Teaholic not quite anonymous

April 12, 10 am--went through security with Maddy who insisted on taking off her socks and shoes to go through. She was so excited for the airplane ride and really enjoyed her time on the plane. She played with my iphone some and watched a few movies.

1 PM, arrive in Orlando. Stumble around trying to find the Disney bus and finally do. We board the coach bus and watch a disney video about Disney World.

2 PM, we check in really quickly since we checked in ahead and we head change our clothes, unpack a bit and then then wander the resort until we catch our bus over to Magic Kingdom. Maddy LOVED seeing Magic Kingdom from the lake and couldn’t believe how great the castle looks.

3 PM, we are both STARVING so we eat lunch at a fish and chips place. We both eat well and then wait in line to see Tiana. We ride a few more rides and see a show (I’ve never seen a show like that in my entire life!). We bought a princess Autograph book for the rest of the caricatures. Then we take the train around to the mickey land and she waited in line to see Mickey and Mini mouse. After that we took the train around to the front where the night time parade happened to be going and she was so excited she was shaking from my shoulders. Then it was so late but we decided to stay for the fireworks. So we watch them (set ot music and really cool) and then we wander a bit and board the boat to go back to the hotel. We don’t get into bed until 11:30. Every time we saw the car ride at Magical Kingdom, Maddy wanted to go on it.

April 13, Maddy did NOT want to get up this morning and we were supposed to go to Epcot (Apricot) early but that didn’t happen. We did get there and we saw the turtle show at Finding Nemo and took the Soarin’ ride (Are we still at Walt Disney World, Mommy?). She really enjoyed it. I was surprised at how much she enjoyed watching vegetables grow on one boat ride. We ate at the counter service near Soarin’ and had to change our reservations for Japanese Steak house to Chinese the next day. After Epcot we went back to the hotel for a while to relax and go swimming. After swimming we went to Magic Kingdom and went on the rocket ride where Maddy insisted on going high and I wanted to go low! :) We also saw Monster’s Inc show and she was featured on their screen! She was asked to play peekaboo and she did. It was pretty awesome. We went bed about 9 pm. Every night Maddy watched a new sing-a-long movie on my laptop while getting chocolate milk and sunflower seeds. By the middle of this day my feet were really starting to hurt, even with good shoes!

April 14th. We got up early and went to Animal Kingdom and road the safari ride which was kind of a bust. We went to Dino land when we were done and she played on the slides and dug for dino bones. Then we went out for chinese food and took a slow stroll out to the bus and to Hollywood Studios where we saw Mickey, the Up characters and the Incredible characters. We saw the muppet movie which Maddy enjoyed and did the Star Tours ride. After that we went back to the hotel and had dinner and then went to bed.

April 15th
The evening of the 14th Maddy woke up with such a fever. I kinda thought her runny nose was turning into something other than just the allergies I had hoped it would be. Anyway, I gave her some cold meds and she slept pretty well the rest of that night. We braved through the next day since we had some fun stuff cut out for us! We spent the morning at Magic Kingdom where we saw Jasmine and rode some rides. Then we went to Epcot where we saw Mary Poppins, Tigger and Pooh, the cat from Aristrocats, and we had our PRINCESS lunch. Oh. My. My daughter was beside herself. I ordered the simplest of food for her. I knew she wouldn’t be eating much of it since she was so excited. Belle greeted us at the door and she had her picture with her. (Plus they gave us a really nice 8x10 and a few 4x6s in the package.) As we ate (well, I ate, she watched for the princesses) Maddy was literally jumping in her seat. And then the princesses started to come through--Princess Aurora, Cinderella, Snow White, and Ariel. Maddy was on cloud nine! We explored more of Epcot but by then my feet were dog tired and Maddy was still not feeling well. So I pushed up our reservation at the Biergarten for dinner. We danced the polka (ok, I did, but I was the only one who knew it. Thanks HS Gym class for teaching it to me). I had the biggest beer I’ve EVER laid eyes on. Maddy even ate, too. We went back to the hotel and we were both in bed by 9.

April 16
Friday was our last day! I packed up our luggage and checked out of our room first thing. Then we went over to Magic Kingdom one more time. We actually opened the place and I was proud of us for that since I packed up our whole room that morning. We played around for a bit, going on Maddy’s favorite rides (the rocket ship ride, the tea cups. She finally drove the car the way she wanted to and had been asking for.) Then we were the first to open up the Fairies line. Maddy had a great time seeing three fairies and then we went for lunch. We saw some of the Winnie the Pooh characters but actually had to leave before we could see Pooh. We needed to catch the boat back to the hotel so we could catch the bus to the airport. However, they did give Maddy a huge bag of ‘pixie dust’ (confetti) to take with her so she LOVED that. The bus ride and security were uneventful. Our plane was a bit late, but the ride itself was fine. Maddy LOVED seeing Daddy when we got off the plane and Adrian seemed pretty happy to see me, too! :)

Our trip was fabulous. Loved every second of it!

So Matt and I saw a picture of the billowing smoke associated with the rig that caught fire in the gulf. It was an aerial view and Maddy caught sight of it, too. She said, "Mommy, that looks like a tomato." Matt said, "It looks like a tomato?" She said, "Yeah, a tomato, Daddy. You know, a TOMATO." I said, "Maddy, do you mean it looks like a tornado?" She said, "Oh yeah! That!"

Adrian is quite the climber. He can climb virtually anything as long as he can get to it! He is also showing me how much more language he understands. I asked him, "Who made stinky pants?!" And he looks down and points to his diaper. I told him, "Ok, buddy, it's time to change your clothes." He pulls at his PJ's to help take them off. I tell him it's time to go get sis from school and he goes to the front hallway closet where our coats are. I ask if he wants milk and he crawls to the fridge. I give him his shoes and he puts them up to his feet. He's my cutie! Yes, he is still crawling. But if you had a head in the 99 percentile and you had to balance it you'd probably still be crawling, too. I'm not worried though, he cruises like crazy everywhere and stands not holding on most of the time. It's just a matter of time. When he wants to, he will!

It's teacher appreciation week here! I supplied some of the food for the teachers at our preschool for their lunchon. Maddy wrote a card to her teachers and we gave them a small Panara Gift Certificate. Maddy loves giving gifts!

Ok, off to fold some laundry. Thought I'd quick do a few more updates.

No, not one and the same. Two different topics. :)

So, last night was the first time either of my kids have gone on antibiotics. It's not that I'm against them. We've just been VERY lucky that neither have needed them! After Adrian went to bed last night he woke up crying. After a couple attempts at laying him down for bed we wound up just getting him up. He was fussy, lethargic and inconsolable. He was messing with his ear. Yep, ear infection! So Matt took him into the Emergency Room/Urgent Care at one of our local hospitals and he was really impressed. First, the ER actually has a separate pediatric wing with just pediatric doctors. Second, he was in and out in no time! I like that they send you home with a very formal folder with a lot of information in it regarding what the problem is. They stopped at the 24 hour pharmacy and came on home. He did get up once more at 4 and was pretty miserable, but since then he's been in a better mood. He is playing just fine with his sister and eating/drinking. I've dosed him up on Tylanol (generic due to the recall. Well, I buy generic anyway.) before naps to help him sleep.

During his first nap I painted my toenails turquoise (or turkey-oise the way Maddy used to say it) and thought, "Even if the day is horrible from here on in, at least I will have done THIS for myself." Of course, I painted Maddy's a sheer pink as well (what I put on my finger nails). But I hadn't needed to worry. Both kids have had a good day today!

So while I was at BJ's a couple weekends ago I found a fountain that is a statue of an older girl and a younger boy. The girl is helpig the boy drink out of the water fountain. Well, I really fell for it! I mean, it was Maddy and Adrian with a 'bubbler' (Milwaukee's term for a water fountain). Maddy is a great older sister and is always helpful to Adrian so I just loved it. Plus, it lit up and I had the perfect place to put it. I sent Matt a text with the picture and said that's what I want for mother's day.

A couple nights ago we went out to eat for dinner and then to stop by BJs to get it. (I didn't get it the day of since I was running so many errands and I didn't leave enough space for it in the van). They were sold out. Not only were they sold out, they were completely not helpful, too. I told Matt it wasn't a big deal. Maybe we can buy it online and shipping is free since it was over 100? Nope, shipping was $30 and the statue was only $140. Well, he called the BJs down in Alexandria and they said they had five left--which included the ones on display and did not include what they sold that day.

Ok, well, by that point it was almost 8 pm and I was meeting a friend at the mall so Matt dropped me off. He told me he was going home to put the kids to bed. Makes sense, they are past bedtime as it was then. However, when he pulled away he drove all the way to Alexandria with both kids and picked up the fountain! It was the LAST ONE they had on the shelf near the display. Then he drove all the way back home. He put the kids to bed and installed it before I got home! What a nice surprise getting home and seeing my lit fountain bubbling water with Adrian and Madeline! So neat!

I was kind of wondering when we would drive down to Alexandria to get it. It's quite a drive and I wasn't looking forward to either watching the kids while Matt went or going in traffic. Little did I know, I didn't need to think about it. That makes it an even better present, too. Thanks baby!

I'm up with insomnia so I thought I'd make good use of the time, so here I am!

My Mother's Day weekend started on Friday. :) Maddy had a very sweet gift for me that she made when she came out of preschool. She was so proud of it and she made me open it when we got into the van. Also, on the way out of preschool there were volunteers there with roses and each mom got a rose. it was very sweet! I was on fire on Friday. I really did a lot of running around and got a LOT of chores done. I even managed to buy a power washer and ten bags of mulch with two little kids with me. I was pretty impressed. Now, I need to thank Maddy for the help though--she pushed Adrian in the stroller while I hauled the big flat bed cart. She's SUCH a wonderful helper and good big sister. I'm so proud of her.

Saturday morning Matt and I went into the garage and cleaned it out. This is no small task. It's about the worst we've had it since moving in here. It's so easy to just grab stuff out of bins and not put them back and then things pile up. Out of sight, out of mind. I was glad to get in there. Even better? I have a scheduled Lupus Donation pickup for this week so while I organized I also sorted. I was glad to be able to get rid of stuff as I went. Now we have a big pile for charity as well.

After the garage was done, I went back out and mulched the front bed that I had pruned the day before. I pruned up our bushes and then raked out all the dead leaves from underneath. Man, there was a LOT of dead stuff. So in the process most of the old much also got thrown out. We needed a lot of new. After the front bed was mulched Matt went out and washed our van. It needed it and then some! It looks pretty good now! He also power washed our front stairs and sidewalk and I can't believe how much better that looks now. We ordered a pizza for dinner and that was about it for our Saturday. It felt really good getting some stuff done! Oh, I did squeeze in an episode of Clean House during 2nd nap time and Matt and I watched a Myth Busters before bed that we hadn't seen before. So that was nice, too.

Sunday was great! I had some sweet cards to open from the kiddos and from Matt. I slept in until 9! That's really late for me! Matt made eggs, bacon and hashbrowns for breakfast so that was a really great special treat. Then I got dressed went back out to the van and wiped down the interior and vacuumed it all out. It took FOREVER. There are so many nooks and crannies. It really needs to be carpet cleaned with our cleaner, but that will need to wait for another time. Maddy and I enjoyed playing a bit in-between cleaning. She came out with me to play while I cleaned. She really enjoyed getting into her outdoor toy bin and finding stuff to play with she hasn't seen in a few months. I came in got cleaned up and Matt called his mom and I called my mom to wish them a happy Mother's Day. I ate a quick lunch and went out by myself to Target for a couple things and then over to one of our local coffee shops and had a bowl of tomato bisque and then a black forest coffee (coffee was free with a purchase of food for Mother's day). I brought along my book and sat and read for a while. It was REALLY nice to sit and enjoy some downtime. Of course I had my iphone so I had some good tunes to go with. What a nice time. I'm wondering if the coffee is the reason for my insomnia.

I came back home and played with Adrian for a bit while Matt and Maddy ran to Home Depot to pick up some longer shelving for the garage. I took Adrian outside since the wind finally died down (it was VERY windy all weekend and with his ear infection I didn't want him out so Matt and I traded duty inside with him while one of us worked outside. Maddy had some great outside time though this weekend.) and I dug up and then mulched our Japanese Maple. I still have two flower pots I'm trying to figure out what I want to do with.

While Matt finished up installing the shelving I fed the kiddos. Matt and I got them off to bed and we ordered in Thai for dinner. That was delicious and we hadn't had Thai in quite a while. After dinner I took a nice hot candlelight bubble bath with some great wine and good music and read a bit more of my book. Matt and I snuggled, watched a bit of TV and off to bed!

I am so blessed to have such a great family. We are all healthy and happy. I learned recently how much I need to be thankful for that. A week ago a friend of mine took her teenage daughter into the doctor for flu and after she just couldn't really keep food down they did a scan to see what else could be up. They found a tumor in her brain and within one day she was in surgery for cancer. She will need a second operation to get the rest of it. But within one week the flu turned into cancer. So scary. Please keep them in your prayers. But it's such a reminder that one never knows what may happen next. We can't just live our days idly going through them, going through the motions. Make sure the ones you love know it. Spend quality time with them. Do the things you WANT to do, not just need to do. Take care of yourself--mentally and physically.

On that note, on this Mother's Day I am vowing to myself to take better care of myself physically. Since being pregnant with Adrian I've packed on a some pounds and have not been eating right or exercising. I need to do get active and be healthy again. Not to mention, I really do want to start fitting into more of my old clothes!

On that note, I better get back to bed. Physically, I need my sleep! Happy Mother's Day, all! I hope you had a great one!

Adrian was up a lot last night. He started to really rub his nose yesterday night right before bed and I thought, "Uh oh." Well, by the time he got up at 11 pm he was full on running and pretty miserable. He proceeded to get up quite a bit after that as well. Matt did let me sleep in even though Maddy woke up Adrian at 6 coming out of her room. I needed it. I rocked him a lot of the night. He is also getting more teeth and is still on the antibiotics for his ear infections. I'm surprised he's not more crabby. Matt did stay home today. He's not feeling all that well himself and we were both up so much last night. We did run out fast to get a few things done. Adrian was tired of being in the house and needed a change of scenery so he went for a ride in the van while Matt and I traded off going into stores we needed to go into.

One of the stops was to the shoe store. Maddy needed new play shoes really badly. So we bought her some new light up princess shoes. Oh the girl is in heaven! LOL! She loves them. I thought she was going to wear them to nap! :-)

I am excited for the weekend! Matt's parents are coming and it's been quite a while since we've seen them. I haven't told Maddy at all so she'll be surprised when they show up. Given Adrian is ok, Matt and I have a date night planned this weekend including a play, out to dinner and over night. I am VERY excited.

I have been in the shopping mood lately. I don't know why that is! After all, I just had a huge charity pick up yesterday. I sorted through so much stuff over the last couple weeks and had a ton of stuff to get rid of. It felt good to see it all go. Now why would I want to go buy something new? But I do. I really would like to replace plates/bowls/cups. I'm really tired of what we have now. I've had most of it since college so that would be 10-14 years. There's nothing really wrong with it and it's Corelle, which I really love for every day use, and I have so many of the matching accessories. But EH. I'm bored with it.

Ok, well, I'm off to get a few things done before everyone is up! All three are napping right now!

The weekend started off HARD, HARD, HARD. Adrian was NOT feeling well at all from Thursday to Friday because of the antibiotics he was on. He had horrible stomach stuff and diarrhea. Anyway, we were up a ton on Thursday night with him because of it and the cold he caught. Then Friday he was still having some hard times. Well, I went out for lunch with Matt because Matt's parents came into town on Thursday night (so nice to have a date!) and found out we'd need to take Adrian to the doctor since things had gotten worse. When we got to the doctor he was not actually all that concerned and recommended the course of action we were already taking.

Well, Friday night was hard, but the stomach stuff was already clearing up. Matt's parents let us sleep in on Saturday and that was SO nice. With the hard nights it was great to be able to catch up on some sleep. Saturday afternoon was tough again cause Adrian did NOT WANT to nap. Well, he did but the poor kiddo was SO overtired that he didn't know what to do with himself. As soon as Matt got home with Maddy we packed it back up and took a drive out 66 and Adrian fell right to sleep! He slept for 2 full hours while we drove around. He was in much better spirits after that.

Saturday night Matt and I went out for a date! We went out to Arties for dinner. Dinner was fabulous! We had the best crab dip and some spicy shrimp for an appetizer, I had a chicken and havarti sandwich and Matt had the crab cake and steak. We skipped dessert, but did have a couple nice drinks. Then we went over to see The Liar which was hilarious. I'm really enjoying seeing live theater and living near a place that has it. A lot of fun! After that we called home and Adrian went to sleep without issue and stayed asleep. So we decided to go out for cheap drinks and dessert at Applebees before going home. We got home and basically collapsed into bed.

Adrian only got up once that night! So nice!

Sunday Matt's mom and I went out and did some shopping. We also stopped at Red Lobster for lunch which was pretty delicious. Their shrimp meals are amazing and really overall it was nice! Matt's parents left after we got home and Maddy took it a bit hard--until she went outside to help daddy mow the lawn. :) She enjoyed that a ton.

Well, that was about it for our weekend! It was hard at times but a lot of fun at others. Thanks again to Grammy and Papa for all the help this weekend!

So this year I planted some flowers in my teacup planters--some white impatiens and red daisy-ish things. Anyway, I originally had them underneath our Japanese Maple out front, but they were getting a bit too much sun and the impatiens were burning out, so I put them on the front porch on either side of our cute little kids' bench. It's really cute on the front porch now. :) Matt is giving me a helping hand with watering them since he hooked up a watering pick to them from our sprinkler system so it gets watered all by itself every day! Very nice.

I also just planted some planters with some herbs--thai basil, thyme, oregano, mint, lavender, etc. They will hang on our deck rails once Matt puts them up. They will also get watered by themselves every day with our sprinkler system which will be good.

I've been trimming our hedges out front and also our other bushes. They are looking great. I'm still loving our new fountain. It's so cute and I'm so glad to have it. Fun! Our grass is looking good. Matt's been seeding regularly and watering so it's fabulous. I'm so glad it's back up to par after the whole sprinkler system thing. The kids can really play in it now!

Ok, that is all on my green thumb--let's hope it doesn't turn brown!

I can't believe it's already the last week of preschool. When did THAT happen? I admit that I am not ready for that and I'm sure Maddy will be a bit bummed that it's over. She so loves seeing her little friends. I haven't planned out any classes for her for the summer. So we'll need to make sure we get together with her playgroup friends as much as possible!

Maddy's really loved preschool though. She had such a blast!

On Sunday we hosted a gathering to watch the series finale of Lost. That was so much fun. I printed out labels for our beer and water bottles. Matt made up a tropical drink called 'The Three Hour Tour'. Very delish! I made brownies and then cut them with airplane cookie cutters. I also made a carrot cake sheet cake with cream cheese frosting. I tinted part of the frosting blue and made waves in it for the ocean and the other part I left plain but sprinkled crushed cinnamon graham crackers on it for the beach. Then I took a toy matchbox airplane and crashed it in the beach (nose down). I also used some of Maddy's plastic toy trees and put them on the far edge of the beach to simulate a forest. Really turned out cute! We had some nice food, etc. It was a great time!

Ok, off to get the kiddos down to nap.

So Maddy's last day of preschool was Friday! They actually met at a park near our house and played. Matt was home so he was able to put Adrian down for his morning nap. Maddy and I stayed at the park. It was fun to watch Maddy play with all her little friends. We didn't stay for the whole time, but we stayed for a while. Of course, there were Popsicles for a snack! Too fun!

Maddy is really going to miss school. She is such a social butterfly. I haven't signed her up for any classes or camps this summer so I'll need to make sure I plan early to have playgroups and other fun things we can do. However, it'll need to work around Adrian's morning nap.

For Memorial Day Weekend Matt, Maddy, Adrian and I went to Arlington National Cemetery. We took some flowers with. Of course, we had to explain the whole idea of a Cemetery to a Maddy and then the whole Veteran thing to Maddy. But she understood pretty well. It was HOT and pushing strollers up and down those hills was a great workout! Maddy and Matt saw the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers. Matt thought it was REALLY cool. Maddy thought it was just hot. :)

We saw the Rolling Thunder roll through on 66 (we were actually behind them) and saw them all through DC. It was awesome to see. Maddy loved it.

Then we went to Gravelly Point park for a picnic. We found a great spot under the tree and Adrian really appreciated being able to get out of the stroller and crawl around for a while. We ate a nice picnic lunch and then played ball and bubbles for a while.

We hopped back in the van and by the time we were 10 minutes down the road Adrian was out cold. Maddy and I took a hot shower when we got home and took a nice nap together.

Of course, we had cheeseburgers, hot dogs, mac and cheese, and corn on the cob for dinner. Tomorrow is rotisserie chicken on the grill! YUM!