Happy my boy still has a smile on his face.

Ukai...

My father in law's birthday is also St Patrick's Day! This year, we decided to celebrate the night before, since it was a Saturday and easier on everyone. The non-school night is always a better option!

Dad has always talked about how he wanted to go up to Ukai together. So.... I suggested we do that and everyone loved the idea.

Not very Irish.... But that's ok!!!

It was crazy hectic. Reservation for 12. Two five year olds. Two two year olds. A ten year old. And who knew there would be fire?? My kids are kinda freaked out by fire. But we survived!!!

It was super fun. The food was amazing. The sushi even better!!!! It was a fun little outing and I hope Dad had a good time!!!!

Who Did It?

Heard from the living room:

"Mommy - Luke wrote on the couch!"

Me - "How do you know Ally?"

"Just come here...."

Me - "Oh..."

Handwriting samples not needed.

Muffins with Mom....

Well, last week was Donuts with Dad and this week, we had Muffins with Mom!!! The kids and I got to school bright and early and enjoyed some treats together. They were supposed to do some reading because its reading month.... But mostly, they just sat and talked. I don't worry too much about reading. Ally has always been an avid reader and Luke loves to be read to. Especially at night. For a long long time. Especially when mommy really needs to go to bed.

Am I the only one out there that goes to bed (shuts it down) when my kids do? My day is done. I may not go to sleep but either Scott and I sit and talk, have some wine, I read or on the very rare occasion (once a week for Cougar Town sometimes) I watch TV. Other than that, I am done with my day.

Anyway..... I digress. Moral of the story is its super fun to have muffins with both my kids at school together. :-)

Aerial on Beam....

Ally is learning her aerial on beam.  I think above anything else... medals, trophies and recognition at a meet... Ally loves to learn new skills!  She doesn't seem to care as much about perfecting them as she does learning them.... and then doing them all over the house.

Right now, she does aerials everywhere she goes. She even did one today when I took the kids into get adjusted. It was good for Dr. Scott to see just what he's working with... and why he has to adjust her ankle all the time.

Constant flips. Constant pressure on the foot. This girl loves to tumble....

Link to aerial on beam:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aq57bQQQ47U

Minor Adjustment...

Most Tuesdays, Luke goes to work with me in the morning when we don't see patients. During this time, I post insurance checks, call on patients and try to accomplish things I can't during the hours we are open.

Dr. Scott comes in a bit before we start seeing patients at 3:00. Today, as soon as Luke sees him get there.... He tells me he needs an adjustment. Luke gets adjusted weekly, usually on Wednesday.... But extra adjustments surely don't hurt.

A patient came in and when they vacated room one, I walk over and see my little man "waiting his turn"...

This kid cracks me up. He's got the routine down. So proud. :)

Pictures...

My kids and I apparently have an illness. We love to take crazy pictures of ourselves. Ally got Cam Wow and we had to try it out.

Mission Possible...

So, while everyone was thrilled to Spring Forward this weekend... it made for an EARLY start to the McIntosh Family's Sunday morning!

Ally had to check in for her meet in Howell at 8:00 am. Which really "felt like" 7:00 am.  Which meant we had to leave by 6:30 am. Which really "felt like" 5:30 am. Wanna guess what time I got UP?  5:00 am, which you guessed it... "felt like" 4:00 am.

And... we had a couple's shower the night before for some friends getting married... so we got home around midnight... and I got less than four hours of sleep!  YIKES!

At least the kids got more sleep as we had a sitter come to the house and make sure Ally was in bed nice and early. She may not have been asleep... but she was at least resting and working toward sleep!

Somehow we pulled it all off and the early start didn't seem to affect us, at least for the morning and early afternoon that we had to get through.  We made it right on time (early even!) and Ally was excited for another meet!  This meet was called "Mission Possible" and they even got leotards at this meet that read that.  Ally was pretty pumped for that. 

The girls started their rotation on floor. Again. This is the third meet our girls have begun on floor!  It's a good one to get the jitters out I think.  Ally did well.  A little skip after her front tuck pass... but that's about it.  She scored an 8.75 (which I've learned is good at this level - we aren't in the olympics here!)

Next up was vault. Ally hates vault and it shows.  8.1  I am just glad she survived it and didn't get hurt.

Bars were next in line.... Ally has really learned to like bars this year.  She has struggled with them in the past... but I think her upper body strength and ability to get stronger up top is improving and that makes it a bit more fun for her!  She did really well, scored an 8.25.

Last was beam.  Ally's strongest and most loved event.  The girl that went before Ally had a rough routine and Ally had to stand and wait a LONG time before her turn.  I had a bad feeling about that.  And I was right. My girl fell twice on beam..... and at the end of her routine, after the second fall, even though she was facing away from me... I knew she was already in tears. 

My heart broke for her... but I knew she needed to finish and not get hurt.  She pulled it off and stuck her dismount....  with two falls (a 0.5 deduction for each) and a start value of 9.0 - she still scored a 7.95... which means everything else she did was close to perfect.  I had a gymnast sitting next to me explaining it all.

She walked over to the gaggle of girls who instantly showed their support and love for her. Even her bestie, Cara... who was up next... took a moment to hug her. I love that girl. She is Ally's most amazing friend in every way. She is a wonderful girl and a genuinely amazing person. Her entire family is that way and we are blessed to call them all friends.

A few tears.... and she was okay. She didn't medal in any event... but was still amazing and gracious to those girls who did.  Cara medaled on every event and all around.  Cara's big sister was first all around for her level (higher than Ally's).  And Ally's team took third...... so a trophy was awarded to them. Ally's coach handed it to her... told her to take it home and bring it to the gym with her Tuesday.  Each time the team wins a trophy, someone is selected to do that.

That made my girls' day.

It was a great meet.  The team did amazing. Winning so many medals. And my girl was even more amazing... as she is always the biggest winner to me.  Life lessons learned.  Always.

Never. Ever. Give up.  

Ever.

Link to routines (minus beam cuz my phone died):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNt-UAxfn5c

A Little Spartan....

Aunt Jane was unable to make it to Ally's birthday party back in January. She came down with the evil flu that seemed to go through all of Jackson.

She was so bummed to miss it and told Ally they would have a night out, just the two of them. They were able to align schedules last night in order to have their night out.

Jane made the mistake of asking Ally what she wanted to do with her. Ally's response? "I want to do gymnastics with Aunt Jane". The key word here "with!!"

We made arrangements for Ally's gym to be open.... But then Jane did one better and got permission to take Ally to the MSU practice gym.

Wow.

Ally was over the moon. She saved her MSU leo to wear and off she and Aunt Jane went after school yesterday....

They spent a couple hours playing and tumbling together. Ally taught Jane her beam routine and Jane was proud to land the cartwheel on beam!!! They tumbled on the tumble trak. And flipped around the bar.

Afterwards, they ate at the Spartan Hall of Fame Cafe. Ally's fave in East Lansing.

She is a true Spartan after all. :-)

My baby girl came home just beaming. What a special night for the little lady. I think Jane enjoyed it just as much. I'm glad Ally has an aunt to have this special bond and shared passion with. :)

Donuts with Dad....

Each March is reading month at our school and the kids get to participate in all sorts of fun activities.  Yesterday was Donuts with Dad! The kids all go into school with their dads, eat breakfast together and spend some time reading together!  It's an awesome event. I think it's even cuter than Muffins with Mom personally... there's just something about seeing all those men dressed for work in there with their kids...  :-)

This was Luke's first year attending!  So awesome that the preschoolers get to join in the fun. He loved it.... as he enjoys anything he gets to do with the big kids!  Ally was hesitant to share her Donuts with Dad experience with Luke at first... but the morning of the event, she was pretty amazing and helped him pick books to take.  I think deep down, she is really proud to have a little brother that everyone seems to love... and that worships the ground she walks on.

I also love that Scott willingly rescheduled a meeting in order to attend. I love a man with his priorities straight.  :-)

The McIntosh Family Goes Skiing...

This past weekend the McIntosh family went skiing for the very first time!  It was SO MUCH FUN!!!!!!!!!

Some friends of ours invited us, along with four other couples (for a total of six couples and 12 kids!!!) up to a house they rented in Harbor Springs. First of all - the house was GORGEOUS!  Right on Lake Michigan in Harbor and just amazing!  The view was to die for.  This would be an awesome place to rent in the summer for sure!!!  But, as it was, we enjoyed it just as well in the winter. The lake was still just as amazing to look out on.... and the house itself was worthy of staying inside and enjoying!!!!

We arrived Friday and spent an evening hanging, baking, cooking and drinking with the entire crew! The kids enjoyed the ping pong table, playing Just Dance, doing gymnastics and playing all sorts of hide and seek games.  Three days was the perfect amount of together time to have no fights or issues arise!

Saturday we got up and made a big breakfast together, but by about noon we were out at Nubs Nob renting our skis and getting excited to hit the slopes!  Okay - the slope. The bunny hill to be exact.  How nice is it that the "beginner area" is totally free????!!!  For right around $50 the entire family just rented our equipment and skied for free!  Even Luke donned the skis - I was so proud of him!

Ally was hesitant at first and got extremely frustrated.  Thank god for another dad (Rich) to the rescue. One of the dads along with us was a great skier and an even better teacher!  He waved us parents away and just took Ally with him. He worked with her on flat ground... teaching her how to fall, how to get up when she fell and the basics for how to hold her body, legs and maneuver her skis. Then, he gave her no choice... took her on the lift and up they went!

She came down the hill, falling a few times... but kept at it... and instantly fell in love.  Once she was settled, Rich came over and took me under his wing.  He pretty much gave ME no choice either... up the lift I went.  Can I first say I don't even like the ski lift? I am not a fan of heights?  ;-)

But, after 7 or 8 falls down the hill the first time... and only a couple the second and third.... I was absolutely exhilarated and beyond proud of myself that I DID IT!!!!!!!!

That night, we all ate and drank some more and basked in the glow of a great day out skiing.  Enjoying Michigan winter - for one of the first times in my life! I am just so damn excited that our family has found something new to enjoy together and I hope we keep it going... and do some more skiing next winter!!

What an amazing weekend!!!!!