Happy Valentines Day

Last year at teacher conferences it was brought up that Bryce doesn't put in much effort sometimes. He gets pretty good grades but at time puts in about 5% effort. The example that his teacher used was when they were asked to make a Valentine box and Bryce showed up with a brown paper sack with his name on it. Since we gave him such a hard time about that last year, he made an impressive basketball Valentine box this year. 

Emmy had a fun Valentine Party at daycare. Andrea always makes party days fun for them. They decorate the basement and make up special games for the day.

Having Valentine snack with daycare friends.

The best part of daycare these days is a new puppy named Maggie. Emmy is obsessed with her! She keeps trying to convince us that she needs a baby or a puppy. I hate to be the bearer of bad news but we aren't getting anymore babies and Lucy is naughty enough that we will probably never get another dog either.

Robb's Back Surgery

Robb had a microdiscectomy done Feb 12. After his doctor reviewed his MRI it was decided that it was not something that was going to fix itself and he would need surgery to remove a small bone chip that was lodged up against the nerve, causing the shooting pain down his leg. This has been a long time coming and I think the last 4 weeks he has even been more than ready to get it taken care of and feeling better. He has to be off work and no driving for 1 week and then week 2 just work as tolerated. He won't be able to bend, twist or lift anything over 10lbs for about 6-8 weeks. It's not going to be an easy process but it is a necessary one. I took the first week off of work so that we don't have to worry about him getting Emmy to daycare or the kids off to school. The second week  we plan to figure out as it comes and we have talked to the kids about helping out more around the house since Robb won't be able to.
Surgery Day: Susie came early to get the kids off to school and Emmy to daycare. Robb was really nervous and I was nervous for him. This is the first time since we have been married that it is him having a medical procedure done. He has been with me through 3 deliveries, a laproscopy and ankle surgery. I guess it is my turn to be the caregiver for a change. The doctor came in and talked to us before hand and he is really nice it is just hard to get past the fact that he looks like he is 14. They took him back and told me it would be about an hour to and hour and a half. I got a coffee and patiently waited. The doctor talked to me when he was done and said that they did in fact find a small chip of bone that was causing the problem and they were able to remove it. He lost a lot more blood than expected though which was concerning. He said that where it was bleeding from they weren't able to get the cautery in that spot so he lost 500-700 cc of blood when the norm is around 100. So he told me to watch that. A little bit later I went back to the recovery area. He was confused and looked like he was in pain. Once, we finally got you to open your eyes your nurse gave you some water and you chugged it. She really wanted you to eat some crackers but you kept saying your mouth was too dry. She finally cut you off after about 3 cups of water and she had you take a pain pill. You woke up pretty fast and didn't have a ton of pain after your pain pill. They eventually sat you in a chair and kept you there for a bit to make sure you did alright. It wasn't long before you were getting dressed and I was picking you up in the front of the hospital. I thought it was funny, the nurse asked me who Caleb was because as you were groggy you were worried that he didn't brush his teeth that morning. Too funny but a very valid concern.
We got you home and you slept for quite a while. Your parents had thought about staying but you were doing well and just wanted to rest. I had to keep pulling up the YouTube video on how to get out of bed while keeping your back straight. You struggled with that for awhile. Your recovery is going to be a process and you aren't very good at doing nothing so hopefully you can handle it!

Dance

Abby has been making a lot of progress in dance this year and is really starting to practice and work on things. She is taking ballet, tap and jazz again this year at Motions Dance studio. Her and Addison are in the same class and she loves hanging out with her best friend for a couple hours on Monday nights. After this year we have some hard decisions to make about what we are going to do about dance next year. Addison plans to move up a year and start pointe class. I had my reservations about this and after talking with Steph ,who is a great source of info on this, I decided that we are not ready to go that route. You are suppose to have much more ballet training than either girl has had and to put them in pointe shoes at this age can cause damage to their ankles and its just not necessary. After discussing this with Addison's mom they are still going to move forward with pointe class and since they aren't going to be in the same class anyways I think we are going to switch studios. I have never really liked the owner of this one or how some of the things are done. A new studio went up in Hickman last year and Abby and I went to watch a ballet and lyrical class there. It looked fun and like a good fit for her so I think we are going to try that. I am sad that she isn't going to dance with Addison next year but I feel like we need to make a decision based on what is best for Abby and I think this new studio is a good opportunity for her. 

Birthday Party at Foodie Kids

Emmy really wanted a friend birthday party this year and she wanted it to involve cooking so we found a really cute place called Foodie Kids to have her party at. She invited her friends and couldn't wait for the day to come!

Evey brought her flowers which was super cute!

They all got to make mini pizzas, fruit kabobs and they got to decorate a cupcake. Emmy got a big cupcake to decorate. She was thrilled! The theme of her party was Trolls for her favorite movie so they had pink and purple frosting and then they each got cotton candy to put on for hair. It was a really cute idea.

Emmy also got to make special punch that they put edible glitter in.

She got lots of fun gifts and had a great time. Her first friend party was a success!

Happy 4th Birthday Emerson

It is hard to believe that you are 4 and yet it is hard to remember our family without you. You have definitely left your mark on all of us. Since, you are the baby of the family everyone is nice to you. The boys think you are cute and funny and most of the time you pass as a great playmate for Abby. You have always acted older in many ways. You have understood sarcasm since you were 2 and really know how to bend things your way for all of us. We love you dearly but you are our hardest kid. You have become accustomed to always getting your way which makes it not pretty when we put our foot down. Truthfully, a lot of times we just need to get through the day while running in a million different directions so you have had to adapt to that. We have done things to help you adapt to that such as spending endless amounts of money at the concession stand while you are at your 3rd basketball game of the day. You are, and always have been, a mommas girl which is cute and a curse all at the same time. I feel a little spread thin when you insist that it is always me doing everything for you. 

You love to play with Abby and her friends, house, dance party, tea party and babies. Your favorite TV show is Sophia the First and your favorite movie is Beauty and the Beast or Trolls. You love the color purple and would absolutely refuse to have anything to do with something that is a "boy" color. You love reading and really like stories from when I was a little girl. We tell the same ones over and over again. You routinely ask if mermaids and unicorns and princesses are real. You are a home body and love staying home from daycare or just love staying home in general. You still attend daycare with Andrea and when we have talked about sending you to preschool next year you are completely against it! Your favorite stuffed animal is a big dog from Aunt Steph named Muffy. You plan on being Princess Belle at Disney when you grow up. You are terrified of blood and claim you will never ever be a nurse like mom. You have some sensory quirks with clothing that drive us up the wall. You try on up to 10 pair of underwear a day to get ones that feel right. You hate pants and really only wear black leggings and even then you try on multiple pair each morning to find ones that feel right. You love a brand of dress called Dot Dot Smile Dresses and I order them from a boutique $$. Your dad does not appreciate your clothing bill. You like these dresses because they are dri fit material and either tank top, short sleeve or 3/4 sleeve, never long sleeve. You have too many of these dresses and we just rotate through them. You refuse to wear socks and I have completely given up on even trying that. You only like a few select shoes and even those you only leave on while you are outside. We are used to you taking your shoes off at church, restaurants and in the car. I hate to admit this but you can run an Ipad as good as the older kids and can get to shows, movies and songs all by yourself. Your favorite foods are mac n cheese, spaghetti, strawberries, candy and ice cream. Every evening when I give you your supper you tell me how disgusting it is and say you are never eating it. We tell you that you must have 4 bites and then you usually ask for seconds. Moments like this make your dad and I shake our heads so that we don't shake you. Kidding. Your bedtime routine is terrible and we have just decided that kids in high school don't sleep with their parents so eventually you will stop sleeping with us. We lay with you until you fall asleep which is sometime up to an hour. We then go to our bed but you come in around 2-3 most nights. As you see you kind of run our house. You have all the love you could ever want or need but you did not get our A game when it came to parenting. 

Happy 4th Birthday Emerson Paige Lutz

We drove home from Iowa on your birthday and picked up a cake so that you could blow out candles.

Then we finally got to give you your big gift. We had decided that you were finally old enough for a bike. Your were so excited and happy about getting a bike.

You were even pretty good at riding it around the house.

Thanks for making our lives interesting and thanks for making things fun and exciting! You keep us on our toes. Love ya Mom and Dad

Des Moines Tournament

This year Bryce is playing for the Norris Youth Basketball League on the A team. He loves it and would spend all of his time playing basketball if that were an option. This team requires quite a bit more time than any other team he has ever played on. They play through the YMCA and then on off weekends they play tournaments. He practices 2 nights a week and they have team building , watching film or extra practice a lot. They traveled to a couple small towns around us but the travel tournament that we had to stay at was in Des Moines. I was a little torn on how to handle this weekend because the boys were super excited about it but it was the weekend of Emmy's 4th birthday and I was feeling like we were short changing her by having to drag her to basketball all weekend. In the end we decided we would all go and just try to make it as fun for her as possible.

When you are the little one and sit in the middle you get to hold the giant tub of Chex mix.

This is a fun picture of how high Bryce can jump.

They had a fun weekend of games and played really well. They won one and lost a couple but it was close. 

Grady, Emmy's buddy brought her a cupcake for her birthday.

It was also Thomas's birthday from the team and his mom had brought a cookie cake and snacks. Emmy got to celebrate her birthday with the entire team.

Traveling with our family is always interesting and this trip was no exception! It appeared we were moving into the hotel not just staying for the night. When we got to our room we had a king bed and a pullout couch. This is not at all what we had booked. Not to mention that when we checked in they told us how booked up the hotel was. I stayed in the room with the girls while Robb went down to the desk to wait in line and try to figure out our room issue. While he did that the girls made themselves at home by using the bathroom and laying on the bed of the room that we planned on giving up. Sorry, not sorry about that! Robb finally got the room situation figured out and we drug all of our stuff to adjoining rooms on a different floor. The boys seemed to be under the impression that we had rented out the entire hotel and were running wild throughout the hotel with the rest of the team. I got Abby ready for the pool and followed her down and Robb was coming down in a couple minutes with Emmy. I was sitting in the pool area when Robb came walking in holding Emmy and a grocery bag of his drinks. He went to stop the door for someone and the giant bottle of whiskey that he had in the grocery sack fell though the bag and broke all over the concrete in the pool area. So this was embarrassing on so many levels! 1.We are the only "new" people on the team and it now appears that Robb is an alcoholic. 2. Why does anyone bring an entire bottle of whiskey to make 1 drink. 3. It clearly states no glass in the pool area and not only did we not follow that we now busted an entire bottle in the pool area. 4.We made the entire area smell like a bar. Awesome! So I was turning red and mortified while I crawled around the pool area looking for small pieces of glass that could hurt the dozen kids that were in the pool. 

The kids all schemed against us and although we have the most kids of anyone on the team we ended up with Grady sleeping with the boys and Abby invited Claire to stay who we hardly know.

When we got up on Sunday, Emmy got to open a few of her gifts. She seemed unimpressed with everything at first but I think she was just tired from her late night in the slumber party room.

The boys played a game that morning and it was pretty cute to see all the sisters hanging out. They set up shop with a  blanket, snacks and plenty of toys. The boys lost their game and we headed home for the evening. It was an interesting weekend. I feel like we are slowly getting to know the other parents and Bryce is feeling more comfortable on the team but I still feel like we are the newbies.