This Is Halloween

Happy Halloween! This is my daughter, Katie, not dressed up as a cute pink poodle. I had decided to buy her an adorable pink poodle costume, and then I happened upon this equally adorable Tinkerbell costume one day when I was in the mall, and I got all nostalgic. You see, Sarah and Emily were both also Tinkerbell for Halloween when they were Katie's age. So, I thought, why not stick with the tradition for Katie? She can always be a pink poodle next year if she wants.


Emily had wanted to be Buffy the Vampire Slayer for Halloween this year. Not the Sarah Michelle Gellar version, but the Kristie Swanson version. But we had a difficult time getting our hands on a decent cheerleading uniform (meaning not a cheap party store costume), so at the last minute, she borrowed a costume from my mother and went trick-or-treating as Little Red Riding Hood.


And then there's Sarah. I told Sarah last year that it would be her last year of trick-or-treating. So, this year, I reminded her that she would be passing out candy at home while I took her younger sisters around the neighborhood. Then my mother got all involved and whined and cried and insisted that Sarah be allowed to go trick-or-treating with us. SO, I finally gave up and said she could go if my mother came over to pass out the candy for us. And after all of that, in full costume, ready to walk out the door, Sarah changed her mind and decided to stay at home and pass out the candy.
I don't care what she says next year, her butt is staying home and passing out candy!

Forget It

Forget everything I said about wanting to lose some weight. I give up. Right now, I am dealing with so many health problems, most of them mine, some of them my family's, that I just can't even fathom trying to diet or exercise.
I still haven't gotten around to purchasing a new scale, but I have been to the doctors' offices so much lately that I've been getting a good reading at least once a week. And it's not pretty. At first, I did lose a little weight (1-2 pounds), but now I am up quite a bit from that. At my last visit on Monday, I weighed in at nearly 147 pounds. That's 12 pounds above my goal weight, and 5 pounds more than what I weighed when I started on this weight loss journey.
So, I am waving the white flag. No more worrying about my weight. At least not until I get my health issues under control.

Orlando Vacation - Part Two

I like mine with lettuce and tomatoes, Heinz 57 and french fried potatoes, big kosher pickle and a cup of milk? Hey, she's a baby! No beer for her yet. We had lunch on Saturday at Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville. This is a sort of tradition for our family. Pretty much anytime we are in Orlando, we eat at Margaritaville.


Here's Katie sitting at one of the dining tables in the food court of the mall at NFS. She is waiting patiently for Daddy to cut up her dinner so she can eat it.


My three beautiful girls. We were hanging out by one of the pools at NFS waiting for Phil to check us out of the hotel. Sarah and Emily can barely keep their eyes open because they were out partying the night away the night before.


We ate lunch at the Seafire Inn at Sea World on Sunday. We like this restaurant because they have a dueling pianos show. Katie didn't previously like strawberries, but as you can tell from this picture, she certainly loves them now. She was very unhappy when all of the strawberries were gone. I can't wait to take her strawberry picking again next year!


Because it is nearly Halloween, Sea World was all decked out in fall and Halloween themed decorations. They were actually having their Halloween Spooktackular while we were there, but unfortunately, shortly after taking this picture, it started raining on us so we decided to head home early. Of course, it was a good thing we did, because the girls were so tired they really needed some rest. Sarah fell asleep in the car first, followed shorty after by Emily. Katie lasted for a good half-hour longer, but eventually fell asleep, too.

Orlando Vacation - Part One

Welcome to the Nickelodeon Family Suites! Phil and I took our girls to the Nickelodeon Family Suites in Orlando for the weekend. Sarah and Emily had Friday off from school, so we thought it would be a good idea to spend the long weekend in Orlando. Unfortunately, Phil ended up having to work overnight Thursday night, so we got a very late start on our trip. By the time we were ready to head out, it was getting close to dinner time, and the after work traffic was still pretty bad. So, we stopped at Cracker Barrel for dinner. We eventually made it to Orlando. That is, after we got lost trying to find the hotel because the directions on their website were completely incorrect.


As you can see from these pictures of the swimming pools at the hotel, the girls had a great time while we were there. With all of the water slides, it was more like being at a water park than a hotel pool.


There was a party Saturday night at the Lagoon pool. Phil took the girls and they had a blast. Emily swam while Sarah danced and participated in contests. Sarah actually won the musical chairs competition, so she was very proud of herself.


These next two pictures were taken from up high on the Skytower at Sea World. They are of the new Aquatica water park that Sea World is building. Aquatica is scheduled to open up in the Spring of 2008.


The girls have been excited about Aquatica for a while now, but after getting a "sneak peak" of the park, they are even more excited about going. Good thing they only have a few months left until it actually opens!

Ouch!

We are currently on a mini-vacation in Orlando at the Nickelodeon Family Suites. I'll post about all of that after we return home.
Right now, I just want to say that I HATE hotel beds! I have slept on this bed, which feels more like a rock, for the past two nights and now I am in so much pain I want to shoot myself. I realize that you're not going to get top of the line mattresses in hotels because they want to actually make some money on the room rentals, but do they really have to get the most uncomfortable thing out there? Couldn't they compromise somewhere in the middle?

Happy Birthday, Phil!

Happy 37th birhtday to my dear husband, Phil. I love you, baby, and I truly appreciate all of the wonderful things you do for me and our family. I wish you were home right now, and I can't wait to see you this weekend.

Happy 60th Mom!

Just kidding! My mom's only 52 today, but I love to tease her and call her old.

Happy Birthday, Mom! You are my SUNSHINE! Hee-hee...

My Day... So Far

It took me THREE HOURS to take Emily to school and come home this morning. Why did it take that long? Well, because apparently, I drove Emily to school on a FLAT TIRE this morning. I had no clue that my tire was flat until I was almost to her school this morning. My car kept bottoming out when I went over the speed humps on the street that her school is on, which I thought was a bit strange considering that I was not going over them any faster than normal. I got out of the car when we got to the school and found that my tire was flat.
So, I had to call AAA to come help me. Luckily, they got to the school where I was in only 20 minutes. Instead of putting my spare tire on, the service man just filled up my tire so I could drive to Sears to get it replaced. Those of you "loyal readers" might recall that I had to replace my tires a couple of months ago when I got a flat on my way to the zoo. Thankfully, this tire was under warranty because it was so new and it didn't cost me any money to replace it this time. Yea!

Sarah is home sick today for the second day in a row. She has some sort of stomach virus, which I am pretty sure she is just about over now. So, she'll be back in school tomorrow whether she likes it or not. I just have to pray now that she hasn't passed it along to me or Katie.

Waiting...

So, I've been waiting all day long. And it sucks!
My BFF Ann called me last night around 10:30 to see if I thought she could be in labor and should go to the hospital. While she is the nurse, this is her first baby, and since I've had three already, I am the expert in this area. So, I diagnosed her as being in early labor and told her to call her doctor and go to the hospital. And she's been there ever since. And I haven't spoken to her since around 8:00 this morning when she told me she was 2 cm dilated and was about to get a pitocin drip to help her along.


Okay... The wait is OVER! While I was typing, my phone rang, and guess who it was? That's right! It was Ann calling to tell me that she finally had the baby (7:26 pm; 6 lbs. 15 1/2 oz.). I am so happy and relieved.

Welcome to the world little Alison Marie! I'll be coming to see you on Saturday.