And then I got sick....

UGH is all I have to say. I am so ready to have the house open and get all of these germs out of here!! Sunday, Will & I both woke up with fevers & body aches. We spent most of the day on the couch although mid-afternoon, Will made a miraculous recovery so he and Morgan could enjoy some of the beautiful weather. Turns out when I finally took him to the doctor today he had an ear infection AND strep - way to go Mom! :( I on the other hand have the flu and there's nothing that will treat mine. I think I have been sicker in the past 4 days then I have been in a really long time. I haven't missed 3 days of work in a really long time...if ever. I think I'm finally turning the corner today and hope I can sit at my desk without falling over tomorrow ;). So pretty much everything else has fallen by the wayside so I can lie in bed and doze and take advil.

Thought for today

One of my favorite blogger's names is Amy Beth. I honestly have NO idea how I found her but I've been faithfully reading her blog for over a year. She's a young single woman who was serving in vocational ministry until last July. She has an interesting life and is so honest on her blog about her struggles and triumphs with God. She wrote this morning on being intentional. In her current stage of life she has the opportunity to bless the lives of two young girls and she is recognizing the importance of being intentional with children.

As I read her post I was so convicted! As a working mom I HAVE to to be intentional. There is no other way. Otherwise my kids will be teenagers before I know it ;). I pray that I will reap the harvest of my "planting" in my children's lives for years to come. But I have to be intentional...it's not all about me. It's not about if I had a bad day or didn't get any sleep last night. My children are my ministry at this point in my life - every kiss, every punishment, every icky nose wiped, every diaper changed, every mess cleaned up, every prayer before bed, every healthy meal, every night of lost sleep - it's the love of the Father that I'm TRYING to live - however humbly and meekly I try.

Weekend? What weekend?

We had a fun but busy weekend in Des Moines. Eric, Morgan & I got some serious wedding shopping done as well as some other 'fun' shopping (I think we could spend our yearly salaries at Williams Sonoma, given the chance) However, who knew that finding a simple but pretty little girl's dress was so difficult! We were thinking about something blue as Eric is wearing a navy pinstripe suit with a blue/silver tie and Will is wearing a navy suit. We'll find something. :) In addition, we were able to get Will's suit, and Eric's tie & shirt. We also got to enjoy dinner from PF Changs (YUMM!!) with Laura & Buck and brunch with Mom & Laura & the crew. Oh, and there may or may not be slices of cheesecake sitting in our fridge at home from the Cheesecake Factory ;).

Mr. Will had a date with Nana & Max & Charlie for the last Drake game of the year, as well as The Boxcar Children at the Playhouse, so he was a busy guy. Add to that staying up late to watch a movie on Saturday night, and staying up late on Sunday night to watch the Closing Ceremonies of the Olympics and Mrs. Bennett may well be prodding him to keep him awake today. Early to bed tonight!

All in all it was a great weekend, but MAN could I use another one to get ready for the week.

So Funny

Will's doing so well with his reading these days but he said something this morning that just cracked us up. He was reading about William Tell and the 'foreign' soldiers. But Will hadn't seen that word before and Eric and I wondered why he was talking about 'friggin' soldiers. Obviously it made no sense in context so I asked him to spell it. We corrected him and had a good laugh.

(Ok, I have to say, as I type this, it was much funnier in person)

Valentine's Day!

Two cuties!

I had a great time with the Will and his crazy friends at school at his Valentine's party on Friday. They had TONS of sugar and had a great time. Gotta love Fun DIP!

We spent lots of time Sunday afternoon making & frosting sugar cookies. I think the kids did a great job!

Crazy = Normal?

I think it does in our house! :) Here's Morgan 'helping' Eric play Madden 2010!

I swear that Will's going to be in school until mid-June, the way these snow days keep piling up. He had another one last Tuesday - this is the kids in one of their calmer moments that day!

His 1/2 birthday was last Sunday so he was able to take treats to celebrate, since celebrating with his class on August 7th is pretty much impossible. He and I went through PILES of clothes in his room on Tuesday (snow day) and the pile that didn't fit was much bigger than the one that did. He's great to help around the house and of all things, loves cleaning the bathrooms! Give him a Cl@rox wipe and he's off! He's doing great with his reading and spelling too. He's LOVED the winter Olympics so far, and has loved everything he's seen. We've had NBC on every night and that will probably continue through Feb 28th!

Morgan's going to give us far more grey hair that her brother ever will. She's 2 going on 21, with an attitude and sass to match. She's into everything and loves coloring. She's taking "nastics" (gymnastics) now and seems to enjoy it. We're going to start swimming lessons this summer in hopes that she'll enjoy the water more. One thing that cracks us up is that she LOVES soda. Will has always hated it - which Mommy thought was a GOOD thing! But Morgan always asks for a taste of Pepsi and has taken to calling Eric's Cherry Dr. Pepper "Pepper Pepsi". Here they are saying "CHEERS" with their Pepper Pepsi!

Eric & I are doing well too...it doesn't seem like we say cute things or have funny stories like the kids do! We're excited to have finally set a date for the wedding and are looking forward to that as well as a few short vacations this summer.

We're planning to head to Chicago for my birthday, as well as spend some time at the lake sometime in late July or early August. I got the kids' 2010-2011 school calendar in Will's take home folder on Friday and can't believe we're thinking about that already!

Cuddled up on a cold morning...

A Date!

For the last few weeks, Eric & I have been seriously talking about what we want for our wedding. We feel like we've stressed FAR MORE than we should have about this. We just want to be married, plain & simple. And so we will be! We've finally set a date and it's quickly approaching - Saturday May 1st, I will become Melissa Dobbins! The name change will take some getting used to, but I'm ready :). Once we got down to it, our wedding requirements were pretty simple. 1. Be married in a church, by a pastor. 2. Acknowledge and celebrate that this relationship is from God and place our relationship in His hands. ....and that's about it! We're relieved and excited to have a date and our special day to look forward to.