Happy Holidays!!!

I can't believe it's been over a month since I've written anything! That just shows how crazy we are this time of year! I'll do my best to sum up the events of the past few weeks starting with Thanksgiving.

We headed up to Ocala to celebrate with Brian's family. We ended up staying at his parent's house the entire weekend. We had planned to take a short camping trip after the holiday, but had to cancel since the temperatures were going into the 40s at night! However, it was almost like camping at his mom's house since she lives on a dead end street and is surrounded by trees. Hallie had a blast playing with her cousins all weekend. I'm sure she was happier there. Thanksgiving was nice - as usual, there was plenty of delicious foods and all of Brian's immediate family was there along with Uncle Jim's family. The trip also gave Brian a chance to say goodbye to his grandfather who passed away only a few weeks later.

Back in Fort Lauderdale, Hallie and I had three short weeks of school before our Christmas vacation. Brian was able to take the kids to see the play "A Christmas Carol" at the Broward Center. Aiden still laughs if you say, "bah humbug" to him! He sat on Brian's lap the entire time watching intently. He LOVES the theater!

I spent a day with the children at my Aunt Cindi's house making Christmas cookies. The favorite was the S'more cookies that took me almost the whole day to make and were a huge mess, but definitely worth the effort!!!

The best news we have to share is that my parents have semi-retired and moved to Port St Lucie, Fl, which is only a little over an hour away from us! This has actually inspired Brian and I to start looking at houses in this area since they are so inexpensive. We put an offer on a 4 bedroom with an office that we loved - so please say a quick prayer that it gets accepted! It was a short sale, so if we don't hear anything in a few weeks we have two other houses that interested us that we can consider.

It was very exciting for us to be able to spend Christmas with my parents and not have to get on an airplane to see them. We'll be heading back to Port St Lucie tomorrow to visit with my brother who is on his way driving down with his wife as a write this. I will probably stay at my parents with the kids through New Year's and then head home and go back to work Monday :(

That's how are holidays have been in a nutshell! Hope everyone has a happy and healthy new year!

Trick-Or-Treat!

Happy Halloween! Both my kids absolutely love Halloween and we had a whole week of festivities for them to enjoy! The first was a Halloween story time at Barnes and Nobles the week before Halloween. Thursday, Hallie's ballet studio had a Halloween party for the kids to enjoy. After snacking on pizza, candy, and treats each girl had the chance to perform a dance in their costume. The night before Halloween I downloaded the theme song for Strawberry Shortcake for Hallie to dance to. Hallie has been listening to it non-stop every since. Straw-straw-strawberry shortcake! She loves to perform and being in the spotlight and did a great job dancing for her classmates!

Friday night Brian and I took Aiden, Hallie, and her friends Ashley to downtown Hollywood for some early trick-or-treating. They had the opportunity to walk around and get candy from the local businesses and then play in the bounce house afterwards. The two girls had a fabulous time and Aiden was the cutest baby by far!

Saturday was Halloween and we got to enjoy a special "Scary Story Time" at the local library. After listening to a Halloween story, Hallie was able to paint and decorate her own pumpkin. After the story time we went to the Town Center mall for more trick-or-treating there. Hallie was already tired from all of the activities and kept asking to sit down to "rest". We didn't stay long since she needed a break. When we got home, she sat out front with me handing candy out to the trick-or-treaters. I think she had more fun handing out candy than getting it herself. She is such a giver!

Luckily, the weather was gorgeous for Halloween weekend. I got a chance to relax at the beach on Sunday. I forgot how nice the beach is this time of year and plan to make a trip there every weekend!

Hallie's Glory Night Video

Fall is Upon Us . . .

I always find tons of things to do once the holidays start approaching. The first is always Halloween. We always start off the fall season by visiting our favorite pumpkin patch and taking tons of pictures. This year was no exception. We also picked pumpkins for each member of our family which we will probably carve later this week. This past weekend I took the kids to a special Halloween story time at Barnes and Noble. They got to dress up in their costumes, listen to a story, make a craft, and trick-or-treat around the store. Hallie dressed as Strawberry Shortcake and looked absolutely adorable! Aiden is going to be an elephant again (since the costume actually fits him this year). He's now officially walking and was incredibly cute running around all the kids in his elephant costume!!!

Brian surprised Hallie's teacher and bought little pumpkins for each kid in her class. Today they were able to paint them. However, instead of making faces on the pumpkins, the kids decided to mix all the paints together and just paint their pumpkins green. Very interesting. At least they had fun doing it!

Hallie's preschool had their annual fall festival this past weekend, Glory Night. The preschoolers get a chance to go up on stage and sing all the songs they've been practicing all year long. When Hallie was 2, she was too shy to actually sing at Glory Night. This year, Hallie not only sang, but did all the hand motions - and some of her own! I'll be uploading the video here shortly. She had a blast after her show running in and out of the bounce houses with her favorite school friends.

Clink, Clink - It's a tooth!

As Aiden grows, and becomes such a great eater, I find myself constantly sharing my dinner with him. This week he was eating tuna steak and broccoli right off my plate! I still can't get Hallie to try broccoli! Anyway, for two days I kept hearing a "clink" sound every time I put my metal fork in his mouth. I reached in and felt his bottom gums, but there was nothing there. Friday night he's sharing my ice cream with me and I hear it again. I'm sitting on the couch with Brian and told him that there has to be something in his mouth to make that sound. This time I feel his top gums and feel his sharp tooth! I'm so happy because I thought Aiden was going to be toothless forever! (Well not really) So finally at 12 months old AIden gets his first tooth - he's getting so big :)

Busy Weekends!

The last few weekends I have been so busy with the kids I feel like I haven't had any time to blog! Weekdays are impossible too since I've been running home from work and taking Hallie to ballet, or letting her have a friend come over to play. 2 weeks ago, I was very brave and took Hallie, her friend Ashley, and Aiden to Wannado City for the day. The girls had a blast! We had gone a year ago and Hallie wasn't quite old enough to really experience everything. This year she was at the perfect age. The girls were able to "be" firemen, archaeologists, veterinarians, candy shop workers, Pepsi workers, and their favorite . . . . models. There were also a few rides they went on (with Aiden too!). It was a long, exhausting day, but definitely worth it!

Last Saturday, we had tickets to see Disney on Ice with most of the kids from Hallie's ballet class. As a special treat, Hallie brought her friend Madeline with her. These things always seem like more fun when you do it with a friend. These two loved the show, and then went back to our house to play for the rest of the day. Even Aiden had fun at the show! He stood up (on my lap) watching all the pretty costumes and special effects, and clapped with the rest of the audience. It was so cute! Unfortunately, he was a little tired toward the end and fell asleep in my lap and missed the end. Sunday we went to visit Aunt Cindi and swam in her pool. Hallie is finally able to swim on her own. My dad came over for dinner since he was up in Port St. Lucie looking at houses.

Today we're taking advantage of the Smithsonian free museum day and the family is going to visit Miami Metro Zoo, and next week we have tickets to see Elmo Live! Looks like our weekends are going to stay busy for a while :)

Aiden's First Birthday

Aiden's first birthday conveniently fell over Labor Day weekend. I kept debating what to do for his birthday and then decided it was the perfect opportunity to go up to Ocala for the 3-day weekend. We left Saturday morning after stopping at Babies R Us to get Aiden a birthday crown and special outfit (which he wore for all of 30 minutes). So we got up there late Saturday and spent the evening visiting with Brian's family. Sunday we spent the afternoon at barbecue with two giant blow-up water slides for the kids. Hallie had a blast! Her cousin Pauly was there and they played together all afternoon.

After the barbecue, we headed back to Brian's mom's house for Aiden's party. His sister, Nancy, had already decorated the house with the "Spiderman" theme and made a Spiderman cake! Unfortunately, Aiden was tired from his long day and was acting a little cranky. So we decided to do the cake, and Aiden immediately got his second wind! He dug into his all chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and loved every minute of it! I think he would've worked on that cake all night if I didn't insist he needed a bath after 30 minute.

We spent the next day hanging out at Brian's Uncle Jim's house in his pool. Brian finally went swimming with Aiden (it only took a year)! We had a nice afternoon until we had to start the 4 hour drive home so I could go to work the next day. But I can't complain since I didn't have to do any of the driving. I'm so glad we were able to give Aiden a memorable first birthday!

Aiden's Ride

Some pictures from the last week

Hallie and Aiden at Fairchild Gardens Hallie's first day for PreK 4

Aiden playing with Hallie's doll house Hallie meeting Ariel and Snow White

Hallie at Dora the Explorer Live!

First Week of School!

Hallie and I both had our first week of school this week. Hallie is back at God's Little Creations preschool and she absolutely loves it!!! (and so do I) Every day this week she came home singing a new song, "Our God is an awesome God, he is!". She also had lots to tell me about what they did all day. She was very excited about their "special snack" on Friday - stoplight crackers. They were going to put cream cheese on crackers and then M&Ms for the lights! She also learned how to cut, "thumbs up to Jesus!" I'm so glad she's at a Christian school with teachers that truly care about her learning. I expect her to come a long way this year!

Hallie also started dance back up and they moved her up to the next level class. I had assumed that she would do 2 years in the lower group (as most kids do), but it turns out that one of her friend's mother is teaching this class so I think she got a little preferential treatment. It's definitely a good move for her since she is much taller than most of the other kids. I also think the older kids will be more motivational for her.

On a more unfortunate note, Hallie also had her first dentist appointment this week, and she has not one, but two cavities!!!! I am so upset since I thought I was doing a good job taking care of her teeth. So it looks like we are going to have to be a lot more careful - brushing twice a day, flossing, and doing an anti cavity rinse. I was so impressed with this dentist until I got the bad news. The hygienist was so sweet to her explaining what each tool was and what she was going to do with them. She was actually having fun until she had to get the X-rays.

Aiden has had a good week too, although he's suffering from minor separation anxiety with me back at work. He's been sleeping alone in his crib for almost 2 weeks now. Most nights he will only cry for a few minutes before he falls asleep for the night. If he wakes up in the middle of the night I fight the urge to get him and let himself cry back to sleep. It's been nice having my bed back! He's been taking the bottle pretty well too so I think we'll start weaning him this week.

That's it for now, I'll put a few pictures up from this week tomorrow!

Daddy Time!

This week Brian had his first turn watching both kids by himself for a few days while I went on a cruise to the Bahamas from Monday - Wednesday. I was a little worried that he'd have trouble with Aiden - especially at night - and I'd never be able to leave again. However, he proved me wrong and took good care of the kids while I was gone, and even got Aiden to sleep in his crib all night! I actually put him in there tonight and he only cried for about 15 minutes until he fell asleep. The trick is to turn off the baby monitor so I don't hear him when he wakes up in the middle of the night. Hopefully, he'll learn how to self-soothe and become an expert sleeper by the time I go back to work in 4 days! I know, I told myself I would get him sleeping in his crib this summer and waited until the very end to really do it! Oh well, I guess later is better than never!

Hallie and I are both going back to school this Monday the 17th. I'm so excited for her that she's returning to God's Little Creations preschool. I went in for the parent orientation last night and am very impressed with what she'll be doing. There are 4 different rooms that she'll rotate through during the day and it's all based on a Christian curriculum. Her teachers each have about 20 years experience and seem very enthusiastic. I imagine that she's going to learn a lot this year!

Sadly, all of our summer fun is over and we only have three days left to enjoy before we have to get back into the swing of things. I've been busy since returning from Pennsylvanie with my sister-in-law Nancy visiting one weekend and then my sister visiting the next and going on our cruise. It's nice having visitors though because I get to spend extra time enjoying the outdoors and the pool. I'm sure I'll work in a little more outdoor time this weekend!

Poconos Vacation

Last Sunday, as I was getting ready to depart my mom's house for the Poconos for a week long vacation with the family, we had an unexpected emergency. I had decided to take the kids to McDonald's for lunch since Brian was taking a nap after flying up from FL that morning. After killing about 20 minutes on the playground, I decided to head back to mom's to wake up Brian so we could get on the road. I went to start the car's AC before buckeling in the kids and as I was leaning in with Aiden on my hip the car door swung back and sliced a nice little dash in his forehead! It was bleeding quite a bit, so I stopped at mom's to get Brian and then we headed to the closest ER.

The visit to the ER was pretty easy compared to the norm. By the time we got there Aiden was happy and smiling completely unaware of the cut on his head. The nurse decided that instead of stitches we cold just use a little glue to seal it back up. I think we were out in less than an hour and hopefully the little scar above his eye will fade over time. Ironically, we were at the same hospital 2 1/2 years earlier with almost the same injury for Hallie. It was Christmas Day in 2006 when she tried to get her stocking down from the fireplace by herself and the weighted holder crashed onto her nose.

From the ER, we headed towards the turnpike to start the drive to the house my parents rented in the Poconos for the week. It turned out to be a fun, relaxing week. Hallie was anxious to test out her new Barbie fishing pole that daddy had bought her. There was a nice fishing lake behind our house where Hallie caught her first fish! Her attention span is still a little short for fishing. She enjoys throwing in the pole and then wants to run off and play until she catches a fish. We also had canoe at the house that we were able to use. Hallie and Daddy took it out into the lake to do some more fishing.

Our nights were filled with campfires, S'Mores, games, and sing-a-longs. My mom loves to play her guitar outside by the campfire and my dad loves to make the fire as big as he can. The last night Brian was there he brought home fireworks and sparklers. Hallie loved lighting up the sparklers and dancing around in the dark with them.

My favorite part of the vacation was the day trip we took to Bushkill Falls. We went on a short little hike with the kids to the falls, and then I went on a longer route with my brother and his wife, Sara. Overall, it was a fantastic trip - the best part was that it was only a 2 hour drive back to my mom and dad's. We'll be spending a few more days here in PA and then will fly back to FL on Wednesday night.

VACATION!

What a week! It definitely was not easy for us to get to my mom's house in PA. I've never had trouble flying Southwest before and usually make it to the gate with plenty of time to spare. For some reason, this past Tuesday EVERYONE from Florida decided to fly out on Southwest! We had to wait in line for 40 minutes to get our bags checked, and of course the guy that we get to check us in is clueless and waisted another 10 minutes. We ended up making a mad dash through security and were the last ones to board the plane. So then I had to stand in the aisle with my 2 kids waiting for someone to volunteer to move so we could have 2 seats together. Ahh!

Anyway, we've been having quite a memorable time since we've been here. Yesterday Ruth took us to the Elmwood Park Zoo which is by her house. I was pleasantly surprised at some of the nice exhibits they've had there. This morning, I picked up Brian from the airport and we'll be heading to the Poconos with my family for a week. Hallie is super excited and can't stop talking about it. Aiden is loving spending time with his grandparents and has finally laid down for a long nap with his dady. He has quite a bit of sleep to catch up on!

A few Things . . .

I finally have a chance to write again after another busy week with my family. We had a great 4th of July weekend with Brian's sister, Nancy. We spent the day of the 4th at the beach enjoying the sun and calm waters. Hallie can never seem to get enough of it. She goes from one family to another searching for kids to play with, any age. Aiden has finally learned not to put the sand in his mouth and is content just digging in it. He also enjoys just being held in the water, occasionally kicking and splashing. After 4 hours at the beach, we headed home to shower, barbecue, and do a few fireworks. Brian still enjoys setting off his own fireworks, so he stocked up on quite a few to do with the kids. When he left for work, we returned to the beach to watch the show put on by the city. One word: spectacular! The next day, Nancy, the kids, and I headed to Miami to take a boat ride around the Bay to see the mansions. It was truly an enjoyable weekend.

The next day, we packed up our SUV and headed up to Orlando to visit Universal Studios for the day. It turned out to be a very enjoyable day for our family, and one day of walking around in the hot sun and waiting in lines was plenty! We were able to see quite a few of the 3-D experience shows and go on a most of the rides, thanks to the "child swap" room that Universal has. Brian and I even took a ride on the new Mummy rollercoaster! Luckily, we did not need to use the childswap on the ET ride, which is Aiden's first official ride. He sat in a seat all by himself and had quite an out-of-this world experience. After buying matching shirts for our family of 4 and taking a few family photos, both kids crashed in the car and slept soundly for the rest of the night.

The next day, we left Orlando to head up to Ocala to visit with Brian's family for two days. Aiden reached another milestone this week at his Nana's house and uttered his first word. He is not a happy camper when I set him down (and give my poor back a break, which is still suffering from holding him for hours in the long lines at Universal) and has started crying, "Mamamamama" - which is code for "pick me up! pick me up!"

Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate with us in Ocala so instead of visiting a park or a pool, we were faced with a day of rain. So Brian and I decided to take the kids (Hallie, Aiden, cousin Paul, and almost-cousin Dalton) to see the new Ice Age in 3D. Hallie spent the rest of the day playing with her cousin Paul, who is also 4. She always has a blast with him!

So now we are home and I'm getting ready to leave again this Tuesday to visit my family up in PA. I'm looking forward to a more relaxing vacation and spending a week in the Poconos with them.

He did it!

For a month now, Aiden has been getting really close to crawling. He'd get up on all fours and rock back and forth, but instead of crawling for his toys (or the cords hanging off my computer) he would roll to them. Well, today he finally did it! He made the long trek across his room to get a toy that I kept pulling juuuust out of reach. He made this big accomplishment 1 day before turning 10 months. I'm so proud!!!

Another Cinderella Story . . .

Another busy week for us here. Last Sunday we got up early so Hallie could attend a "Meet N Greet" with Cinderella and then we headed off to the beach for her best friend Ashley's birthday party. She was having a blast in the ocean with her friends when it unfortunately started raining. We then spent the next hour huddled underneath a canopy wating for the rain to let up. By the time it did, I had had enough and headed home. Oh well, Hallie had fun!

The rest of the week continued with Hallie attending ballet camp every day. Thursday night was the group's performance of "Another Cinderella Story". I was very impressed with the show that was put together in only 2 weeks time. One of the owner's, Miss Tina, explained to me that the whole year of doing dance is 40 hours. The girls attending the camp dance for 80 hours in only 2 weeks! Hallie was there for 1/2 days so she didn't get quite that much, but we were still pretty impressed. Today was her last day of camp and they took a field trip to Jumpers (a bounce house place).

We also finished up swimming lessons this week. Unfortunately it seemed to rain each day at 5:30 (the time of our class) so we only got in 2 lessons this week. I'm going to try to sign Hallie up for classes again before the end of the summer. Aiden did exceptionally well and is almost able to float on his back. He's also learned how to grab onto the wall after "falling" into the pool. Back on land, he has almost started crawling. He took about 3 "steps" today before he fell back on his butt. I'm sure he'll be getting there soon!

Brian's sister, Nancy, is here for the weekend to celebrate the 4th tomorrow. We're planning a day at the beach and will then return there for fireworks at night. Next week, we'll be heading up to Universal Studios for a day and then to Ocala for the rest of the week to visit Brian's family.

First Camp Experience

This week was Hallie's first summer camp experience. She went to ballet camp every day from 9:00 - 12:30, and she loved it! I was a little worried about leaving her at the ballet studio all morning, but it was similar to what she did at preschool. They did a little bit of ballet, tap, and acro throughout the morning, but there was also a snack time and an arts and craft project for the day. The theme of the camp is "Another Cinderella Story" and they'll be performing a show for us next Thursday night. I can't wait!

We also started swim lessons again this week. Hallie had taken them last year and just started swimming under the water on her own. For as much as she loves the water, I'm surprised that she's not quite an "expert swimmer" yet, but she's getting there! Aiden and I are also doing a mommy and me swim class, which is conveniently at the same time. He's the youngest one in our group and he cries the least! Like his sister, he loves the water. He doesn't even cry when he accidentally smacks his face in the water, or when I bob him under. In fact, he usually starts laughing. Right now I'm concentrating on getting him to close his mouth when he gets close to going under. He is also learning to grab the wall which he can do all by himself after I guide him to it.

So now we're getting ready for our busy weekend. Tomorrow we'll be visiting the Young at Art museum for an Alice in Wonderland tea party, and on Sunday Hallie will be going to her BFF's birthday party at the beach. And (hopefully) both kids will stay in their own beds tonight - which didn't happen last night!