Spring?

Friday and Saturday it seemed questionable. But, we are back to normal now (for this area anyway... whatever normal is...)

We were in a blizzard warning those two days. We ended up getting about an inch and a half of sleet followed by a couple inches or so of snow here. 

Friends of our lost power on Saturday morning. I told them that they were welcome to come over if they needed to - we still had power. I washed up the sheets to the guest bed just so I would be ready. They got their power back and then ours went out in the afternoon! The snow had stopped by then. Things were melting. I'm not sure why the power went out! Our friends called us up close to supper as we were about to go and get something to eat (so we would not open the refrigerator and lose the cool) and asked if we had power yet and then invited us over for supper. So, I wanted to be the rescuer, but ended up being the rescued! We all had a great time and had a wonderful supper. Our power was on before we started eating.

The girls were happy because they have been waiting all winter to get to play in the snow. We haven't really had any snow to speak of this season. Ladybug created a snowman and an igloo. She worked all afternoon on her igloo!

The nice thing about a snow storm this time of year is that it disappears as fast as it comes. I'm not a fan of cold weather or snow, but I can deal with it when it's 60 degrees the next day! 

Feel the Love

My parents and my sister, Angela, got Ladybug and Monkey each a Webkinz for their birthdays while they were staying with my parents a couple weeks ago. Mom allowed them to play with them for a little while before she put them away to save for their birthdays in May.

When we went back to their house this past weekend for the string concert, the girls begged Grandma to allow them to play with their pets again. Grandma allowed them to sleep with their pets that evening.

In the morning, my parents went to work. When the girls got up, Monkey asked me where Grandma was. I told her that she was working. She then asked where Grandpa was. I told her that he was working too. She then looked at Ladybug and and exclaimed, "They're gone! We can play with our Webkinz longer!"

A Little Late - but still fun...

My sister sent me this one. She made it and I thought it was too cute not to post! (Let me clarify - she made it on time - I did not post it on time...)

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

Panda's 3rd Birthday

I can't believe my baby is THREE! The time flies way too fast! 

Labor story: (condensed version) If you don't like labor stories - skip the next two paragraphs!

I went into labor with Panda in the morning which was a new experience for me. With the other two I labored through the night. I called the OB office, got evaluated and then walked to the Maternal Child Unit of our hospital. Everything was going very well. The contractions were a piece of cake. My other ones were back labors and were not kind at all.

Whoops, spoke too soon... we kicked into back labor again. And of course this was after our anesthesia personnel went into a surgery case. Brian was so funny. He kept offering to go hunt them down. I had to tell him to just be patient and I was the one in pain! My friend Rhonda showed up just at the right time - transition. She coached me through a very short transition and the next thing I knew I was pushing (well, my body was - I wasn't!). I was still asking for the epidural when the dr. arrived and he told me he had a better solution for my pain - delivery. 

At 3:57 p.m. Panda was born! She weighed in at 8 pounds 11 ounces. She was my biggest baby (the other two were 7 lb, 1 oz and 7 lb, 5 oz). She was born on her due date, by the way.

She is so fun! She likes to be independent. She loves the color green. She has a very cute giggle. Here she is getting ready for her birthday party. (one of three birthday parties since we couldn't get everyone together at the same time) She had to practice putting those three fingers up!

If the Travel Blog is just too long...

Just check out this link: 

Pay attention to the "we only have 24 hours" line....

The Travel Blog

Our weekend of travel was accomplished in 56 hours. We left at 8 a.m. on Friday and were back by 4 p.m. on Sunday.

Friday:

*Headed to the airport in SNOW. They had to de-ice the plane. That made Dee a bit nervous. Of course, this was after Dee dropped all her clothes all over the security area of the airport!  :)

*We arrived in Chicago safely. I had never been to the Chicago airport. It is really nice!

 We shared a pizza - it was delicious and then waited for our next flight.

*Another great flight. I saw the Statue of Liberty as we flew over NY! But, that picture is on Dee's camera. (all electronic devices were supposed to be turned off... didn't want to break the rules twice...)

*La Guardia Airport - not so impressive. Not as easy to navigate (although we did figure it out). Now we had to wait for Kay to arrive on a separate flight, so we wandered the airport looking for her flight which they did not post! Thank goodness for cell phones, we made contact and found each other right away after her plane landed.

*Now for the adventure:  We purchased tickets for the Super Shuttle. This is a large van with a crazy foreign-born driver which maps a route of all the passengers and drops them off at their respective hotels. The driver told one of our passengers that she should be to her hotel in about 20 minutes. Yeah, right. It's Friday evening - lots of traffic - full van. The poor driver was stuck with a van of mouthy women who continuously insulted his driving and questioned his directions! 2 hours later we were the 2nd to last passenger in the van, so Kay told the driver to just stop at a deli so we could get something for supper (it was after 9 p.m. by this point).

*Luggage and all we invaded this nice little deli and had supper. It was DELICIOUS! I had a bacon cheese burger. I have never seen a hamburger that big. And the bacon was piled thicker than the hamburger! Here's Dee and Kay - look at those yummy cheesecakes behind them. Unfortunately we were too full to have some!

*Next it was time to find the hotel.  We walked right by Carnegie Hall on our way and then past Central Park at Columbus Circle. Several more blocks and we arrived.

Saturday:

This is what you can accomplish in 14 hours if you sight see "like men":

*First stop - Starbucks. You almost trip over that place in NY. They are nearly on every corner. No joke. Sat and studied the map to come up with a loose plan of what to do.

*Walked to Central Park and took a horse and carriage ride (the short route) through Central Park.

*Hopped on the subway and headed to Chinatown. Dee was looking for some Coach bags. She was having a great time. This was not my favorite part of the trip, but it was sure interesting.

*Walked down Broadway toward Ground Zero. Stopped in St. Paul's Chapel to see some of the 9/11 exhibits. Looked toward Ground Zero, but couldn't see much since they now have tall fencing up around the whole area.

*Shopped at Century 21 - bought Brian some coffee and myself a watch (mine died as we were leaving - not very handy when trying to travel...)

*Back to the subway to Grand Central Station. I took this picture just for fun - it made me giggle:

*Headed down to a little market area in Grand Central Station and found a little coffee place that had whole bean coffee. I just had to get Brian some NYC blend coffee.

*Time for lunch. After all - it's 2 p.m. now. Here's my sandwich - it was AWESOME! Three cheese with a tomato pesto sauce. These people in NY know how to make food!

*More walking around, taking in all the surroundings. Went into the Waldorf Astoria hotel. We wanted to see some of the ballrooms. They were having a benefit auction for CF and we saw lots of memorabilia - Shaq O'Neal's shoe, Payton Manning's jersey.

*Went into Saks Fifth Avenue. Kay said it is lots better at Christmas time. It was kind of sterile looking to me and stinky (lots of perfumes mixed together!)

*Next stop - St. Patrick's Cathedral. Kay wanted to go to Mass later.

*Stopped in the American Girl shop to get the girls a surprise.

*Visited Rockefeller Center - watch the ice skating and walked around the building. Saw Radio City Music Hall and then ate Chocolate covered strawberries in a Gadiva Chocolate shop. While Dee and I were busy snapping pictures of everything, Kay bought us tickets to go to the top of the Rockefeller Building. Here's some of the views:

                       

Central Park on the left and the Empire State Building and looking down to Ground Zero and the Statue of Liberty (at the right) on the right.

*Went to mass with Kay. It was nice to sit for a bit. The acoustics were beautiful.

*Back to the hotel to change for the show. Ate an apple and received a huge cookie from housekeeping for turn down service. (ate the cookie later...)

*Walked the 11 blocks to the theatre in record time.  Arrived in perfect time. Jersey Boys was a great show! Lots of fun and I love the music of course!

*Met Kay and walked to Times Square. I have so many pictures, I won't even attempt to load them all! Here's two:

              

The picture on the left if for Little Lucy who got me a magnet in Washington DC that looked like that! On the right is a picture of Times Square.

*Finally, we took a ped cab back to the hotel. Here is our driver. Poor guy - had to haul two of us, uphill...  He was fun - he had been a former tour guide in NY before 9/11 and then purchased his own ped cab. 

Sunday:

*In the morning we took a cab to the airport. Amazingly, it only took twenty minutes to get to the airport from our hotel! It's amazing what a good driver and less traffic can do.

*Two very nice flights later, we were on the ground again and back home! 

Happy St. Patrick's Day

My sister, Angela, took this picture at my parents house today. The girls are still there with Grandma and Grandpa until this evening. I've been working at getting lots of stuff done around the house, but I certainly haven't accomplished as much as I wanted to since I got home. 

As you've noticed, I still haven't blogged the trip. I'm hoping to get to that this afternoon. There is so much to tell, I'm still trying to figure out how to write it all down. So, I'm going to eat lunch, take the taxes to the accountant and then come home and load pictures and try to blog the trip.

I'm Here!

We made it to New York safe and sound and got to the hotel after a two hour super shuttle ride. We're having a blast already. Our plane rides were great. The views were wonderful. I will blog in more detail when I return home.

Happy Birthday Rob!

Today is my brother in law's birthday! Here's his birthday card!  :)

Rob, I hope you are having a great birthday!  Hugs from all of us!

Preparations

The camera is charging, the suitcase is mostly packed. I'm still working on the girls' suitcase. I'm printing the tickets in the morning. I've got the camp stuff ready, so we can discuss things on the airplane. I'm still waiting on a couple of phone calls.

The weather is actually looking pretty good for the trip. It's supposed to be in the 50's on Saturday when we are there. It was way colder than that here today! 

I'm not taking a computer, so I will have to blog everything when I return. 

Next week is Panda's birthday too. My baby turns three! 

Exciting!

Guess what I get to do this Friday? Ok, some of you already know. I'll fill in for the rest of you.

I get to hop on a pressurized tube hurling through the air an airplane, land in Chicago for a bit with a final destination of New York City.

So, how did all of this occur?

Short story:  I flapped my mouth. 

Longer story: (still a condensed version)

A friend of mine (Kay) is going to New York to go to the New York Philharmonic concert. My response is always "Take me!"  (my friend Dee & I were trying to find a time to meet with Kay about band camp plans) Kay said she would love to take me, but the tickets were already sold out. We continued to visit when Kay told me that Dee and I should just meet her in New York and we could talk about camp there. She already had a room, we would just need airline tickets. A couple days later and a few more clicks of the mouse and Dee and I had tickets to New York.

Fast forward to last week. I get an email from Kay and she has tickets for us to Jersey Boys while she is at her concert! How cool is that?!

I'm taking my camera. Stay tuned next week - I'll have lots of pictures to share! Three moms, no kids taking on New York City. Should be an adventure... 

Speaking of the kids and the husband. The kids are going to my parents house and won't come back until Tuesday (I get home Sunday). What will I do for two days without kids? Where do I BEGIN is the better question! The poor husband is staying home with a "honey do" list. 

Disclaimer: He made it himself. Really! Just ask him. He's working on the basement windows. Probably with some beer. And a movie. Action adventure. Mark my words.

Yay! Daylight Savings Time!

Not that I LIKE losing an hour of sleep...

But, I'll give up that hour for more sunlight in a day! I love the longer days. I went to a concert late this afternoon and was able to drive back home in daylight. Spring is my favorite time of year.

Saturday night I was supposed to go to another concert, but as we were getting ready to leave, the tornado sirens went off. Thankfully, the worst of the storm slid to our north and no one received any major damage. But, more storms were on the way, so I stayed home and missed that concert. One of my student's parents bought the tickets for me. I felt really bad not going, but I hate storms and I really hate being away from my home in a storm. 

Oh, I could really get used to this!!

Yeah, it's 75 degrees outside. We're having our lunch outside today. It is just too nice to stay inside on a day like this.  Ladybug is wearing shorts. 

Days like this really make me happy that we are home schooling. I KNOW that my kids are NOT cooped up in a dull classroom released only for a few short recesses. We can do all our work outside and enjoy this beautiful day!

Signing out - I'm not going to miss this day either by sitting at the computer! 

Catching up..

Is that *really* possible anyway? I just pretend that I might catch up sometime.  I got done with KMEA Saturday evening. Everything went well. The girls got along great with Gma and Gpa. Things at registration went smoothly. The new ticket process for the concerts worked well. And my feet were completely worn out!

Sunday, I had a long date with my pillow. Monday, I spent the day doing school work with the girls and catching up on loose ends. Today is much the same. I still have all the on-site registrations to type into the computer yet. I'm ready to get all of that done and close up shop until November again!

I'm so far behind on blog reading, I don't even know where to start...

Happy Birthday Jennifer!

Today is my middle sister's birthday! I hope that she has had a very good day. I did get the opportunity to chat with her on the phone after we called to sing Happy Birthday to her.

So hugs to you Jennifer! Same disclaimer as with Angela and Travis: this IS your birthday card!