What a day...

Wow, was this a tough one. This was one of those days where the kids were really challenging. The morning was OK, we woke up and went to Starbuck's to get a coffee and a paper and then came home and had some pancakes. The kids were getting along OK. Then we went to the gym bought a sprinkler and some sunscreen (all out). We got home and I thought the kids would have a blast playing in the sprinkler in the backyard. They had a good time for a little while but most of the time they were screaming, hitting each other and fighting. I'm having a real problem with that right now... especially with M. I just felt like a huge nag all day... I had to be. K was so whiny and wanting to be on me the whole time. M was angry and grumpy and into mischief. So mean to K. I made the poor decision to buy them each a water gun. Big mistake! M squirted me, Roscoe the windows and I had to keep asking him to stop OVER and OVER. Then he dropped it (99 cents) and it broke and I heard about that for 30 minutes AT LEAST. He wanted hers and of course she was mad about that. I assure you... the day didn't get any better. I made a nice dinner (because I know I need to do better with their meals). It took me an hour to make spaghetti and veggies because they wouldn't get along or leave me alone. Then we all sat down to eat and M ate about 4 bites and K wouldn't even try it. She did eat all of her veggies though. Sometimes I say, why do I even bother cooking? They would have been fine with cereal and fruit and I sure would have had more time and less of a headache. I don't know what to do about dinner when Brian's gone. I think M was just really exhausted today. He needs a nap about every other day but he just can't get to sleep anymore. He fell asleep in my bed while I was reading to K. (very unusual). Too exhaused to write... here are some pictures.

The fun while it lasted.

I love her laughter here.

This is why he was so grumpy. Exhaustion.

They are going to kill me when they grow up. We are occasionally working on the potty training. She has gone a few times (and even pooped in a public restroom) but I think she really just likes to read on the potty.

One more, couldn't help it.

Like I said, they're going to kill me when they get older. I think this would be a good picture for the yearbook... will they be able to guess who this is?

Off to relax and count the hours until Brian gets home... thank goodness I'm not a single parent!

Tales of Poop

This morning I had an energy burst and decided to go outside and pull weeds and wash off the patio in the backyard. It was a really nice morning. So, the kids and I went outside (all of us in jammies) and took the CD player out and listened to music and cleaned up. Well, when I started watering down the back patio the kids started running through the water. I was surprised M did because last year he was a real pansy about the cold water. They had a blast and were completely drenched when I decided to take the kids in and put them directly in the bathtub. I started stripping them down outside so my house wouldn't get all dirty and wet. When I took K's diaper off, she had a HUGE poop! Huge and watery... yuck so M is already naked, I've got the dog outside and K with poop all over her bottom. I'm begging M to go and turn the water back on so I can rinse her bottom off (I'm holding her hands, so she doesn't get it all over her). He finally does but he's moaning, "I'm cold" over and over again. I have to spray her off and carry each of them upstairs because they are both whining. I can't believe my arms aren't totally buffed! Believe it or not, it was a really fun morning though.

We went to Home Depot to get some plants for the backyard and when we were walking to our car this lady had unloaded her things in her trunk and spun around (quickly) and clobbered M with her shopping cart. I mean hard, knocked him into my cart and then he fell on the ground. I wasn't very happy with her. Hello, how big of a hurry are you in? Poor thing... I felt bad for him and then he kept saying "I want Daddy" which made me a little sad.

Battle wounds from Home Depot

After M's head injury we went to McDonald's and got a Happy Meal and took it to the park for a little picnic because I felt sad for him. Believe it or not, there are worse things to eat. They each get chicken nuggets, apples and a juice box. Not too shabby really. Anyways, we were at the park, eating our little picnic when he says "I have to go potty". So we pack all of our stuff away, go to a port-a-potty (yuck), he goes potty and then we have to wash our hands in a drinking fountain (because there isn't anything else and the car is a mile away). So we get back and finish eating and they are playing a little and then he tells me "uh, oh, now I have to go POOP". Say what? So I gather everything up, we're running back to the car. K's having a fit, scratching me (she can be really mean) and off we go. While we're in the car he's acting like he doesn't even have to go anymore. I ask him, "can Mommy get the mail, do you still have to go poop." He says, "yeah Mommy, you can get the mail... it's not coming out now." Then he says, "my poops saying, NO NO, I want to stay in here." We are all cracking up on the way home. Kids are just too funny.

Tonight before bed I was reading M a book and it had a helicopter in it. I told him that he has been in a helicopter before. He said "when". I told him that when Mommy and Daddy went to Hawaii we went on a helicopter ride and he was in my tummy. He said very seriously "how did I get out of there?" This is the second time in about a week that this question has come up. What do I tell him? I'm not sure where to go with this. I just said "when you decide to come out, you just come out." And quickly changed the subject.

K's new thing is she says "oh, cool" for different things. Also, tonight I was having problems with my computer and she came up and said "oh my goodness." Her vocabulary is amazing. She is also walking around and singing Happy Birthday to herself. It's pretty funny. Today she came up to me and gave me a sprinkler part and said "happy birthday Mommy." So cute.

Thats all for tonight. I know lots of reading... probably very boring for most of you.

Lake Tahoe

We decided to do an overnight trip to Lake Tahoe. This is the best time of the year to go because rooms are super cheap and nobody is there. We knew a storm was coming but we decided to go anyways... it's nice to get away. When we got there we wanted to go on a little hike/walk down to Emerald Bay. It was super cold and blowing high winds at the top where the car was but we thought it would be fine down the trail... less wind. Well, we got about half way down and it started snowing... I mean really snowing. Both kids were crying and wanting to be carried... just not the picture perfect scenario we had hoped for. We decided to go back to the car. I had to wear K on my back and M had to be carried back. UPHILL. Not too far, but I definately got a little bit of cardio.

One of the few pictures we got. Don't let the pictures fool you... it was so cold. The weather was terrible.

K in the backpack. She liked it for about 10 minutes!!

A pic of me that Brian took... super dark and horrible picture but at least it proved that I was there. I had to lighted it A LOT! Can you see some of the snow coming down?

M had a blast throwing snow balls at us. The gloves Granny got him helped a lot. His hand were toasty warm. K needs some too.

The view from our room at The Horizon. Room and view... awesome. The beds were too small though... 2 full sized beds. Brian is 6'5 and not a small guy. Way too close for comfort.

Had beers with Monte and Dyan at The Club tonight for our usual 1 1/2 hours on Friday night away from the kids. Sure is fun to relax and sit by the pool with a cold one. The time sure goes by quickly. There were quite a few people there tonight. We love that place.

A picture of Brian and I

There aren't very many of them out there... at least of us ALONE. This is one that was taken on the cruise. I really like it, I just wish we weren't so sunburned. We were too cheap to buy sunscreen in Mexico for $10 (apparently they don't use a whole lot of sunscreen, we had a hard time finding any). I sure do miss vacation.


We are going on a little over-nighter trip to Lake Tahoe tomorrow after M gets out of school. It should be fun but I think it's going to be cold. Maybe we'll even have snow.

M and I went to lunch with Dyan and M. Our other 2 went to school today. It was awesome... so easy with just one child.

Yesterday I went to the gym to workout and I had already told the kids that we would go to the little playground at the Club when we were done. It really worked out because someone was having a birthday party but it hadn't started yet so they let us play in the big bounce house. M had a blast but of course K's attention span for that was only about 5 minutes. She wanted to go and run around and have me chase her (which I couldn't do because M was jumping in the bounce house). There are 3 pools and 2 spas so you have to watch them like a hawk. One of the most difficult things for me in having 2 children is how do you punish one without it affecting the other one. If I would have just had M when he was her age I would have told him we were going to leave if he didn't stay by me but I couldn't do that because that wasn't fair to M and he wasn't doing anything wrong and was having a great time. I tried giving her a timeout but she wouldn't stay there... so the only way I got her to listen was to tell her she wasn't getting a cookie when we leave if she wasn't good. Well, K loves sugar so that worked. (cookies at the gym, isn't that helpful)

Should I live in a trailer park?

A few of my favorite things right now.

1. Brian says I should live in a trailer park because I found this stuff at Costco that's called Batter Blaster and I basically looks like a whipped cream can but it's pancake batter. Oh my, couldn't be easier and is just as yummy. Of course, whipping up a batch of pancakes from scratch and embellishing with oats, pumpkin or pecans would of course be better but for the kids on a busy morning this is awesome. It's also made with whole wheat flour and is organic. I tried to attach a picture from the website but it wouldn't work. www.batterblaster.com

2. Hands down the best facial moisturizer I've ever owned is Hope in a Jar by Philosophy. I'm not ready to be a Cover Girl model or anything but I'm not kidding you, you can see the difference in a few days. I had used it months ago and ran out and my face looked and felt terrible. I tried another brand but had to go back to this one. It was one of Oprah's Favorite Things a few years ago. You can get it at Sephora or Nordstrom for $38 but because I'm thrifty (not cheap) I got my last jar on Ebay (new and sealed) for $28 including shipping. Try it...you'll see.

3. Oxi-Clean Stain Remover. This stuff is great. Last week K had purple Jamba Juice ALL over her white sweater. All of it came out. It's almost fun to do the kids laundry now. I haven't had a stain that this didn't get out. I got 2 for $4.99 at Costco.

A little bit proud of myself. I have been much better about getting to the gym. I think I went 5 out of 7 days this week (Dyan correct me if I'm wrong). I'm going even on the days I work which has never happened. I'm not seeing any results but I feel better after I've gone. It also helps a lot to have someone to work out with. Now if I could just change my eating habits... grrrgh. I am cutting back on a few things here and there but I just can't get rid of the Starbucks.

Grande Nonfat (no whip) White Chocolate Mocha
360 calories, 7 grams of fat

Yesterday as I was putting M to bed I told him I didn't have to work for a few days so I would be home. He said "people aren't getting owies now?" How cute is that?

Another funny story (to me at least). Yesterday I while M was in school I told K that we would go for a walk in a little while. She said "Roco (Roscoe) come too?" I said sure. About 15 minutes later she said "go to the park" and I asked her if she wanted to go now. She screamed "yeah, let's get going Mommy!"

Quirky things about my kids.

M has to have a hood on his sweatshirts or coats. It's really a huge ordeal if he doesn't and he is just miserable. He always wants to wear his hoods (even today when it was 67 degrees).

K is scared (OK freaks out) over night lights all of a sudden. This just started about 2 weeks ago.

Couple of pictures from the park today. None of them turned out great but here they are anyways. M had a blast chasing some girls that were there. He was the "monster" and loved every minute of it. Boy is he beat tonight... I got away with only reading one book. (I really feel like I'm getting away with something)

She insisted on going on the Big Girl swings by herself for the first time. She isn't afraid of anything and as you can see, she was very proud of herself.

M pushed her very gently.

Randomness...is that a word?

Well today I don't have any pictures to share. Both kids went to daycare/preschool today. It was GLORIOUS but it goes by so fast. Why is that? Got a few things done around the house. I must have done 5 loads of laundry. So much easier when you don't have helpers around.

This morning M had gone potty (number 1) in my bathroom and he can't reach the sink in there to wash his hands. I was changing K's diaper when he said, "I can't wash my hands." I told him I would help him in a minute. Then he said "mom, if I don't wash my hands I will get WORMS!". They must have told him that at school. I know I've never said that.

After I picked him up from school today he was snacking on the leftovers from his lunch box at school and said "I was a hungry bunny". I said, "what?" Then he says, "I ate all of my carrots so I was a hungry bunny". Just made me crack up.

Tonight K sat in the baby dolls stroller that Willy got her for Christmas and M was pushing her around the stairs in the house like it was Nascar, skidding around corners and the whole bit. She was giggling so hard and they were having so much fun I just allowed it. Pick your battles, right? They must have gone around the stairs 20 times, caught it on video... it was very cute. He got a little cardio workout and was sweaty when they stopped.

Thats all for tonight. Off to pick up the playroom... a tornado must have gone through there tonight.

Melissa

A Little About Me.

You're feeling: Exhausted, just put the kids to bed and now I have to clean up.

On your mind: As usual, all the things I want to do tomorrow.

Last meal included: Pizza that I made on bagels, a green apple. Toddler food.

The weather: Today was windy and chilly. Yesterday was 91 degrees.

Something you have a collection of: I have started collecting teapots but I don't have very many yet. My mom painted one for me for Christmas and I love it.

A smell that cheers you up: Baby Magic Lotion, fresh flowers.

A smell that can ruin your mood: It's a tie between stinky feet and gas... yuck!

How long since you last shaved: Last night.

The current state of your hair: In a ponytail... went to the gym this morning and sadly haven't had the time or the energy to do it.

The largest item on your desk/workspace (not computer): My camera cases.

Which section you head for first in a bookstore: Children's

Something you're craving: Anything chocolate!

Your general thoughts on the presidential race: Not sure yet.

How many times have you been hospitalized this year: None, I'm so thankful for good health for myself and my family.

Favorite place to go for a quiet moment: I love to sit down in a nice bookstore and read with a hot cup of coffee and no children.

You've always secretly thought you'd be a good: Waitress... sometimes I feel like what I do isn't much different but I DON'T get tipped!!

Something that freaks you out a little: Heights, but I had no problem going skydiving. Go figure. If I have a risk of slipping and falling (like off a cliff) I totally freak out. Can't look over the edge.

Something you've eaten too much of lately: Breads, carbs. (pizza bagels)

You have never: Gone snow skiing. (see above... fear of cliffs)

You never want to: Go snow skiing, bungee jumping, scuba diving.



Today, we broke out the new Play-Doh kitchen. I've decided that something I could loosen up a little about is worrying about whether the different colors of the Play-Doh get mixed up. I'm not a nag about it or anything but I try really hard to keep them separated and it just bugs me when they get mixed up. I'm realizing that Play-Doh is like $5.00 and not worth worrying about, I just need to enjoy the time with them! M and I made tacos. M said "your dinner's ready my dear" to me when the pretend food was done. It was so cute. K had a big chunk of Play-Doh and she said "a hippopotamus". OK, if you say so. It was a great time until K decided she was going to start throwing, no launching the Play-Doh on the floor!

After their baths today, M said they were ghosts and they were both running around with their towels on saying "oooo, oooo." I screamed and said I was scared and M said "we're not mean, we're white ghosts." Thinking of Casper, I guess.

Tacos!

K playing with the Play-Doh.

Look at those cheeks! I could just kiss them right off.

Dyan got her the cute sunglasses for her birthday.

Playing outside

Yesterday was a great day even though we didn't do much of anything. I told Brian that I wanted to get some things done around the house so he took the kids to McKinley Park to feed the ducks in the morning. Last time we went, we practically got attacked by the geese. It was scary but Brian said the day to go is Sunday morning because the geese were so full. There was bread everywhere. You practically had to hit them on the head.

My goal was organization... I focused on cabinets, closets and drawers. It's amazing what you can get done without THEM being here. It's a wonderful feeling to get that done. I'm definatlely not done but I got a lot accomplished. Then in the afternoon Brian did a few things that needed to be done around here.

He made Steel Head fish for dinner... he put dijon mustard and bread crumbs on it and baked it. It was delicious. M even ate it. Tasted a lot like salmon.

Afte dinner, we went outside to play. It was so nice here. Brian and M played catch and T-Ball. He really likes it and it doing pretty good for 3 (almost 4) years old. Here are some pictures.

Hey batter, batter.

He's concentrating so hard... look at his right hand.

Throwing.

K trying to get on my lap while I'm taking pictures. She wants to be by me, on me or hugging me at all times lately.

My BABY is 2 years old!

Well, today is K's birthday. We didn't give her a big birthday party but we wanted to make the day special and memorable. Daddy made her favorite breakfast today... blueberry pancakes (for some reason she didn't eat them though. Dyan and I are planning to take the kids to Build A Bear for the girls' birthdays in 2 weeks or so. K loves animals. Any kind of animals. So... we took the kids to the Folsom Zoo. It's a very little zoo but the kids had a blast and we have annual memberships to the Sac Zoo but we wanted to go somewhere different. They have a few animals that the Sac Zoo doesn't have. The weather was warm and beautiful today... 87 degrees. The nice thing about that zoo was that we didn't need the stroller, the kids just walked around. K insisted on holding my hand the ENTIRE time. I wouldn't have thought it was possible but I love her more each day.

They have a small choo-choo at the zoo. M loved it.

The birthday girl.

M loves his binoculars or "noculars" as he says. It was his idea to bring them along.

What, a decent picture with me. K is looking at a huge peacock in the tree. Thank goodness it didn't poop on us.

M "up high" on Daddy.

After K's nap we met Dyan, Monte and the kids at the park to open K's gifts and have cupcakes. M and K were both a little grouchy (and so were mom and dad) at the park but it was still a fun time. I loved watching K open her gifts. She had help from the other kids and she kept saying "my turn." M helped me make strawberry cupcakes with pink vanilla frosting and sprinkles yesterday. They were definately a hit with the kiddos. See pictures. We had a good scare at the park when K walked right into M while he was swinging. I'm not kidding, I can't believe she didn't have a real injury. He was swinging so high it pretty much lifted her off the ground and she came down really hard. She bit her tongue earlier while we were at lunch (she has been doing that a lot lately) and she did it again when he hit her. She cried for a long time and kept crying "bonk" but surprisingly have any cuts or scrapes. Of course, I felt so guilty. I am posting a lot of pictures today because it's a very important day.

Opening her presents.

Singing Happy Birthday. She liked it at first.

Then I think she get's embarrassed.

She did this at Granny's house when we sang to her too.

Yum.

Is he looking grown up there or what?

Is she trying to put the whole thing in her mouth?

I love you sweetie. Mom

K's Birthday Celebration at Granny's

I was going to wait and post these on her actual birthday (Saturday) but I'm sure I'll have more pictures to post on that day. My mom and Sue, Jim and Lacie had a little birthday party for K when we stopped for the night on our way back home from vacation. We had pizza, opened gifts and Lacie baked a cake. K really tore into her gifts, she was very into it. Lots of fun.

Pizza. She's been eating really well lately. She's pretty grubby there. Keep in mind we had been in the car all day. Plus she drools SO MUCH. Willy, (our daycare provider) says she drools more than any child she's EVER taken care of (in 20 years).

Granny gave her a bunch of dress-up stuff.

Here she is giving us a wave. We MADE her try some of the clothes on. We got a lot of "don't like it's."

Aunt Sue got her the movie Babe. Of course she liked it. It had pigs on it.

Lacie made this cake for her. It was chocolate and she added chocolate chips to add to the yumminess (is that a word?)

I haven't blogged for a while. I have been exhausted. Since we've come back Brian and I have been working opposites and M has been very difficult. I don't know if he was overly tired from being on vacation and out of our routine or what. He's been very mean to his sister as well as Brian and I which just isn't him. Yesterday he needed 6 or 7 time outs. On one of the time outs, I was taking him downstairs to our time out spot (on the bottom of the stairs) and he was smiling. I was so angry I said "don't smile at me"... I know probably not the most mature thing for me to say. He got to the bottom of the stairs and looked me right in the eyes and gave me the biggest teethy smile ever. Ooooh. I was mad. Then he would sit in time out and scream at the top of his lungs. I told him I would ad extra time if he kept making noise and he stopped. Brian said he had the hardest day he has ever had with the kids on Saturday. Why do the hard days with the kids seem so long? Today was much better. M and I had a long talk before he went to bed last night. I asked him if he liked seeing my grumpy all day and explained that he had to be nice to K. We wouldn't tolerate anything else and he would spend a lot of time on time out. It must have done something because I could tell by 9 am that it was going to be a better day. At K's nap he and I made rice crispy treats and I told him if he didn't get any time outs all day we would have one tonight. He was very good. We worked on learning his letters today and during the bedtime routine he said "thank you for teaching me my letters today... it makes me love you." He says that a lot about different things.

K has been very good. She makes me laugh a lot and entertains herself most of the time. Today we were in the grocery store and I was singing to her while we were shopping and she kept pushing at me and saying "stop it" over and over. Then there was another little girl in the store and her dad was making small talk with me about our kids and he told the little girl to say hi to K and tell her happy birthday (I told him she would be 2 on Saturday). K wouldn't even look at this little girl and when I told her to say hi to her she said "don't like it" and "stop it" and was such a little brat. How embarrassing it that? What do I say?

Yesterday K and I went to a MOMS Club event at Burberry Park while M was in school. They had a scavenger hunt and picnic. There were a lot of moms there and we had a really nice time. I met a few new people which is always nice.

Girlie stuff is fun.

Well this morning M went to preschool and I decided K and I would have some girlie time. I found some pink nail polish and polished her toes. She loved it and surprisingly held perfectly still. They really do look cute. Excuse the poor quality pictures.

Her toes are so tiny and cute.

Yesterday M said I bet you can't guess where I'm going or something silly like that and I guessed the bathroom to go potty (because he was already unbuttoning his pants) and he peeked out from around the bathroom and said "mom, you're a smart girl." I doubt he'll say that when he's a teenager. Another thing that he does is corrects me quite often. Let say, we're reading a book and I say it's a jaguar... he'll say no it's not, it's a puma or a great while shark instead of a white-tip shark (yes, he knows all of these) There are lots of other examples but for some reason I can't remember them right now. Yesterday we were coming home from school and they were watching Peter Pan (his fave right now) and he wanted to stay in the car and watch it after we got home. I told him we could take it out and watch it in the house. He said "that's very nice of you mom, it really makes me love you." So later that day when we were headed to the gym K was repeatedly saying "it's not working" about the TV. I told them I didn't know why it wasn't working and that we were almost home anyways. Then M said, "mom, are you forgetting something?" I replied I didn't know. He said "there's no movie in there silly, we took it in the house." He just cracks me up. Little smarty pants.

The cute things they say

Tonight M went up to Roscoe (the dog) and said "hi there, old pal" while he patted him on the back. Then he said... "you're my best friend." Definitely made me smile. We discussed his birthday party tonight before bed and he says he wants a "monster truck like Daddy's and a pirate's treasure chest."

Tried to break K of the fie (pacifier) last night. She threw it down in the car yesterday and said her usual "I don't like it". So, Brian and I took the opportunity to tell her she was a big girl now and we should just get rid of them. We put her to bed, she asked for the fie the whole way in. I explained to her that she was big now and doesn't need it anymore. She whined "please Mommy, fie" several times and cried for about 3 minutes and then fell asleep. I almost fell out. Things were going so well until about midnight when she screamed bloody murder for it. I've discovered I have a lot less will power at midnight. I'm just tired, I admit I'll do whatever it takes to be able to sleep. I think we'll just give it at naps and bedtime now. Getting rid of it at bedtime is not going to be easy. I'M not ready yet.

We're Back!

Well, we've been on vacation for the last 8 days but we got back last night. What a great time we had. On Wednesday of last week we went to Disneyland with the kids and Brian's parents. Boy, was it crowded. NEVER go on spring break. We had fun anyway because the kids aren't old enough to want to go on all the rides. We went to Tom Sawyer Island, did the Canoe Ride, Dumbo, the Train, and a few other things that didn't have a long line. We decided not to go the second day (we didn't have tickets yet anyways). Of course, I was still sick and the evening we were at Disneyland I got a really bad earache. Can I just say, I love Kaiser. I went to the Family Practice Clinic in Fontana, got in to see a doctor (without an appt), got a prescription filled and was in and out in 2 hours. I'd like to see that with CHW or Sutter. I felt much better the next day but couldn't really hear out of either ear for the cruise. Still had a wonderful time without the kids.

We left for our cruise around 11:00 on Friday, the Carnival Paradise to Ensenada, Mexico. We finally decided to go high class and actually get a room with a window!! Not a port hole either, ha, ha. What a difference it makes. We had a really fun table at dinner, the food was delicious... I want to go back. We decided not to do any of the tours in Ensenada... just wanted to kick back and do whatever we felt like. We stumbled upon the coolest mexican bar. Of course, there's Papas and Beer and Mango Mango but it wasn't really our style. We actually wanted to talk to each other and be able to hear each other. The bar we found was definately a local hangout. There was a mariachi band playing when we walked in and is was open so you felt like you were outside. After a beer or 2 we started talking to the locals (in our gringo spanish) and asked what they were drinking. One of the gentleman replied "El Bull, es bueno." So we decided we would try ONE. It had a shot of Triple Sec, a shot of Tequila, a shot of Rum, a splash of fresh lime, a splash of soda and a beer on top. So yummy but wow. Brian said he felt fine until he got up to go to the bathroom. He walked at an angle. We were talking with the bartender a lot and he asked Brian if he wanted one more... (we were already sharing the 3rd one)... Brian said no "no puede caminar". (I can't walk or something like that). Brian tipped him very well as he always does. When Brian went to the bathroom he made us an extra one on the house... let me tell you, I think it had twice the alcohol. We had so much fun laughing and talking and stumbling back to the ship. Thank goodness for the 8:30 dinner. I took a 2 hour nap when we got back!!

The weather was cold on Sunday (a day at sea). It really didn't matter though, we wore sweatshirts and hung out by the pool anyways. Ate all day, gambled and went to the show and dinner in the evening. A very relaxing weekend... for sure.

When we got off the ship, we met Brian's parents and picked the kids up. I had really started missing them in the morning that day. We got the most wonderful welcome home from them. K kept hugging and kissing me, patting my back, touching my face, smiling and wrinkling her little nose up in excitement. It was so cute, she acted like we had been gone forever. M was excited too, Brian's parents had gotten him a little disposable camera to take pictures while we were gone so we could see what they had done. He took a picture of us together before we left for the cruise in front of the car and they got a cute little frame for it and he came running over to us to give it to us when we got home. He must have looked at the picture and showed us the picture at least 10 times on the way home. I looked back once and he was kissing it. He's so lovable.

K and I on Dumbo. She wasn't sure she liked it. It was bumpier than I remember. K wore her Minnie Mouse costume from Halloween. She definitely attracted a lot of attention running around Disney in it.

Grammy, Grandpa and M on Dumbo. What fun they're having.

.

K and M looking at the pirate's treasure map on Tom Sawyer's Island. I love this one.

Our 1st day on The Paradise. The drinks were delicious.

Aaaaah, relaxing.