Mom Mom Jean

Happy Birthday Mom Mom Jean.  Click Play and then at the bottom right there is a square that will make the video full screen

It is mom mom jean's 71st birthday and we have compiled a little slide show for her!  Check it out!  Click on the link below and after hitting play, click on the square in the lower right corner to enlarge it!

http://www.youtube.com/edit?video_id=G_pHEdPPKoI&video_referrer=watch&ns=1

This is a tribute to my parents 50th Wedding Anniversary.  After clicking on Play, click on the square at the bottom right hand corner to enlarge to fit your screen.

Enjoy!  Some of the pics are classics!

Oldies but goodies...

Well today was another one of those sweet moments that make me just plain happy to be a mom.  My kiddos were waiting for me as I got home from work today.  Michael especially wanted to play so we went into the front room and started playing ball.  Aubreigh quickly joined in and we started doing Ring around the Rosie.  Michael got so excited to "fall down".  I started spinning around very fast and we were all dizzy by the end.  The kids thought that was great!

Then Aubreigh kept asking to play "Duck Duck Goose".  So we did.  At first I thought that it would be difficult, since Michael would be clueless.....but he did REALLY well.  He caught on quickly, and even if he didn't know the technicalities, he knew enough to tap you on the head and yell goose.  Mostly everyone was a goose but on occasion you just may have been a duck.  It really wasn't a structured game of Duck Duck Goose, but it just cracked me up watching Michael playing it, trying so desperately hard to fit in with his big sister.

Afterwards we played one more classic.....Hide and Seek.  This is one of Aubreigh's favorite games.  It is really funny to watch her hide in the exact same spot as I hid the time before.  When it was time to count I would go by the stairs and but my head down and cover my eyes and start counting to 10.  It was hysterical because Michael started doing the same.  I loved watching him imitate me.  However, the little guy could only count to two.  I would hear him saying one, two, two, two, two.  It was so precious.

Then it was time for bed.  Michael was so mad it was bed time.  The sheer mention of "Night Night" caused him to yell "No" and stomp his feet.  He eventually fell asleep while Aubreigh and I played a game of Uno Moo and colored some princesses with markers.

Another one of my simple, yet special nights!  The kids had a blast playing games.  They had more fun with me than they did with their toys and tv all day.  Definitely some oldies but goodies that I am sure will be played much more in our household!

Year in Review 2010-2011 Highlights

I do about an hour long video starting in August (when Aubreigh was born) and it goes to the following year. I like to have them completed by the next birthday. I am a little late with this one because it was over 1.5 hours long and my computer couldn't burn it. I finally broke it into 2 segments and that worked!

This is the final highlights clip.........

Ordinarily Wonderful

I really don't write a lot anymore. However today I feel compelled to do so. It wasn't because it was a grand day, party, or life milestone. It was actually, well, kinda ordinary.

I picked up a pizza on my way home from work. Then, our foursome gathered in the living room to watch the "Smurfs" which was free on demand. Not five minutes into the movie, we heard Mister Softee outside, so Aubs and I ran to get some. All the kids in the neighborhood were excited since we hadn't seen him all winter long.

Aubreigh couldn't wait to get a twist with sprinkles and we bought her brother the same. It was rather chilly so we ran back in the house to eat it. Of course Michael had a ball eating it. It was his first official Mr. Softee all to himself.

Of course I took a few pictures and then I could see that Michael was getting tired. I put a blanket and pillow and laid on the floor with him. It is this that I hope to never forget.

He was sticky and smelled of a combination of chocolate ice cream and papa johns pineapple pizza. He also had a random strawberry stuck in his clothes from the fruit he had after dinner.

Of course I took a wet paper towel to him a few times, but he was the sticky hands, dried hard streak of ice cream in his hair , a smidge of pizza sauce on the chin boy that I loved. I loved it even more when he would give me the big belly laughs as I tickled him, or as he pointed to different parts of the movie when Gargamel came on. And we snuggled.....for over a half hour. He was growing into a big boy now. But he was still my baby. And this baby boy was usually non stop all over the place!

Whenever I am away at work or out and about and I think of him, the first thing that comes to mind is scooping him up, tickling his belly, squeezing him to "reeces pieces" and smelling whatever meal had made its way into his hair, hands and face that day.

As he was getting tired, I asked if he wanted to go "night night" which he did and he started up the steps just as I suggested. I kissed him good night and tucked him in with his blankie.

Darren tucked Aubreigh into bed, but I had to go and give her a little snuggle as well. She was in a pleasant mood, despite the fact that she wasn't thrilled that it was her bedtime already.

She found some toy catalog that had come in the mail and was reading it while I tiredly lay beside her drifting off. I gave her a big squeeze and said "I love you"....and then in a squeaky, low whisper she said "I love you too mommy". My heart melted. I didn't realize I would get a response.

We laid there cuddling for a while. I was rather tired, and figured that I would just shut my eyes a bit. And that was when the compulsion began. This day was so very ordinary.....yet so very wonderful. I just had to write about it.

I hope to never forget cuddling that sticky sweet boy or hearing that wonderful mousey whisper from my little angel. And these are the very reasons why I will never take being a mother for granted.

DIsney Cruise Day 4: Sea Day

I chose the 4 day over the 3 day cruise to have a sea day. When I used to book cruises, I used to think that a sea day would be boring. However, it is just the opposite. There is usually so much to do, and if you don't want to do it, you can just relax!

The first thing I did that morning was go check out the nursery and kids club. They have a few limited times where they are open to the public (and not in session) for adults to check them out. The nursery was nice, had a bunch of toys for the tots to play with, but the Oceaneers club was AMAZING. They had all these areas for the kids to hang out in. My favorite was the life size "Andy's room" from toy story. It was so cool and there was so much to play with. They also had a tinkerbelle station with princess costumes and computer, a light up dance floor, a Monsters Inc lab, and something with Nemo as well. I remember thinking to myself that Aubreigh had missed out by not being left there at some point.

That morning after breakfast, I finished buying up a few souveniers in the gift shop. I got a cute Candyland Disney game, a watch for my mother in law, a stuffed Minnie and Mickey (how could you not?), and a nice Disney Cruise photo album to keep all of our memories in--because I am the obsessive compulsive camera picture taker.

Then we got in line early for the Incredibles Jack Jack Diaper Dash. It is a crawling baby contest and I knew that Michael would excel in it since he was 16 months and still NOT WALKING.

The diaper dash was a lot of fun. There were 10 babies, who were no match for Michael. He won his first heat without a problem. In the other heat, there was a twin by the name of Tobias who looked like he could give Michael a challenge. However, when all was said and done, Michael blew him out of the water and took home the medal (in the shape of Mickey Mouse of course). Definitely something for his memory box.

Then we headed up to ride the Aqua Duck. It is a water coaster on the newer ships. The line is usually pretty long and I expected it would be ridiculous on the sea day, but heck, I had to ride the Aqua Duck. I did probably wait a bit over 30 min. but the line wasn't that bad. I can usually amuse myself by people watching. I also had a good view of the ship and noticed a cute goofy mini golf course. We never got to play because there was not enough time.

The Aqua duck was a lot of fun. Not scary at all. I much preferred it to the salt water rush up my nose from the Pelican Plunge at Castaway Cay. Darren preferred Pelican Plunge, so I guess he likes a fast thrill that surely clears out the sinuses. I would have rode it again if I had another sea day or the line wasn't so long. I think you have to be 42 inches to ride with an adult. If you don't weigh enough you can apparently get stuck in the slide. My sisters had to wait forever in line because a person a head of them got stuck.

The kids played around the splash pad and in the Mickey Pool. I was a bit worried that I would be cold up on deck since it was only in the mid 70s, but I was fine--NOT CHILLED AT ALL. The pools are heated, and I believe the splash pad area was as well.

We came back to relax afterwards, pack, and get ready for our last dinner. Aubreigh and I also snuck in one last character meet and greet before dinner. They have a farewell party where Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisey, Chip and Dale, Goofy and Pluto stand around to take pics. They are only there for a brief period of time (Maybe 20-30 min), but we were lucky enough to hit all of them. We were doing mad dashes for the characters. We did miss out on Tinker Belle though. She had special time slots in a special section of the atrium with a back drop. We tried to get in line earlier that morning (were a little late because of the Diaper Dash), but they are very blunt and have a cast member who says who is the last family in line. I understand that this is needed, or the characters would be there forever! However, I think they could have longer appearances and more appearances. There is a section in the daily cruise report (the Navigator) which tells all the character times and appearances. I didn't realize Tink was so limited.

After Dinner we went to the show "Believe". It started off slow at first, but then got really good. Aubs loved it because there were princesses in the end.

Then we headed back to the room. Our signed pillowcases were waiting for us. I had taken them to guest services the first day to get signed by all the characters. Some other things people take are photo mats and t-shirts. You slip the fabric markers and pillow cases in a ziploc, along with some candy for the castmembers and they sign them for you. You can get all the characters, or just ones that you want (some boys don't like princesses, but I had Michael's pillowcase signed by them all).

One of the neat features of the Disney TV is that there are a TON of disney programs to watch. So that night I put on "The Parent Trap"--the original with Hailey Mills, not that Lindsay Lohan junk! Unfortunately I fell asleep quickly, so I never did get to finish it.

Tomorrow we were going home. My father had been released from the hospital and was going to meet us at the Airport. I was so glad that we ended up going. It really was a great trip despite all that happened. I am still super sad that my father wasn't there to experience our once in a lifetime trip, but at the same time I know that it happening at this particular time (being in Orlando at the biggest Cardiac Clinic in the nation) was not bad luck. It was fate. He needed to be there for his life to be saved.