Some Disney Pictures

Sorry for the absence.... Had to think about what direction I was going with this blog...

Anyway, some vacation pics:

Disney World was Awesome!

Wonderful is right ON

We've just returned home from the WONDERFUL world of Disney! Disney world in orlando, Florida, to be exact. I was totally impressed with the whole resort and all of the parks!!!

We had an awesome time. There were tons of rides and attractions that were age-appropriate for our kids that they loved. And, there were pleasant surprises around nearly every corner. One day we were walking around the magic kingdom and out of no where a show with mickey, minnie and all of the main disney princesses started....we watched that - it was awesome - then a few blocks later, a parade started up main street.... So fun!!!

I'll post pictures later...

I need to seriously adjust to real life after a week there... Everything you could ever want was there!!! We had the "deluxe" meal plan... and we got 3 full sit down meals a day plus two snacks and a refillable drink mug.... The meals were outstanding!!!! Complete with appetizers, main course, dessert and a drink.... It was all included.... And, I never had the willpower to say no to a dessert.... I was SOOO bad... Cheesecake galore!

Real world hit when on the way home we stopped for lunch and we couldn't just pull out our Disney "Key to the World" card and say, we have the deluxe plan. :)

We did a lot of swimming, went to a water park and hit all of the disney parks...doing as much as we possibly could.... Collapsing at the end of the days after parades and fireworks, etc... It was so fun...but tiring.... We tried to fit in as much as we could possibly fit in because who knows if we will ever be able to get our kids back down there...

One of my highlights was going out on the lake in "captian hooks" pirate ship to watch the "wishes" fireworks over the castle at the magic kingdom. It was so beautiful. I love fireworks. We also got to spend some time with family members who went along, too.

Lance got a "pleuto" hat and got all the characters he saw to autograph it. He got about 20 total autographs and then pictures with them too... Let's see who I can remember: Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Pleuto, Goofy, Pooh, Eeyore, Tigger, Meeko, Stitch, Chip, Dale, Rafiki, Brer Rabbit, Woody, Buzz Lightyear, Flik, Jiminy Cricket, Peter Pan, Smee, Captain Hook, and a couple more I can't remember right now. The other kids were not into the pictures with the characters or the character signing...but Lance loved it!!!

I could go on and on... It was truly a magical place for the kids...and adults....

Still Smiling, somehow

This picture can be our starting point in our Pictorial journey to the orthodontist this year.

If you look closely (or click on the picture to enlarge it), you can see the space between little Lance's front teeth. Then, on either side of the front teeth you'll see spaces again. Those spaces are where the incisors are supposed to be. They are in his gums, but there is not enough room for them to come down. So, we've begun the journey to hopefully allow them to come down.

The first visit was last week when he had spacers put in. It wasn't that bad, actually. Then today he had bands put on and an impression made for the expander. Well, today's visit was very uncomfortable for little Lance. And, to make it worse, they didn't want me to come back. They said kids do better if their parents wait for them. Lance seemed ok with it, so I (foolishly) agreed to wait in the waiting room. I'm a nurse for goodness sake, I should have known better!! Poor Lance came out almost crying. I said right then to them that I would be coming back from now on.

Anyway, after some motrin and milkshake, he is doing much better.

This will be a long year, for sure. I just hate that he has to have this done!!!

Adoration

"Our Baby" Berkeley is growing.... Sad but true... Bitter sweet... But these are two of my favorite recent pictures of baby Berks

This one is of her and her dad... Such a sweet, simple look of adoration.















And look at this one of Berkeley looking out at her two older sisters!!! How sweet... Personally, I think Caressa should just push her down!!! She shouldn't be able to look that grown up!!! Ahhh... No, seriously, this is one to frame for the later years.

New Starts

Today I'm starting my Spring Semester of courses. With only one semester after this one, I'm pretty excited to get started and get done.

And

Yesterday we found out we are starting down the "orthodontic's road of no return." Little Lance needs orthodontic work. His two incisors are impacted necessitating early orthodontic intervention in order to avoid surgery (the incisors are the teeth on either side of the 2 front teeth - his are not coming down). So, we'll start with the expander - which sounds absolutely BARBARIC to me... They put this metal contraption on his upper back teeth and each night Mark or I (READ: MARK) will have to crank it further apart to literally stretch his upper palate wider... Amazingly enough, though, his palate actually splits cells and new cells are made and new bone grows to fill in the stretched space.... Pretty gruesome... if you ask me... Gruesome but interesting - if it weren't my little 8 year old going through it!
Then we'll go to temporary braces, then a full set.

The whole process time wise will be a few years..... Price wise: you don't even want to know!! But, we're getting his teeth ready for the most important picture of his life: his wedding picture.. That's our inspiration... A long road but worth it in the end.

Interestingly, studies show that breastfed babies' palates are more perfectly formed because of the breastfeeding's natural physiological spreading of the palate by the breast tissue..... And, Lance was my longest breastfeeder at 1 and a half years.... I wonder if it would have been worse had he not breastfed?

Random Things

Heard around the House recently:

"Can you believe in Santa and not believe in Rudolf, because I don't think that reindeer can have a red, glowing nose." - Lance, age 8

"Did you know that both 'poop' and 'puke' can be nouns OR verbs!" - Isaac, age 10 (Obviously following his aunt's bent for meticulous grammar usage)

Thinking we were Lucky:

When I originally bought Mark's PSU football tickets I thought I ordered them for yesterday's game against Michigan State... But, I received tickets for the Indiana game. Anyway, I'm glad that mistake happened....and we weren't stuck outside "cheering" in 20 degree, snowy weather yesterday.

Change of Shift:

Tomorrow I start my new shift: 7pm - 7am. I'm not sure if it's a good or a bad thing yet. I can see both sides.... I will be home 4 days a week and only work three. I will be home during the day every day.... I will sleep while the kids are in school.... But, not sure how I'll adapt to switching my sleep schedule back and forth like that.... Historically, my body is sensitive to changes... with migraines being my main affliction when anything goes awry. Here's hoping for the best. Any night shift-ers or previous night shift-ers with advice would be welcome!!

Football Game Update v. II

Ok, since no one took the bait..... Mark and I went to the PSU game last weekend and it was tons of fun.

For the whole month between giving him the tickets and the actual game, every time I walked outside and felt the chill of the November air, I secretly dreaded spending 4 hours outside for a football game - I don't really know a lot about the game... It always gets me when they start running away from the ball... Anyway, I knew I wanted to spend time with Mark, so I was determined to deal with the weather.

The day of the game my mom came to watch the kids and she brought bundles of clothes to put on me... Yes, my mother dressed me for the game... Weird, but it worked. Boy, does she know how to bundle someone... I had on 2 shirts plus a hoody sweatshirt, long-john pants plus jeans, 3 pair of socks, boots, a winter coat, hat, gloves and a poncho. Plus, she gave me a "Lava-Buns" to sit on. Nothing was getting through to ruin the game for me!

It was chilly and it rained the whole game off and on.... But I wasn't cold or wet in the least... I enjoyed a good hot chocolate and time with Mark, and still after 15 years was asking him "Why are they all running away from the ball?" :)

The Game

WE ARE......

The Hat

After I graduated from nursing school, I wanted to do something just for the heck of it... for - what's that forgotten word? - FUN.... So, being the adventurous gal that I am, I decided I would teach myself how to crochet. :)

This has been something I've had the desire to learn for quite some time... I just always pictured the calming presence of a birth attendant rocking in a chair crocheting or knitting .... Comforting by presence not by grand gesture or actions. Plus, my grandmother used to crochet afghans for us all the time; and, she passed away this past year... When looking at the afghans we have from her, I imagine the time she invested in making the blanket as a gift of love to us. So, I was inspired by that as well.

This past week I went to visit my uncle who lives in my grandmother's house. He pulled out three bins of yarn she had been using and gave them to me. So, now, I'm even carrying on the crocheting tradition with my grandmother's own yarn.

Anyway, I've been practicing since June.... I made a baby blanket and some booties.... and I'm working on a doily for our coffee table. But, Lance asked me about a month ago if I could make him a hat. So, knowing that this will likely be one of the last times in his life when he would eagerly ask for something his mother crocheted for him, I gladly began making my first crocheted hat.

He was thrilled all along watching me crochet during his karate classes and while sitting around at home. His little friend came over last weekend and he quickly brought him over to where I was working on the hat and told him, "My Mom Is Making Me a HAT!!!" His excitement was a gift to me.

So, the process is completed. It is not perfect, and I found out making a pom-pom is much more work than it is worth.......I will surely just buy a pom-pom next time.... But, here is the finished product.

Lancey in a Blue Hat.

Halloween

This post is a little late...but....

Here are a couple pics of the boys on halloween.... they were the only ones young enough to really embrace it this year... soon we won't have any pumpkin carvers or dressed up kiddies.... how quickly these things go....






But, here they are: Lance was a scarecrow and Isaac went as "Joe Paterno."

My Man

I met Mark 15 years ago this fall.

We were both attending PSU at different campuses.... and there was a system called "PSU-VM" where all of the students logged on at all campuses could "chat" with each other (before AOL online). All of the student's names would be on a list who were on-line. I knew that I liked Italians... so I looked through the list for an "Italian" last name.... and saw Mark's name.... and it all began like that...

We chatted back and forth for a few weeks... then a friend of mine and a friend of his arranged for us four to all meet up at a PSU football game and meet..... It was cold and raining... but one of the best days of my life.... I looked like a drowned rat, but Mark was able to see past all of that and we instantly connected.

A few weeks later it was his birthday and I skipped accounting class to make him cupcakes and surprise him with them.

We had a romantic courtship. He wrote poems and sent cards. We had "Compu-dates" set up where we would agree to log on our computers at a certain time (2:30 aka "Chinese dentist time") and "chat" with each other over PSU-VM. At one compu-date, we began chatting and then a delivery person showed up at the computer lounge with a vase of flowers Mark had arranged to be brought to me during our "date"....

15 years later he's still doing thoughtful acts like that.. Just 3 months ago, he had a vase of the same flowers I had in our wedding delivered to me at my nurse's station to surprise me.

Once while we were engaged, he drove an hour just to come and hold me because he heard I had a migraine. Still today, he is sensitive to my needs and always tries to meet them...he wakes up with me at 5am just to make sure I have coffee, start my car and give me a kiss goodbye... Little Lance never fails to wake up and say good bye to me, too.... He is his father's son... thoughtful and loving. He will make someone a good husband, too.

It's been the steady support and the little daily things that mean so much to me. We've blended our lives into one... Someone once said that marriage was like two streams coming together and joining as one... It is a little rough and there is some turbulence in the beginning....expectedly so... But, then it blends beautifully....

We've survived in-law problems, and financial issues - I remember one period where I would have $30 budgeted for food for the week to feed all 6 of us..... Not easy... But we never turned on each other and fought about things like that... we just made a plan and forged ahead. We went through many medical problems together.... loved ones dying, children having surgeries and mental health issues.... all of it making us more united.

What will the next 15 years bring? I'm not sure, but as long as Mark and I go through it together, it will be better than going through it alone.

I gave Mark Penn State Football tickets for his birthday. So, in a couple weeks, we will again, go to Beaver Stadium. It will probably be cold and rainy...but I'm pretty sure it will also be one of the best days ever.

I love you, Mark. Happy Birthday!

Photo Album

We had a nice family celebration of Alex's 18th birthday - with a few rare photo-ops of Alex, himself (although he doesn't like the camera, he obliged).

Here's one of me and the kids.















And, here are my kids with my sister's kids all together.











Little Berkeley AKA "B" is sweeter than ever.... I got to see her eat her first Cheerio this weekend - so cute!!!

A Childhood Gone

My "Man Child" is 18 today.

I've heard parents say before that it felt as though they blinked and their children were grown. I always kinda laughed and thought, "SURE, it does."

BUT, honestly, I feel like Alex was my little buddy hanging out with pappy while he did lawn work just a couple years ago.... My little guy is now a big adult.

How swiftly the sweet years of childhood go by.

Kitty, Kitty

Ariel

Something to Cry About

The family cat, Ariel, is missing the children along with me.

Normally she is a quiet animal that you hardly know is around except for the nightly request to Mark for a kitty treat before bed. She busies herself sunning by the sliding door or sleeping on Madeline's bed.

Not this past week.

She follows Mark and I from room to room, crying and crying. She is on our laps the minute we sit down. Currently she is sitting between me and the keyboard as I type.

She misses the children.

But, there is good news for little Ariel. The world will soon be as it should be as our children are on their way home from the beach tonight!

Beach Pictures

Here are a few beach pictures

Summer Fun

We just got home from a mini-vacation at the shore. Mark's brother rented a beach house only a block off of the beach. Because of my new job, I didn't have vacation time earned to be able to take a whole week, so Mark and I went for the weekend and the children are staying the rest of the week with his family there.

I will miss them, but didn't want to deprive them of the opportunity to visit with their cousins and have one last vacation before school starts next week. The kids discovered the fun of a "boogie board." We woke up early and found shells on the shore, rode bikes on the board walk and ate breakfast out. It was a great weekend.

While there, I discovered my newest favorite dessert: Waffles and Ice Cream. It was just divine! I got a warm, freshly made Belgium waffle with 2 scoops of butter pecan ice cream on top. Awesome! I'm just lucky I would have to drive 6 hours in order to get it or I would have some serious problems fitting into my clothes!!

1 Week Minus Kids

With the kids away last week, Mark and I did some things we usually don't do.

We ate dinner alone at home. It was a very strange experience. At one point I looked at Mark and said, "It is just too quiet."

We went to visit one of my friends. She made a wonderful dinner of cornish hens & spaghetti squash.

We went out to the movies.

And, we went to Falling Water

Overall, we had a good week. I missed the kids and was ready for them to come home - dirty laundry and all.

My baby's at camp!!!

Honestly, I can't believe my youngest is old enough to join his siblings for a week long summer camping adventure. He couldn't believe it either - When we got to the camp and were making our way up the long, winding hill, he kept saying with excitement, "I can't believe I'm actually here!"

The last two years he was super bummed when he was the only one left behind, not old enough. So, he was truly ready to join the crew this year.

Consequently Mom and Dad have a whole week without children in the house... Strange.

Unlucky?

This past week was my husband and I's 13th anniversary.

Mark sent this lovely bouquet of flowers to my work for me. All of the girls were definitely envious.

We went out to dinner tonight to celebrate.

We've been through a lot in our 13 years... Illnesses, children, achievements and disappointments. Each and every one only makes us stronger.

I wouldn't want to go through this life with anyone else by my side.

I love you, Mark!