Accomplishments!

For those of you who have been reading my blog for awhile, you may remember the struggles we had with Gabe when he started preschool two years ago...

We made the decision last year to have him do another year of preschool, although he was technically old enough to go to kindergarten.

It was the best decision we could've made.

This time last year, I was questioning myself every other day, wondering if it was the right thing to do.  He really wanted to go to school, but he just wasn't ready.

I have no doubts that he's ready now.

Upon graduation from preschool, Gabe now knows all of his letters, numbers and how to write his name.  He can even "sound out" many words from his collection of Dr. Seuss and other library books.

He gets along well with others, and listens to his teachers (most of the time).  His attention span has grown from a few minutes to hours.

We are all so proud of him and his accomplishments...he is absolutely ready for kindergarten now.

And although we will miss his teachers at LPC, we are more than ready to move on to this next phase of his learning life.

Way to go, Gabe!  Kindergarten won't be the same once you've arrived :)

Better late than never...

Elijah's birthday was on June 18th.  We celebrated by spending the day at Universal Studios, but we saved the real party for when we came home.  Mamaw Kay cooked a yummy dinner and baked a cake, and we gathered around to sing to this boy who refuses to stop growing up.

Sigh...

Being silly...

The whole family:  Jill (Joe's sister), Kay (my amazing mother-in-law), Elijah, Bob (my incredible father-in-law), Isabel, Gabe and Joe.  Elijah got gifts of money which he is saving for a new video game that comes out in the fall.  We all gained about five pounds after the delicious dinner and homemade chocolate fudge cake...thanks, Kay.  No, really, thanks :)

Hope your twelfth birthday was one for the record books, Elijah.  Not too many kids get to spend their birthday on vacation, you know!  

Love you, buddy!

Surprise, Part Three

Destination:  the Bahama House hotel in Daytona Beach, FL.

Isabel's wish:  to be buried in the sand.  Made for a great picture, but wasn't as fun as she thought it would be, thanks to the people next to her chain-smoking while she was captive beneath the sand :(

Bahama House is a family-owned hotel right on the beach.  They have free breakfast, and even better, free cocktail hour from 5:30 to 6:30pm every single night.  Joe and I had our fair share of Bahama Mamas, and the kids got fresh popcorn and Cokes...pure delight!

Boogie boards were a high priority purchase, and we had a great time taking turns riding in on the waves.

Except for Gabe, who had the idea in his head that he would instantly be a professional surfer the minute he got on his board.  He was crushed when that plan didn't work out...

Didn't help much to see his older brother doing such a good job, either.  Man, some days it sucks to be little.

Once again, we had great weather, sunny and hot with no storms in sight.  Our best souvenirs:  our tans!

I was determined to catch a Florida sunrise on film, so I woke up early each morning.  Sunday morning was the winner...Isabel even got up with me and we saw dolphins riding in the waves.  Darn things were too fast for my camera, though...

One of my goals on this trip was to take some good family pictures at the beach.  We headed to Lighthouse Point Park in Ponce Inlet and did a little photo shoot.  Unfortunately, it was blazing hot and bright, but we still managed to get some decent shots...

(Either Elijah or Isabel took this one of us together.)

I helped with the poses while Joe clicked away.  I love this one of Elijah!

Where have my babies gone?  They look so grown up!

This is one of my favorite shots of Isabel and me together...

After one of the best vacations on record, it was time to head home.  The ages of the kids made it so easy...no strollers/diaper bags/packnplays...just Legos, books and movies to keep them entertained in the van, and the pool/beach to keep cool while we were there.  No disasters or fights, just lots of fun and family time together.  Truly, we were blessed to have such a great time together!

Surprise, Part Two...

Once the kids got packed up, we loaded in the van and hit the road, leaving our driveway at approximately 4:20pm.

We made it to the end of our neighborhood before remembering that we forgot the car insurance papers in our other van.

We circled around, got the papers (you just never know, right?), and hit the road again at approximately 4:30pm.

Somewhere between Kentucky and Tennessee, we ran into the tail end of some storms and followed this double rainbow for almost an hour!  We took it as a good sign...

Stopping for dinner, gas, one rest stop, and breakfast brought us to our resort by 9am on Wednesday morning.  We checked out the place, swam in the pool, then got dressed and headed to Downtown Disney for the evening.  Upon Melissa's recommendation, we gave the T-Rex restaurant a try.  It was a definite hit!

Gabe's dream was to spend his souvenir money at the Lego store, so we headed there next.  You can pick a small or large cup and fill it with various Legos for a set price...he was in Heaven!  Bonus:  this cup of Legos kept him occupied the entire week, even in the van!

Joe and Elijah decided to see the A-Team movie, so I took Isabel and Gabe shopping around Downtown Disney.  Our first stop was the Ghiradelli soda fountain, where we paid way too much for an incredibly good hot fudge sundae and one chocolate covered strawberry.  It was amazingly delicious and almost worth the loan I had to take out to pay the bill :)

On Thursday, we had to listen to the timeshare spiel (which we easily resisted), then spent the day at the pool.  Joe met up with one of his World of Warcraft pals that evening, and the kids and I hung out and colored pictures and went back to the pool, where Gabe mastered the art of giving his mother a heart attack while doing front flips into the water from the edge.

Friday dawned clear and sunny, a perfect day to celebrate Elijah's 12th birthday at Universal Studios.  It also happened to be the grand opening of Harry Potter at Islands of Adventure, which is right next to the Studios park.  Pure madness!  We were so lucky, though, because the crowds stayed there, and we had the Studios practically to ourselves!  I love this picture of the boys:

The daily Florida rainstorms held off, and we rode every single ride by 8pm.  It was a great day!

On our way down, we looked at brochures for Universal and picked out the first ride.  Remember Gabe's love of E.T.?  Of course, that was the winner of the first ride choice, and we all liked it.  After the ride, Gabe squeezed my hand and said, "I was about to cry, I was just so happy to see E.T., Mom!"  Love his heart!

The older boys went off to ride some bigger rides, and I took Gabe and Isabel to a Curious George water play area in the kids' section.  We spent over an hour cooling off and having pure unadulterated FUN!  Isabel's expression sums up our day at Universal:

Our time in Orlando came to a close, and we packed up the van (again) and headed east...

Surprise! A Series...

(Part One)

Since the beginning of this month, I have been working extra hours at the hospital like a crazy woman.

I wasn't really crazy, just money-hungry.

I was working toward a goal.

Joe scored a great deal on a Florida vacation months ago, and we decided to make it a surprise for the kids.

Somehow, we made it to the day of departure without them finding out.

Joe pulled into the driveway in a rental van (part of the deal) and announced to Elijah and Isabel and Gabe that they needed to pack their bags...we were headed to the Sunshine State!

None of them knew what the Sunshine State was, so he had to tell them...

After they picked their jaws up off the floor, they ran in to wake me up (I had worked the night before).  We packed up and headed 926 miles down I-75 South.  First stop, Orlando.

(Side note:  Isabel admitted that when Dad told them he had a surprise, she was really hoping for a pregnancy announcement, along with a baby sister.  Um, sorry, Isabel, but you are my one and only baby girl, forever and ever, amen.  I thought it was so sweet, though.)

Summer Wish List

In a previous post, I mentioned our tradition of making a "summer wish list".  It took a few days, but the kids have finally decided on their five things they want to do these next three months.  Here it is:

Gabe:

1.  Go to the "Dinosaur Museum" aka The Creation Museum in Kentucky.  Starts with Adam and Eve, has a model of Noah's ark and lots of different Biblical displays of how God created the world.

2.  Spend the day at Cocoa Key Water Resort in Sharonville, Ohio.  He has wanted to go here for the past two years; I think we may have to cave in this year...

3.  Play Legos.  A lot.  Build a whole city with the whole family helping.  Get new Lego sets for his birthday in August.

4 & 5.  More of the above :)

Isabel:

1.  Swim at the YMCA alot!

2.  Go to The Cheesecake Factory for lunch or dinner.

3.  Hike at Caesar's Creek.

4.  Visit Jungle Jim's, an international grocery store in Fairfield, OH.  (It is a pretty amazing place.)

5.  Go to a beach, either a lake or ocean.

Elijah:

1.  Spend the afternoon at Lazer Kraze.

2.  Eat at 5 Guys Burgers and Fries.

3.  Eat at Chili's.  (Can you tell it's Frugal Year this year?  We haven't eaten out a lot lately.)

4.  Go to a Cincinnati Reds baseball game.

5.  Get new video games for his birthday (June 18th).

Mom:

1.  Agree with Gabe:  go to the Creation Museum.

2.  Visit a new park and go hiking/camping.

3.  Get family photos done.

4.  Eat at Der Dutchman, an authentic Amish restaurant near Caesar's Creek park.

5.  Go to the Warren County Fair (we've lived here for eight years and have never gone!)

Dad:

Still hasn't come up with his yet :)

I love that the kids came up with ideas of things that we can really do; nothing too expensive or unreasonable. Looks like we'll be able to make their wishes come true!  Summer 2010 is gonna be a great one!

Frag time ('cause that's all I have time for)

Squeezing this post in, in between dishes and housecleaning and getting ready to go in for a 3 to midnight shift.  My marathon of working is almost at an end...I work Sunday and Monday 12 hour nights, then I'm off for a week.  We have a big surprise planned for the kids during that time; I'll share that later, since Isabel reads my blog and I don't want to ruin the fun.

I miss my blog friends!  I'm in withdrawal, and feel like I've missed out on a week of everyone's lives.  Can't wait for things to settle down around here.

Baseball ends on June 26th, and while having a slower schedule will be nice, I will miss it.  Elijah is doing an awesome job at pitching and fielding, although he struggles at hitting, which makes him get so down on himself.  Why are we so hard on ourselves on the things we don't do well, instead of celebrating the things we DO do well?  Sigh.

Isabel has read three books already this week!  If she can't be found, all you have to do is look in the playhouse out back, and there she is, with a pillow and a book, content to read for hours.  I love it!

Gabe is loving having his siblings home from school; we have gone swimming at the Y, hiked on trails (and found lots of poison ivy), gone to the library to visit Miss Barb and had lots of fun at Elijah's baseball games.  Last week, he had hours of fun in the mud puddles at the fields, and although he was a mess to clean up, he had all of us in tears laughing at his antics.  I wish I would've had my camera!

I have finished my spring quarter of college with another "A"; start Genetics and Organic Chemistry at the end of the month.  I think these classes will be more of a challenge than American Film and Cultural Diversity; what do you think?

Once again, I will be MIA around blogland for a while...hope you're still around when I get back!