Chicago part 2

On Thursday, the kids and I went to the Children's Museum at Navy pier while Andrew worked. I was a little nervous going it alone, but this was the perfect museum to do so. The kids could touch and climb everything and even Ella had lots to do. Ty loved meeting Curious George, Ella loved splashing in the 'river' and catching 'fish', and Arick and Brianna loved building a house.

On Friday, we spent the day swimming at the hotel. Brianna and Arick practiced swimming and Ty was all over the pool with his floaties. Ella was scared at first, but after I put her in a baby float she was having a blast. In fact, she was so calm that I thought she would fall asleep.

Saturday we left for home but not before stopping at Trader Joe's for some of our favorites. The ride home was very long, but that was because I was coming down with the flu.

Chicago was so much fun and hopefully we get to visit again in warmer weather. Andrew and I miss the Chicago-style hot dogs (all beef hot dog, with onions, "nuclear-green" relish, mustard, diced tomatoes, chopped onions, a dill pickle spear, and celery salt) and Chicago-style pizza again (deep dish and stuffed), oh it was sooooo good.

*Just in case you are wondering why we visited so many museums, we did so because we had free admission (parking was another story).

Chicago part 1

We started our vacation on Monday and planned to spend the day driving the long way to Chicago. We stopped to see Louisville and visit the factory (below) but it was closed so we will have to visit another time.


Louisville Slugger Museum is Louisville Kentucky. The bat is much bigger than this.


On Tuesday, we spent the day at The Museum of Science and Industry, which is one of my favorite hands-on museums of all time. Ty LOVED getting to ride the tractors and the huge model train exhibit. I loved the Fairy Castle dollhouse which was amazing.


Andrew couldn't resist!


More hands-on fun for the boys, it was very hard to pull them away or have them share with other kids.


On Wednesday, we visited the Natural History Museum. This is Sue the famous T Rex, the most complete skeleton ever found.

Back to our regularly scheduled blogging

I know that this month was a slow month for me and I apologize, but now I am healthy and ready to spend more time on the computer. Please start visiting regularly again. A summary of our vacation to Chicago will be posted shortly.

The greatest show on Earth

When we took the kids to the circus, we kept it a surprise. Brianna figured out where we were going when she saw the trailers that said "The Greatest Show on Earth". Arick was stumped, so we asked him what he thought was the greatest show on Earth. He pondered for a moment and said, "Star Wars!" Ha! Gotta love that Star Wars addict of mine.

Happy Birthday Ty!!

Happy Birthday to Ty who turned four today. He has grown up so much, figuratively anyway, since he just hit 30 pounds at 4 years old. He is obsessed with Disney's Cars, he prefers not to be alone, he mumbles when he talks, (which can be very frustrating), he would eat cold cereal for every meal if he could, he misses Arick and Brianna while they are at school, he loves to help me clean, and he smiles at everyone which just endears him to everyone. He adds lots of joy to our home and we are so grateful to have him in our family.

To celebrate his special day, we went to the circus. Gigi and Grandpa Craig came along too to make it even better. It was a surprise for the kids and they were delighted when they realized what our plan was. Ty was pretty mesmerized, we all were actually. We saw the Bellobration tour and highly recommend this version by Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey (they have another tour as well). Bello the clown is the only clown that has made me laugh. All in all, a great place to celebrate being 4.

Food poisoning, need I say more?

I don't know what I have done to deserve this but I have been bedridden yet again, this time with food poisoning. I am not happy. The likely culprit . . . vegetables. I try to do something right, in this case eat healthy, and it hurts me.

New years resolutions

I love new beginnings, especially the start of new year. While in bed for 10 days, I had a lot of time to think about the new year and what my goals would be. I always try to come up with a physical goal, a mental health goal, and a spiritual goal. For obvious reasons, I thought a lot about my health. Since December 1st, I have spent almost 3/4 of that time sick or suffering from pain. During that time I had cut back on sleep, ran myself ragged getting things done, and indulged my taste buds way too much. Basically, I neglected myself. So my physical resolution for this year is to establish healthier habits so that I can reduce pain and get sick less.

For my mental health goal, I plan to keep studying photography and to apply for and be accepted into a special photography group. This group requires an application with about 30 photos, and it would be a nice milestone marker in my photography when I do get in.

For my spiritual goal, I plan on attending the Temple here in Nashville more and to give more service to others.

I am still working on exactly how I am going to reach these goals, but I have started to make some changes and I am even beginning to see some success.

Hello, again

So the last remnants of the flu are finally leaving our home. Finally. I still fatigue really easily and we all have a bit of a cough still. This was my first time experiencing the real flu and I never ever want to feel that way again. I will get my yearly flu shot without fail. I know that lots of people are wary about the flu shot, but when you watch your husband(who was the only smart one to get the flu sho) stay healthy while the rest of the family suffers from the flu, you 'get' that the shot works. He never even got a sniffle.

Are we still alive?

Barely. The flu (confirmed by lab tests) has taken over our house. The total body count is 4 of us, hopefully Bri and Andrew stay healthy. Oh my gosh it is sooooooooooo awful. Arick and I have it the worst. Keep us in your prayers. Arick has been crying off and on about how horrible it is.

Auntie Shelley goes home

Auntie Shelley left for Buffalo this morning. It was so much fun having her here. We laughed a lot, cried a little, and just really enjoyed being together. Her Auntie skills were put into good use and she totally captured the hearts of all of my kids, especially Ella. We sure will miss her.

The last 24 hours in pictures

The last 24 hours have been bliss, well except for the sleep deprivation and this cold that has taken my voice. It has been one of my most favorite Christmas' by far. Visits with family and friends have been perfect, the food delicious, the Spirit abundant, and the smiles plentiful. As an added bonus I got incredibly spoiled by my wonderful husband, children and my Mom and Craig. In fact, it was the first time in years that I have been completely surprised by my gifts. What fun it is to be surprised! Yet as much fun as it was to receive the joyful reactions from my children, Andrew, Craig and my Mom were even better. Today was a fabulous day. You can see all of the fun that we had in the many pictures in th slideshow.

I do hope that the rest of you had a Merry Christmas as well and that this new year is full of happiness.

Ella at 16 months old

The above is a picture of Ella taken a few days ago. The photo captured the face we have seen a lot around here. She has developed this habit of sticking her tongue out like that and it is so cute. She comes by this trait honestly from her father and grandfather who are known to do the same thing.

It is hard to believe this tiny (18 pounds 11 ounces at her check-up) troublemaker is 16 months old. I wish this time would stop flying by so fast. She has such personality and she is beginning to understand and say so much. She can say the names of all of us, as well as the words: baby, hi, baba, no, three, and amen. She also babbles a lot and gets frustrated when we can understand her. She adores all baby dolls, climbing the stairs, and being chased. She is a wonderful sleeper and still takes two naps a day. Our favorite thing about Ella is her laugh, which can put even the grinch in a good mood. She finds so many things funny so we hear her laugh often. Her best laugh happens when you try to surprise her, what a hoot that is.

My top 25 movies

I was tagged to list my top 25 movies so here is my list. I thought it would be much harder to come up with 25 but I definitely had to whittle it down. The ones that I chose either had to have to be ones that I can watch over and over and still enjoy it, or they were movies that made me think about them for weeks after I watched them. I did not put any movies, although I was tempted to with ones like Shawshank Redemption and The Matrix, that were originally rated R (I don't watch unedited rated R movies) that can be seen edited on TV, because you can't rent them edited. So here is my list:

Mary Poppins
Spitfire Grill
Gattaca
You've Got Mail
Annie (the original)
Sound of Music
Castaway
October Sky
Ocean's Eleven
The Pelican Brief
Pride and Prejudice (A&E version)
Pursuit of Happyness
Sliding Doors
Hitch
Men in Black
Elf
The Santa Clause
Big
Contact
Disney Pixar's Cars
Anne of Green Gables
Catch Me if You Can
The Bourne Trilogy (cause you can't watch just one)
The Fugitive
National Treasure
The Italian Job (oh I know, that is #26, but I just remembered it and it deserves a spot)

You may have noticed that none of the Harry Potter movies are on there. As much as I love the books and the audio recordings, the Harry Potter movies are just too short for me to truly love. Now if A&E would like to do a long miniseries as good as Pride and Prejudice, well I will revise my list.

Now I tag Jamie, Logan, and Monique, and anyone else who wants to do so.

Brianna's homework assignment

Brianna wanted me to share with you her latest homework assignment that she worked really hard on. She is so pleased with her work. This was done with very little parent help and we didn't let her use spellcheck. Andrew helped her format and insert the picture, and she typed 90% of it. He also would read it and tell her what sentences she needed to write in a different way but not how. She is one smart cookie.

You know you live in Tennessee when . . .

Santa Claus is a drive through experience! Drive-thrus are crazy popular here in TN. I just didn't know how popular. Here's the story.

This last Monday night, Andrew was in charge of Family Home Evening. He planned a little car trip to go see a Christmas lights display. You know the kind that you stay in your car and drive through after paying an entrance fee? Well this one was very fun and at the end was a barn that you drive through to get to the exit. Much to our surprise and the kids delight, in the barn was Jolly Old St. Nick (he was watching Monday Night Football in between visits from the children, ha!) Santa came right up to our car and asked all the kids what they wanted for Christmas. We had know clue that Santa would be there so the kids weren't sure exactly what they wanted yet, however, Santa reassured them that they could change their minds. We topped off our night with some Frosty the Snowman Cocoa (a.k.a. chocolate Frosty's from Wendy's) and headed home very happy.

As silly as a drive-thru Santa sounds, it was definitely our best Santa experience ever. Seriously, no crying children, you wait in your comfortable warm car, no trying to keep your kids from running away, no long lines, and no overpriced pictures, how can you top that? We will definitely do that again next year. A new tradition, love that.

(sorry no pics because the evening was a surprise and I didn't know to bring my camera)

GeoBee

Yesterday, Brianna took a school-wide test (4th grade and 5th grade I believe) for the National Geographic Bee. Brianna came in 9th. That allowed her to participate in the 100 question test today. Brianna was very excited about coming in 9th yesterday, so today she comes home and says to me with perfect drama,"Mom, remember that practice geography bee thing yesterday and how I came in 9th? Well, yeah, I just won it for the whole school." Then she whips out her medal. A real medal from the National Geographic Bee which has engraved on it "2008 School Bee Champion" She is so stinkin' pleased with herself. Apparently, she is now famous at school and will have her picture in the paper. A kid at school even asked if she could hug Brianna because maybe some of her smartness will rub off. Yeah, that's my kid.


And for a little dose of humility, Brianna only got 24 out of the 100 questions right to come in first. The next closest was 18. Apparently, geography isn't very advanced in 4th grade.

A photoshoot of three stylish sisters

I had another great session today and it was really fun. I am still struggling with group shots, so I think I will focus on learning more that this week. The three beautiful girls are daughters of my good friend, Sandy. Enjoy and let me know what you think.

I created a poll, please vote!

I am trying to pick a website address for me as part of my effort to start a photography business. I would wait but I have learned that waiting means risking having some of the web addresses taken by someone else. So I have created this poll to see what potential customers would like best. Please vote so that I can purchase my domain soon. Thanks!

Happy Birthday Ben!

Ben is married to my sister-in-law, Paula. He is a great dad, husband and uncle we want to wish him a happy birthday from all of us here in Tennessee.

So to Ben :
"Happy Birthday! We hope you had a great day!"

Our fears

We all have our fears. Andrew's fear is losing one of the kids in a crowd, my fear is a house fire, Brianna's fear is getting bad grades, Arick's fear is getting lost, Ty's fear is showers, and Ella's fear, well hers is balls. Yep, you read that correctly. Our little punkin is scared of balls. Beach balls, basketballs, soccer balls, etc. If you roll one towards her, she runs away in a panic with sobbing soon to follow. Absolutely hysterical to watch, not so much fun for her, but fun for us parents. Maybe Bounce-a-Rounce 2007 was just too much for her to handle.