The Rhine Family

Blinging It Up

2012-01-27T04:40:00.000-08:00

Our week started off rather uneventful and I was getting ready to go to the gym when we noticed that Rachel was getting a fever and she started having some more of her seizure-type episodes that she got about a year and a half ago. We (thankfully) got it on camera and took her to the doctor who was still not committing to calling them febrile seizures, but what she does doesn't seem to fit any textbook description of anything. He recommended we take her back the neurologist again and I am guessing they will do another EEG at some point. We kept her on Tylenol to keep the fever down and the next day she was doing much better and acting fine. The only thing that might have brought on the fever was that her tonsils were enlarged, but she didn't have strep. It is Friday and she seems perfectly normal! Here is a funny picture for you. I found her watching some TV all decked out in accessories, complete with the magic wand.

Ouch! (Take Two)

2012-01-23T10:05:00.000-08:00

I have been trying to get a few things done around the house and one of them was to fix Rachel's bookshelf. I got it at a garage sale for $2 and it is really cute. It has a giraffe on each end and some cute gender neutral colors for the shelves. One of them had ripped and they were just kind of dingy looking. I went to Jo-Ann's and was overwhelmed by the adorable patterns that I just couldn't pick and solids and prints to alternate, so I ended up this pattern. I love it! It took me (with a little bit of my mom's help) about 3.5 hours total to make. This is a huge increase in speed over my last attempts at sewing. I am very pleased with the outcome and it by no means looks perfect it you look up close. I am definitely learning some things as sew more. Since I just loved the fabric, I decided to make Rachel a new bean bag chair cover. Hers is so dirty and stained, but there is no way to remove the cover and wash it. How stupid for a kid product... It also needs to be restuffed a little so I think I have found a step-by-step instruction that I can understand and follow as to how to make a new cover. Mom's help is definitely needed on this one, but I am really excited to get the stuff and start on it! Matt and I also hung some family pictures upstairs. I am so happy to get them out of my office and onto a wall. I have to buy two more frames and them I can hang some more downstairs too! Matt picked up a short wooden picket fence for free off Craigslist. It needs to be pressure washed and painted, but other than that, in pretty decent shape. We are going to fence in a small area around Rachel's playset. She is pretty good about staying close by, but better safe then sorry, especially where we live.

Rachel's face is healing up pretty good and in a few days, I will begin the vitamin E oil. She decided yesterday to jump from the top of the stairs to me (a couple steps down) and not inform me of her plans. Of course, when she jumps, she always has a huge smile and her teeth caught my upper lip. She was crying so hard and I was busy consoling her that I didn't even realize that I was the only injured one. I put my hand up to feel and it was dripping blood. So I have a slighty puffy lip with a thin cut. Vitamin E oil might be in my future too.

My brother and sister-in-law in the Chicago area had their baby boy on Saturday morning! His name is William Michael (which I really like) and I am really wanting to go see this little guy. It is so weird to not be able to go visit new parents/babies at the hospital because everyone is so close by. Lauren and I are thinking about a retry of a trip this year to St. Louis so maybe a stop is in our future. I am so happy for them!

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Ouch!

2012-01-16T13:06:00.000-08:00

I am sorry it has been so long, but quite honestly, there has been nothing great to blog about. I started school up again and things are going just fine, as usual. Matt is in a training class for work. We have been having fun doing the same stuff we always do, hanging out with friends and family. We did have a very busy and exciting weekend with Matt's family. Matt's Mom threw Nana a surprise birthday party and had most of her brothers and sisters fly into town to attend. There were about 25 or so people there and it was really fun to be able to meet these people and get to know them. We also spent the afternoon with them after church and are going out to eat tonight. Rachel just loved all of the attention. She did have some extra excitement yesterday when she got bit by a very small dog. There is a picture below, but the dog got her in the cheek and upper lip, but I actually think it looks better today than yesterday. The bruising seems to not be as bad, but I am hoping it will not scar. Good thing our family pictures are done with. She went up to the dog and said, "It's okay Penny, it was an accident." She is so sweet.

I convinced Lauren, Matt, George and maybe even my Dad to run the Gasparilla 5k with me. I have been wanting to lose a few more pounds and running really helped me last year, so I needed something to run for. It is at the beginning of March and should be a lot of fun. I am hoping to continue being able to run and find some races that are a little longer. Maybe someday, I can do a half marathon that I missed out on last year. The knee is doing well so far and I am being very careful to run with good posture and not too fast and too long. Matt and I are planning another cruise and hoping to get some friends to come with us! The rentals are doing good and Matt is still working on the other potential property.

She got this robe for Christmas from Nana and just loves getting into it and being a panda bear after her bath. She is growing up so fast, but I love this age.

A Very Busy Christmas!

2011-12-27T10:21:00.000-08:00

Matt, Rachel, and I went to Christmas Eve service with my parents at their church. So, we decided not to go to our church on Christmas morning. We got up at our normal time of 7:45 and Rachel had no idea that she was going to get to open presents. We ate breakfast like normal, she watched some Dora and I got a shower. It was great not to be rushed by a child begging to open gifts. Next year might be different though. Since I already spent a great deal of money on her swingset, she wasn't getting anything else fantastic from us. I got her things she needed like more durable panties and bubble bath. I also got her a $2 VeggieTales movie. I am not a big gift person, but Matt just seems to love to buy me a present, so he got us tickets to The Band Perry's concert at the Strawberry Festival in March. Thankfully, it is on a Wednesday night, so I won't be teaching. I really like this group and we should have a lot of fun that evening. Around 11:00, we headed to my parent's house for lunch and more presents/chaos with the Lantz family too. As always, lunch was delicious and present opening was chaotic. The girls had a lot of fun and all of the adults were exhausted afterwards. We came home and got Rachel a nap before heading over to Matt's parent's house for celebrating Nana's birthday (yes, it is actually on Christmas). Rachel received more presents from the Rhine side of the family and lots of attention. We have been spending a lot of time with family the past week and I have been kind of lazy around the house. Today, I opened and put away all of the gifts we got and have started picking up the house. Thankfully, it is raining so I am not tempted to do anything outside. I have two more weeks of freedom from work before starting up another semester. We are also looking at another potential rental property and Matt is starting some classes with work soon. The new year is sounding busy already, but I think there are great things in store for our family!

Chilling out on Christmas morning with her new Minnie Mouse pillow pal and blanket
her new tea set from Great Grandma

Kate

Reagan is excited about her new toys!

Her new princess slippers from Nana.

Leftovers of the M&M's in her stocking

Rachel got a Belle doll and dress up costume from the Lantz's. She had been proudly wearing the whole day.

Early Christmas Present!

2011-12-22T16:58:00.000-08:00

Rachel's swingset got installed today and as I mentioned in the previous post, Matt did not want her to see it until Christmas morning. Well, she got a good look out one of our bedroom windows and she figured it out real quick. There was no stopping her after that and I just let her out on the back porch to watch them put it together. It was great since it was entertainment for her for about 1.5 hours! She has been playing on it nonstop, minus a good nap, and we invited her cousins over for dinner so they could play too.

Christmas Lane

2011-12-22T07:08:00.000-08:00

We went to Christmas Lane last night and Matt worked late so he did not go. I really don't think he likes going anyway, so it just happened to work out that they offered him some overtime. Rachel had a good time and liked looking at the different decorations and lights. She was excited to see and hug Santa and stood in the line pretty well for her. She wanted to ride the train and they stuck her in the back, which was a bad move since that left her free to stand up every so often and try to escape. However, as opposed to last year, she didn't cry. Since she is a dancing queen, we found some fake snow and music to let her dance in. When I wanted her to back up, she threw a fit and I decided it was time to leave. We still had fun and I didn't have to stay too horribly long. Rachel's swingset is currently being put together as I type this. Matt wants to put a tarp over it and make her wait until Christmas. I cannot wait to see her excitement!

Practicing saying "cheese" for our picture with Santa. She looks ready to take off.

Rachel is smiling a little too much, but it was better than the usual.

A Very Merry & Cold Christmas Party!

2011-12-09T10:43:00.000-08:00

We headed to Orlando on Wednesday for Mickey's Very Merry Christmas. Katie and I and the two little girls went over early to hit one of the outlet malls (namely Vera Bradley and Carter's). The guys were held up a bit because they left their groups tickets at home and had to turn around and get them. While we were waiting, Katie and I walked around the parking lot many many times. The weather was chilly and I think we all wished we had dressed a little better. We walked on just about every ride and the kids got to do a lot. We didn't see too many characters around the park, but the parade and fireworks was really fun and all of the kids enjoyed it or were too tired to put up a fuss. Rachel was scared of the noise of the fireworks and in one of the pictures, you will see her pull her stroller canopy down in an attempt to shield herself from the fireworks. We were there from about 7:30 to midnight. Even though you pay a lot for a ticket and aren't there really long, I still thought it was great because there were no lines for rides.

They have spotted the castle

While Matt and I waited with the three youngest who couldn't go on Space Mountain, Hannah and Rachel played with the camera and took turns taking pictures.

They served very yummy and unlimited amounts of hot chocolate, cookies, apple juice and apple slices. One of the places had a dance party going with Goofy and Pluto out there dancing too. Rachel loved it so much and only ran back to the table to quickly throw back some juice. She was too cute!

She's been creamed!

2011-11-30T06:25:00.000-08:00

I know that I have really been blog slacking, but there hasn't been a whole lot to post about, especially when I don't have any pictures. I had a wonderful trip to visit Michael and Amy and we were able to go to Amy's baby shower. That was a lot of fun and so nice to be kid free for a few days! Matt took Rachel to a few parks in my absence as you can see in the pictures below. We had the Rhine side of the family over for Thanksgiving and it was great. Rachel enjoyed all of the attention her family gives her and Matt's brothers broke out some old Nintendo games on the Wii. I understand since I spent more than a few hours at Michael and Amy's playing Donkey Kong on the Super Nintendo! We had family pictures taken with a lady from our church. We went to a garden in Lakeland and Rachel was a bit of a pain. She wouldn't look at the camera and smile at the same time. I know she got some good pictures somewhere in that hour. Hopefully we will get them soon and I can start sending them out to family. The two videos at the end are really funny and completely Matt's idea. We all felt bad afterwards, but we laughed really hard.

Awesome Park in Lakeland!

2011-11-05T07:05:00.001-07:00

Matt has been wanting to take Rachel and I out to this park in Lakeland that he claimed was really neat. I was thinking that it would be bigger and nicer than the ones in our area, but I had no idea it would be so cool. I would describe it as a mini-theme park for a wide age range that you could spend hours at. There were so many different things to do and it never felt crowded even though there were a lot of people. The place was so nicely landscaped, had fake grass or that rubbery kind of floor that was a little bouncy. There was no mulch or dirt, so she actually stayed clean. I really wish we had a park like this around here.

Halloween and other fun stuff!

2011-11-01T12:27:00.000-07:00

Starting off with this awesome car Katie and Josiah got to borrow:

We went out to eat and down the highway and Katie and I decided that it was enough because our hair was so tangled after that. It was one of those cars where you were kind of afraid to do anything because it was so nice and not yours.

Trunk or treat at Bell Shoals: Rachel (Tinkerbell) liked the candy a lot, but some of the lines were really slow going. She really preferred to dance when the music was on.

Bathroom Progress! My shower curtain is finally up and I still like it just as much as the day I bought it!

I just love going to Kirkland's these days and I got this decoration with another place in mind. However it didn't work there and I just liked it so much that I found somewhere else instead of taking it back.

This wall used to have this outdated, dusty shelf on it and I got Matt to help me take it down. I have plans to build a new shelf, something simple and modern looking. However, I lack those wood working skills so it might take me a while to actually get one up there. I did buy some wall art for this area, which are pictured below. Hanging them is going to require some extra help, including Matt and a few ladders. I have gotten really good at hanging all my decorations and shelving now that I know how to use a drill. Unfortunately, there are still some things I cannot do by myself.

Rachel is doing great and I would consider it day time potty trained. She still has to wear a diaper at night, but it is less wet each week, so I think we will be there soon. We are currently working on her table manners and not making such a mess at meal time. Who knew that kids could be so much work? On that note, I cannot wait for my little mini vacation to Chicago in a few weeks and a chance to see some family. School is going well and we only have 5 more weeks left! Matt and I have talked about going camping at Disney and then using up another one of our days. November is looking kind of full though, so we shall see.

Busch Gardens & Bok Tower

2011-10-21T12:10:00.000-07:00

Lauren and I took the girls to Busch Gardens last week when it was still hot and they could go in the water area. They are now tall enough to ride the little log flume and probably some others around the park.

The next day, my parents and I took Rachel to Bok Gardens for their Octoberfest. They were offering free admission and we had never seen this past so crowded. They had many plant and local vendors set up and we got a few things. Mom and Dad got Rachel's face painted like a butterfly. She sat pretty still and thought it was so cool, especially when she got to look in the mirror. We brought some bread to feed the big fish and ate some yummy, greasy food!

I had been struggling a little with potty training because she just wouldn't tell me when she needed to go, so I was making all the effort. My parents said that we could let her pick out some big girl panties after Bok Garden and I kept reminding her that if she didn't go in her diaper we would pick some out. I took her often, but she kept the diaper dry. She picked out a package of Minnie & Daisy and a package of Dora. She immediately stripped off her diaper and pants and wanted to wear them. She did okay in them, but still had many accidents, even the next day at church. I really worked with her on Monday and Tuesday about keeping her panties clean and dry and I think she is finally getting it. I am nervous to let her wear them at church again or when I am dropping her off, but she has been telling us when she needs to go or if you ask her, she will actually say yes. We had accidents yesterday or today (so far) and she even told the ladies at the gym she needed to go potty! I was one happy mama when they told me that. She has no accidents at naptime, but we are a long ways from getting out of diapers at night. Overall, she has made great progress this week and I am so proud of her. Can't you tell?

I got this scooter for her at a garage sale for $3. We have been keeping it on the front porch, but when the wall texture people came to do some work, we brought it inside. They texturing the front porch ceiling, some spots in the house and both bathrooms! I was able to paint both bathrooms, hang the towel bars, toilet paper holders, and decorations and Matt put in our toilet! He is supposed to tile the shower this Monday, so I will put some pictures of the progress next week. It is looking really great!

Picnics and Brownies!

2011-10-13T09:43:00.000-07:00

Matt was home on Friday and we had a picnic at a nearby park. We got some Chick-Fil-A and Rachel got some time to play on the playground. She likes the swings more and doesn't usually pick the baby swings anymore. We have had a pretty easy going week. Our mornings have been free and we have been hanging around the house a lot. Today, I thought we would make some brownies and Rachel really enjoys "helping" in the kitchen. She helped pour in the oil, water, and eggs and also stir the brownie mix around. As you can see, she really enjoyed licking the batter off the spoon after I had poured it into the dish. She then proceeded to use her fingers to wipe up every little bit of batter that had splattered onto the counter. Too cute!

She loves our male beta fish, who is about 3 years old now. His name is Mr. Henry Roberts (named by some 9th graders) and has done outstanding with very little attention from us. She wants to "eat fish" and what she really means is feed the fish. Since he had already eaten, she decided to try to kiss him.

New Things For All!

2011-10-04T08:04:00.000-07:00

I mentioned that when we were in Downtown Disney that we all helped pick out Mr. Potato Head accessories. We showed Rachel what to do and she enjoys creating her own character (even if the nose is in the ear spot, etc). She also does a good job of cleaning up all the little pieces. We got her some Mickey and friends tub toys, but she doesn't know they are supposed to go in the tub and the plastic case those came in work perfect for the potato head parts. Matt even got in some Darth Vader pieces.

I hung these sconces last week and Rachel wanted to pose in the picture.

Here are her new toys and she loves them very much. She recently putting them in her stacking cups and carrying them around like that.

I put on the knobs and drawer pulls in both bathrooms, which was very nice to have them in place instead of taking up drawer space. I really like the way they turned out and got a great price for them on Amazon. Matt has to change out the bottom drawer front, which is why there is no handle yet. Matt and DJ worked very hard for one very long day to put in the floor. It is travertine and the pattern they did looks great. I love the marble squares and we got it grouted and then resealed a few days ago. I think it turned out wonderful and am really pleased with it. Matt is going to retexture the walls on Friday and if that doesn't look good, I am hiring someone.

I am so close to getting Rachel's room done. I got some valances off Amazon and weren't really sure if they would match, but I got them up and really like them. The only thing left is the stupid door and trim that we have to stain. We tried one and it looked AWFUL, so we got some advice and have not tried it again. I am really not looking forward to it. I did however buy a two step stool for Rachel from IKEA and stained that this weekend. It turned out great. Why can't the doors be that easy?

We are almost to our midterms at school and it is going great so far. As usual, my students are wonderful and I enjoy teaching them. I have been very good about getting to the gym at least 3 times a week and even got Lauren to join. I like having workout buddies. Matt is taking some computer class after work for only this week and is learning something about binary codes. I am not sure how this plays into his job at Verizon, but maybe for future things? We are doing well and Rachel keeps asking to see Mickey again. I keep telling her that we will go back, but not soon. We do plan on going back with Lauren and George and the girls in December. That is it for now.

This video is from the timeshare we stayed at. It had two great water areas to play in and I wanted Rachel to get dumped on by the water bucket. The water was very cold (according to Matt) and Rachel didn't want to do it again. She still asks about the water bucket though.

Magic Kingdom!

2011-09-24T11:48:00.000-07:00

Matt found her sleeping like this and thought it was really funny. She is such a little boy sometimes.

Being camera shy? She wanted to wear her hat all the time. At least it covered up her messy hair.

We had a great time at Magic Kingdom! Rachel especially enjoyed the "train" rides on the tram and monorails. We went around 10 am and immediately went to meet Mickey and Minnie. Our pictures came out kind of bad/blurry and they only took 3, which were okay. She loved it though! As soon as we left that area, there was a mini parade with singing and dancing going down Main Street. She got a good view from Matt's shoulders and was clapping right along with the music. She enjoyed seeing her favorite Disney friends minus Daisy, because she doesn't seem to appear as much as the others. We rode the Haunted Mansion and I really thought she was going to cry because it was pretty dark, but I tried to make everything not scary for her and she did fine. Next, we rode It's A Small World and she loved looking at everything and I had no idea there were so many little dolls on that ride. We shared an expensive chicken tenders meal and tried to do the alien shooting ride, but the line was a lot longer than they had posted. We left about 15 minutes into the line and decided to head home and take break. What a great idea! It rained for our naps and then back to nice weather before we headed back out. We grabbed some yummy dinner at Sweet Tomatoes and then back to Disney. The first thing we did was buy her a Mickey/Minnie balloon. Yes, it was way overpriced, but so worth the money as it entertained her the rest of the night while riding in her stroller and waiting in lines. So worth it! The lines were a little better and we stuck to the area with the carousel, Snow White, and Dumbo. She liked each one and really did not want to get off. The lines were practically non-existent around 7:50 because everyone is getting a seat for the parade. We had a few things in mind that we wanted to buy her and decided to pick them up right before the parade started. We got her a set of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse figures, except Daisy, and they are supposed to be for the bath, but I am not going to tell her that. We got her some Minnie Mouse ears in the headband version, and a nice picture frame with everyone, but Daisy. I am going to get a good picture when we go back to Magic Kingdom in December to put in the frame. We had a great time buying her things and made it right in time for the first float to go by with her favorite people. After they passed, she cared about nothing else and we left before the crowds.

Yummy!

2011-09-18T11:45:00.000-07:00

I have always one to get one of these apples from Downtown Disney, but always opted for the cheaper caramel apple version. Well, since we are on vacation and of course, spluging a little, I got one. It is a caramel apple dipped in dark chocolate, covered in mini M&M's and then drizzled with white chocolate. There are so many different options to pick from and this one took me about 5 minutes to actually get to the apple part. Delicious! I don't think Rachel's teeth could handle this dessert.

I picked the particular place we are staying based on the water area. Rachel has had a blast playing in the two different water areas.

We went to Downtown Disney Sunday late morning and it was perfect. We tried to go last night, but it was so crowded that we just turned around and left. Not too many crowds today and we had a great time. The huge Disney store was great and we decided to get Rachel a t-shirt for her big day tomorrow to Magic Kingdom. I wanted a different shirt and Matt picked out the one she is wearing. Matt decided to ask Rachel which one she wanted and she picked his shirt. She wanted to wear the shirt instantly and we obliged. Right at the cash register, she got her new shirt on.

Matt and DJ took Rachel to Downtown Disney Saturday afternoon too while Beth, Lauren, and I went to the outlet malls. I guess she likes motorcycles.

Baptism Fun

2011-09-15T11:30:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday, our friends DJ & Beth got baptized in someone's pool. There was a dinner with a delicious taco bar and about 12 people were baptized by Charles Young, who led a Bible study at our home about 2.5 years ago. We were very excited for DJ & Beth and Rachel was really excited to be near a swimming pool. We did not bring a swim suit or swim diaper, but we let her stick her feet in on the top step. Well, before we knew it, she had sat down and her diaper and shorts were all wet. We decided we didn't care that much. Since her diaper soaked up a ton of water, she was uncomfortable and wanted to take it off. Next, her wet shirt bothered her and she took that off too. We told her she had to leave her diaper on. The lady whose house we were at said I don't care if she is naked. Rachel agreed with her and this little girl got to play on the steps naked after everyone was baptized. We kept trying to convince Charles that she wanted to be baptized too, but he just wasn't buying it. She had a lot of fun and so did we. I won't be posting for about a week, but when I am back, we will have lots of fun pictures for you.

Royal Guests & Rachel's New Room

2011-09-06T05:41:00.000-07:00

Matt, Rachel, and I were invited to be royal guests at Hannah & Kate's princess party. Rachel has had her share of odd little illnesses this week and Thursday night started showing signs of pink eye. Matt got her an appointment for Friday morning and she had an ear infection and pink eye. I really wanted to go to the princess party and the doctor said as long as she had been on antibiotics for 24 hours and had no eye goo, she would be fine to be around other people. The medicine (eye drops) worked quickly and we had no more eye grossness. She had a great time at the party as did everyone else, especially the kiddos in the pool!

Rachel is figuring out how to get places in the pool by leaning forward and kicking. Yesterday, Matt taught her how to hang on to the side of the pool and inch her way to the steps. She is going to have big muscles if she keeps that up.

I started Rachel's big girl room a while ago, but Matt and I are tying up the last loose ends. He changed an outlet and light switch out and put up some blinds this weekend. We still have the doors to stain because you will notice in the pictures that the door trim is watermelon colored. My Dad and I got new baseboard and stained that already. Matt got some doors that had been primed because they were half the price of the special order doors that are unfinished. We were told you can use gel stain and it will still bring out the wood grain. We tried one yesterday and it looks awful. So, we will have to figure something else out and for now, her room will not be completely done. The furniture is my old bedroom furniture that I got when I was around 5. It is in really good shape and I repainted it antique white a few years ago. She has lots of storage with the closet, desk, and dresser and also the window seat has room underneath too.

We have had a trench in our front yard for about two weeks now that DJ dug. I felt really bad for him because it was so hot and it took him a few days to do this. Matt wanted a lamp post so people could find our house and so the trench was for running electric out to the post. We got the post together and it looks really nice. This picture isn't the greatest, but it is raining and I don't want to go outside.

Sneaky Girl

2011-08-31T09:23:00.001-07:00

I was working on painting our bathroom upstairs and Rachel was for the most part staying out of trouble. I turned on Mickey Mouse for her and came down a little while later to find this:

I guess she took snack time into her own hands and found a bag of Cheetos in a cabinet. Thankfully, she was just licking her hands and not touching ANYTHING. The bag was empty, but when we went to the kitchen to wash her hands, there were a bunch of Cheetos on the ground. I guess when she opened the bag, they spilled, but I have a feeling she still ate quite a bit of them. Oh well!

Matt had been texturing the bathroom walls in an attempt to repair drywall and just even things up a bit. Well, it is hard to tell if it actually looks good until you paint it one color. I did just that today and I think we are going to have to hire someone. Sigh. Maybe they can come out quickly because Matt and I had plans of beginning the floor tile on Labor Day.
School is good. Matt got puked on twice by Rachel last night, but she seems just fine today. We are going to Orlando in a few weeks for a nice family vacation and Rachel will be taking her first trip to Magic Kingdom. We are both looking forward to some time together as it has been scarce lately.

Singing in the Rain!

2011-08-24T04:39:00.000-07:00

Lydia came over for a few days and her and Rachel had a lot of fun together!

Since Lydia was using Rachel's highchair, Rachel got to sit in a booster seat at the table. She does pretty well and still, of course, makes a mess. I decided that after Lydia left, she would just continue eating at the table.

Lauren and the girls came over for a grill-out last weekend and this is their bath so they could be all clean and pretty for church the next day. They each get a ridiculous smile in.

Rachel ready for church! She just doesn't like to take pictures for me and only me.

Last night was my first night of school and it went great (just like always). It rained really hard and Matt let Rachel play outside in it. It looks like she had a blast!

The Toilet is Gone!

2011-08-06T13:53:00.001-07:00

And so are Rachel's diapers most of the time! She seems to hold things better when she is not wearing a diaper, so I let her run around without one a lot. I was cleaning under the cushions and decided to make her a place to jump. She had fun!

Likes to play under the table a lot and pretend to take a nap. She is doing great with potty training and typically has about one accident a day. Sometimes that accident is in her diaper and sometimes I am cleaning it up off the floor. If we are out, I don't usually worry about getting her to go. A work in progress, but I am really proud of her!

This toilet has seen its last day in my house! With Rachel really needing a toilet on the first floor and this one continuing to break, I didn't have to argue much about replacing it. We just used the toilet that was going to go in our bathroom, so we will just buy another one when we actually need it.

Her new overall jumper! I am such a sucker for overalls.

Running from the camera like usual.

The new toilet

Button on the left for #1 and the right is #2

On a great note, we picked out our tile for the bathroom and shower last night. It is going to look so great and Matt seriously has her work cut out for him. This is the shower tile. It is polished travertine and so shiny!

The floor tile is 12 by 24 and it really close in color to the shower tile.

These smaller pieces are polished marble and the bottom left corner is what it really looks like. The rest has a shadow on it, but it is shiny too. We are going to put these every so often on the floor and in the shower.
These glass tiles are actually shinier than they look because once you wet and seal them, it really brings out the color. They are still neutral, but give a little bit of glimmer and color. Matt didn't want glass tile, but we fell in love with these right away. We are going to use about 4 or 5 rows after 3 rows of the square shower tiles as a decorative border.

This is the bullnose that will go on the top and bottom of the glass tile border. It is called pineapple onyx and was really the only thing that matched, but didn't blend in too much and was polished. It is different but will look great! Matt is going to go for the seamless look with no grout lines, which means there is very little room for error in his cuts and placement. Fortunately, his tile skills have gotten better with every job and I am fully confident that he can do this. I cannot wait!

Rachel is feeling completely better, but I am still struggling with some sinus issues. It is giving me really bad headaches, so pray that those go away.

On the Mend

2011-08-02T06:36:00.000-07:00

Rachel and I have been varying degrees of sick over the past 5 days. We spent 3 hours at her doctor's office Wednesday morning with all the fun of ear cleanings, finger stick, getting bagged for urine, and then a catheter for more urine all while having a fever and sore throat. Her strep test came back clean and was put on antibiotics for 10 days. She lost the fever after a day or so, but of course, was still whiny, clingy, and just pathetic. She didn't sleep well at night and after two days, I felt like I was coming down the same thing. We had a garage sale planned for Saturday morning and I made it through that while feeling like crap. I came home and took a nap and then headed to the walk-in-clinic to be told my strep test was clean and was put on the same antibiotic as Rachel. Mine seems to be lasting a little longer than hers because my sinuses are being icky too. Over the last two days, Rachel has taken quite an interest in going on the potty. Hannah and Kate and potty training and Rachel is taking her cue from them. She tells me many times that she needs to go and actually does. She also tries just to get candy. She cannot hold it yet during her nap or at night, but does a pretty good job during the day. Wiping and flushing are also a great incentive for her. I would be so happy to have her potty trained (except at night) soon! I had a late night and not enough rest for the Nyquil I took, so I am off.

Helping me get the clothes from the dryer. She wet the bed somehow last night. I think she might have woken up and needed to go potty, but took her diaper off and somehow put it back on too. Who knows, but I did not like having to change her sheets in the middle of the night and then listen to her scream for about 30 minutes or so afterward. She earned a few spankings from Matt last night.

Getting a Break!

2011-07-25T11:56:00.000-07:00

Lauren and I helped in a 4 year old room this last week at Vacation Bible School. This meant Rachel had to get dropped off 5 days in a row for about 4 hours. She did not take to the dropping off/getting picked up part well. She cried, but then settled down and had fun. However, when someone else got picked up, she cried again. Our room was right across from hers, so I could see when she was getting upset and I usually let her come into our room the last 10 minutes or so. I think she had a good time (I know I did!), but we were very tired afterward.

This is Rachel's sexy pose or at least that is what it looks like to me. She likes to play with her gummy vitamins, which she calls "minnies" for whatever reason.

Since we had to be a church at 8:15 for VBS, Rachel got up much earlier than normal. She actually got to see Matt before work, which I think they both really liked.

Plenty of kisses for Daddy!

Watching TV with her puppy

Katie and I are heading to the Orlando outlet malls tomorrow without kids for about 7 hours or so and I am looking forward to it so much. Rachel will spend the day with her great-grandma and Hank. I hope they survive!

Things We Spotted Today!

2011-07-13T10:56:00.000-07:00

Rachel and I headed to Busch Gardens without our usual bunch. I promised her we would go and she remembers those kind of things now. All she could talk about was swimming and tigers. We veered from our normal routine and decided to see a bunch of animals today instead of the Elmo show and rides. She really liked this and loved the tigers. They were actually growling at each other. Apparently, one of the white tigers kept going near an orange one that was in the water. Everytime it got close the orange one would just growl and look mean.

We grabbed some lunch and she played in the water for an hour.

She likes to plug up the holes by leaning against it.

She did not want to be in pictures today and she is half whining, half saying cheese for me.

This is the last critter we encountered and she wanted to pet the snake. No big deal for her.

Exiting the park and Mom still hoping to get a decent picture in. Not a chance.

Swimming

2011-07-11T13:25:00.000-07:00

Matt wasn't allowed to work on his off day and Rachel really wanted to go swimming. Matt had talked to her about it and she went upstairs and dragged our swim bag from our junk room down the steps and to the back door. She was ready! She had a lot of fun and I had a good time snapping pictures from the side of the pool. She has lost much of her nerve that she had about a year ago and is much more cautious and clinging for dear life. She enjoys jumping from the side and doesn't have to be touching or holding hands for her to actually jump. She almost fell asleep on the way home and it was only 1:15. I guess she was worn out!

Big Victory!

2011-07-06T05:29:00.000-07:00

Matt and DJ worked very hard yesterday putting up the backerboard and drywall in the bathroom. It looks so much more finished when you cannot see insulation in the walls. I spent the entire day (about 12-13 hours) doing our closet. There was only one shelf all the way around. Since the closet isn't that big, I wanted to make the most of the space. I thought about it for a while, got some ideas from the internet, started making my lines for the drawer unit and then of course, changed my mind. I really like the way it turned out and I only needed help on a little bit of it. So, I could claim this project as mine. I am getting much better with a drill. I plant on tackling our linen closet next to move the shelves closer together and add one or two.

The left side of the closet

The shoe rack
The right side. Ignore all of the wires. Ugh (I think they are for the alarm system)

So, what did Rachel do all day? She has been so good lately when I have been doing projects. Our DVR is not working right, so we cannot access On Demand to get Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and our Dora movie has mysteriously gone missing. We don't have a VHS anymore, so the only kids DVD we have is a Baby Einstein on shapes, which she likes. She watches that once or twice a day and then has been so good about playing in her playroom or she will come upstairs and watch us work. She likes to play with the flashlight and look at all of the tools laying around. I love her!

We had a great July 4th at some friend's house. They got a bounce house and did fireworks. Rachel had a so much fun, but was a little scared of the loudness that came with fireworks. She loved the colors and kept saying "colors, come out" We stayed until about 10 pm and she did whine or cry once.

Small Victories!

2011-07-02T18:10:00.000-07:00

Rachel really likes playing with flashlights. Matt has a larger one that he uses for projects around the house. He was working on hooking up the sinks in our bathroom when Rachel snatched it from him.

I am working on painting our closet and designing some sort of organization system. Rachel has been pretty good about not getting paint on her and staying away from the wet walls. I had just put the tray down and turned my back to start rolling a wall when you whined for a second and I found these footprints. Hhhmmm... I guess she stepped in the paint tray. Fortunately, the flooring is nothing special and I sure didn't care.

Resting with her doll.

No hiding it when she gets into my chapstick. It is strawberry flavored and comes off red. She has done this a few times, but it just cracks me up how it is all over her face.

Onto the small victories... our counter tops got installed yesterday morning and Matt and I worked together to put in the three faucets and hook up the sinks. Matt did about 95% of the work and I did whatever he told me to. I was so happy to be able to use a sink upstairs again. All of the sink plumbing is connected so we couldn't do just one, but had to finish all 3. They look so pretty. We got rectangular sinks for our vanity. Matt wanted them and I really like it a lot.

I recently painted the walls a blueish-gray that I will take into the tub/toilet area (when half of the walls aren't missing).

This is Rachel's vanity. The sink is off centered because of the type of cabinets we had to get to be able to accommodate the laundry shoot that is in the left cabinet. However, I still like it. The granite turned out so pretty.

I went in for my 6 week post surgery appointment and everything looks great. I was released to my normal activities. So, back to the gym I go!

In Love!

2011-06-16T09:54:00.000-07:00

Here are a few things that I am just loving lately:

1. Of course, Rachel. She has been using her kitchen more and actually pretending to cook and such instead of just use the pieces for whatever. Here she is cooking me a red pepper. Yum! She looks so big.

2. My new Vera Bradley purse. I ordered it off E-bay for $40 total. It is nice and big for all of my coupon stuff and has many pockets. I love the pattern!

3. The new bathtub that is in place in our progressing bathroom! There is a pipe hanging into it so they could fill it with water and test the jets and stuff.

4. Rachel's new room's paint color. Katie had painted one of her daughter's rooms this color and I really like it. I have painted the walls, but need to cut in the room. It is looking great so far, but I will put a picture of it when it looks more done. The Behr Paint and Primer is going to cover well in one coat.
So into Minnie Mouse that she is completely unaware I am taking a picture of her. I even had to cross in front of her to get this angle.

5. Last but not least and without a picture: Matt. Of course I love him and he has been great with getting stuff done for me around the house and working hard with the bathrooms. He is leaving on Saturday for Kentucky to build another church and will be gone for about a week. Keep him and the other 35 or so people going in your prayers for a safe and productive week!

Matt is working HARD!

2011-06-12T13:05:00.000-07:00

This little cutie and I went swimming with a friend on Friday. She looks so cute in her swimsuit. She has gotten much more careful around the water now. Before she would be willing to probably get in without anyone around and stick her head under. Now, she would only jump in if someone was holding her hands and pretty much stayed around the steps. It was good since I was supposed to get in the water anyways. We had fun!

Love the ponytail!

Matt has been doing a lot of work in the bathroom. He is trying to get a lot of it done before leaving on Saturday for Kentucky.

Matt and DJ got the tar paper and backerboard down.

He had to move the drain for the tub because it used to be a shower.
He is building some shelves that will be tiled as part of the shower
Dad came over yesterday to help them put in our cabinets! The countertop people can come and measure now! This is our bathroom.

So, the cabinets have now cleared out of our sitting area and are in their rightful place.

This is Rachel's bathroom and the cabinet on the left is actually the laundry chute. Matt had to cut out the bottom and side (there is access from our bathroom too through the wall) of the cabinet, but he is already using it.

Since Rachel can most likely climb out of her crib now, I have been thinking about moving her a big girl bed (my old bed). Before I do that, I am going to decorate her room. The pink room will be hers, but Katie and I are going to paint and have lots of fun decorating. She is also redoing her bathroom and so we decided to make these our projects while our husbands are gone building and playing in Kentucky. I will post some pictures of her room when we have some progress.

Make A Mess

2011-06-03T05:53:00.000-07:00

"Make A Mess" seems to be one of Rachel's favorite phrases because that is typically true of about anything she does. And Matt has been doing just that the bathroom. Well, I posted early in Memorial Day about Matt's activities with the jackhammer. He ended up getting the entire platform out of the porch and then pouring some concrete to fill in the drain (remember the shower thing) and it looks great! Matt and DJ continued with the jackhammer upstairs on our hideous tile floor in the bathroom. It was so loud. I put Rachel in the office with some white noise I found on the computer. She slept for 3 hours through that stuff. However, the tile is gone and the bathroom has been gutted! I know he has to build some shelves that will be tiled as part of the shower and needs to frame the tub area. I got a call two nights ago that our cabinets were in at Home Depot so we got those. We have a few problems to take care of as you will see in this picture (the weird stripe thing on the bottom drawer), but at least you can see what they kind of look like. Matt and I have been wondering what to do with that extra space in our bedroom and now I know exactly what it is good for: storing all materials for home improvement projects. As for Rachel, she is a little sick right now with just a cold or allergies and some congestion. I am feeling not 100% either, but nothing related to the surgery.

Memorial Day

2011-05-30T10:04:00.000-07:00

In addition to dropping off some friends at the dock for their cruise, Matt decided to rent a jackhammer to get rid of this small raised portion of concrete (that was going to be a shower planned by the previous owner). Thankfully, it looks like once he gets rid of the raised part, the concrete underneath should still be smooth. He wants to put some outdoor carpet down, but I am not so sure yet. He has been doing a little more work in the bathroom and I think all the tile is off the walls, but just not the floor tile. Our cabinets aren't in yet, which is good, but I think it would put the pressure on too. Oh well, he is doing a good job as he is busy with other things too.

I looked at my toenails earlier today and thought they could use a repainting, so I decided to paint Rachel's nails for the first time. I put her in the highchair for about 20 minutes total just to make sure they were dry. She squirmed a little and told me it hurt when I used the nail polish remover to get rid of smudges. It was really funny to watch her walk because she just kept looking at them and walking really carefully as if they might fall off if she ran or something.

Her new Minnie Mouse shirt from Grandma Schaefer!

Her first really big lip boo boo. If was pretty much her fault. She knows how to tip back on her roller coaster car a little and she went too far this time. When she went over, the handle of the car hit her mouth. There was a lot of blood dripping everywhere, but after eating a whole popsicle, it stopped bleeding and she was calmed down.

Updates on the Home Front

2011-05-24T05:51:00.000-07:00

We are having some progress on a few things. First off, I am doing much better than I was at the last post. I got some good pain medicine, which I was taking religiously for the first few days, but I have stopped them. I can move pretty well and go up the stairs fine, but anything that uses my stomach muscles hurts. I am eager to get back to the gym, but that won't happen for at least a month. I go back to the doctor a week from today for them to check the incisions. I had some help for the first week with Rachel, but now I have her during the day by myself. We have figured out a way for her to climb into her pack n play by herself, so I don't have to lift her. We just bum around the house all day and watch way more TV than usual.

Matt has started work in our master bathroom. Here are some before/demolition pictures. The last picture shows a lot of stuff sitting in our bedroom waiting to be installed by Matt. I am excited!

Feeling Better in a different kind of way

2011-05-14T07:17:00.000-07:00

Just in case you aren't up to speed on the events in my life the past few days, here you go: After my trip to the ER on Wednesday night, we thought I had an ovarian cyst. We go to see my gyn and he says that the tests results are not as conclusive. There was definitely something, but he wasn't sure what it was or where it was. He thought putting a scope in my belly button and getting out whatever was in there seemed to be the best course of action to getting me feeling better and back on my feet. I was fully aware that it might not be that simple and it wasn't. As soon as I came to from the anesthesia, it hurt a lot more than I thought it should be a little incision in my belly button. In my groggy state, he informed me that they had found a cyst on my right Fallopian tube and had to remove the tube. I slept mostly the rest of the day thanks to my yellow button that dispenses pain medicine. I did not sleep well, waking up every hour, but thankfully I can take a nap when I want to. I have gotten up a few times and it is getting easier each time. My pain button has been replaced with tylenol with codine and I have to blow into the little apparatus ten times every hour. Matt is currently spending a little time painting and will be back to visit me later. I am very grateful that we go in for surgery when we did and that this did not get any worse. God was watching out for me and I would appreciate prayers for a speedy recovery. If you are super curious, Matt has pictures of my twisted and deadish looking Fallopian tube that the surgeon took. He is almost showing those off as proudly as when we had Rachel.

The Verdict

2011-05-12T07:19:00.000-07:00

Rachel has been doing a lot of TV watching the past few days. I have been having a lot of stomach cramping and pain since Monday night. So, with me laying on the couch all day and night long, Rachel has been brushing up on her Mickey Mouse Clubhouse episodes. Since the pain wasn't getting any better and not acting like a stomach bug, we decided to head to the ER. After a CT Scan and an ultrasound, they figured out that I have a somewhat larget cyst on my right ovary, which is causing all of the pain. Since it is causing so much pain, I am seeing my doctor about having it removed. I will give an update once I meet with the doctor this afternoon.

Mother's Day Beach Trip

2011-05-12T07:00:00.000-07:00

Matt, Rachel, and I headed to Siesta Key Beach after the first service in church. It took us close to an hour to get there and about the same amount of time to find a parking space. Ugh, next time we are skipping church. The weather was perfect and we all really had a great time. Most of Matt's family was there and Rachel loved it so much. Uncles Eric and Brett played with her in the water and the sand. The salt water didn't seem to bother and as she dove right in. The water was a little chilly at first, but felt nice after a few minutes. We happily stayed out there for about 3 hours and didn't not get a sun burn. We headed home and got cleaned to visit with the Schaefer side for dinner. Matt's gift to me was kind of like a memory box filled with important letters and pictures of big things we had done together. It was really sweet and thoughtful!

Rachel & Coloring

2011-05-03T10:50:00.000-07:00

Among other things, Rachel really likes to color. I don't let her do it at home much because it is kind of messy. It is one of those activities that is good for church or the gym. Thankfully, the gym lets her color as much as she wants. We were at Publix today and someone gave her a coloring book so I let her color on the back porch. She loved it! She does much better at staying on the paper now and got only a few marks on the picnic table. Don't worry Mom, I will clean it off before I give it back.

On the home front, we got our bathroom cabinets and countertops ordered from Home Depot this past Friday. Unfortunately, they take about 4 weeks to come in, but shouldn't be difficult for Matt to install. We are getting granite counters, so Matt is off the hook for that. I am really excited for this new bathroom. While it did take a lot more money than we really thought initially, it will look great and be well worth it. Tonight is my last night of school and then I am free for about 3 and a half months. Lauren and I haven't made any decisions yet about St. Louis, but I wish gas prices would go down. That's it for now.

Easter Morning

2011-04-28T04:19:00.001-07:00

This was the only picture we got on Easter from our camera.

Birthday Party and Easter Egg Pictures!

2011-04-21T07:56:00.000-07:00

My Mom was trying to get a new pictures of all of the girls and this was the best she could do. They were all looking and not whining.

The next group of pictures are from her birthday party. Rachel is in the green dress that cuts was low. We got the dress in Cozumel and didn't realize how low it cut. Katie pins the straps a little higher and it looked so cute on her. She loved wearing it, but it is a little snug around the waist.

Our friend Jill got her two dresses for her birthday and Rachel wore the one below to church. She looked so cute and loves to wear dresses now.

Lauren has her 39 week OB appointment today and so I have the girls. I got a free egg decorating kit and I thought it would be a fun activity. Hannah and Kate did well, but Rachel just wanted to crush the eggs. All in all, it was a success and they had a lot of fun.

Happy 2nd Birthday Rachel!

2011-04-06T12:02:00.000-07:00

My mostly sweet little girl is 2 today! Wow, it sure goes fast. She is in full force whining, but is otherwise a pretty good girl. The first picture was taken this morning before we left for the gym. She likes to hold her own bag and of course, wear her sunglasses. She is pretty good at getting her flip-flops in herself and can get her shorts on, but just needs helping pulling them up in the back.

She was playing night night naked, but at least I got a good smile from her.

Cozumel and Craps

2011-04-04T17:46:00.000-07:00

Sunset through the window at dinner

Breakdancers that Matt saw while I was doing other more fun things

This is the view from the dock at Cozumel. There were two Carnival ships.

Our dinner table. We ate dinner at 6:00 with the same group each night. They were great and so much fun! We enjoyed getting to know them with 4 dinners together.

Because you sit at the same table each night, we got the same serves as well. Daniela (on the left) is from Croatia and James (on the right) is from Jamaica. They were really great and made dinner more memorable.
Starting with the Captain's Dinner and then each night after, the servers all sing and dance for a song. It was always silly and pretty entertaining to watch. Daniela told us she doesn't like to do this.
Here is my craps teacher, Dinetti. I don't know how to spell her name and it took us a few time to get it right. Her and Phil live in St. Pete. Phil spent much time at the craps table and I had been wanting to go the casino. I didn't have anything in mind to play, so we started where Phil was heading.
The above picture was from the first night when Matt was at the breakdancing show. After learning most of the game, I decided to play. Unfortunately, you can't really just start with a small amount. I put in $20 and that was lost pretty quick. I put in $40 more and after about an hour total, I had lost my $60. I had a much better understanding of strategy and what I needed to do to actually win money though. Matt came into the casino and wasn't too upset that I lost $60. That night, he had a dream that I won $1500 in the casino so he said on our last night, we would go back. That is what the rest of the pictures are from. He gave me $60 to start with and that again lasted about 45 minutes or so. He gave me $20 more. We had a great few hours off of that money! I got some really good rolls and was dubbed "Lady Shooter" by the dealer. We had a guy that looked like Dale Earnhardt that had some lucky streaks too. I actually was in the positive for a long time. You know you should stop at that point, but the whole table was having way to much fun.

I only lost $25 between both nights in the casino, but it was totally worth the fun. Matt is grateful that the nearest casino doesn't have a craps table.

The Bluest Waters in Grand Cayman!

2011-04-04T17:29:00.001-07:00

As we left Tampa Bay, the water is this ugly color of brown, blue, and green and smells awful. I didn't really notice the color of the water until a day later and it was all blue. Then, you approach Grand Cayman and it turns that beautiful color of turquoise that you see in postcards. Amazing. What do they do different than Tampa Bay?

We had met a couple from Orlando that morning for breakfast and we decided to explore the island together. We were not doing an excursion, but had heard of a place called Hell and were curious. We rode the public bus system (Toyota minivans manned by crazy drivers) for $2.50 each way.

There were things with Tortuga all around and Matt thought this was cool. I only remembered Tortuga from Pirates of the Caribbean movie.

A plumeria in full bloom that smelled wonderful.

So, we made it to Hell and it isn't really anything to see. The three pictures are literally all there is to it. Supposedly, all of the rock is leftover lava or something and I do admit, it looks dark and bleak. They had a little Satan figure (I don't know what the other person is) and I found it somewhat amusing.

They have a post office where you can send postcards from Hell. It is actually postmarked with Hell. We didn't do this, but Matt thought it would be funny to send a postcard to the pastor. Maybe next time.

I don't know why these are blurry, but Matt took them. There were four other cruise ships there at the same time.

This is taken from the deck just above all of the activities. We typically stayed away from the pool because it was always crowded and full of kids. We liked the top two decks for tanning (not burning).

Cruising-Our Room and Towel Origami

2011-04-04T17:20:00.000-07:00

Matt and I recently went on a 5 day Carnival cruise. We had such an awesome time and felt it was the perfect type of vacation and just the right length of time away. In case you are wondering home small the cabin and bathroom are, here are some pictures. We got an inside cabin with no window/porthole, but really liked the darkness for sleeping. Matt started watching the cruise channel and he saw how they would fold the towels into different shapes. He really wanted a bulldog, but we never got one.

Our room, after a few hours of inhabiting it. The cleaning crew was amazing and came in twice a day to straighten up and replace towels, etc.

Shower to the left and toilet to the right. Nothing more.

Scorpion Towel
Mama and baby walrus (we think)

A heart for the last day. We also got an elephant, which was interesting.

Play Night Night

2011-04-04T17:18:00.000-07:00

One of Rachel's new games is to play night night. She climbs in our bed, lays down, and then pulls the covers up to her neck like she is going to sleep. Too bad she doesn't lay still though.

Picnic at the Park

2011-04-04T17:14:00.000-07:00

Lauren, Hannah, Kate, Rachel, and I headed to Davis Park one morning and had some beautiful weather for a few hours. Just some cute pictures!

Bok Tower

2011-04-02T12:49:00.001-07:00

I don't know if that is the correct spelling or not, but Mom and Dad offered to take Rachel and I up there on a Saturday. Mom wanted to see the azaleas in bloom and they were beautiful! Rachel had a great time looking at the plant and flowers and just being able to roam a little. It was not crowded, which was great. It was a little chilly that day, but still awesome weather. There were two swans that some people were feeding, but we kept our distance and one tried to nibble off some guys foot. We then found an area with lots of fish. I don't know what kind they were, but some little boy offered some extra bread to Rachel so she could feed them. At first, she tried to eat the bread herself. She liked feeding the fish though.

I will try to post again tomorrow because I am really behind and catch up my blog.

A Visit from The Rhine's

2011-03-04T11:30:00.000-08:00

Matt's parents and Nana came over one night and Rachel had fallen asleep by 9:00, so we let her get up and play. There are a few good pictures of her and Nana together.

These are before a birthday party.

Another Perfect Day for the Park!

2011-03-04T11:25:00.000-08:00

Lauren called this morning and asked if we wanted to go to the park and of course, I love to get out of the house. I went to the gym, took a shower, packs some lunches and headed off to a beautiful sunny day. There was a nice breeze and they had a lot of fun!

This is so cute of Kate!
Hannah would not look at the camera for me.

The First Story

2011-03-04T10:47:00.001-08:00

I am back and ready to be unpacked. We closed on our house last Tuesday afternoon (right before I went to work) and basically moved everything over Tuesday evening and Wednesday. Katie and I cleaned out the old house Wednesday morning and worked really hard so I wouldn't feel back about leaving for Orlando on Friday night for shopping and a girl's night out! We had lots of fun together and immediately began by eating at Mimi's Cafe and then heading to Kirkland's for things to decorate with! I have quite a few things for the family room, except I need help hanging them. So, for now, they sit on the floor. Saturday morning, we went to Disney's Wide World of Sports for the Half Marathon expo where we picked up our packets and info. We walked around for a while, but then it just got really crowded, so we left and went to the outlet malls. Carter's did not have good prices on things, so Rachel got a fleece snowman sleeper on clearance for next year. I found some cute stuff at Old Navy that I thought would be perfect for our cruise (in 3 weeks!!!) We so need a break. Matt was a real sport and took Katie's 3 girls and Rachel up to church for a dinner where they all got fed and the kids were being watched by someone else, but he did have to listen so some guy and his wife's rehearsed speech. We skipped church on Sunday morning because of the service that was going on and got some work done around the house. Katie and Joy ran great in the half marathon and I was slightly bummed that it wasn't me, but oh well.

Here is a tour of the first story of the house:

I was almost to the end of our driveway when I took this picture. We have a large front yard and still a good sized backyard. The house is on .82 acres. It is an odd blue color that really needs to be pressure washed, but someday we will paint the siding. The front porch is screened in.

I was standing in line with our front porch so all of this is our yard. We have a lot of mature trees that provide great shade and lots of leaves. Our house is right off a somewhat well traveled road. It is normally not too busy, but the RR tracks around our house are closed so there is a lot of traffic as this road is a detour. It is pretty quiet and I don't really hear any noise from the road unless it is a siren or loud music.

This is Matt's shed in the backyard. It appears much smaller than his old one and we were wondering how he was going to fit all of his stuff in it, but somehow he did, except our bikes. A few Christmas items went up in the attic and the lawn mower (we got a riding mower off Craig's List) sits under cover, but behind the shed.
This is the back of the house. The back porch isn't huge, but it is nice that it is screened in too. When all of the patio furniture goes on clearance in the fall/winter, I plan on getting some. There is a paved sidewalk from the back porch to the front porch that you can see. That is really nice and somewhere safe that Rachel can play. I just need some toys out there. For now though, she likes to pick up leaves and throw them in the air.

The inside of the porch. The siding is a different shade of blue. The raised floor that you see what going to be a shower and was framed in, but before we actually bought the house, we removed it and Matt had to buy siding. It was the closest color he could find. I like having an entry way into the laundry room for Matt to leave his dirty work boots. There is another door immediately to the left that goes into the kitchen.

The kitchen is an awful looking room because of the bright yellow walls, which carried over the faces of the cabinets. For now, I just don't care. I figure in a year or so, we will redo the kitchen. It is a good size and has a lot of potential. Fortunately, there is a good amount of cabinet space, but it is lacking a pantry.

The eating area, which is on the left side of the kitchen. I love all of the windows and we get a really nice breeze too.
Off of the kitchen is a dining room (someday). For now, it is Rachel's playroom and her newest toy is a roller coaster. Our new renter gave that to us because her boy was too big for it. Rachel loves it and can push the car back up herself.

Looking out of the playroom is the foyer, which is just holding stuff right now. To the left is the front door. When you go through the french doors, that is the office.

We couldn't get our old desk out, so it was broken in the process. We are on the lookout for a nice desk. I have nowhere to put my things, but I have a little setup going for my couponing.

If you go out of the kitchen (not through the playroom) and turn right down a hallway, it leads in to the laundry room. The flooring is awful, but a good cleaning helped a lot. The vinyl is tearing in some places, but it is just a laundry room. Thankfully, the extra freezer and fridge could fit inside and we now have a utility sink too! I just need a cabinet or shelving for my stockpile of laundry items/cleaners and I will be good to go. The red thing is a central vac, but I am not going to use it and I hear that it is really loud.

Down the same hallway as the laundry room is a half bath. It has this awful toilet (why does every guy think it is cool?) that I really want to replace, but now that Matt has fixed the leak, he wants to keep it. Ugh.

When you walk out of the kitchen and go straight, you go by the stairs and into the family room. It seemed small at first, but once we figured out something with the furniture, it is just the right size. It has one door on each side of the fireplace.

Don't worry, I have things to put on these bare walls.

Last but not least is the newest addition to our home:

CABLE TV It ended up being only a little extra and to get the faster internet package, it made sense. I didn't care, but I think Matt wanted it. When the guy came to install it, I asked Matt where the DVR was. He said we weren't getting one because it was $5 extra per month. I said if we were getting cable, I wanted to be able to record and watch things when I wanted to. And now we have a DVR. Someday when I have the house in order, I will sit down during Rachel's nap and watch something. Maybe in a month. I do like watching TV when I fold laundry.

The rest of the house will be in another post.

Finally A Sunny Day!

2011-02-18T11:33:00.000-08:00

We finally had nice, sunny weather today in Florida. It was about 75 degrees and just beautiful. I was going to go to the gym, but Rachel had thrown up at some point last night or this morning. I didn't know if she had caught what the Lantz's had or if something just upset her tummy. It seems to be a one time thing, but I didn't want to take her to kid's club at the gym just in case. So, we went to Publix and then a wagon ride to the park. She wanted to wear a hat and left it on the entire time!

She loves the big kids playground best and found two little boys to play with.

We had a fun time together and I got some exercise still. Walking to the park will be one thing I am going to miss about this house. As for now, I need to grade some tests.

Update

2011-02-17T10:56:00.000-08:00

We have been busy preparing to move. Our closing was supposed to be tomorrow, but it got moved to Tuesday. I am bummed about that because I was looking forward to having the weekend to get things ready and moved. Oh well, I get to close and then head off to work. We got permission to do make some changes inside the house. We painted the family room, the office, and in the middle of painting the master bedroom. Matt will be tiling the laundry room this weekend. We got a few walls textured (to match the rest of the walls) and got all of the carpets cleaned. The floors were a mess, but the carpets looked brand new now that they have been vacuumed and cleaned. I am really pleased and apparently, the carpets were not the cheap stuff and have excellent padding underneath. I am really happy with our carpet cleaner! Matt is going to start redoing the master bath in the near future as that will be our first major project. The kitchen is hideous (think bright yellow with yellow on some of the cabinet faces) and designed really poorly. However, that one is going to cost a little bit more, so we will be saving for it. I still don't have any pictures of it, but perhaps I will remember to take some next time I am over there. For now, I am working on packing up this house. We booked our cruise, which we are sooo excited for! I am no longer running in my half marathon due to an injured knee, so I gave my spot to a friend. I am still going over to Orlando for girl's night with Katie. We are going shopping at the outlet malls, dinner, and hanging out with NO KIDS! Fun stuff, but then I will come home Saturday morning and back to real life. School is going great and we are already approaching midterms. Rachel is being a handful/pain in the butt this week and I have no clue why. She was a little better today, but we are definitely nearing the 2 year mark. She is healthy, unlike the Lantz family and hopefully we are not going to be sick since they were over on Tuesday morning.

This is our new spot to read together! And yes, her sunglasses are upside down.

Tickle Tickle

Sesame Street Safari Fun!

2011-02-04T11:35:00.000-08:00

The weather looked gloomy, but Lauren and I and our three cuties made the trek to Busch Gardens. It sprinkled a tiny bit on the way there, so I was not at all encouraged that this was the right day to be there. As we pulled in the parking lot, we both noticed a lot of old people. As we entered the park, we noticed even more old people. It must have been senior day. They were obviously not going to the same places we were, so it turned out to be a great day for our adventure! We saw the animals first, which Kate ended up being afraid of. One of the workers came over by the hyenas and they thought they were being fed, so we got a great up close look at them. Well, Kate peeked through her hands.

Rachel is still not into watching Sesame Street, but she was all about the characters. She ran right up to Big Bird and gave him a big hug!

After kind of eating lunch and watching the show, we took more pictures! They did not seem to get the concept of pose with Abby, but turn around and look at the camera too.
They rode the swings, cars, the carousel, eggs, and tried to jump on this huge bouncy thing. Every time we go back, they get better with it. Some day they will actually move away from the corner.

This nice employee helping her jump!

We had a really fun day and it actually turned out to be kind of sunny and warm. We weren't as sweaty as usual, but the girls could have gone in the water area. Good thing there is always next time, especially when you have a pass.

My Crazy Girl

2011-02-01T10:57:00.000-08:00

This crazy girl got into her top drawer of her dresser and pulled out all of its contents to play with during her nap. Most of the things in that drawer were bows. Imagine her actually wanting to put a bow in her hair. Well, she wanted to wear four of them. So, I let her. She wore them to the bank, CVS, and Publix without touching them once. I could not believe it.

Yum Yum!

2011-01-27T11:14:00.000-08:00

This girl got a fudge covered Oreo today for dessert and she really enjoyed it! I don't know how she could have possibly gotten so much chocolate all over her face, but it doesn't surprise me.

Hiding her smile.
She was sliding on the floor. Maybe going for a yoga pose?

Hats On to Rachel!

2011-01-25T11:55:00.000-08:00

I finally have some picture to share with you. Of course, Rachel loves to be naked or near naked. I still think it is okay and cute, so I let her run around in a diaper sometimes. Usually the diaper will be removed within a few minutes though.

Rachel likes wearing these hats she got for her first birthday. She is too cute, but especially like to wear them backwards. She has trouble getting them on her head, so many times, they just sit on top of her head.

Cool stuff!
Her new bean bag chair! Mom, Lauren, and I spent the day shopping at Target on Saturday. We had some money makers and I need to buy something to absorb the overage. They didn't have a two tiered step stool like I was really looking for, so I thought that this bean bag chair would be great for her new playroom in the new house.

This morning was the first time she really stood in front of the TV engrossed. She is normally not a big TV watcher unless you put her in her high chair and feed her. She watch two Baby Einstein movies and I was busy cleaning the floors! It was great!

Since we are renting our house out to somebody soon hopefully, we decided that the door in our family room needed to be replaced. Matt talked them down at Home Depot to $100 and him and DJ installed it yesterday. Looks much better.

And then there were none

2011-01-18T11:04:00.001-08:00

So, I know I have been slacking on blogging, but I am busy and now sick with a cold. It seems that everyone I know has been sick with either a cold or stomach bug the past two weeks. I haven't had a cold in a long time, but I am really grateful for all of the free cold medicine we have. I just got some more today. Rachel doesn't have a runny nose, but a little cough. She now likes to blow her nose straight into her hand if a Kleenex isn't available. Ugh.

Our fish tank got some sort of parasite called ich and we noticed it one night on two of the fish. Well, we started treating the tank the next day and two of them died. A few nights later, Lord Voldemort died. The trigger was doing well and we had treated the tank for about 4 or 5 days straight. Matt gets up the next morning and finds the last fish dead. So, there are no fish left. He put the tank on Craigslist and if he can't sell it on there, it will be at the garage sale on Feb 5 at Lauren's. Frustrating to spend the money and have them all die.

Other news: After I attempted to find space to put Rachel's old toys to make room for her new toys, I told Matt that I wanted to maybe find a bigger house. Well, we started looking about 2 weeks ago and put an offer on one on Friday. It was a nice, new house on an acre in Plant city. I wasn't crazy about the location, but Matt seemed to really like and I like everything else about the house. I started thinking more and more about it after we put in the offer, secretly hoping it wouldn't be accepted. The next night, I told Matt about a house that was for sale that I had driven by and he knew exactly which one I was talking about. We have always both really liked this home. We talked to our agent (she is awesome and up working even at midnight) and we saw the house on Sunday afternoon. We absolutely loved it and put an offer on it immediately. It is a short sale, which can take awhile, but our contract was accepted and we should be closing within a month. The house is a two story, almost 2600 square feet, built in 1988 on .82 acres. It is just a little north and west of our house (only about a 5 minute drive). I can still shop at my favorite Publix (that is important to me), be close to work and family, and the price was awesome! I am really excited about it, but we still need a renter for our house. So, please pray for that.

That is all for now. Rachel is into everything and can be quite the troublemaker. She is too curious and I am hoping this stage is going to end soon. She wears me out, especially when I am sick.

New Fish!

2010-12-31T06:06:00.000-08:00

These are not good pictures, but for some reason, I cannot delete them off the post.

Matt got some gift cards to Petco, so on Christmas night, we ordered some more fish. They were out of stock of a lot of things we wanted, but we found a few things anyways. Unfortunately, we
only have room for a few more things, like a starfish, snail, and maybe one other thing.

Here is our yellow tang. Going with out Harry Potter themed names, we settled on Bellatrix Lestrange. However, in my opinion, this fish is too pretty to be named after such an awful character. We will see if it sticks.

The next two pictures are of the same fish, a lyretail anthias. These fish all start as females and the dominant ones turn into males. Supposedly, we have a male. You can't see it in the pictures, but the pattern is really pretty when you look close up. He is named Neville Longbottom.

Here is our Huma Picasso Trigger. He is somewhat of a bully, especially at first to the tang, so we named him Dudley Dursley. He has got all sorts of colors and a really pretty design. He is a messy eater and will spit sand and food out of his gills.

Lord Voldemort continues to do well and is really entertaining to watch. They seem to have all adjusted to living together and come out of hiding much more readily.

A New Toy!

2010-12-31T06:03:00.000-08:00

My Grandma and I went in on this toddler trampoline together. Since she loves to jump, we thought it would be perfect. It did take a little bit of thinking to put it together, but Matt did it in about an hour (which according to feedback is pretty good timing). She likes it a lot.

I like little butts and I cannot lie...

2010-12-27T14:14:00.000-08:00

Rachel has not been taking good naps at all this week and has been pretty grouchy towards the evening. She is still sick and doesn't seem to be getting any better on this stronger antibiotic. She now calls her butt a "bum bum" except it sounds more like mum mum. I heard her saying this a lot during one of her naps and put that together with her strong desire to strip her clothes off, this is what I found:

Here are a bunch of Christmas pictures. The first set is from my parent's house with my Mom and Dad, Lauren and George and the girls, and my Grandma and Hank. Rachel got a lot of blocks, puzzles, a school bus, train, Minnie Mouse slippers and pillow, new sneakers, a bubble mower, and other things. Hannah, Kate and Rachel were all very involved with each other's toys and were slightly overwhelmed by it all.

After lunch and a nap, we headed to Matt's parent's house where we celebrated Nana's 78th birthday.

Matt and I are doing fine. I am busy running. I did actually register and pay for the half marathon, so there is no backing out now. I am going to be booking our cruise soon too and Matt and I are sooo excited to be going on a cruise and a vacation to get some alone time!

Family Pictures

2010-12-20T11:39:00.000-08:00

Well, this was difficult this year but we did end up with a few keepers.

Rachel giving Lydia (her favorite baby) a smooch.

Christmas Lane

2010-12-20T11:25:00.000-08:00

We made it out to Christmas Lane on Friday night and it was crowded, but much warmer than the originally planned night. Rachel had a good time looking at everything. She has learned who Santa is now and likes to point him out at all of the stores we visit. I really thought she would like the train ride since she loves the rides at Busch Gardens and loves watching the trains go by in our backyard. After one lap around the track, she was screaming and they stopped to let her off.

We went with the Winter family, so they are in some of the pictures too.

She was jumping up and down to the music here.

Esther's classic smile

Licking a fence post! At least it wasn't covered in ice.
She likes running up and down the aisle as she waited in line for the train. Since she is a clumsy, she fell.

Matt thought this was neat (I don't know why)
We are both fighting sinus infections still and Rachel had to be put on a stronger antibiotic. Hopefully we will see some improvement soon. Grandma and Hank are coming in tonight and I am really excited to see them. I am also excited that I will have a babysitter for my running since I cannot take Rachel to the gym.

Victory!

2010-12-15T09:48:00.001-08:00

One major milestone down... Rachel is now eating really well with a spoon and fork. We started off with the fork and she liked stabbing pieces of food and did well with it. The spoon however was a struggle because she likes to turn in upside down midway to her mouth and of course, everything just fell off into her lap. So, I gave the spoon a rest for a week or so and today I gave it back. She ate this mexican casserole and yogurt like a pro! While the yogurt was still a little messy, she was not eating it with her fingers like last time I posted. I am so happy about this achievement!

Matt and I went to Hollywood Studios (formerly MGM) on Monday. Yes, it was very cold and windy, but we made it. Katie watched Rachel and after being out there for a few minutes, I suddenly felt bad for all of the other children being drug along by their parents in what felt like 30 degree weather. We didn't do everything there, but most of it, and finished in just over 5 hours. Matt went back to work today after being off for 5 days and this morning he called and told me he took pictures of icicles outside. Not too often you will see those in Florida, but it has been a chilly week. I woke up this morning not feeling too well. I think I might be getting a sinus infection. This has hampered my desire to run, but I did run 5 miles at the gym yesterday. I think I will sit today out and do another run tomorrow. I skipped last Saturdays long run and really don't want to do that again. So 11 miles here I come...hopefully. My car is being worked on at the Toyota dealership and we got a rental from there. Matt pulls in a Camry. It drives so nice and looks so pretty. However, I still want an Odyssey. It is always fun to drive something a little different than what you are used to though.

Santa Baby

2010-12-14T15:35:00.000-08:00

This little girl didn't mind being on Santa's lap at all. She has been very difficult lately in regards to smiling in a picture. We tried to take family pictures at the Winter's house with Katie's dad being our free photographer. We took many pictures and a few turned out good. It is just so hard to get her to smile these days. Nothing at all like last year when all of the pictures were good and we had a hard time choosing which ones we liked best. I will post some of those as soon as I get them from Katie.

He Who Must Not Be Name...

2010-12-09T09:24:00.000-08:00

Rachel, Lauren, Hannah, Kate, and I met my mom at her work and went to International Plaza to have pictures with Santa and eat pizza at CPK. Last year was not really successful with Hannah and Kate. Rachel didn't get her picture taken last year. I wasn't going to do it this year either, but my mom offered to buy a basic package, so I said okay. We have no Christmas dress and anything that really matches with red, white, green, or black. So, I just took a dress that fit. Rachel was fine sitting on Santa's lap, but she is a real pain when it comes to getting a good smile for a picture. So, she is just kind of staring at the camera. However, this sure beats Hannah and Kate's picture. Hannah was screaming and Kate didn't trust Santa, so Lauren and mom had to sit with them and Santa too. I got such a great laugh from it all! I will put Rachel's picture up sometime. This is at home where she liked to put one shoe on and walk/stumble around in it.

Just taking a fall.
The camera was on a weird setting.

And now to the fish tank. We went out on Friday and bought a clown fish as our first fish. We asked Rachel what she wanted to name him/her and she said "fish" because that is all she knows. Matt thought about it for a few days and came up with something great. I have read the Harry Potter books and Matt has just started getting into them, so he thought that Lord Voldemort would be a great name for our very tiny fish. I loved it!

We got some rock, but need to get more. We can add more fish in a few weeks, so hopefully be can pick up a starfish, some snails, and another fish for Lord Voldemort to play with. If I find the other one dead though...that will not be a good sign. Overall, the tank looks great and Rachel likes to watch the "fish."

Tonight is my last class and of course it is finals, so not much for me to do except run them through the scantron machine and submit their final grades. I have really enjoyed my classes this semester and will miss many of my students. However, some of them have signed up for next semester with me, so that will be nice.

Matt and I are going to Disney on Monday to use our free passes. It will be a very cold day, but we still haven't decided what park to go to. That will be fun either way. Date day for us! We are also going to Walk Through Bethlehem on Friday with some people and Christmas Lane. Rachel really really likes Christmas trees and lights, so I know she will love Christmas Lane. We have a nice winter coat for the cold now, thanks to a great deal at Children's Place.