Grand Prix #3

Nadia participated in her third AWANA Grand Prix this evening; it was Ian's first. We received the car kits a couple of months ago, and Paul had planned to make the cars during spring break in March, but that never happened. The cars were due on April 23, and I returned the unopened car kits last Wednesday and said we wouldn't be participating. The AWANA director really wanted us to be there, so she gave us two pre-cut car kits and said if we painted them or put stickers on them and got them to the church by Sunday morning it would be fine. She said they'd add weights (coins) to the cars to get them as close to 5 ounces as possible to the cars would make it to the end of the track. The kids painted the cars on Friday night. The kids did the first coat, and after they went to bed Paul did a few more coats as well as a layer of varnish. Then on Saturday night after we got back from Knoebels, the kids put stickers on their cars. Paul attached the wheels and delivered the cars to our neighbors who attend that church on Sundays.

We arrived at the church at 6pm for a hot dog dinner. Then there were 39 heats of the car race because there were 39 kids participating. Four cars raced in each heat, and every car raced a total of four times (once in each of the four lanes). At the end of the evening the awards for the Grand Prix and the year end AWANA awards were given out. Both kids received the attendance medal (you had to have perfect attendance or miss at the most one night), and they both received ribbons for finishing their books. Nadia did her book twice, but she didn't quite finish the extra credit book (as some other Sparkies did). Next year I'll try to help her keep at a pace that she can also finish the extra credit book. The kids have off next week as the church is having revival services Sunday through Wednesday, but in two weeks they'll start going to the summer musical rehearsals on Wednesday nights from 6:30-8:00.

A bonus vacation!

A few days ago I noticed a message on Interval (time share company) that I had a bonus exchange which was expiring on June 4. I have no idea how long it had been available, but I am very glad I discovered it before it expired! I looked into resorts that had units available during the week of May 10, as that is the week Paul has off in between the spring semester and summer session. My idea was that we would take Oliver with us, if my parents or Paul's parents could watch Nadia and Ian. Before I got around to asking them if they were willing to do that it hit me that Oliver doesn't have a passport, and I don't think we could get one that quickly. Nadia and Ian have passports, but I'm not ready to be away from Oliver yet. Instead I looked for something close to Maryland that we could go with my parents since we hadn't gone on vacation with them in 3 years. I had it narrowed down to the Williamsburg Plantation or a resort in the Poconos the week of the 18th. My parents opted for the Poconos because Paul could join us for part of the time if we picked that one since it's less than 2 hours from our house.

I usually only get one exchange every two years. We're going to be using two within two months! This bonus one was a tiny bit more expensive, but you really can't beat paying $219 for seven nights in a two bedroom unit with a full kitchen! The resort has indoor and outdoor pools, a playground, miniature golf, tennis courts, canoes, etc. We haven't been swimming since August so I'm excited about the indoor pool! I think we'll all arrive there on Sunday. Paul will spend one night and head back to our home on Monday night as he has lab at 8am on that Tuesday. The kids and I will probably stay the whole week. My parents will probably stay until Friday. Paul will come back on Thursday afternoon and stay until we leave on Saturday night or Sunday morning (in time to get to our church as the King's Kids are singing that morning). In a time where we have no idea who will be working, where that person will be working, or where we'll be living, it's very nice to have exciting plans for the summer!

Pied Piper

This morning we went to Sunday School and church and then had lunch at church. I was very pleased that all three kids ate their pulled pork sandwiches. This represents progress for my older two and the norm for my youngest. We then came home to pick Paul up and drive to the theatre in Williamsport for a children's production of the Pied Piper of Hamelin. Ian and Nadia were entranced and went on stage at the end to get autographs from the actors. I'm hoping some day that Nadia will be in a play like that herself! I signed her up for theatre camp again this summer. I have spent a little time today weeding through the myriad of photos I took yesterday. I have a long way to go, but that didn't stop me from taking a few more pictures today. I do love taking pics of my kiddos!

An Amazing Day

This morning I headed out the door with the kids at 8:35 to drive to Nadia's soccer game. Paul and then his parents arrived a little bit later. Paul and I had to go in separate cars because today it was my turn to help in the concession stand after the game. It was already very nice out this morning, which I wasn't expecting. Nadia played during the first, second, and fourth quarters of the game. After I got home from my concession stand duty, all seven of us headed to Knoebels. It was the opening day, and they were selling the handstamps buy one get one free. In the past we have either just used tickets or bought the handstamps that don't include the rollercoasters (not counting the kiddie rollercoaster). Ian and Oliver had those handstamps today, but Nadia and Paul got the "with coasters" stamp today. Knoebels has free parking, and we paid a total of $60 for four handstamps plus a book of tickets for me. We were there about 6 1/2 hours. We could have stayed 45 more minutes, but Paul and I were exhausted, his tummy wasn't very happy, and it was time to drive home to get the kids to bed. I was nervous about the weather forecast (30% chance of rain), but aside from a very light rain that lasted for maybe 2 minutes, the weather was gorgeous (high was 68). The lines were also VERY short. In the beginning Paul took Nadia on big rides while I took the boys on the kiddie rides, and Ian and Oliver rode 10 rides within the first hour we were there. We definitely got our money's worth out of those handstamps today!!!

We had several "firsts" today. It was Oliver's first time to ride most of the rides, and it was his first time getting a handstamp. Nadia was technically tall enough to ride the big rollercoasters last summer, but today was the first day we let her ride them. She rode two big rollercoasters each two times. It was truly a momentous occasion for me to ride a BIG rollercoaster (one of my most favorites no less!) with my child for the first time ever. I almost cried happy tears. She LOVED it. My other favorite moment today was riding the tea cups with Oliver and Ian because both of them laughed their little heads off the entire time. Oliver got up at 5:45 this morning so it's time for me to go to bed although I've only just begun to go through the 130 pictures I took today. I'm sure we'll be back to Knoebels again this summer. We love this amusement park very much!

Never say never

One of the rules of test construction is to never use the words "always" or "never" in a true/ false question, and in life I've heard people say "never say you'll never do" xyz because you might at some point or another. In May 2013 as we were standing along the curb waiting for the afternoon parade to pass by us at Magic Kingdom, I distinctly remember (foolishly) saying to Paul, "we'll never come to Disney in the summer." I was sweating like crazy in May and couldn't imagine how standing there in July or August. Guess what I did today? I paid $164 for us to stay for 7 nights in early July at the same Marriott resort in Orlando that we stayed at in May 2013. If anyone wasn't sure that I really loved my kids, this should prove it. Before we had kids, our two favorite types of vacations were either sightseeing in Europe or relaxing in the Caribbean. We went on many vacations during the first almost 7 years of marriage before Nadia was born, and we never went to Florida. Our last trip to the Caribbean was in May 2012, but that trip was a bit of a bust because the weather was awful for almost the whole time.

The last really nice Caribbean vacation we had was to Antigua in 2009. If we were picking the vacation based on what I would most enjoy, we'd be heading to an island in the Caribbean. We actually have no intention of starting a tradition of going to Florida or Disney World every year. We had planned to take the kids back some day, but neither Paul or I were in favor of returning again this year. Then we started discussing where to go. We have a long list of places we want to take the kids when they're a bit older ex. Niagra Falls, Grand Canyon, Boston, etc., but at ages 1, 4, and 5, they're really not ready for much sight seeing yet aside from places like the zoo or an Aquarium. I am planning on taking them (plus 2 cousins) for a couple of such outings in DC and Baltimore in June. Meanwhile Nadia and Ian have been asking for many weeks on an almost daily basis if we could return to Florida, and they mentioned the pirate ship resort we stayed at even more often than Disney World.

So we finally decided to go there, but this decision was made much later than usual. Typically we make our summer vacation reservations in December or January. The resort has efficiencies, 1 bedroom, and 2 bedroom units. We wanted a 2 bedroom unit, and they are the hardest to get. I have been checking every morning for quite a few weeks, and the only weeks I could find one were in late May or early June, when Paul will be teaching a lab. His lab doesn't finish until June 26. I also was hoping to go on vacation before Oliver turned two so that he could fly free. This morning at 6:30am I discovered a 2 bedroom unit available for July 3-10 for $164, and I snatched it up even though I know it's going to be hot in Florida in July AND the crowds are much worse in Disney World in July (frankly you'd think the crowds would be smaller in light of the heat, but that's not the case). The days we are at the resort, I won't mind the heat because I will be in the swimming pool. Last year we did one day at Sea World and one day at Magic Kingdom. Although we thoroughly loved Sea World, we've decided this year to do one day at Hollywood Studios (which was called MGM when I was a child) and Magic Kingdom. Paul has only been to Magic Kingdom so that will be a treat for him to explore a new park. We are arriving on a Thursday and plan to go to Hollywood Studios on Sunday and Magic Kingdom on Wednesday and then leave on Thursday. Last year we did the two park days back to back, and I thought it was a bit much. Hopefully this schedule will work out better. When the kids are older (and we go during a cooler time of year), I am sure we'll spend more than two days at Disney World, but with a one-year-old in tow, two days will be more than enough.

The other downside of going in July is that my parents can't join us, and we had planned to vacation with them this year, as we haven't gone with them since 2011. My brother is spending less than a month in the US this summer, and obviously they don't want to go with us to Florida while he's in Maryland. So we told Paul's parents that we are headed back to the same resort in July, and I think they're going to join us. They love their grandkids to be certain! We are planning to fly from Baltimore, but I think they're going to drive down. The only thing I had on the calendar for those dates were one week of Nadia and Ian's two week swimming class. I called the organization today and was told that one week of private lessons costs $10 more than two weeks of group lessons. I am going to sign Nadia up for one week of private lessons, and if I find out we're moving this summer, I will also sign Ian up for private lessons. If we aren't moving, I'll use the account credit from Ian's swim lessons (they don't give refunds) towards Nadia's next gymnastics class in the fall. For now I am having fun planning out our vacation. There isn't any sweating involved in the planning of the trip, ha ha! :)

Thankful Thursday

1. The grass is green! I mowed the lawn for the first time this year today. Flowers are blooming! It looks so much prettier outside. Now we just need some leaves on our trees.

2. I am VERY thankful for my new flash for my camera. I am learning how to use it.

3. We are all much healthier than we were a week ago!

4. I forgot to mention last week that I was thankful my pastor came to visit us the first night we were in the hospital, and I also appreciated the two beautiful blankets and two stuffed animals Oliver was given (donated by people in the community for patients). He got an extra blanket because he threw up on the first one.

5. The kids and I had a nice dinner at Perkins last night. Last year I used three free birthday dinner coupons - one at the Watson Inn with just Nadia (if you go on your actual birthday you can order any meal up to $20 for free), and I took all three kids to Perkins and Red Robin last April. This year I decided just to use the coupon for the free meal at Perkins. I took the kids in between gymnastics and AWANA, and it went very well, which was a big relief as the last time the five of us went to Friendly's it was a disaster.

6. Oliver took a much longer than usual nap today (1hr 45 min), which was a HUGE help to me as I was able to mow the whole lawn and do a little other housework during his nap.

7. I love that the kids are enjoying games that are more interesting than Candyland. They both enjoyed playing Monopoly this evening!

Textless Tuesday

42

As a child and teenager and young adult I remember eagerly anticipating my birthday each year. You look forward to being a year older when you are young because of whatever new thing you get to experience at a particular age - getting one's ears pierced, driving a car, voting, going to college, getting a job, etc. Somewhere in my 20's I stopped feeling that way because I was single and longing to be a wife and mother. Then once I got married it didn't bother me until we realized that having a baby wasn't going to be easy for us, and then I really dreaded my birthdays because each one was bringing me closer to the big 40, which I viewed as the end of fertility. Once I had Nadia, birthdays became far more enjoyable. In terms of getting older, I actually think that getting closer and closer to 43 will help me because I now view that as the end of fertility. I'm hoping over the next year I can fully wrap my brain around the notion that our family is complete and that we are done doing ivf. On the other hand, I wouldn't mind at all if the gray hair reproduction could slow down just a tad. I don't have any desire to look older, ha ha! Maybe toting around these young children will make people think I'm a bit younger than I actually am. :)

This birthday certainly hasn't gone as planned. Life is like that some times. We had planned to go on a dinner and ballroom dancing date on Saturday night in Williamsport. The pastor's daughter was going to watch our kids for five hours (would have been our longest date in more than four years). My parents were planning to spend the night last night and be with us today to celebrate my birthday and take us out to eat at Bonanza. Paul was supposed to be in West Virginia interviewing today. That was the hardest schedule change to accept. He had a string of phone interviews that did not result in invitations to interview on campus, and then he finally received invitations to interview on campus for tenure track jobs in two states that are on our short list of states we'd like to live in - and he cancelled both of them. I am still in shock. Of course I want my husband to like his job, but it's rather disconcerting that he's 44 years old and has no idea what he'd like to do for a living, especially since he's currently the sole breadwinner for our family of five since I resigned from my position 15 months ago. We are probably going to put the house on the market even though we have no idea where he'll be working or where we'll be living. It seems highly unlikely that he'll have a job within 40 minutes of our house, and it doesn't make sense for him to have a really long commute to work. His current job ends on June 26, and our health insurance ends on May 30.

Paul did prompt the kids to wish me a happy birthday, but none of them ever sang to me today. My parents did sing to me on the phone, and my sister's family in Turkey did sing to me by Skype. Also, my Aunt Tina and Paul's mom both called me to wish me a happy birthday. Paul asked me what I wanted for my birthday, and I said I just wanted cards from the kids, but I guess he didn't have time to do that. In hindsight, I should have asked my mom to do that with them last week while I was in the hospital. Many times growing up I asked for ham for my birthday dinner because it's one of my favorite foods. I would have been perfectly happy with having leftovers tonight, but given the ordeal it was to get Nadia and Ian to eat the meal yesterday, I decided to pick up one large pizza after taking Oliver to the pediatrician earlier today for our dinner tonight. I'm not a big cake person so I didn't mind that we didn't have any cake, but I thought I'd swing by Dunkin Donuts and get myself a brownie batter donut on the way home from the doctor's office as my birthday dessert. They aren't making those any more as they switched to an Easter peep donut. I really think they should sell those year round as they are in my opinion the BEST donut ever. Well not having a dessert is definitely better for my waistline considering I didn't get any exercise last week.

The weather was really pretty the last two days, but I wasn't up to going to the park due to my fever. I was feeling better today so we did get to enjoy the gorgeous weather. I could handle having weather like this ALL year round. Unfortunately it was on said trip that Nadia accidentally ruined my cell phone, but I was able to reactivate my old cell phone so I am not without a phone any longer. Whew. The good news is that Oliver and I are out of the hospital. He got a good report at the doctor today. The pediatrician agrees that Oliver most likely has asthma, and so he wants us to continue giving him breathing treatments every day for at least two more months. He thinks this should help prevent another hospital stay. He thinks we should hold off a bit on seeing a pulmonologist.

Paul has been very busy grading the past few days, so it probably was for the best that we didn't go out on Saturday night. He gave me a card and two books for my Kindle. My parents got me new tires for the stroller and an external flash for my camera. I am SUPER excited about the flash. Paul is hoping this means I won't take so many pictures with the front door open in the dead of winter, ha ha! I can't wait to figure out how to use my new "toy". Except for doing some laundry, I gave myself the day off from cleaning even though the house is really in need of cleaning because the toilets didn't get cleaned (etc.) while I was in the hospital last week. Tomorrow I'll work on getting back on track with that. I had said that we wouldn't do schoolwork on any family member's birthday, but we did some today since they unexpectedly only had one day of school last week. The BEST part of my birthday was that I got to spend the day with ALL three of my children. I am so, so very grateful for them, even when they do things like throw up (which Ian did this evening). I love them dearly!

Happy Easter!

Normally we get together with extended family on Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas each year. It didn't happen this past Thanksgiving, and it didn't happen today. Originally there were going to be 13 people gathered around our dinner table at 4pm, but it didn't seem wise for others to come into our house and be exposed to our germs, especially since RSV is hard on the elderly (thinking about Paul's 91 year old grandmother), Paul's mom's immune system is very weak, my mom was just up here for three days, and my dad is just starting to get over a very bad cold. We did make it to Sunday School and church despite the fact that all five of us have very runny noses and other ailments (in my case a fever). After church we stopped at a park on the way home so I could snap a few pics. I couldn't get many with Oliver because he didn't want to sit or stand in a place long enough for me to get a picture. At the last minute I called a couple from church to see if they had plans for an Easter dinner today. They didn't, and so they accepted my invitation to come and join us for dinner. We gave them some of the leftover ham, but we still have lots of ham, which is fine by me because it's my favorite meat!


Oliver became VERY attached to me during the hopsital due to the fact that #1 he spent 48 hours completely in my arms except when I got up to go to the bathroom, #2 he spent the vast majority of the next 48 hours in my arms although he did sleep in his crib for several hours each night, and #3 when you aren't feeling well, mom's arms are the best. Although he's doing a lot better than he was on Thursday, he's still not 100% back to normal. He hasn't even wanted Daddy to hold him at home; so I was rather nervous about how he'd fare in the church nursery. He started crying as soon as we entered the church building, but he did settle down in the nursery thankfully. Two of his medications (one oral and one by nebulizer) were continued for the first 24 hours we were home. One of those had to be given every 4 hours around the clock. We are very glad that one is done. For the next 4 weeks we are to give him two nebulizer treatments a day. He's supposed to see the Pediatrician tomorrow or Tuesday for a follow-up appointment, and then we're supposed to take him to a pulmonologist in the next month because the hospitalist thinks he has RAD (asthma).

We haven't colored any eggs yet. Unexpectedly spending 5 days in the hospital will wreak some havoc on one's to do list. Hopefully we can get to that tomorrow so I won't feel too delinquent. Nadia sang "It's Easter" with the King's Kids choir this morning. Ian knew the song, but as it was time to go up he looked like he was about to cry, and I didn't want him up there crying so he stayed in the pew. Maybe next month they'll both sing when the choir sings in church.

Egg Hunt #2

Ian got 3 plastic eggs today in the hunt for 1-4 year olds. Each had a piece of candy inside, and two were prize eggs! He won a large bubble wand and a stuffed Smurf. Nadia got 4 dyed hard boiled eggs in the hunt for 5-8 year olds. She didn't find any prize eggs, but they had a table of Happy Meal toys for those who didn't get a prize. Nadia picked a My Little Pony. Both kids had a hotdog and bottle of water (all free!) before we headed home. Oliver was napping as he took two 90 minute naps today.

In the past years I've never bought anything for the kids at Easter aside from a kit to dye eggs. This year I got Ian a Color Wonder superhero book and a chocolate peanut butter bunny. I gave Oliver a new VeggieTales dvd, and I gave Nadia a nightgown for her doll and a chocolate peanut butter bunny. I gave Paul the Reese's peanut butter cups from the basket I was given in the hospital. I'm hoping my fever is gone tomorrow so we can go to church to celebrate the true meaning of Easter! No one will be joining us for dinner since we're all sick, but I still bought a ham. Paul (unfortunately) cancelled his interview in WV on Monday so he'll be here with us tomorrow and Monday after all.