Omi's 65th Birthday

We went to Orlando to celebrate my mom's 65th birthday. Doesn't she look FANTASTIC for 65!



Al planned the sweetest birthday party for my mom. Every time I asked him what I could do, or how I could help, he would tell me that he had it all taken care of. ...and that he did! He did such a fantastic job. I have known Al since 1996 and I can tell you that I have NEVER seen him so nervous. ...not even on their wedding day.

The party was held at the community center where they live. There was lots of yummy food, great friends, and lots of dancing! I think these folks know every single line dance ever invented.

Here is the birthday girl and her hubby sharing a dance


Before the party really got started we tried to take some pictures. This is me, Izzy, my mom and her sister Barbara.


Aunt Barbara was sweet enough to put together this picture board with photos of my mom throughout the years.


Papa and his grandbabies


The bartenders: Pete and my brothers Wes and Andy


While the guys were hanging by the bar, Izzy was busy stacking cups.


Drew was feeling antisocial...thankfully I thought to bring his Leapster.




Al put together a really nice presentation for my mom. It was a slide show showcasing her life. He did a GREAT job! At one point during the presentation a picture was shown of my mom and Al years ago (Al had solid black hair - as opposed to the salt/pepper hair he has now) and Drew pipes up, "Wook! I see Omi in dat picture, but who's dat guy wiff da black hair?" Lots of laughs from that one.

...and later that evening Drew said to me, "Mom, how come Papa kept calling Omi Dotty lots of time?" Dotty is my mom's name :-)

No good party is complete without a super yummy, frosting rich cake! This cake did not disappoint!


Both Al and my Mom are from PA - which means there is always plenty of food. We ate this cake (and the back-up cake that Al purchased at the last minute when he panicked this one might not be enough) for the next 3 days...ALL DAY!

It was a great party! But the fun didn't end there...we packed in lots of fun family time over the next 48 hours.

Off to resize those pictures in hopes that I might get them posted in a reasonable amount of time.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM! WE LOVE YOU!!!

Hilton Head 2010

As much as we hate having Pete gone during the week, we do love the perks of his new territory. Hilton Head is one of those little gems that we can visit for a couple days and not pay the entire bill ourselves. Yippeee skipeee for that!

We arrived in HH Sunday evening around 8 and dropped Chloe off at her beach villa. We then headed over to the lovely Marriott Resort and Spa.


We were upgraded to a corner room, on the second floor, overlooking the ocean.


While Pete and I were unpacking in the room, the kids were taking in the view off the balcony. Drew walked in to the room a few minutes later and said, "Dere! I just peed off da deck!" Love that kid.

Our three days were spent on the beach, by the pool, or eating great food! It was exactly what a vacation should be. Unfortunately Pete had to work, but joined us when he could.

Both kids got boogie boards and while Drew never really got the hang of it, Izzy rocked! Unfortunately the pictures were taken in the shallow water because as you can imagine, it is hard to hold a camera and keep an eye on a kid in the ocean. I just wasn't willing to sacrifice a kid for a great action shot.
















If you know Drew, then you know he is Mario Bros OBSESSED! One evening while waiting for our car, we noticed some kids walking into the hotel wearing "propeller" hats. Drew HAD to have one! We were informed that we could find them across the street at Shelter Cove. Apparently some guy named Shannon Tanner (apparently he is famous?) performs a kids show and we were told we HAD to see it.

While we bought the hats on Monday night, it wasn't until Tuesday night that we saw the show. We decided to meet up with our friends (the ones from Cleveland that we also did Disney with) for drinks/apps and then see the show.





Here are the kids with Shannon Tanner. I totally didn't get the show? I thought it was pretty lame - but the kids liked it well enough.


All the kids dance around a bit, sit on the stage with him, and then some kids sing solos. Whatever. Izzy liked it - and so did Drew until he fell down and skinned his knee.




Pete made all sorts of inappropriate jokes about this middle aged guy liking to hang out with kids and such. ...but sure enough at the end of his show he was inviting the kids on some kiddie cruise.



A couple of things that the hotel did that I loved was:
-had a cartoon/pancakes by the indoor pool one morning for the kids. How fun is that? My kids loved eating pancakes poolside while watching an episode of Spongebob. Chances are they would eat anything if they knew they were going to be allowed to watch Spongebob.

-we at lunch by the outdoor pool both days and the kids meals were served in a sand bucket. I thought that was such a cute idea. AND...they cut the crusts off of the sandwiches.

Just two reasons that I can't wait to go back. And next time I am hoping Pete won't have to work as much and that maybe, just maybe, I can take advantage of the spa :-)

Home Again, Home Again...

We just returned from a fantastic trip. We spent 4 days in Hilton Head, followed by 4 days in Orlando, FL. We had originally planned a trip to Hilton Head to meet up with our Cleveland friends (the same ones we went to Disney with in January). Perhaps the only "upside" to Pete's weekly travel is his new territory includes lots of great beaches! ...and who doesn't love a quick beach getaway?

It was after our trip to HH was on the books that I found out my step-dad, Al, was planning a 65th birthday party for my mom. While I was sad we wouldn't get to beach it for a week, I was super excited to see my brothers! It turned out that HH was the perfect stopping point on the way to Orlando - halfway ;-)

For those of you that know me you will be surprised to hear that one of my biggest concerns was what to do with Chloe? I knew she would be welcome at my mom's house, but how would she do on a long car ride? The bigger question was what to do with her in Hilton Head? I certainly didn't want to board her in G'boro for 10 days when really she only needed to be in a kennel for 3? Not only would it be super expensive, but I would feel so sad for our Chlo-Chlo.

Call me crazy, but I spent alot of time on the phone and internet researching kennels in and around Hilton Head. Keeping her in our room was not really an option - my idea of a vacation is not waking up to quickly take a dog outside to do it's business and then bring her back into a room while she is all hyped up only to have her wake the kids. Catch my drift? Plus we'd never travelled anywhere with her and I didn't think a hotel would be a good trial run. I am happy to report that I found a wonderful little place that got rave reviews online, and the staff patiently answered each and every one of my many questions. Chloe was a CHAMP traveller in the car! She slept right between the kids almost the entire drive and when we stopped she got out, did her business and got right back in. Love that dog!!!

So, I've got lots of pictures to sort, and as soon as I do then you will all be the first to see them!

*on a sidenote - while I was gone my blog2print book came. It is FANTASTIC! For those who don't know what I am talking about, I had the first year of my blog printed in a book. I love it so much that I can't wait to have 2009 printed. So while I know I have REALLY slacked when it comes to blogging lately, I am going to make a better effort to do so because I really love how the book turned out and I know it is something I will cherish having when I am old. Heck, I was flipping through 2008 with the kids and laughing at some of the funny stuff that happened. I am so forgetful so it is so nice to have the book - and the kids LOVED looking through it as well.

So get ready for me to knock your socks off - I've got lots to talk about!

Lemonade Stand

Last weekend we had a garage sale with some friends. The girls sold lemonade (and each donated 25% of their cut to charity - Aunt Jac, Izzy wants to donate hers to ALS and we will match), banana muffins and cookies. Don't they look so darn cute in the matching aprons that I made :-)

Click here to view these pictures larger

Who knew I was so darn crafty?

Popsicle Celebration

This evening our neighbors dog got loose. The kids and I immediately set out to find him. We decided to search the street behind our house on the other side of the golf course. As luck would have it WE FOUND RUDY! You can only imagine Izzy and Drew's excitement as they returned Rudy to our neighbors. They were hailed as heroes.

We celebrated with popsicles (even though we should have been in the bath by this time) and since Chloe was part of the search party she got one too.



I then snapped a picture of each kid with their popsicle. These two pictures show the difference between boys and girls - or at least my two.

Izzy smiles with her popsicle


While Drew opens his mouth for me to "see" his popsicle

Ice Skating Izzy

For 6 months Izzy has been asking to take ice skating lessons. We really have no idea how this request came about, but since she asked over and over we decided to go for it.

Ice skating seems to be right up Izzy's alley. She is in total control and the only contact she makes is with the ice if she falls :-) She has had three lessons so far, and although we signed her up for "group" lessons it typically ends up being one or two girls per instructor. How awesome is that?

These pictures were taken at her second lesson and although the quality is very poor - just look at her cute little face full of excitement.

Waiting to get started


Warm ups


Skating (in the first picture the instructor is drawing "bugs" on the ice for Izzy to stomp on)








and finally a high five for a job well done!


See the post below which has a quick video of Izzy skating...