Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Clowning Around on a Boat




Even clowning around for the camera, HJ sure is cute!!!!

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Princess C's 3rd Birthday Party!











On Saturday we celebrated CG's birthday with a fun princess party at Oma and Opa's house. There was of course swimming, bouncing, cake, pizza, and ice cream. However, to play up CG's love of all things princess, we hired a hair dresser to come out and do all the girl's hair into princess styles. We had tons of glittery make-up for the girls to wear and of course nails were done! The girls then put on their princess gowns for the ultimate make over. CG was in heaven! Here are some pics highlighting the fun day! Thanks for hosting Oma and Opa!

Thursday, May 22, 2008

Bathroom Updates




I realize it has been a long time since I have posted about all the work going on in the bathrooms of my house. This has been largely due to the fact that I have chosen to ignore all the work going on by taking two vacations and then being entirely consumed with my mother's day gift (updated Photoshop software- KJ won big points with that gift, I love it!) When I am not on the computer playing with pictures, I am outside with the kids trying to ignore the massive amounts of dust that has taken up residence in my house.
With the upstairs bathrooms, I was pretty diligent about cleaning up the dust everyday and really it did not last long as they weren't big projects in the grand scheme of home remodels. It was manageable and I thought "why does everybody fuss about dust so much during home remodels?" Well I found out why when our master bath was completely gutted! There is dust everywhere and on every surface of my house on the main level (our master is on the main level). I have basically given up fighting it and have chosen to live with it. Seriously, I can dust and then 1 hour later there is a film of dust on everything again! I am not kidding. It is crazy! The master bath demo happened while we were in Disney and it has been fun to daily watch the progress of the room turning back into a bathroom. When we came home from Disney, the room looked like new construction, as most of the sheetrock had been removed and the walls were down to the studs. We moved into the remodeled hall bath upstairs (which I will take pictures of once we move out and there is not stuff everywhere as it is a small bath. It turned out beautiful though!). The kids bath looks great too. I am just waiting on the mirror to be hung. I finally decided on one last week. Drew will hang it when he is not focused on the master or I am trying to talk my hubby into doing it. So pics will come of it once the mirror is hung!
Anyway, I finally decided to take notice of what is going on in the master bath as it is finally coming together and starting to take shape with tile and such, so I snapped some quick pics to share! I am so tickled with the way the tile in the shower looks. We found this really cool tile pattern at the tile store and Drew is repeating it on one of the walls in the shower. It is looking amazing! I am also thrilled with the cabinets that are somewhat in. Aren't they pretty? The color of wood they are is java, which sounded too yummy to pass up! As you can see from the pics we still have a ways to go before we can move back it. I am just too thrilled with the tile and cabinets to pass up sharing!

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Testosterone Craziness


When HJ scored his two goals, KJ decided to reward him with a trip to a toy store to buy something that KJ had convinced HJ that he really wanted. The reality is that KJ wanted it and HJ will go along with whatever Daddy wants. So they went to the store and came home with two of these nerf crossbow things. I have decided that they are the bane to my existence! HJ and KJ run around the house hiding around corners, trying to shoot each other with the nerf arrows. They think it is hilarious fun but I find the arrows all over the house, even in the toilet! I also still jump out of my skin with the crossbow shoots as it makes a very loud popping sound that when shot right behind you, can scare you. My hubby is just as much a kid as my son, so I see a long future in the house for the nerf crossbow. They are cute to watch though, having a blast and doing some sort of male bonding that I will never understand!

Monday, May 19, 2008

Fresh Herbs!



I have really been getting into using fresh herbs in my cooking. They make everything taste amazing. However, they are really expensive to buy at the grocery store. Soooo, when my Mom came down on Saturday for HJ's game with my grandmother, she brought me an early birthday gift. A beautiful fresh, organic, herb garden!!!!! I am so excited about it. My only hope is that I can keep in alive and thriving. I, unfortunately, did not inherit my mother's green thumb (or her love of sewing.) Here is hoping it stays nice, healthy, and green! Thank you so much Mom! I love it!

Strong Men



After working out this morning, my friend and I and all the kids trooped over to the park to let the kids get more energy out. Before we knew it, HJ and her two boys had their shirts off so that they could "show off their muscles". Then, they ran around and climbed on everything yelling "We are Strong Men!" at the top of their lungs. It was too cute not to warrant some pictures of these "strong men"!

The Best Birthday Gift

Saturday was KJ's 33rd birthday. He got lots of nice gifts. However, he said the best birthday gift he ever got came from HJ.
KJ is the assistant soccer coach for HJ's team. Since HJ is on the under 5 league, on game day they break each team into two teams and have two soccer games going on at once. The head coach coaches one and the assistant the other. Today, HJ was on KJ's team to play. This was the last game of the season and it just seemed like it all finally clicked for the players. Everyone was playing the best I have seen them play. And as for the birthday gift? HJ scored TWO goals!!! These were his first two goals. KJ was so proud and said that seeing his son score and seeing how proud HJ was of himself and how happy he was, was by far the best gift he could have gotten. The only thing was, as the coach, he had to refrain from scooping him up and swinging him around and jumping up and down. That may have been perceived as being a little over the top and playing favorites. Therefore, he gave him a small hug and big high five. I was going nuts on the side line, cheering and jumping up and down. At water break, I scooped him up and jumped up and down and hugged him really big.
My Mom had brought my visiting grandmother (from Virginia) down for the day so she could see one of HJ's games. I was happy she got to see such a big day in HJ's life! His first soccer goals of his soccer career! Unfortunately, I did not have my camera, as my Nikon digital SLR camera is broken. I am devastated about it and plan on calling Nikon today. My little purse camera can't zoom in far enough to take good pics of a fast moving soccer game.

Thursday, May 15, 2008

No Fear!


I have to say that my son is fearless! He was so excited to meet the 40 inch minimum (he is now 41 inches tall!) for almost all the rides at Disney. There are only 3 rides that I know of that he could not ride because he was too short. We were a little worried that some of the rides would freak HJ out. Not our boy!!!!
We knew he would adore Thunder Mountain and Splash Mountain and he did. They were his two favorite. We thought he might get scared on the Haunted Mansion, instead he was a little bored because there are no real dips, turns, or general speed to the ride. Since he isn't allowed to watch anything scary on TV, we aren't sure he really got what was going on in the house and we had repeatedly told him it was all make-believe. KJ and I had been warned that the dinosaur ride at Animal Kingdom was too scary and that we should think twice about taking HJ on it. After his lack of fear at Magic Kingdom, we decided to risk it and let him ride, after we had a long talk about everything being make-believe and that it would only look like the dinosaurs were coming at you and that they would not actually get you. He seemed to get it. He loved that ride too! He was totally not scared and wanted to ride it again. He thought it was super cool! My son has seemed to inherited his father's lack of fear which as KJ's teenage years are evidence too, does not bode well for me during HJ's teen years!

*The picture above was KJ and HJ on the river rapid ride at Animal Kingdom. This was their second go around. I am standing on the bridge overlooking the ride. Look at how wet HJ was! He LOVED it! (I wish I could have taken pics of him on Thunder Mtn and Splash Mtn.)

Tusker House Breakfast







My awesome Mom treated us to another character breakfast at the Animal Kingdom while we were at Disney. This one was at a nice restaurant (The Tusker House) near where the safari tour is. It was a huge, yummy buffet! The characters the kids got to meet and get autographs from were: Donald, Daisy, Goofy, and Mickey. The kids loved it and of course all the adults did too! It was another meal well worth the price tag not only for the food and characters but also because we got to get into the park early and get a fast pass to the safari ride before anyone else! What an unexpected bonus.

As a side note: I am not sure who the dorky family is who thought it would be cute to all dress with Disney t-shirts for their character breakfast. The Tusker House restaurant gave us this free photo of this random family all nicely packaged in a cute frame with our breakfast. Too bad we don't have a clue who would be that dorky to dress like that!

Note to Self

Before getting up at 5:30 am, getting fully dressed, stretching, and getting ready to walk out the door, be sure to look out a window from your bed and make sure it is not torrentially raining! Therefore, you can roll over and go back to sleep instead of being wide awake!

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

The Adorable Outfit....



my Mom made!
Most of my friends are really crafty and sew and make adorable outfits for their kids. I am totally not that Mommy! However, my own mother is that Mommy/Grandmother. Growing up she made me some great clothes and now makes custom outfits for my princess. I am so blessed to only have to show her a picture of something that I like and can't find or afford and have it made for Callie. I will have to showcase more of her amazing work but I will start with this adorable outfit she made for CG to wear at Disney! I love it and we got stopped numerous times to be told how cute it was.

Story time with Belle







While at the magic kingdom, we went to the story time with Belle. The kids loved it and HJ got invited onto the stage to act of the part of Papa. He thought that was really cool and took it very seriously! CG was very jealous that she did not get to go onstage. She got over it once she got to meet Belle and get her autograph!

Disney Princesses







As most of you know, CG is obsessed with the Disney Princesses. She runs around the house in her princess dresses and wants to talk about them all of the time. To celebrate CG's love of all things princess. My amazing Mom scheduled us to eat breakfast inside Cinderella's castle with the princesses. As you can imagine, this was the highlight of CG's Disney trip! We had a blast watching her take it all in.
To celebrate, KJ allowed CG to pick out any princess dress from the Disney shop to wear to the breakfast. This is HIGHLY unlike my cheap husband as the dresses were $65 plus tax!!!! CG was dazzled by all the beautiful dresses she could pick from and surprised us all by picking a Belle (Beauty and the Beast) dress, instead of her usual favorite Aurora (Sleeping Beauty). She quickly put it on and was the belle of the breakfast!
Disney sure knows how to put on a good show. Everyone we encountered at the breakfast was in character, from the hostess to the waiter and of course the princesses. The premise was that we were all invited to a royal banquet hosted by Cinderella who you met in the foyer and posed for pictures with. Once you were greeted by your hostess, your were escorted by the butler to your royal table. There the waiter treated you like royalty and talked with a wonderful British accent and had a very dry sense of humor. The food was amazing!!!! While you eat, the princesses mingled with all the guests, posed for pictures, and signed autograph books! This breakfast was totally worth the high price tag (even my Mom who paid thought so)! We will definitely do it again when we go back and encourage anyone going to book it early as it fills up almost 6 months in advance! Thank you Mom for a royal time!

Monday, May 12, 2008

Pictures from the Beach








We are so happy that we got to spend most of a week at one of our favorite places on earth: Isle of Palms, SC. We love to go there and usually go once or twice a year. So when some great friends asked if we would like to go with them and stay at their families beach house we jumped at the chance. We loved lazing around with nowhere to be or do with great friends. The kids had a blast playing on the beach even though it was quite chilly. What you can't see in the pictures is that all the adults were fully clothed and the women had on sweatshirts while the children insisted on wearing swim suits. They also loved swimming in the heated pool. It was a great week full of fun, friendship, food, play, and rest!

3 Years Ago Today



Three years ago today I was admitted into the hospital at 5:00 am in the morning to have a baby! It was a planned cesarian, as HJ had been breach and was a cesarian also. My doctor did not want to take any chances so she scheduled me for another cesarian for my baby girl. The surgery started out like HJ's did and I was not worried. However, what I was not aware of is that the epidural did not take thru all the layers of skin. Needless to say, once the surgery started I was not a happy camper. There was a lot of screaming and crying on my part which was not the way I wanted CG welcomed into the world. Luckily, after she arrived, they quickly doped me up so I was not feeling anything or very much aware of anything else going on.
After all the trauma, I quickly fell in love with my baby girl and marveled at how big she was (8lbs, 13 oz)! I can't believe she is three years old and is now super tiny. She has been a constant source of joy to KJ and I. She now thinks she is an princess and constantly cracks KJ and I up with her questions, comments, and thoughts!
Happy 3rd Birthday Princess C!