Casino!

Yesterday Jesse and I packed the kids up and headed to the casino. I had a coupon for a free hotel room, so we decided to take advantage of it and bring the kids. We had a great time and Olivia was so excited to stay in a hotel. So excited that she had to pack the night before we left. It was really cute. She had to pack for everyone. It is sort of hard to tell, but she put all of the shirts in one pile, pants in another, and so on.



The whole way there Olivia was trying to imagine what the casino was like. At one point she asked if it was "sort of like the Mall of America, but a little different"
(at this point we were really hoping she wouldn't be disappointed).

When we got there she had to help find our room while pushing her brother in the stroller.



Ruth and John decided to meet us up there for a short while. After we got settled into our room, Ruth and I headed down to the casino and John, Jesse and the kids stayed in the room. As usual, we didn't win anything so we headed back to the room to go swimming.








The kids LOVED the pool...especially Charlie.
I was not able to go swimming because my incisions from my surgery are still not completely healed, but the kids had tons of fun with Jesse.

After swimming Ruth and John left for home and we took the kids to the buffet. We had to walk through the casino to get there and Olivia will tell you that her favorite part of the day was getting to walk through the "adult game area." I think both her and Charlie were pretty fascinated with all of the lights and sounds.
Our kids LOVE food, so they ate a ton for dinner.
Olivia hit the dessert bar at the end. She was pretty happy :)



After dinner, the last thing that we did was take Olivia to the arcade. We played lots of games. Olivia hit the "Jackpot" on one of the games that she played. I think she was a little scared at first. It was making so much noise and the lights were flashing like crazy; however, she was pretty happy when she saw all 250 tickets come out of the machine.



I love ski-ball, and so did Olivia even though her balls were flying all over the place.



Charlie just relaxed in the stroller while we played.



When we were all done visiting the "kid" friendly areas at the casino, we headed back to the room to relax. We had so much fun with our "slumber party" and really enjoyed a much needed family day!!

Cowgirl Olivia

Today Olivia gets to go with "Horsey" Grandpa and Grandma to a ranch rodeo.

She is super excited and got ready all by herself
(except for the hair...but I had specific instructions on how to do it).

She had to have her "Cowgirl" Shirt


Her "Cowgirl" Hair


Her "Cowgirl" Belt


Her "Cowgirl" Watch


Her "Cowgirl" Boots




She even had to have her baby wear "Cowgirl" shirt


Now it is just the waiting game...she got ready way too early because she was so excited :)

Update from the Babler House

Another crazy week has come and gone at our house.

Jesse is really getting a taste for what it is like to be a full-time parent. Monday he took the day off to take Charlie to his Pre-Op appointment for his tubes. Everything went well so we got the go ahead for his surgery....yeah!!! We have been waiting for him to be healthy enough for this.

Tuesday was a long work day for me it was the first of three long 12 hour conference days. So Jesse had to pick the kids up from daycare and they came and ate supper with me at work. I love when my family visits me at work :) I got home around 8:00, got the kids to bed and went to bed myself. With Charlie not sleeping well and me working late, I was exhausted. At about 11:30 Tuesday night I woke up with the worst stomach ache, by about 1:30 I called my mom to take me to the E.R. and by about 6:30 I was scheduled to have my appendix removed at 9:30 am. The kids were at daycare for the day and Jesse stayed with me during surgery along with Jesse's mom, my mom, my step-dad and thankfully my sister-in-law Michelle works at the hospital, so she came to see me a lot as well (and I know I was in good hands or else everyone would have gotten an ear full...thank you Michelle)!!

It was a long day of sleeping, but finally around 3:00 I was awake enough to really know what was going on. Jesse, Olivia (my mom kept Charlie and later had Olivia overnight), My dad and step mom, along with our friend Troy came to visit me Wednesday night. Thankfully they let me stay Wednesday night so I could get a good night of sleep and I got to come home Thursday morning.

Jesse and I spent the day at home Thursday just relaxing and watching movies (well...Jesse actually cleaned). The kids were once again at daycare until about 4:30 and then came home. I was so excited to see them. My dad came to get Olivia and had her overnight so she didn't have to get up early.

This morning, Jesse and I were up around 5:00 to get Charlie ready for his surgery for tubes in his ears. We got to St. Cloud around 7:00 and his surgery was at 8:00. It was really quick. He was only away from us for about 15 minutes including his time in the recovery room. I was with him while they put him "under." The doctor told us that 8 out of 10 moms cry...I thought for sure I was going to, but I stayed strong. After it was over, they brought him to us and I felt so bad for him. He cried for about 20 minutes. By far the longest he has ever cried in his life. He was miserable. At that point they finally gave us the go ahead to give him a bottle and he was a happy camper :) He has had a great day and I can already tell it has made a difference. He was babbling like crazy on our way home. It was like he was super excited to hear his own voice. We are really hoping that this makes a huge difference in his sleep. The poor little guy has had ongoing ear infections since December and hasn't been sleeping because of it.

Here are some pics of Charlie waiting for his surgery...he was so good and patient
(especially for not eating this morning)




Charlie seems to be doing great and I am slowing starting to feel better. I just have to tell myself not to do too much. I want to thank everyone for helping out this week. I have had some great people bring us meals :), great visitors, great people taking care of the kids (my own kids and my students), and so thankful for everyone just being there for us...THANK YOU!!!

T R O U B L E

That's right...trouble!!

Our little guy has discovered how to open the baby gate. He is going to keep us on our toes :)

Here are some pictures of Charlie trying to get it open, he of course didn't quite get it when I had the camera, but the other night he had it mastered.
It is time to shop for a new gate. I guess one that is not just kid proof, but "Charlie" proof =)