Something out of nothing

I wish I had a good and funny story to share. Those are my favorite blogs to write. But I pretty much got nothing. I realized a lot of those funny stories come from the frenzy of the days rushing here and there. Well there has been no rushing here, there or anywhere this week.

Madelyn was still home sick from school today. Abigail is better and was able to go today so my mom came over to be with Madelyn while I took Abby. Abby was in heaven back at school! They have had quite a year since they only go one day a week and there have been so many snow days on Wednesdays she has missed quite a bit also. But it's okay. She loves it. I think of it as a pre-preschool kind of program for her. Isn't that funny that I think my kid needs pre-preschool? Well it is good for her to get into the routines--sitting in a circle, listening to a story, doing art projects, making friends. Plus I enjoy the time with her, more than I did when Madelyn was in a similar kind of class.

Hopefully Madelyn will be back to herself tomorrow. Today she is a pretty sad little puppy still. She even wanted to give up her tickets to Dora Live tonight. I cannot believe it. She must be sick. Before she went down for her nap, she said, "Find someone who loves Dora, Mom." I called around to several friends and finally found some friends who could enjoy the show.

So far the best news of the week has been that I found a Shamrock Shake! Remember my bit with those? Mmmm. Love that minty shake.

I guess it is good to lay low sometimes. We have done lots of fun art projects---including Mardi Gras masks yesterday. Today, when I called Madelyn in sick, I asked what they were working on for some fresh ideas for projects at home. Plus we don't want her falling behind...... :)!!!

Let's just hope March is a little kinder to us and we finally get back onto it. At least to pay less than $75/day for each day of preschool will be good. (Kevin tells me not to think about it but, as you can tell, I can't let it go.)

More sick days

Another day of being home sick with the kids. What a bummer! I think it actually feels so much worse since I was sick first but now I am ready to get us back into our normal routines. So it's been vacation, me sick, them sick---that makes a long month. I think Madelyn has only been to school two days this whole month. The only thing worse than knowing we will be home again all day (which was not really so bad yesterday--the house is ridiculously clean!) is that we will likely have to venture out, to the pediatrician again. We'll see what the day brings. I am wondering if this is a cold (or respiratory flu thing) that they picked up when we stopped by the office last week. Oh winter you really must go.

Our weekend

We had such a great weekend with Glamma and Grandpa here. But sadly it was not the perfect weekend. I wish it could have been different for them. But the kiddos are now sick and they were off and on miserable all weekend. Poor Glamma and Grandpa for this to be the weekend they were here when the girls were just not at their best. As a result I did not even get any photos of them all together which makes me even more sad.

Friday was completely crazy. Uncle Eric was a real trooper and spent his free day with us running from appt. to appt. with us. I had two dentist appts.---with the endodontist to check up on my tooth (bad news: the infection has not completely healed yet! can you believe it?) and the regular dentist for a check up (good news but long appt.) Then we grabbed a very (very!) quick lunch and hit the pediatrician's office, late but within the 15 minute grace period by 1 minute, for Abigail (she was fine). We were so wiped out Madelyn did not even make it to dance class. Just too much craziness. I cannot stand those kinds of days.

Saturday, after Madelyn's soccer, we did make it to the Science Center. It was nice since Abby missed her class field trip last week there so it was nice she still got to get there. Oh what fun we had though while we were there. I think the illness set in after that though so what a bummer. Luckily they seem to have it less than I did so here's hoping for that.

I have been Lysoling the house so hopefully the germs will just die and none of our guests will get sick next. Kevin seems to be on the edge. 'Tis the season.

A bright spot for Kevin and I was a date night last night. We bowled with some friends and went to a bar! It's been a while since I have been out in a bar on a Saturday night, thus the exclamation point. Though we were both tired it was fun to be out.

Now I am nervously hoping for a great week ahead.....when will we ever get back to the norm?

Visitor weekend

We are lucky to have some guests this weekend. Kevin's brother, Eric, is in town tonight and his parents will be here tomorrow. So there is quite a bit of excitment over company with the little girls. Uncle Eric came in jjst before the supposed bedtime. Always a lot of fun they took a tour of the basement, had a dance party, looked at some photos and read books.




More fun to come tomorrow!

Another winner

Well it seems that contest entry is a family trait that has been passed down to the next generation. (My mom has always liked a contest entry and has been known to win a few; I have been a little lucky in that regard too.) Madelyn has one her first contest and now she is hooked. Thanks to her detailed coloring of a photo of Dora in a magazine (or a random choosing of said drawing--I am not sure which) the little girl has won tickets for the four of us to see Dora Live next week. Wowee! That's pretty cool because she really wanted to go to the show but we probably would not have bought tickets for it. WTG, Madelyn!

Sweet end to the day

I think that bedtime (the children's not my own) is one of my favorite times of the day. Not for the reason you'd think though. I first must say that it takes us quite some time to get them to sleep these days. More than a few nights I am just done for the day. I want them to be in their rooms, lights out and not heard from until the morning.

But lately something different has been happening. I am realizing, in those last few minutes together in our day, they can be extra sweet. Why can we not have a whole day of that? Madelyn tends to get really chatty and comes up with all kinds of imaginative and funny stories. Maybe it is just a stall tactic. If so, it's a good one. So even though I am so ready for her to go to sleep after a long day, I love to just sit there and listen to her stories. There is something about a listening to a story in the dark. Eventually I do have to leave the room so she can go to sleep and there have been times when I can still hear her chatting away and I am already downstairs. Abigail has her sweet pre-drift off moments too. She is a little lady of fewer words right now but I get a kick out of how she "checks out" with her animals. I guess she is tucking them in.

I just want to try to remember these nice things even on nights like tonight when I just want to go right to bed myself...even before they are fully asleep.

Question of the day

Today it was kind of back to the routine after the trip and being sick (though I still have quite a pesky cough!) It was so great. It feels good to get back into it. We had MOPS today which is always fun and inspiring. I realized I had not been to MOPS since Dec. 16th. Wow, that is a break--due to break, snow day and vacation. The girls had fun too and did a painting project! How adventurous. So it really was a good but low key day.

I'd say one of the more interesting points of the day was actually before 9 a.m. As we drove to MOPS Madelyn so very randomly and innocently asked from the backseat, "how a baby gets in a mommy's belly?" I have absolutely no idea where that came from. There has been no talk of babies and we do not have any immediate newly pregnant friends or neighbors that we have been talking with. I have spent lots and lots of time with her lately so I know it was not something she picked up from school, etc. (Though there were a lot of pregnant mommies is WDW.) But this was so weird. I know you are supposed to answer questions in this manner in honest ways but I had nothing this morning. So I just turned the radio up. Yikes. I guess I better get to the library to read up on this subject (what to tell kids, not the actual subject!) to be prepared for next time.

Here's to back to the routine tomorrow...and hopefully no more tough questions.

Photo slideshow?

I am in the process of organizing all the photos from the big trip. My estimate is somewhere close to 400 were taken. Oh my! Many are repeats, etc. but it is still quite a bit to go through. I was playing around in Snapfish and created a slideshow of 35 of the highlights. Hopefully you can view it by clicking here, if you want to see my "high tech" creation.

My sick day

I took a sick day today. Taking a sick day when you are a mom is no easy task. It actually involved Kevin taking a sick day which is tricky since he just had a week off and is due to have a 4-day weekend with his Friday off and Presidents' Day holiday on Monday. But it was necessary and a very good thing he could take the day to be with the little monkeys. I planned to visit my primary care doc in the a.m. and then back to rest. Not the case. The nurse practitioner I saw in the a.m. said I had a perforated ear drum and acute sinusitis. The perforated ear drum I guess was of some concern so she made me an appt. with an ENT two hours later. I am not someone to be calm about such stuff so of course I was freaking out. It sounds serious, don't you think. With the sinus problems and the airplane ride it's not out of the possibility. Luckily the visit with the ENT was good and he quickly said that ear drum was not perforated. He did suction out a huge (really big!) glob of ear wax. Sorry, maybe that is a little TMI. But I also had to have a hearing test. Without an appt. I had to wait quite a while (there was a little joke about me: the girl who was looking for a cot---I really needed a nap!---I was still feeling pretty rough.)

Now I totally know how poor little Abby girl felt when she had all her ear troubles. It was kind of scary! Well I passed the hearing test but apparently my ear drum was not moving which I guess is an issue. And my ear drums are sucked in. Again, not sure what that means but I guess it is not normal.

So I met with the doctor again. Of course I am afraid that he is going to somehow try to suction the ear drum to normal status (I watch too many melodramatic medical shows!) He does nothing of the sort. He sent a prescription for a steroid (??) via his laptop and I was on my way.

So I have no idea what my diagnosis really is or why I need a steroid vs. an antibiotic or decongestant. Hopefully the drugs will do the trick and I will be back to normal. I swear with the tooth and then my ears and head, it's just never a dull moment. I always think of myself as a pretty healthy person.

I did learn some new things about medicine today. It's all on laptops now which is coolo but also a little impersonal. The docs go room-to-room with their computers, ask questions and check things off with their stylus pens. It was a very interesting experience. And maybe that is why I felt a little swept around today and am unsure of my diagnosis. I met with laptops today not just doctors.

Disney Highlights

It's true what they say, Disney is magical. We had an awesome vacation---I think I speak for all of us---not just Kevin and the girls but my parents also who were with us for the first 4 days (we wished they could have stayed the whole time). The trip overall received a five star rating for sure.

I shall start with--and get out of the way--the bad news. The first bummer was that my camera broke on Day 2. I knew it was a mistake to get it fixed after the drop in Seattle. It has never been the same. In the haste after a hug from Donald Duck, the camera slipped to the floor and had a relapse. My mom did some real magic and fixed it for a while but the old shutterbug died a slow death the next day. So add a new camera to the cost of the trip. I bought a disposable camera (real film!?) but that only lasted me an afternoon. I like to capture it all. Thank goodness my parents were with us because I used their camera for the rest of the trip. Lifesavers!

The next real bummer was the weather for the first half of the trip. Florida (like other parts of the country) experienced record lows last week. Crazy stuff. So the first part of the trip---the days my parents were with us---we spent bundled up and doing indoorsy kinds of things. But it was always sunny so that was all we really cared about. The weather turned on Friday and when we left last night it was almost too hot. (Beggars can't be choosers.)

But even with those little bummers, it was the best trip. The magic began when my friend Dana's mom (who works for Disney) put a call into Mickey to send a big surprise to our room for the girls. They were already impressed with the fact that our luggage just showed up in the room but cards, balloons and candy too? They were totally hooked.

The girls were totally into all the magic of Disney. I think this was a good age to make a first trip. I contemplated making them autograph books but then decided against it. I just wasn't sure they'd be into it. When we got there though it was a whole different story. They were totally into it. In fact, they completely filled their books! What a collection.

The autograph mission actually helped Abby with her character anxiety. As I expected she was totally cool with all the princesses--the photos will show you just how impressed she was by them. But the other characters took a bit of adjustment. Her first character was Goofy (whom she affectionately calls "Goofball"). She offered her book out but as soon as he bent down to grab it she threw it at him and smacked him in the nose. She ran one way, he ran the other. It was so funny! Poor Goofball. They both recovered and we got the signature. When we saw him later at dinner she was still suspicious.... However, ironically, she leaped into a pose with a Zurg statue (villain character from Toy Story). You just never know.

There is a funny thing about Disneyworld and little girls. It must be in the "cast member" handbook to call every little girl "Princess" because everyone we saw addressed them as such. We got the point that they would just sit in the stroller and wave to all their adoring fans. The days they were dressed up in their dress ups they got even more attention (if you can believe that was possible.) Though I thought it would be cool, and was quite tempted, we did not do the Bippity Boppity Boutique. But I had fun being their own personal "fairy godmother" and doing them up princess style. I had the bows of course and had bought some hair glitter at Christmas. Plus the pixie dust that people seemed to be so willing to sprinkle on their little heads---they sparkled every day (and actually went to school with pixie dust still in their hair today!) The boatmaster on the Jungle Cruise said it "was an honor to have you highnesses aboard." Seriously, these girls now believe they are royalty.

We hit all four parks though of course we did not get to everything (guess we'll have to go back!). We loved the new Toy Story ride the best. We got a Fastpass twice and had fun on the 4D game/ride. The 3D movies did not go over well at all, nor did the Haunted Mansion (especially when we got stuck for a few minutes....even I was a little spooked.) Epcot and Animal Kingdom had some really cool kid activity stations that kept them on their toes and I think taught them something. The shows were really good too, especially this phenomenal Nemo show that was like Broadway in Orlando.

We ate well and had fun dining too. I had done quite a bit of research and made advanced dinner reservations (a must I quickly learned in my research) for some fun restaurants. We did a bunch of character meals which was fun...to actually have a conversation with some of our favorite friends: Mickey & the gang; Princesses (x2) plus another night with Cinderella, Prince Charming, the stepsisters and stepmother (she was a scary one!). But then other fun dining where we had to scream out loud for ketchup (and other diners would run it on over so we had more ketchup than we'd ever need!) and did the limbo and swept coconuts around the room.

Our hotel, the Polynesian, was cool and provided an ideal location. One of our favorite evenings was watching the Magic Kingdom fireworks from a hammock on the beach.

But as the song goes, "we had some fun and now it's done".....I can't wait to get the photos all organized. It might take me a while since I have to juggle a three different cameras (our broken camera, the disposable camera and my parents' camera plus a few scanned photos.) All to come. The photos will really tell the tales.

Fathers Day in February

Guest blog alert!!!

Kevin here. This morning I had the pleasure of attending part of Madelyn's school this morning. We are blessed to have her in an old fashioned preschool. The teacher noted that she was going to play a song from the largest CD the kids have ever seen -- a 45 record. Really darling. But the real reason for going to school was not to listen to long playing records on a phonograph, but to attend "Fathers Day" at school. I finally got a glimpse of what a bunch of 4 years olds do the first hour of the day. Lots of free play. Madelyn made a pizza, painted a picture, matched numbers on slices of bread with PB & J. I also saw her dress Weather Cat (see previous blog re:) since it was her job today, and gee was she excited. The kids also conversed in Spanish and French to discuss the dawning this new day. While racing around the room with Madelyn I was able to get a few sentences in with the other dads to breakdown the previous night's Super Bowl. Madelyn's assessment was that her adopted team for the day, the Bumblebees (black/yellow Steeler unis) beat the Red Birds in a thriller. Ah well, I guess she picked a winner. Of course, after all that, the highlight was when Madelyn presented me with a construction paper tie, decorated all snazzy. It was such a sweet sentiment on this Father's/Groundhog Day. I wore the tie proudly all day. Now its off to Disney.

Mickey here we come....

Kevin really ought to blog about his adorable day with his daughter....but I can give you a secondhand recap. It was Father's Day at preschool today. Too cute. Madelyn made him this paper tie that had all these things about him like his favorite color (purple?) and what he does at work (read books?) It made my heart melt so I am sure it made his melt twice as much. I hope they have a Mother's Day!

But I should be asleep. We leave for DisneyWorld in a matter of hours. I am so excited. But I don't want to start the week out being tired. So off we go...........

WE'RE GOING TO DISNEYWORLD!