A weekend in Orlando

The girls and Mr. J Cricket!!!
Madie and Miss Bunny!!!

Madie, Thumper and an uncomfortably long hug!!!!

This weekend we had a military function up in Orlando. So we went up a little early and took the girlies to the Disney Animal Kingdom. As we pulled into the parking area, Madie vomited a little. As we pulled into our parking spot, row 24 of the Unicorn section, Madie began to projectile vomit. It was pretty gross. So then we had to decided whether to carry on with our plan or call it quits. (I was ready to call it quits) I was pretty sure it was just motion sickness. I had the pleasure of cleaning vomit out of the car seat and off of Madie, with only wipies available while Pete had to take Megan to find a potty. We changed Madie's clothes and then decided to give it a shot. So off we went on our adventure into the park.

WE had a great time and got some really cute pictures of the girls. Madie was in a very affectionate mood and when we saw Thumper she was in heaven. She hugged him for about 90 seconds, then she hugged Miss Bunny (Thumper's girlfriend) and then gave Thumper another 90 second hug. It was darling.

Megan enjoyed seeing all the animals on the safari ride and even got to ride the river ride and get all wet with Dad. But mostly she loved seeing all the characters.

The rest of our weekend went fine. But Disney was definitely the highlight.

Diaper Cakes

Which one do you like best?

The perfect day for napping

Today is Friday. It is a very wet Friday. It is raining. It is the perfect afternoon for a nap. Both of my little munchkins are napping. Sigh! It is quiet. I love Friday. I love this very wet Friday. I love the rain. I love naps!

(Sounds like some of the books we have gotten from the library recently).

Megan and Madie..the dynamic duo...

Madie has started really truly walking in the last month. She is fast and she has an agenda. Her mission to destroy her family home. Mode of operation; empty all drawers of clothing, naw on anything not edible and small enough to choke on, tear paper, all paper especially contained in books...and most especially those books borrowed from the public library, re-organize the contents of mom's purse, unfold all freshly folded laundry, attempt successfully to fish for germs in toilet bowl, climb all pieces of furniture, and do it all while looking adorably mischievous! She is darling...but she is trouble!!!! Watch out world, the destroying angel is mobile and loving her new found autonomy. She isn't much of a talker yet, but she communicates quite well with her nodding skills and as we all know "Actions speak louder than words." She is an action girl!

Megan began January in Sunbeams at church and she is lovin' it!!! She is the youngest Sunbeam in our ward, but certainly not the shyest(or quietest). She gave her first talk last week. Her topic, "We believe that through the atonement of Christ all mankind may be saved." Ummm...since when did atonement, death, resurrection, repentance, and sin become needed vocabulary for three year old talks? However, she did a great job and more importantly after it was over she asked when she gets to give a talk again. She loves her teacher and last Sunday came home from Church telling me she got to be the Holy Ghost in her class and did I want to be Jesus or Heavenly Father when we played Holy Ghost....hmmmm? I wasn't sure how to handle that, but simply assured her I would be happy to be either. :)

I am constantly amazed at the level of her gospel understanding and her love for learning things of spiritual importance. I am also constantly amazed at how careful I need to be in what I say. The other day I was frustrated by something and made some remark, basically to myself about selling my soul. Megan asked" what's a soul." I explained and then she wanted to know how one would sell their soul. I tried to explain it was basically a figure of speech and that mom was just being silly. And then heard her telling her toys she was going to sell her soul to her friends Ashlynn and Avery. Yep, hillarious, but definitely another mother of the year moment. So I will be trying even harder to keep my big yapper shut...I know... good luck to me!!!


Pete and I celebrated 5 years of wedded bliss by going to Avatar and a wine tasting...we of course just went for the food. We then rushed home to relieve our poor sweet baby sitter and watch an episode of LOST (catching up with season 5) It was a great anniversary and pretty relaxed, just like us.

Recommitted to the blog

I suppose my hiatus from blogging needs to come to an end, and why not today, February 1st, it is as good as any other day...maybe better than some. So I declare today the reinstatement of my desire to blog, or at least try so that I have some record, however incomplete, of our crazy life.

Peter returned from Qatar on January 3. We had a wonderful reunion in a very cold hanger where we waited for several hours. Megan held a sign that said "Welcome Home Daddy". Three days later Madie came down with croup...A pretty good case that necessitated a steroid injection and an albuterol inhaler every 4 hours. Despite our plans to go to Utah to visit Pete's family...we all ended up too sick to travel.

During the time Pete had off, we also made a major purchase of a new minivan. Despite our best efforts to find a SUV that more than two car seats would be convenient in, nothing beat the ease and convenience of the minivan.( This is in no way an announcement, we are not adding to our family anytime soon, just need a new car). So we are now the proud...okay we are now owners of a very nice minivan.

(Like most of my endeavors...this one got delayed, but really what's the difference between the 1st and the 3rd? )

"D" Day

Well it's "D" day at our house. (D stands for deployment) The beginning of another adventure. Tonight Pete left for 60+ days. So he is off to the desert for an adventure and while we have one as well. We are still in denial, but I am sure in the next week we will all realize it is really happening. As my parents used to tell us as kids when we pestered them about getting to use our agency, "Oh, you have a choice. You can do it with a smile or you can do it with a frown." So for this deployment I am choosing to smile...but that doesn't mean there won't be a few tears. (Hunny we miss you already!)

Its been a crazy 6 weeks since I blogged last and I can't even begin to sum it up without it becoming a meaningless grocery type list, so just know its been crazy. We are moved into our house...though we still have three bathrooms to paint, some caulking to do, shelves to put up, and more than a little organizing that needs done. But it feels nice to have almost twice the space and to have a garage too! The girls are doing well. Madie is mobile and weaned. I just finished reading Charlotte's Web out loud to Megan. She loved it. So now we are on the look out for another comparable book to read out loud at bedtime.

I really have so much to be grateful for, and am resolved to refrain from complaining while Pete is gone...or atleast about Pete being gone.

In other news I am gather address for Christmas cards, so please send me your address so Ic an have it for Christmas card time...which is coming quickly!!! Thanks in advance!

today at 1:30

Today at 1:30 pm eastern standard time we close on our house! I am so excited and a little nervous...okay honestly a lot nervous. A little overwhelmed at how much work we have to get done in the next 8 days, but excited to have a bigger place... and a garage....and a tiny yard!!! I will post pictures later!!!