California

Finally a free moment to blog to let you know how our trip went to Anaheim, California......
I had a cold so the flight from Pittsburgh to Chicago wasn't too well. And we were on a very small plane!!!

It was odd traveling without the children, but being sick made it nice. Didn't have extra stuff to think about. The kids had a blast while we were gone. Owen was very tired from all the commotion. I think finally this weekend we're getting back to normal.

Once we arrived in Anaheim we stayed at a Choice Hotel (we get a Farm Bureau discount) and ate dinner at Spoons. Spoons was a nice mexican type resturant. Very good meal! We were stuffed. I fell asleep this night at 730pm Cali time, but 1030pm PA time. This is when I realized this time change was going to be a little bit of a challenge. It doesn't seem like 3 hrs can make a difference, but it did. I was wide AWAKE at 330a.m.  We had a nice breakfast at the hotel before catching a taxi to The Marriott where our group was staying.

At the Marriott we were able to check in very early (11am) and spoke with the Concierge to find out what were our options. So we walked quite a bit this day. A few miles across a few streets and into Downtown Disney. It was nice. We went to the gates of the parks, just to see what the costs were. Then walked across another few streets to Garden Walk and ate a nice relaxing lunch at Bubba Gumps Shrimp Co. Then while playing on our smartphones we discovered there was a The Cheesecake Factory acround the corner. So we went there, got dessert to go and headed back to the hotel to rest before our next venture. All the spouses and everyone in our group had a nice short dinner Sunday evening. After changing we decided to have a quite drink in the hotel's bar (wow $$$$$).

Monday I was able to eat breakfast and lunch with Troy. While he was in meetings I sat in the lobby and watched people, played on my phone and read. In the afternoon I put my swim suit on and laid in the sun for an hour. It was nice to relax!!!!

The evening the Pennsylvania group was taken to dinner from our head person to McCormick and Schmick's. mmmmm it was tasty. I had (this was out of my comfort zone) salmon and a delicious large crab cake!!!! Also with iced tea, caseser salad and a flourless chocolate cake with raspberry sauce. I've since googled to see where there are other restuarnt locations....Pittsburgh area has 3, I blieve. I know where I want to go next year for my birthday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Troy's dessert. Dark chocolate bag filled with blood orange mousse with berries.

Tuesday we ate breakfast together and while Troy was in a meeting I packed! We were ready to go very early and arrived at the airport in plenty of time. From Santa Ana we flew to Dallas Fort Worth. What a nice large airport! It was a quick free time. We got soft pretzels and by the time we made it to our next gate, the flight was boarding.

All the streets were lined with palm trees. The city was very very clean!

Once we arrived home to Pittsburgh, got in the car, paid for parking....it started to pour down rain!!! We made it in good time. Finally at 3a.m. we slipped into bed!

What a nice relaxing trip alone where I didn't really have to share my husband. But like all trips/vacations it's nice to go away but always nice to come home!!!

The Sickie's again!

Well we've done it again, we're all sick! It just doesn't seem like we can get a break. We did great for 3 weeks after Christmas, then bam we're sick again. Owen started with a runny nose, coughing and sneezing...he seems to be much better. Lydia came down with it Friday night, Saturday ish...she has napped every day since then. That's really not like her. Then Troy and I started on Sunday/Monday. Last night Lydia sat straight up in bed SCREAMING her lungs out! She demanded her earring be taken out because she thought that was hurting her ear. I knew what was going on , but in the middle of the night there is nothing you can do other than Tylenol for an ear infection.
I put Owen on the bus, set my alarm since I hadn't slept more than 3-4 hrs of sleep, got up and called the doctor's office when I knew they were in. I also had to call off work. Daddy had stuff scheduled at the farm today, I couldn't bear to leave Lydia and I felt like crap. So the verdict reveals that Lydia has an ear infection in each ear and a sinus infection. Poor thing. No wonder she's so sensitive.
We had to wait awhile for the prescription, good old computer faxing, I'll carry my scripts from now on to the pharmacy. It took them 1/2 hr to get the script and 45 minutes to fill it. I just wanted to come home, but I am really trying not to over react or be upset at the things I cannot change. So Lydia and I went for a few groceries to make Wedding Soup, bread, lunch out and the post office....then we had to wait for 10 more minutes for the script.
Once home, I was able to cat nap, but for some reason she was wound up. Then at 530 pm she CRASHED! And has been out and probably will be out the rest of the night.
Im trying to get prepared for our trip. It doesn't make it easy when we are all sick. :(
The kids are super excited!

ok.rewind to a few things we missed......

This past weekend we got a snow storm, but that didn't keep us in. Saturday we had a birthday party for a friend of ours, it was nice to sit and chat with other mom's while the kids played. The evening we all went to Hermitage for a few errands, including ordering my laundry sink for the basement. We had to order it, but I am so excited. While we were there we looked over the carpet section. I really want to replace the carpet in our living room. (It's the only carpet in our house that's permanent). If were in this house in years to come we've talked about carpeting our bedroom. But time will tell and Troy's got talks of other plans for the housing arrangements, so like I say...time will tell.

Sunday we celebrated with Troy's family his 35th Birthday, which is tomorrow February 16.

Tuesday for Valentine's Day we stayed home and had Tomato Soup and Grilled Cheese Sandwiches, everyone loves it in our family. Owen and Lydia had a great day celebrating with their classes at school. They took rice krispie treats that I added burgundy dye to and used a heart shape cookie cutter to cut out. I think they were a hit.

I think that wraps up our past week.

Happy 1st Birthday, Cocoa!!!

Thursday, February 9, 2012 was Cocoa's First Birthday! I didn't remember til after I got home from work and was getting Lydia ready for dance class.

So I took a picture of the birthday girl on my lap. Including a few photos that I like of her that we have taken. She truly is a good bunny. The kids really have grown to like her and that she isn't like a dog. It was a little rocky at first, but she's part of our family now. Well has been since April 9, 2011.

Always something

Seems like there is always something that is nagging at me.....
This thing with Owen's teeth is really getting to me emotionally. I am trying so hard to be a good mom, and I know some say....just relax, but when I do....things happen....like cavities. Owen goes in 2 weeks for his first part of his dental work. Fillings under nitrous oxide. And the lady informed me it'll take 2-4 visits to complete everything because they aren't all in the same area and children can only receive so much N.O. at one time. okay. I feel confident because he's a pediatric dentist and was very pleased with him the last time we had to see him. We are preparing Owen for that, which will be shy of a week from when we return from our trip. I hope he does well. It's always a mom's thing to worry about the kiddos though.

While we are on the teeth subject.....Owen has a lose tooth, has for a few months now. But darn it I wish it would just fall out. But then I am not prepared. See we just ordered a book from the school book order on the tooth fairy and I need to get someone to help me make a tooth fairy pillow. I know why all these extras. Because he's a child and I want to keep my kids kids until I absolutely can't. Just like our house is decorated for Valentine's Day, it will be for st.Patrick's day and the leprechaun will come, just like the elf came, it's fun silly stuff that makes having kids so much fun.

Lydia had speech today and LOVES Miss.Betsy. They did a heart craft and worked on saying F sounds. FUH for FUN and stuff like that. She has been able to wear dresses the last few days because of this heat wave weather we're having. What a mild winter compared to last year. Wish we had planned on doing more this winter. Lydia said a classmates name today for the first time, I made her repeat it....SIERRA! YAY! We have a friend. We got to school this morning. I was helping her get settled, she pulled away from me and said "bye mom, I'm going to play with Sierra". AWWWW My heart melted 1/because she made a friend 2/she said her name (she doesn't really communicate that she knows those things to us) and 3/ that she pulled away from me. tear tear!

Troy went to the eye doctor today for an exam. Which it's been 2 years, and the one eye changed a little. I know he would like LASIK surgery some day, and I hope that we can do that for him. He's had glasses since he was in 2nd grade I think he said. I could be wrong. I've had mine since I was 20. So 10 years and Ive had enough of them already. I went last March for the first time in 3 years and they hadn't changed, so I bought contacts and saved my 'glasses card' til the end of this month when I am ordering a new pair.

Troy and I got to go to dinner for our anniversary on Saturday night. Was so nice to get away, alone, uninterrupted meal. We had to wait 30 minutes, but neither of us cared. We went to Hickory Grille. I'm a coupon'r so you all know. If you sign up for Springfield's newsletter, they'll send you an anniversary printable email for a free appetizer AND when it's your birthday they do the same...but it's dessert! So we ate for $25.00! yahoo. salad, bread, appetizer, 2 meals, Troy had a beer, me water and both of us got dessert. Now I call that being SMART!

Well enough rattling...one More thing to share. Tonight I actually captured this picture, Owen's getting to where he doesnt' want me to take his picture. But this is something about 6 months ago he started helping me do. Was grate the cheese for me. Well I already had the cheese done for the tacos tonight. So I had him do the cheese for tomorrow nights dinner....Chicken Mozzarella.

i'll post something special tomorrow.....

Hair...Teeth....lost child.....

I know it's been a while since I've last posted, sorry. Was wanting to do that a few days ago.
The kids went and got haircuts the beginning of this week. They look ADORABLE! I always love a fresh good haircut.

Last week I started a new journey....dieting! GASP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I tried Weight Watchers a couple of times and never could stick more than 3 weeks with it. But I am making myself do this, because I need to for me, for my kids, for my husband, for my health. So at Week #1 weigh in I was down......3 pounds. YAY And I even had pizza, ice cream, etc. See dieting isn't so bad. Just have to really want it and be willing to sacrifice some things. So every morning after I put Owen on the bus I sit and eat my oatmeal. This is what is staring at me....................

I keep telling her I am sure her food would be better, but she always watches me. It's so funny!

Yesterday I lost Owen in a walmart, a small misunderstanding, but we were ok. But oh man did I panic. The cashier had gotten her manager and were getting ready to start lock down mode. =(  Once we left there we raced to the dentist for Owen to get his teeth cleaned, for more feather ruffling news. I'm just going to say that Owen needs to see the pediatric dentist again, it won't affect his permanent teeth that haven't came in yet and we'll be ok. Just very disappointed!!! Now we are on a strict routine of brushing more often, fluoride,etc.

The countdown starts for our trip. I'm so excited. (our house is going to have a house sitter!) yay! I am getting nervous. I think it's a number of reasons I am nervous. But I am sure I will do just fine and enjoy myself.

February seems to be getting more and more populated with birthday's and anniversary's...... This month I have 5 co worker's birthdays, Our friends celebrated their 10th anniversary yesterday, we'll celebrate 8 yrs Tuesday, Troy's cousin's anniversary is tomorrow. LOTS. Then Birthdays for our close friends and family....one today, one Monday, uncle Jack is Wednesday, Aunt Joan and Troy share a birthday and Aunt Mary's is the 22. AND Owen has a friend too. AMAZING. Then you throw Valentine's Day in there, a few other odds and ends and a month filled with LOVE!!! <3

Speech and Such....

Lydia did well with her first speech therapy lesson. I unfortunately did not get to meet Ms. Betsy, missed her by 5 minutes. Maybe next time. Lydia has to work on her F sounds. She skips them. So we try to bite are lip as we say Fish or Frog. So it seems to be working. She did a fun snowman activity with her.

Lydia came down with a cold the night of her birthday party and then Owen missed school today because of it. Hopefully these kids get better. I'd like to keep them in a bubble. So because Owen missed today, we didn't get his report card. Guess we will hope it comes home with him tomorrow. That stuff is exciting to me. I love when he brings things home for me to read, same with Lydia.

They both went to the pediatrician on Monday for the 4 year and 6 year check ups. Both gained and grew like they should. Lydia grew 3 1/2 " and gained 6 lbs. Owen grew 3" and gained 8lbs. They both passed their hearing and vision screenings YAY! Next visit is for flu vaccinations in the fall and then next January we go for 5 and 7 year visits. Never thought I would say I had children these kid's ages. AMAZING how fast it goes. Owen had a dental exam at school Tuesday, and just has a tooth that supposedly needs looked at. Guess it's a good thing we have an appointment for a routine cleaning next week. The paper did not indicate which tooth, which I think it should have. odd!!!

Lydia got to try on her dance costume last week, I can't remember if I mentioned that. We're not to share pictures yet, because the costumes not complete and it will give away the excitement. But I forgot to mention that we did NOT have to pay for her costume, tights or hair accessory because we raised enough money in candy bar sales!! And we actually have a nice size credit. I'm so excited!!!!

I think I am catching the kids cold. Yesterday I just didn't feel well. Today I have a scratchy throat, sore ears and sneezing/runny nose. :(  I started taking a vitamin, so hoping to stay on that and maybe it'll help me steer clear of some of the winter germies.

today I was gone from home for 12 hrs , I don't necessarily like that. But I did some errands after work and then went to a meeting, for myself!

Tomorrow is my "friday" hahaha......But Friday is filled with meal delivery to a friend, errands, Owen needs to buy a birthday gift for a party Saturday. So I'm trying to figure out our Friday.

Lydia's Birthday Party

Because Lydia's birthday is December 30th, we always celebrate with my family after the fact. It gives us a reason to get together in January and allows all the chaos to calm down before more comes.

Last night we celebrated Lydia's 4th Birthday in our basement. I am very thankful for such a full, clean basement. If it weren't for water issues and it being chillier, Id contemplate making a family room down there because I feel like we're outgrowing our house. There are 3 rooms in the back of the house (bedrooms and bathroom) and in the front of the house the living room and kitchen, which really are a great size.

Here are a few pics from last night. Lydia had a great time as did all the other children. I think the adults had a good time playing games too.

After everyone left, we started getting ready for bed and I noticed Lydia's voice sounding funny. She cried through the night, barked/coughed and is sneezing and is sick today :( We did so well. If you know us, we (the kids) had colds 2 in September, once in October and November, then I was plagued with the flu bug the week before Christmas, then Lydia got it into the New Year. So it felt as if we were sick all the time. So I recalled to a few people "YAY We haven't been sick since Jan.3" Yeah well I totally jinxed myself. DISAPPOINTING!!!

She is so go to school tomorrow, start speech therapy and the kids have their yearly check ups. We don't have time for sickness. I just hope that if the rest of us are going to get it that we get it and get on with it so we aren't sick for our trip in February. I know I'm asking for alot.

Today has been filled with cleaning up after the party, laundry, dishes, sweeping, getting ready for a new week, packing away 2011 paperwork/bills,etc. I guess that's why we didn't really have any plans for today. I like a lazy Sunday.

Troy and his parents are working very hard getting ready for the inspectors who are supposed to be coming this week sometime. I pray it all goes well.

We are very thankful for our family and friends who joined us last night. Thankful for being well for a few weeks. Thankful for a warm house and this day to be able to stay home and get prepared for the week ahead of us.

Id ask for a silent prayer I'm starting something new this week, and am going to need lots of prayers specifically for strength to stay on task and stay focused. I will update you on this in about a week and a half.