Mommy & Will's Date Night

When I told Will that we would do something special the evening the girls all went to the Daddy Daughter Dance I don't think he quite "got it" at first. It didn't take him long to figure things out and realize how fun one-on-one time can be! That is something we do not get a lot of around here, for sure. . .

We started out our evening by going to Walmart for a few groceries. He and Mia usually fight over who sits in the front of the cart and who sits in the back and he LOVED being able to choose. He was actually quite helpful, too. No offense to anyone reading this who only has one kid, but MAN it is so easy to get things done with just one in tow instead of two who are fighting or all four at once!

Our next stop was McDonald's. I told him he could choose anywhere for us to eat so of course that is what he chose. I tried to make it more interesting by taking him to the "pirate" one at Eldorado/423, but I really don't know why I bothered because we are talking about the kid who is stuck to my side like glue and wouldn't venture into any kind of restaurant playground even with all of his sisters present, much less by himself. At least it provided for some good scenery, I guess. And wouldn't you know it, we walked in and there were yellow signs EVERYWHERE that most of the play area was reserved for a birthday party. We still sat in there anyway and got lots of "looks" from the birthday party parents, but seriously - you cannot reserve the whole playground at a public restaurant, can you? He did attempt to go in the play structure after we ate. He would venture up maybe two levels (there were probably 7 or 8 to get up towards the top) and then come back down and stick his head out to make sure I was still waiting for him and not going to leave him.

Posing with the happy face dinosaur and the mean face dinosaur. . . and he threw in the cheese face just because we can't have a set of pictures without that!

Every time we would get back in the car it was like he forgot where his sisters were because he would ask why he was the only one in there. And then he realized he got to choose the movie AND steal Ally's headphones and then he quit asking about them.

He wanted to go to Double Dip after McDonald's. I talked him into getting it to go since it was so cold and then we would take it home and do something fun before bedtime. Good idea in theory, but he spilled the whole cup - vanilla ice cream and gummy bears - within 3 seconds of me pulling out of the parking lot. I managed to scoop most of it back into his cup, but it just wasn't the same. And he was worried (and I quote) that "Daddy was going to be SO SO angry" at him. I assured him I would clean it and that it was an accident!

We came home and worked with the Play Foam that he had gotten as a party favor at a birthday party this morning. We made several creations together and then he created that last masterpiece. . ."a dolphin". . . .all by himself! He asked me when we can have another "Mommy & Wilson" Day and said he had SO much fun. I love actually getting to hear the boy talk and carry on a conversation without being interrupted or tormented by his sisters. He is so cute and I am so blessed to have such a wonderful son!

Amezcua, Party of Six

Daddy Daughter Dance 2010

Maddie, Maddie, Maddie. . .you look like the perfect angel in these pictures. Who would guess that we had another repeat of last year's hairstyling disaster just a short time before these were taken? It was time to start getting ready so I told her to go get the Bumpit box so we could try it out. She told me in the sassiest voice possible like I was a complete idiot, "Um, there is NO WAY I am wearing that thing, Mom!" I told her she most certainly was after I went on a wild goose chase to get it for her and it cost TEN whole dollars! She then proceeded to tell me that they make them for blondes and brunettes and I had mistakenly purchased the blonde hair one and she DOES NOT have blonde hair and therefore she would not be wearing it because she wouldn't look pretty. Well, excuse me for not being the Bumpit expert!! And why this little tidbit wasn't shared with me when I first showed it to her or EVEN BETTER when I took her picture with the box?? Needless to say, I told her we were giving it a try and a few short minutes later we abandoned it because the poor child has so much hair and it made her look like she had the biggest beehive 80's hairdo and while I was mad, I wasn't THAT mad. So, I tried another style. She didn't like it. And then we tried something different. She didn't like that either. About 7 tries later I pretty much gave up, yet assured her she looked lovely and turned my attention to the other two.

Ally witnessed the whole Maddie hairstyling disaster and decided she would take one for the team and wear the Bumpit so I wouldn't be mad about wasting my money. She is always the peacemaker. However, while Maddie has more hair than we know what to do with and it is extremely thick, Ally's is very fine and there is not a lot of it. The blonde Bumpit was definitely not doing her any favors. For some reason, they are both obsessed with the half up, half down hairdo so this is what we went with for Ally, too. I guess we will just throw the Bumpit in the playroom and let them use it in playing dress up.

Sweet little Mia waited until her big sisters were done to let Mommy fix her up. And this kid is smart! She knew I was at the end of my rope so she just requested a simple ponytail to keep her hair out of her face so she could twirl better and dance with Daddy. She has been looking forward to this day for so long!

Brighton and Luke have arrived to take pictures before they all depart.

Sweet sisters!

The gang is all here.

Mia & Ansley

Sweet Callie wasn't into all of the picture taking. I have to admit, it WAS pretty cold outside and there were tons of us in their faces trying to get that perfect shot!

All of the daddies and daughters are ready to depart. I forgot to remind Rob to take his little camera so we have no shots from the actual dance. The girls all reported that somehow they were allowed to have TWO Cokes tonight. . .one at the dance and one at dinner. They all ate together at Jinbeh after the dance and then finished off the evening with Paciugo. I know it was a night to remember for all of them and we are so thankful for good friends to share these memories with!

The Return of the Sassy Spray

I am not sure which one of my friends passed along the idea for the greatness that is "Sassy Spray". . .Alison? Mitzi? It is a spray bottle (clearly marked "Sassy Spray" so as not to get confused with our regular water spray bottle for doing their hair) filled with vinegar and water that I first used a few years ago that I thought was a genius idea for preschoolers. Never in my wildest imagination did I think I would have to resort to it for 7 year olds. It is kind of the same concept as washing your kid's mouth out with soap. They get a little spray of the sassy sauce in the mouth when they cannot control their words and use "bad words". . .in our house there is A LOT of talk about the "S word" (stupid), some potty talk (POOP is a favorite - just randomly screamed in someone's face as a way to antagonize. . .why this gets them worked up, I am not sure), and our new favorite "bad word" - DUMMY. We have talked and talked and talked and TALKED until I am blue in the face about using kind words. I have tried to calmly ask them not to do it. We have talked about how it makes God sad to hear us use hurtful words to our brother and sisters and mommy and daddy. I have yelled (shocker). I have threatened (not my finest moment). Nothing works. I am not sure of the exact ratio of our Sassy Spray because, to be honest with you, the last time I used it was probably two years ago. It has been sitting dormant in my pantry since then. I hope vinegar and water doesn't ferment into something totally nasty that could make someone sick. It has been a LONG week with Rob out of town and when Maddie yelled (quite loudly) DUMMY! at Mia I just lost it and went and found the Sassy Spray. She begged for me not to use it (I guess it made quite an impression on her from way back when). She begged for a spanking instead. But, I finally got a little opening and gave her a squirt. She gagged, she hacked it up, she almost vomited on the floor. But I think I got her attention. . .. we'll see how long this lasts. Everyone else was standing by with the widest eyes possible. I'll leave the bottle in plain sight for a few days and see what comes of it.

Bumpit

Only two days left until the much talked about "Daddy Daughter Dance" in Frisco! The girls look forward to this day all year. . .I am not sure if it is because of the actual dance part or because the first year they went they got to have a sip (if you know Rob, the "no caffeine EVER" guru, you do know that I mean "A SIP") of Coke when they went out to eat afterward. It is all they can think about now! We found the perfect party dresses and even have sparkly shoes and new tights. I will help them get ready in the afternoon and then they will be out of the door for a night with their Daddy. Last year, I got a little flash forward to the teenage years when Maddie hated how I did her hair. . .all 7 times I re-did it. I couldn't get it just right and there were lots of tears, crying and whining about how she didn't look pretty. I finally convinced her I could do no more and she was beautiful and that was the end of it. So, this year I thought I would plan ahead. This morning I said, "Hey, Madds - how do you want to wear your hair this year for the Daddy Daughter dance?" and without skipping a beat she said, "Mom, have you ever heard of a Bump It? It's this little thing you put in your hair to make it puffy and they come in small and large sizes and THAT is how I want to wear my hair." So, obviously, the kid watches a little too much TV. But, thank goodness for the "As Seen on TV" section at Walgreens because sure enough, I found a Bumpit and I am sure it is going to make her gorgeous and the talk of the dance. Lord, please help me stay calm and focused on Saturday! This could end up like a repeat of my high school hair and that is NOT a good thing. . .

Keeping watch over us at naptime. . .

Will had been wanting the bucket of Toy Story toy soldiers for quite awhile. Every time we would pass it at Target he would beg for it. When the movie Toy Story was on and they came on the screen he would make me watch so I would know the exact army men he was talking about that he wanted. So imagine his surprise when Uncle Joel, Aunt Erica and his cousins Clayton, Oliver & Elliot gave him the bucket of toy soldiers for his birthday! It was almost naptime one day and he was stalling and not wanting to go take a nap. He dumped out the WHOLE bucket and started painstakingly lining them all up along the fireplace. He finally got them just how he wanted them and instructed me to leave them out so they could watch over things while he slept. What an active imagination that boy has!

Family Birthday Celebration

The Halpin side of the family has grown too big to celebrate each person's birthday separately so we have started grouping them together. . .last weekend we all got together at our house to celebrate Will's upcoming 3rd birthday, Oliver's 4th birthday and both Gigi & Papa's birthdays. The kids had so much fun playing, as usual, and it was nice for the adults to hang out, too.

Will had no interest in blowing out the candles so Oliver stepped in and knocked them all out for everyone.

Can't believe this boy is turning 3!!

Such a big 4 year old boy!

Time to open presents!

Will got lots of great Toy Story, Spiderman and motorcycle toys. He is slowly, but surely building up his stash of "boy" toys!

They could have done this all night. . .note the parachute man who is dropping from the second floor down to the first. We had to take cover all night!

Sweet Elliot was content to play with all of the wrapping paper. He is still such a happy baby!

Ally & Maddie's Land Form project

So, the girls came home with an assignment last week. They have been talking about "land forms" at school. . . .deserts, oceans, mountains, etc. They are supposed to make either a poster, diorama (shoe box model), or 3-D model of one and bring it back on Wednesday to present to their class. Rob was ALL OVER this one and I gracefully bowed out and let him take charge. He had the girls sitting at the table making a "plan" of what they wanted to do all Friday afternoon. Ally chose a desert and Maddie chose a volcano. And of course we didn't choose the poster or shoebox option. The three of them headed out Saturday morning to Hobby Lobby AND Michael's to gather all of the supplies they would need. I started hearing things like "paper-mache" and "real sand" and talk of how they were going to make Maddie's volcano erupt the highest and I just had to go to the other room. This project was taking on a life of it's own and I could quickly see how the remainder of our weekend would be spent.

Here they are setting out to work on the projects. Rob quickly came to his senses and opted out of the paper mache idea and we found a recipe for dough online that could be used to craft the volcano and then be painted. Still a lot of work, but easier in the long run. And the girls really did do most of the work on their own with a just a little bit of supervision from Rob.

After two days of building and letting things dry they finally got to paint today. They did a great job! Everything turned out really well.

Here is Ally's desert including desert animals, a pyramid, a large rock formation and several small rocks she made of dough plus, it is covered in real sand!

Here is Maddie's volcano. We are going to wait until it comes back home after she presents it to her class to try and make it erupt. I know Mrs. Blackwood will thank us for that. She painted the volcano all by herself and then it has real dirt and sand around the bottom. She had to put those umbrellas in to make it more festive.

And since these projects are so large that our kids can't even carry them inside the school, Rob will be driving carpool tomorrow and figuring out the logistics of getting them to their classrooms. I can't wait for the day I have to figure out how to get them home while maneuvering Will, Mia, Ally, Maddie, Jakob and 3 backpacks to my car (in the rain or snow, I'm sure). Take THAT all you people who took the easy way out with posters. . . .
(WHY can't that be us??)

And the winner of Will vs. Mia is. . . . . .

This is what happens when you mess with your baby brother who needs his nails trimmed. . .

He'll try to scratch your eye out. I swear, every single one of my kids is destined to have some kind of facial battle scar from each other.

Good news for Will

I can, without a doubt, tell you the worst day of my life so far. . .July 23, 2008. Everything was going well for us. We had been in our new house about a year. Ally & Maddie were looking forward to starting kindergarten in about a month. Rob's job was going well and he was on a business trip in California. Ally & Maddie were down at Princess Camp at Prestonwood Baptist Church that morning. Will & Mia were home with me. We had 3 short hours to spare before going to pick them up and WHY I decided I needed to use that time to workout, I don't know. I had gotten a treadmill for my first Mother's Day after Ally & Maddie were born so I could start getting back into shape (I asked for it so don't think it was a mean gift). I had used it pretty faithfully for the past 6 years and none of the girls had ever paid much attention. Usually I did it when they were in their bouncy seats and just sat there watching me and other times when they were older, I did it during nap time. This particular day, Mia was watching a movie and Will had just started walking during the previous two months so he was just toddling around getting into stuff like 18 month old's tend to do. I was finishing up a 30 minute workout and was about 3 minutes from being done so the treadmill had been on for a long time. He came up near me and I told him to back away, but he was just fascinated and he just stood and stared. I should have been more forceful in telling him to back away but never in my wildest dreams did I imagine he could hurt himself. In a split second he was at the back of the treadmill and I guess he tried to stick his chubby little hand out to see where that black mat was going and it was sucked underneath the treadmill. If you look at the space where his hand was under that treadmill, it is just inconceivable how it could have gotten in there. I realized what happened and stopped it in seconds and somehow managed to pry his hand out. The skin on the palm of his right hand was gone. There was nothing there. It didn't bleed. . .it was just a huge gaping wound. It was the worst thing I have ever seen and I know I didn't intentionally hurt my child, but it is because of me that he will have that scar forever. That is something that is tough to live with and I cannot erase those few moments from my mind. To make a long story short, after a visit to Baylor Medical Center in Frisco, they sent us to Children's in Dallas to see a hand specialist, but then the people in the ER at Children's called the Parkland Burn Unit and that is where we were admitted and had to stay for 3 days. As all of this was happening, Rob was desperately trying to get back to Dallas. It was an awful, traumatic time for our whole family.

Here is a picture of Will from his hospital room at Children's back on 7/24/08.
There is not a separate unit for children at Parkland. We were on the burn unit that you hear about on the news when people talk about awful burn cases that are sent to Parkland. There were adults that were burned from head to toe. There was a little girl who had pulled boiling water off the stove on top of her head. There was another little girl who had acid spilled over both of her legs. It was the most traumatic and awful experience EVER.
Here was Will passing the time by roaming the halls with Papa.

Sleeping with his hand all bandaged and a huge IV port in the other arm so they could give him the morphine he needed when they had to clean the wound. That should tell you right there the level of awfulness and trauma that was involved.

Here is what he looked like for the 6 weeks or so after the accident. . .the hand had to stay bandaged for about 6 weeks and we had to change the dressing every day.

However, we are so fortunate that we were able to get the care that we received. For the past year and a half we have been going back down to the Sprague Rehabilitation Clinic every few months to have the wound and then scar checked out to make sure he isn't going to have to have surgery. We had been faithful with the appointments up until our October one and everyone came down with the flu and I had to cancel it. I just hadn't gotten around to rescheduling it and had a nagging feeling that I just needed to do it. We went back this past Monday and they said the scar is "beautiful" as far as scars go. They released us for the next year and we don't have to go back until Jan. 2011!! There is still a chance that he might have to have a minor surgery to release some of the scar tissue, but we are hoping this is not the case. Thank you to everyone who has prayed for him and for us during these last 18 months.

Check out his right hand. . . you can barely make out the scar now and he has full function of his hand.

All by myself. . . don't wanna be. . . ALL BY MYSELF!!!

Will has finally reached that age. . .his friends are turning 3 and they are having birthday parties with their friends instead of just family. We go through these cycles where we have no parties and then BOOM - invitations pour in and we have several a weekend. We are in one of those phases right now and Will is invited to his first two parties ALL BY HIMSELF with no other siblings attending this weekend. The twins are just starting to get these kind of invitations since they are in separate classes. Mia thrives on these kind of things and loves any opportunity to pretend like she is an only child. I thought Will would be ecstatic at the idea of going somewhere by himself with just me, but no. . . he had an absolute meltdown when it was time to leave and the girls weren't going with him. He did NOT want to go even though he had been talking this party up for days. I finally got him out the door and in the car and he kept asking me over and over if it was a "drop off" party and I was going to leave him. I kept assuring him I wasn't and that was just for big girls like his sisters, but he wasn't sure until about halfway through the party that I wasn't going to make a mad dash and leave him.

Thank goodness "my friend Evan" was at the party. Will loved following him around and sitting by him for dinner and cake. It was so cute watching them do the Chicken Dance and Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes together! I get comments all the time from friends and family about why I feel the need to go to all of these parties and why I can't just RSVP no sometimes to make our life easier, but I really want my kids to be social and know how important their friendships are so I try to make every effort to let them go and have fun. Let's hope he has fun at Party #2 tomorrow!

A REAL Winter!!

Up until this last week or so, we have actually had a true "winter" season in Frisco! None of this warm weather with a cold snap here and there. . .nope - it was COLD and it snowed and the temperatures stayed really low for weeks! We have a great creek and pond in our neighborhood and we don't go over there to check it out much. Thank goodness for our outdoor loving Norwegian neighbors who like to do things like take a dip in the pool in the freezing water and go feed the ducks when things are iced over and the rest of us are hiding out inside by the fire! We had no idea that the creek and entire pond were a solid sheet of ice. When the kids heard that Jakob and Eva were going to check it out, we invited ourselves along to check it out.

The ice was seriously thick enough for all 5 of the kids to be out there walking around. The weather was a little warm this day (it was about two weeks ago) so it was getting a little thin around the edges, but when Katrina broke off a piece it was well over an inch think. Thank goodness Will is still a big chicken and content to stay right by my side. . .I didn't have to venture out with him and risk falling in. The girls had a BALL sliding around and checking it all out. This isn't anything I ever thought we would see in Texas!

Compliments for Our Friend

Our school is participating in a great new program this year called Rachel's Challenge. Rachel Scott was the first victim in the Columbine High School shootings and her journal entries have inspired thousands with her kindness and compassion. Bledsoe students are encouraged to write positive notes on pieces of paper that recognize acts of kindness and compassionate things that students do or witness and then the teachers string these together in big chains that are starting to literally go around our whole entire school. Our school counselor does a great job with this program and recently both girls came home with a piece of paper entitled "Compliments for Our Friend - These are the things we like about you" where she had other students tell her what they liked about them. What a great thing for the girls to have in writing. In a world where bullying and being mean is so commonplace, I am glad that we have a school that is proactive and makes an effort to be so positive with the students.

This is what Ally's had to say:
Kind and compassionate
Includes people
Funny
You make other people happy
When I dropped my art box you helped me pick it up
Good handwriting

This is what Maddie's said:
Nice friend
Good at catching boys (fast)
Nice
Friendly
Good opponent in soccer
Good sportsmanship