Date Night

Every year the SD National Guard holds their Dining Out and invites all the members of the Legislature to be a part of the evening.  Having spent all those years attending military balls, dining outs and other functions, it's an event that Corey and I always look forward to and enjoy.  Thankfully, Grandma and Papa were so kind as to offer to come spend the night with all four kiddos so I could go down for the evening and enjoy a wonderful date night with Corey.  Here we are all dolled up and ready to go!

Go Battlers....the Video

Go Battlers!

Go Reagan!

Senator Daddy

We made an impromptu trip down to Pierre last week to sneak up and surprise Corey at the capitol.  The look on his face was priceless...he was so excited to see his kids and get to introduce them on the Senate floor.  Unfortunately, I don't have any great pictures of them on the floor, but I at least have one picture to prove they were there :)

We are halfway through session!  Hooray!  Looking forward to having Daddy home again but proud of him for everything that he does while he is in Pierre!

Monday, Sick Maddy Monday

The snow came on Sunday and the sickies came on Monday...boo!  Madison woke up just fine and happy and then took a turn for the worse and it got worse and worse.  I don't usually head to doctors very often but Madison had a fever (again, usually not a concern for me) but got so fatigued that she was practically passing out in my arms...that's when I got scared.  So we ran to the clinic and they (also concerned) ran all kinds of poking and prodding tests (definitely not Madison's favorite part of her day!).  There so much gunk going around town that they checked her for RSV, Influenza and Strep.  Thankfully, all tests came back negative and her bloodwork didn't show anything concerning.  So they sent us home to watch the fever, keep her hydrated and get some rest.  Well, Madison took those orders to heart.  She fell asleep in the doctor's office as seen below and stayed asleep after I tucked her into her own bed and slept for the next FIVE hours!  The poor little thing.  Luckily, that did the trick and she woke up a bit perkier and had her appetite back that night.  Still, she was happy to take advantage of the blow up bed in the living room and lounging about watching TV the remainder of the day.  We're still managing the fever which keeps creeping back up every now and then but hopefully we are on the mend!

Sunday, Snowy Sunday

Sunday brought some of our first real snowfall (we are very grateful that it waited so long to come!) The bad news is that meant that Corey had to get on the road first thing to head down to Pierre so he wouldn't have to drive in nastier weather as the day went on.  But we made the most of it and while the twins were napping and I was clearing off some snow from the steps, Reagan and Harrison found the temptation to go play irresistable.  They got all their gear on and had a blast making snow angels, throwing snowballs and trekking all the way around the entire house making sculptures out of snow to turn the yard into an entire city.  They came in for hot chocolate and we later had breakfast for supper.  Other than Daddy having to leave, they declared it the best day ever (Yea!)

When I went upstairs to check on the sleeping beauties, I discovered that Madison had apparently taken Kennedy's bed.  Kennedy either didn't want to give up her bed or wanted to be close to Sissy though, because she was right there asleep at the foot.  Madison woke up when she saw me taking the picture.  Not sure if the grin on her face was because
    a) she was happy to see me
    b) she had successfully occupied her sister's bed
or c) she was guilty as charged......see the following picture of what they did before they fell asleep

Apparently Mom forgot to shut the closet door before tucking them in for their naps! Silly girls!

Happy New Year!

What a funny practical joke....we send out Christmas cards and give everyone the blog address so they can follow along with all our day-to-day life happenings and then we haven't posted anything all year long :).  Oops.  It's been a fun start to 2012 and I guess we've just been too busy enjoying it to be taking pictures of it.

So here's a few snapshots to show you what we've been up to....

Just before Christmas, we headed to the Discovery Center in Pierre for a birthday party....all four of the kids had a blast exploring the place

(FYI, Corey isn't holding Kennedy like a suitcase...just holding the headphones on her little head for her!

 Every weekend when Corey comes home from the Senate, he brings surprises for the kids (often times this is one of the various items they receive from the lobbying groups....keychains, cotton candy, teddy bears and travel mugs have been faves in previous years).  This week he had stopped at Walmart and found some Valentine's Day colored candy corn...to say that it was a hit with Madison and Kennedy is a huge understatement!  They grabbed the container and ran with it!  (contrary to our normal pattern, Madison is on the left in these photos....)

And just proving true that all kids need to be happy is a cardboard box....we ordered some chairs for our play table in the basement and the kids decided it was far more fun to sit in the boxes than on the new chairs!

We hope everyone else's New Year is off to as fantastic a start as ours is.  Perhaps our resolution should involve something about updating the blog more regularly!  Til next time.....