The price for a clean house

In my quest to keep a cleaner house, I have discovered that I do better by keeping on top of the dishes one meal at a time, it is working really well and I am loving always having a clean kitchen to cook in. So the other morning, I was working on getting breakfast cleaned up in the kitchen and the kids were playing outside. Hailey came in and told me she needed to wash her feet off in the sink, I told her to go in and do it herself...but then it got awfully quiet (why is the absence of noise so disturbing and a cause for alarm?!?) I walk into the bathroom and find them BOTH in the sink, taking a bath! Ah, I love being a Mom! :)

M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E!

What a whirwind week! We spent a week in Florida with my family on vacation. One word would sum things up nicely...HOT! I really forget how stinkin' hot and humid it is down there. I would wait for the sun to go down, thinking it would cool down, but with the humidity, it just never did! (Hailey's curly hair loved the humidity though!)And since the Disney parks are in the sun, you are literally out in the weather ALL day! The kids were great, I was impressed they made it on the flights, late nights at the parks and long car rides. It helped that we had lots of things to do and thanks to Aunt Aimee, a portable DVD player for them. (that really saved us on the airplane with Preston!) We went to Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom. Dave was telling me that on Disney's financial reports they attribute "magic" as part of their success, and it is so true, there really is something magical about that place! I'll hit a couple of highlights since the whole trip was so long. We did a character breakfast and since the Princess one is booked out 6 months in advance, we went to one with Mary Poppins. We tried to find a dress, but they don't make a Mary Poppins dress! So my mom made it up for Hailey and my niece Madeline. They turned out so cute! We got so many compliments on them. The best part is when Mary Poppins got to our table, Hailey was so elated to see her and Mary was playing her part well. She sat down and loving took the time to put Hailey's fingers in her lace gloves and talked to her the whole time in her quaint little British accent. It made the whole trip worth it to me!

We went on a walk through a forrest and found a lot of interesting creatures. All Preston wanted was (in his own words) "Stick! I get it! Poke!" He really doesn't need those connecting words, he makes his point perfectly clear. He tried to get the little tree frogs, lizards, grasshoppers, and anything that would stand still long enough for him to poke. He loved the loud car show complete with stunts and fire. Hailey plugged her ears and fell asleep for the duration of the program.

The parks were crowds and waiting in line, but oh so worth it! My favorite ride is the Toy Story shooting one, the kids loved all the game pieces in line that were larger than life.

I think the kids favorite part was the beach, they could have spent ALL day there! We got there later in the evening and weren't able to spend a lot of time, but the kids loved running out into the ocean and having it push them back to shore. I loved the warm sand in between my toes.

All in all, it was great to be with the family, and to have Dave with us every day for a whole week! :) Next time we will do Disney in November when it is cooler down there.

Ms. Maddie

I am so happy that my brother and his wife decided to start a family. My kids LOVE their cousin! In fact, sometimes too much. Preston loves her and always wants to hold her. His new distraction when he is bored or starting to lose it is to ask him; "Where's Maddie?" He'll make up some silly answer, she's hiding, she's on the train...anything ridiculous. Then he'll laugh as I come up with other spots of where she is. Neither of my kids will leave here alone, and she is such a trooper to put up with their little prodding and probing fingers! I am just happy that my kids will have a cousin to grow up with. Nothing is better than having family to experience life with.

MASTER Jamison!

I can't believe that 2 years has come and gone...it was the longest, yet fastest 2 years and I am so happy it is over! I am so proud of Dave for holding down 2 jobs and doing school, he really is amazing! I am also over joyed that he has a job! We are so grateful to Fluor for his employment. It has been a great weekend of celebrating. We took Hailey with us to the graduation, she was so excited that she got to go with the grown-ups to Daddy's big day. She picked out her dress and packed her panda backpack with activites to do while we sat. The traffic was crazy up at the U and I sat in the parking lot waiting for 15 minutes to move 5 feet so I could park. I was so glad that Hailey was so patient and lasted for the whole thing. The graduation went pretty fast, they didn't even have any speakers. They had 2 ladies reading names and they were one right after the other for almost 800 graduates. Dave joked that it must have been one of his operation professors that came up with the flow of graduated because it was so efficeint. Hailey didn't like the cheering and covered her ears for most of it, but she did cheer when Dave walked. We sat on the second row and she kept waving at Dave. At one point she was just waving at no one, I asked who she was waving to and she said, "Nobody, I'm just practicing!" The next night we went to a party for just the MBA students and although I was a bit leary when I walked in and saw that it was an open bar for alcohol, it was a blast! It was fun to talk to Dave's friends and laugh about memories that happened in the program. Above all I am so proud of Dave and happy to be done with this part of our lives and moving on!

5 years

My how time has flown! I cannot believe how much has happened in 5 years...a short recap- We both graduated with our Bachelors Degrees, had 2 kids and one on the way, bought a house, went back to school and in a week Dave will have his MBA and have had one great adventure after another! I am so glad to be married to my best friend, he is truly wonderful and I don't think I could live without him. We went out to dinner to celebrate and just sat and talked for an hour and a half, it made me miss those days ealry in marriage when we would do that all the time at dinner. I just love to be with Dave and am so happy to be his wife.

Although, there is one caveat to the night...we decided that we were not going to do gifts this year...so when I went to bed and found a little black box on my pillow, I was surprised! And in it was a pair of diamond earrings, I guess the joke was on him! I took him seriously when he said no presents!

Easter fun

Oh how I love spring time. Easter has been a lot more fun since the kids are older and are starting to get how things work. Our Easter Bunny comes on Saturday so that Sunday I tell the kids is all about the Resurrection. But that being said, Hailey was so excited to get up and have a basket waiting for her. We did the best egg hunt ever with my Aunt, you take 12 eggs and then your kid finds 12 eggs to take home. No fussing, no running or fighting and it is all equal! (Loved it. I am totally stealing this idea). And on that note Hailey wants to know where the Easter Bunny lives, can someone enlighten me on how to answer that one?

I am having....

After the poll it was 12 votes for a girl and 8 for a boy. I thought about waiting and not finding out the sex of the baby, you know the biggest surprise of your life! But in the end I just couldn't wait anymore! Honestly, with technology, why not take advantage of what God has blessed us with and do it! I really just wanted to know. Well, the stars have aligned and the guesses are correct. We are having another girl! My preminition was a girl and it was nice to have it confirmed. Dave and I were both hoping for a girl from the beginning, so happy that we got our wish! :) But the best part was to see all 4 chambers of the heart, spine, hands, feet, toes, stomach, kidneys, ....everything was where it is supposed to be! Feel so blessed to have a healthy one! (so far so good!)