Wild Lights at the Zoo

Wednesday after Aidan went home, we went to the Zoo for their Wild Lights event. Kaitlynn and I went on the 18th with MomsLikeMe.com, but Dave wasn't able to go with us. We decided to brave the weather and go since it was the last night of the event. It wasn't too terribly cold. We were bundled up to the max, though. We looked at lights for awhile, then warmed up inside Lakeside Cafe, where Kaitlynn colored a snowflake. We drank some hot chocolate and shared some fries. We walked around looking at lights again, Kaitlynn and daddy rode the carousel and we visited the penguins.

We loved the lights display this year. It was quite amazing.

Afterwards, we went to Wal-Mart to get food and beverages for New Year's Eve.

Christmas Eve

In the morning, Dave got his haircut (by Hanna) and ran some last minute Christmas Eve / Christmas errands. Later, we went to MawMaw's and started cooking dinner. Hanna, Adam, Denise and Brandon came over. We spent time with Jeff until he had to go to work.

Jim, Trina, Nate and Sis came over before dinner. We ate and exchanged gifts with Nate and Sissy.

We had an awesome Christmas Eve. The weather wasn't wonderful (wet and rainy), but we had a great time together.

Later that evening, Hanna colored and trimmed MawMaw's hair, cut my hair and painted my nails red and trimmed Kaitlynn's hair. She did a really good job! She's getting really good at cutting hair. Dave, Brandon and Kaitlynn played Wii golf. Kaitlynn did really good, too! She had a blast playing.


To see videos from Christmas Eve, check out my other blog. Don't have the link, email me at everydaymamadrama@yahoo.com.

Welcome Fall

Tuesday the 22nd was the first day of fall. I love fall! It is my favorite season. I love the leaves changing colors and the cooler temperatures. I look forward to drinking coffee and hot tea and eating chili and soups.

Warm Weather in March

Friday it was in the 70s! I couldn't believe how warm it was. Kaitlynn and I actually got a little bit of a sunburn. We went to the Zoo with the Yahoo and Mommy and Toddler Playgroups. We met Emily, Ella, Julie, Kaylee, Tara and Bailey there.
We went to the Children's Zoo first

then to River's Edge. Kaitlynn and I mainly walked around with Julie and Kaylee.

After River's Edge we went to see the zebras.

Posing for a picture after seeing the big cats and on the way to see the giraffes.

Then we went to the cafe to eat lunch.

After lunch, Kaitlynn and I saw the polar bears, penguins and apes by ourselves. We met up with Emily, Ella, Tara and Bailey after they finished lunch. We left shortly afterwards.

While driving to my mom's, Kaitlynn started vomiting in the car. I made it to the next exit and pulled into a parking lot. I figured she was overheated. I got her out of her clothes, cleaned her and the car seat and we got back on the highway. Shortly afterwards, Kaitlynn started vomiting again. I was too far from an exit so I just pulled over on the side of the highway. I cleaned Kaitlynn up, cleaned the car seat up and we headed to my mom's. Thankfully we made it without another vomiting incident. I gave Kaitlynn a bath as soon as we got to my mom's. She seemed to feel better. After my mom got home from work and Kaitlynn felt better, we picked up Steak n Shake and went to our house. My mom spent the night. Kaitlynn started vomiting again that evening while I was trying to get her to bed. After getting her, myself and the bed cleaned up, I called the pediatrician's exchange. While we waited for the nurse to call back, I gave Kaitlynn a bath. After the bath, the nurse called back. She said that Kaitlynn probably had a virus and gave me things to look for. She said that Kaitlynn would probably get diarrhea and would have to be on a special diet for a few days. Kaitlynn didn't get to bed until after midnight.

Ping Pong on the Highway

Tuesday the 27th, while Kaitlynn and I were driving home from my mom's, I saw this car playing ping pong on the highway. It was going from side to side and then just spinning around and around. It was so scary. I hate when it snows and people drive too fast. It scares me how people drive because I drive really slow (not too slow) in that kind of weather. I have precious cargo in my car - Kaitlynn. I have been entrusted with her care and I would just die if something happened to her. Anyway, I was on edge and my stomach was in knots the whole way home after seeing that. Thankfully the person wasn't hurt, just shook up. On the drive home, I also saw several cars that slid off the highway into ditches. People were speeding around me and riding my butt. I get so frustrated with people like that, especially after they see I have a child in the car. I mean hello! If you don't care about yourself or others, the least you could do is not try to put my child's life in jeopardy. We made it home safely and without even sliding. Thank God!! Kaitlynn was really tired because she didn't sleep well at my mom's. I was exhausted because she didn't sleep well, so I didn't get much sleep, either. I watched Hasnain that afternoon for about 3 hours. Maryam came back early to get him because after she drove all the way to school, she found out the class was canceled. I felt so bad for her - having to drive all that way for nothing. Then later I found out that she got into a car accident after leaving my house that day. Her and Hasnain were fine, but her car was not - she has a rental car, now.

My friend Tara had planned a Girls Night Out for the evening. There were 14 "girls" that were supposed to go. A lot of people (actually everyone but 4 or 5) canceled due to the weather. Tara picked me up and we met 2 other girls at The Corner Pub and Grill, which is really close to our houses. Originally we were supposed to go to Uno's, but decided to just stay close since the weather was so bad. Yes, we are crazy. Can you tell we needed to get out and enjoy time without our children? We had a good time, but were only out for an hour or two.

Earthquake

On Friday, I woke up to Kaitlynn smiling and calling Pumpkin into the bedroom at about 4:30AM. A second or two later, Bailey came down the hall and Kaitlynn called her into the bedroom, too. Then I heard what sounded like the garage door opening and couldn't figure out why Dave would be coming home from an overnight at 4:30AM. Since that didn't make sense I started thinking that maybe someone was trying to break in. That thought went out of my head pretty fast, as Kaitlynn and I heard the water in the shower of the master bathroom start dripping pretty hard. Then at 4:36 the bed started shaking / vibrating, the widows started rattling and the closet doors began shaking. I couldn't figure out what was going on. I was thinking is this a tornado? Should I take Kaitlynn and run downstairs? After things stopped shaking and vibrating, I fished around the news channels to see what the hell just happened. Finally at 5AM, the news said we just experienced an earthquake that was a 5.4.
Later that morning at 10:14, Kaitlynn and I were in the bedroom and the bed started shaking again. It was an aftershock from the earthquake. What a crazy morning!?