Bowled over by silliness

It's Wednesday so that can only mean one thing: play date. Someone should have told the weather man cos it lashed rain all afternoon and as I drove home from an unexpected work appointment Jen and I made a "B" for the play date.

She told me to print out my coupons for free bowling from here and to meet her Bird B0wl. Jacob printed the coupons, I grabbed the kids some socks and off we dashed. The kids bowled with Ed. Jacob and I bowed out and Jen couldn't bowl as she is having a kidney stone blown to smithereens early tomorrow morning and didn't need any extra stress on her body. She did however need a distraction and this proved to be the perfect thing.

Lily was leading the pack for the longest time but out of nowhere Ed found his mojo and blew everyone out of the water.

Evan, taking things very seriously

And finally he's off.
Rosie with the helpy thingy
She insisted on carrying her own ball. Looks like she is using a zimmer frame LOL
Smiley Lily

By the time they were done with 2 games we were freezing, the A/C was set to some horrendous subzero digit and also hungry so we decided to go to a local BBQ restaurant for dinner together.

The "k's" sat on one side of the table and we sat on the other with Danielle directly in front of me. Ever since the swimming incident she isn't quite as happy to see me as she used to be. Once she was firmly planted in her highchair with table separating us she was her usual chipper self. She was babbling away in her scribbley language and I was talking back using the same nonsense language. We chatted this way for ages before anyone noticed but then Jenny looked at me and cracked up. I was talking hurdy gurdy, better known to her and I as Swedish. Only Jen and I would find this funny and we did, well Danielle enjoyed our conversation but frankly I have no idea what we were talking about.

I think it is safe to say I have crawled out of my head. All serious thinking has been put on hold until after I get back from the UK. The girls and I leave one week from tonight. Hollis and her girls arrive one week from Saturday and Jacob, well lets just say, we are really going to miss him.

P.S. bowling shoes just really creep me out.

Funky

We went out for a stroll last night after dinner and spotted some Manatees.
It's funny how these quirky little things keep showing up all over this city. One time it was Flamingos, another massive pink snails and now these. Makes it fun. The girls race to be the one to spot them first.

L.O.A.

Apparently I have been on a leave of absence from the blog. When things in my head get a bit crazy I enter a state of denial and I deny that I have a blog. I crawl inside my head and stay there and think and repeat that process.............. and repeat that process. Tonight I was still blissfully in that wonderful state when I looked at hubby and said that I really needed to attempt to put this week into some sort of order, so here goes.

Last Sunday night the hubs and I had our second night out since Rosie came home in 2008 and we lit up the night. We were supposed to be leaving town first thing on Monday morning after I was done with an 8am appointment. Since we were not packed and since our reason for heading out of town had changed our appointment to Wednesday and due to being wonderfully, hellishly tired from the night before we changed our leaving until Tuesday and took our sweet time doing everything on Monday. On Tuesday, we were packed and left town.

We spent 2 days looking at houses and narrowed down our search to where and what we are looking for. We found one that Lily wanted to move into right then but we pointed out it was too little and then we found another which is a contender. No more information on this at this point will be shared. AT ALL. (sorry)

Later in the week we headed to Orlando to allow the kids to let off some steam. Gawd knows after 2 days of being dragged through houses they needed it and so did we. By this point I am all bunched up in my head and my camera remained unused. My mind is racing. Figures are flying around and decisions need to be made. By evening's end I was in need of Mojito's and if you know me, you know this is not me. One evening we headed to Downt0wn Disney and I managed to take one picture of the kids on a carousel.

and then this one of Rosie looking oh so unfeminine!

Neither of us took any pictures of the kids at the parks.......lame parents.

Friday we headed home. We wanted to be here on Saturday to meet up with Jacob's cousin Amy, her hubby Steve, and their girls Katie and Marie who are visiting from Grand Rapids. They stopped by, on their way to the Keys, for lunch. Why is it that the family members who you love spending time with are the ones that live the farthest away?
I felt bad for Katie and Marie as our girls didn't give them a second of peace, not one second.


Today Jacob made plans to meet up with everyone at Pennekamp so that they could all go on a glass bottom boat ride together. I had to sit this one out as I have some (read many) CEU's to get under my belt by August and I wont be here for a large portion of July. I'm not usually a procrastinator in any aspect of my life but I have really dropped the ball on my CEU's this year and am scrambling to get them all done. Oopsie. I got this 12 hour set whacked out in a record 3 hours this morning which really ticked me off cos if i had known it was going so easy I would have gone. It would appear that everyone had a great time and in some cases a very tiring one!

Marie and Lily

Whilst Marie wonders if she can drown Lily, Katie ponders some funky ocean gunk.
Hmmm, some serious 'tude
Rosie auditioning for Titanic
After about an hour on the boat Jacob said Rosie got really sleepy and just konked out! Party animal.

So this is why I have not posted. Since we have been back I have been cleaning, organising and cleaning some more. This trend will continue for a few more days. I start a conversation and then stop and say, "but the so and so in that house is perfect, or, the garden in that house isn't big enough for a pool", which has nothing to do with what I was previously saying and leaves hubby looking dazed and confused and leaves me irritable. It's better when I just clean and play with the girls and pretend that I don't have any big girl decisions to make at all.
If it's all the same to you I'll take a Mojito and call it a night....kidding folks I'm kidding.

The grown ups.

Father's day was spent a little differently this year.

The Daddy of the house got his huge breakfast and he was showered with love and gifts. He spent most of the day with his children but then he and I dumped the kids with a baby sitter and hightailed it out of here dressed to the nines.

I'm only adding this picture cos it makes the kids gag....bwa ha ha ha.

We danced, we laughed with friends, we ate, I fell in love with mojito's and we had the most wonderful evening. Our very dear friends daughter was married yesterday and it was a wedding none of us will soon forget.

Congratulations Marissa and Corey, may your life together be filled with love, laughter and happiness.

Happy Fathers Day Jacob.

Chatter

I do NOT text.

Yes, you read that correctly, I do NOT text. I have a phone, which I often forget or if I do take it I fail to turn it on. If it is on, I don't hear it. I am not an important person, I don't believe I need to be available every second of every day. My friends and husband have spent hours trying to convince me of the joys of smart phones.....phooey.

As I left for work this morning Jacob told me he was going to upgrade my phone and told me to leave mine with him. Yeah, Ok, sure thing. He's said it before but hasn't. This time was different :(

I have a new phone. It is all schmancy. I have no idea how it works. Now I can't really tell people not to text me cos when they see my phone they won't buy my little tale of how I have had the texting capabilities turned off. Oh god this thing is so intimidating. I'm not afraid of technology in general, just phones. I was browsing through the app's and had to giggle. Why do I need all this stuff, who, WHO uses all of it? I did have loads of fun playing with the flashlight. It's the small stuff that makes me smile. Not sure why a phone has a torch built into it but it does.

I think we have a made the decision to throw caution to the wind and just do it. Move that is. It is something that we have wanted for a while but now appears to be the time. Moving doesn't worry me (which when you consider I worry what shoes to wear) that's quite an accomplishment however now we have 2 kids. They make everything much more important.

It's summer. My new motto: if the kids get 3 meals a day and get to bed at some point, it's all good. I have never been quite so unstructured in my life. The school year is just one fat rush after another so to be able to wake up later, eat breakfast later and just keep at a snails pace for the whole day is so refreshing.

Everyday is pool day. Rosie is just as much a fish now as Lily. Now that I would take my eyes off of either of them for a second but it makes it a lot more fun.

I cannot wait to go home. My brother emailed me yesterday and invited us to go punting on the river in Cambridge with them. I have never done this. Everyone else who visits them has had the opportunity. The girls are going to love it. I also can't really believe that Hollis and her girls are meeting us there. Oh how much fun we are going to have.

I should publish this post and go and study this danged phone but I am in total denial so instead I am going to read my book. I'll grab the tissues first. Anyone else read. "Message From an Unknown Chinese Mother?"

Picnic lunch and play date on steroids

Our friend Kelly is in town so this can only mean one thing: PLAYDATE. We all planned to meet at the playground at noon, bring our picnic lunches and then hop in to the pool for a while. Well, we did exactly that and we stayed in the pool having the absolutely most wonderful afternoon until 4.40 when it started to rain. Ed, Jen, and their 2 kiddies, Kelly and her 2 kiddies, me and my 2, Jeanette and her 2 and a few others that either happened to be there or just showed up. It was wonderful, really wonderful. The afternoon flew by.

Ed and I decided to teach Danielle how to swim and after a little while she wouldn't even look at me. It was hilarious. I told Ed we had to stop and let her go back to having fun for a little while. For the rest of the afternoon she would only play with me on dry land but once we got in the pool I was the enemy. She did really well and totally grasps what she has to do.

As the kids played and played the sun beat down on them, every now and again one of the adults would yell "all kids out of the pool for sunscreen" and I would jump out of the pool and run in one direction and spray their little bodies down with sunscreen and then point them in another direction and head them off to Kelly and they would approach her with their chins in the air (and in some cases their eyes closed) as she applied it to their faces. It was a conveyor belt of sunscreen application and hilarious to watch. I think at one point there were 10 children and all of them were lined up.

Kelly chillin'

7 of the kids playing with noodles and water guns. The water guns didn't even make it home they ended up in the trash. We only had 2 and with all the kids playing with them they met with a speedy demise.
Jenny had a stressful morning and joined us later. Here is Danielle telling her she had a stressful time too cos that crazy woman was trying to drown her! She was so happy to see her Mummy and vice versa
Rosie Posie
The noodle girls

Julia and Lily

Rosie and jacob, playing Pirates
Friends
These to just make my heart all squidgy they are so sweet.
The swim queen, Danielle


Kellys daughter and Lily are a couple of months different in age and her son and Rosie are also just a month apart and they get on like a house on fire. As we walked back to the car Lily asked and then begged for me to let them come back to the house and stay for dinner. She really didn't need to beg cos I was more than fine with it.

I threw a quick dinner together and sat back in amazement as it all disappeared in front of my eyes. The kids were starving. Even Rosie ate like a horse. The second their plates were clean they went back to playing so kelly and I went back to talking.

Julia and Lily playing Mousetrap. Don't you just love how kids can play anywhere. Look at them they have barely taken the box out of the cupboard? It's not as if we don't have tables and chairs in this house.

I really have no idea what they were doing but I gave them these hats to wear and then they looked so darned cute I had to take this picture.

And then, as always happens, all good things must come to an end. After what was meant to be a short little playdate we managed to rack 8 and a 1/2 hours on the clock and it was time to say goodbye.

Today was, in my opinion, the kind of day that epitomizes summer vacation. Lots of kids, lots of friends and even more good times.

Happy birthday to me.

I was on such a fabulous blogging roll. I had posted every single day for 11 days or so but then yesterday nada. I had a very good reason for taking the day off, it was my birthday. I actually forget about it now, well sort of. Lily's birthday is so close to mine that and I get so excited about hers that mine sneaks up and all of sudden BAM, happy birthday to me.

I woke up yesterday morning and thought, woohoo, it's my day. I came down stairs, very quietly as everyone else was asleep and was greeted by a birthday banner and 3 cards. It made me smile that Jacob had done that before he went to bed. He had also placed a book that I wanted on the table, I left everything undisturbed. I sauntered into the kitchen for a drink and found a little birthday banner wrapped around a water glass and then another and another everywhere I turned.

The girls bounded down the stairs and regaled me with happy birthday and when I went out to get the paper Jacob must have come down because when I went in the crazy stuff began. The girls were so gleeful to show me their cards and more than a little excited to tell me who chose my new bracelet and who chose the beads for it. My father and Jeanne also sent me a bead for it which I REALLY love. This is my 3rd bracelet but this one is a bangle so it's different. Lily chose me the yin yang bead. Now I don't have to switch the beads each time I wear them I can keep them all on the different bracelets. Spoiled much?

I have wanted to read this book since it came out.

And also want to read this one

Now I can.
Both need tissues. Lots of tissues.

As if this wasn't enough my hubby bought me shoes. Now the way to a mans heart might be though his stomach but the way to mine is through shoes and diamonds! Lets not forget the diamonds. I got a most gorgeous pair of sandals.

We went out for lunch and out for dinner we spent the evening with a friend and ate the most wonderful cupcakes from here.

My birthday was fabulous. I even got to sit quietly and read my book.

Thank you to all my friends and family who made it the special day that it was.

Green thumbs

I have never been able to keep plants alive. I even kill things in my vegetable drawer and not through neglect either.

A few weeks ago when the girls received seeds from Katie Starr, to grow a Hummingbird and butterfly garden, they were delighted and planted them the very next day. I have tried to stay away from them and insisted that the girls tend to their seedlings daily. They haven't needed to much coaxing since they started to spout almost immediately and within a couple of weeks we had plants and shortly after that they had their first flowers and we had to move them into bigger pots. The pots became so overcrowded that the girls moved some pants into the flower garden out front.

The have lots of beautiful, yellow, white, red, purple flowers and even some Black Eyed Susans.

Thank you Katie Starr for your very thoughtful goody bags we love our pretty flowers.

Duck rescue

Summer vacations are supposed to be different. The days are meant to be be spent doing things out of the ordinary, right? You will see where this is going in a second.

The girls slept late this morning which didn't really surprise me as they went to bed later than usual and were tired anyway. When they woke up they lounged about playing games and I went outside to wash my car. I made it about 2 steps out of the door and nearly trod on a tiny little duckling. I let out a squeal and yelled for Lily. (I'm brave like that.)

Scary and intimidating isn't he?

She heard my scream, I mean squeal and came to my assistance. As I panicked and basically demanded that she remove it from my general area she oohed and ahhed over it. I told her to go and wake up her Daddy, who had got home from work very late, as he would know what to do. While she did that I kept on squealing as this enormous lost duck kept trying to get close to me. I have know idea how I got so brave, I was after all raised in the countryside of England around every animal imaginable.

Lily came back outside with a towel and ever so gently picked up the baby duck and held him while Jacob found a box to put him in.

Then the 3 of them were going to drive around the neighbourhood looking for a mummy and a family to place it with but just as they were about to leave the property manager appeared and I asked her if she had seen any other tiny babies. She said to hand it over to her and she would head off in her golf cart and find a family for it. Jacob and the girls followed her and returned a few minutes later with an empty box. They found a family and placed it with them and it took to them so they consider it a match and came home. Duck rescue a success!

Happy duckling, happy Mummy! Lily's mummy I mean not the ducks mummy. At this point we are not even sure if we found the right duck.

Summer is off to a grand start.

Thank you for all the comments on yesterday post. I have done acupuncture in the past for my migraines, along with just about everything else. I have had MRI's , CT's, and they show nothing. I am about to try anti- seizure meds again, starting tomorrow. I'll take them every day as a preventative. Some times they work, sometimes they don't. wish me luck. I hate hot weather and I hate taking meds, I really do.

Keeping it real

Foul language ahead. Children under the age of 18 DO NOT READ! Joie, that means you.

Sometimes blogs paint these real pretty pictures of life. Fabulous photos with beautiful children in beautiful clothes in beautiful houses. Life isn't always like that.

I have been really stressed lately and have kept the blog the same, pretty.

For the last nine effing days I have had a migraine. I wake up every single day with my head pounding and my stomach churning. The first thing I reach for is my migraine meds and a glass of water. Sometimes I hit the shower and hope to god that it will subside. It doesn't. I have had to put on my pretty little smile and maneuver my way through my daughters ninth birthday party, without as much as a grimace. with my head really kicking my arse. I have to face life and all it offers with out crawling into bed which is what I want to do. The pain is so bad that I want to cry. I had 15 B0tox shots 3 weeks ago in hopes that they would help. Nada. that was a hard decision for me as the long term effects of B0tox on the body are really not known but I cannot take this kind of pain much longer. Believe me if I was going to do B0tox through choice I would have done my face and not my head, scalp and neck. I try so hard to keep life on an even keel for the girls but sometimes the pain is so intense that I can barely even speak.

The hubs and I have some huge decisions to make in the next couple of months and they are weighing heavily on us. Where to buy, when to buy, keep this, sell this, stay here, invest it all, invest some, OMG what to do?

Hubs and I have been married for 24 years things seems a little stale. It isn't fun. Richer, poorer, good times and blah blah blah blah blah. We have set ourselves some us time. We will get through it, it isn't the first it won't be the last.

The IRS is pissing me of something fierce. My life in the UK should be none of their business but now it is. WTF? First the adoption and now this. Still no news when we will see our refund just 8 identical letters from them stating they are reviewing our information. It sucks donkey balls.

School is out. This is a wonderful thing. I love having my girls about. See this isn't a complete Debbie Downer post.

Just keeping it real.

A little, no make that, very spoilt.

Today in the post Lily received a cheque from her Aunties, Fran and Shell, with a note inside the card that read, please buy yourself a Pand0ra bracelet and charm for your birthday. I wish I had thought to take a photo of her as she opened it as her face was priceless. Her mouth and eyes were wide open as she read the words. Within seconds she was flying up the stairs to get changed so that we could go then and there for her to make her purchase.

She loves my bracelet and most, if not all, of the girls in her class have one. I know she has been longing for one so when she received this gift she was truly thrilled. Now she thinks she is the cat's pajama's.

First she picked out a few charms that she liked and then she tried each one on to see which one she preferred. She's nothing if not picky!

She started with this green one.

Then she tried this green one. I love her big grin.

Finally she picked her favourite one and we left. The sales girl knew it was a birthday gift so she wrapped it up in a fancy package. Lily was delirious at this point. (Rosie on the other hand was just plain goofy!)
Here is her new bracelet and cupcake charm. She had cupcakes at her birthday party and chose this one to commemorate her ninth birthday.

Thank you Fran and Shell, she loves it.
Oh and since this post is void of Rosie I'll throw in a photo of her at the park playing with a stick that she found..........could she have found a bigger one? Probably not.

Rosie's school year.

A quick look back at Rosie's first ever year at school.

All of her work is turned into these fabulous books which even I can't bring myself to throw away.

This one is my favourite. It is all about her, including how big she was at the beginning of the year. Each page has a different picture of her.



We received close to 200 photos of her taken by Ms. Maria during the year. I was going to scan each of my favourites and post them separately but I realised that would take hours so I made a little collage of them and did it that way. Not sure if you click it if it will enlarge or not. It is just amazing to me how many different things they got to experience.




Without a shadow of a doubt my favourite photos of all are the ones taken when they were studying space.


How are we ever going to match Ms. Maria............sigh.

She put up with so many of Rosie's quirks and walked her through them. Rosie benefitted so much under her charge and we are for ever grateful.