Weekly Update

Tenley was off at school, while the twins were stuck at home feeling sick. Their noses were running like faucets, coughing, fevers... the works! All they wanted to do was hang out together in their room and watch their iPad. Whatever, I just wanted them to rest so I didn't care:

Tenley's friend at school gave her a Christmas card with the sweetest note inside. I know her friend from volunteering and seeing these kids learn so quickly amazes me:

My voice was still raspy, but Monday was my first day back to working out and teaching. After a whole week away, I was so ready to be back and came back to our doors looking uber festive:

Grandma Cath sent the kids a package and sent Tenley the most obnoxious JoJo Bow. My Mom and I thought it was too big, but Tenley thought it was the greatest thing ever and insisted on wearing it to school on Tuesday:

(Thanks, Ma!! We love you!!)

I was back to teaching Tuesday night:

The twins slept really good that night and had to be woken up in the morning to take sis to school:

Ev and Wes were finally well enough to go back to school Thursday and were happy to be back:

With all the kids at school Friday morning I was able to go celebrate Pure Barre Henderson's 2nd birthday with a 'Tuck 'N Glow' Empower class. Spoiler alert: it was amazing:

Ev and Wes made jingle bells at school and had to shake them for me:

Tenley brought home lots of school work, her level 6 Lexia certificate and 2 cheer grams:

That evening I was back at PBH to teach a 'Tuck 'N Glow' Classic class. It was so much fun and everyone looked so good shakin' in the black lights:

I brought some glow in the dark goodies home for the kids are they went nuts:

On Thursday Ed surprised me with tickets to go see Lady Gaga as my Christmas present. We've always wanted to see her in concert so I was so excited!! They weren't the best seats, but we just wanted to go and enjoy a night out together. It's only natural that Tenley and Wesley would wake up Saturday, the day of the concert, throwing up. Tenley took medicine and was back to herself in no time, but Wes was miserable. The poor kid couldn't keep anything down and couldn't move. There was no way we could leave him with a sitter like this:

The tickets weren't too expensive so I was okay missing it, but Ed insisted I call Karina and take her. She's a big fan and we've been talking about going to her concert for months now so it made sense. I felt bad leaving Ed to take care of Wes, but am so glad I got to see Lady Gaga (still with such a fun date, too!):

Besides Adele, I've never left a concert feeling like I knew the person more. I can legitimately say I learned so much, cried, laughed, sang, and lost my voice during the Joanne concert. When we were walking in Karina said, "there isn't one type of person here. Everyone is so different." It was truly beautiful to see so many people united under one roof with no judgement:

We were so excited when Gaga came to our side of the arena and both times that she did were my absolute favorite. The first time she came over she grabbed a rainbow flag from a guy in the crowd and asked the crowd who were members of the LGBT community and the crowd went crazy. Then she asked who wasn't a member and the crowd went crazy. Then she asked who didn't care and it was quiet. She said, "98% of this crowd probably fights for equality, while the other 2% don't care and THAT'S OK. We shouldn't hate them for being ignorant, we should show them compassion. Everyone needs to love everyone no matter who they are because if we don't then we just keep fighting for the same shit!" This convo lead into 'Come to Mama' and 'Born This Way':

My favorite part of the show was when she asked the audience if anyone ever felt different. She said, "everyone who feels different, shine your light." The audience lit up like a Christmas tree and I was covered in goosebumps:

She explained how she always felt different and thanked her friends for sticking by her and supporting her through being different. She said people who go through pain in life are the strongest and to embrace it:

AH-MAZING concert-- a must see!! Thanks for being my date, Karina!!

Sunday was a super lazy day as Wes was still under the weather. He rested in bed all day while the girls listened to Christmas carols and danced by the tree:

Ed and I are always thinking of ways to eat healthier, while not depriving ourselves or getting bored with the same things. We always eat sweet potatoes, but Ed had the idea of shredding the sweet potatoes, drizzling with avocado oil and salt and pepper, then cooking them as little patties. We topped them with cheeseburgers and it was delicious and easy:

Wes was feeling a little better in the evening and was happy to get a bath all by himself:

It wasn't long after putting the kids to bed that Ev started throwing up in bed, then Tenley... Ed and I were literally laughing because there was just so much throw up that we didn't know where to start. It lost it's humor on me around 3am after waking up every 15-30 minutes to tend to someone, then it hit me hard, too! I know I said this last week, but I'm ready for the new week to start so we can get better and get into the Holiday Spirit! 

Until next time! :)

Weekly Update

The week started off super chilly; which had us off to a slow start Monday morning:

After dropping T off at school, the Holmes kiddos came over and kept warm by playing in front of the fireplace:

Tenley came home from school and was excited to have learned about Hanukkah:

Monday evening I had a work meeting; which is always so much fun. We laughed so hard, then Amelia came and is always taking pics of us and making us pose since she's such a pro! I love having a job that surrounds me with such strong women:

Due to the new CCSD law, I had to take some time off from volunteering at Tenley's school until I was background checked and fingerprinted. I finally got cleared and was back in business on Tuesday. The kids were so excited to see me and I was so happy to help out! Tenley is doing so well in Kinder and made it to unit 15 on her sight words on Tuesday. We're so proud of her love for learning:

On Tuesday, Ev and Wes learned about the letter 'C' and made these adorable cactus', while Tenley brought home lots of work:

I was starting to lose my voice Tuesday evening, but promised the kids to take them ice skating Wednesday evening since they weren't able to over the weekend. We loved ice skating at The Cosmo last year and it's only $10 during the week for locals, plus it was "A Night with The Vegas Golden Knights"! Wes was beyond excited and talked about it all day.    As soon as we got there we ran into Amy and the crew and were so excited to hit the rink with friends:

The Cosmo had fake snow fall and the kids went nuts for it:

All of a sudden Wes and Ev kept saying they were so sleepy so we had to leave before the players came out for their meet and greet. On our way out we ran into Chance the Gila Monster:

When we got home we could tell that Wes was going to wake up feeling awful. He was so tired that he asked us to put him right into bed; which never happens. When he woke up he had this nasty dry cough and fever. He was so miserable that he wouldn't move from the couch:

Luckily, Stevie picked Tenley up for school and made sure she made it into her classroom safely so we didn't have to leave the house. I knew Tenley was in good hands with her and Tenley was thrilled to go to school with Jackson:

(THANKS, STEVIE!!! YOU ARE THE BEST!!)

Thank God for Stevie because Wes started throwing up as soon as Tenley left for school. I made the quickest appointment I could for Wes and Ev. Of course, he started to throw up on the way to the doctor so I took off my jacket and had him throw up on it since I had nothing else. The doc said his ears, nose and throat looked good, but put him on meds because she didn't want it to turn into something worse. The poor guy continued to throw up flem on the way to the pharmacy and ended up falling asleep as we waited for his scripts:

As soon as we got home, Ev took a much needed nap. It's so rare to have napping kids, but boy did I need it because I was coughing and had a fever, too:

Aunt Julie sent a delivery from Cheryl's Cookies and it was torture seeing those glorious cookies when all I could think about was soup. Luckily, Tenley and Ed were feeling fine and able to enjoy them right away:

(Thanks, Aunt Loolie and Uncle Bill!! Love you!!)

Wessie boy fell asleep while doing his breathing treatment Thursday night and it broke my heart:

Wes woke up feeling a little better Friday morning and even ate some toast and orange juice for breakfast. The breathing treatments seemed to really be helping the twins. We have so much albuterol and Ev wasn't going to need that much so I stole some to try to get my voice back:

Ev missed her dance class Saturday morning, but Tenley was rearing to go to cheer! The twins stayed home with Ed while I took T to class. I don't care how awful I feel, I love watching her cheer. She loves it so much; which makes it really fun for everyone:

All I wanted was warm food to soothe my throat so Ed made my favorite soup- chicken gnocchi soup. I spent the rest of Saturday being lazy, eating soup and drinking tea like a old lady:

Ev was feeling a bit better. but said she didn't want to go to her dress rehearsal that evening. She stayed home, rested, did breathing treatments and we prayed she'd feel up to dancing in the morning:

Bad news is Wes woke up feeling worse on Sunday, but good new was that Ev woke up feeling and acting like her sweet little self! Thank God! She was so excited for her Winter Recital of 'The Snow Queen' and the rest of us (except Wes) were excited to get out of the house:

(She dressed herself and wanted to wear her Blessed Mother necklace she got for her 6th birthday from Grammy and Pop-Pop!)

I was stunned with how well Evie did since she missed class and dress rehearsal, but she blew us away. She shines so bright on stage and loves it so much that it's hard to not smile ear to ear when you watch her:

Our Prima Ballerina made us so proud and we are so excited to see how far she goes at Gymcats:

The rest of our day was spent trying to get Wes' fever down and getting him on the road to recovery. Poor guy could hardly stay awake all day:

I'm so ready for a new week to begin and for everyone to start feeling better!

Until next time! :)