daddy & mommy take a break

For Christmas this past year, I gave Curt a long weekend away to a new resort outside of San Diego called The Grand Del Mar.

This is the weekend we decided to make a break for it.  It’s always so good for us to do this for ourselves.  The kids have a great time with Granny and we get to have a great time with each other.

The weather isn’t great .... I realize it’s better than at home, but still 51(ish) degrees isn’t quite what we were hoping for!  We had a good workout session yesterday morning with some spa services to follow.  Some room service lunch (Curt had major order envy!!) and late afternoon we went to an outdoor mall for some shopping, dinner and a movie.  We saw Jumper, which we both enjoyed.

This morning is pretty much the same as yesterday morning and this afternoon/night we may go to Old Town San Diego for a look around and some dinner.

Tomorrow ... back to reality and our little blessings we left at home.

skiing | the end

We’re heading home today.  We had an awesome three days of sun!  Pretty much the only sun Aspen has seen at all this winter ... how blessed are we?

Yesterday was a great day (I have extremely sore calves to prove it!) ... Wynter ended up being able to ride up to the top of the mountain and we all spent the morning skiing together.  We were over at Buttermilk, instead of Snowmass.  It was just so cool to be skiing along with the girls on the big mountains.  Taylor and Ana ditched us pretty quick to go through some tree trails ...

Taylor & Ana enjoyed the day on skis and got around a lot better.  They are going to do a little boarding this morning before we leave.

Piper & Wynter both got pretty sick, some meds have them a little better this morning.  Wynter had ended up with pink eye and Piper was burning up and coughing like a seal.

We are all looking forward to going home to see our Huntie and little Pebbles!

Click here to check out the photo gallery from our trip.

skiing, day two

The girls are doing great!  I am so impressed.  They are both going down the chair lift now and we got to ski with them this afternoon on the “big hills.”

Wyntie needed a potty break, so Curt stayed with her and Piper and I (with instructor) went all the way up.  Piper was awesome!  I was actually skiing in her tracks.  What a great feeling to be doing something so fun with your child.  I remember telling her when she was two and just learning to ski that one day mom & dad would be able to ski with her.  So it was sort of surreal to have her skiing along side of me ... I was trying to soak it all in absorbing the memory.  One of those “moments” a parent tries to file away.

Taylor & Ana are plugging along on their boards.  Both are pretty sore and pretty tired.  We are skiing at Snowmass, so tomorrow, we are all going to head over to Buttermilk and spend the day there on the kid trails.  Taylor & Ana are going to ski tomorrow and give the boards (and their behinds) a break.

skiing in aspen

We arrived in Aspen yesterday, late afternoon.  Couldn’t go directly to Aspen as conditions weren’t right for landing, so we flew into Rifle.

Piper & Wynter did a great job today skiing.  Piper will be ready to try the chair lift tomorrow ... we’re looking forward to skiing with her.  They’ve both really come a long way since last year.

Taylor & Ana are snowboarding ... how are they doing?  Well, we just got back from buying them wrist guards and butt pads!

Here’s hoping the weather stays nice ... even had a tad bit of sunshine this afternoon!

and puppy makes four ...

Isn’t he the cutest thing you’ve ever seen???  We are officially a family of 12 ... 10 living in the house, 4 being canines.

We brought “Pebbles” home this morning.  No idea what came over us to get another dog, but we did and I think we are going to love him to death!

He’s been great with the other dogs and very sweet with the girls.  Taylor’s already ‘training’ him to sleep in a bed (for Piper) and the girls can’t keep their hands off him.

Wish us luck ... see photos here ...

while dad's away

The kids will play!  Daddy’s out of town for a month and the kids had a day off of school, so we decided to head out of town.

Taylor (and a friend of Taylor’s), Piper, Wynter, Hunter and I braved the cold and spent the weekend at the Blue Harbor Waterpark in Sheboygan.  The kids had a great time.  I’m amazed and Wynter’s braveness and swimming ability.  Hunter couldn’t get enough of the lazy river, while Piper & Wynter kept right up with the big girls going down the water slides.

All to come home to a house full of puking kids!  YUCK!  Hunter started throwing up about 5:00pm.  I changed her and put her right to sleep.  Then Piper started about 5:45 and continued most of the night.  Poor fragile thing.  She’s home from school today ... but both seem to be feeling much better.

Can’t wait for daddy to come home!

my new baby!!

Okay, so technically she belongs to Heather & Matt (and Jack) ... but I honestly can say that I love her as my own!

Elizabeth James Stuart was born March 18, 2007 and home forever (from Guatemala) on November 1, 2007.

Her baptism was this past Sunday and I am one proud Godmother ...

hannah montana rules

At least she rules Taylor’s airwaves ...

We had a fun time taking the girls to the concert at the Bradley Center.  The concert was good, loud but good!

Gotta love when Hannah turns into “Miley” ... great cross-promoting.  And the girls freaked when their mom’s actually knew a song they didn’t ....

circa 1979 {KISS} I wanna rock & roll all night ... and party every day!

girls first bucks game

We got back from vacation on Thursday afternoon and decided to take the girls to their first Bucks game on Friday night (don’t they look just so excited?!?)

We left Hunter at home with a sitter and Taylor was with Frank for the weekend.  It was nice having some alone time with just Piper & Wynter.  The game didn’t start until 7:30, which happens to be the girls bedtime.  Needless to say, we only made it through one period.

We had a good time and will be back!  Check out some photos in our album.

christmas vacation

We left the day after Christmas for Cancun. My sister’s boys came with us (Brett, almost 19; Justin, 15; and Sean, 14) and my mom and dad.

The weather wasn’t super great, but we were happy to miss the blizzard and freezing temperatures here!

I loved having the boys along and their cousins sure did too. But boy am I in for some trouble as these girls get older. I’m thinking God starts to prepare you for that next stage in your child-rearing years? At least praying He does ...

The little girls get up so early, that we need to go to bed early. The boys get up so late, that they go to bed so late! A whole new world for me.

I think it’s safe to say Wynter is officially a swimmer, she was all over the place keeping up with everyone. Piper loved surfing the big waves ... she’d get pounded and come up smiling!

Thanks everyone for a great time! Click here to see our photo album.

christmas

The joy is back!  Christmas was a blessing this year ... the kids had great joy in opening their gifts.  They seemed appreciative, thankful and happy.

Skye & Odinn were with us for Christmas morning opening of gifts ... unfortunately, I wasn’t able to get a picture of all the kids together.

The best part?  Christmas Eve as I was putting the girls to bed and asking them about the meaning and importance of Christmas, Piper said “to celebrate Jesus’ birthday.”

Click here to see photos from our Christmas.

poor spike

So ... early November we had a follow-up appointment for Hunter’s last surgery. All was well with her adenoids, but while she was under they did a his-panel on her to check her immune level ... some of her levels came back a little low, so they wanted us to see an immune deficiency specialist.

We had her appointment last week, and thank God all her levels were normal. A few on the low side of normal, but completely normal. The only one he was a little concerned about was her tetanus level, so he gave her that vaccine again.

At the appointment, her chest didn’t sound good (she’s basically been sick since a couple days after her surgery), so he did a chest xray to check for pneumonia ... but all is well!

We do have a call in to see why she is so sick all of the time. Constant cough, sinus infection, etc. But praise God it’s nothing serious!

follow-up on huntie

So ... early November we had a follow-up appointment for Hunter’s last surgery.  All was well with her adenoids, but while she was under they did a his-panel on her to check her immune level ... some of her levels came back a little low, so they wanted us to see an immune deficiency specialist.

We had her appointment last week, and thank God all her levels were normal.  A few on the low side of normal, but completely normal.  The only one he was a little concerned about was her tetanus level, so he gave her that vaccine again.

At the appointment, her chest didn’t sound good (she’s basically been sick since a couple days after her surgery), so he did a chest xray to check for pneumonia ... but all is well!

We do have a call in to see why she is so sick all of the time.  Constant cough, sinus infection, etc.  But praise God it’s nothing serious!

decorating the tree

As I think is true for many adults, Christmas has lost it’s “magic.”  Christmas was, without a doubt, my favorite holiday.  The first snow, shopping for presents, wrapping, meals, family, games ... I loved everything about it.

Why is it now as a parent, I’m just rushing through everything stressed, not joyous, yet wanting it to be perfect for my children so they can feel the same magic I felt?  Who knows!

A month or so ago, I decided I needed to simplify my life.  Only do things that are great, make me feel great ... not just good (thank you Deanna Favre for this wisdom!).  That decision has been a relief to my soul ...

We went out on my birthday to get our tree from the same farm we’ve been going to for the last five years.  It’s about a half-hour drive, and needed to be done at a certain time to meet my parents for dinner.  Which of course needed to be done at a certain time, because we had a certain movie time to get to that couldn’t be too late because it would get past the girls bedtime (okay, so I’m a work in progress on this “simplify” thing!).

So we get there only to find a sign that says “Thank you for your past patronage, but we have decided to close our doors to spend more time with our family at the Holidays.”

Where do we go now?  We went to a local market that sells veggies, fruit, pumpkins, etc.  It’s freezing, the girls immediately spot the tree they want.  We get it up on the roof and high-tail it to Oak Creek for dinner!

Later that night when Curt is taking the tree down from the top of my car, he busts the driver-side mirror ... yikes!

Okay ... didn’t mean to write all that, not sure how I got started ... the purpose of this entry was to say that it was SUCH joy decorating the tree with the kids this year!  They loved it!!  And I should mention, they have not enjoyed it at all in the past.  This year, we didn’t break one bulb ... a first I think.  Even Taylor enjoyed herself, when all I was hearing previously was, “Do I have to help?”  Hunter did her part with all the non-breakables.  Piper stayed on the ladder most of the time, getting the middle of the tree.  And Wynter helped with mostly non-breakables too.

The end result?  Top third of the tree is pretty much bare (except lights) ... we lost the star/angel, so nothing on top ... we have multiple little snowmen hanging on one branch because they needed to be by their friends ... and I have “necklaces” (the bead-type garland) strangling the bottom of the tree.

In my heart?  A magical night decorating the Christmas tree.

exuma with friends

Huge sigh ... I had the most incredible time with my friends in Exuma (Bahamas).  Thank you, thank you, thank you!

I haven’t laughed so hard, or felt so much at peace in a long time.  The weather couldn’t have been better.  The food is always fabulous (always is when someone else does the cooking & cleaning!).  And the water couldn’t have been bluer!

The ladies surprised me on the first night with a little birthday celebration ... complete with cake & a gift of p.j.’s that I proceeded to wear for the rest of the weekend.

When we took off out of O’Hare, the flight crew were so excited for us that we were ‘seven mamas going to the bahamas’ (sans kids & hubbies) ... they invited us into the cockpit for pictures and kept the wine glasses flowing!

Click here to see more photo albums ... I wish I could’ve shared them all, but some of things are better left to our memories than viewed by others!