7 years ago today....

7 years ago today my life changed forever ....

and oh how fast those years have gone!

Happy Birthday to my baby girl! I love you more then you will ever know!

Vacation nuggets take 1

We loved our recent vacation to Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida. It was filled with many happy moments and those conversations that are too funny to forget.

For Example:

While at the Luau dinner show we were drinking MaiTai's. Little Miss Perfect (LMP) (as recently labeled by her new shirt) noticed that the adults' drinks were a different color then hers. LMP says is it because they have "Alcohol" in them? I said yes and she responded "What is Alcohol anyway? Is that what makes you like this? and she proceeded to make googly eyes and wobble around.

The man across from us cracked up laughing. I just wonder how she came up with that definition considering we have never been drunk in front of her. I think it is too many episodes of the Simpsons!

more to follow...

Blah blah blah

It's been a blah day. I'm grumpy to the point where I yelled at Miss Attitude for complaining about not having a drink in the car. Ok, she still needs to wait for things and learn that instant gratification is not necessary, but I shouldn't yell either. SO I apologized and she forgives and forgets... kids are too loving:)

We have been conducting a search for the perfect bike for her and it has not been easy. She needs a bigger bike for her height but she isn't skilled (or confident) enough to handle the extra weight that a big bike brings. Then there is the toss up - do we spend $100 and get her a cheap bike from Toys R Us in case she doesn't use it very long or do we spend $265 and get the really nice quality bike from the bike store? Ugh, I hate making decisions like this (and spending money - oh how I hate that part too).

In better news we booked our vacation to Universal Studios and I am counting the days until we leave. I am still waiting to book a flight back (hey we have a flight down - what more do we need?). I decided that I would buy the flight down to Florida since it was incredibly cheap ($59 each - see I told you I hate spending money) but now I am waiting for the flight back to be that cheap too. I am hopeful since the prices seem to be changing daily. We can't wait to get away for a week for some fun and a few screams too.

Miss Attitude has started taking Karate class and she loves it! She wants to get her black belt so she needs to practice a lot(and class is 4 days a week). I am hoping that she really learns balance and coordination from these classes. She is going to play spring soccer again in April - so we will be very busy.

The good news is that the last few days I have been right on top of things. Yesterday I went and bought the fabric adhesive I need to attach the Karate stars she earns and the Brownie badges I was supposed to get back in September. Then today we went and got a soccer ball and cleats 2 whole weeks before the season starts! That is a new record for me! I am even planning on attaching the stars and patches tonight - if we don't go roller skating instead. Now if I just find the time to finish my other to do lists - I will be way ahead of the game.

2009 is here - Resolutions abound!

As for 2008 it went by too quickly and I can only imagine what 2009 will bring. I made my New Year's resolutions again and I am confident that it will be maintained. For 2008 I gave up French Fries (and waffle fries and all other fries) and I made it without even sneaking one (which is hard when your 6 year old orders them and only eats a small handful leaving all of those lovely fries to the garbage).
This year I am dedicating myself to running at least twice a week ( I tend to do other cardio instead when I don't have a race scheduled) and adding in other mini resolutions as I go. My first one is the hardest - I am going to stay within my designated calorie range until the week of April 20th. This means no pizza binges, Chinese food buffets, or ice cream sundaes covered in hot fudge and caramel. My biggest challenge for this is the weekends. On weekdays, I have no problem staying within my goals. But oh those weekends are rough - it is too easy with the family around to just get some junk food and go crazy with it. I have made it 3 days (all off days - woohoo) so I am on a roll now! I am looking forward to losing the rest of my weight and hitting my goal this year.
In other goals, I want to run a 10K without walking and finish a 5K in under 30 minutes. That's where the running twice a week will help. I need to have less weight to carry and build endurance. Look out 2009 here I come!
Happy New Year everyone! I hope your resolutions (if you make them) challenge you and inspire you to achieve all you can! Here's to a wonderful 2009! Cheers!

Christmas and 2008 catch up

It has been so long since I last posted, I have to try and remember where I left off. Thanksgiving came and went and it seems that Christmas came all too fast. Work was crazy since we were shipping vaccines as fast as we could package them (it seems every parent was getting their children vaccinated for the new year!) and I still had all of the shopping and decorating to do at home. Christmas was wonderful though and it went flying by. Miss Attitude - formerly Sweetpea but in her new role she isn't always sweet :) - loved everything she got for Christmas. I think the thing she enjoyed the most was the days off of school. Even though she likes learning, she has discovered the joy in playing ALL day again.
We have spent the last several days digging out from the piles of presents that we were blessed with from our wonderful families. I am looking forward to a great year. I received a new camera (oh my hubby is wonderful) that I can't wait to learn all of the things it can do. Miss Attitude has too many toys to even name, and hubby is playing with his new Xbox 360. So instead of words - here are a few pictures to share our joy of the holiday.

The "kids" (my cousins and Miss Attitude)

My uncle and Miss Attitude had a lot of fun with a can of whipped cream!

Every now and then she still looks like an angel :)

My family waiting anxiously to open presents - the people not in the picture were the ones slowing us down!
Miss Attitude and my Dad (see where the name comes form?)

True joy when you get the one gift you asked Santa for!

Even the cat loves Christmas!

I hope everyone's Christmas was equally fun filled!

All I want for Christmas..

Is my two front teeth!

This song has been sung constantly in our house for the last 2 days. She was waiting and waiting for that second tooth to fall out. That makes 3 holes in her smile now!

All dressed up for Halloween

Sweetpea was supposed to be a ballerina for Halloween. This would have been a FREE costume since I already paid for it for her Spring dance recital. Then she decided she was tired of being "cute" and wanted to be something bad for Halloween. I guess the fact that Batgirl is a good guy was lost on her. The only problem she had with this costume was during the annual begging for candy when the adults called her bat MAN. She eventually resorted to tugging on her braids while saying Trick or Treat so they could clearly see she was BatGIRL. I think she still looks "cute", just don't tell her that!

Sweetpea wasn't the only family member dressed for the occasion.

I was at the pet store and they had this on sale...I just couldn't resist (the costume, the cat was already ours). Can you just tell how much he hates me?