I apologize in advance

I think this is going to be a long post. I have a lot of ground to cover! Chock full of kid cuteness!

We took our real first family roadtrip. We drove to Albuquerque for my cousin's wedding. Our longest road trip prior to this was about 4 hours. This trip was 7+. We had to make a stop about every 2 hours. It wasn't terrible, but I don't love being in the car for long periods anyhow. But when we really got into a groove, with the kids watching a movie, I got to knit for about an hour and that was nice (note: I obviously was not driving...knitting and driving not a good idea!). We got to ABQ and had just a bit of time to sit in the hotel before we headed over to the townhome my aunt and cousins were staying. They threw a little party for the bride and groom the night before the wedding. This was the first time I got to meet two of my little cousins...in addition to one of my cousin's children. Evan and Delilah really enjoyed playing with their many cousins. They ran around like crazy people for the better part of a couple hours. James and I got to hang out with my close family and my extended family. When it was getting late, Evan came to us and said he was tired and ready to go to bed. LOL. When we were getting into the car, Delilah told me that her "claw" hurt. (this conversation went like this. Delilah: My claw hurts. Me: Your what? D: My claw. Me: Your crotch? D: No, my claw.) When she started to point at her wrist I got what she meant. We thought that maybe she got hurt during the Mortal Kombat with her cousins. So, I told her that if it still hurt in the morning we would take her to the doctor. We gave her some ibuprofen when she really started insisting that it hurt.

First thing in the morning she was awake and complaining of pain. So after a couple of hours waiting and waiting for Kaiser to call us back, we scooted over to the Urgent Care. I thought for sure it was broken the way she was carrying on. They xrayed and it was not broken. So we hustled back to the hotel, just in time to get ready for the wedding. The wedding was beautiful. My cousin and his bride did a great job of making it a nice backyard event. It was lovely chatting with all of our family. We were plain exhausted from the day in urgent care, so we called it an early evening. Delilah was still in a lot of pain.

We drove home the following day, with Miss D still favoring her arm, crying whenever we had to draw it through a shirt or a seatbelt. I thought that if it was still bothering her on Monday, I would take her in.

Monday, when I picked Delilah up from her school to take her to the doctor, her little hand was very swollen and red and very sore. I was certain that they had made a mistake and that it was broken. I was very surprised when the doctor looked her over and said that she thought it was cellulitis and MRSA! There was no break in the skin, but the doctor was pretty confident that that was what was going on. She said it fit because it was red, swollen, painful and warm to the touch. She was pretty concerned (As was I!!!), but thought we could try some antibiotics and see how she reacted. I got 3 doses of medicine in her by our check up the next morning and it was a little less swollen already. Very scary. So now, it is 10 days after and she had her last dose last night. So we have to watch to see if reoccurs. So far though, her claw is as good as new.

My sweet girl has been very enthusiastic about helping me cook. She joins me in the kitchen every night. When our neighbor came to get Evan and her, she said very gravely, "I have to finish dinner first." It was only when we put the corn muffins in the oven, that she went out the door to play. Sometimes she is a little overzealous and flings things when she stirs. I have to say it is a delight to have a kid who wants to join me in the kitchen.

Speaking of imprinting, Evan has been coming home with drawings. What is he drawing? He draws computer screens, with buttons and characters. Yes, he is designing his own computer/video games. He even put a button with a letter "P" in it, for "Play." He also drew an iPad. When I told him that people have jobs where they design video games, his eyes lit up!

Evan is really enjoying Kindergarten. He told me recently that someone was there "pretending to be Miss Z___." I realized that he meant a substitute teacher. LOL.

Evan overheard James and I discussing someone changing their status on Facebook to "in a relationship." Evan said, "Oh, that's not good." I asked, "Do you know what "in a relationship" means?" He said, "No." I said, "It means that he has a girlfriend." Evan snickered and said, "Oh, did he get in love?" :)

Family life is really great right now. We are enjoying it. My work life is somewhat scarier. Just hoping that I keep a job. Things are really really dire at work and everyone is feeling it.

Bittersweet

I traveled with two of my sisters and my dad to my aunt's funeral this week. We left on Saturday and flew to California. It was lovely seeing everyone that we hadn't seen in so long. It was really bittersweet knowing how much my aunt Nan would have loved to have everyone there with her. We told stories. My dad played his guitar and sang. We looked at pictures. It was really touching to see that while we didn't get our families together often, Aunt Nan meticulously saved each photo we shared with her. There were pictures of us as kids, senior photos, photos of my kids... I got to meet my cousin's kids. They were a delight and reminded me of the ones I left at home. Family then...
Family now...

Saturday was a travel day and a little party at my uncle's house. Sunday, we went to the yacht club and beach. Monday, was Nan's day. It was a sad day. We had the funeral mass and then went to the cemetary. My heart really broke for my dad.
We flew home on Tuesday.

I am exhausted just thinking of my next month. James and I fly to Hawaii next week. Then my cousin's wedding in Albuquerque is at the end of the month. With a trip to DC likely before the month is over. Whew!

Today I really like my kids :P

I have nothing but warm fuzzies for them today....that will likely change around 4:30 when we walk in the door and immediately I am expected to comply with requests for tv, game, snack, juice simultaneously. But right now, I am thinking of how sweet and cute they are.

Last night, we did my latest meal from the Six O'Clock Scramble...it was Mini Pizzas on Tortillas. I had done versions of them years ago. I had the kids make their own pizzas. Evan was especially into it. Normally, he doesn't like pepperoni because it is "spicy." But I bought some turkey pepperoni that he really liked. He made quite the pizza for himself. He kept saying, "This is going to be soooo yummy for me to eat." Then, Delilah actually made a pizza for her daddy (because I had already made hers thinking she wouldn't want pepperoni...I was wrong). I think this is the first time she has ever helped me cook. She got a real kick out of it. And while we were eating, she kept saying, "I cooked a pizza." Both kids ate a ton.

I had to have Evan sign some paperwork for his school (agreeing to use the computers in the correct way....as James said, "Yeah, I am sure that will hold up in court."). So then Delilah wanted to write her name. So I got her a paper and she made all these precise little squiggles and would say random letters that she thought she was making. She looked at her pen and realized that there was this little button on top. She pushed it and the pen part disappeared. And then she laughed. It was so neat getting to be a part of her discovering something that we take for granted.

I had to go to Evan's Kindergarten today to get some papers signed and pay his fees (Sidebar: Yes, FEES. In kindergarten. I am not sure when this started happening. I checked with my mom and she doesn't remember having to pay fees. It was public school...shit is free. Even the bus costs extra money. Craziness. I guess school funding doesn't go as far as it used to. And I did a non-scientific poll of my internet friends who live across the US and the majority of them were astounded as well. In AZ, you dont' even have to pay for school supplies. End Sidebar.) My little guy is growing up. I just can't believe it. I was so nervous walking in there to get everything taken care of. Like it was my first day of school. Life will be a-changing in about 2 weeks.

A couple of nights ago, James and I were watching tv and Evan hollered from his bedroom, "Mom, I am really getting bored of all my books." LOL. We bought a couple new ones for him, but it hasn't been enough. He has been coming down nightly to ask James for comic books. I feel iffy about it because I don't like the graphic images of sex or violence. James swears these are ok for Evan to look at. Last night, I tried to put Evan off by saying, "I think your dad is running low on comics for you." Evan said, "No, he has millions of them."

The other things going on my life: My aunt is very ill. This is my dad's oldest sister. She was always the best aunt to have growing up. She was one of those grown ups who always was (or pretended to be) super interested in what you had to say. That was so important to a kid like me. I wanted grown ups to take me seriously. Sadly, it seems as though she will not make it much longer. I hope that she can be without pain or fear. I am really sad that my kids will never know her.

We had the head of our agency to our office on Monday. Nothing really new was said. But it was clear that he really is trying to do what is best for the government and our agency...and trying to lessen the pain on the individuals. I guess we will find out more by October.

Good clean fun

We went to the water park today. We opted to get a cabana. Which is really just a tent with some chairs and a table in there. It was pricey but totally worth it when you have fair skin or a baby in your party. We met some friends from soccer. Evan and Asher were on their first soccer team together over two years ago and we have kept hanging out with the family. They have a 10 month old, and she even got to nap in the cabana. So it was perfect.

We also ran into another friend. My friend from home, Kala, and her boyfriend and son. We can't plan time together, but it was wonderful to randomly run into them and get to spend time together. We really had fun.

Now we are off to IKEA for the first time ever. Really excited.

Delilah got a new princess book. She just found a picture of Ariel's wedding and said, "There's Ariel and her daddy kissing." Uh no. LOL

Keep Calm and Carry On

Someone at my work has hung up this poster:

These type of posters were used in England during WWII. I think the sentiment is just perfect. In addition to the threat of a loss of job hanging over our heads, we are also under construction. We work all day with the sound of jackhammers going. I have to pack my entire cube up by the end of the month and temporarily move to another floor. It is probably a good time to go through all the crap I have accumulated over the last few years and throw it away. We did get some good news today...well good for us. My big boss did not get the job that would take him away from this agency. So bad for him, good for us.

Last night James and I went to see Crazy, Stupid, Love as part of our date night. It was a cute movie. A little longer than I would have liked. Plus, we were both irate at these teenagers who talked through the entire damn movie. We had our neighbor girl over to babysit. Evan told me this morning that both sisters were over at some point. They do a good job. They played games with the kids. But it is easy to see that my kids manipulate the shit out of those poor girls. Delilah was in bed with every single thing in her room in her bed, including a sippy cup of chocolate milk. Delilah woke up asking for her babysitters and cried when I said they were gone. They must have had fun.

Tomorrow, I am taking the day off so that we can take the kids to a waterpark. We went one day last year and the kids really enjoyed it. This time we are meeting some friends over there too. Should be a good time.

The other day, James was talking to Delilah and said, "Oh look it's My Little Pony." To which she got all mad and said, "No! It's MY little pony." Ahahaha. It never fails to amuse.

Life gets in the way

I can't even use the excuse that I am super busy anymore. Right now things at work are slow and I can't even get to my blog. We busted our butts for a few months, but things are slow for the next couple of weeks.

And then we are supposed to hear about the future of our workplace mid-September. A little unsettling. It is a bad time to work for The Man. Everyone here is concerned. A lot of gallows humor floating on the breeze. A lot of "If we are still here..." comments going around. Makes it really difficult to stay motivated. At the very least we will have 60 days notice before being turned out on our ears.

At any rate, life goes on. We are slowly starting a new project. I have another new hire to develop. I made a big mistake and totally stood him up for a meeting today. A meeting that I set up. Talk about making a good first impression. I apologized profusely and followed up with an email. My friends here think it is hilarious. And I have to admit once I got over being mortified, I laughed too.

The kids are doing great. Summer is such a nice time of year for kids. It is so nice for them to play outside. Evan and our neighbors' son love to play around together. Delilah follows behind doing exactly as they do. My boy is going to start Kindergarten in about 4 1/2 weeks. I am so not ready for that!

James and I also enjoy the summer. The summer means that no good tv is on, so we catch up on shows we don't watch during the year. For instance, we started watching Friday Night Lights. I believe there are 5 seasons and we have watched about half of the first season. That is really good. We finished up Six Feet Under. Brilliant. And less brilliant...we have been watching the Jersey Shore. It is fun though.

I will try to write more another day. Before more life gets in the way :)

My report was issued last week, so I am officially on my new job. My new supervisor is my friend and here in Denver. So while he knows that I blog, and read my boards, and facebook, I have to be careful that I am not doing that every time he walks in my cube. But he is HQ this week, so I am blogging!

Last Friday was my 31st birthday. My birthday proper wasn't anything exciting...I was pulling double duty, working and taking care of the kids because James had an appointment. But Saturday, James had planned some special activities.

Before that, we met Evan's BFF and his mom and brother at Day Out with Thomas. Evan and his BFF were super excited to see each other. The boys seemed to have fun. And Delilah enjoyed playing at the Lego train table. It is really sort of a cluster there though. So many people go. I am kind of hoping that next year Evan will be over it (We'll see, I guess).

James had planned a small get together with Emily, Jen, Jose, and Tina (and our assorted children). Madeline surprised me by coming too! Tina brought a blow up castle and the kids (and some adults) really enjoyed that. It was a nice time and we had some good pizza and a lovely chocolate cake.

Monday was our 7 year anniversary. :) We celebrated by going out to dinner at the Melting Pot. We had a really nice time and I am happy that he is my husband.

In other big news, I started a women's fitness boot camp. It started on Monday, so I have gone twice now. It is an ass kicker for sure. It is for a month...and it is my birthday present to myself.

Now, I am not feeling 100% today. I started sneezing earlier and it has only progressed to a runny nose :( Boo. Who wants a cold? not me. Certainly not me when I am trying to work out.

I head to HQ for a couple of days next week. Haven't been able to get a decent hotel yet. So that is not fun.

Labor Day is a lot of Work!

I start this post thinking about my friend who has been in labor since Sunday. I believe she likely had a c-section this afternoon. She wanted to go all natural, but her water broke Sunday (maybe 7 days post due date then??) and has had no progress even with stimulating contractions. My heart goes out to her because I know she will be sad about not getting the birth that she really wanted. I am still not sure of how it all turned out. But my thoughts are with A today.

I had a nice long weekend. But it was so full of activity that I am actually more tired today!

Friday, I was going to work from home. But I forgot my "token" that makes my computer start. Boo. So I had an unexpected day off. I spent it cleaning. *sigh* some days I feel like I will never catch up. James and I also went to lunch with Delilah. Lunch with one child is exponentially easier than lunch with two children. I also took some toys to the consignment store....and they sent me home with half of them. I have mad hate for the consignment store. They turn away good stuff and then I see the crap they are selling and it makes my blood boil. I got a sick sort of pleasure telling them that their Nap Nanny they were selling was recalled. They were Not. Happy. haha.

Saturday, Gosh we were so busy, I am not sure what we did. Grocery shopping, Walmart, collapsing in a heap because there was so much to do.

Sunday, we left for Pueblo. I haven't been in P-town for a while. We stopped at the Cracker Barrel for some lunch with the kids ahead of time. Then we got them dressed for the wedding. They were so stinking cute in their dressy clothes. too bad we were so busy chasing them at the wedding we didn't get pictures. Delilah was so proud of her pretty new dress.

It was my uncle Tommy's wedding. His first and he is in his 50s. His new wife, Deborah, is so sweet. We chatted with them and family for a bit before heading up the mountain. The kids were tired and cranky...and frankly we were tired of reining them in. So we spent some time at my parents' house. Emily was there too. So it was a nice time spent with the fam.

Monday morning, we ate an awesome breakfast and headed out for home. The kids did pretty good on our little trip. We got home after noon and prepared for a birthday party for little Jocelyn. That was a nice time seeing the Js.

So anyhow, now it is Tuesday of a short week. I met my old friend Mike and his girlfriend, Melissa for lunch today. They are in town from Iowa. Mike and I "dated" when I was 14 (he was 16). It was a summer romance and I made him promise to write. We have exchanged letters for 16 years now. :) The last time I saw him, he and Melissa came to our wedding. This is the first time I really got to spend time with Melissa, and she is great. She and Mike have been together 15 years.

Whew. See, I told you. A lot of work. :)

Irritable

Back at work today. It is always hard to go back after a nice weekend. Saturday, we went to the zoo with the kids. I thought Delilah would enjoy because she is so into animals. And she really did enjoy it. Evan wanted only to see the alligators. Unfortunately, we only have crocs at the Denver zoo, but they did in a pinch. It is funny because that is all he could talk about, all day. But then we see them and he is like, "oh neat... Look at the spiders!" They also have this cave you walk into and you can see bats flying around. Evan FREAKED out. I told him, "Don't worry, they are behind glass." LOL. So then we get to the snakes and he tells me, "Don't worry, Mama, they are behind glass." He also has been saying, "Oh really?" to us. Like, "Evan, you have to get ready for bed." Evan: "Oh Weawwy?"

We also had Landon and Christie over. Landon removed our dead bush for us and then James grilled for us. It was a nice night.

Before I got pregnant with Delilah, I was dealing with some, what the doctors ultimately called, IBS. Basically, every so often I get really sore stomach. :( I was in major pain from sometime early Sunday morning...until really now. I didn't really have any energy yesterday. Eventually, my sweet husband had me go lay in bed and watch DVDs and he handled the evening stuff. I really didn't feel good at all. Better now, but not much.

Anyhow, I missed the Emmys last night. I watched a few clips this morning and this one really made me smile. I think I love everyone in it. :)

Quick Bloggy Blog

I have a bunch of Evan stories to share. So first off, today while picking up the kids, I was chatting with Ms. Jesica, Evan's teacher (no spelling mistake) who is Jackson's mom. Jackson and Evan are BFFs. And they get into so much trouble together. She was telling me why Evan was in the Yellow today, wrestling with Jackson at circle time. And we were chatting with another mom who has two boys about how you sometimes have to pick your battles. Apparently, this Tuesday, when Evan and Jackson went to karate class, they both smuggled cars with them in their pockets and went off to the corner to play cars together. The karate instructor could not get them to re-engage.

This led to a discussion about Evan stealing this one truck from daycare a couple of times. Ms. Jesica says that he calls it "Mater" and it is "his" truck. She said the other day that Sergio tried to play with Evan's truck and Evan and Jackson freaked out on poor Sergio. Sergio gave the truck back. *sigh* I am not equipped for this. LOL.

At this point, the other mom said, "You are Evan's mom? I am Sam's mom. Sam is in love with Evan. He talks about Evan nonstop." Aw, sweet. Evan likes Sam too. Just not as much as Jackson. LOL.

Then tonight, Evan was playing World of Cars online. He has actually gotten quite good. It is a virtual world. You create your own car (Evan's car is Fearless Diamondshow) and drive around and race and tractor tip. There was this one car who was following Evan around and "friend requested" him. Evan was delighted. He kept saying, "He is my friend! We love our-chother!" And then to the screen, "Hey, do you want to go tractor tip?!" So sweet. Too bad it was probably some 50 year old man (Quickstick Chomo is what James called the car). LOL.

So close!

I weighed in today. 129! One pound to go. Actually if I get in the 128s I will be in range. The problem now being how much is my scale off from the dr. office. It is a new scale...digital. I wonder if the dr. office will let me get naked to weigh in. LOL. The sad thing is since I am down below 130, they took another point away from me. I only get 18 measly points a day!

So James and I had big plans for today. Since I worked overtime last week in DC, I have some credit hours to use. We were planning on a movie or some general time together with no children. Well, if you have been following along on FB, you know that both kids have been sick.

I was called to come get Delilah on Tuesday morning because of a fever. So I went to get her and she slept most of the afternoon. During her nap, daycare called again to come get Evan; he had a fever. I asked whether I could wait until Delilah woke up to go get him. They agreed since it was nap time anyway. So around 2 we went to go get Evan. He started crying the second he saw me..saying that "it hurt." Then he went by the door and threw up. They took him to the bathroom where he threw up some more and wet his pants. My poor boy. He was really lethargic. So I was trying to get him dressed and clean him up...all the while holding Delilah who wouldn't let me put her down because she thought I would leave her there. We finally got out the door, but not without majorly disturbing naptime. Whenever Evan gets a fever, he acts really sick. Like can't move, won't listen, really pale, throws up. It is weird. So anyway, the kids were both home sick with James on Wednesday (Bless him!). Then Delilah was well enough to go to school on Thursday. So James was with just Evan yesterday. I do think that Delilah has a very mild case of the Hand Foot and Mouth Disease. She had one little blister on her lip and one or two on her hands and feet...but I did catch a glimpse of an ulcer in her throat. Nothing like Evan had that one time.

Wednesday night, James heard Evan cry out in the night and then checked on him to find him choking on his vomit. Poor kid. So we had to do the late night bed stripping.

So this morning, we were prepared to take Evan to the doctor, but his temp was normal. He was PISSED about having to go to school though and we had to do some major bribery. So James and I were back to being able to have a day together.

EXCEPT...that forking presentation I mentioned a couple of weeks ago is rearing its ugly head. We were supposed to get this to the head honcho today...and have been waiting for comments from my boss's boss this whole week. Well, boss's boss is taking his sweet time...and supposedly has comments but no one can get them from him. So I am working at home waiting for these comments to come in so that I can whip up a presentation to get to the head honcho by COB today. Why people have to wait until the last minute, I will never know.

We are still hoping to get to a movie today. Date night. Really frustrating.

Happy Easter!

Man, losing weight gets a lot tougher as you get older. I used to be able to drop 2 pounds a week no problem. Now it is hit or miss. And I know I am only eating my alloted calories. Gah! Lost .8 lbs. this week. It is still a loss, I guess. But I am still at least 2 weeks away from my goal. I have to make this weight by June at least. To be able to schedule in July/August. I need to recheck my work schedule to make sure of which dates I am looking at.

We have had the Easter activities this weekend. Egg coloring yesterday, Egg/Candy hunt in the neighborhood yesterday...today was the Easter bunny's visit. James came upstairs this morning and said to Evan, "I think the Easter Bunny came last night. There are some Easter baskets filled up on the table." Evan gets really excited and yells, "Oh shit!" I shouldn't laugh...but it is pretty funny. He really got into finding the eggs this time.

Delilah was just along for the ride for the most part. She found some candy yesterday and got to play with some toy eggs today. I think she enjoyed herself. She is sick again. Has a fever that goes between 99* to 101.8* last night. Hovering at 100.8* now. No other symptoms...so I guess we wait until she has something else going on.

Evan played with his easel today. One of his birthday presents. He really got a kick out of it. He really liked using the chalk and the dry erase markers. I asked him to draw me a cat and he said he couldn't. So I drew one for him first ("A circle for a head, triangles for ears, circles for eyes...", etc.) And then he drew one very similar to what I drew. I get a kick out of seeing him make his first letters.

Anyhow, I need to get into the shower. We are meeting Emily and Brandon for Easter Dinner at a restaurant.

Everything else

I wanted Baby D to get her own birthday post...but there is soooo much going on.

I am going to talk about my baby sister...I hope she doesn't mind. She got some news that she has a skin cancer spot. She had most of it removed, but needs to go back to have more removed. I hope this is just a one time thing for her. I love her so and it worries me to think of her going through problems. Not that she isn't capable. Because believe me, she is. She just started her new job out in the middle of nowhere. Living on her own in her own rented house. What a grown up! We will miss seeing more of her.

I am still trying to lose weight. I really hope I can have a loss this week. I shared a brownie a la mode with my coworker yesterday. I tried to be really good the rest of the night. Today, I had a plan to get a coffee on the way in, but McD's sabotaged my efforts by putting whipped cream on top of my mocha. 5 points. That is a meal in itself. :( So Greek for lunch. I think I did ok. I will have to eat only the points I have allotted the rest of the week. I weigh in on Sunday.

This weekend, we took the kids to the mall. On the way there, Evan kept trying to break into our conversation. Finally, he yelled, "Mama! Listen to my words!" LOL. At the mall, we went to this Lego store. He really wanted this Thomas the Train Lego set. I explained that he could not have it because he already got a car from the grocery store. He was very very sad. So I stopped and talked to him, told him that I wished I could buy him everything he wants, but that we don't have all the money in the world to buy everything that we want. He cheered up a little when James put him on his shoulders. We got to the fountain, and I handed him a penny and said, "Ok, make a wish and throw it in!" Evan said, gravely, "I wish I had the Thomas Legos," and tossed his penny in. He is desperately hoping his birthday gets here soon.

James and I are going to take tomorrow off together. We have plans to get some stuff done around the house...but after that possibly a movie or something!

Today is Day 1 of our new schedule. James took the kids to daycare this morning. It is a little bizarre for me because that has been my job except for the odd exception (when I was on maternity leave with Delilah for example) since Evan was born. I think I will still take them on Mondays when James is off. James will be at work until 6:00 and then head home (except on Tuesdays and Thursdays when he will go to his boxing class at 8:00). So tonight, I am on duty alone with the kids for all of Delilah feeding, Delilah bedtime, Evan dinner, Evan bath, Evan bedtime. I feel badly that James will miss the kids totally at night now. I guess we will all have to get used to the new schedule. I will probably need a glass of wine for dinner. I think I will just have leftovers myself...and give the boy a PB&J.

Delilah was up at 10, 2, and finally for good at 4. Ugh. We have to figure out a better solution. It is killing me.

I am sort of looking forward to my girls' weekend this weekend. But also will miss my family.

Long boring day, only broke up by lunch with coworkers at The Hornet. Got the Gangster Wrap. Yum.

Cruisin' for a Bruisin'

Well, I am back at work. It is nice to be back where it is relatively quiet.

We had a lovely trip. It was so nice to get to do something like this with the kids. Even though Delilah won't remember it, Evan certainly will. Mind like a steel trap, that one. So the trip...

Friday:
We packed everything and everyone up and headed to the airport. Upon arriving at the airport, James found out that one of his friends was on duty. So we got a police and police dog escort to our gate. Made security a lot easier :) The flight out there wasn't too bad. Evan watched TV and Delilah napped twice. She fussed quite a bit before falling asleep, but she slept. Once we landed, we went to the Nickelodeon Family Suites and checked into our SpongeBob suite. Evan's room had SpongeBob on the wall and bunk beds. He wanted to sleep on the top bunk (because the bottom one was "itchy"). I had my doubts, but he did it and didn't fall or anything. James took Evan swimming while I put Delilah down in her pack and play. Then we put Evan to bed and James and I got to watch some How I Met Your Mother on the DVD player.

Saturday:
We got up early and started our day at the theme parks. Jen, Jose and Jasmine met us at our hotel to give us their parking pass so that we wouldn't have to pay for parking. We headed off to Magic Kingdom and went straight to the kiddie rides. We rode Dumbo, It's a Small World, watched a 3D show, and rode Snow White (man, that sounds little dirty.). Delilah finally fell asleep after fighting it for hours, so I held her while Jen and I rode a little ride around Tomorrow Land. Then Jen and Jose watched Delilah in her stroller sleeping while James, Evan, and I went to ride on Pirates. That pretty much concluded our day at Magic Kingdom. I think it was about 2 by then. We went back to our hotel and had the kids nap before heading out to Epcot. It was the Food and Wine Festival and we were supposed to be going from booth to booth eating around the world. Unfortunately, everyone else in Orlando had the same idea. It was nearly impossible to push the stroller through the crowd. And we were all hungry, so eventually we just called it. Jen and Jose found us a place to eat off the beaten path and then we went back to the hotel.

Sunday:
We got up early to go to the character breakfast at the Nick hotel. Evan got to meet SpongeBob. He was so excited that he was holding his crotch. I don't know if it was like a puppy who was so excited that he was going to pee, or if he was really excited. We also got to meet Dora, Cosmo, and Ming Ming. Evan was in heaven. Then we got everything packed up and headed to Cape Canaveral. The check in process was pretty easy, but time consuming. Once on the ship, we went straight to lunch, but we had to drag along our carry on and the stroller and keep Evan from running out in front of people. That was pretty stressful. Our room was ready by 1:30. We got in there and it was SO.SMALL. I was freaking out a little bit. But I started to calm myself by getting everything in order. I used Jen's suggestion and put a over the door shoe organizer on the bathroom door and used it to store all the random crap that would be all over the room. I unpacked our suitcases and stored them in random places. I did all this while Delilah napped. We had the lifeboat drill at 4 and we got Evan all decked out in his lifevest. I told him, "This is for if there is trouble on the boat and we have to go in the water..this vest will help you float in the ocean." He said, "Um, can we do that later?" LOL. Dinner was at 5:45 and was pretty good. Delilah was pretty tired though and I had to bail early to get her to bed. She just slept in our bed. It was easier than using the pack and play that took up most of the room. I just would draw the curtains and we would stay on the other side of the curtain. I took Evan swimming at night. He had so much fun playing Monster and Doggy with me. I had to drag him into the water over and over.

Monday: Nassau. We woke up in port at Nassau. We took the kids to the breakfast buffet first thing and ate outside on the top deck. Beautiful! I went back to the room to put Delilah down for a nap. Sometimes while D was napping, Evan would just hang out in the room with us. Luckily the tv had Disney movies playing 24/7. Easy entertainment. Once she woke up, we got everything together to get off the ship. We went down into the tourist area of Nassau. It wasn't anything spectacular. It was pretty Mexico-ish. We walked around for a bit...but it was already getting too hot to function. There are tons of "excursions" that you can sign up for around the island, but with the kids, it is difficult to do any of that right now. So we went back to the ship and I put Delilah down for a nap and I believe James took Evan to the kids' club. After Delilah's nap, she went to the nursery and James and I got to spend some time at the adult pool. Relaxing and drinking. We picked up the kids and started getting ready for our dinner. Dinner was exciting because it was at the super nice restaurant Palo. We had reservations with Jen and Jose. We took the kids to their respective clubs and headed up for dinner. It was delicious. So much good food. It took about 2 hours for dinner to be finished. Dining with Jen and Jose sans kids hasn't happened for about 3 years or so, so it was really nice. And I want to take this time to thank them both for all that they did for us...getting us on the trip and planning it and helping us out on the ground. After dinner I think that James took Evan to a late movie... while I stayed with Delilah. A memorable moment from this day was that Delilah fell off our bed. :( I turned to get a diaper and off she went. Poor baby.

Tuesday: Castaway Cay.
Castaway Cay is Disney's private island. It was very pretty. Once we woke up and got breakfast at the buffet and gave Delilah a nap, we left the ship. It was a pretty long and HOT walk to the beach. We got some nice chairs in the shade and headed off to the ocean. It was very pretty and warm in the water. Delilah enjoyed eating some sand and splashing in the water. James took Evan deeper into the water. When D got hungry we headed up to the shade. Evan came to the shade eventually and built some sand castles (thanks to Jen again!). At lunch time, we packed up our stuff and went to the dining area on the island and got some food. We began the long walk back to the ship and then put the baby down for a nap. We were planning to take Evan to the kids' club and D to the nursery, but the kids' club on the boat was closed (moved to the island for the day)...so we sadly, didn't get our adults-only time that day. Instead, we went to a lower deck where there is a breeze and shade and James read and I knit while Evan played with his trains. We had our dinner with Jen, Jose, and Jasmine... and our other tablemates, Aaron, Suzanne, and their girls, Emma and Amber. After dinner, I took Evan to see the Toy Story the Musical show. It was really good.

Wednesday: Day at Sea.
We were barely moving on the water... very little waves. We started the day by a quick breakfast at a counter because I was supposed to go get my massage with Jen. It was a super nice massage. Very relaxing. Afterwards, James and I were supposed to go to a brunch with the Js at that nice restaurant again, but we decided to instead just relax. So that is what we did while the kids were at their clubs. I wanted to see Up in 3D with Evan, but the little turd decided 15 minutes in that he did not want to do that. :( We also took the kids swimming that afternoon. Well, Evan got to swim. Delilah got to splash in the milimeter of water that non-potty trained kids are allowed in. We had our last dinner with our tablemates and James took Evan to a show while I packed our bags. We had to have our bags taken by the stewards before 11 pm.

Thursday: Disembark
We got up super early to get to breakfast at 6:45. Right after breakfast we had to get off the ship. We got back to our rental car and then drove the hour back to Orlando. Once there, we tried to check into our hotel, but the room wasn't ready yet. So, our family and the Js met at Animal Kingdom. We went to the Lion King show first (where Delilah fell asleep in the bjorn and slept for about an hour like that). Then we went on the Safari ride. It was a big jeep that drove around and looked at the animals. It really looked like I imagine Africa to look like... Evan liked that. He wanted to go again. After that we went to lunch and the Js departed. We walked over to Dyno-land and rode a dinosaur ride. Evan had a terrible meltdown regarding wanting a $17 water sprayer/fan thing...so we headed out. We went to Jen and Jose's room for a little while because our room STILL wasn't ready. When it was, we checked into our room and put Delilah down for a nap. Once she was awake, we set off to Hollywood Studios. This is where Evan got to meet Lightning McQueen and Mater. That is really all we did there. After that we went back the hotel.

Friday: 'Cation is over.
We woke up early to go to the pool. It is the best time because then I don't have to worry about sunburns all around. Delilah really liked splashing in the pool and Evan liked playing "Alligator" with James. Then we had to go pack up and check out of our room. We spent a few hours in Jen and Jose's room with them waiting until it was time to leave for the airport. That plane ride was the worst. Evan didn't sleep. Delilah slept for about 30 minutes before Evan bopped her with a toy and she woke up. We spent about 3 hours trying every trick in the book to keep her from crying. As we were landing, Evan said loudly, "Mommy, 'Cation is over. But that's ok, we will go again someday." The airport was a mess. I sent James ahead to go get our car because it snowed (a lot) while we gone and the kids didn't have the proper shoes or coats for that. So I had to try to get 3 suitcases and 2 car seats on a dolly, while I had Delilah on my front and a stroller over my shoulder...all the while Evan is SCREAMING that his legs are broken and that he wants to ride in the stroller. It was about an hour all told, but it felt much longer. A police officer came over to tell Evan to stop screaming like a girl ( :( ) and to reprimand me for having the kids out in the cold. Fitting, I guess, that our trip began and ended with a cop. The kids passed out in the car and that's was it.

One of the highlights for me was teaching Evan to play Go Fish on the Cars cards that Jen got him. He really enjoyed playing the game with James and me. It was some great memories. I hope Evan will remember it always. I will.

Halloween will have to be a post for another day. :)


Meeting SpongeBob

In the SpongeBob bedroom



Evan is DONE

Meeting Lightning McQueen

Doing the Life Boat Drill

Morning on the cruise ship



Delilah and her new baby



At the beach:


In Nassau

Paging Dr. Evan

I have a few minutes (17 to be precise) before I need to leave work. We had a nice weekend. Friday, we went to dinner with David and Linda. Even though we had to wait forever for dinner, the kids were pretty well behaved. Saturday, my folks came up to the area for a wedding. They spent the day prior to the wedding at our house. It isn't often that both of my folks get to come...so it was a rare treat. I think the kids had fun...and I enjoyed seeing mom and dad. Delilah is really starting to scoot around on her belly. Not quite crawling...more like army crawling. She gets around ok so far. Not too long and we will be in trouble!

Sunday morning, Evan insisted that I get into bed and that he would check me out with his doctor bag. So first, he looked in my mouth and ears (with the otoscope)...saying "cool." after each procedure. Then he listened to my "tummy" with his stethoscope. Then he took my temperature. I asked him what it said and he said, "It says you are sick. Sorry mommy." He gave me some medicine (using the syringe toy) and packed his bag up. He said, "I am going on 'cation. I will see you on Thursday or Friday. Stay in bed." He headed downstairs, waving. About 2 minutes later, he came back upstairs saying, "it's Friday!" and ready to check me again. So we went through all the exact same administrations again. This time he looked in my ears and said, "Your tubes are out." (Wonder where he heard that? LOL.) He again had to give me some medicine for my fever ("it's not down."). This time as he was leaving, he reminded me to eat some apples. We repeated this at least two more times. It was pretty fun. Quite the imagination. (And much more fun for me than playing with the trains....you only get the one train to play with and you have to follow his instructions).

If you can't tell, we have all been sick around here. First Evan, then Delilah (Doctors diagnosed her with the flu and an ear infection), then me. Mostly well now. Hope we stay that way thru next week. We leave Friday for our big cruise! Looking forward to it :)

Nap Needed

It was a great weekend. Saturday night was my Dirty Thirty birthday party. I really had a lot of fun. James, Emily, Madeline, Kala and I started off the night over at Fado's while we waited for Sing Sing to open. It started off innocently enough.
But people kept buying me shots and I got up on stage a couple of times. I had a ton of fun!
I think about 15 people were there for my party. Pretty darn hungover the next day. But worth it. Some of my favorite pictures:

Yesterday was our 6 year anniversary. We got to go to a movie together. We saw (500) Days of Summer. It was pretty good. Kind of a downer...but a great movie. We also got to go to dinner together. It was nice.

This morning was Delilah's surgery for her ear tubes. She got to last eat at about 3:00 am. I woke her to eat. But then the silly would not go back to sleep. We left the house at 5:30 am. We were the first surgery of the day. Delilah was a little tired and hungry so she was just a bit cranky. But overall, she was better behaved than Evan was prior to both of his surgeries. The surgery itself was uneventful. They came and took her from us and that was hard to see her go down the hall without us. But she was the belle of the ball there. Everyone loved her. They came to get us after about 15 minutes. The doctor said that she was glad we did the surgery now because there was thick fluid built up behind her ears. Her hearing should now improve greatly. When we joined her in recovery, she was crying inconsolably. Poor baby. She was all disgruntled and couldn't get herself together. She probably cried for 20 minutes before she calmed down enough for a bottle. She was watching her hands move too....I think she was seeing things. She is doing well now.

He's Right!

This morning, my boy said to me, "Mom, sometimes parents are wrong." I had to laugh. And I asked him who told him that. He said no one, that he thought of it himself. LOL. Then when I was laughing, he told me it was a joke.

I am back at work after a nice long weekend. I was sick for most of it, but am feeling better now. With a chapped nose.

Saturday morning, Evan, Delilah, and I packed up all of our stuff and headed out for my folks' place. We stopped in Castle Rock to pick up Emily. Sweet Delilah slept almost the whole way there. I think she woke up in Florence. Evan usually watches movies the whole way there...but I guess he is bored with Cars now because he asked that it be turned off after about an hour.

When we got to my folks' house, Madeline was already there too. Mom made us some grilled cheese sandwiches (YUM!). We had a little excitement there when we noticed a fire on the mountain behind my folks' place.

Evan helped us keep an eye on it with some binoculars, while my mom and I caught up and Delilah napped.

My Grandma and her husband, Bill, came over for dinner that night. We had lasagna and a roast and garlic bread. Fantastic (I tell you, there is nothing like Mom's cooking!). My dad was given a pinata for his going away party (he got a new job after 20 years at the old one)...so they wanted to crack the pinata for my birthday. Evan started first. Then I got to try. I beat the shit out of that pinata. LOL.

Evan was in heaven when I broke it in a couple of swings.

I felt really bad that no one else had an opportunity to play! We came back in the house for some ice cream cake. I caught my dad giving Delilah some chocolate ice cream and gave him some business. The little ingrate loved the chocolate ice cream. Evan went to bed pretty early because he had a busy day doing chores, chasing Rooster (one of the dogs), and playing with his toys. Delilah went to sleep after some fussing and slept pretty well. I did not sleep so well. I was miserable with my cold.

The next morning we woke up and started packing up again. Before we left we ate some Mexican Trout (cheese stuffed chile peppers battered in corn meal and fried) and spent some quality time with the folks.

It was really nice to be surrounded by people who love me this weekend. It was such a fun time.

Not a journal

I have been having trouble writing. I think of this as a journal of sorts so that I can remember these times with the kids. I wrote in a journal for years. But clearly, since this is a public forum, not everything can be written about. And lord knows I have trouble only telling part of a story. LOL.

Saturday, Delilah and I made the long trek to Greeley for a baby shower for a college friend, Larissa. It was really nice to see her and I can't wait to meet her little one. Delilah slept the whole way there and the whole way back. And she was super good at the shower.

When I came back, my little sister Madeline, and her boyfriend Brett came over. And then Emily came over too. It was a little while before James and Evan came back from their big day at the children's museum. James grilled up some burgers and we had a nice time with our family.

Sunday, James and I took the kids to the park and the bookstore. Evan had fun tearing around the playground. Delilah had fun being strapped to me in the Moby wrap.

And now it's Wednesday. I ran this weekend, and again on Monday. I am probably going to wait until tomorrow to run again. My knees have been bothering me.

I am working from home today because I think Delilah's ears are bothering her again. So we have a doctor's appointment pretty soon. I will pick her up at daycare and then take her to the doctor. and then hopefully back to daycare again.

James' Great Uncle John died this morning (or maybe it was last night...not sure on the details). He was 97. What a long life! He was sick this past week and in the hospital. David and Linda had just moved him to a nursing home/hospice care yesterday. I guess it was just too much for him. Poor guy. We will miss him at the holidays.

This morning, I asked Evan to go check to see if Daisy had water. She needed more, so while I was filling it up, Evan was telling me, "Dogs drink water. They don't drink milk, or juice, or pepper." I said to him, "What's "pepper?" He said, confirming what I thought he was saying, "What my cousins drink." Dr. Pepper...the choice of Ella and Molly.

The heat is on in my building. Seriously. It is in the 80s, and I can feel hot air coming out of my vent. I don't know what they are going to have to do to get the stupid HVAC stuff fixed in this building.

I went out to lunch at Hapa for a coworker's birthday today. I got the chicken katsu...so yummy. But all the veggies are punishing me now..........