8 things...

8 Things...

8 Things I Am Looking Forward To
1. Summer vacation. Can't wait to spend every day with my babies in the sunshine!
2. Neal sleeping through the night...consistently. Sleep is a wonderful thing and I miss it.
3. Starting my new "craft" project. I love being mysterious ;)
4. Saturday. I just like Saturdays in general.
5. Getting a pedicure. I love getting them, but I'm not sure when I'll actually get around to getting one, but I can't wait. That doesn't make sense, but...I'm sleep depraved, give me a break.

6. Going to target. Really for no reason, I just like going to Target.
7. Reading a book. Not a Junior High Fiction book either (which is all I read so I can give recommendations to my students) but I want to read an adult book. That sounds naughty, but it's not.
8. Watching my kids grow into wonderful, amazing people. They already are, so I'm assuming they'll stay that way.

8 Things I Did Yesterday (Wednesday)
1. Prayed for poop. Yes, Neal hasn't pooped since Sunday and is getting a little crabby. Hoping God answers that prayer while he's at daycare...hehe
2. Tried, desperately, to teach 127 8th graders how to create/write an outline...didn't go well. sigh.
3. Tried to get a video of Neal laughing because it's so cute, but all I could get was Arianna screaming in the background "I wanna watch Mickey Mouse!"...and yes, Neal was laughing at her, but he couldn't be heard over her screams.
4. Talked on the phone with: my mom, my sister-in-law, my brother-in-law, one of my bestie friends, Kate...and the insurance company. Can't believe I just used the word, bestie. Seriously.
5. Gave both children a bath. Together. Got really wet.
6. Yelled at our dog who thinks it's a good idea to bark...all the time.
7. Watched my two Soaps after the kids went to bed. I can just turn my brain off and watch other people's drama unfold.
8. Ate a bowl of ice cream. Peanut Butter if you must know, with chocolate syrup. And, if you really must know, I might have another bowl tonight.

8 Things I Wish I Could Do
1. Stay home full time with my babies
2. Go back to school. Yes, I would LOVE to get another Master degree, I even know what I would get it in...that still might happen, who knows ;)
3. Become a runner: That’s not really true. I just want to say I’m a runner so people would be all impressed with me like I am with people who say they are runners. Really, I just want a runner’s body without all the work and sweating.
4. Sleep for 12 hours straight
5.Eat an entire dinner without anyone eating off my plate or crying. That would be amazing.
6. Play the piano like my mom. I can pluck out some basic tunes, but she's amazing.
7. Speak another language.
8. sleep...did I already say that? Too bad, it's worth two spots because I really want to sleep.

8 Shows I Watch -- please don't judge me by the mindless drama I watch. I know it's crap, but I watch it nonetheless...
Grey’s Anatomy
Private Practice
The Hills
All My Children
One Life to Live
Jon and Kate + 8
America's Next Top Model
Sportscenter (but against my will and better judgment)

another prayer request...

Over the last few weeks Arianna has not been acting herself. She's been waking up throughout the night, snoring, acting really sleepy throughout the day, hitting, temper tantrums, not eating and just being difficult. In fact, I actually considered selling her on Ebay ;) However, I felt that something was just "off" with her so I decided to take her in to see her pediatrician. I thought for sure it would be her ears again, but it wasn't. He did a full exam and found lots of fluid in her ears, but no infection. Her ears are still not draining normally and after further examination he found that her tonsils are "quite large". He actually gave them a 4+ rating which is the "worse" rating tonsils can have. He says that he feels this is the cause of many of her behavioral issues because she is so lacking in sleep. He says that the size of her tonsils are actually blocking her airway making it difficult for her to get and stay in REM sleep. So, we received a referral to the ENT for a possible Tonsillectomy and Adenoidectomy. We're going in on May 14 and hopefully scheduling the surgery for early June. He said it is a two week recovery rate. Please pray for us as we have the exams and (hopefully) surgery. Obviously, I don't want her to have to have surgery, but if it will help her physically I know it's what is best. I totally trust my doctor, in fact he said that most ENTs don't like taking tonsils out before the age of 3, but that she really needed it. So, as I said earlier, please pray for wisdom for the doctors and peace of mind for mommy :)

Vacation and Easter...

Warning -- this post is LOADED with pictures. As I said earlier we had a fantastic vacation and we loved our time as a family.

Arianna and Neal. I had to help hold Neal which is the random arm in the picture!



This is Arianna and her "big" cousin Claire. These two are going to be trouble someday!


One morning it was a little chilly so we went to Disney Village and just walked around. We had so much fun and Arianna loved seeing Pooh Bear.

This was also at Disney Village. We could not get her to keep her "ears" on...

Jason thought that Neal looked a little like this mouse in the window. Such a sad face! He was exhausted!!

Arianna was allowed to pick out one toy. She picked out the Pluto. She now sleeps with him every night -- it's too cute!

All the kids loved looking for "lizards" and Arianna loved following the big kids. This is Lauren and Jackson allowing her to help find a lizard. Arianna usually just scared them away by shouting "there's one!"

One day, the resort put rubber ducks in the kiddie pool. Arianna loved playing with them. You can see Lauren in the background and my mom is holding Neal.

Neal relaxing in his sunseat. He loved sleeping outside with the warm breeze.

Typical Arianna -- a little overly dramatic. Wonder where she gets that from...

Super sweet smiling boy

All the grandkids. From left to right: Arianna, Will being held by Lauren, Jackson holding Neal, Claire, Natalie and Micah. What a fun group. The love playing together and all get along so well. It's so fun to watch them play!

This was Arianna doing her favorite thing -- swimming. We learned she is quite the little fish. She loved the water!

Daddy and Neal enjoying a nice, relaxing afternoon nap.

Arianna has a buckle obsession. She loves snapping things together. This is her playing with Claire's life jacket.

Arianna was exhausted on the way home. She slept the entire plane ride home...with her Pluto of course!

These are our Easter pictures. I didn't get a cute picture of Neal in his super cute Easter outfit, but I did get him sporting my favorite shirt ;)

Here is Arianna and mommy -- showing off our Easter outfits

Here is the complete outfit of Arianna's. I swear, she gets cuter by the day!

I hope you all had a very blessed Easter and enjoy the upcoming spring weather!

We're home...

just wanted to let you all know that we're home and thanks for the prayers. People must have been praying hard because both flights went amazing! It was a wonderful, relaxing vacation which I will post pictures soon. However...right now, I'm exhausted. I hope and pray that everyone has a very blessed Easter.