Punta Cana - Part 1

It was a 3am wake up call and I had only gone to bed at 1am. Last minute packing and cleaning up around the house had kept me up. It was freezing outside in Pittsburgh but that didn’t deter me from wearing a cute maxi dress, I was officially in vacation mode.

At the airport I got to use my first passport ever for the first time. I was only going to Miami from here but it still made me feel special. From Pittsburgh to Miami was our first flight. To say it was bumpy would be an understatement. Prior to our departure I had made the oh so wise decision to eat a Philly cheese steak sub with a diet coke for breakfast. About an hour into the constant turbulence that sub became something I deeply regretted, and gave me my second first of the trip. Losing my lunch (actually breakfast) on the plane. Luckily, I made it to the bathroom and all was well a few hours later, but one of our travel companions Nate couldn’t make it to the bathroom I was occupying and enjoyed a first for him self as well.

From Miami we flew to Puerto Rico, and then finally onto Punta Cana. We went through customs, and straight to get our bags. We were able to quickly find our transportation, a prior decision that proved perfect, and we were just a short 25 minute drive to the hotel.

As we turned out of the airport I quickly pulled out my phone to play a game. Because of continued conversation I had to put it away and was forced to acknowledge the extreme poverty surrounding us. Honestly, it is hard to look at. Hard to fathom such a difficult life. I found myself heartbroken that just outside this luxury resort that was taking me away from all my responsibilities was a hard reality for so many. I will never understand how I have been so blessed in this life.

We arrived and though I was still sidetracked from the drive over I couldn’t help but enjoy this beautiful place that would be my home for 6 nights. Once we got to the room I was in heaven. It is beyond beautiful and better then described. Out in the back porch is a mini hot tub and I wasted no time enjoying that while Brian did what he was looking forward to the most, eating. He ordered room service and assembled the gifts he had brought to give the maids to take home to their children.

It was a perfect night out in the hot tub looking out at the stars.

Punta Cana - Part 2

Happy 8

Brian and I have been married for eight years today. A lot has happened and changed in the last eight years, but I can honestly say that I love him more and more with each passing year.

This last year has been special. This was our first year not employed by the Navy, and not dealing with the roller coaster ride that is submarine deployments. I feel so blessed that he is able to come home every night, and be a totally partner in everything we do. What a change! I look forward to the years to come, but for right now I am fully enjoying this new lifestyle.

Thanks for giving me this insanely cute forever family! I love you!

Happy Anniversary!

Happy Birthday Brian

Friday was Brian's birthday. I wanted to get a post up about him all day long but I barley had a free minute all day. There was so much to do to get ready for our upcoming trip and also to do for his birthday, but I think it is better late then never!

First of all Brian is the best dad to our children and such an amazing husband. I am so grateful for him and all he does for us. So in honor of Brian I thought I would write some fun facts about him.

* He is an amazing cook. You definitely want to be over here if he is making dinner.

* Brian loves for everything to be organized and neat. He is the proud owner of a label maker.

*Last week at the gym Brian got his body fat checked and he had only 5.4% body fat. SAY WHAT?!?!

* Brian is the smartest person I know.

* He secretly loves to sing, just not church hymns! HA

* Something I love the most is how much he adores the children and myself. He would do anything thing in the world for us, and we all know it.

For Brian's Birthday we went to Patron's (a mexican restaurant) for dinner with our good friends the Henrie's and the Stienhafel's. The food was great and the company even better. Then we came back to our house for cake and ice cream.

Then Brian opened all the presents. He got 2 pair of flip flops, 4 pairs of shorts, 2 pairs of swim trunks, and 3 shirts. LUCKY!

Then the kids watched a movie upstairs while the grown ups watched Couples Retreat. It was hilarious!

I think he had a great day! Happy 26th my love!

Little Blue Nation

Today is a big day for Kentucky as they fight for a spot in the Final Four against UNC. We are all dressed in our Kentucky Blues ready for the game.

GO BIG BLUE!

While I was Blogging

Yesterday while I was blogging Luke was getting into the Cotton Candy,

and Kai was tying himself up with exercise bands.

That's real awesome guys.

Also, today is our 1 year anniversary of moving into this house.

Happy Housiversary!

Natural History Museum

The first day Chase and Kaylee were here Ethan and Olivia were sick, translation we were totally lame and didn't do anything fun. So, on that lame Wednesday Kaylee and I searched the internet to find something fun. She said she wanted to go to the museum, so I called Brian to let him know the game plan.

Instead of saying sounds great! He said, "Who wants to go to the Museum?"

"Kaylee said she does."

"Our Kaylee?" (Yes we do realize she isn't actually ours)

"YES!"

I don't think he believed me until he got home from work and she told him herself! As luck would have it Thursdays are get in free night during the month of March after 3:30 pm. Right after Brian got home from work we headed out.

The rock area was HUGE! It seemed like we were in there forever and we didn't even look at everything.

I love this picture because it was the last in a series of about 5 before they just gave up! HA

The coolest thing about the dinosaur exhibit are the diagrams showing which bones are real, which ones are casts made from actual ones that are just to fragile to put out, and the ones that they didn't have and are just guesses.

Brian feeding Luke to the dinosaur. This picture was taken about 2 minutes before a museum worker asked Brian to take Luke off his shoulders. I am guessing they would have frowned upon this.

Now isn't this just the cutest thing you have ever seen?

We spend majority of our time in the dinosaur area and here where they were digging.

This section of the museum helped me understand that when you are just looking at bones every animal looks super creepy.

This man fighting off this wild beast was another of the kids' favs.

I am so in love with this little baby, why on earth is he so dang big!

Olivia was starting to wind down at this point. She was such a trooper but I know she wasn't feeling her best.

Kai filling out some very important paper work for the museum just before we left.

The whole group!

It was so much fun! I am definitely going to get a membership.

They're Here!

Last week we had some very special visitors. Chase and Kaylee flew in from Washington. We told the children that Kaylee was coming, but wanted Chase to be a surprise and it worked. When Kaylee came walking toward the car Kai started saying "wait mom, I think that is Chase behind her." He couldn't believe it! I couldn't have been happier that he remembered him.

Since they got in at 6pm we decided we would head right to our favorite Tuesday night spot, Lone Star.

Ethan told the waitress that it was Kai's birthday so they came and sang to him. Lucky Boy!

A Perfect Day

This morning was business as usually for the children. Get up, make beds, shower, get dressed, and then head down stairs for breakfast. However when Ethan and Olivia got down stairs they were very confused when the found all the kitchen drawers and cabinets open and a chair on the table.

Then they noticed a note hanging from the ceiling. They called me down to read it to me.

So they set off to find the cereal bowls. Even though we didn't eat cereal this morning!

For about 2 weeks Olivia has been freaking out about wearing green on St. Patrick's Day. She was curious how hard you could get pinched if you didn't wear green, and also needed to know how much green would be enough to ensure she didn't get pinched. I think they should both be covered.
As we continued our perfect day the boys and I headed off to the Zoo with some friends. It was the most beautiful day and warmed up to almost 60 degrees while we were there.

Kai was all over the place. He barley saw any animals because he was always onto the next. I finally got him to slow down enough to get this picture of my babies.

And for him to take this picture of Luke and I.

It was a perfect day full of sunshine and green.

HAPPY St. Patrick's Day

40 Bags in 40 Days Challenge

A few weeks ago I saw this great idea on another blog. The idea is to get rid of 40 garbage bags worth of stuff in 40 days. Stuff that is broken, stuff that isn't played with or worn, stuff that you haven't looked at in years. I saw it, liked the idea, but decided it wasn't for me, until after Kai's party. The house was a mess and I had no where to put half of the new stuff, and the 40 bag challenge came to my mind. I am going to give it my best go and see what happens!

I left a few days at the end incase a space takes longer then I originally thought it would, and also because I couldn't think of any other rooms or places in the house! HA

Looks like I am off to Ethan's Room!

Busted.....AGAIN

Last night Kai fell out front on the steps to the house and busted his chin open again. I think it looks nastier this time then last time, although it isn't as deep. AGHHH! At least he is still in good spirits.

Kids Parties

Today I am linking up with Kelly's Korner which is all about Kids Parties. People who know me know how much I LOVE parties. Here are some of the idea's I have had over the years.

Olivia's 6th Birthday Party - Mad Tea Party

As all the little girls arrive we painted their nails.

Once everyone was there we started the games. The first game was a hula hoop game. Everyone has to hold hands and you have to move the hula hoop as fast as you can from one end to the other. This was really fun and the girls wanted to do it a bunch of times. Then we played another game where there were two teams, each person in each team had to dress up in a dress, scarf, shoes, and necklace of mine then run down to the bottom of the hill, come back up, take everything off and then the next girl would go.

After all the games the girls came over to the table, but before they sat down they all got a necklace, bracelets, and petti skirts to add to the fun.

Here are some detail pictures

Ethan's 5th Birthday - Carnival

Invitations

All the Booth's Set up in the backyard

Kissing Booth - Kids had to guess how many Hershey Kisses were in the apothecary jar. Who ever was closest got all the candy.

Lucky Duck Booth - There was water in the table and each duck had a number on it. The children would pick a duck and whatever number that was at the bottom of the duck was the number of little prized they were able to get.

Hola Hoop Rocket(I do know how to spell, it was just 3am when I was finished these posters! HA!) - Someone held the hula hoop up and the kids had to try to get the nerf rockets through it.

Tic Tac Toe - My husband built this game for the party and it was a big hit. Each kid got 6 balls to try and get three in a row. It was a big hit!

Gone Fishing - There was a stick with a clothes pin tied to the end of the rope. The kids would toss the string over and then when it came back up a prize was attached.

Cake

Party Favors

We also had a cotton candy machine, Popcorn, Hot Dogs, and Hamburgers. It was such a fun party. Also, when all the kids walked in there was a little area for them to decorate their own bag for them to put all their prizes.

Tomorrow will be my son Kai's 5th Birthday which is Pirate theme and I cannot wait!

Luke just had his 2nd birthday which was Toy Story 3.