Florida 2011

We survived the drive! We left the house at 7:30 a.m. thursday morning and it was a chilly 2 degrees out. We arrived in Orlando at 4:45 p.m. on Friday and it was a balmy 89 degrees out.... ahhh, it was definitely worth the stress of the drive! The drive really wasn't too bad, it's just really l o n g. We kept talking about flying vs driving and I don't know... at this point with all the crap we bring (bags, carseats, stroller, pack n play) flying really isn't that much more convenient. But you can bet you behind that as soon as these guys are out of carseats we will be taking a plane! When we left our house the roads were still quite snow covered and icy and even once we arrived to the highway (about an hour later) the highway only had one lane clear of snow until a little south of Big Rapids. By Grand Rapids though, I think we had lost the snow completely. We stopped in Cedar Rapids for Breakfast and then just north of Indianapolis for lunch fuel and to switch drivers (from Aaron to me). I drove until just past Nashville and then Aaron took over from there to just south of Chattanooga (Ringgold) where we stopped at 10:30 p.m. for the night. A solid 15 hour day and the kids did great up until we hit traffic/construction that delayed us an hour in TN. The next day we left at 8am and Aaron drove the whole way to our destination in Orlando. Originally we were going to switch when we stopped for lunch in Valdosta but the kids were totally sick of being in the car at this point and Aaron decided I had the harder job of trying to keep the kids happy so he decided he would stay behind the wheel. Brody told me he "had to go pee" about every 2 minutes because he just wanted out of his seat and luckily I was able to call his bluff and we didn't have any accidents! No major slowdowns on this leg of the drive, we were grateful!

Yesterday was Brody's third birthday! We had decided not to do Disney this year and originally I was kind of feeling bad that we would be in Florida on Brody's birthday and NOT taking him to Disney but when we woke up yesterday I realized that he would probably want to do ANYTHING other than get in the car again. Even if it was Disney World! So instead we had a relaxing day of swimming, fishing and playing around. He had a great day, despite falling on the basketball court and getting a mark on his forehead that is a perfect little shape of the flooring (he also has a line down his nose but you can't see it well in the photos). Everyone else is having a good time as well! Jacob is currently on his third round of mini golf with Aaron and Austin has been a pretty happy guy too, despite cutting two teeth! Oh and the best news... so far they have been sleeping great having all three boys in the same room!

March: In like a lion, out like a lamb

But that lamb is a real mean son of a bitch! ;)

I'm making up for my lack of blogging by doing three blog posts in one day ;) Last night we enjoyed a lovely snowstorm complete with thunder and lightning! It even woke Jacob up, but thankfully he went back to sleep and just told me about it this morning. We are leaving tomorrow morning for Florida so we are extremely grateful the storm came last night! We'll be driving to the Tennessee area and spending the night and then making it to Orlando hopefully Friday evening. No plans for disney this trip, we aren't brave enough to face the crowds during peak spring break time ;) But, we are looking forward to not working (Aaron), miniature golf (Jacob), daily ice cream (Brody), swimming & splashing (Austin) and the best mudslides in the USA (me!)... oh ya, and the sun and warmth (hopefully!). We'll keep you posted!

Brody's birthday party!

We celebrated Brody's 3rd birthday last weekend since we'll be in Florida on his actual birthday (March 26th). I can't believe my spirited little guy is three! I love him so much and really enjoy looking at the world through his eyes - he's just so full of life and feels things so deeply (happiness AND anger!!).



Extra icing for Brody!

Oh wow, is Brody sharing here? Oh wait, I think he's trying to take the toy back.
Opening presents is a serious job:
Brody loves his big T-Rex!

My sweetie!
Can you tell someone is a little afraid of the movie?
See the birthday boy now?? ;)

Little Austin!

Skiing with Kimmy Gibbler

Kim and Peggy recently bought some new ski gear and couldn't wait to try it so we all enjoyed some spring skiing at Crystal Mountain! It was Peggy's first time skiing and she did great, aside from a wanting to take the chairlift on a roundtrip ;) Kim sister Jenna and her husband Sean also joined us and Aaron and I had a blast hanging with a group of friends. The weather definitely consisted of a "wintery mix", but we made the best of it! Thanks mom for watching the boys :)

Me and the hubs:



At the Vista:

Kim and I:


On the lift:
Peggy and I:
Another one of Kim and I:
Cute couple, Jenna & Sean:

Visit with the Shadducks

Last weekend we met up with the Shadduck family in Big Rapids, as always it was SO NICE to see them! I often get frustrated that we don't have many friends where we live but what we lack in quantity we sure make up for in quality with our long distance friends :) I love you all!

The highlight of the weekend was when we went to eat dinner at the hotel restaurant and when the hostess said "How many?" and someone answered "10", I thought, no way. There can NOT be that many of us. It's crazy that we are a group of 10 now and 6 people in our group are 5yrs and under!

Here are all the kiddos: Owen (10 months), Kyra (5), Jacob (4), Austin (1), Brody (2) and Leah (3).


We were asked "Are they twins?" lol
Owen is like "Dude, this kid won't share the bus OR the ambulance, what gives?"

Conversations....

Today the boys have been EXTREMELY loud and rowdy, especially during Austin's nap. Jacob brought something up to me and asked me to read it to him. Here is our conversation:

Me: I'm not very happy with you today. I'm not going to read that for you until you promise to start behaving better. What do you need to do to behave better?

Jacob: Please mom, be happy.

Me: No, what do YOU need to do to make me happy?

Jacob: Give you a kiss?

Really? Is it really that hard to figure out that I don't want them to wake up the baby?! Ah, some days it takes everything I have not to scream STFU!!!

********

Earlier today, after Breakfast.

Brody: Gotta go poopies, mommy!

Me: Ok, into the bathroom, c'mon!

Brody begins taking off his underwear and says...

Brody: I've got mud in my underwears!

Awesome.

*******

Last night in the car when I was about to make a phone call:

Me: Ok guys, I need you to be quiet, I'm going to call Sherry. Do you guys remember who Sherry is? The pretty one with the long blond hair?

Boys: Yes.

Me: Do you remember who Sherry's boyfriend is?

Brody: BRODY!!!

******

Last week I assisted at Jacob's preschool. Jacob brought his Blue Angels Airplane for show and tell and took it up to the teacher.

Teacher: Oh my goodness, Jacob is this a U.S. Navy Blue Angel?

Jacob: Yes

Teacher, to the class: Whose daddy works for the Navy?

Child, whose daddy happens to be the one in the Navy: We don't have daddies.

Met with surgeon...

I had my appointment today with the orthopedic regarding my foot issues and was a little overwhelmed. He talks and moves kind of fast and it was hard to keep up with him. I regret not bringing anyone with me to help process the information, but what can you do? Ah well. Anyways, he said that the bone spurring (on all 4 sides of the bones that meet up with that large toe joint) was caused from arthritis that I was predisposed to have and NOT from wearing my reef flip flops non-stop the past 3 years. (yay! Well, sort of... at least I didn't cause it, but it still sucks I have it). He said that he can go in and clean up the joint (here is a link that kind of explains it, warning graphic) but it's likely I'll need a fusion or joint replacement eventually anyway. He said the literature states that if I go without surgery right now, I will probably need the fusion when I'm 40 but if I clean it up now I may be able to wait until I'm 50 for the fusion or total joint (I forget which one he said, again wish I had brought someone!). He did say in his experience though that he usually does not see patients again after he does the cheilectomy.

Soooo, it sucks. On one hand I am really in not that much pain as long as I wear tennis shoes or sandals. I can run just fine with it. My balance has suffered, but I don't know if that is from the toe issues or the plantar fasciitis. But, I would rather not wait and have it get larger and require a more difficult surgical procedure. The more I google the more freaked out I get. I've been thinking in my head that it seems like a pretty simple, minor procedure but things I'm coming across on the 'net are suggesting that people are in a lot more pain (for months) post-operatively than they expected. The doctor told me that I wouldn't need crutches but it would be 3-6 weeks before I was up and running again. I said "running, literally?" and he said uh, no... up and moving. I scheduled the surgery (tentatively) for April 11th. If I'm going to get it done, I would rather do it sooner than later and not have it screw up our summer (and beach time) or our winter (ski time). I have one other decision to make as well... I have a family friend that I've known my whole life is also an orthopedic foot and ankle specialist in Lansing, who just happens to also have an excellent reputation. Do I see him or do I stick with the convenience and stay local with a surgeon who has a good reputation here from everyone I've asked...