It's cold and flu season

...and we are feeling it, here at home. Kayla, Thomas and I have all been hit by congestion, coughs and endless snotty noses. Kleenex are like gold, at the moment. For some awful reason, this is a sloooow moving cold, too. It lingers. The congestion has been a week now, and the coughs are only just kicking in. No bueno!
Fingers crossed Nick stays healthy, but I feel like it will be a lost cause. Good luck, babe!

Besides having 2 sicky kiddos at home today, we have been busy! Between play dates and dinners with friends, glorious, 80° weather over the weekend, bike rides and book fairs, it feels like non-stop go, Go, GO! I am hoping it slows down this weekend a bit, but we will see. I believe it's supposed to warm up again, so hopefully it will be a weekend outdoors and in the sunshine.

Onto the random updates!

*Kayla enjoyed Valentine's Day at school, and came home with a goody bag full of tooth-decaying snacks. Dentists in the area are rejoicing and putting down payments on their new cars.
*Yesterday Kayla read a 31 page, level D book. Successfully. Whaaaat?!
*Kayla has the book fair this week. She picked out Zootopia (her mom said no), a book all about pink animals (ok), and a book about sharks (99% certain this was picked due to the gaudy shark-tooth necklace which accompanied it).  If anyone has questions about pink slugs or cookiecutter sharks, I am your person.
*First sick day off of school for the year, is today. Boo.
*Kayla celebrated 100 Day at school  last Friday. She made (ok, Mom made, Kayla dictated, more than anything), a necklace with 100 beads. It was fun.

*Thomas is now only waking up once a night for feedings now. This is not by choice. This is due to his parents using the spare white noise machine.
*Thomas looks adorbs in hats, and his hair seriously has character, people!
*Thomas now has a walker thingy-majig. It has swivel wheels, which he does not know how to operate. Instead, he resembles a drunk person smiling and running into wooden cupboards.
*Thomas likes to chew carrots. When on the floor with a carrot, Daisy likes to take his carrot away when it's halfway to his mouth. Mom does not appreciate this (Thomas could care less).

This face, tho!

That hair, oh my!

Testing Balance skills

Clayton. Kayla, Justin and Chase
 Dawww.

Don't be fooled. We still have to hold his babas.

100 Day hat made at school

Oh mah heart.

Enjoying a carrot, prior to klepto Daisy

These two are seriously buddies

Working hard on V-day cards for her class

100 Day snap

They act like siblings. So much love. And fighting. Haha.

Grandpa came to visit

We had a wonderful, busy weekend here in NC. Grandpa Roger came into town for a weekend visit!
Kayla was elated to see her Grandpa, and more than willing to give up her bed for the weekend, so Grandpa would have a place to sleep. Plus, she loves sleeping on her little pink cot, in our bedroom.
The days passed by quickly, with lots of family time. We enjoyed brunches, afternoons and dinners with Carly, Matt, Clayton and Mason. It is beyond convenient to live only 7 houses away from eachother!
We spent Sunday night  (like half of America) watching the Super Bowl. Somehow, Grandpa managed to watch until the end, even though he had a super early wakeup, in order to be back home by Monday night.
We enjoyed having Grandpa around, and cannot wait to see him again in May, when the newest Hendges makes his/her arrival!

Some quick/random updates:
~Kayla got her report card, she is doing great! She got all of the highest scores possible.
~Kayla is now reading Level D books. That's our girl!
~Kayla appears to have her 1st loose tooth. There is just a hint of a wiggle, and she cannot wait for that tooth fairy visit!
~Kayla has requested an Apple Watch for her birthday in June. This will not happen.
~Kayla learned the value of a dollar. More like the value of $15. There were tears.
~Thomas had his 6 month wellness visit, and is weighing in at a hefty 19 lbs!
~Much to his parents dismay, Thomas still wakes up 3-4x a night.
~Thomas was given the all clear by his physical therapist. YAY!!!
~Thomas is THIS close to cutting another tooth.
~Daisy pooped in her kennel. Again.

Back at it again!

Well, here I am, once again blogging. I enjoyed it in Japan, up until I began to work again (at which point it became one more thing that took away from family time). Now that I have moved back across the world, birthed another child, adopted a 4-legged friend, have a decent sized house to upkeep, unholy amounts of laundry, a kindergartener with daily homework, and a "high needs" teething baby, I figure I now have the time... right? We will see!
Aaaaand let's be real... Facebook kinda sucks these days. Maybe when the elections are over it will be more enjoyable again. Hardeeharhar.
Anywho, I am still not sure if this blog will be major blogging, or more of a "picture deposit". Time will tell. Hopefully I can do decent updates, but you may have to settle solely for delightful images of drooling babies, too-cute-for-her-own-good 5 year olds, and barking beagles...

Here's a few to get you excited:

Jersey Day at Heroes Elementary, today.

1st tooth cut!

...one of those days...

Cuz, snapchat is FUN!

Warmer weather means time to explore!