First Ski Trip

This year we decided that the kids were old enough to go on a trip to the slopes. We went up to Petoskey. They had been getting a lot of snow early this year, so the conditions were great. We decided that the best approach to get the kids to enjoy skiing was to sign them up for ski lessons. We signed up for private lessons at Nubs Nob, which ended up being a really good idea with the personalized attention. Sydney did a great job and could turn and stop at the end of her lesson. Zack did pretty good, given that he's only 3 1/2, and could stop on command.

After the ski lessons, we enjoyed a frugal past time of brown bag lunches with Little Debbies (which are never forgotten on a ski day - you need lots of carbs to keep going!). We hit the slopes after lunch but were surprised to find the weather had turned rather sour with gusty winds, and ice snow showers pelting us in the faces! To top it off, we made the mistake of taking the kids on a green run, which ended being more of a bowl than a gentle beginner hill. It was a rather stressful end of the day for the kids, but after sitting in the lodge by the fire enjoying some hot chocolate they agreed they would be up for another day of skiing tomorrow. In fact, they were ready to go tubing - so we went over to Boyne Highlands and went tubing for an hour. That was a blast - although Zack was bummed that he was too little to go all by himself :)

The next day we headed over to Boyne Mountain. What a great surprise to find out that the beginner area (with a magic carpet and a chair lift) was free for everyone! We even splurged for lunch in the lodge that day to celebrate the savings. The kids were having a great time, especially after we bought them a real pair of snow gloves. We skied until 3pm, and unfortunately had to drive back home.

Flat Stanley

This year I created a photobook with pictures of Grandma & Grandpa W's 50th wedding anniversary party. We gave it to them as a Christmas present. Right before Christmas Sydney had a project that needed to be mailed to someone out of state - it was a project in which Flat Stanley would go visit and then report on what he did while he was visiting. So we packed up the Christmas present along with Flat Stanley and sent them to Florida. We called Grandma and let her know that she needed to open the box and get the project out for Sydney as it was due back at school soon. After Christmas, Grandma called after she had opened the photobook present and was in tears, of happiness, over it. She loved it. After the phone call, Sydney asked "Did Flat Stanley make Grandma cry??"

Merry Christmas!!

The Christmas tree right after Santa left...

The tree after the kids went through it all!

I don't think I've ever seen Sydney more excited!! All of the Christmas gifts were a big hit, the kids were so happy.

The Leapsters have been a big hit...

Santa knew just what to get me too!! (check out my new t-shirt!!)

Yum Yum Yum!

Tonight was a first - Sydney ate something I made for dinner and said "Mom, this is really good!!!". And she really meant it! And it was a casserole (food touching each other and everything!)! It was Tater Beef bake, a freezer friendly food. I'll certainly be making more of that. Zack, on the other hand, would only eat part of a tater tot after much discussion and declared it was yucky. Whatever!

Don't stand so close to me

Tonight Zack told us at dinner that he didn't feel good. After 5 years of parenting now, I'm starting to get the hang of the "I'll tell them I'm sick so I don't have to eat fish sticks" ploy. He nibbled on his dinner and then we told him if he wasn't feeling good he could lay down. So off to the couch he goes, and less than a minute later we heard the squeaking of the wheels on his monorail. Sick maybe, but definitely nothing that was going to keep him down. He plays with Daddy and Sydney after dinner, and then wanders in to see me in the kitchen and inquires if he can have a "treat". I begin to laugh wholeheartedly at the request and remind him (for the millionth time) how kids who don't finish dinner, or aren't feeling good certainly don't get a treat. Next comes a very sad pout and crying from Zack. He's dramatic, but usually not this good. I take a look at him and he starts to grab his stomach in pain. I pick him up to see what's wrong and set him down on the counter next to me to get a good look at him. Luckily, I wasn't looking too good because next comes the projectile vomiting. ewwww That blueberry yogurt had turned into something green and he looked like a sea serpent spraying some evil goo all over the floor. Yes, all over the floor. Why hadn't I put him next to the sink instead of on the island!? Anyhow, at least the multiple pukes made him feel much better and the rest of the night was spent in peace. Poor little guy.

Wednesday!!!

When Zack was told this morning that it was Wednesday, he started into a 15 min grouchy phase, complete with bawling and pouting. He said "I don't want it to be that day. I want it to be Friday." He wouldn't even use the word Wednesday, just referring to "that day". Who knew that Weds was sooooo bad!!

Mom's latest obsession

Since I got that new camera, I find myself with an abundance of photos and wanting some way to show them off. Well I got the scrapbooking bug and now I'm trying to make my Photoshop Elements do something! Here is my first scrapbook page, a piece of history :)

It starts with the letter "G"...

In the kindergarten class they have an assignment called Secret Letter Detective. One child is given a letter and told to bring in an object from home that starts with that particular letter. It must be hidden from the class, and the students will guess what it is based on three clues. Sydney was the chosen one this week. She had been the SLD in the past, and a student had guessed a "picture" was in the bag after hearing just one clue - "it's square". We all thought there was something fishy going on - "did she look in the bag?" "did someone tell her what it was??", so in the competitive nature of the task (really?) Dad picked out the object for the letter G. We're still surprised no one guessed it this time!!

1) it's in your computer

2) draws pictures

3) hooks up to monitor

Let the decorating begin

As soon as the turkey is cleared from the table at Thanksgiving, we're ready to decorate for Christmas. This year it was hardly even a chore as the kids pretty much ripped into the boxes of ornaments and started putting them all up on the tree! Granted, the decorating pretty much stops at 4 feet on our tree, but that's what makes is special :)



Christmas is a beautiful sight around our house....

My kitty...

Don't tell Zack this, but what he calls "my kitty" is really a blankie. I know, it's hard to believe, but our little guy likes to drag around his blankie and make it meow. It's also know as "school blankie", but mostly it's just kitty. Kitty is often found rubbing against Zack's ear (that's how he makes sure something is oh so soft...) and cuddling with Zack in bed. But often Kitty has super great powers, like how it knows Zack's full name and his age. We all love Kitty.

Happy Thanksgiving!

That's right Pilgrims, it's time for turkey eating again!!!




















Remember when Zack through that 40 minute fit about putting that shirt on??? geez!





















Bust out the cameras! This is the first (and maybe only!) full size turkey that we have ever made. Yum Yum Yum!!

Here's the guys enjoying the feast...

3 generations of hot chicks at the feast too!

What?.. that outfit again?

Who would have thought that Zack would take such an interest in clothes these days! When he got home from preschool on Friday, he scurried upstairs. When he came back downstairs again he was all smiles and proclaimed the new clothes that he just put on to be "his favorite outfit". He wanted to sleep in them that night. The next day he wore them again - ok, really they only had a few hours of "wear" on them. However when Sunday rolled around and he wore them yet again, it was time to come up with a plan. That night they were promptly thrown into the wash, proclaimed as "dirty" and it was announced that he would need to find something else to wear. Yeah for running pants!!

Happy Halloween!!

Unusual for Ohio, it was a beautiful Halloween night - weather was in the 60's, warm enough to leave the coats at home. We went out as soon as 6pm hit (thanks to Grandma & Grandpa coming over to pass out the treats!) and didn't stop until 8pm. The kids bags were packed full of candy. More candy than the whole family even needed! One special treat for night was the visit from the Monclova fire department. They drove their big fire engine through the streets, passing out candy to the kids and just being silly. My favorite part was the neighbor that was passing out Jello shots for the parents! yum!!

Sweet dreams

So far I would say that the tonsilectomy has been a success - Zack has been sleeping through the night for a few weeks now. Another test will be when we go to the Dr's and get his weight rechecked. hooray!!

Goodbye Chyna :(

Today our kitty, Chyna passed away. She was 17 years old and suffering from chronic renal failure. We loved her dearly and she will be missed very much. :(

Tonsils & adnoids removed

Today Zack went to Flower hospital to get his tonsils & adenoids removed. We are hoping this will make him a better sleeper, which will help him gain some weight and be a happier kid. The surgery started at 10:30am and lasted about 40 mins. When we got to see him in recovery, he was very very unhappy. Coughing and crying uncontrollably. It was a sad thing to see, knowing we couldn't help him much. He did calm down for a little bit and napped, but when he woke up he was still pretty sore. When we got to the recovery room, we stayed there a couple more hours. We were getting pretty discouraged when he refused to try any Popsicles and would only drink a little bit of water. Then the nurse found some apple juice and he sucked that down, and also ate some applesauce and 2 Popsicles! After that he was feeling much better and started talking and laughing. Daddy had put Cars movie on his iPhone and that really saved us. Zack was happy to watch it while we waited to leave. By the time we got home at 3pm, Zack was talking non stop like usual and not willing to sit still for hardly a minute. I hope he decided to calm down so he can get the rest he needs! He's eating bread, pudding, jello, Popsicles, and lots of juice.

the great dinner battle

With Zack being a picky eater, it's not unusual that our dinner turns into a battleground some nights. Recently I thought he would really like some meatloaf (which he probably *has* liked before), since he really likes meatballs, and they're pretty much the same. Well he refused to eat it and then told me "when you make some good food I'll eat it". !!!!!!

The big saver

When told that going on vacation costs money, Zack said that he was going to contribute by giving us all of the money in his piggy bank. His goal is to get to ride on the Barnstormer roller coaster at Disney World again.

"I willn't!!"

You have to give Zack credit - he sure is a creative child. He's made up his own contraction. "I willn't" is a pretty popular phrase when he speaks. "I willn't spill the milk!" "I willn't break it, I'm just looking at it"

the Shape of Things To Come

Zack has been talking a lot lately about when he grows up - he's going to be a "Daddy". When I told him that a Daddy has babies, he told us that he was going to have 3 boys! One of them is going to be named "Dad". Not to be outdone, Sydney reported that she will also have 3 kids - two girls, named "Ashley" and "Chloe" of course.

Kindergarten!

Sydney started Kindergarten today. She was all decked out in her new outfit, complete with pink sequined head band and her Barbie wedding backpack. What a cutie!! We can't believe she's starting school already. Zack also just started in his preschool room yesterday. They really do grow up too fast. sigh

Rolf Water Park

The Rolf Water park was a big hit for the kids. I picked a day when it was supposed to be 89 degrees and sunny. Little did I know that thundershowers were also in store! Less than an hour after we got to the pool the clouds moved in and the lightning started. So that caused an hour and a half long rain delay and we left the park for a little while. Eventually it cleared up and we got to go back. We met our friends there and they all had a blast!

Put in Bay

We took a day trip to Put in Bay today. We rode on the Miller Ferry, which was as much a part of the whole experience as was being on the island. Zack is every so enthralled by boats as much as he is cars and trains so it was a great trip - Sydney on the other hand was starting to get very leary of the rocking of the boat, but she did relax later and enjoy the ride. No trip to Put in Bay would be complete with out pizza and beer at Frosty's, so that was first on our agenda. The kids enjoyed an ice cold chocolate milk. Since we went on a Saturday it was quite busy. We did get to rent a golf cart, although it was the slowest cart on earth! I guess we were lucky to get the cart, since there was a shortage, but it was a terrible cart! After riding on the cart we played at the playground, and went up to the top of Perry's Monument. We ran into our friend Dawn so we went out to dinner with her. It was a long day, and the kids stayed out until the last rays of light. Needless to say they were conked out by the time the car got rolling home. What a great day!

Enjoy the silence

This morning Syndey told me that she wanted to be a mommy so she could "do anything she wanted".
I asked her, "oh yeah, you know what I did last night? I went grocery shopping after you went to bed! Doesn't that sound fun? And I didn't get home until late - and I went right to bed afterwards".
She asked "did Daddy go too?"
"Nope, just me"
"well, I would go grocery shopping by myself too if I were a Mommy. So I could have some quiet time".
She'll make a great Mommy :)

Sydney's streamer

Sydney made a cool streamer today at school - she had a great time showing me how pretty it looks when it flies...

July 4th - Cedar Point!

For the 4th of July we went to Cedar Point. Many said we were crazy, but what the heck, we did it. The park actually was not super crowded. Especially in the kids rides, the lines were short. Zack was just completely thrilled watching the roller coaster. He wanted to go on every one, especially Top Thrill Dragster. He could have spent the whole day watching that ride go. He also loved the Ferris Wheel. Sydney loved the Tilt-a-Whirl ride the best, even though it made Mommy almost sick with the spinning - and made Zack almost cry. I can't believe it was in the kids rides, it was pretty fast!!

Both kids loved the Jr Gemini. There wasn't a ride that they didn't love. Well, Zack did get pretty bummed out on the bumper cars. For some reason he couldn't make the car go. I guess he wasn't pushing and holding the pedal down or something. He went on it twice and both times he was just a speed bump. Poor guy!

We got there at 10:45 am and didn't leave until 11:30 pm. We practically had to pull the kids off the rides. We also got to see some great fireworks.

What???

Zack often responds "What??" to us. Is it that Zack *can't* hear us really, or he just doesn't want to hear what we're saying?? I think it's the latter most of the time.

Hot dogs anyone?

Really, I'm not sure where he got this from!

Happy 3rd Birthday Zack!!

Another year has come and gone and you have transformed from a bumbling toddler, into a little preschooler in the blink of an eye! You are a very intelligent, inquisitive, and talkative little boy. I think 80% of your sentences begin with "why..." (and the other 20% usually start with "I don't want to..."!!). Although you can be very stubborn at times, you are sweet and sensitive also, unless you are stealing toys from your sister. Your birthday revolved around your 3 current loves: Thomas the Train, Disney Cars, and the latest love, monorails! You carry your monorail around with you everywhere you go, and of course it has a special parking spot in your bed too. You can spell at least 5 words, and read too - "Zack", "Sydney", "Mom" & "Dad". You share your Dad's love of cars and things that go fast and make loud noises - motorcycles are a favorite too. You can't wait to go to Cedar Point to ride on the roller coasters. You never want to to sleep, and wake up cranky in the morning. You are also quite sneaky and love to squirt people with water guns at the pool! Happy happy birthday!!

Mokencycles!

yep, it's those new fangled vehicles that Zack loves so much!! tee hee hee

Swim Lessons

Zack started his swim lessons today. He was actually not even shy about joining the group and getting in the pool. No surprise he was the smallest in the class, since the age range is from 3 yrs to 5 yrs and he just turned 3 years old when the class started.

Day 7 - I hafta go potty!

He's another travel tip from Mr Obvious - don't give your kids a bunch of juice boxes before you get on the airplane. Apparently it makes them have to use the bathroom - in Zack's case it was 5 times! well, after drinking 2 or 3 juices I guess I'd have to go too! Other than that, I'm happy to report that our plane ride was uneventful, just the way I like them. Landing in Detroit was quite a bummer though - back to reality.

Day 6 - Clearwater Beach

Clearwater beach was our desination today. We had first thought we might not go, due to Zack's sunburn, but decided it would be OK. I didn't learn until after the trip that the SPF factor for a wet t-shirt is only 3, but it seemed like a good idea at the time. We had great weather the whole trip, and today was another sunny beautiful day. The water temperature was in the 80's, it was almost as warm as the air, but just cool enough to be nice.
The kids had a great time playing in the sand and splashing in the waves. After hanging out on the beach, we headed over to the really cool playground they have there. On our way home it started to rain and storm, which was the first rain we had seen on this trip. It was the perfect way to end our vacation.

Day 5 - Gators and more

After sleeping in late this morning, we headed out to Gatorland. It was actually a cool little park that we could all get into for around $50 (unlike Disney at 70 plus a person!). We saw a great Gator wrestling show, saw lots of gators of all sizes, and rode the train. Then we headed over to the new splash park they just recently built. Although the kids couldn't stop talking about it before they got there, they were *very* scared to run around by themselves. Zack insisted that I carried him everywhere, and Sydney did the same for quite some time. They Sydney realized what fun it was and she was running all over by herself having a great time. Zack was still a little whiny, but I think he was also just very tired. He had a great time using one of the water guns shooting everyone in sight. We stayed at the park for about 4 hours.

For dinner we headed over to the Disney Boardwalk, and had dinner at the Big River Brew Pub. The food was good, but the tables were small and the whole dinner cost just about the same as the admission to Gatorland :( The kids caught their second wind after having some food and we walked around the hotels in the area. We also stayed for the Epcot fireworks, only because we were in the area - after vowing to get the kids in bed at a decent hour ;) Oh well, it is vacation after all.

Day 4 - burning up the night time

Today we went to a really cool beach at a park called Calidesi Island. We had to drive an hour and a half to get there and then take a ferry boat over to the island. They limit the time you can spend there to 4 hours, but that was just the right amount of time because by that time we were perfectly sunburned. Note to self, *reapply, *reapply, and *reapply!! We saw a big turtle just walking right in front of the concession stand and also gathered a lot of cool sea shells. Another important note is that you should always wear sandals when walking on boardwalks!! We had to run down the walkway and Sydney was screaming in pain because the wood was so hot. It was not a pretty sight. My feet still hurt hours after that event. Yikes!! The beach was beautiful and the water was so warm, it was a dream day.

After our long car ride home (and a good nap for the kids on the way) we went to Downtown Disney for dinner at the Rainforest Cafe. That place is always busy, and I think Saturday night would qualify for the busiest night of the week. By the time we got there at 7:30, it was a 2 hour wait! But I still took the reservation time and we decided after a little bit to go to Planet Hollywood instead. We waited 45 minutes to get in there, by walking around the shops, and then when we got seated, the restaurant was way too loud and we left. Perhaps that is a sign we are getting old or something, but it was definately not the place we wanted to be. So we waited an hour longer and finally got our seat at the Rainforest Cafe. Despite the late dinner time (9:40!) the kids did really good.... until the end when Zack realized there was another "storm" coming on at the restaurant and he started to cry. We quickly exited the restaurant right as it was starting to rumble.

Day 3 - How I got that bad sunburn...

It was a lazy day today, due to the late night yesterday. We decided to go shopping, play golf and then Alan would be meeting up with his friends for dinner.
Let me just start by saying, despite how fun and adventurous the mini golf course promises to be, it will still be about 800 degrees in the sun. HOT HOT HOT It was so darn hot it was almost unbearable. Having said that, we decided that the Adventure Golf was for us, and we started playing at 1pm. Playing is really a loose term as the kids just rolled the balls along and I just tried to make it through the course without having heat stroke. We all had sunburns in the shape of our tank tops when we left.
When we went shopping, Zack decided to spend his Disney Dollars (he had earned $10) on a Car's canteen, that had a water ring toss game in it. Fun! Sydney got a Princess beach towel.
It was bath night and Alan went out to dinner with some friends that live in the area. He went to a Cuban restaurant in Celebration, and the kids watched Toy Story at the house.

Day 2 - Disney World!!

Since it was a weekday, we decided at the last minute to go to the Magic Kingdom in Disney. We got to the gates around 9:30 and it was even hot at that time of the morning. The first ride we went on the was the parking lot tram, then the boat, and finally made it to the park! Once in the park we headed to the Mad Hatter's Tea Party, spinning cups. Next it was the Winnie the Pooh ride, and Sydney started to cry about the Wuzzles and Heffalumps being scarey! She said "I never want to go on that ride again". Seconds later we were surprised in the gift shop by Disney employees telling us that we had all won Dream Fast Passes! They were pretty cool - we could go to the Fast Past rides at any time we wanted to (just once). Too bad a lot of the rides were for big kids, but still, it was a great prize. During that day, Sydney spent much time begging to go shopping and spend her "Disney Dollars" (she had $12) and Zack just wanted to go on the race cars!
We tried to go into an attraction called Mickey's Philharmagic, and found out that it was a very dark, loudy and scarey ride! In fact we left after just about a minute of it. I don't blame them, it was pretty darn intense. So we would be well rested, we went back to our house for lunch and rest, and then by 3pm we were back at the park. It was not crowded at all, and a picture session with Pooh was about the longest time we waited (20 mins). The kids loved the race cars, and Buzz Lightyear laser ride. Zack was a much braver kid than Sydney and his absolute favorite ride was Goofy's Barnstormer roller coaster! He also enjoyed the Dumbo ride and the People Mover. We did have a problem on the People Mover- it broke down in the dark area as you enter into Space Mountain. That would have been a total disaster had it not been for Alan's pocket flashlight, which kept the kids from being afraid. It seemed like we were stuck forever, but it was probably about 20 minutes.
When it started getting dark we headed to see the light parade. However, so did about a million other people and it was so crowded we couldn't see it. The fireworks went off right over our head, and they were pretty. We stayed until the park closed, at 11pm. What a busy day, we were all exhausted, but had a lot of fun!

Day 1 - Florida Trip... we have to get up how early??

We started our trip to Florida at 4:20 am. yep, that early. We haven't been up that early since the kids were still drinking bottles. Anyhow, we decided to just dress the kids in their outfits when they went to bed last night, so we just picked them up out of bed at 5am and stuck them in the car. I figured that with the lack of sleep they would just be sleeping the whole plane ride. Well much to our surprise, the kids were up and raring to go and never slept once. Oops, I didn't even bring any entertaining toys or books for the plane because I thought we didn't need them. Even so the kids did a great job on the plane ride and never cried once even when we put them in the car at 5am.
Since we had such an early flight we arrived in Florida at 11am, but our house wouldn't be ready until 4pm. So we took a trip over to Downtown Disney. It was hot hot hot! But the kids had fun going to Lego Land and racing cars. After hanging out and shopping for a little while, we went to our house. It was a really nice house, with a big - no *huge* - TV. And a home theatre system, with 250 DVD changer. Now if we could just figure out how to turn it on!
We had dinner at TGI Friday's and went grocery shopping, then called it a night. The kids slept great together in the same room, other than Zack always wanting to talk, and Sydney wanting to sleep!

Happy 5th Birthday Sydney!!

Well it's been 5 years now since the day you first arrived in this world with a fearsome cry. You've grown into a mischievous, beautiful little girl. You have a deep vein of competition running through you, at least when it has anything to do with competing against your brother. Book reading, hand washing, riding bikes - you name it, you'll compete against Zack for it! I hope that is a good trait - it tends to be a little tiresome on a continuous basis right now. However you are also a very kind and thoughtful girl who is smart and caring. You just started gymnastics, so perhaps there is hope for you not always being so klutzy after all. You also love to cook, or at least eat the dough and chocolate chips. Puzzles and games are also a favorite, along with your Ponies and stuffed animals. We count our blessings each time we think of how lucky we are to have such a super special girl like you in our family!!

Easy Bake Oven fun

The bakers are geared up

We bought an Easy Bake Oven from a garage sale recently. What a bargain - only $5 and it had several new mixes with it. So after many days of looking at it sitting in the corner of our dining room, we finally decided to make some treats. First of all, who would have thought it takes 15 mins to warm up the oven! Then, the mix made a teeny tiny amount of dough- appropriately small to go in this tiny oven. It was a lot of fun making the cutout cookies though, and they really did taste yummy.

Cutting out the cookies...

Are they done yet??