Update on Leslie

She is doing much better now, thanks for the emails and the calls. Leslie was sick for a little less than 24 hours so I guess it was not that bad. She's eating and keeping things down today. She's really clingy to mom today though, I guess I can handle all the hugs and cuddling. Lance decided not to go on his trip. If he does get sick, he does not want to get everyone else sick too.

Sicko

Leslie is sick today. She started throwing up after breakfast and has gone downhill from there. She is not keeping even water down at this point. Please pray for her to feel better and to be able to keep something down before bed tonight. She's so sad and lethargic, I just hope it goes away soon. Also, Lance is leaving for Chicago tomorrow night for a very important couple of meetings and a stomach flu is about the worst thing that could happen for him right now.

Thanks in advance for your prayers.

Decorating the Christmas Tree

The Friday after Thanksgiving was reeeeeaaallly cold and damp so we decided to stay in our PJs all day and decorate for Christmas. The girls loved decorating. I only moved a couple of ornaments that were crowded on the same branch. For the most part, the lower branches were all decorated by the girls.

Lindsay's First School Program: Thanksgiving.

I really didn't know what to expect for Lindsay's first school program. As shy as she is, I was fairly sure that she would refuse to even go up on stage. When she got home from school that day she immediately started telling me that she wasn't going to go. So imagine my surprise when we got there and she not only got up on stage, but she rocked out the entire program. She did very well and seemed to enjoy it very much. Aunt Debra even came to lend her support. It was a great night for Lindsay.

Linday is officially a Girl Scout

Wow, I am the mother of a Girl Scout. It brings back so many memories of Brownies and Juniors. Now, my own child is a Daisy Scout. Lindsay absolutely loves it! Its really fun for me to see her interact with her school friends too. Here are some pictures of her official ceremony.

Leslie's trip to the Firehouse

We had a recent trip to the firehouse. Leslie wouldn't let go of my hand and was terrified the entire time but afterward, it was all she would talk about.

Christmas idea for Lindsay

If anyone needs an idea for Lindsay for Christmas, I might suggest a simple pad of paper. She is drawing us out of house and home here. If it's blank, she writes on it. It started pretty young, her first sketch pad goes back to when she was 18 months old. But since school started, she has become much more prolific. Lindsay has already gone through 2 sketch pads and countless sheets of printer paper. One pad is almost entirely in blue crayon, I call it her "blue period." We've kept some things (those neatly still in the sketchpads), but I have thrown away much of what she has scribbled on. I just can't keep everything. We would be drowning in paper if I had attempted to keep it all. So, if you want to please this 5 year old, get her a sketch pad! I don't think she can get too much.

Little Mermaid and Snow White

Some Halloween Pictures. Our battery ran out! So we will have to wait until we get pictures from our friends to show some of the pictures from later in the day. And I didn't realize that picture of Leslie was blurry, but for some reason I can't delete it. Anyway, Halloween was fun! Lindsay said in the car on the way home from school that it was her favorite Halloween ever! And she was going to remember it forever! They called it "Story Book Character Day" and everyone was supposed to bring a book with their character in it. I happened to be there for snack time when the teacher read Lindsay's book and I got a great picture! (Mrs Merchant is dressed up as one of Mrs. Bindergarten's Kindergarteners) I am going to attempt to attach the little snippet of the parade that we got to see.

Leslie's turn!

Leslie got to go on her own pumpkin patch trip. What fun!

A busy few days while Daddy was gone

Saturday: A princess Birthday party!











and a school fall carnival! The girls each won a fish too! Now we actually have pets. Fish is as far as I'll go for now. :-)

Wednesday: Lindsay's first field trip! What fun!

Our Texaversary

Yeah, I know it isn't a word, but humor me please. :-) If they can say "Juneteenth" I can say "Texaversary."

I wrote about our 3 year Texaversary here: www.getrealmom.blogspot.com

Thanks!

Thanks for the boxtops! We have around 300. I say around because it was a lot to count, not sure If I got it right. :-)

Anyway, thanks for collecting. They collect all year long so keep clipping!

As for the contest, Lindsay says that their class has the most so far but I don't know about individuals.

We will see!

Katie

Pumpkin Patch

Today we went to the pumpkin patch. It just isn't the same when you can wear tank tops and flip flops! It was nearly 80 today. And I can't believe what we spent to go to this place. I guess we forgot from last year, or maybe they jacked up the prices? We paid $28 to get in. This included a hayride that the girls didn't want to go on, food to feed the animals (yeah right, do you know our girls?) and a BBQ hot dog that we didn't want (Chick Fil A just sounds much better). Notice it didn't include the pumpkins. We paid a couple of bucks more for those. And all of the pumpkins seemed really little. It made us long for Shultz farms where all you pay for is your pumpkin. If you put down 30 bucks, you can get a pretty nice sized carveable pumpkin. Anyway, don't want to be negative. The girls had a great time and in the end we have two beautifully painted pumpkins.

A request

Lindsay's school is collecting box tops for education. If you look on the top of almost any container in your pantry, you will see this:




Of course, there is a contest. If you would like to help Lindsay bring in the most box tops you can email me at kbauslaugh@gmail.com and I will give you our address to send us the tops. They collect them all year but there is a mini contest going on now and those need to be here by the 16th. So if you look now and send me your box tops, she might be able to get the "Spirit Stick" presented to her at school. So Grandmas, Grandpas, Aunts, Uncles and Friends, get to cutting those out and sending them in!

Thanks a bunch!

The busiest weekend of our lives! OK, maybe that's an exaggeration.

But it was crazy! We had 4 kids in the house for over 24 hours while we watched our friends' kids this weekend. All under 5, including our kids the ages were 5,4,3,2. Whenever we went to the park, we were asked if they were multiples. Not totally unbelievable since they are all little blonds. So for 24+ hours our house was in constant motion here are the pictures:
Mostly, the kids liked to play school which meant tornado drills and fire drills. I didn't even know Lindsay knew stop, drop and roll. Most of my pictures were blurry, illustrating the fact that 4 kids under the age of 5 never stop moving!

A New Post on Getrealmom

I just posted about our recent journey on www.gerealmom.blogspot.com

Plano Balloon Festival, year 2!

We had so much fun last year we just had to go back!












Like Leslie's haircut? I wish I could say it was me that messed it up. But no, I actually paid someone to do this!! Needless to say I won't be taking her there again. I'm just glad she couldn't care less!

Our Little Athlete

Lindsay was awarded Athlete of the Week for her Kindergarten class! We have no idea what it means though. We have to rely on what she tells us and that is "I'm the best at PE!" Needless to say, Lance is the most excited. I think he sees a glimmer of hope for his all girl household!

Unplugging

We have made a commitment (along with our friends the Grubers)to unplug for one day a week. The idea is that we take time away from all the technology that takes us away from real life and give that time back to our family. We have chosen Sundays. We chose a day that we will most likely be home (no work or school). This, of course means that Lance will be missing any live football played on Sundays this season. As we got closer to the actual day, Lance was questioning his ability to survive without pro-football. Anyone who knows Lance knows that it is not an easy thing for him to give up. Anyway, the day came and we found ourselves undistracted by computers, phones, tvs, etc. We spent the afternoon at the pool where Lindsay actually swam for the first time (head under water, feet off the ground kicking and paddling out to daddy). After dinner we played Chutes and Ladders. I won. Despite the loss, Lindsay exclaimed that she wanted to have game night every night! The night wound down, Lance and I had a good discussion and I retired early to bed. Knowing that the Bears were playing Sunday Night Football, I told Lance he should go ahead and watch. He got to watch the last quarter of the game. The next morning Lance could honestly say he didn't miss football that much. He really enjoyed the time with his girls. And we enjoyed the time with our guy.

The Grubers come to Texas

We had a wonderful time with our friends! They were here for a whole week and what a week it was. God had them here at just the right time. For those who do not know, I had a miscarriage the first day they were here (many probably didn't even know I was pregnant). I don't know how I would have handled it had the Grubers not been here. They were a sweet distraction. The week was fun and hopefully relaxing for the Grubers as it was for us. We miss them very much!

Here are some pictures from the week.

Perks of walking to school in the morning.

Leslie and I like to stop at the pool park on our way home from walking Lindsay to school in the morning. (I'm hoping it's good exercise too!)

More of the first day

Leslie and I spent the first day of school working on getting the house ready for guests. But it was a really long day. Leslie asked about Lindsay several times and told me she missed her. When we went to pick Lindsay up I got my first experience in the carpool line. It was not a good one, luckily It has gotten much better. I sat in line watching walking parents pick up their kids 20 minutes before the first car in line even pulled out. I chose to drive because it was in the mid 90s and that is not fun to walk in. I guess that even though it took me nearly an hour to get Lindsay, I was at least in an air conditioned car. Even if the school is only 2 minutes away from my front door. When I finally got Lindsay in the car, she was really quiet and wouldn't talk. I decided that maybe she needed to have some time to herself for a while. When we got home I found out that she was a little miffed at me because I hadn't given her a hug and kiss before saying goodbye at school. STUPID!! Obviously I meant to but in all of the bustle and worry about her seeing the tears in my eyes I neglected to send her off to a good start with a big hug. And obviously she thought about it most of the day because it was the very first thing she told me when she started talking again. I will never make that mistake again! And you can bet that she will get a kiss and hug every morning on her way to school as long as she is not embarrassed about it. I'm not going to let that slip by again!
That first night after Lindsay was in bed and as I was headed to bed I couldn't stop crying. I can't really tell you what all I was feeling. I have just been really sad that my little girl has to be away from me and her sister all day long. I never expected to feel this sad about it. I'm not over it yet, over a week later. I guess this is just the beginning.

My view of the Carpool line.

Leslie isn't bothered by the wait!

Doesn't she look a little mad still? This pic was taken as we walked in the door. Oh I felt horrible!

Scenes from the first day of school.

Our baby is in Kindergarten! She was so excited this morning, we were ready 10 minutes before we had to leave... That NEVER happens! :-) Of course, as a good scrapbooker/blogger I had to take a bunch of pictures (We weren't the only members of the paparazzi). Here are just a few:

Lindsay was very brave and didn't cry at all. I was afraid that she would be attached to my leg but she was easily lead to her seat in the class. I was proud of myself too because I didn't cry in front of her and only actually got teary a few times. Now I just have to figure out what to do with a 3 year old for the next 7 hours!

The Angels are Having a Party in Heaven!

Last night about 30 minutes after Lindsay and Leslie went to bed, Lindsay came out and said, "I prayed that Jesus would be in my heart and wash all my sins away." We have been very careful not to push on this subject. Waiting for her to gain understanding. Our focus has been on just her knowing that God loves her. It's important to us that the decision be her own and not pressured by us. So we were very excited when she somehow came to the conclusion herself that she needed to pray. We hadn't talked about it in a long time. We asked her why she decided to pray and she said that she was looking at her Bible book pictures and decided that she wasn't afraid anymore and she wanted to pray for Jesus to be with her.
Pray for us as we guide her to grow up and live her life for Jesus in a real and personal way.

I meant to post this a few days ago. Wrote it, then forgot to post. Sorry!

History According to Lindsay

I over hear Lindsay playing with Leslie in the other room and she asks her if she wants chicken or pig to eat. I didn't think much of it because we had a conversation about how ham is pig recently. But then when I came in the room Lindsay tells me that they are pretending to live in the olden days like the 70's and they are going out to kill and eat a pig.

Did they get this from Sesame Street?

Church Video

Check out the first video in the side bar on the right! :-)

Funny Video

I would have put this on my blog, but it is not up yet. This is for all the Redwing fans in my family! Enjoy

How's my day been?

I've written about it in my mom blog HERE.

Lindsay is 5!!?? How did that happen?

Lindsay's 5th birthday was yesterday! We celebrated with her special birthday girl necklace, a special trip for DQ cones with Mommy, a special birthday Starbucks drink from Daddy, special gifts from family far and near, and a special cake. I'd say the day was special enough. Though we couldn't have a big party this year, we tried to make both girl's birthdays joyful. We also made sure that we updated her birthday table cloth with this year's date and handprints and we put her current hight on the growth tree.
I can hardly believe that it's been 5 years! I am continually amazed at the love God has shown us through our little girl.

Changes

Some changes are coming to our blog. You may notice the blog list on the sideline only includes the most updated blogs so if yours isn't there, maybe it is time to write!! :-) Also, Lance is starting his own blog soon so keep a lookout for that. It will show up in the sideline too. More changes may come too, but we'll take it one at a time.

Leslie is 3

We celebrated Leslie's 3rd birthday this weekend. Unfortunately, she spent most of her actual birthday in a car seat, but we were able to celebrate with cake on Sunday. She was so exited, you would think it was an all out party.
I can't believe my baby is 3. She's moving out of the baby stage to little girl. It really goes too fast.

Why Family Reunions are Fun!

1) Color coordinated family Pictures






2) Brothers and sister together for the first time in one year.3) Putt-Putt bragging rights for the next few years.

4) A once in a lifetime moment: Grandma received an honorary high school diploma from the high school she had to drop out of to take care of her siblings after her mother died of breast cancer.
5) Silly family pictures6) The next Generation