I Hate Winter

Bah. Snow stinks. I really do not like anything about it. And down here in NC when snow comes (thankfully hardly never), it is always a nasty, wet snow, frequently accompanied by rain and ice. Yes, that means it's good for snowmen and snowballs, but it makes the kids so wet so fast that by the time you've spent 30 minutes getting 3 of them into proper attire (or what has to pass for proper when you don't bother buying snowsuits anymore since they're a waste of $$ down here), they're back inside complaining of being cold less than 30 minutes later. Then there are puddles and piles of nasty, wet snow clothes all over the porch. Which require being washed and dried and put away.

And I'm BUSY right now! I'm supposed to be getting the house clean and all of the regular laundry clean and suitcases packed for myself and all 3 kids. I just don't have time for this.

I managed to keep them inside most of the day since it was raining. And I am NOT having them play in the snow while it rains on them and makes them wetter even faster. But now the stupid rain is over and the kids are out in the stupid snow. And I have to sit here and watch them so I'm not getting the stuff done that NEEDS to be DONE in less than 44 hours.

Have I mentioned how much I dislike snow? Perhaps we need to move even further south so that I never have to deal with it again...

OK. My rant is done. Happy *bleeping* winter. Only 64 days left.

Count Down to Disney...

We are down to just 2 1/2 days until we hop on a plane to go to Disney World for the kids and my very first time! Or as we describe it to the girls--3 more bedtimes (including tonight).

They are calling for a lovely ice storm late tonight and into tomorrow, but that shouldn't have any impact on us by Saturday. We'll be leaving daytime temps in the 40s and 50s and going to daytime temps in the 60s and 70s. Not too hot to need shorts or summer clothes, and also not too hot for standing on line for rides and attractions.

Tour Guide Mike has helped us to figure out where to stay (the Port Orleans River Watch) which is the only moderate resort with sleeping arrangements for a family of five. We thought about doing the deluxe resorts, but the price is just so high, and the weather's not going to be warm enough to enjoy all the themed pools, so we went moderate (less than half the cost!).

We also have a fairly detailed itinerary planned for each day thanks to Tour Guide Mike (I highly recommend the small fee for this service--he has all the inside information and has been so helpful in our planning).

Here's a brief idea of what's ahead for us in the next week:

Saturday - Arrive in Orlando around 4 p.m., and at our hotel around 5. Settle in, dinner at Downtown Disney and then off to bed.

Sunday - Hollywood Studios (used to be MGM) including Fantasmic that evening.

Monday - We're laying low this morning, exploring the resort, a nice breakfast and then a good nap. In the afternoon, the girls are going to our neighbor Mia's birthday party at the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique while Kevin and Ryan explore the LEGO Imagination Center. Then we're all off to dinner at Cinderella's Royal Table. THEN that evening we're staying up late to have big fun at the Pirate & Princess Party.

Tuesday - We're taking it slow again this morning, and hopefully sleeping a little late. We have brunch reservations at Chef Mickey's. Depending upon the moods of the kiddos, we will possibly take another nap before going to explore the Animal Kingdom that afternoon. Early Bedtimes!!!!

Wednesday - We're getting up bright and early this morning and heading to The Magic Kingdom. We will have had a fair amount of time there Monday night (hopefully without crowds and also with special parades and fireworks). We'll check things out during the day and I'll be busy snapping pictures! We'll be heading over to Epcot after the 3:00 parade for dinner at the Coral Reef - a restaurant inside (as in surrounded by!) an aquarium! We'll be up a little later that evening for the IllumiNations.

Thursday - Back to Epcot to ride rides and snap pictures this morning. Nap in the afternoon (if necessary), and then dinner at 1900 Park Fare - a Mary Poppins themed restaurant. That evening we're getting on a private pontoon boat for a family cruise over to the Magic Kingdom to watch the Wishes Fireworks show from the water.

Friday - Hopefully up fairly early to get to the Animal Kingdom. This is our day to take the morning safari and see all those animals! Depending on the kids, we may go to the SpectroMagic Parade that evening in the Magic Kingdom, or we may check out Downtown Disney again.

Saturday - We are having a character breakfast at the Polynesian resort this morning with a Lilo & Stitch theme--it should be wonderful because it's hyped as having all types of Hawaiian/tropical fruits and foods. We'll either spend the remaining few hours before heading to the airport at the resort or in Downtown Disney.

I can't wait!!!!

New Year Already?

How in the name of heaven did it get to be a new year already? I can remember hearing grown ups talking about how fast time went when I was a kid, and I thought they were nuts. Suddenly I am realizing that they were not as nuts as I had assumed (at least regarding the passage of time...)

We got home from our whirlwind tour of families and friends on January 1st thanks to sitting in traffic on the 31st (which delayed our arrival for what was supposed to be a quick hello at the McQuillans), and a good deal of begging and bargaining on the part of Stephanie. I got the kids loaded in the van (by myself, thanks to the aforementioned bargaining) by 7:25 a.m. on the 1st and we were homeward bound. The van was completely unloaded by 2:30 that afternoon, and I began the unpacking, laundry sorting process. I got a start on laundry that evening, but my good intentions were postponed thanks to a stomach bug that hit Katy, Ryan and me in the middle of the night. Yuck. My only consolation is that since I was sick too, I didn't have to take care of/clean up behind the kiddos.

The laundry is now done, folded and put away. The tree is undecorated and stored back in the attic. All of the Christmas decor is sitting in the living room awaiting Kevin having time to help get down all of the storage boxes. So all that remains to be done is loading up the decor, putting the boxes back in the garage, and cleaning the house.

Then it's time to pack for our week in Disney... Hooray!

And some gratuitous cuteness for good measure

What a Difference a Year Makes

It is amazing when I look back at where we were this time last year and compare it to where we are now. I know it's trite to bring this stuff up at THIS time of the year, but there's a reason why so many people do it now! And so up on the band wagon I hop...

Last year, our area had a record year for rainfall--not record-breaking, but still, a lot of rain. Lake Norman was up higher than I'd ever seen it . This year, we are almost breaking records for the dryest year on record. Lake Norman is over 10 feet below it's typical level. There are islands of dirt cropping up all over the lake, making it generally unsafe for boating.

Last year we were just starting to figure out our way around town. We hadn't really developed any favorites as far as restaurants, shopping areas, coffee spots, or grocery stores were concerned. This year, our family favorite restaurant is Brooklyn Boys (with Davinos a close second), our favorite Chinese place is the Golden Wok (yum!), the best Mexican can be found at Sauza's (with El Cerro Reyes a VERY close second), I prefer shopping at Birkdale Village, the best coffee can be found at The Human Bean--you've got to love the name, AND you get a yummy chocolate covered espresso bean with each cup! And I almost always do my grocery shopping at Lowes Foods--unless I have enough green points saved up and then I let them do my shopping for me with Lowes Foods To Go! Love that.

Last year we knew a couple of families in the area, but hadn't really made any real friends. This year we are blessed with three families who we are honored and privileged to call "friend." They have become a source of fun and amusement, and more importantly support as we've grown closer over this past year. And we are continuing to meet more people as our sphere increases--folks from Peninsula Baptist from basketball and baseball, the families of children in our classes at school, people I work out with at the Y... I don't feel so lonely anymore.

Last year I was feeling big and frumpy and didn't fit into my clothes. So I bought new clothes in a larger size. And then they started getting tight too. This September I started going to the YMCA 3 - 4 days a week and now my old clothes don't fit anymore! I've come down nearly 3 sizes, and counting... Oh, and I feel fabulous--my heart beats MUCH slower when I'm resting, and it takes it a lot longer to reach 80-85%.

There have been tons of other changes over the past year--Ryan's confidence, Olivia's communications skills, Katelyn's independence, oh, wait, she's always been independent! So how about Katelyn's obedience, yes, that is improving. Kevin's office location (to the attic), new teachers, trying new foods (my kids will eat broccoli now, as long as it's raw with dip), Ryan's reading ability (he's testing at the 5th grade level!), Olivia's patience at putting together puzzles, Katelyn's interest in writing and drawing neatly. Oh, the list could go on.

But the real reason I was doing this post was the change in decorating a gingerbread house! Last year, there was arguing. Ryan lost interest after about 15 minutes. Katelyn just squished candy (that she'd licked) wherever she could. Olivia enjoyed the process (this has not changed). Mom and I ended up doing most of the decorating once the kids lost interest.

This year Ryan did the front:

















Katelyn did one side wall (notice her careful patterning of green/orange and purple/orange around the windows) and worked on the roof on her side with Ryan's help:
















Olivia did the other side wall (notice her consistant use of mini gumdrops to do the outlines, and her red/green pattern on the roof) and also did most of the roof on her side with some help from Ryan:















And all three of them worked on parts of the back wall:

All I did was the icing, and other than the icing at the seams of the pieces, the kids told me how they wanted the icing to be applied to their respective sides. I was thoroughly impressed!

Who Knew?

So decorating the Christmas tree has been an evolving process for us the past 9 years. Before we had kids, we'd get a tree, set it up, and I would unwrap each ornament, thinking about the memories it held and would place it on the tree. Sure, we had to be a little careful about putting breakable ornaments down low because of the kitties, and also had to be sure that ornaments were attached securely (again, the cats).


























Things didn't change much for Ryan's first Christmas--he was only a few weeks old, so did not pose a threat. But then the next year we had to be more careful than before. Now it wasn't just a matter of breakability, we also had to be concerned about choking hazards. So only soft, stuffed ornaments went down low. Basically more of the same the next year (2001), but we were a bit less cautious. He understood not to take ornaments off the tree, and really didn't put tons of stuff in his mouth.

By 2002 we had pretty much come back to the same type of decorating as when we were just being kitty-cautious. Although, by 2002 Ryan wanted to help put the ornaments on the tree, so that was a bit of a change. He would generally put any ornament we gave him on one of 3 or 4 branches, so there was a lot of "clumping." Fortunately for this aesthetically-minded Type-A mommy, he didn't ever notice that the ornaments got spaced out a bit more after he went to bed that first night, and he never moved them around later.

But then in 2003, we took a giant step backward with two 8-month olds in the house. For most of that year we resorted to using a gate to surround the tree because even though we kept the un-safe ornaments low, and the more special ones up high, it just wasn't possible to keep our eyes on the girls ALL the time. And Katy was starting to pull up. I had all kinds of visions of the tree being pulled over...

In 2004 we weren't worried much by the pulling over of the tree, just the breakability and choking hazard issues--especially since Katy tended to put EVERYTHING in her mouth... Oh, and since Ryan was becoming quite the little ornament hanger, the girls wanted to get in on the fun about a year sooner than he had shown any interest. So then there was some fighting over who got to put an ornament on the tree. And some more fighting when my Type-A son would try to get the girls to spread the ornaments out, and not clump them all on one branch. I finally convinced him that it didn't matter where they put it at first, that he could help spread them out later (he'd come a long way in 2 short years!)

By 2005 we just worried about breakability and clumping. Oh, and the arguing over who got to put an ornament on...

Last year, we put ornaments wherever we wanted on the tree. Breakability was only a concern in who got to put an ornament on the tree. But the girls were no longer a threat for taking ornaments down once they were up, and Oreo had long ago lost any interest in playing with ornaments on the tree. As long as there was a soft skirt under the tree for him to doze on, he was a happy camper for the entire holiday season.


This year the decorating went very smoothly. The kids did a great job of getting in line and taking turns hanging ornaments. Ryan was terrific at de-clumping Olivia's clusters. And I actually had the chance to start telling the stories behind the ornaments--the ones from my first few Christmases, why we had bought certain family ornaments, where ornaments had come from, which ornaments belonged to each of the kids and who had gifted them, etc. After about 25 ornaments, each with a unique story, Ryan looked at our huge box of decorations and said:



"You mean that EVERY one of these ornaments has a story?"

"Yes, Ryan, every single one" was my reply.

And for the first time ever, I actually got to tell those stories. I can't wait until the year when they'll be able to re-tell those stories to me...

A Diverse Thanksgiving

This year we were Thanksgiving 'orphans' again. We knew that we would not be traveling because of Ryan's tonsilectomy, so at least we were prepared to be staying home. As it turned out, there were three other families in our neighborhood who were also going to be orphaned this year for various reasons (new baby, recent family reunions, travel at Christmas, etc.), so we decided to celebrate turkey day together. We all have different family backgrounds and traditions, so we each decided that we would bring several of our favorite traditional foods to the table.

It turned out to be quite a feast! The Shraga family always gets a fresh turkey which is prepared in a brine soak and then cooked with an apple brandy glaze. Wow. It was delicious! The Shragas also typically have asparagus with a parmesan breadcrumb topping that was also quite tasty and homemade cranberry sauce (I'll never eat canned again!). The Sedgleys brought their family's broccoli & rice casserole and bacon wrapped scallops--both delicious! The Kennedys always have a sausage stuffing, but it is not the kind of sausage stuffing I grew up with--it is made with sweet Italian sausage, golden raisins, apples and bread, and it was a taste sensation that was incredible. I brought our family's traditional cranberry apple bake and sweet potato casserole. It was quite a feast, to say the least.
For dessert we had pumpkin cheesecake, mile-high apple pie with crumb topping, homemade fudge, and bourbon chocolate pecan pie. And the kids had turkey cupcakes.

We had 11 children eating grown-up food (plus 2 more that were too young to partake), so Barbara set up a kid's table in the kitchen complete with brown paper covering the top as a tablecloth and crayons to decorate the paper. The kids loved that part. And the 9 adults ate together in the dining room on real china. We all took a moment to go around the tables and say what we were thankful for over the past year. And this was the very first Thanksgiving ever celebrated by one of the adults, Alma, who is the Kennedy family's au pair from Panama. She really seemed to enjoy the experience.

So, the food was wonderful. The company was enjoyable. The atmosphere was spot on. And yet, there was still something missing.... our extended family. It's just not the same without YOU! We're looking forward to seeing everyone in December!

Happy Halloween!

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know it's been a while. So here's some cute kid pics. When Kevin saw Katy and Livvy with the make-up on, he realized just how much trouble he was going to be in for in about 10 years...

I'm finished the Deathly Hallows...

Actually I was up until midnight Monday finishing it. I had reached a point in the book around 10 p.m. and knew I just wasn't going to be able to put it down until I found out how it all turned out... There was one point where I got major chills and all the hairs on my arms actually stood up!

I can't believe that there won't be anymore HP books. Sigh. I won't post any details for those who may still be reading, but I will say that it was a great book. Quite the roller coaster ride. And I liked that JKR answered most of the major questions that had been lingering from previous books, although not always in the way I had hoped...

So, if you're back in the world of Muggles and want to discuss, call me!

The Past Weeks in Pictures

Cousins (Olivia, Riley and Katelyn, all 4 years old)


Cousin Devin (7)


Three Silly Heads on their way to Fort Delaware


Not necessarily what you want to see posted outside of an inn... (fortunately they were just talking about their restaurant)!


Ryan checks out the big cannons at Fort Delaware


Ryan taking the test to be recruited to the Union Army at Fort Delaware


Katy sharing her snack with Ally at the pool


Norah, Katy, Mia, Olivia and Carly waiting for the fireworks


Watching the fireworks


Liam and Ryan acting(!) like noisy boys at the fireworks


Beach Bound


Life's a Beach


Ice Cream on the deck at the beach...can life get much better?


Christmas photos?


No Beach Bums Here!
Olivia (4), Ryan (7), Samantha (7), Cameron (5), Katelyn(4)


Beach Babes


Muscle Beach (?)


Lovin' the Beach


Katy looking for a wave with her new boogie board


Livvy rides her wave


Surfer Dude


Can
You
Say
Private
Beach?!?!?



Beach Ball


Sitting pretty


Coquinas (live baby clams-kids LOVED digging them up!)


Putt Putt Anyone?


Tuckered Out


The BEST Sand Castle Ever. Period.