CHRISTMAS

It doesn't seem like a week ago we were in FL! This week has flown by, and I am proud to say I NEVER hit a mall this whole Christmas season! I would be even prouder if I said Disney WAS the Christmas gift. I couldn't imagine NOTHING under the Christmas tree on Christmas day.. so we did buy a "few" things. On the top of the list was "ZHU ZHU's!" I am lucky to have a cousin as ADD and neurotic as I am who was on a Zhu Zhu mission. We pretty much have almost the whole Zhu Zhu set. Here is a picture of the whole set up.





The girls seem to thoroughly enjoy playing with these "faux" hamsters.. Funny, as they don't care very much for their poor guinea pig!


Keelyn and Ryley received a Nintendo DSi for Christmas, nice, as they played with them all day long. Delaney LOVED playing with her Little Tikes workshop.. and Addy, sat on the kitchen floor most of the day playing with everyone's Zhu Zhu's.

I made a butterflied leg of lamb, that, KUDOS to ME, came out FANTASTIC! We all sat and had dinner, now the crew is watching the Polar Express.

Speaking of... we, once again, won tickets for the Polar Express. We headed off on our journey to the North Pole on Sat. Dec. 5th. And, once again, IT SNOWED!!!! It was so magical! It snowed last year too! The girls loved it and we were joined by our good friends the Porters. (Keelyn's "boyfriends" family) boy, we LOVE them!

We were home for a week after that (Jack was in Calgary BC) so I was not able to QUITE complain of the FREEZING cold, snowy weather we were having as it was -25 where he was!.. BUT, we DID get about 8" of cement like snow that I HAD to shovel.

Sat. Dec. 12th came and as we awaited Jack's arrival, we packed and were READY TO GO! It was so cold here anything warmer than 15 degrees sounded WONDERFUL!

We arrived in Orlando, FL, on Sat. Dec. 12th, at midnight. Got our car and headed right to our place. Sunday was absolutely GORGEOUS. The weather was a WARM 82 degrees and we were at the pool ALL DAY. (1 of 7 pools on the resort!)

Monday the 14th we headed over to Hollywood Studios. A very FULL day. Although I feel that most of our days at Disney were FILLED, we still missed LOTS of rides and shows! It is NO "vacation" to vacation in Disney. You are constantly ON THE GO.. NO REST for the weary!

Tuesday we hung around for 1/2 the day at the pool. Made some friends from Winnipeg, Canada. Then off to the very Merry Mickey Parade at Magic Kingdom. Once the "deadline" came for the people who bought day passes PASSED, it quieted down. We were able to get on rides with NO wait. I do think the cost of the tickets for the "special" parade was QUITE excessive! The parade was nice, but I've seen the electric parade and I think the "enchantment" was about the same.

Wednesday, we headed to Animal Kingdom. They close early, so we spent the whole day there, until 5 pm. The girls really enjoyed seeing all the animals. Unfortunately, they didn't get to ride on the Everest roller-coaster since it was a 60 minute wait. Plus, I think it would have been pretty scary for Keelyn and Ryley anyway.

Thursday, we just hung around. It was somewhat overcast.

Friday, we hung around in the morning, I think a bit burnt out from the 1st 1/2 of the week. We went to Epcot around 2:30.. stayed until 5:30'ish. The girls didn't seem very thrilled with Epcot, as it was raining and we didn't do too much. At the end they were able to get on the ride "Spaceship Earth", which they seemed to enjoy.

All in all, I'm glad we took the girls. I think we tried to do too many things in 1 week. If you have young kids, you really need 1 1/2 days at each park. We definitely missed things, which I hope someday we will get to see when everyone is a little older.

here are some of my favorite pictures...
















































































































I have some great video's, but I think they are too big to upload, I'll check it out.

Back to the Dr. today

Delaney woke up at 3 am... with a 104 TEMP! We're at the dr. at 9:50, he put her on Augmentin. Sent us for a chest x-ray and it was CLEAR. Thank God!

No progress!

Delaney is currently sleeping on the couch. Just before dinner was put on the table, she fell asleep... on and off all day she's been running a fever. I gave her motrin a couple hours ago and she still has a 101.6 fever! Back to the dr. tomorrow, since it will be a whole week of fever for her.

I'm still feeling like CRAP. I called my dr. today to see if they could prescribe some antibiotics. Everytime I lean over I feel like my head is a cinderblock! I think this flu crap has turned into a sinus infection. UGH.. I can't even imagine if anyone else gets this. If we have to stay in this house 1 more day, I think I'll jump out the window. My "BIG" day out the other day was FOOD SHOPPING. Haven't been out since.

Well, just wanted to write a quick update.. I think I'll take the wee one's to bed. I'll TRY to stay up since last night I was asleep around 7:15, and woke up around midnight and was up until around 3 am!!!

Have we turned the corner????

I hope so! Jack had to take Delaney to Immediate care Sunday night because her fever was not responding to motrin OR tylenol.. this is how she came home:




then later on here she is asleep with her BUD!





Then on top of that.. Jack was supposed to leave Sunday afternoon for a trip. He decided to "move" everything until Monday. Well, 1:30 Monday morning... Mr. Flu decided to rear his ugly head again, and my temp. came back to 103! After a whole 24 hours of fever free!!! So the trip was canceled all together! Needless to say, today, Wednesday, Delaney is still home with slight fever, Addy is completely back to herself except for the cough, I'm SLOWLY getting back. I get so exhausted by 3 pm... It was wonderful last night.. both girls asleep at 6:45! I love when Addy decides NOT to nap and the nights ends like that!! :-)

Flynn Pumpkins

Well, Halloween, wasn't so fun. Delaney, Addy & I stayed home :-( . Delaney's fever was around 103+ and I kept hoping against hope it would go down and I could just get them into their costumes and to at least the 3 houses we knew our neighbors who were home. By the time I thought Delaney's fever went down, I looked outside and it was raining. It just WASN'T meant to be!

So tonight, I may have to dress them up just to take pictures. I have 2 of Addy now I have to get them both together! Keelyn slept over her friends house and went trick-or-treating with them, Jack took Ryley out to Amherst which is a cute little "village" where lots of families go.

We were able to carve pumpkins before everything started.. here's some pics:




Addy with her BOOGER FACE!




and I love this one Ryley carved all by herself (it is only about the size of a softball)





I have NO pictures of Keelyn OR Ryley in costume! :-( BAD MOMMY!!

Motrin working at it's best... when you have the flu!

So, as I was ending my last post.. mentioning I was feeling "yucky".. it only got worse! Come to find out Addy and I "most likely" have H1N1. Since they aren't doing any testing since there are sooo many people getting the flu they basically say it's a toss up. The rapid test was having too many false positives so they stopped that. All the girls got their seasonal flu shot 2 weeks ago, so it is NOT the seasonal flu. Anyway.. we've been miserable, and now it looks like Delaney is next in line.. started a fever this morning.





Last weekend, Jack and I attended my cousins wedding, down on Cape Cod. It was the FIRST NIGHT in 9+ YEARS, I spent AWAY from my kids. It was the strangest feeling of not having to cut anyone's food, not having to bring SOMEONE to the bathroom..etc. The next day on our way back to get the girls we stopped at the outlets in Sagamore.. WOW, it was so nice to look all over an not worry about loosing a kid, someone asking for something, or needing to use the potty! WOW.. sooo nice! Although, I do see how my kids "save me money" - I try my best to NOT "shop for fun" with them, because someone always ends up crying (sometimes it's ME!!) Here's some pictures:

The whole family:







Jack being a goofball... as usual




On another note... a little silly... the other day while Jack was traveling, I was talking to my Dad. He said he had to get to work, so we hung up. Delaney was asking what Grampi said.. I said, "he said he was going to work". She said "I wonder if he works with Daddy". I said "oh, no, Grampi is a plumber"... she says "oh, so he picks plums?" HAHAHAHAHA! I love that kid!!!

A few weeks back, I attended a class about children and anger. One of the things the Dr. said was you should always ask your child what a) makes them happy b) sad c) scared d) mad. So the next day as I was driving Delaney to school.. I ask her. Here's what she said

LOLLIPOPS - make me happy
BEARS - scare me
WHEN I GET WATER IN MY EYES - makes me mad
WHEN MOMMY YELLS AT ME - makes me sad

I'll have to ask those questions to the other girls and see how they respond. Very interesting! There's been no yelling in this house for the past few days since I can hardly talk!!!

Here's a few pictures of my poor sick baby!











Lastly, back on Oct. 1st, we had a wonderful "goodbye" dinner with Miss Karen. Our dearest beloved preschool teacher. She moved to CA., so before she left we wanted to have to kids say good-bye. Karen was the favorite teacher of the oldest 3 girls as well as Mom & Dad :-). Here's a great photo!






I surprised all the girls..told them there was someone very special coming to dinner.. one of them asked if it was the President!!! Here's right when Karen arrived.




Well, that's it for now.. gotta get to paying the bills!

Halloween's coming!

Everyone is so very excited! I HOPE it doesn't rain. Keelyn is going as some "goth" type girl.. Ryley a spider woman.. Delaney Sully from Monsters Inc. and Addy .. Mike from Monsters Inc. Here's what Addy will look like... heehee



We've all come down with the throat type virus.. coughing, lo grade fever, sore throat.. THANK GOD it only lasts a few days! I'm just getting it tonight, and UUUGGHHH I don't like it! Poor Addy is sleeping next to me and keeps waking up coughing.. it sounds painful! :-(

hmmm... let's see.. I don't think I posted anything about apple picking.. I get so confused with what's been posted on Facebook and here.. my poor kids books haven't been updates in close to a year!!! I guess that is the downfall of having 4 kids. I'm getting very sleepy and feeling yucky, so I'll post pics tomorrow as well as write more!

Time for new posts!

It's been a month... things are going well.. although there have been 2 murders in neighboring towns in the last week & 1/2. Some guy in Hollis decided to bind his wife and beat her to death. Then just yesterday morning, about 1-2 miles from here a womans body was found and her 10 year old daughter seriously injured. They are still trying to see if this was random or targeted. Not a very good thing to think about as my husband is traveling for the week (the Husband/Dad) was traveling also! I'm telling ya.. I better figure out how to use Jack's guns.. because MOFO... the second I hear someone "trying" to break in... YOU'RE DEAD.

In other NEWS... ADDY turned 2!!!! YAHOO! I hate to say it.. but the terrible two's have already been in place for quite a while.. so for the "BIG 3" I think we'll celebrate LARGE. Because, hopefully my sweet little princess will be MUCH better behaved!! So I participated in a BIG Mom's group yard sale. Jack had to take Keelyn for her soccer pictures, and while I was writing out the check, I REALIZED it was Addy's B-day. So after we wrapped everything up, we got some food to grill, then had to bring Keelyn to a b-day party. On the way home, Addy fell asleep in the car!!!! Needless to say, she slept through her "party" and the rest of us ate her cake and ice cream.. BAD BAD parents!! Here she is:

Lot's goin on!

Busy busy... schools started THANK GOD! Jack's been traveling the last 2 weeks - Addy's being treated for Lyme.... and WE'RE GOING TO DISNEY!!!! YAY!

Here's a few "back to school" pic's:
















Keelyn's started 4th grade, Ryley is in 2nd. It is great now they are at the same school! Delaney is in her 2nd year of preschool. Addy, wishes she could join Delaney! Maybe next year.

So, we went to Gregg lake in Antrim last week.. Delaney was sitting on the blanket after swimming for a while.. all of a sudden she starts SCREAMING.. she had a leech on her leg! blood dripping from it. I guess I'd be pretty freaked out if it was on me too... Not long after that, Addy and I are sitting on the couch and I notice this TINY spot on the back of her arm, almost near her armpit. I take a closer look and realize it is a tick!!! UGH.. DEER TICK.. LYME. I was too afraid to take it off since it was so small, so I took her in to the Dr. who took it off and recommended I put her on amoxicillan for 2 weeks. Which I easily did since a) it was a deer tick b) there was redness where it was attached c) it HAD to have been there for a few days since we weren't around bushes or tall grass for the last 4 days (when we went blueberry picking) and lastly if I didn't treat her.. have you heard the horror stories of Lyme going UNDETECTED??? Better to be safe than sorry, in my opinion!

Jack was in Ohio last week, this week Detroit... HE BETTER BE HOME for a while.. it is really affecting the girls. Poor Ryley was sobbing this morning asking "WHEN IS HE COMING HOME" :-( - although I think a trip to Israel is right around the corner!

Lastly, my cousin Patricia and I were talking about going to Fla. I mentioned since my girls NEED NOTHING for Christmas, it would be a great opportunity to go this year for Christmas. Well, as sweet as she is.. she booked her time share Dec. 12-19 for ALL OF US TO GO. YAHOO... built in babysitter :-)... just kidding! The girls are super super excited.

Well, I still need to take advantage of Addy sleeping, so I have to run!

Real Quick Post

Delaney kept asking me to "put her on video".. so once I got my camera all ready and started "shooting".. here's what I get... HYSTERICAL!!!




OH YES... she DID SAY BID-E-O ~HEE HEE!!!

Funny Stuff.. and NOT so FUNNY STUFF....

and ...

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lastly... #4




3 WEEKS OF THAT CRAP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!