Alive and Well.....vacationed and refreshed!

So the old blog was totally neglected last month - sorry!!! I guess it was a combination of being too busy and not really having much to blog about. I also realized that I didn't take a picture almost the entire month - awful, I know!

So anyway, we just got back from our annual spring break vacation to Hilton Head. The weather was terrific, the trip was relaxing and enjoyable, but of course went way too fast.

First, we celebrated Tony's birthday the day before we left - March 31st (his actual birthday). We went to Red Lobster for dinner with Laura, Aaron and the girls since he always gripes about not being allowed to go there. Unfortunately, Nicholas ended up with a tummy ache and cut the dinner a bit short. It was actually OK though because once again, it wasn't that great of a dinner. Tony finally agreed with me that Red Lobster really isn't all that great. He opened a few gifts when we got home and then the kids went to bed and we finished packing for vacation.

We worked on Friday, April 1. I got out around 3 and got gas and finished packing the car. Tony got the kids and we dressed them in jammies and packed everyone up and headed south. We drove just over 7 hours into Jonesville, NC and stayed the night at a hotel. The kids did really great. Hannah watched movies and Nicholas just hung out. He only got fussy when he tried to go to sleep because he couldn't get comfortable. We unloaded for the night and of course by then, the kids were wide awake. Hannah went to sleep easily, but Nicholas was different story. I think we finally fell asleep around 2 am.

We got up, showered, changed and had breakfast and finished the drive for another 5 hours or so to get to the vacation house. We stayed in a unit we stayed in a couple years ago. Mom and Randy were already there and so they helped us unload and we just hung out in the condo that night and made pizza for dinner. We took a quick trip to the beach. I had hoped Nicholas would be a little intimidated by the ocean, but no such luck....he headed right for it! I wondered if that would be a sign for how my week would be!

Sunday morning, we got ready and went out to breakfast and then Mom, Hannah and I went to the beach for the afternoon.

Hannah spent her time at the condo watching TV, playing with her barbies and playing on the computer. She's getting quite good at computer solitare!

Nicholas played with his toys, the stroller, the box and shoes - he is so interested now in trying to put on his shoes! It's funny!

We went to Lands End Tavern for dinner Sunday night.

Monday, the guys golfed and we took the kids to the pool. It was pretty cold in the water. I tried to get Nicholas to go in, but it was just too cold. Hannah had no problem getting in though! She splashed around the baby pool and even got Grandma to go into the big pool with her for a while to swim around.

Nicholas was quite content playing with beach toys on the side of the pool

and then decided to take a snooze in the stroller for a while in the shade.

We grilled burgers for dinner in on Monday night and then just hung out in the condo.

Tuesday's weather wasn't the greatest earlier in the day. Tony and I took Hannah to lunch at Sante Fe

Then we took both of the kids to the playground at Harbour Town. Hannah can finally pump her legs right on a swing.

Nicholas wasn't quite sure if he liked the swing or not.

He LOVED the slide though!

They had fun racing down together.

And for the record, that blue thing on him is a dog leash! I forgot the child harness thing at home and I looked all over for one down there, and the only thing I could come up with was an actual dog leash that velcroed around him and had a leash on his back - it worked!!!

We grilled out for dinner again and then had some Hilton Head friends over for some drinks that evening. Here is an attempt at a picture of me and the kids, however, Nicholas isn't so into picture taking these days!

Wednesday the guys golfed again and we took the kids to the beach. It was warm down there, but a bit windy and unfortunately the sand kept blowing in Nicholas' face. So I let him walk around a while and then he finally figured out that playing in the sand was fun - it felt neat on his hand alas!

So then I got him seated with Hannah and they played for quite a while together.

We laid down for naps and when Hannah woke up, she was running a 101 degree fever. I was so worried she'd be sick the rest of the time, but luckily she was doing better after some Advil. Tony and I went to dinner together that evening to our Japanese place. I was ready to go out after, but surprisingly, he just wanted to go back to the condo and hang out, so we did. Hannah's fever broke that night around 1:30, so luckily, she was fine in the morning.

Thursday morning, we got up and took the kids to Lawton Stables to see the horses and other animals. They enjoyed the animals for sure -the horses and there was a deer that was wandering about to pet.

Hannah had her pony ride again this year. She loves it!

I took Hannah to the pool for a little while that afternoon while Nicholas napped. Then we all got ready for dinner at the Old Oyster Factory.

Today was proof to me that it can be fun dressing a little boy ! Isn't he adorable???

And the big boy with his favorite big sister - they're awesome!

Here we are at dinner

And Hannah with a clam shell!

Tony and I went to the Salty Dog that night for a few drinks after the kids went to bed. It was so nice to be outside on a warm evening!

Mom and I took the kids to breakfast on Friday morning while the guys golfed one more time. After that, we headed to the pool again. The water was much warmer and Nicholas enjoyed splashing around the baby pool this time and didn't mind his life jacket at all.

After that last day in the sun, we all cleaned up and did our family photo session....brief this time since Nicholas was even more uncooperative than Tony!! We were able to get a few good ones.

And then we had one last dinner out at the Salty Dog. We ate outside and listened to the one-man-band guy singing. After dinner, Nicholas was in awe of the singer guy and just danced and danced by him. It was awesome! The guy sure got a kick out of him!

Then we had to head back and pack up for home. We left just before 9:00 Saturday morning and drove straight through, stopping for lunch, a couple pit stops for gas and potty and then again for dinner. The kids did so great in the car all day. We hit some really bad fog in Virginia and horrible rain through West Virginia, but made it home easily by 11:00.

It was a great week - so nice to not think about work and have a taste of summer. It was even more enjoyable to come home to an 80 degree Sunday! We did a bunch of spring cleaning yesterday and the kids played outside. We're so glad it's finally spring here and so enjoyed our spring break vacation again.

Back to reality now and hopefully not so neglecting of the blog....it's hard to write such long posts!

Who needs a handyman?

Not us!!

I'm proud to report that we've made some additional home improvements on our own and without blood or marriage counseling!

We (mostly Tony) installed a new dishwasher this weekend. Long story is that our old was on it's last leg, so we ordered a new one from Best Buy last weekend. We were told it would be in this past Saturday, and maybe even by Friday night. So I called Friday, it wasn't in. No big deal because our Friday night took a different turn anyway when I picked the kids up and Hannah was in tears. She didn't feel well and from her reaction, I knew she probaby had an ear infection. We've been lucky to not have had to deal with too many sicknesses, but when she is honestly not feeling well, I know right away what's going on. She asked to go to CVS that evening instead of waiting until the morning to go to the doctor. I'm glad we did because we got her some amoxicillin and within a couple hours of taking that and motrin, she was feeling much better.

So anyway, I called Best Buy around 1:00 Saturday afternoon and they said the dishwasher still wasn't in. I was so mad because we had wanted to install it while Nicholas napped so we were missing that opportunity for Saturday. So we all napped instead, so it wasn't that bad! We went to dinner and to the mall Saturday night.

Sunday, we got up and ate breakfast and I made a grocery list and Hannah and I went grocery shopping. I got home and called Best Buy again, this was around 1:30 Sunday and they told me it still wasn't in. OK, got a little angry at this point and demanded to talk to someone. Sort of fibbed a little and said I had someone there to install yesterday when it was supposed to be in and now I have a hole in my cabinets and that this was unacceptable. Magically as I waited for a manager to come on the phone, they came back on and said it actually was in....not sure how that happened, but I ran to pick it up. I wasn't a totall "b" at the store and got home with it while the kids were napping. We uninstalled the new one and worked together to put the new one in. Had two separate trips to Lowes (thank goodness it's right down the street) and we had it done by around 5:00. No blood, no yelling, no accidents! And we have a working dishwasher. It seems to run a long time, but it works and it's done!

I was off work today to finish working in the bedroom. I'm proud to say, we're almost finished finally! A few weeks ago, I installed the new closet shelving and new blind for the windows. Today, I got the closet completed by installing the new closet doors. It's been so long that we've been without closet doors, that it's a nice change. They turned out OK, but I installed the track a little too far out, so they stick out a bit further than they should, but I think it's OK. I still need to get a drill bit to cut the holes for the handles.

I also hung the curtain rod and panels I bought. I'm still waiting on the valances to come in. I had a hard time getting a good picture with the lighting in the room.

Now all we have left to do is install the new baseboards, hang the new door and get new carpet. I'm please with how it turned out so far!

Another Trophy!

Hannah's second session of gymnastics ended last week with "show what you know" and the ribbon ceremony. We've noticed a lot of improvement in her the past few months and she's now tumbling around the house all the time, which shows interest and explains some of her improvment (more practicing).

The night started with her coach coming over to me to tell me that they were ready to move Hannah up and along to the next step. She said that meant two days a week @ 1-1/2 hrs each day and the classes were our Monday night and Saturday morning. Oh, and another $50 a month. As much as I was delighted that she felt Hannah was ready, I had to tell her that our family just isn't ready for that level of seriousness at this time. Hannah JUST turned 5 and we have all the time in the world to be super busy. I'm just not ready to spend 3 hours a week at the gym for a 5 year old (and with a one year old). I feel a little selfish with my spare time and weekends, but we're always just so busy trying to fit in what we don't do during the week into the weekends and evenings that I just can't see going this route just yet. I was a bit disappointed because she said if we didn't choose to move up, we'd have to switch to Saturdays to stay in this type of class, which I don't want to do either. She was going to maybe allow Hannah to stay on Monday nights depending on enrollment, but if not, she would have to move to a 50-minute rec class which is offered both Wednesday and Thursday evenings, so that's what we may end up doing. We'll re-evalulate in the summer I guess. I know Hannah likes it and has fun and is definitely getting better, but I'm also not convinced she LOVES it and therefore, I'm just not ready to be serious about it.

So anyway, about the night and the pictures.

Some exercises that are helping her get quite a tight little tummy! (maybe I need to work on this move!)

She's one of the only girls in her class that will actually do a handstand on the beam alone. She definitley feels more comfortable and does better on this double beam, but none of the other girls will actually kick up into a handstand, and Hannah does it pretty well!

Back walkovers off the mat have definitely improved (probably due to the extra practice in the living room off the ottoman!)

Lots of handstands against our living room wall have helped perfect this move! Need to work on pointed toes!

And bars is where she's really made improvements from her assessments. Last time, she got just a blue ribbon on bars (the bottom level). She has been working hard and now can attempt her cast-straddle on which we were trying to take a picture of here. She can do it probably 50% of the time. She has a hard time remembering to hold on to the bar!

So there's the "Show What You Know" portion..........and then we moved on to the ribbon ceremony.

She was so very excited (which I happily captured her expression) when she achieved level black on everything and got her Black Trophy this time!!!!! She was so proud of herself and I was of her too! She has been working hard so it was exciting!

And afterward with her treasured new trophy

And as for other happenings around our place, Nicholas loves the vaccuum which of course tickles me pink! He loves to help me sweep the kitchen floor and also chase around the regular vaccuum! Love seeing my kids like to clean (I know, I'm weird)!!!!

And his fine motor skills are really improving which is cool. He loves to play with his shape sorter and can get a few of the shapes in all by himself as with the coins in the piggy bank here.

We went to visit Great Grandma yesterday for a bit. She had a birthday gift for Nicholas and then we stayed for a while which was nice.

Our dishwasher took a dump on us, so we got to buy a new one - love spending money on stuff like that and continuing to put money into this house when we so badly want to keep working the plan to move up! We're working hard to make that happen, so I'll just keep thinking positively about it and it WILL happen!!!

Tony and I are going to start getting into shape again and eating better. I figured I'd blog about it to help make it more of a commitment! So you're in too my dear (since I know you're reading this)......no more junk food and get to the rec center!

Ok, I'm off to work on our taxes.........hopefully that's not going to ruin my day!!!

Nicholas' Pictures

Here area Nicholas' Official On-Year-Old Pictures!

What a big boy!

Happy Birthday Nicholas!

Today was Nicholas' first birthday! So crazy it's been a year! It went so fast, much faster than Hannah's first year seemed to go. Perhaps it had to do with sleepless nights or that he was a bigger baby or an early walker. I don't know, but it was a terrific year getting to know this little guy and I'm so very glad he's part of our family!

As you know from my last post, we celebrated Nicholas' birthday a couple weeks ago at the joint party. But today was our family's private celebration. We woke up singing Happy Birthday to the happy little boy (who woke up with a VERY stinky diaper today!!!) I took the kids to daycare and headed to work. I watched the clock this morning and smiled fondly around 10:20 remember when Nicholas arrived a year ago!

I picked the kids up early to take them for their well-child doctor visits today. Tony met us up there. They're both doing terrific and I was proud of Hannah who didn't cry as she got her last shot for a few years!!!

Nicholas weighed in at 23.5 pounds today and measured 30-3/4 inches long. He's at 75 percentile for weight and 90th for height. He grew almost 2 pounds and 2-1/4 inches from his 9 month visit - again, more up than out!!!

At 12 months, Nicholas is now running, but still falls down alot. I asked the doctor if we should worry about all the head bumps he gets (he said no). He is on 100% table food and now drinking whole milk from a cup. We only give him a bottle at bedtime, which is purely part of the routine. He still hasn't cut any new teeth, but his gums look super swollen, so I'm guessing they're coming. He is wearing 18 month clothes and a size 4 shoe.

He's starting to say real words - hi, dad, mama, hannah, cracker (his favorite word). He knows what a duck says and also a cow! He waves bye bye and signs more and will raise his hands up when you say "touchdown"!

He likes to suck his binky, enjoys splashing in the bathtub, plays rough and likes to dance to music. He's funny.....and knows he's funny and likes to do silly things. He can throw a serious fit, like a throw yourself on the ground, scream and kick and act like a fool fit! And he can be so sweet and cuddly too, like he grabs my arm to hug on it as I change him in the mornings. He likes to give kisses - the open mouth ones! Sleeping at night is better, but he still wakes several times fussing, but usually falls back to sleep quickly.

He's awesome!!!!

Here are a few pictures from tonight.

One of those "full-on fits"

Happy after dinner with a spaghetti face!

drinking from a cup

talking to Grandma on the phone

Happy Birthday Cupcake

After that birthday cupcake

Opening a couple gifts

Playing with his new shape sorter

Just being cute!

This is how he plays peek-a-boo, hiding behind the chair and peeks out to look and laugh at you!

And some high-flying fun with daddy!

Happy Birthday Buddy! We love you!