Wet and Wild Weekend

Wednesday night we left for the Haven and Orlando to visit family.  Craig also had a business meeting in Orlando, so I stayed with Craig's aunt and uncle and the kids on Thursday.  The visit was great, but the weather was not.  We think we had a tornado come through.  We were fine, but there was definite damage around the neighborhood, hail and serious rain.  We were also without power for about 15 hours, so we played in the dark and ate out that night with Craig's aunt, uncle and cousins.  We LOVE spending time with them and they are such a blessing to us as Christian family!

We had our short visit with them and headed to Orlando on Friday to visit Craig's dad and family.  We did the usual - hung out, played, ate, relaxed.  It was a nice trip.  We went to a local park and Jack got in a little golf practice in Craig's dad's backyard.





We also got a room at the Gaylord Palms - wow!  The hotel is HUGE!  It is Florida themed, so they had a Key West area with a huge boat in the atrium in water, a replica of the fort in St. Augustine and an Everglades section that had alligators.



They also had a kids pool and toddler area.  The pool had a water slide in the shape of an octopus that went into the big pool.  Kate and Jack both went with me on my lap.  Kate loved it and Jack liked it.  Kate did it about 3 times.  The toddler area's water was freezing, but it was fun to run around and watch the kids go under the waterfall.  Check out Jack and Kate's faces in some of these.





Even Craig got in on the action, fully clothed!  Dedication.


We drove back Sunday and headed straight to the church.  We capped off the weekend catching the last performance of "Captive" at our church.  The drama is set in a Vietnam-type era in which a "rebel" leads many against another (the world).  The rebel is represented as Jesus Christ who saves us from the captivity of this world and can free us from our sin.  It was wonderful.  And one guard in particular, my dad, had an Oscar-worthy performance!

Golden Hours

The kids and I got up early, well, they were up about 7 and I thought, since you are up, let's go check out the morning light and take some photos.  Here are a few I got this morning...

Then, I called Lisa and asked if they wanted to join us for the evening golden hour.  Here are some from this evening...

Garden Photos

We went to the local gardens this morning so I could let the kids explore, take some photos and do something different.  I put the photos on my Photography Blog so click to the right to see them.  Here is a sneak peek (don't get too excited, they aren't that awesome, they are just cute kids and flowers)...

Reward Station and "Analise"

On a completely random note to kick things off, "Jack Fish", our only remaining fish is apparently a girl.  She has laid a lot of eggs.  The good news is that we don't have Shark anymore and HE may have finished the task and we may have had babies.

Jack is 3 1/2.  He is a wonderful child, but he is 3 1/2 and can get whiny and independent.  Needless to say, we needed something to give him an incentive to listen, be polite, share and other tasks that promote other good behaviors.  I created a reward chart and used Thomas the Train as the theme.  He starts at the "Starting Station" and can move forward or backwards depending on his behavior.  When he makes it to the Reward Station he gets a reward.  We have been doing this about 6 weeks now and he has made it to the Reward Station 3 times.  The first time, he got a stuffed Pablo from the Backyardigans.  The second time we got a Mr. Potato Head from his "saved" Christmas gifts.  Today we went to Toys R Us and got a Hot Wheels truck and car set that was on clearance.  We try not to spend a lot, around $10, but he enjoys it and it actually has worked.  We can use that to promote good behavior and he does not like Thomas to move backwards.  He also reminds us when he does something good - like sharing with Kate.

I have made some things recently and cannot share because they are gifts, but here is something I made for Kate this weekend.  I found this new pattern - PortobelloPixie Pattern Analise - and loved the tie in the back. The pattern itself was actually very easy to follow and I loved how she wrote the pattern.

Kate is not a fan when I make her try on clothes and take her picture.

Lots O' Pictures, Ears, Teeth and Furniture?

Honestly, St. Patrick's Day is just another day in my book, but any chance for all family members to wear green is fun and we even made some Shamrock cookies to celebrate our greenness.  Kayleigh and Brian were festive too and even had some green hair, thanks to their mom!

We had some exciting things around these parts.  First, Kate has an ear infection and a ruptured ear drum.  Thankfully, the ear drum will heal on its own and her antibiotic should take care of the infection.  This is big because neither of my kids has EVER had an ear infection.  Jack still hasn't and has never been on an antibiotic and he is 3 1/2.  All I can say is I am thankful to God for healthy children.  She wasn't doing so well earlier this week, but seems to be on the mend.  This was her this past Sunday at my parents.  I occasionally get in touch with my redneck side and let my dad enjoy it - like this little camo outfit that says "Papa's Little Deer" with camo bow on the butt and all...

(look at those chubby knees!)

In some exciting news, I made my semi-annual trip to the dentist.  Is it weird I actually LOVE the dentist.  It is so relaxing to me and I almost fall asleep in the chair everytime?  Anyway, I have been taking Jack with me to get used to the idea of going to the dentist and he did great.  He observed, asked some questions and he even let them look at his teeth and count them!  Jack has some "fears" about things he is unsure about and he was hesitant, but did it and got a cool toothbrush, toothpaste and some awesome sunglasses from the "treasure chest".  We have a great dentist and his office is wonderful.  He is loving brushing his teeth now and even spits out the toothpaste.  

In other good news, we got new living room furniture!  Yay!  We are getting some different lamps, tables and still waiting on our accent chair, but overall we like it and so far Annie, is in love with the new shag rug.  Here are the before, during and after pictures...

Before

During

After

Finally, we are enjoying some awesome spring weather.  70s, breezy and the livin' in easy!  We have been playing outside with friends and having picnics.  

Kate has a mini ponytail

Be back with more soon, including sewing.  Have a great day!

Kate's New Room

Kate and Jack switched rooms.  We wanted to give Jack more space since we plan on getting him a double bed soon.  We decided to keep the same color in Jack's old room.  Here is what it looked like before the change:

I tried to use what we already had and did some cheap changes.  The most expensive thing was the fabric and that wasn't even too bad to completely change a room's decor:

The two frames next to the "Love" wall decal contain two Bible verses I found that fit Kate.

Made this bow holder and love it

Found this bird clip art on Etsy and framed it

Tried making frayed rosettes on this new pillowcase

I am happy with the results and I think these are colors and designs Kate can keep for some time.  

18 Months!

Kate is 18 months!  Our angel is awesome.  Last night she said, "I want some more" and says a ton of other words.  Today was her 18 month appointment.  She is 26lbs. (70th percentile) and 32 1/4 inches tall (65th percentile).  We have a happy, healthy girl on our hands.