Rough week

Well, the stomach bug visited this week and visited with a vengeance.

All 5 of us were hit so it made for a VERY long week!

Ryan and Mabel were taken down last Sunday night so they were out of commission on Monday.  Mabel's version was pretty light so I'm hoping she is now immune and will not relapse :)

Jeremy was hit Thursday night so he stayed home from school on Friday with Mabel and me.

Mommy came down with it Saturday night and Amelia Sunday morning!  Ugh!  

We're all feeling better now, just in time for mommy and daddy's trip to NYC!  Ryan is going for work so I am tagging along for the weekend.  Stay healthy kids.

Baby steps and big steps!

Big step; Amelia gave her pacifier "wawi" to "kids who need it"!  I told her, and Jeremy when he did it, that little babies need pacifiers so you can give yours to them.  She decided Thursday that she wanted to give it away.  DONE.  I didn't post about it until now because it was too good to be true. I kept waiting for things to spiral downward but no, she shed a few tears and asks for it every once in awhile but she's good!  "Quiet time" is not existent now but I am letting her get over the loss before I enforce it again.

 Mabel has climbed out of her crib on and off for the last month or so but last week, it was every morning and EARLY!  She goes to bed fine, just up early.  So, we borrowed a friend's crib tent!  Amelia unzipped her one morning but she's cooperating with the new set up!

Jbird started his 2nd baseball season and had his first practice Friday night!  I think we will lose some games this year but I think he will feel like a bigger part of the team (last year they had the young ones play in not so active positions)!  Will keep you posted....

Oma and Opa gave the kids Valentine's money so we took them to Target to pick something out.  That was easy!  Yeah right, you tell a kid to pick ONE thing out at Target!  Here they are paying! 

Amelia picked out a little pink purse with nail polish in it, Jbird picked out a bag of bouncy balls and a pincher and Mabel picked out a bunch of chapstick :)  Wonder where she gets that!  

That was then...

This is now!  

Happy Valentines Day!  

 Each one holding their Valentine's school project!  Jeremy hand stitched a red felt heart with a white J.  

 

Have a happy day full of love!

2 reptile lovers and, well, 1 non reptile lover

We went to Olivia's reptile birthday party yesterday and the kids had a blast!

They sat like this for quite a while and Amelia would turn and say, "I don't want to pet/hold it" when a new reptile was introduced.  We reminded her every time, "just say 'no thank you' if you don't want to pet it."  

The other two on the other hand, were all over them!

Fun times!

Visitors

The Picketts were in town while we were in Hawaii but we were able to get a last minute play date.  The kids were SO excited to see each other, especially these two boys!!!  Makes me sad.

Tante (Aunt) Patty was also in town while we were gone but we got to see her and my cousin Patrick who lives in Santa Monica!  He and his wife Carrie have a 1 year old daughter Addison, my 2nd cousin.  Yes, I have a cousin who lives in LA but he's an independent soul so we don't see him that often! :(

Addison was so friendly and wanted to hug everyone ALL the time.  Especially Jeremy!  He was SO sweet with her!

Wish we all lived closer and could hang out all the time!  Until next time....

Some random shots from Maui

These are a few of my favorite from my sister-in-law's camera!!!

Mabel was so "grown up" walking (almost the entire way there and back) with her carry on bag and pillow pet!  People were pointing and saying how cute she was.

Maui Family Trip Days 4, 5 & 6

Have I told you this kid loves Hawaii?!!?

So does mom!!!!! :)  Body surfing!

This toddler also LOVES it here!!  She is really enjoying the beach!  She doesn't mind getting dirty!

Exhibit A

 This is how she gets dirty!  Her and Benny are classic!

 Playing hide and seek in a hole!

Opa and 1/2 of his grandkids!

An attempt at a family picture!  The kids weren't having it!

But, after a little water mishap...

We got a great group shot!

And a "Little" family shot!

We joke when people ask us about our group and we say, "the blondes are related and everyone else married in"

Off to our whale watching adventure!  We left Mabel, Amelia, Teddy, Oma and Courtney behind since they tend to get sea sick and it was a windy day!

The "young" old married couple!

4 whales if you can see them (puff of white is from one of the blow holes)

This was totally cool.  A newborn and it's mom!  As the guide said, the mom is always near the baby (no shit) and the newborns are spastic.  It breeched a bunch of times as we watched them swim by.   Baby is the little (1 ton) out of the water and the mommy's hump is next to it!

Tail going under!

The boys

After a nice dinner out last night, Dave decided to walk home along the beach.  BAD idea!  He stubbed his toe on a lava rock, shattered the tip of his middle toe and needed 15 stitches.  They had to sew the tip back on.  Poor guy!

The Meinhardt and Rimando cousins!

We are still doing mornings at the beach and afternoons by the pool.  Amelia prefers the pool (she says she doesn't like to be sandy) and Mabel prefers the beach!  J loves both!  Mabel got a fever and a good cough so she's been up earlier and wants to nap earlier but a trooper through and through.

Miss Amelia has discovered (or finally allowed me to put on) arm floaties and loves to be in the water.  We discovered that today....we leave tomorrow :(  We were going to go out to dinner with the kids on our last night but we decided that ordering pizza, watching the sunset and letting the kids run around with each other would be better!

Tomorrow we're taking the kids to get some souvenirs and then hit up the pool for a few hours before we leave for the airport :(  It's been an amazing trip and we're planning the next one!!!!