Thanks, Mom!

I haven't updated this blog in over six months, but there's something I wanted to do publically. I wanted to say thanks fo my Mom.

On Sept 1st, Bubby will start school and for the first time in over eight years, my Mummy won't be watching one of my children all day every day (you'll still have them on vacation and holidays though, Mummy, so don't start cheering yet! LOL!)

Thank you for feeding them breakfast and lunch everyday. I know what a struggle that is with Bubby being such a picky eater.

Thank you for holding them when they fall and kissing boo boos that I couldn't be there to kiss.

Thank you for letting them call me when they need to.

Thank you for cathing Bubby every single day.

Thank you for changing all the poopy diapers you've changed.

Thank you for watching way more Blue's Clues, Backyardigans, and Dora than you've ever wanted to. Thanks for putting up with Hannah, Zack and Cody, Alex, Justin, and Max.

Thank you for holding Bubby through seizures and giving the medication everyday to keep those seizures away. You made it possible for me to go to work everyday feeling like everything was ok.

Thank you for holding your tongue when you think I'm doing things all wrong. I'm sure you've thought that once or twice *grin*.

Thank you for giving advice when I ask for it and talking me through to the answer I'm struggling with.

Thank you for respecting our wishes as far as spanking and discipline. I bet there were times that it took everything you had not to smack fingers or bottoms.

Thank you for watching them earlier in the day and later in the evening than you bargained for.

Thank you for the months and months you did all this for no pay. We honestly couldn't have done it without you.

Thank you for reading to the kids and playing computer games with them.

Thank you for listening when I've had a bad day at work even when your day at home wasn't a piece of cake.

Thank you for watching the kids when you weren't feeling well just so I wouldn't have to use a vacation day.

Thank you for never, ever making me feel guilty for working. As a SAHM yourself, it was probably hard for you to understand the need for me to work.

Thank you for coffee in the morning and peanut butter sandwiches and string cheese after work.

Thank you for putting Bubby on the bus in the rain.

Thank you for making my kids happy. They have toys at your house and truly feel like it is their 2nd home. I really appreciate that.

Thank you for worrying about them. Sometimes is sure is nice to have someone to worry with me.

Thank you for keeping your promise. You promised that you'd do everything in your power to make my life easier when I had a special needs child. You've kept your promise in every single way possible.

Thanks, Mummy for all the other things I'm forgetting. My life (and my kids' lives) is better because you are in it.

Love,
Mary

Wish it were true....

I'm watching the Grinch. The cartoon Grinch. I adore this cartoon and look forward to it every year. I was so glad to get to see it the 1st day of December.

I can't believe how long it's been since I posted.

Since then, I got Jimmy a Wii for his birthday and I learned that video games could be fun. I've never really enjoyed video games since Burger Time for the Intellivision and Sonic for the Sega Genesis.

Since then Bubby turned five. I threw the greatest birthday party I've ever thrown. It was a carnival theme complete with games, prizes, lemon shakes, funnel cakes and corn dogs. Mrs. Cheryl made an awesome carousel cake.

Since then we've been to Disney World again. It was again amazing and we're really hoping to go back in Dec. of 2009 with my Mummy and Daddy and hopefully my sister Tissy and her family.

Since then, Izzy turned one. She's such a total joy and I absolutely adore her. I had fun trying to get pics of her and my two in their new fall shirts from Grammy and Pappy.

Since then, Krissy turned eight and had much fun at her swimming party at the Y.

Since then we've had many, many holidays. Most recently, Thanksgiving was great and we've decided to make the trip to Kraynak's on Black Friday an annual thing.

Since then my Steelers have won a lot of games (my favorite is probably yesterdays shalacking of the Patriots) and Troy P. has had a touchdown called back for no reason at all.

Since then, we put up our Christmas tree.

I have a ton of pictures to share, but right now I just want to watch the Grinch.

YOWSA!!!!

It's been over a month since I've posted anything!

First, Mummy tagged me so let me answer those questions!

1. What was I doing 10 years ago? It was a Sunday morning and it was the morning after I'd graduated from Geneva College! As we were driving through Beaver Falls last night, I saw all these college kids in their caps and gowns (I'm thinking it was baccalaureate) and it really made me realize how fast the past ten years went and how many things have changed!
2. What are 5 things on my to-do list for today (not in any particular order): Hmmmm. Not sure that I have five things that I need to do today. Let me think: (1) Download all the pics off of my digital camera. I have over 400 on there and I need to get them moved to the computer. (2) I need to back up the desktop and the laptop computers. I've not backed up either one this year and I really don't want to lose all these pictures! (3) Maybe I'll scrapbook some. I don't think I've done a single page since the last post in April and yet I've paid for a class and bought two new idea books! (4) Download the files from that class! (5) Post to my blog!
3. Snacks I enjoy: Almonds, peanut butter-chocolate milkshakes, and Dove chocolate
4. Things I would do if I were a billionaire: I'd spend a month in Disney World at the Beach Club. I'd quit my job and stay home with the kids. I'd pay someone to come and organize my scrapbook room. I'd pay someone to come and finish the bathroom.
5. Peeps I want to know more about: I'm gonna skip this one for now until I can think of some people to tag.

So, what's been going on here. Jimmy was very proud to be one of a few of the Apprentices from his class chosen to compete in the carpenter contest at the school. He lost by two points but still got his picture in the paper!

I cannot believe that two weeks from tomorrow that he'll be a JOURNEYMAN! It seems like yesterday that we were sitting at camp trying to decide whether joining the Union would be a good move for him. It was a pretty big pay cut for the first year and that first year was HARD, but in his second year, he went back to the pay rate he'd had with the local contractor and in his third year, made more than he'd ever made. In his fourth year, he surpassed what I was making and made it possible for me to cut back to part-time in order to get Krissy safely off the school bus. I am so incredibly proud of him and thank God everyday that he gave me such a treasure.

Jimmy's been building a roof over my mo1

11m and dad's deck. It is really a lot of fun to watch him work. He is so precise and I love seeing the way he and my dad work together. They make a great team!

Krissy is counting down the days until school is out for the summer. She has her 1st grade field trip on Monday and I feel badly that I can't chaperone, but I only have so many vacation days and we're not supposed to use them from 3/1 - 7/31 due to it being our busy season.

Bubby is doing better and better with his walker. I had a day this past week where I was frustrated and didn't really feel like he'd improved any since we were at spina bifida clinic in March. But I'm back in postive mode and being very thankful that he's not had a single seizure since the docs upped his medication back on March 3rd.

And I'm back in Disney-planning mode! I was so sad when we came home in December. It was such a magical week and I couldn't believe that I had to wait two years to go back. I downloaded Illuminations, Wishes, Fantasmic, and the Festival of the Lion King show from Youtube and put them on my Zune. I made a slideshow of our pics and started scrapping them. But I still felt sad.

Then President Bush announced the stimulus and Disney announced Free Dining for part of August and September and I talked Jimmy into another trip. We're staying at Pop Century because Krissy really loved the pictures of it and staying at one of the Value Resorts just seems to make sense for us. We spent very little time in our room on the last trip and staying Value makes it easier to swing this trip less than a year after the other one! I've booked our plane tickets already and got them for $580 roundtrip, non-stop for the four of us. I think $145 per person is pretty darn good! So I'm researching dining and I've made my ADR's. I've changed a few and I think I'm pretty much done with them, but honestly, the planning is part of the fun of the trip!

Well the kids are hungry, so I'm off to get them some food. AND while I was typing out this post, I downloaded all the pics from my camera, backed them up and since I'm done with this post, I've completed three things on my list of things to do today!

Hope you have a great Saturday!

Been scrapping some

I got two layouts done last weekend and three this weekend. I'm taking a class from Janna Wilson and she showed a technique this week on different sized strips of paper. She only showed the technique with 12 x 12 pages, so I tried to resize the strips to fit 8 1/2 x 11. Not sure they look as good, but hey, I got three layouts done!

For this one from last weekend, I used a sketch shared by Bring Your Own Memories at Willow Traders for their anniversary. The paper and embellies are from The Scrap Room's March kit. It is the MM Noteworthy line.

This one just kinda came together. I used a kit for this one. Thought it was Scrapbook Sussies but I can't find it on their site, so maybe I'm crazy. Anyway I'm pretty sure it is the Basic Grey Phoebe line with some MM letters, but who knows.... It is an older photo of Bubby from when his primary means of getting from Point A to Point B was via a walker. Now he uses a different type of walker to get around.

These three are all using that Janna Wilson technique.

These are the pics I took Easter Sunday. I usually like to set up some fabric as a backdrop or take the kids outside for Easter pics, but I wasn't in much of a holiday mood, so I just sat them on the coffee table in the living room and took a few pics. They're not near professional, but the kids are cute, so who cares! I used the Scrapbook Sussies January 2008 kit and the Scrap Room March kit for this one. I love this SEI Ally's Wonderland paper and so I used it for both the Easter layout and the Cinderella one.

These are pics I took on St. Patty's Day. I like that these three layouts all use that same technique but I don't look at them and think "boy they look a like". This layout uses The Scrap Room's April kit and the American Crafts Kids line. I used the four asterisks as a four-leaf clover because you just doing seem to see a lot of St. Patty's Day embellies.

And I finally got one of the kids' Disney albums uploaded. Reminded me how many characters I still need to get pages done for. I did pages ahead of time for the characters that I'd expected to see at the character meals we'd books. But I didn't want to waste time and paper for characters that I wasn't sure we'd see. So I still have pages to do for Mary Poppins, Lilo & Stitch, Jo Jo and Goliath, Sully, Buzz, Woody, Bullseye, Aladdin, Rafiki, Jiminy Cricket, Pocahontas, King Louie & Baloo, and Remy & Emile. But of course I can't find the Heidi Swapp 6 x 6 page protectors ANYWHERE and so I have no idea how I'm going to add these pages to the book!

Jimmy has softball practice today and the kids and I are going to hang out at my mom's while he plays. Usually we'd go to practice too, but I think it is still too cold and honestly, I'm not loving the idea of him playing this year. He's hurt his back the past few years and I'm just afraid it is going to happen again.

I can't believe that tomorrow is Monday already. Why do the weekends go so fast???

Goodbye March (and my Gravy-Gravy)

March started out with the whole Girl Scout cookie mess on 3/1. Then during the night between 3/1 - 3/2, Bub had a seizure. My cat Ashley died. And my dog Gravy-Gravy died. My Dh got laid off due to lack of work and my sister was hospitalized due to exhaustion. An EEG showed that Bub may have some developmental delays and Krissy got a new teacher and she's struggling a bit with the change.

Other than Bub's spina bifida appointment being the best ever (they think he may be ready for arm crutches and he doesn't need to see orthopedics or neurosurgery for a year!), March was NOT a good month for me.

But April arrives tomorrow and hopefully April will bring warm weather, lower gas prices, and happier days in my house.

Of all the bad things, losing Gravy-Gravy was one of the worst. When I was a kid, I read Anne of Green Gables books and Anne often spoke of "kindred spirits". I felt that Gravy-Gravy was my kindred spirit. I'm not a dog person. But Gravy-Gravy was my kind of dog. He was mellow and just cool. He howled the most beautiful music and we even taught him to say "I love you" (he sounded a bit like Scooby Doo when he said "I love you"). He gave the nicest kisses and had the softest fur.

His mom had strayed in and my sister Tissy had always wanted a black lab and my Mummy couldn't send a stray away, so we kept her. Tissy named her Raven. Not too much later, my Gravy-Gravy (and a few other dogs) were born. I'd never felt about a dog like I did this one and so Mummy and Daddy said I could keep him. I'd named him Gravy-Gravy because he was brown, ya know, like gravy.

When he was just a puppy, he was afraid of steps. So I'd carry him up and down the steps and could frequently be heard saying "If you lift a cow everyday he doesn't get any heavier". I'd read somewhere that if you picked up a cow everyday that the cow wouldn't feel any heavier because you'd get stronger as the cow got bigger. I quickly learned that if you lift a Gravy-Gravy everyday, that he will get heavier. Much heavier.

One of the highlights of moving into our house was that I could bring Gravy-Gravy to live with us. But his mom still lived with my mom and dad and Gravy-Gravy was lonely without another dog. So we had to take him to back to live with my mom and dad. I remember that day. I made Jimmy take him back to my mom's by himself because I was so sad. But since mom and dad only live about two minutes away, I could still see and play with Gravy-Gravy. He loved his soccer ball and was so talented. He could throw it up in the air and then catch it!

Eventually he went to live with my sisters Pam and Pat. They had a little beagle named Mandy. Gravy-Gravy and Mandy got along great. Pam and Pat took such good care of him and he was very happy there. He had arthritis and didn't move as quick as he used to, but he was still a sweetheart. Last summer he escaped out of Pam and Pat's house and came down to visit at my mom's. He was tired when he got there and wasn't moving too quickly but we had fun visiting with him. We fed him dog bones and then Pam and Pat brought the truck and drove him back home.

Tissy called last Tuesday and told me that Gravy-Gravy was sick and that she was going to have to put him down (she's a Veterinarian). I went over to Pam and Pat's and told Gravy-Gravy goodbye. I took some pictures. He was still so handsome, he just looked older. His fur was turning white around his face. We laid him down on his dog bed and my sister's and I gathered around him. With one of his last breaths, he licked my face and then he closed his eyes and then he was gone. I was a bit disturbed because his eyes kept opening, but Tissy said that was normal.

Saying goodbye to that sweet dog was one of the harder things in my life. Rest in peace, my Gravy-Gravy.

And goodbye March. Bring on April!

Dreading Monday

Tomorrow is the five-year anniversary of the ultrasound that told us that we were expecting a little boy who would have spina bifida. I count that as the worst day of my life. It changed everything.

We wanted a boy so badly. DH was quite an athlete in high school. He wanted a little boy to follow in his footsteps. And I wanted that for him. Upon that ultrasound, that all changed. We hoped that he wouldn't end up with hydrocephalus while he was in the womb because that would cause brain damage. We hoped that someday he'd walk. We hoped that the nerves wouldn't be too badly damaged during the c-section that I'd have to have.

We lived for 4-1/2 months on that hope and went for weekly or bi-weekly ultrasounds. I'd get sick before each one.

I wouldn't give my boy up for anything in the world, but I'd sure heal him if I could. I hate that I watch him struggle with everything. Walking is a struggle. Talking was a struggle. He has difficulties with the right side of his body. He wants to draw a heart and can't. He's currently unable to write letters, although he can recognize them. He has a seizure disorder. I hate that when we get together with other kids, many times he sits with us because we're afraid that he'll get run over since he primarily gets around by scooting.

And tomorrow, on the five year anniversary of "the" ultrasound, I take him to spina bifida clinic. He'll have an eeg to make sure things are ok, since he's had four seizures since January 15. I had to keep him up until 10 pm and I have to get him up at 5 am and keep him awake until they start the eeg at 11 am. The last time they did an eeg was February of 2004. I remember this distinctly because the leads for the eeg somehow gave him an infection in his scalp and he ended up back in the hospital to have surgery to drain the infection. I don't even think this is necessary. They finally listened to me and increased the dose of his anti-seizure medication. Since they increased the medication...not a single seizure. The last time the med was increased was in September of 2006! He's grown a lot since then!

I always hate these appointments because there's always something that they want changed or improved, but this one I'm truly dreading. I don't want him to have an eeg. I don't want them to tell me how his right side is weak (Yeah, I know it is. And if Dr. Leland Albright hadn't nicked that blood vessel, I'm betting Bub wouldn't have the trouble he does).

Thankfully we only go to spina bifida clinic twice a year. The rest of the year, we deal with his disabilities the best we can. Twice a year, the focus is on his disabilites. The focus is on seizures, right-side weakness, his bladder, his hips, and his shunts. The rest of the year the focus is on Bub. Twice a year, the focus is on Bub, the boy with spina bifida.

Compounding my dread is the fact that the route that we've taken to Children's Hospital for what feels like 7000 times, is under construction. I'll be taking a detour. AND the fact that he needs to stay awake for the 1 hr travel time. Thankfully my sister Pat is going with me. She'll help Bub stay awake and help me stay sane.

The only good points about the trip in to Childrens...I get a whole day to spend with my Bubby and they have awesome chocolate milkshakes.

Prayers for a good appointment would be much appreciated.

Saturday

Today I'm watching Rachael Ray while burning DVD's. I just finished a movie that I'd started using muvee autoProducer back when my Uncle Keith died in September. We'd run it on my laptop at the funeral home and I'd promised copies to my aunt and my cousins. My uncle's sister had loaned me some other pics and I scanned them in when I got them, but still had to add them to the movie and then last night I found a few more pics to add. So this morning I finally got it finished and I'm in the process of burning the second DVD (although I'm out of DVD's so I'm only going to be able to do a couple today).



DH is at a "Step Up to Foreman" class today and I have no idea how long he'll be gone today. We have to go to the funeral home tonight. My mom's cousin's husband died on Wednesday and we need to pay our respects tonight. They'd been married 57 years and he was a very devoted husband, father and grandfather and an all-around nice guy. He'll be missed. We've also been invited to a birthday party for my cousin's son. He'll be 8! That's the reason I wanted to get the DVD's made today, so that I can give them out if we make it to the party.

And we're hoping to squeeze in a viewing of Horton Hears a Who sometime today. Not sure if that will happen or not.

My mom has started a blog and has inspired to "pretty-up" mine some and post a little more regularly to it. So I've been working on the layout while I burn the DVD's.

I have a spreadsheet to get done today and it is pretty involved, so it is taking me longer than I'd hoped. So I'd better get on to that or I'll never get it done.

Our trip to Walt Disney World 12/7 - 12/12/07

I'd always heard people talk about Disney and how amazing it was. I'm happy to say that I now agree with them.

We stayed at Port Orleans Riverside and had the dining plan.

We left Pittsburgh and had a great flight to Orlando. We had an evening flight and by the time we got to our hotel and were checked in, it was around 10:00. We got the gift bag that I'd ordered for the kids and DH. Turned out nice! The kids each got a Mickey/Minnie Santa Hat, a pin lanyard, and a plush. There were Mickey-head shaped cheese crackers, pretzels, and some candy in the bag, plus some Mickey chocolate-covered pretzels for Dh. Bub was asleep, but Krissy was so excited and actually went to sleep with the Minnie Santa Ears on.

Our room was in Magnolia Bend, which was a short walk to the lobby, the pool, and the East Depot. Per our TA's request we got a first floor room so that we wouldn't have to haul Bubby up the stairs at night. The room was ok. I have to admit that I was a bit disappointed in the cleanliness. The remote control was no where to be found and so we looked under the beds and found a used baby spoon and some used napkins. We were also missing the Ethernet cable. I called up to the Front Desk and told them we were missing the remote. She asked if we'd looked in all the drawers and I assured her we had. They brought a remote a few minutes later, but no Ethernet cable. We were hungry and so DH went up the the CS restaurant and used our first CS credits. He was told that they don't separate out the kids from the adult CS credits. That came in handy. DH got pizza, I got a bacon cheeseburger (they forgot the bacon on it, though) and Krissy got chicken tenders. Bubs was sleeping. The burger was pretty yuck. Tasted like the ones they served in the cafeteria in high school. So far I'm not too impressed. We go to bed and I find that the beds are really, really comfortable. I thought we'd all be too excited to sleep, but nope. We were all out cold within a few minutes.

We got up Saturday AM 12/8 around 7:00. We've got an 8:30 ADR at Chef Mickeys. We caught a bus to the MK pretty quickly.




And then from the Magic Kingdom took the monorail to the Contemporary. The took our picture with their camera and mine. I'd read a tip to write down the EVNT code on the picture when they brought it to see if we wanted to purchase it and then add it to the photopass account when we get home. I did that and we didn't pay the $31.95 they wanted for the pic. I figured if the code didn't work, I'd at least have the one on my camera.


We were seated pretty quickly and got our food. I found this meal to be a bit odd. The food was good, but the characters came around pretty sporadically and so the kids were so into watching when they'd be at our table that neither really ate much. Mickey was first.


I'd pre-made autograph books for the kids and had the pages out ahead of time so that each character could sign their page and I could then slip it back into the page protector. Then there was a spot on the opposite page for a photo. The lady at the table next to us was so impressed that she asked if I wanted to sell ours to her!!! I declined. Figured she'd not want to pay for the time and materials and plus I was excited about the books being mostly complete when we got home. The other characters came by pretty quickly, with the exception of Minnie and we waited 40 minutes for her!!!!










Finally we're off to the Magic Kingdom on the monorail. We arrive at the MK and stop at City Hall to get the Guest Assistance Card and a tag for the stroller to show that it is a stroller being used as a wheelchair. This was a pretty simple process. We start down Main Street and Krissy is just enthralled with the castle (so was I). I felt a bit weepy at this point. We were finally in the most magical place on earth. We'd made it happen. My kids were going to see Disney!!! I took one of my favorite pics at this time.


On Saturday we didn't get as much done as I'd hoped. When we got there, the Dream Along with Mickey show was going on and we stopped to see it. We went through Toontown and rode Goofy's Barnstormer and played in the water at Donald's Boat. Krissy used her Disney Dollars and bought herself a pair of Princess Ears, a set of pins for trading, and a baby Simba in the giant store in Toontown. Bubby bought a ball and a pin. I'd bought the kids each eight pins on ebay to start their collection, but made the mistake of picking pins that the kids would like and so Krissy wanted to trade, but didn't want to trade any of her pins. So she bought this set of baby characters and picked our four of the seven that she'd be willing to trade.

Next we rode the Magic Kingdom Railroad and next went to Pirates of the Caribbean (love how they've added Cap'n Jack, Davy Jones, and Barbossa). We saw bit of the Pirate Tutorial (I was hoping that Cap'n Jack would stick around for autographs and pics but NOPE. The we saw Mickey's Philharmagic (LOVED IT! all of us LOVED IT!) and then used our fastpass to ride The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. It was time to take the boat to The Wilderness Lodge for dinner at the Whispering Canyon Cafe. Now let me add that I'd woke up with a terrible headcold and it got worse as the day went on. I felt like I had airline ear and was shouting, but in reality Dh said people could barely hear me. Dinner was good (gotta love all you can drink milkshakes!) and we enjoyed the antics of the servers. Ours was a dud and no fun at all, but some of the others were making hats for the people at their tables out of napkins and straws and the ketchup thing never ceased to be funny. I must say I think the desserts were the best part of the meal!

After dinner I went to the WL's store and found cold pills. They helped a lot. I'm not sure that I would've lasted until fireworks without them! Back to the MK were we saw Spectromagic and then Wishes. Wishes was just beautiful. Then the trouble came. The MK was open until midnight. So Wishes ended about 9:20 and there was another Spectromagic starting at ten. People were already lined up for the parade and it seriously took 45 minutes just to get out of the park. DH and I got separated and by the time I found him again I was near tears. I didn't feel good and I just wanted to sleep. We finally get to the line for the POR bus and holy cow! There was a bus sitting there but the lift wouldn't go down so they couldn't load the ECV's and wheelchairs into it. It would be considered discrimination to only load non-ECV and non-wheelchair people into the bus, so that bus sat empty until two more buses came and got all the ECV/Wheelchair people and then they could finally load the bus with the broken lift. We ended up standing and Jimmy was trying to hold sleeping Bub + stand without falling. Not easy at all. Finally got back to our room at 11:00!

Sunday 12/9 was Epcot day and lemme tell ya, I loved Epcot. We got our Fastpasses for Soarin' and then went to Living with the Land. We all enjoyed this. Next we did Circle of Life. Krissy is a HUGE Lion King fan and so we HAD to do this. Not bad. It was airconditioned and the chairs were soft. I think it had a good message. Next, we went around Innovations a bit and then did the Seas with Nemo and then Turtle Talk with Crush. We did Soarin', which was every bit as good as I'd heard. Next, we ate at the Electric Umbrella and then headed back to the hotel to swim and take in a bit of the Steeler game. Then we got Krissy into her Little Mermaid dress and headed back to Epcot for our dinner in Norway. Here I made a big mistake. We went the wrong way around world showcase. By the time we found Norway, we were 45 minutes late for our reservation and I was so worried they wouldn't seat us. Krissy really impressed me here. She never complained once about walking the entire world showcase and so I bought her an Ariel princess crown to go with her dress since she was such a trooper!


They were really nice and called us pretty quickly considering how late we were. We got our pic taken with Belle (one of Krissy's favs) and I'm so glad they did one with my camera because Bub had an odd look on his face in theirs. Oh well, made it easier to turn down the $31.95 pics. Although I didn't get to write down the code before they took the pics away.


I loved the food here. And so did Jimmy. If we ever get to go back to Disney, we'll eat here again! The first princess to come around was Jasmine.


Krissy's three favs are Ariel, then Belle, then Jasmine and Mulan. The only one we didn't get to meet was Mulan. But right after Jasmine came Ariel. This is especially cool for Krissy because Ariel made a big deal about Krissy being dressed just like her and I've been told that Akershus is the only place in Disney to seel Ariel with feet instead of fins.




We also saw Cinderella and Aurora. Wonderful meal, wonderful time.




We left happy and went out to ride Maelstrom. Pretty tame ride. The kids enjoyed it. We came out from there and grabbed a great spot for Illuminations. DH and Bub saved our seats while Krissy and I went to check out the puppets for sale in China. She used more of her Disney Dollars to buy a horse puppet, which was a good purchase because it kept both kids amused until Illuminations started.

Illuminations was just amazing! At the end, they added a part about "Let there be peace on Earth" and it made me cry again! Getting out of Epcot was much easier, although the busing back to the hotel was worse. We got to see two men pushing and shoving each other and shouting the "F" word because the one “Mario” was first in line and “Team Truman” moved in front of him to let an ECV through. "Mario" freaked and DH decided that this is why they shouldn't serve alcohol in a theme park. Again it was after 11 when we finally got back to our room.

Monday 12/10 was MGM day. I enjoyed this park more than I'd anticipated. The only bad part was that The Voyage of the Little Mermaid was closed for the day. We got there just in time to see the HSM show and then we went to see the Indiana Jones show. We had lunch at Pizza Planet, and then we went to meet Woody and Buzz. We were lucky enough to be the last ones before their break!




Then we did the Backstage show/ride and then met Sulley from Monster's Inc.


We next had some ice cream before going to see the Beauty and the Beast show, which Krissy and I both liked. Bub fell asleep. Then Krissy and Jimmy did the Tower of Terror. I don't like rides that drop so I was more than happy to stay with the sleeping boy.

He woke up and we went to meet the Ratatouille characters. Here was a bit of a magical moment for me and Krissy. We both really like Emile and were disappointed when we got there to see only Remy. We wait in line and finally there is only one family infront of us. Then they say that Remy needs some cheese so if we wait five minutes or so, he'll be back with a surprise. I was hoping that the surprise was Emile and I was right! I was super excited and so was Krissy.


We stopped to meet the JoJo and Goliath and then headed to Fantasmic. We wanted to make sure we got seats. The show was really good although it was my least favorite of the night shows. Fantasmic was over and it was time to rush to Epcot for dinner at LeCellier.

This was a dinner that that worked hard to get. I called every day twice a day hoping to get reservations and finally I got them for 7:40, which worked out well with Fantasmic at 6. Or so I thought. We asked at the exit and were told that the fastest way to Epcot was the boat. The boat took so long that we finally got off at the Beach Club and walked to Epcot! We were late already.

Then for some reason I had it in my head that LeCellier was in France, so we wandered around France before discovering that LeCellier was actually in Canada! We ended up 1/2 hour for our reservations. This time we had a 1/2 hour wait since we were late. Dinner was well worth the wait and I was impressed with the kids. It 8:30, they were getting tired and hungry, but once we sat down, they were happy and were angels though dinner.

I indulged in the official Year of a Million Dreams drink and I got Krissy the punch with the glowing Tinkerbell. I swear that Tinkerbell made her whole day! I'd wanted to get the captain hook for Bub, but he only wanted chocolate milk. I got the cheese soup for my appetizer and DH got the Polenta with spicy chicken sausage. My soup was good but his polenta was amazing. My steak was the best I'd ever had and DH felt the same about his. I got the Creme Brulee and DH the Sorbets for dessert. We got out right at the end of Illuminations so we had the crowds and bus issues again! Another night back at the hotel at 11.

12/11 - Our last full day was to be Animal Kingdom in the AM and then Mickey's Very Merry Christmas party at night. I'd actually considered skipping the AK and going back to Epcot so we could spend some time in World Showcase, but Krissy really wanted to see the Lion King show and DH really wanted to ride Expedition Everest. So off to Animal Kingdom we went.


Boy am I glad. We got there and first met Lilo and Stitch and then went to the Lion King show. Krissy asked the CM at the Lion King show to trade with her. She wanted another Lion King pin. The CM asked if Krissy liked the Lion King and Krissy said it was her favorite Disney movie ever. The CM took us in, sat us in the front row and then asked Krissy if she'd like to help get the show started. Krissy was so excited. She got to teach the audience the hand motions. The CM brought Krissy back and had a certificate that she'd received a dream in the year of a million dreams. Krissy was ecstatic. As we were getting ready for our trip Krissy'd read a lot about the Year of a Million Dreams and really wanted to win something. So did I. I wanted the Dream Ears. But Krissy was happy. She'd won a Magical Moment.


Krissy and I went to meet Mickey and Goofy. I wanted my pic with Mickey. Of course, when we got to Mickey there was no photopass person
and the pic of Mickey and I from my camera is blurry! But there's a good one of all of us with Mickey.


Next Krissy and I went to meet Goofy. Bub was having a meltdown about the Mickey cheese crackers. He didn't want to share. No way! So now when he sees that pic he always asks "where's me?" and I tell him "eating crackers"


We got our fastpasses for the Kilimanjaro safari and then took the train to Rafiki's planet watch. I'm not much of a nature person, so I was a bit bored here, but we did get to meet Pocahontas, Rafiki, and Jimini Cricket. Stopped and did the kids activity and then took the train back over towards the Safari. We were still too early, so DH was off to get the Fastpasses for Expedition Everest while the kids and I met Baloo and the monkey (not a fan of Jungle Book) and then we got a snack of fruit and bagels. DH got back just in time for our Safari. Now I've gotta say, this was enjoyable but not necessarily something that I'd NEED to do again. Again, it's probably that "not a nature person" thing. I cringe when DH watches Animal Planet. Give me the Food Network anyday over Animal Planet. After getting off of the Safari it was our EE time. We did the parent swap and Krissy and I went first. Then we wandered around looking for DH. Finally found him and he and Krissy went on it. As I see the people exiting I see in their hands the DREAM EARS!!!! I'm at this point so excited for Krissy and DH and I finally see each of them emerge with a set of ears. I was happy and yet jealous at the same time. Those ears are the only things I wanted from this trip. I rode the ride, too. Where are my ears???? Dh walks over and hands me his set. I tell him that they're his ears and he should keep them. He says "No. You made our dreams come true with this trip and so you should have the ears." I resist again. "We should give them to Bub". Bub says that he wants the ones that light and so I put the ears on my head. They are now my ears!

We start out of the part and find a photopass photographer. I know that they can do one with Simba in the picture and so we stop. I get them to do one with my camera and then they take several with the Photopass (don't have that CD yet) so here's the one of us with our dream ears in front of the Tree of Life.


We take the bus to the Magic Kingdom and ride Snow White before our dinner at the Crystal Palace. Crystal Palace was very yummy. I enjoyed every meal this trip but this was one of the best. Took us 40 minutes to see Pooh, though and then they took us to Pooh since we'd been there so long.


MVMCP was nice, but I'm not sure it was worth the extra money. It was sold out the night we were there and it was very crowded. Short time for the rides but long lines for most of the characters. We did find Aladdin and Jasmine with a short line and stopped to see them.
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We saw Mickey's Philharmagic and wasted time with the Tiki Room (not worth the time). We rode Haunted Mansion and It’s a Small World Afterall, Buzz Lightyear and then got a prime spot for the parade courtesy of a CM who noticed the red tag on the stroller. While were waiting to see the parade (was about 10:30) Bub got upset because one of his ears wasn't lighting. I was bit miffed because we'd just bought them six hours before, but there's a spot for the batteries to be changed so I told him we'd replace them at home. A CM overheard and returned a few minutes later with a new set of ears for him.

This was the second time something like that happened. Krissy bought a pair of Ariel sunglasses on MGM day. She wore them all day and took them off while I was taking a picture of the Christmas tree on our way out of the park. I came over to see her aimlessly moving them back and forth on the stone bench. They were scratched although not too badly. Krissy was pretty upset and kept saying that she'd made a bad choice. So I stopped at the little booth to see if they had anyway to buff out the scratches. They tried with a cloth and when it wouldn't work the CM told Krissy to go pick out a new pair. I explained that we hadn't purchased them like that and that there'd been an accident with them, but the CM told me she understood and that it wasn't good for Krissy to be unhappy at Disney World. Needless to say, I was pretty impressed with their customer service.

12/12 - Was Krissy's special day. We had to be at the hotel to leave at noon and in the AM I'd booked Krissy at the Bibbidi Bobbiti Boutique and then breakfast for us at Cinderella's Royal Table in the castle. I'd got Krissy the Deluxe Cinderella dress at a sale before Halloween and Krissy had no idea until the morning of 12/12 that any of this was going on. We got moving and got to the park and got one of those coveted photos of people in front of the castle without a million other people.


Got Krissy to the BBB boutique and she was treated just like a princess. This was something that I wanted to do for her to thank her for all her help and patience with Bub. Ironically the dress I'd picked up before Halloween was nicer than the ones you got with the $179 package! Krissy was beautiful after her makeover, but I must say I don't think she looks much like my "bug" and I prefer her hair long.


Next we were to eat at Cinderella's Royal Table. I think I was as excited as Krissy was. First she got her pic with Cinderella. This pic was actually included with the package and I was also able to enter the EVNT code and get it added to my photopass CD. Here's my version.


This meal was very well managed. I think it cost us around $130 but I actually *think* it was worth the money. The pictures were included. Krissy got a magic wand and Bubby got a sword. They both got a Wishing Star. We got to see Snow White and Mary Poppins, both of who we hadn't seen before, along with Aurora and Belle in her blue/white dress.

The food was pre-plated, but excellent. First they brought out the most delicious fresh fruit with Kiwi and Mango along with strawberries and melon. In another basket were muffins, cinnamon rolls, and biscotti. Next they brought out the pre-plated meals. The kids got french toast sticks, scrambled eggs and bacon. I think this is actually one of the meals that they ate best on the whole trip. I didn't have to fight with anyone to eat. Jimmy and I got scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, this yummy puffy french toast with blueberry sauce and the best potato casserole I'd ever had.

The princesses came through in a timely fashion (no waiting here or at Norway like we had to at Chef Mickey's and Crystal Palace). Aurora kissed Bubby and he told everyone all day that a princess kissed him.


We were happy to get done there pretty quickly and we were even able to stop and use our last snack credits on some candy.

We got back to our hotel, caught the Magic Express to the airport and we were on our way home.

If I had it to do again, I'd have booked us at least one, maybe two more days and I may have gone down to a Value Resort. For all the more we were at the hotel, it wasn't worth the extra money for the Moderate Resort. One day per park just wasn't enough time and we'd have not got to do everything we wanted at the MK without Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party. I needed more time at Epcot. But we did what we could manage and it was an amazing trip.

First Days of School!

Krissy started Kindergarten on the 29th of August. After the trip to Children's on Monday, I thought that Tuesday would be a piece of cake for me. After all, child to kindergarten on school bus is much easier than child to hospital in an ambulance. But it was still really hard. I feel like this is the first step to her leaving home and even a week later, I'm still struggling with it. Here're a couple of pics.





She was pretty excited to start the first day and pretty bummed at the end of the day. Said that preschool had fewer rules and that her friends were there. She doesn't like how much they have to keep quiet, she doesn't like that she needs to sit with her hands folded and she doesn't like all the rules.

By the end of the second day, she was loving Kindergarten!

Today, my Bub started preschool. Let me preface this by saying that I am totally not thrilled with him going to preschool. He's only three and developmentally, he's younger than that in many ways. But the in-home PT, OT, and Speech therapy ends when he turns three, so we had to send him to preschool in order for him to get his therapy. Even that I'm not too happy with. Before, he got an hour of speech, an hour of PT and an hour of OT each once a week. Now, he'll get PT for 1/2 hr a week, OT for 1/2 hr a month, and speech 1/2 hr twice a week. He only goes twice a week, so I'm hoping that'll work out ok. He even takes a mini-bus there!

So the bus gets to the house this AM. I strap him into his car seat, take a picture (of course), kiss him and then climb off the bus. I thought for sure he'd start to sob at that. I stood outside and watched him through the bus window and he waved and smiled and said "bye" to me! He's such a brave, tough guy! I met the bus at his preschool as there was a paper I had to sign and I wanted to make sure the first day worked out ok. He walked (holding the teachers hands for support) into the school and then he saw his walker. He was not a happy camper to see that and started to cry. That's when I walked in. Upon seeing me, the crying quit. We went to his classroom and once he saw the toys, that was all he needed. When I asked for a kiss goodbye, he was going to kiss the little red-haired girl next to him! I told him to kiss me, not her and I got my kiss. As I walked out of the room, I was so proud of him. Not a tear. Not a single, solitary tear on his first day! Maybe he's ready for preschool after all!

Nice weekend after busy week!

After a last week with all the craziness of a trip to the hospital Monday and Krissy starting Kindergarten on Tuesday, it was really nice to enjoy a three-day weekend.

We spent Friday night at the local fair and had a great time watching the kids on rides and eating some fair food. It was chillier than usual for the fair, so we were all bundled up in our jeans and sweatshirts. We left just as it was starting to rain.

Saturday we spent the whole day at my Mom's. Jimmy was helping Daddy with some new flooring in the bathroom. My sister and her husband came over for dinner and to help with the plumbing of the new bathtub. Mom had cooked a turkey and it was perfect for a chilly, rainy day like we had Saturday. I got the page for 9/1 done for my Learn Something new album that I'm doing in a class at www.shimelle.com .

Sunday, I slept in a bit and then we headed over to Mom's around 12:30. Jimmy helped Daddy and my sister's husband for 45 minutes and then we were off to the first of three birthday parties we had this weekend. This one was for Jimmy's foreman's mother's 75th birthday. I felt a little uncomfortable there at first, since I didn't know anyone, but DH was proud to be one of only two from his company invited. There was a playground across the street and we spent some time there on the slides. The food was good and it was nice to just spend some time with Jimmy and the kids. From there, we went to the mall and did some shopping at Old Navy and Yankee Candle for their Labor Day sales and then I got my Troy Polamalu jersey. Can't wait to wear it for the game on Thursday, even if Big Ben isn't playing.

Monday we had two birthday parties to go to. One for Jimmy's cousin Michelle's son's first birthday and one for my Sister's step-daughter's 14th! Enjoyed both parties very much. And made it home in time for Krissy's bath before school today and I even found the time to get my pages done for 9/2 and 9/3.

Tomorrow will be another day of changes. Bub starts preschool!

A scary Monday

Monday 8/28 was to have been Krissy's Kindy orientation. I dropped Bub off at my mom's and took Krissy to orientation. We pulled into the parking lot and my cell phone rang. It was my mom. She was calling to tell me that Bub had just thrown up and was not responding when she called his name. She'd picked him up and his eyes were both facing to the right. She thought he was having a seizure.

We ran into the school to get the paperwork we needed and by the time I got back out to the car, my mom called again and said that my sister (a veternarian) was there. Kristin (my sister) has experience with seizures in dogs and she knew that Bub was having a seizure and she said it was getting worse. They had called 911 and an ambulance was on its way. By the time we got back to my mom's (10 minutes from the school), the ambulance was there.

He had a grand mal seizure in the house before the ambulance got there and I believe he had another in the ambulance. I got to my mom's to find him shaking, his eyes were just staring off to the side. They were putting in an IV and he was already on oxygen. I'd never seen him like that before and because he'd vomited first, I was convinced it was a shunt problem. We left in the ambulance and I said I wanted him to got to Children's. They said he wasn't stable enough to do that and they were taking him to the local ER. Part way there, the said that he'd stabilized and that they were going to Children's. So we started towards there. We got about 1/2 way there and he started with the focal seizures (the staring ones) again and they were concerned that he'd again go into the shaking ones and then to a grand mal, so they stopped at a different hospital to try to get him stabilized again. We got there and the shaking started again.

I was alone and petrified. They gave him a different medication to try to slow the seizures down. Thankfully about that time, my Daddy got there and my sisters were only about 5 minutes behind him. After about ten minutes, my DH finally arrived. The doctor didn't want to wait any longer to get to Children's so the hospital was sending a nurse along with us in the ambulance. They gave him more medicine and once the shaking stopped, they loaded him back into the ambulance for our trip to Children's.

I got to ride in the back with him that time and by the time I got into the ambulance, she seizures had stopped and he was sleeping fitfully. I got to hold his hand and although he wasn't opening his eyes at all, I could feel him calm when I talked to him. We finally got to Childrens. My dad, two of my sisters, and DH were right behind the ambulance. They could tell that his brain was still too active, so they gave him a different medication to calm his brain down. They took him off the oxygen and his pulse ox level was still at 99%, so that was some good news.

They drew some blood and then Bub fell asleep for a while. After about an hour, they came to say they were taking him for CT scan. I asked if I had time to cath him before they took him (since he doesn't pee) and they said I did. He woke up while I was cathing him then DH walked in. He took one look at DH and said "DA-DA"! I was so happy! He was talking again!.

So they did the CT scan and then they did an X-ray of the shunt, as they were also concerned that it was a shunt problem. They had sent the blood to test the levels of his anti-seizure medication. Finally after about three hours of waiting the Dr. came in and told us that there was no shunt problem and they had finally got his Tegretol (anti-seizure med) levels back and they were only 5. The therapeutic range is 8-12, so he was well below the therapeutic range. After writing us some scripts for new medicine to increase his dose, they sent us home!

I can't remember ever being so scared and then relieved and then happy all in the same day! By the time we left Children's yesterday he was completely back to normal and to look at him, you wouldn't have known what his morning was like.

My sister Kristin had taken Krissy back out to Orientation so she didn't have to miss much of it and then she brought Krissy to my mom's and then she came to Children's. DH's step-dad and mom were there, too.

After all that , I feel so blessed. So blessed that my son is alive and home! So blessed that my sister knew what to look for and that my mom didn't hesitate to call the ambulance when it was necessary. Blessed that we had so much family at Children's to support us and yet my mom was willing to stay home for Krissy Faye. And so blessed that for once, the best case scenario came true for us.

It's now Thursday and he's doing great. He's had no other seizures and is is typical happy self!

Let's try this again

Its been over a year since I started this blog. One year and one entry LOL.

But I'm feeling very melancholy today and wanted to get this down somewhere, so I'll remember.

One week from today, my baby girl will go to school. She's scared. She asked last night why we couldn't make a robot Krissy to send to school and she could just stay home with her Grammy. I'm scared, too. I work full-time, so I'm away from her all day most days. But I don't want her to change. I don't want her exposed to words that we don't think are appropriate. I don't want her teased like I was. I want Krissy to stay the same sweet little girl she's always been. I don't want her to worry about what is "cool" and what isn't. I don't want to be what isn't "cool" in her world.

She stays with my mom while I work. She's been there since she was six weeks old. She and my mom are buddies and I'm afraid that being away is going to be really hard on Krissy and my Mom.

Krissy is worried that the teacher won't like her. She's worried that she won't be smart enough. She's worried about what her brother is going to do without her. She's worried that she'll miss me. She's worried about missing my mom. She's just plain worried. I'm trying so hard to pump her up about school. I've been telling her about art class and music and library. I've been telling her that the fun she had in preschool will just be longer since the days are longer. I've told her how Kindergarten was my very favorite year of school. I've told her about field trips and how she's going to learn to read.

I figure that once she goes to Orientation on Monday, that she'll be ready to go. Hopefully, I'll get there, too.

On Garbage Men

I know what you're thinking, "She's writing her first post on garbage men." (Actually I'm sure I should have said garbage people, because I'm sure there must be some women who do this job, but I've never seen any and I don't know any, so I'm sticking with garbage men). And the answer is, "Yep. I am writing my first entry on garbage men."

Reason being, I followed a garbage truck for a good 1/2 mile this am. I was (of course) running late for work and at first I was most annoyed at following the garbage men. And then I watched them. Those men were busting their humps. They would jump off the truck, RUN to the trash cans, throw the bags to the truck, put the trash can back and then RUN back to the truck. I was amazed. These guys were RUNNING at 8:45 in the morning. They were running to pick up trash. I kept my distance back from the truck, as I didn't want them to feel like I was right up their rears. And when 1/2 mile later they pulled off of the road onto a side road, those two men smiled and waved at me.

I don't really "do" garbage. If I find a sippy cup laying under the couch, I either throw it away or I set it on the counter and wait for Jimmy to throw the stinky, yucky milk out and then wash out the cup. Jimmy takes out the trash. All I do is generate garbage. And yet I was grumpy going to work in a pretty laid-back office on a Monday morning. These guys are out there in the cold and the heat and yet these guys were all smiley and waving to me on this Monday morning. And then I remembered the garbage men that my sister Hazel used to talk to when we lived in VA. They were smiley and nice to her, too.

So today, I salute the garbage men. Those smiley men who pick up the trash and help keep our planet smelling nice.