Phew!

Once again, the summer has kicked my butt. I can not believe how busy we are all summer long! Now that school is in full swing, things are finally calming down!

So...updates.

Tyler swam again this year, but I think this was the last year for swimming. It was way too much work on my part, and he didn't really want to do it. At least it gave him something to do for the summer. He also went to police camp this summer, got to stay in "barracks" and do physical training, etc. He loved it!! Tyler is now taking guitar lessons, and judging from the NOISE I hear from upstairs, he is enjoying that too! He is in his last year of middle school (8th grade) and says he wants to join the military after graduation (in ONLY 4 1/2 years!!!). I think it will be good for him, I don't think he is college material.

Lillian and Brenna are in cheer leading again this year. They went to camp together over the summer and had a blast. Lilly has started girl scouts again this year, and I am in the process of trying to find a Brownie troop for Brenna. Lilly is in 4th grade and has a great teacher, Brenna is in 2cd grade with a new teacher I don't know very well yet.

Thing 1 and Thing 2 are now four years old and two years old. They started preschool again this year, Jackson goes Tuesday/Thursday and William goes on Thursday. YES, I have one morning off a week! They are doing well, but MAN are they boys!! They keep us hopping!

Thing 3 is due in January. Another boy. I thought the two were hard....we will have 3 boys 4 and under. Yikes. So far the pregnancy is progressing, not so smooth, but not bad either. Let's just say I am going to have a lot of weight to lose after the holidays!!

Lee and I have been busy with the kids, his work, the house. He is in the process of finishing the basement, I am trying to get the house 100% organized before the baby comes. I am almost there, so we will see. I visited my sister and brand new nephew in August, Lee held the fort down here (with his fathers help).

Other than that, our next big thing is a family trip to Great Wolf Lodge. The kids don't know it yet, but it should be a blast!!!

The heart is a-beatin'!!

There is nothing like the relief of seeing the tiny flicker on the screen and the dr saying "There is the heartbeat". Wow. We are having a baby. Again.

Our Cruise Story!

As some of you may or may not know, Lee and I recently celebrated our ten year Anniversary by taking a trip. Our first trip together, EVER, without children. We cruised from New York Harbor to the Caribbean...it was wonderful! I kept a short journal each day (mostly) of our trip.

Sunday, May 4th, 9:20am

We started off Saturday morning a bit nervous (well I was nervous, Lee was anxious!). We had breakfast with the kids and my in-laws, finished packing, packed up the car, and prepared to go. After one little meltdown in the bathroom, I was fine. We arrived at my in-laws house in New Jersey (where we were getting picked up). In my nervous state, I counted all the bottles of laundry detergent in their garage (75). Lee's friend Mike picked us up, dropped us off, and we were officially ON VACATION!!!

We arrived safe and sound at the dock, flew through customs and all that safety stuff, and received the keys to what would be our room for the next 8 days. It was bigger than I thought it would be, and we didn't have to share it with any kids! It was all ours!

After a brief safety drill where we learned what would be our lifeboat should the boat sink (Boat 23)..we went on the upper deck for a Bon Voyage BBQ. It was cold in New York! We stayed to watch the Statue of Liberty pass by (with "Proud to be an American" playing on the ships loudspeakers) then we went inside to thaw. We had our coffee as we passed under a bridge, and we were at sea.



Last night I was a bit shaky and fell on several passengers and employees, but after some Duty Free drugs, we came back to the room and slept soundly until 9am.

Now, as I write, I am listening to the surf pounding against the ship while Lee is in the shower. Surprisingly, while I do wish the kids could see this, I am not worried about them at all. I am going to shower, get dressed, and go to breakfast. AAAHHH, to have a day off!


Monday, May 5th, 9:05am

We are sitting at breakfast now next to a huge window watching the flying fish. I always thought flying fish were a myth, or a joke. I never really knew they were something that actually existed. How cool...

Yesterday, our first full day at sea, we explored our ship. I guess i should say we are on the Norwegian Spirit. After breakfast, we went for a walk, then a nap! All that napping required some relaxing in one of the hot tubs. It was freezing getting in, but wonderful being in! We tried to read on the sundeck but it was just too windy. We moved to a deck lounge, were i read and Lee slept. A wonderful dinner was served at Windows, the ships main restaurant (Beef Wellington with Creme Brulee for dessert..), accompanied by romantic piano music.



Dinner left us with just enough time to hit our first show "On Broadway" which featured hits from various Broadway show, such as "Wicked", "Hair Spray", and "MammaMia". The entertainment moved to another lounge, where we danced to "A Tribute to Glen Miller". After another stroll on the Promenade, we fell asleep with our balcony door open, listening to the sounds of the ocean.

Tomorrow we hit our first port, San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Wednesday, May 7th, 8:00 am

Well, yesterday was so busy there was no time to write! we arrived in PR yesterday morning. First thing we did was call home. The kids are alive (and so are my in-laws). Sounds like all is calm...hmm.

We woke up in the morning to watch a storm front develop right before us. It was amazing. Fortunately, it didn't last, and we pulled into port to gorgeous weather. We immediately met our tour on the dock. We were very excited to get our first look at an actual rain forest. We got to quickly get a glimpse of Old San Juan, then were ushered off by the most crazy tour guide I have ever met, Olga. Not only could she not drive, she couldn't stop talking either. It was an experience! The rain forest was beautiful, not as colorful as I had imagined, but beautiful. We hiked to a waterfall where Lee swam (rocks hurt when you fall on them!) and I video taped.





After hiking back and making the hairy drive back to port, we changed and went to tour Old San Juan. We had a wonderful dinner at a Puerto Rican restaurant (fried cheese, beans & rice, and fried chicken) had a few drinks, and walked through the town. Since we were touring at night, we didn't get to see as much of the city as we would of liked, but it was a unique experience. Fort St Christopher, Christopher Columbus statue, and the HUGE cockroaches were entertaining.

This morning we pulled into Tortola, British Virgin Islands. Wow. Just, wow. The most stunning, breathtaking islands I have ever seen. Rolling green hills with houses dotting the landscape. Amazing. We are off now for our next first, SNORKELING!!


Thursday, May 8th, 9:05am

We are now sitting in our lovely cabin, waiting for a "tender" (a small boat) to take us to the Dominican Republic.

Tortola was amazing. I do think it is my new favorite place. The place I will always dream about coming back to.




We took a little charter boat to a small beach at Virgin Gorda. The trip over allowed us to really see some gorgeous scenery and huge beautiful houses tucked into the sides of the hills. We docked a ways away from the shore, and put on our snorkeling gear. Lee jumped right in, I was a bit more nervous. Go figure. The water was crystal clear. Apparently, breathing, swimming, and wearing that gear was too much for me. I more sputtered than snorkeled, but Lee was a natural. I learned to swim a ways, stop, look in the water. There were some brilliantly colored fish...and a barracuda. Thankfully, I didn't see it and Lee was wise enough to not say anything. The rock crevices looked like they went on forever.



When we all made it to shore, we took a tour of natural rock caves. We did get a souvenir picture here, I hope it comes out OK. We hung out on the beach, swam a little, Lee snorkeled some more, then we went back to the charter boat and several of the BRAVER people jumped off the top. Obviously, not me.

Once we arrived aback at the ship, we changed and went walking through Tortola. What a cute little town. We had lunch at place called "Pussers" (jerk chicken pineapple quesidilla.YUMM). We wandered around the touristy area, took some back roads through a residential area, and saw lots of roosters, dogs, and lizards.


Back to the ship, showered , and saw a comedy show. So far, this is the best day of the cruise. I am so enjoying this vacation.


Thursday, May 22, 8:32 pm

That was the last entry I made. I think we just got too lazy! The Dominican Republic was a terrible place, and we don't want to visit there again. Our "Honeymoon" was the best thing we have done for ourselves in a long time. It connected us and gave us some great memories that we can carry with us for a while, or at least until the next vacation!! We met some really nice people and saw things we haven't had the opportunity to see. We also brought home some lovely souvenirs, one especially that always remind us of our "Ten Year Anniversary/Honeymoon".

A First for Lillian

Lilly had her first trip to the ER yesterday. She has had a fever since WEdnesday, running around 104 at the highest. Then Saturday it spiked to 105.2. She was miserable, so off we went.

They ran blood tests, gave her an IV and a Tylenol/Motrin cocktail, and the fever came down. It has stayed down today, but is now creeping up again. There is no sign of anything obvious, so hopefully it will run its course and go away.

Oh, dear

Did you ever have something that was so obvious for a while but you had been trying to ignore it just come up and smack you in the face?? Last night, our denial of the fact that we are now parents of a teenager was forced to be put aside, and reality has set in.

Lee and I were sitting in the kitchen eating dinner. The kids had already eaten, and I asked Lee "Where is Tyler?" He told me he was upstairs, and I briefly thought about how we have to force him to come downstairs at times now. About 5 minutes later, Tyler walks in the kitchen. He has blood on his face. I asked him what happened, he told mt he cut his nose. I look, and he had actually cut his lip. What was he doing that enabled him to slice the upper part of lip???


HE WAS SHAVING!!!!!!!!


Yep. Shaving. Removing hair from his upper lip. Now, we had seen he was getting a little peach fuzz, but we chose to think of it as cute and adorable. He shaved off cute and adorable.

I had this image in my head of his first time shaving. He would come to us, tell us he wanted to shave, and we would smile and say "Sure son". We would get him his own razor and shaving lotion, Lee would teach him the fine art of shaving, we would all have a happy moment, and I would get a picture.

No. He stole a razor from the bathroom, dry shaved his lip, and cut himself. No warm and fuzzy memories, and no picture.

Reality. Sucks. My fantasy was much happier. Redo??

So, what is new??

Lots really. I have been recovering from a fate worse than natural childbirth..I had my wisdom teeth removed. It was three weeks ago, and today is the first day I haven't hd to take any pain meds. I thought it would be a one, two, three sort of thing. Nope. It sucked. I really felt awful. But I seem to be back to normal now, yeah.

The girls and I also went to their first Broadway Show. For Christmas my MIL treated me, the girls, my sister-in-law, and my niece to "The Little Mermaid" in NYC. It was wonderful. The kids had a great time and the show itself was amazing. I really enjoyed it, and I have a couple of Broadway enthuiasts on my hands now.





In the same weekend, we took the boys to Lee's uncles truck yard. Jackson (and Tyler and WIlliam) got to drive the BIG trucks. My Jack was in heaven. Secrelty I think Tyler loved it too, but he too cool to admit it.






Also in that weekend, we were able to visit with Austin and those adults that take care of him. It was the first time the kids were able to see him since they were sick theother time or not available. William loved him!!



Other new, Tyler turned 13. Enough said. We have a teenager in the house. We did take him to Friendslys and humiliate him by having them sing, but we aslo had to buy for him off the adult menu, so his trauma was well-deserved.

Jackson's Valentine Show

Jackson's preschool class had their little v-day show today...It was very cute, although Jack hardly sang. OF course, when we came home to watch the video, he sang every word.