Simple

For the last month our house has been a wreck, and Mel and I knew that we could do better.

So we came up with simple rules to get us on the right track:

Kitchen

1. Who cooks dinner cleans up their preparation dishes and wipes down the counter.
2. Who does not cook dinner cleans up the kitchen.
3. Who cooks lunch or breakfast cleans up the kitchen.
4. If the dishwasher is full of clean dishes the next person to cook unloads the dishwasher.
5. We will not leave any dishes in the sink when we go to bed(This is the most important).

Living Room

1. The living areas(and playroom) will be cleaned before nap-time and bed-time(no exceptions).

Trash

1. Put all trash in trashcans (required better placement of trashcans).
2. Take out all full trash bags immediately and replace the bag.
3. Begin recycling paper and plastic.
   

Laundry

1. No clothes will be in the washer, dryer, or baskets(except the kids clothes) when we go to bed.
2. When the washer finishes put the clothes in the dryer immediately.
3. When the dryer finishes take the clothes out and put them away immediately.
4. When a clothes category hamper is full start the load of laundry (only if you will be around to put them in the dryer and put them away).
   

General Rules

1. Team work (critical).
2. Don't be so freakin lazy (a messy house will just put you in a bad mood).

There seems to be a lot, but they are easy to apply and they work.

-Dane

Kera :(

This morning I went to go get Drake and Kera up from bed. I usually get Drake out of bed first, and change his diaper, etc. Because he likes to try and take Kera's diaper away if I change her first. Since the changing table is part of his crib. So I got Drake out, and I always give Kera kisses while I bend down to get the wipes. She felt so incredibly HOT!

I took Drake to the breakfast room and crumbled a strawberry nutrigrain bar for him. Went to get Kera to change her diaper. She was in the corner of her bed sucking her little fingers. I took her out, and wow, I could really feel the heat all over her little body. It was suprising, because I've never had to deal with this before. I took her temperature and it was 102.2. I gave her a dose of tyenol, and called Daddy at work. He said to just keep an eye on her. She ate fine, drank her milk fine, and played fine.

1pm, was nap time. 3pm Drake started screaming. I went into their room, and Kera was so cranky, and looked so red. I put my hand on her to see... she felt REALLY REALLY HOT! I got Drake out, changed his diaper, put him in his high chair, and gave him some Ritz crackers. Went back got Kera, took her temperature. 103.1! I started crying my eyes out! It all flashed back to me that during Christmas this past year Kera had a 100.0 fever, Dane called the nurse line (since it was at night) and they said take her to the ER if it gets over 103. So that is why I was bawling my eyes out! :(

I called Dane- no answer. I called my mom, she said to get the pedi's number, and I told her I don't have it. So she was getting the number for me. Called Dane back, finally an answer. He called the pedi set up an appointment, and he left work. We met at the doctors office, when I got there I took her temp again, and it was 103.4!

The doctor said that it is probably Roseola. She had to get her blood drawn :(. We came home, and she was BURNING up. We took her temperature, and it was 104. Daddy gave her a cool bath. The doc called later to give us the results of the blood test and he said he was 99% sure that it was a virus not an infection.

We ate dinner, the kids played for a little bit. I've got to say this, I asked Kera "Where is the baby", she turned around and walked to her baby and picked it up! I was so proud. This was the first time she did this, she hardly plays with her baby! :D

We put the kids down for bed. At around 9pm she woke up crying. I went to get her and I tried to comfort her in our bed, but she just wanted to play (which included head butting me in the nose). Her hair was drenched with sweat. I put her back to bed a few minutes later, and she went right back to sleep. I checked on her about an hour ago, and she feels cool to the touch. So I am not sure if it was Roseola or not. We will find out tomorrow or Friday if she gets a rash or not. It may have just been a 24 hour bug of somesort.

I'll keep you updated.

July 4th 09'

We had a wonderful Independence day with the family! We woke up and I started to make pancakes for the family. We all played for a little while, and took a nap. Ate lunch, and rushed to get out of the door. We went to Grandpa Kens house. Our plans were to go on the boat, but we changed our mind at the last minute, because well, I just don't think that our children could be on a crowded boat with a life vest on for 3 hours just yet. We still went to Grandpa's house though. They had a carnival by the playground with a band. So we took their wagon (next year I'll decorate their wagon). We played on the playground for a while, and we got a spot of shade in the grass to watch the band - The Aubrey Tucker band. Kera was Ms. Independent and walked a few feet away from her family, and stood on her own and clapped her hands to the sound of the music. Drake sat right by Daddy and I. When the sun started to set, we walked to the house. Gave the kids dinner, and got our swimsuits on. We went swimming for about an hour. Drake fell asleep on my chest, it was such a sweet moment. I was just swaying him back and forth in the water. Then **BOOM** the fireworks had started. He woke up (he got about a ten minute nap in) and Kera was all excited. We stood in the water and watched the beautiful bright fire works in the sky. Great view I might add. Drake and Kera weren't scared at all!

That was the end of our Independence Day. It was a great 2nd 4th of July for our family. Pictures are posted.

Kisses...

I just have to jump on and give a quick update. Today we went to Grandpa Kens house to celebrate fathers day with everyone, and we went swimming. The babies enjoyed it a lot, surprisingly, Drake more so than Kera.

When we got home, we played with them in their playroom. It was the sweetest thing. Kera kept running up to us and giving us kisses (mouth open). It is sooo sweet!!!! It's the first time she has given kisses ever. :) I loved it. She kept running back and forth from me to daddy giving us both kisses.

I love them both so much, they bring so much joy to my life. I love this age!

Some more steps!!!

Saturday, June 13th Drake took his first steps (2)!!! It was very exciting. It was especially exciting for me since he was walking to me. Kera walked to daddy for the first time. Drake walked to me :). One of his legs is weaker than the other, but he is getting much much better! I am so very proud of the both of them. Kera walks everywhere now. No more crawling for her. She practically runs. She turns corners, and everything. It's very cute. Drake is standing up more and more now (still not by himself, but he is starting to grab up on things lower and lower to the ground - so he has a longer way to go). They both babble constantly. Kera says Mama, Dada, daddy. Drake says Dada. No mama yet. Sunday night Kera started doing peek a boo with her hands in front of her eyes! So precious!!! Kera knows how to get on her 4 wheeler by herself. They are growing so incredibly fast. I think once our house is either sold (yes we have our house on the market until Sept 1st) or not sold... starting September 1st, I am going to try to potty train Kera. I doubt she is ready, but I am going to take her to the bathroom with me, now that she is walking I think it would be the best time. We'll see how it goes. Hopefully she takes to it like a champ. I would like to potty train them seperately.

They played with their Sand/Water table we got them for their birthday for the first time today. I think over all they liked it a lot. Pics to come soon! Just wanted to give a quick update!

Walking all over...

I am sorry, I have been a procrastinator with pictures, and this blog. I'll try to get better.

It is official, I have one walker on my hands! Kera hardly crawls if at all! She is all over the place. Walking along, playing with toys, tripping over her pants. It doesn't matter if her pants are down to her knees, she continues to walk. Even if that means tripping every five seconds. It's so adorable!

They have both been very lovey lately. It's sweet! Kera will be sitting in my lap, and Drake will craw as fast as he can to me, and push her out of the way, and put his head on my shoulder or in my lap and go "awwwwwwwwwwww". I guess he hears that a lot when he gives me loves. It's going to be difficult trying to teach them how to share. Drake always takes the toys that Kera has away from her! The only thing they know how to share, are cups, and that is something I don't want them to share. Sometimes they are very sweet together. Kera will walk to the play room door, and she looks for Drake and says something in her language. Drake follows, and then they go play in the play room together! Super cute.

This weekend will be their first official overnight vacation, in a hotel. We are going to go to Corpus Christi. Saturday morning, and stay until Sunday afternoon. It should be fun! I'll be sure to take lots of pictures :).

This week has been incredibly busy. Last week we decided that we wanted to put our house up on the market, to move to a better school district. Now we want to build a new house (once our house sells), while we live in an apartment for 6 months. We've been scraping wall paper down for the past week! There is not one inch of wall paper left in this house! YAY!!!!! Tomorrow Ken is going to come over and help Dane paint the outside of our house a beige color, then he will texture the guest bathroom and dining room. Saturday we are leaving for Corpus. Sunday we are coming home, and we are going to start cleaning and organizing the whole house. Continuing with that on Monday as well. On Monday we are also going to prime and paint the guest bathroom and bedroom. Then Tuesday the realator is meeting with us to put our house on the market. I hope it goes fast. I want to get into a new house before the kids second birthday. So we'll see.

Alright, Sunday I'll write another blog, and post pictures from the beach!

Happy Birthday and One Day!!

Wow, I can not believe that I fell asleep last night without writing a blog wishing my babies a Happy Birthday!! I can't believe their first birthday and their first birthday party has come and gone! It went by so quickly.

Yesterday on their Birthday we gave them a new Breakfast. We gave them french toast, powdered sugar, and syrup (not much of the later two). They devoured it. We had their portraits taken at Picture Innovations, we finally used that gift card that Dane's lovely co-workers got us for our Baby shower present! We have been saving it all this time to use it for their one year old pics! Kera hated having her pictures taken in a studio :(. That is probably our fault for never going to one, except once when they were 4 months old. Drake was really scared at first also, but he warmed up after a little bit. We did get great shots of them, so it all turned out ok. I was hoping for a little more of them together, but all in all I am very pleased with the amount of pictures we got and the poses. We then came home, and baked... and baked.... and baked.... and baked... and baked... Ok I could go on for a couple of hours, with these "and baked.." statements, but you get my drift. I was baking all day :). Then my wonderful Sister in Law A came over to help me put the finishing touches on my cupcake pop favors for the kids party today. :) Thank you A so much, that was such a great help. Without you I probably couldn't have gone to bed at 1am, I probably would have still been up at 4am dipping those cakes! So thank you.

I was originally going to go to the party hall at 7am and start frosting the smash cakes and the cupcakes. However my lovely husband told me to wait on him. So Grandpa and DeDe came to watch the kids at 8:30, while Dane and I went to the party hall... it took some time to unload the van. Then I had to help Dane unload all the tables. Then I started getting the cupcake stuff out and on the move. I was freaking out, I had like 30 mins to ice all of the cupcakes and the smash cakes!! I was a bit nervous. Thank God for my Mom and Ned who came and helped. My sister also came and helped! So everything was done in the nick of time. Dane ran home to get the kids and to get my outfit, and right as the first guest was showing up, Dane got me my outfit. Thank goodness :D. We thought we were going to have a Pizza dilema, but everything turned out perfect. Sure I got WAY more food than what was needed, but some people got some free dinner for the night :). The party was great!! Kera officially does NOT like cake. My weird child I know. She had it two days in a row, both times she didn't like it. Drake was not a fan yesterday of the cake, but today was a different story. He was chowin' down. They also got Pizza for the very first time today, TWICE actuallly... at the party, and then again for dinner. They LOVE it!!

They love all their new toys! They ate their afternoon snack on their picnic table from Grandpa &DeDe. They LOVE their Activity block that D & A got them! Drake especially LOVES the ATV Grandma & PeePaw got him, and Kera loves hers as well! They love all their new toys, seriously, they haven't played with any of their old toys so far. They go to the new ones! Thank you everyone who came, and who made our memory of Drake and Kera's first birthday a special one! Love you all.