Valentine's Day 2011

Valentine's Day came and went over the course of a few days in our house. I dug out the Valentine's Day decorations about a month before the actual day just to have a treat for the kids. Dan was out of town twice for about 4/5 days each in late January and early February. Bailey got sick both times he was gone, so we (meaning Jacob, Bailey, and I) had lots of home time since I couldn't take them out while Bailey was sick. At one point, I was home for four straight days and I went a bit crazy I think :) To help pass the time, I cut out hearts and let the kids decorate them with stickers and crayons. They then got to put them up on our doors. I also decided to have them make their teachers cards since I had extra time on my hands.

The kids had their class parties the Friday before Valentine's Day and then we celebrated as a family again on Valentine's Day itself. We haven't traditionally gotten them gifts, but Jacob's teacher sent home an empty wipes container for us to fill with goodies for him as an activity on Valentine's Day. We couldn't leave Bailey out, so they each got a few little things at home that night.

Below are pictures from it all.

Blizzard 2011

At the beginning of February, we had a blizzard come through that brought us 13 inches. The storm began late morning on a Tuesday and Illinois State closed down for the whole day fortunately. Dan's company closed at noon, so we were all able to hunker down at the house. The wind was absolutely crazy and it howled all night. It blew from the North and it was blowing so hard that we discovered two imperfections in our house. First, was with Jacob's window. When I went to get him from his nap Tuesday afternoon, I discovered a small pile of snow on his carpet below his window. Apparently his window has a crack in the window frame. The second was in the corner of our garage door. We had a rather large pile of snow INSIDE our garage! We've lived here 10 years and this was the first for both of those!!

We woke up Wednesday to 13 inches of snow and high drifts everywhere. The sun broke out shortly after breakfast and Dan worked hard on clearing our driveway and sidewalks. I switched with him during the kids' lunch because I was losing my mind with their behavior and needed a break. Jacob had just had an accident that was a mess to clean up and Bailey was in a mood which resulted in her entire plate of food being chucked all over the kitchen. Shoveling snow seemed much easier than the storm brewing in our house! By the time I got outside all of our neighbors were outside and it turned into a group effort helping each other dig out. It was great to see each other after months of hibernation.

We went back to work the next day and it was such an experience driving through town. It was like driving through tunnels and not every lane was fully plowed, so it was an adventure to say the least.

Here are lots of pictures from our blizzard.

Cruise

My sister, Sharla, and I had the incredible opportunity to go on a cruise in early January together. This was a trip four years in the making. We were planning on going on a trip together in 2007, but I became pregnant with Jacob and a beach vacation while pregnant was not my idea of a good time! We chose to go on a Western Caribbean cruise through Carnival for five nights.

Day 1
We flew down to Miami the night before the cruise left in order to allow for any travel delays. Thank goodness we did because we connected through Atlanta and we literally flew out of there a couple of hours before the snowstorm that shut down the city for five days hit!!! We stayed near the port and our hotel was across the street from a major shopping/tourist complex. We spent hours there and ate at the Hard Rock Cafe for dinner - outside!!! It was so strange to eat outside in January!!

Day 2
The next day we took our time getting ready and headed to the port early and actually got right on the ship and were able to spend the afternoon sitting outside and exploring the ship before it even left. We took several pictures of the Miami skylines while on the boat. I think there are four!! The first evening we had dinner in the dining room, which was an experience, and then attended several of the events scheduled for that night. That was also our first experience of what the ship felt like while at sea. You really felt the movement, particularly on either end of the ship and it makes you a bit uneasy. I managed without any medication, but Sharla had to take some at times to keep her nausea under control.

Day 3
Our first full day was at Nassau, Bahamas. We got up early, ate breakfast, and left the ship to meet up for our excursion to the Atlantis resort. It was so pretty and BIG! We first took part in a deep water swim with the dolphins. Wow!! This was such a neat experience. It began with instruction on how to interact with the dolphins and then we were divided up into small groups that worked with a trainer and dolphin. We got to pet them, hug them, and take pictures with them. We then got to swim with them across the bay with a propeller and snorkel gear. It was so neat to watch them swim through the water. Next was the ride of a lifetime. We each took turns laying on a wake board and the dolphins swam up behind us and pushed across the water with their noses. Very, very cool!!. Last up we got a private show of the all of the dolphins doing their synchronized flips out of the water.

After our dolphin adventure, we spent the rest of the day at the Atlantis water park. This water park had a mile-long lazy river and multiple water slides, two of which are major vertical drops. One was a 60-foot drop that shot you through a tunnel within a shark tank. The other was 120 feet long!! You literally felt like you were dropping through the air and it was extremely thrilling. It was fun to do it once, but I couldn't be talked into going multiple times! The water park would have been more fun if it was sunny and warmer and we froze much of the day. It was amazingly not busy either, which surprised me. We also wandered around the resort and went through its well-known aquarium tunnel. I expected it to be nicer, but I've also been to the Georgia Aquarium which is the largest in the world I believe. It was still neat to be at this resort that is globally known and one that I've seen on TV and in magazines!!

Dinner was great and we attended lots of evening activities, including a Broadway-comparable show.

Day 4
We went to Half Moon Cay, Bahamas the next day. This was my favorite day of the whole trip. The island is Carnival's own private island and it was beyond gorgeous. I woke up that day and got in a good run on the running track at the top of the ship (had to burn off all the food I ate). We got off the ship right away and lounged on the beach before we had to leave for our snorkeling adventure. Snorkeling was fun despite the lack of fish that we saw. It was disappointing, yet still fun to swim around the ocean. We then caught a lunch barbecue in one of the huts and then laid on the beach the rest of the afternoon. This was my idea of a perfect day!!

Dinner was another amazing experience and we enjoyed the nightly entertainment.

Day 5
This day was our last day of port. Since our ship wasn't scheduled to arrive to our port until 11:00, we scheduled massages and facials early in the morning. I've never done either before and have to say I wasn't blown away! Not really my thing, especially for the amount we spent on them!

We docked at Grand Turk, Turks and Caicos, alongside another ship and started the day out lounging on the beach. It was HOT. I was actually thrilled for some clouds that day, although the rain put a damper on the majority of the day. We took reprieve from the rain at Margaritaville and then did some shopping. It was frustrating to lose our day to the rain, but what are you going to do?!!

We took a break from the dining room this night and ate at the buffet and walked around outside. The storm was coming through and the wind was incredible. We pretended to be Jim Cantore from the Weather Channel in a hurricane!!

Day 6
This was our last full day on the boat and we were hoping to lay out all day on the ship since we were at sea. Not the case. We woke up to the temps in low 60s with clouds and 40-50 mph wind. It was so windy that they closed the upper deck, so I couldn't get my run in that day. Despite the weather, I figured it was still nicer than back home and lounged on the chairs all day bundled up. The clouds broke for about an hour and I got some sun in, which helped our moods! We got lots of reading in, so I was happy about that. This was also my birthday and it was nice to be away from reality!

The night ended with an incredible show and dinner.

Day 7
We arrived back to Miami first thing in the morning and had breakfast before we disembarked from the ship. Our flights home (three of them!) went flawlessly and we were home by 9:00 pm.

It was such a great trip and I can't wait for my next cruise!! I highly recommend it and hope to go with Dan in a few years when the kids are older. One thing that I didn't expect was to have motion issues when we got back. I felt like I was still swaying on the ship and was uneasy for a few days after returning. Not sick, but just a little tipsy!!

Below is a photo album of our trip.

Cruise 2011

Things I HATE Saying

I'm finding myself saying the same things over and over to the kids that I absolutely hate saying. I feel like some days, especially lately, I'm this monster mom who just yells at her kids all day long. One of these days they will learn that I hate saying them more than they hate hearing them!

Sit down and finish your dinner.

Don't throw your food on the floor.

Stop banging your fork/spoon on the table.

Keep eating or I'm going to turn off the TV.

Don't push your sister.

Don't take that toy out of your brother's/sister's hand.

You need to go wash your hands since you just went potty.

Get your finger out of your nose. Go get a kleenex.

Stop drinking the bath water.

Don't splash the water too hard because you are getting me wet.

Go back to your room.

Don't come out of your room (after bedtime) or you are going to lose a toy.

Don't bang your wall with your toys.

Stay in your car seat until I can come over there and buckle you in.

Don't run away from me (in public places).

No, you cannot watch another TV show, you just watched two (our limit).

Stop jumping off the furniture.

Don't climb on the kitchen table, play kitchen, piano (yep this happens!), top of the couch, dining room table.

You do not talk to me or Daddy that way.

It's time to clean up the toys.

You need to listen.

What do you say? (prompting for a "please" and "thank you").



These are just a few things that I say often. I do say a lot of nice things to the kids too, but lately, I feel like the negatives are far outwaying the positives!!

Jacob's Pink House and Airplane

My next planned post was to supposed to be about my cruise, but since it is only a quarter done (it's going to be rather windy), I'll slip in this post.

Jacob's imagination seems to really be developing as of late. One thing that he continually talks about with excitement is his pink house that he has. This house is amazing in his eyes and has everything that he could ever want. For example, I'm in the middle of making dinner right now and he asked me if we could eat apples. I reply that we don't have any right now and he says that he has apples in his pink house. This house apparently doesn't have rules and is restricted to those that are on his good list for the moment. This house previously was yellow and I actually was asked by teachers at his preschool if we lived in a yellow house because he was talking about it a lot.

He also has an airplane that he owns and flies and likes to take family and friends on plane rides. He doesn't have any specific destinations, but he loves to fly it. When I told him that Aunt Sharla and I were going to fly in airplanes on our trip, he said that he was going to fly us and Daddy and Bailey were coming to. I think that a trip to our airport sometime to watch the planes arrive and depart will be a special trip that we might take in the near future :)

I think the fact that he has this great imagination is an exciting stage in his development and I love to go along and live in his dream world with him!!