So far, 2010 has been pretty merciful.  Nothing excellent so far, but no tearing out of the hair and sobbing in a pile yet either.  I take my blessings where I can get them.

Yesterday went pretty well, being the first day in almost two weeks that we had any sort of normal routine around here.  In that two weeks time, Liam has become comfortable with climbing the gate into the kitchen and rooting around in the pantry and also opening the gate at the top of the stairs and playing upstairs.  He did a little of that yesterday, I didn’t mind the playing upstairs but I took issue with the pantry rooting.  Thankfully, he listened when I told him to get back in the living room.  For the most part.  And naptime was embraced and cherished by all yesterday and THAT is a wonderful thing indeed.

So really, so far, there are no complaints.  A MIRACLE!

Last night we rented “The Hangover” from the Blessed Redbox and I was so right.  Remember last week when I mentioned that we saw “Funny People” and it wasn’t that great and that we should have gotten “The Hangover” instead?  I WAS SO RIGHT.  “The Hangover” is seven different kinds of awesome.  If you haven’t seen it yet, get thee to a Redbox and get it.  If you have, then HIGHFIVE because that movie rocks.  We both enjoyed it immensely.  I might watch it again during naptime (since Kile forgot to take it with him this morning to return on his way to work), I liked it THAT MUCH.  There were parts that were SO WRONG but it was still the most hilarious thing I’ve seen in weeks.  So yay for that!

There you have it.  2010 doesn’t suck so far and a dvd recommendation.  That’s all I got.

I haven’t talked a lot about the rugrats lately.  (Let’s not mention that I haven’t talked a whole lot about ANYTHING lately, shall we?)  So I figured I should probably try to make up for that.

Harry is back at school (at last!) after being off for the month of October.  There were some nice things about him being around (he keeps Liam busy) and some not so nice things about him being around (he gets Liam all wound up and hyper).  All in all, I’d say I was pretty happy to see him return to school.  Even though it’s all half days this week.  Stupid parent/teacher conferences.  Of course, we had ours before the break so these half day things are pretty freakin’ useless to us.

His birthday is next Tuesday.  TUESDAY.  And you know how old he’ll be?  TEN.  10.  Double digits. Lord help me.  I have a pre-teen.

Of course, that knowledge couldn’t have possibly escaped me because lately?  He’s been ACTING like a pre-teen.

However, I do enjoy some of his interests lately so there’s that.  Ever since our Disney Extravaganza in August, he’s been enamored of all things Disney just as much as we have.  He has gone from watching Nickelodeon with it’s plentiful showings of Spongebob and iCarly, to watching the Disney Channel and now it’s Wizards of Waverly Place, Jonas, Suite Life on Deck and Phineas and Ferb.   And, dare I say it?  I enjoy it.  He’s also discovered the chocolate-covered crack that is “High School Musical” and I’m only a little ashamed to admit that I currently have 3 “HSM” songs on my iPod.  Along with one by Miley Cyrus.  Oh and that song that all the kids of the Disney Channel sang together that makes me almost feel a little weepy when I hear it.

*cough*

Anyhow.  Where was I?

Liam, meanwhile, is a full fledged preschooler.  Which is impressive, considering he is neither a) potty trained or b) in preschool.  But he’s talking so much more and it’s actually getting a little easier to reason with him.  Which is to say that instead of having the consistency of a block of lead, it’s more like a block of asphalt.  Still stubborn as heck, but if you’re lucky and you try hard/long enough, you might get through.  He still doesn’t eat much, though I am consistently surprised by what he WILL eat.  And sometimes, letting him pick out what he wants to eat is enormously helpful.  This is a kid that likes to be in charge.  Even if you’re really the one in charge but he feels like he’s in charge.  Not an easy feat to pull off, but with enough practice, I’m getting the hang of it.

But, yeah, still not potty trained.

And then there’s Evie.  If Liam is a preschooler, then Evie is a toddler.  She is now the one that is into everything the moment you turn your back.  It figures, now that Liam has reached the point where I can trust him in a room by himself for five minutes, Evie is the one who can’t be trusted.  SIGH.  Her hair is growing and I’m delighted by it’s fluffy/curly consistency.  I’m still not sure if I’d classify her hair as curly (as it is mostly straight on top, where she still doesn’t have a whole lot yet), but in the right condition, the curls are just out of this world.  She’s a sweety, and loves to sit on laps.  Which, sadly, is counter-active to my knitting needs.  But, if there’s anything I’ve learned the last couple of years, it’s that sometimes you have to just go with the flow.  Unlike Liam, she eats very well and is definitely developing her own set of preferences. I have no idea if she’ll be a girly girl, but for now, she’s at the mercy of my whims.  And my whims say she’s a girly girl.  She does seem different than either of the boys were. But that could very well just be her personality.  And, for what it’s worth, I adore her personality.  It’s so fun to watch these kids come into their own, discover themselves and assert their preferences.

Like right now?  She’s dancing around the living room in a diaper while music from “Wall-E” plays.   She loves music and she absolutely ADORES dancing.  Girl’s got rhythm.

So that’s what’s up with the kidlets these days.  And, can I just say, I’m so looking forward to Christmas with them this year.  It should be a total blast.  Evie already loses her mind when she sees Christmas trees in the store.  Just wait till she sees one in our living room!

(On the other hand, maybe I CAN wait… I’m not looking forward to whatever havoc these kids wreck on the tree this year.)

Tuesday, August 11

We woke up in port again, and yet again, I didn’t feel a thing.  We were sleeping like stones at night.  A by product of the busy days at WDW and on the boat itself.  The kids even slept through the night without barely a stir.

The difference this morning is that we were woken up by a phone call.  It was Harry, up in my parent’s stateroom.  My parents were going to breakfast and Harry wanted to go to breakfast with us.  Did he know the way down to our room?  Of course not.  So Kile had to throw on clothes and go get him.

It was earlier than we might have otherwise gotten up, but it wasn’t an entirely bad thing either.  We were hoping to get off the boat and get a good spot set up on the beach under an umbrella.  I had heard that if you don’t get their relatively early, you can miss out.  And if there’s one thing I knew about myself: without shade, I was not worth a whole lot.

On our way to breakfast, I took a quick picture of the hallway outside our room.  It was a very long hall:

That’s looking forward.  It’s a long way forward from our room.  But that was okay, because we grew to have a fond spot for the aft portion of the ship.  Forward was for squares.  Midship was for pansies.  Aft was where it was at.  HAR!

Okay, so we decided to do the Parrot Cay buffet for breakfast.  And it was MUCH better than the Beach Blanket Buffet.  We were rather pleased as we gorged on breakfast goodies.  There’s no end to the food on cruise ships, just in case you were wondering.  It’s EVERYWHERE.

After breakfast, we had to get ready for….

Castaway Cay!  And yes, that IS the Flying Dutchman there on the right.  It may not look like much from here but Castaway Cay is where I want to go to die.  It’s just awesome.  And completely stress-free.  We stuffed ourselves into our swimsuits, sprayed ourselves down with sunblock (I have to give mad props to Banana Boat for Kids/Babies (we had both) tear-free sunblock because NO ONE got burned when we used it.  And we didn’t have to obsessively reapply either.  And in case you weren’t aware, I’m entirely white and prone to burning so that is a BIG DEAL) and were ready to hit the beach.

Again, we could have waited for the tram but we decided to just hoof it.

It was like something out of a Corona commercial.  I kid you not.  We even spotted none other than “Captain Jack Sparrow” on our way to the beach.  This guy did a good Captain Jack, too.  It was uncanny.  He had the voice and the mannerisms DOWN.

See him?  No?

How about now?  He was a crowd favorite that day.

We dropped Harry at “Scuttle’s Cove” which had all sorts of children’s programming on the island.  But I sorta wish we’d kept him with us.  He didn’t get any chance to play in the water with them and I think some of the activities kind of bored him.  Kile had gone to check on him at lunchtime but wasn’t able to ask Harry directly if he wanted to stay.  Oh well!  NEXT TIME!

We were able to quickly find the perfect spot on the beach to set up camp.  It was under not just an umbrella but a palm tree as well.  We gathered a bunch of chairs and loungers around, just in case anyone wanted to join us (and eventually they did).  It was… heaven.

White sand beaches?  Check.  Blue-Green ocean?  Check.  Palm trees?  Check.  Bright umbrellas?  Check.  Just awesome.

We pretty much went in the water right away with the little ones.  And yes, you could just walk right in.  It was like bath-water.  One of the ships photographers came along and took a picture of Evie and I (yes, while in the water!) and Kile bought it on our last moments on the boat.  Beware for my hideous-ness but Evie was sure cute:

Liam loved the ocean too and I think we could have stayed out there all day.  But I didn’t want Evie to get water logged too much at once.  So we eventually returned to our little “nest”.

After the kids played on the sand a bit, we went back for another dip in the water.  It was hard not to!  If we hadn’t had the little ones to chase around, I would have liked to rent an innertube and float around like I saw many other people doing.  That water was intoxicating!

Eventually, we got hungry so we dried off and went in search of food.  The cruise had a BBQ buffet set up just down the path from where we were.  We went and loaded up on bbq ribs and a very tasty mahi-mahi sandwhich along with chips and cous-cous salad and lots of lemonade.  Being out in the sun makes you hungry!  After we ate, we stopped by the souvenir stand to see if we could find anything we loved there.  We knew we wanted some postcards, since we’d heard you pretty much HAVE to send a postcard from Castaway Cay.  And Kile and I still hadn’t found any t-shirts we loved.

As it so happens, Kile found the PERFECT t-shirt and they happened to have ONE more in his size!  It was perfect for him and he was very happy with it.  I got desperate and went with a t-shirt that had a picture of the beach and the boat, said Castaway Cay and 2009 on it.  Pretty good, but it was quite larger than I would normally get.  And it wasn’t the sort of cut I was hoping for.  But every “girly” shirt I saw was outrageously expensive and this one was a very reasonable price.  The cheapskate in me caved and I got it.  We were able to send all our purchases (sans the postcards, of course) back to the boat to pick up later.

We returned to the beach and hung out there with some of my siblings for a while.  Evie was exhausted so she took a nap on one of the lounge chairs.

Too cute.  Kile and Liam went back into the ocean and I found some reputable family members to keep an eye on Evie while I went back into the water myself.  Again, I could have stayed out there forever.  It was just bliss.  And the water was SO salty, that I was able to lay back and float with no trouble at all.  Ahh…

I only returned to shore because I saw Kile holding Evie, who had woken up.  It was getting close to the time we had agreed to head back to the ship.  We wanted to be out of the super heat of the late afternoon and we also wanted to catch a screening of “Up” in the theater on the ship.  We had even arranged to put the wee ones in the nursery while we did it.  So it was time to pack it up and head back to the boat.  Kile went to get Harry from Scuttle’s Cove and we found out he hadn’t been in the ocean at all.  Kile offered to take him down there for a few minutes and I took Evie back to the boat myself, since she was DONE.  I sensed she wanted to nurse, but wouldn’t consider the sippy cup.   I took a few pictures on my way back, mostly of the Flying Dutchman.

Back on the ship, it was time to get clean.  Evie and I both were a little sandy, despite having rinsed off at the beach showers, sticky from the sea water and greasy from the sunblock.  Bleh.  My plan, flawed as it was, was to bring Evie in the shower with me in hopes that she would stand or sit still while I washed my hair, then I would pick her up and wash her down.

It didn’t go quite that smoothly.

She wasn’t terribly interested in staying still.  And as the Disney Cruise doesn’t believe in no-slip bathtubs, she fell down.  A lot.  And cried.  A lot.  But we got it done eventually.  And while we were in there, Kile and the boys came back and I was able to holler at Kile to fetch Evie and dry her off so I could dry off myself.  While I was dressing her and nursing her back to her old self, it was Kile’s turn to take a shower with Liam, though Liam cooperated a lot better than Evie had.

Once we were all dressed and ready, we dropped the little ones off at the nursery, which was conveniently located right next to the theater.  We grabbed our 3-D glasses and headed in.  The theater is truly a full-sized movie theater and I’m a little sad we didn’t try to go see more movies there.  But G-Force and Hannah Montana didn’t appeal to us that much, believe it or not.

The 3-D was AMAZING.  The glasses irritated me a little but it was worth it.  Almost like seeing a different movie!  And it was nice to see “Up” outside of the drive-in and I caught more details this time than I had on the first viewing.  Best of all?  FREE.  Free is good.

After the movie, we killed a little time and then picked up the wee ones.  It was time to head to dinner, so we took a quick picture of everyone out on the deck before heading back to the Animator’s Palette.

They were all a lot happier than this picture lets on, believe me!  And yes, we were back at sea, the boat having left Castaway Cay at 5pm.  And this time?  I didn’t feel it at all.  I was getting VERY used to it.

It was Pirate Night and the Animator’s Palette was the best place to celebrate, I’m sure of it!  All the waitstaff was dressed up like pirates, the table cloths and linens were colorful and we had festive, themed menus.  Let the fun begin!

I had scallops and shrimp and it was fantastic.  I’m not even a big scallops person and they were awesome.  Evie LOVED all the extra excitement of the evening and kept everyone entertained the way she clapped and cheered while the waitstaff paraded around the dining room for us, whooping and hollering.  It was all a big show to her and she ate it all up.  Loved every single minute.  The girl, she knows how to party.

The staff had a cake for us that night, for my parents.  In honor of their fiftieth anniversary this year.  That was pretty cool.

The show that night was “G-Force” in, you guessed it, 3-D.  Kile and I weren’t terribly hot to see it and the little ones were getting rather desperate for sleep.  So my brother’s family offered to take him with them.  Sweet!  We took the little ones down to the room and found our nightly towel animal waiting for us:

I also realized that I had been very remiss in taking pictures of our towel animals to date.  The first night we had a dog, and the second night it was an elephant.  Both were adorable and I’m a fool for not taking pictures.  But at least I got the towel monkey!

The little ones went to sleep VERY easy that night after their big day.  We watched some TV but started to feel bad about missing the big pirate party above-decks.  Around 10pm or so, we came to a decision:  the little ones were well asleep.  We could run up there, watch the fireworks, and then head back down to our room.  No harm, no foul!  Right?

We hoofed up to Deck 10 (no small feat since there were areas closed off and elevators to nowhere and all that fun stuff).  There was the dance party underway which we didn’t really care about, but it was fun to watch anyhow.

We cruised around the deck a little bit, went as far forward as we could.  It was dark out on the ocean.

We returned to the party where things started getting a little more interesting, what with the introduction of pirates and Mickey Mouse himself. And then? The fireworks.

The perfect end to the perfect day. Truly.

Coming up: a day at sea! And our last day on the boat. Aww, nuts.

In a word? Don’t.

We made it back from our big Disney Extravaganza yesterday. Well.
Today, actually. If you wanna get technical. And I do. The kids did
great on vacation. But traveling was hard on all of us.

I’m going to save the warm and fuzzy details for my warm and fuzzy
posts about the trip. This post is for the Traveling. Which was
neither warm nor fuzzy. And may have included me having a nervous
breakdown in the Denver airport.

Going out was… interesting. I mean, all in all, it was pretty
smooth considering. But we weren’t used to traveling at that point
and the whole business just had us frayed before we even got on the
plane, I think. We left fairly early on Wednesday morning. Kile’s
co-worker who lives near us came by and rode with us in the van down
to the airport where we unloaded our junk and the carseats and she
took the van to work with plans to leave it at our house on her way
home from work, picking up her car which was parked there. Make
sense? Everyone with me so far? Good?

The carseats… were a pain. I mean, I know we needed to have them.
But lugging them through the airport was AWFUL. I had the bruises to
show for it too! We hadn’t purchased Evie her own seat (since she can
qualify as a free “lap child”) but were able to score her a seat on
the plane anyhow so we brought her seat on the plane with us. And
that was hard! Pushing a stroller and carrying a carseat along with
the other carry ons was a nightmare, but then having to carry Evie
(having left the stroller at the jetway) and the carseat on the plane?
OMG. There are no words. I’m already starting to block it from my
memory, it was so bad.

And the moment the plane started moving, Evie got upset. And I’m
talking pulling back from the jetway. The stewardess finally told me
as we were taking off that I could take her out of her seat and hold
her. So I did and that chilled her out. So much that she started to
fall asleep so I put her back in her seat and that was all well and
good.

The boys were fine and dandy and other than Liam’s propensity for
kicking the back of Evie’s seat, he did pretty well too. Harry soon
discovered that flying was pretty cool and he liked ordering soda from
the stewardess and getting packets of peanuts and cookies.

We went first to Los Angeles, which seemed counter-intuitive. But
whatever. I saw the Hollywood sign as we were landing and tried to
point it out to Harry but he couldn’t see it. We landed and felt
rather smug for surviving our first (short) flight. We didn’t have to
get off the plane because even though it was stopping, we were riding
the same flight clear through to Orlando. Or so we thought.

While chatting with a fellow passenger, we found out that our plane
was busted. Oh yes. Busted. And at first, we weren’t sure when
they’d be able to find another plane for us to use since fixing the
current one was not going to happen anytime soon. But before I could
properly figure out how to react to this, they found us a plane. And
it was at another gate! Clear across the LAX airport. Soooo… we
unstrapped the carseats and tried to book it as fast as we could to
the other gate. We were following the flight crew and they promised
to get us on board. But at the gate, the agent there was a crabby
wench and made us wait and then snapped at us and was generally rude
to everyone she spoke to. We were finally let on board and scored new
seats and all was well.

The next leg was to Phoenix and was pretty uneventful. We landed. We
took off. Blah blah blah. The kids were getting used to it by now
and this time Evie only had minor complaints. But the flight from
Phoenix to Orlando was a long one and with the bumpy ride over the
gulf (wee!) I wasn’t sure we’d EVER get there! But we did, and landed
just as the sun was going down. The Orlando airport is all kinds of
awesome and we were easily able to find baggage claim. I hung out
there, grabbing our bags, while Kile went and got our rental car. It
was when we got outside baggage claim to get into the car that I had
full understanding of the heat and humidity. And this was after the
sun had gone down. GULP.

We found directions on my iPhone and drove to my parents condo for the
night. The whole toll road thing blows my mind. They really know how
to soak the tourists, don’t they? The whole east coast does that…
do regular residents/commuters find non-toll roads to use? Or how
does that work? Cuz I can’t imagine having to deal with that on a
daily basis. Bah!

Now…

The trip home was something else entirely. I made a decision that we
would check Evie’s carseat. I simply could not comprehend trying to
deal with it again. I had been having intermittent wrist pain all
week long (a result of not knitting? I have no idea.) the carseat
would have been too much. We had more stress than usual since we were
flying Southwest and they don’t have a sweet hookup with Disney like
some of the other airlines. Other people pack up their bags on the
boat and then don’t see them until they land at home. NOT US!

Oh, and we had to get off the boat at the asscrack of dawn. We were
up at 6am, at breakfast at 6:45 and then they made it clear they
wanted us off the boat ASAP. We tried to hang around as long as we
could but ended up on transfer bus around 9am. The trip to the
airport was quick and we were there by 9:30. We got our bags up to
the check in counter only to find out… you can’t check bags if your
flight is more than four hours away from taking off. Our flight was
scheduled at 4:20 so… yeah. We rented one of those Smarte Carte
things, loaded it up (you should have seen it! WHY didn’t I take a
picture??) and headed out. The airport is basically a MALL so we had
no trouble keeping ourselves occupied for a while. Especially once we
found the rest of my family hanging out. NO one had flights that were
leaving anytime soon.

Note to self (and anyone else planning a similar vacation): DO NOT
hesitate to schedule your flight earlier in the day! 12:30/1pm would
have been PERFECT. CURSE YOU, late flight!!

After Kile finally was able to check the bulk of our baggage, we
grabbed lunch at the food court (see? MALL!) and I was finally able
to try the infamous Chik fil-A. I had a chicken sandwich that was
mighty tasty. We browsed around the shops after that, and I was
mighty tempted to buy yet MORE Disney goodies at the Disney store
there. I showed restraint but even now, I’m sorta wishing that I
hadn’t. There was the cutest Tinkerbell coffee mug!

Anyhow, after that we braved security which had a whole bunch of
people from other countries going through. More than usual, I would
say. But by that point, I was so used to people from other countries
and foreign accents that I’m surprised I even noticed. Security was a
lot smoother than in Reno, simply because we were “old pros” at that
point. We found our gate and set up camp near some electrical outlets
so we could charge up our phones some more. We said goodbye to the
remaining family members and it wasn’t long before our flight boarded.
It went a lot smoother for me without the carseat. The bad news is,
it was a very full flight and every seat was taken so there wasn’t
much room to set her down or anything.

We took off a little late because there was some weather in the area.
But nothing awful and we were able to land almost on time in Denver.
Evie didn’t sleep a wink the whole flight and was extremely wriggly.
But we managed.

I have to say right now that I have extremely negative feelings about
the Denver airport. I like Denver. I do not like Denver’s airport.
There is ALWAYS turbulence (but then, there is in Reno too), but more
than that it’s the whole layout of the airport. The wasted space, the
inefficiency, the uselessness of the second floor “waiting” area.
WTF, Denver?

This is where we realized just HOW stupid our flight schedule was. We
were on the last flight from Denver to Las Vegas, which was then
continuing to Reno. And as such, we had to wait. There was a flight
from Philadelphia that had been delayed by weather and as luck would
have it, 30 or so people from that flight were on our Vegas flight.
So… we waited. We already had a 2 1/2 hour layover (and ate at a
restaurant that turned out to be exceedingly expensive). Add on
another hour. On top of tired children and parents and we were just
ready to be home. I didn’t handle it well. I was frustrated. I fell
in the trap of counting up the hours we’d been awake, how many hours
until we could be home. It was overwhelming. Liam and Evie had had
it. Harry was exhausted. I was beyond tired. We were all just DONE.

We finally got on the plane and got up in the air. Evie fell asleep
before we even took off so she was taken care of. I still had to hold
her, which meant my arms fell asleep. But at least she slept. She
woke when we landed in Vegas, but fell asleep as we took off for Reno.
Praise be! Liam slept too, which was great. He had slept most of
the way from Orlando to Denver too so Kile made out pretty well on
that deal. Harry slept on my shoulder the majority of the time. But
as we landed in Reno, he was awake and had the biggest smile I think
I’d seen on him all week. He wanted to be up in his bed so bad and I
couldn’t blame him.

Baggage claim in Reno is notoriously slooooooooow. Harry and I waited
for bags while Kile went out to look for his co-worker who had again
graciously offered to ferry us. That was a small mercy, let me tell
you! We FINALLY got our bags and FINALLY were on our way homeward.
It was after 1am by the time we got home. I could barely see
straight. Evie was interested in a diaper change and then BED. She
was out before she hit the crib mattress. Liam complained for maybe a
minute before dropping off. Harry was dead to the world. It took
Kile and I NO time at all to fall dead asleep.

And that… as they say… is that. We made it there and back in one
piece. That, my friends, is amazing. Flying with toddlers is a pain
unlike anything else. It’s just damn lucky that this whole trip made
it SO WORTH IT. Details to follow!

As referenced in this post here, I was a guest vendor on a “congo” over on Hyena Cart yesterday.  I was very excited and nervous about it.  I have my own little Hyena Cart shop, I pretty much only sell slots on my customs list and maybe the occasional stitch marker.  It doesn’t get a lot of attention and I get most of my customs from my message board pals.  I was nervous about stocking something already made.  Would anyone actually WANT it?   Or would it be a spectacular fail?

It wasn’t a fail.  Far from it.  I’m stil in shock today.  I sold the shorts I made right away, sold both of the customs slots I stocked and the auction on the skirt I made is currently at $170.  This, quite literally, blows my mind.  Unbelievable.

***

Liam’s birthday was a RAGING success on Tuesday.  He had a great day, which I think is the best thing we could have done for him.  Liam really responds to the gift of “quality time”.   We picked up Kile from work to go to Evie’s 15 month pediatrician appointment and he took the rest of the day off.  We went to Chuck E. Cheese for lunch (which was like crack for that kid, he LOVED IT).  After, we ventured next door to Toys R Us to spend some birthday money from his grandparents.  He walked out with a ride-in toy car (that we literally have to keep out of sight in the garage or we will never get him out of it), a “Cars” pillow for his bed (that he keeps trying to cart around with him) and a couple more “Cars” cars to add to the ever-growing collection.  This was on top of all the “Cars” stuff that we got him as presents.  We did a little shopping before heading home and after playing hard for a couple hours, we all went to McDonald’s for dinner: Liam’s favorite restaurant.  Then it was home to cake and ice cream and presents.

What a great day!  And what a lucky kid!

***

As I said, Evie had a pediatrician appointment on Tuesday.  She’s doing great and had a fabulous time ripping around the room in her diaper while we waited for the doctor.

She comes in at 50% for weight and 40% for height.  Yay for my average girl!  She did have to get a couple of shots, which she did NOT like.  And, quite frankly, they made her a Crankapotomus for the next day or two.  So far, she seems fairly genial today, so I hope that means we’re in the clear.  Whew!

***

I can’t blame any crankyness on Evie’s part on lack of sleep these days.  We got a room-darkening shade for her window this weekend.  Her room gets the bulk of the morning sun and since the sun is up at an ungodly hour these days, she was waking up rather early.  And I always got the impression that she was still tired but she would NOT go back to sleep.

With the shade up?  She is sleeping in until at least 9am EVERY DAY.  Now, this may even out after she gets used to it… but for now?  OMG, I love it.  It keeps her room a little cooler too.  The boys have a shade too, but theirs is “light-filtering” which means it doesn’t make it darker at all.  However, Liam is a fantastic sleeper and I never have to complain about him getting enough sleep or waking up too early.

I just LOVE having some time in the morning to get some things done and have peace and quiet.  I better enjoy it while I can, because who knows how long it will last!

***

I recently discovered “Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman” was playing on the “Gospel Music Channel”.  I didn’t even know we GOT that channel, but apparently we do.  I used to watch “Dr. Quinn” back in high school and it was something my friends and I would giggle and talk about.  We even passed notes about such subjects as “courtin’ and sparkin’”, Sully’s braid, and our dislike for Matthew’s girlfriend, Ingrid.  Good times, man.

Now, watching these episodes again, takes me RIGHT back to those days in high school and hanging out with my friends.  It’s been a wonderful walk down memory lane.  I’ve been DVRing the episodes and watching them while the kids are napping or at night after they’re in bed and Kile is playing his computer game.

Oh the memories!

***

We finally got some strollers for our trip to Florida next month (gulp!).  It’s feeling more real all the time that this trip is actually going to happen and I’m scared stiff.  I know it’s going to be loads of fun.  But the plane trip scares me.  Mostly, the fact that we’re doing a plane trip with two small children.  And that one of those children, Evie, doesn’t have her own seat booked.  So she’s on my lap.  CROSS COUNTRY.  This is not good, my friends.

The airport(s) and the plane trip are easily what I’m most nervous about.  I think once we get there, we’re all going to have a marvelous time.  I’ll have the almighty Jesus Phone (read: the iPhone) with me, so hopefully I’ll be able to post quick updates and snapshots here and there.

Oh and pray I don’t blind anyone at the pool when I wear a bathing suit with my pasty, white skin.

***

We’re getting SOD tomorrow!  SOD!!  This is HUGE!

We’ve lived in this house for over 5 years now, and just NOW are finally getting something of a landscaped backyard.  The sod will be delivered at the crack of dawn and Kile plans to get out there and lay it before it gets hot.  I sure hope he isn’t expecting me to join him.  I’ll cheer him on in spirit, as I’m sleeping soundley in my cozy, cool bed.

Seriously though, this is a great thing!  The kids will be able to run through the sprinklers at last (we’ve always been reluctant to do this before because the front yard is so exposed and the grass patch out there isn’t terribly large) (or flat).  And the dogs will have some place to crap!  SIGH.  Oh well.  The good with the bad, yes?

The next step will be to pour a cement patio (I have NO idea when this will happen, only that it’s the plan so far) and to buy some trees and plants and such to finish stuff out with.  But the grass?  That’s a huge chunk of it.

***

So that’s all I’ve got to say.  For now. Are you glad I shared?