Chilek Thanksgiving

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving yesterday. We spent most of the day at Jeremy's parents' house. His dad had all but one of his brothers come in for the holiday. And his sister was there, too. There was also extended family in attendance, therefore, lots of people. It was great to see everyone and even meet some of Jeremy's relatives that I had never met before. The girls had a great time playing with Jax, Madeline, and a couple of other kids. Marme' and Aunt Mary rented a bounce house for the kids to play in. That was a big hit, plus it kept the kids occupied most of the day! After a fun-filled day at Marme' and Pops' house, we headed over to Nana and Papa's to finish celebrating Thanksgiving. After dinner, Nana made Camden and Claire a special dessert. Yummy, chocolate pudding. She even put it in fancy bowls. We are so thankful for our families who love us very much! Here are a few fun pictures of the day. For more pics of our Thanksgiving, check our online photo album: www.jjchilek.smugmug.com

All of the Chilek family

Our family

Camden enjoying her dessert

Claire with her yummy chocolate pudding

Fall Fun

We moved into our house two years ago last month. We really have had good intentions of planting some trees, but have just not gotten around to it. And, of course, I want BIG trees, not baby trees that will take 10-15 years to grow. And we all know how expensive those kind of trees are. So, that has just not been one of our priorities. Don't get me wrong, in the fall it's nice because we don't have leaves all over our yard. But, in the summer is when I wish we had trees. We have no source of shade so some trees would really be helpful. When we go to my parents' house in the fall, the girls have lots of fun with all the leaves. Camden and Claire enjoy helping Papa rake them up, but they really love jumping in his big pile of leaves to play. Today we were at my parents' house and we noticed there were leaves all in the front yard. Just some fun pictures of the girls playing.

Thanksgiving Feasts

Today at school, Camden and Claire's class had their Thanksgiving feasts. Claire's class enjoyed turkey, pretzels, cheese, fruit and cupcakes, while Camden's class chose more of a non-traditional menu of Chick-Fil-A. I'd have to say that Chick-Fil-A would also be my choice.

Spaghetti and sweetness

Just a couple of pictures taken tonight. We had spaghetti for dinner and I think Claire was wearing more than she actually ate. After baths, the girls were laying on the couch cuddling. So cute. Sometimes they surprise me and are really sweet to each other.

Christmas fever

Well, last night I couldn't wait any longer. I got all the Christmas decorations out and started decorating. Jeremy was thrilled--ha ha! But, he did help put the tree up and helped the girls hang ornaments. They had lots of fun and it got us in the Christmas spirit. Tonight we watched videos of last year's Christmas and the year before that. It's amazing how much the girls have grown. Camden is so mature, is lots taller and talks so much clearer compared to last year. Anyway, that was fun and Camden and Claire loved watching themselves on TV. Except, Claire kept pointing to the baby (herself) and saying "baby". She didn't realize it was her. Now I guess I can start wrapping presents. I'm just afraid that when I'm not around, Camden will talk Claire into opening the presents. Maybe I should wait until a little closer to Christmas. We also went to see Santa at the mall. I know...it's not even Thanksgiving yet. But, the girls were in a good mood and I wanted to take advantage of that while I had it. And, there wasn't a line, which was great! The girls were excited about seeing Santa until we approached. Then their attitudes changed. Camden kept saying, "I'm not going to cry". I bribed her...if you sit on his lap and take a picture, I'll give you a piece of gum. IT WORKED! First year that she hasn't cried. Although, Claire is a different story. I had to pull her arms off of me to sit her in his lap. I'm very surprised that she didn't try to get down, though. But, she cried and cried. Camden did try to console her, but it didn't work. Oh well...I'm used to all the crying pictures and I just take them anyway. They'll enjoy looking back at these pics in years to come.

Sick again...

Well, I thought we were all gradually getting over our illnesses, but I guess I was wrong. We went to the ENT this morning for a scheduled re-check of Claire's ears to make sure the tubes were still in place. But, he said they were out and there was fluid in one ear...which means EAR INFECTION! No wonder she's been cranky the last couple of weeks and had a runny nose that I can't get to go away. He put her on a strong antibiotic, but said if it doesn't clear up then we will have to talk about having her adnoids (sp??) out. We're hoping it will clear up so we can avoid any more surgeries:) I just want us all to be healthy!!!

Sickness

OK, so I feel like my family has been sick forever. And, by sick, I mean anything from runny nose, cough, congestion, fever and sore throat to cold and pink eye! Last week, Claire had a cold in her eye, along with runny nose and congestion. After Camden had shots last week, one of the injection sites became red and swollen and she ran fever. Luckily, it was just her body reacting very well with the vaccine serrum. She has also had a cough for the last few days, which wakes her up during the night. Not fun for Mom! Over the weekend, Jeremy had a sore throat and felt pretty yucky. And then there's me...found out today I have pink eye. I thought it was just a cold in my eye, like Claire had. However, when I woke up this morning it was bright pink. I knew then that it was more than a cold. I packed the girls up and went to Direct Care, where I was diagnosed and given a prescription. My eye doesn't hurt or even itch, which is good. Hopefully, by the weekend, we'll all be well!

Yummy chocolate cookies!

Scrambled eggs, anyone?

Claire has disovered that she can now open the refrigerator. And she LOVES it. She will get everything out if I'm not watching. This morning I was getting ready and Camden came in and said that Claire had made a mess. This comment never surprises me...I just always wonder what the mess will consist of, whether it's toothpaste, water, cereal and milk, toys, etc... Never in my wildest imagination did I expect to find a broken egg on the floor. When Claire saw me she said, "Mama, I made mess. Egg mess." It was really cute that I couldn't even be mad. However, I think maybe I should have scolded her because when I was cooking dinner tonight, everytime I turned around, Claire was in the fridge. She must just think it's a game. I never had this problem with Camden. I think I might just have to resort to buying one of those fridge locks. I really hate to because I'll probably be the one that can't figure out how to unlock it. Oh well, until then I guess we'll just hope that Claire doesn't decide to pull out the jug of milk next. Now that would be a MESS!

Stain remover

Yesterday, while the girls were at Aunt Crystal's house, they were playing with dry erase markers and decided to write on each other's shirts...brand new shirts. I thought that the marker would come out with some stain remover on it, so I generously applied some spray-n-wash with resolve power, threw in the washing machine and assumed that it would come out marker free. However, the stain was still in place when the washing was done. I applied a different stain remover thinking it might have more power. Wrong again. So, I resorted to the internet to google "removing dry eraser from clothes". Apparently, this is a widespread problem among mothers of toddlers. Their solution....Murphy's Oil Soap. I know...this sounds crazy. But, I was going to try it. There were at least 20-30 responses claiming SUCCESS when using this product. So, today on my weekly trip to Wal-Mart I bought some. I applied some to the stain and scrubbed with a toothbrush, thinking that the stain would magically disappear. Much to my dismay, the stain did not go away. I really didn't think this was going to work, but I went ahead and washed the shirts. When I removed them from the washer, guess what.....stains were GONE!! Yep, that stuff really works!! So, I just wanted to share my little household secret with everyone. It might even work on other stains, too. And Crystal....I'm not upset at all that the girls got marker on their shirt. But, just so you'll know..I don't think those markers are washable:)

Shots, shots and more shots

Today Camden had an doctors appointment for her 4 year old well check-up. I had been preparing her for about a week that she was going to get shots this time. I didn't tell her how many, though. She did very well with the exam. She stood on the scale with no problem, the nurse checked her height (last time she screamed because they lowered a level on her head), she took her blood pressure and listened to her heart. She did perfect, although she was a little leary about some of it. As long as I was there to hold her hand she was ok. Then came the shots...I had actually asked the nurse if we could get flu shots, too. She had warned me that Camden would get 3 shots today, so the flu shot added one more. We did Claire's flu shot first. They poked her and about 2 seconds after is when Claire started crying. A little delayed reaction. Then came Camden's turn for 4 shots...luckily 2 nurses came in and each did 2 shots in each arm at the same time. She did cry, but was a real trooper. The pictures show the girls with their band-aids. Poor babies!

Playdate with Madeline

Yesteray I had to take my car to the dealership for some maintenance and I didn't think Camden and Claire would enjoy sitting and waiting. So, I dropped them off at Aunt Crystal's house for a little playdate with Madeline. They had so much fun playing with their cousin. Thanks Aunt Crystal for babysitting!

Chefs at work

I was working on the computer in the playroom and the girls were playing with their kitchen, cooking lots of food. Camden made me a donut and corn-on-the-cob so I turned around to take my food and saw the girls in their pretend chef hats. It was SO funny! Claire was also sporting sunglasses with her hat created from a towel. My kiddos make me laugh so much!

Feeding the fish

After school on Thursday I had to go to the insurance office to discuss some options with our car and homeowners insurance. I knew the girls would not sit like little angels while I was there, so I asked our friend, Mrs. Robin, if her daughter could babysit after school. So, the girls loaded up in Mrs. Robin's car and went to pick up Mallorie from school. On their way home, Mrs. Robin had to stop and vote. While they were inside, Claire kept saying,"We're gonna boat!". Then, she took them back to her house and they had so much fun. Mrs. Robin and Mallorie took the girls across the street to the lake, where they fed the fish. There were duck decoys out in the water, too. Camden kept throwing bread to the decoys and saying, "They're not hungry" because, obviously, they weren't eating any bread because they weren't real. Thanks Mrs. Robin and Mallorie for entertaining Camden and Claire!

My Adventurous Culinary Effort

(Please, don't judge the meal by the way it looks in this picture!) I've never really been one who enjoys to cook. Therefore, I choose very simple meals, such as spaghetti, Stouffer's lasagna, and things that can be cooked in a crock pot or on the grill. Less time, less mess and less clean-up. But, Jeremy made a special request for chicken fried steak, which is a very delicious meal, just one that I don't enjoy preparing. In fact, I think I have only made it one other time since we've been married and that was about 2 or 3 years ago. So, I decided tonight would be the night for his request. Boy am I glad that we didn't have to be anywhere after dinner because I can guarantee we would have been late. This was the MESSIEST meal that I have ever made. There was flour, grease and gravy everywhere, including on my toes. Yes, I dropped the whisk which had gravy on it and it splattered all over the cabinets, floor and on my pants and feet. Such a MESS!!!! And, it took FOREVER. I started off cooking the meat and got it golden brown on both sides. It looked PERFECT!! I took it out and cut into it just to make sure it was done, only to find HOT PINK! YUCK! So, back in the pan it went and it took such a long time to get it done. After smoke going everywhere because I was burning the crust, I decided to turn down the burner to get the inside cooked. I vowed right then to never make this meal again within the next 2 years. No wonder it's been that long since I had made it. I'd forgotten all the work that went into it. I haven't even gotten to the clean up part. It took at least another 30 minutes to clean up. Ridiculous. By the time I got the meat done, the fries and rolls were cold. Oh well, Jeremy went back for seconds so I guess it wasn't too bad. I think we all know not to expect any gourmet meals from this chef:)

Baylor Homecoming 2008

Friday after lunch my parents, Jeremy, the girls and I headed down to Waco for our annual trip to Baylor Homecoming. I had some ideas of things that I wanted to do while we were there, and luckily, we were able to do most of them. I just had to learn to be flexible. I assumed that since we left around 1:00 on Friday that the girls would probably take a little nap in the car, which would have been GREAT!. However, Camden slept about 20 minutes, which was not long enough to compensate for the fact that she was awake at 5:00 a.m. And, Claire did not sleep at all. So, they were a little irritable and cranky by the time we got to Waco. We stopped by the campus to see the bear and do a little shopping at the bookstore. We then went to dinner, where they behaved rather well considering no naps. Then my big plan was to get costumes on and go trick-or-treating. But, then our meltdown occurs. Camden was adiment about NOT putting on her costume, NOT trick-or-treating and NOT going to Baylor Extravaganza. We even drove down Austin Street and saw TONS of kids going door to door getting candy. I thought that might change her mind, but no. So, as sad as I was, I said OK-no costumes and no trick-or-treating. But,I went against Camden's wishes and we stopped by Baylor to see what was going on. Once she saw the ferris wheel, I had her attention. We waited in line about 30 minutes to ride it. As we got closer in line, Claire decides that she wants to ride, too. I wasn't sure how she would react to it, but I took a chance. Claire rode with me and Camden rode with Jeremy. I think Claire was the most excited out of everyone. She was leaning over and waving to my parents. What a dare devil! After getting some candy, we called it a night. Saturday morning we went to the parade. The girls got SO much candy that it was probably a good thing that we didn't go trick-or-treating. They loved the big bear balloon and the band. Then we headed to lunch and then my dad and Jeremy went to the game. The four girls took naps! Saturday night we went to dinner and then walked around campus, trying to take some cute pictures of the girls. What a fun weekend!! Sic 'em bears!!!