Sleepy

Last night I woke at 11 pm to get ready for the Eclipse premiere.  I am no spring chick, and I honestly contemplated my decision to go.  But off I went, and I am glad I did.  The movie was good, and it was hilarious listening to the little girls scream when the boys were on the screen!  There were so many girls with fake tribal tattoos (Team Jacob) and Team Edward shirts.

No rest for the weary, though.  There was cleaning to do, therapy to be done, and a play date to host today.  This is Ben's 3rd play date for the week.  He has 3 more to go.  Remember me telling you he reconnected with A LOT of friends at Lego camp?  Well, they all want to play with each other, and I just don't have the heart to say no.  Ben's friend, Joel, helped me with laundry today.  That child is welcome anytime!  They are all such sweet boys, and so we have fit in a ton of play time this week.  We followed today's play time with a haircut and some school uniform shopping.

I'm off to feed and bathe the babes and hopefully climb into bed at a decent hour.  Greg is working 11-11 after continuing his playhouse construction on the two days he had off.  I have no reason to complain. Poor guy!

We've Been Busy

These past few days have been full.

 

Yesterday, Ben started Lego camp and all of his best buds showed up.  He was beyond excited.  It was sooo cute to watch him introduce friends to one another.  Afterwards, we headed to Smashburger with some of his buds.  He has a play date scheduled every day this week!

Meanwhile, Sadie was being diagnosed with Fifth Disease, a virus that causes a pretty bad rash over her entire body and is generally making her miserable.  It's no longer contagious and is moving it's way down her body.  I'm hoping it is gone by the weekend.

 

No Good

Not much has gone my way today.  I woke at 4:30 am and could not go back to sleep.  Grand idea! I'll make the peach and blueberry pie I've been planning!  Do you know how long it takes to peel, pit, and slice 5 pounds of peaches?  The pie was finally in the oven 2 hours later.  It is quite good, though.  The kids had it for breakfast :)  Dressing for church wasn't fun.  The dress I had planned was seriously tight.  Curse you vacation food.

We headed to church around 9 am for Sunday school.   Dropped Sadie off in the nursery, where she lasted approximately 10 minutes. She was wailing and seriously disturbing the peace of the other classes. When I picked her up, I noticed a light racoon type rash around her eyes and cheeks.  Nice.  Don't tell me she is allergic to the wholesome, pesticide-free fruit/veggies I bought yesterday.  We skipped the service and headed home.  She then slept 3 1/2 hours and may have slept longer if I hadn't gone in to change her diaper. Not sure what is going on there. 

During Sadie's nap, I had to face those 3 unpacked suitcases that have been staring at me for 3 days.  I don't why I have such issues with unpacking.  Maybe I just hope the resorts will call us and tell us we've won an additional two weeks stay...  Two out of three are empty. Not bad.

Yesterday, I bought Ben some adorable school clothes at a fabulous sale.  I'll be returning them.  I checked the school dress code, and it looks like more uniforms are in our future :(

I then opened a water bill, which doesn't usually come for another two weeks.  It said we had a past due amount of $7.50 and our water would be turned off if not paid within the next day.  $7.50?  That is so bizarre. I must have written the check for the wrong amount or something.  Anyway, I was able to pay it over the phone quickly and avoid that nightmare.

In good news, we have lots of fun stuff planned for the week.  I'm hoping to wake in the morning and "start over".

On the menu:  stuffed poblano peppers and, of course, peach and blueberry pie w/ vanilla ice cream

Farmer's Market

Early this morning, we headed down to the local farmer's market.  I had been before, and it has definitely down-sized.  There were only about 8 booths this time, but still plenty of good finds.

 

Ben watching the cooking demo

Chowing on some blueberries

The goods

When we arrived home, I  pan-fried the two eggplants in panko breadcrumbs, laid them in a bath of garlic tomato sauce, and topped them with a dab of goat cheese, a leaf of fresh basil, and grated parmesan cheese. A few minutes under the broiler and they were ready.  Heaven.

Ben was skeptical...but not for long.

 

Pedicures!

Sadie's first, but certainly not her last!  She was a fairly cooperative "client" for me :)

Yesterday, we headed out to the theatre to watch Toy Story 3.  So good!  Sadie was not impressed, so Greg "took one for the team" and held her in the aisle most of the time.  Ben had nachos and I may have eaten an entire 4 oz. cup of jalepenos with the few that he shared and may be regretting it now.

 

Sadie seems to think we will react to her wails like we did on vacation (can you blame her?), but sister is wrong.  Boy, did she scream in her crib last night, despite a full belly, 3 books, and lots 'o love before bedtime. I refuse to give her a cup to get her to sleep. Greg was the strong one and stood guard in her hall (he was guarding me from her; he caught me 3 times) while she cried it out.  It took about 30 minutes, but she finally gave in.

 

Greg bought some new running shoes yesterday afternoon and went for an early morning run this am.  I think he will be doing marathons any day now.  So proud of him for caring about his health.  Speaking of health, vacation was not good for me and I may be setting fire to my scale at some point today ;)  I just can't resist good food and wine on vacation, but it's back to reality and back to the gym to shave those pounds off.

 

Tomorrow, we are off to the farmers' market for some fresh finds!  My fridge is sooo empty.

 

A Few More

We celebrated 3 occasions on this trip:  Greg's 36th birthday (that seems so unreal to me; he acts/looks like he's 18! See zany pic above), Father's Day, and our 8th anniversary!

Tuesday evening (on day 1 of our trip home), Sadie decided she wanted to cut the trip short.  She woke @ 11:51 pm and proceeded to scream until 3 am.  Greg and I tried everything.  We read to her, rocked her, walked her, fed her, gave her milk, etc.  Finally, I took her down to the car to let her watch a movie.  She was calm for part of it, but then started wailing again.  I contemplated driving her around Daphne, Alabama, but decided it would be best to pack it up and get on the road.  If we were driving, we might as well be heading home.  Greg agreed, so we left soon after 3 am.  I took the first shift, and she was out in no time.  This was Sadie's 4th hotel in 10 days, and I think she was just telling us she was done.  She did great everywhere else.  This was also the cheapest hotel of our stay....hmm...maybe she is a hotel snob like her momma :)

 

 Here are the happy babes at home last night.

It was a wonderful trip, but it also feels great to be home!  We arrived at the house to find an acceptance letter for Hudson Pep.  Ben is very excited and we are happy for him.  He always welcomes change, and I know he will do wonderfully with the transition. 

Today we resumed routine: therapy, worksheets, legos, sandwiches (tears), gym (ouch), cleaning, and laundry.

Off to do some more piles!

Cinnamon Beach

We arrived at the beach on the evening of 6/19/10. It was already dark, but we couldn't resist feeling the sand in our toes, so we took a short trek to the sand with flashlights. HEAVEN! The beach was completely empty, the moon was beautiful, and the ocean was ours for a moment :) Couldn't create that moment with words for the world, but I try.


The next morn, we headed to the beach and the resort pool for most of the day. As I've said before, Ben is fearless and must be watched at all times! Sadie was scared to death of the waves. This girl loves water, but after a few waves hit her in the face, she was done. Poor sugar. Wish we lived there, and I would have her trained in no time. The pool was a different story. She charmed everyone and swam for hours in her floatie.

That evening, we headed to JT's Seafood Shack and had an AMAZING meal. So good, we had to go back on night 2. Who wants to eat at a chain restaurant when you can eat the local catch and listen to live music?!

More beach pics to come!

Day 5: Hollywood Studios

Ben had been waiting all week to get to this park! He had patiently saved his allowance to spend at the Star Wars store and couldn't wait to ride Star Tours and see the Indiana Stunt Show.  So that's what we did!  He rode Star Tours three times and spent at least an hour in the store, finally deciding on a custom double lightsaber and a rather large lego starship.  We then headed to the Indiana Jones stunt show, which was really good!  After lunch, I sent the rest of the family to the Honey I Shrunk the Kids playground, so I could try to obtain some passes for Toy Story.  No such luck.  But we were able to see The Little Mermaid (so good!), Playhouse Disney, and send Greg to the Tower of Terror ride.  There was no way I was getting on that thing! You drop 18 stories!  I did try to ride the Rock n Rollercoaster, but there was over a one hour wait :(  By this time, it was close to 5 and we needed to get on the road and head to the beach.  I was EXCITED!

Day 4: Epcot

Lots of fun stuff to do here!  Spaceship Earth, Nemo, Turtle Talk w/ Crush (hilarious), Living w/ the Land (wonderful!), Soarin', Test Track (awesome!, rode it twice), and then we hit the countries.  This was my favorite!  Ben colored a mask and then we went around to every country to obtain a special stamp and charm.  We ended the evening with Illuminations.  Gorgeous!