Suffocation or love, you pick

So our morning ritual is dad leaves for work and then the girl crawl into bed with me, but not before 7a, that's the rule. I wake up slow and they watch some morning TV, I know I know, not the best way to start the day but it works for us. We're all pretty slow in the am, but anyway, its what we like. And I found the other day that Hannah had curled up on my left arm and was nice and cozy, Kate had curled up on my right side pinning my arm against me, the cat was laying on my chest and the dog had my legs pinned down. It was an odd feeling, I couldn't move, I could barely breath and yet I was perfectly content. I think I just figured out my life, pinned down by the ones I love, I could move if I wanted but if I just sit still everyone is happy.

NEVER!

So today I asked Kate to pick up her blanket off the floor and she responded by yelling NEVER at the top of her lungs and ran away. I have to admit this was a new technique and it worked quite well because I was so in shock that I just stood there and didn't know what to say. And it wasn't so much her yelling the word NEVER but the passion she put behind the word. Awww the teen years flashed before my eyes. So I sent her to her room until I could figure out what to do and when time out (for both of us) was over she picked up her blanket off the floor. Now if she had just done that in the first place I wouldn't have had anything fun to write about, now would I???

Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden - field trip

Kate and I tagged along on Hannah's field trip with her class to Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens today.
http://www.lewisginter.org/
The weather was wonderful and all the kids had a great time. We held worms and learned all about compost and how helpful worms are in the process. We then walked around the gardens and checked out all the flowers in bloom and all the critters that are out and about getting things ready for spring.

Here are some great pictures.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2021563&id=1122309468&l=941648294a

Mike & Lise's wedding and a weekend away

Last Friday some dear friends of ours got married. The ceremony was amazing and the reception was so fun. And since the wedding was on a Friday Greg and I decided to take the entire weekend as a Greg and Syd kid free weekend. Greg's mom and sister came down from NJ and took great care of the kids while we hung out in a hotel about 10 miles away. It was so relaxing and fun and we will be doing it again soon, or at least sooner than 5 years. I can't believe it took us that long to get out together without kids - silly us. Here are some great pictures from our weekend.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2021418&id=1122309468&l=c4cb1382a2

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2021410&id=1122309468&l=dcd25812e0

A day on the farm

One of Kate's friends from her preschool class invited us to his Grandparents farm today. We had a blast. The weather was perfect and the farm was awesome. Both Kate and Hannah rode a very large horse, Kate was the first one on and the last one off - she loved it. We also went on a hay ride and the girls went on a barrel ride, it looked like a ton of fun. Enjoy the pictures.

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=30400582&l=9d8e7b6616&id=1122309468

So back to school tomorrow. It will be nice to get back into the swing of things and get our routine back. And the count down starts for Grandma Lyons and Aunt Nan's visit on Friday, the girls are very excited. And mom and dad are very excited because we're getting away TOGETHER for the first time in 5 years, where are we going you ask....oh just about 10 miles up the road to a wedding. We decided to book a hotel and make it a vacation, it really doesn't matter where you go, just as long as your with the one you love....awwwwww.

Easter morning

We had a great Easter morning full of scavenger hunts and egg hunts. Greg was able to video the entire scavenger hunt for baskets this morning, its long but fun to watch. Here is the link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8hL9WqHHJw

Also the egg hunt was a ton of fun. The girls had a blast and loved all the fun stuff they got. Here are some pictures.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2020802&id=1122309468&l=298b64f4d9

The Eve of Easter

Well the girls put out there baskets and eggs all ready for the Easter bunny to come hide the eggs and fill there baskets. Several years ago I bought about 50 or so wooden hand painted eggs that we use every year for hiding. The night before the girls put the eggs in their baskets so that the Easter bunny can hide them. Its just helps cut down on the plastic eggs and all the candy inside the eggs. I love having these pretty little hand painted eggs to hide in the yard and the girls love finding them. And so far we have found all of them each year. Although I remember last year we had to search the yard a few times for the last few, but they where found and ready for another year of hiding.

As I was putting the Easter baskets together tonight I realized that Lulu was going to have a blast during the night playing with the baskets and most likely eating some of the stuff so I decided to put the baskets in the laundry room behind a closed door so she wont damage any of the fun. And since I was hiding the baskets I decided to set up a scavenger hunt for the kids to find their baskets. We hit 5 clues around the house that will lead them to the laundry room. I hope they have fun with it in the morning. Here is a video from tonight. We'll take tons of pictures tomorrow and more video of them searching.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Up1jLVGH5Kg

I survived spring break

Here are a bunch of pictures from Spring Break. I didn't post much this past week because we kept really really busy, as you can see in the pictures. I tried to label the pictures to let you know what we did and when so I hope it worked okay. Enjoy.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2020608&id=1122309468&l=a89b83fbe8

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2020610&id=1122309468&l=1b554b1c4d

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2020611&id=1122309468&l=51b77c5115

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2020613&id=1122309468&l=acb84f98a1

If you have any trouble viewing these pictures just let me know.

The conclusion....sorry to keep you waiting

So last Friday I went to a hypnotist. It was awesome. My conscious mind let go and she spoke to my sub-conscious mind and it was so relaxing. She went for just over 30 minutes and when it was over she gave me a recording to listen to every night as I fall asleep. It has been so awesome to listen to it every night and relax. Most nights I fall asleep as she is talking and I don't even know that she is just chatting away with my sub-conscious. The main thing I had her talk about was food. I'm trying to change my views on food and change my behavior with food. So far so good. I have felt so empowered this week when it comes to food. She talked allot about making the healthy decisions and how my body will reward me with energy and not so much about "don't eat that". Its been great this week just feeling like I'm making the decisions from my sub-conscious mind and not battling myself so much. I highly recommend it to everyone for so many different issues, not just dieting.

I'll let you know how I do in the next few weeks. Right now the hardest thing is falling asleep at night without the TV on. I've been watching TV in bed for almost 20 years and falling asleep to it, so that has been a huge adjustment. But on the other hand I've been falling asleep allot faster listing to my hypnotist so its been okay.

So much to post about

Well lets start with a school update. We got an acceptance letter to Fisher Elem. school. This was our third choice on the public school list, but its better than nothing. And with this acceptance we were able to turn down Good Shepherd private school before we paid any money out. This was a huge relief because honestly I had no idea how we where going to pay for it, but I had to have a back up just in case nothing came through with the public schools. So that is a huge relief. We are still on the wait list for the other two school and I'll have to make the decision at that point if we get accepted to either of those - I'll climb that mountain when it comes.

Friday was a big day for me. I was given a clean bill of health and was taken off my CPAP machine - yippie happy day. All my hard work at the gym is paying off. I'm very very happy to be off the CPAP because it really was hard to sleep with, but it helped me a ton to get the sleep and energy I needed to kick start my workouts. So yay me.

Kate and Hannah are doing great. Next week is spring break so I'm trying to fill there days with fun activities so non of us loose our minds. I think I've done pretty good so far (with activities not loosing my mind, although...) I'll report next week on all the fun stuff going on.

Oh and I was hypnotized on Friday.....stay tuned for more info on that :]

Uncle has moved

Well Uncle Jordan moved to Philadelphia yesterday. He stopped by the house for one last goodbye and we all did great until he drove away and then Hannah looked at me and burst into tears. She really is at that age where she is starting to understand the comings and goings of life. And well as soon as she started crying and I burst into tears. So if you can picture me and Hannah sitting on the curb crying and Kate running around the yard picking flowers and Greg not really sure if he should comfort us or play with Kate. It was quite an emotional time and I'm sure it was a site to our neighbors.

We sure are going to miss you uncle, you've been a huge part of our life for the past several years. And the girls and I are going to miss our lunches with you and just hanging out.

I of course wish you and Lala the very best and support whatever ventures you guys decide. You have made a great choice on cities and we can't wait to visit. Send us lots of pictures and keep in touch, the girls and I NEED it.

I love you guys.