Randoms - Take 2

I'm still catching up on some things we've been up to lately!  Unfortunately over the past week, I have definitely not been feeling myself.  A bug has been going around our house & I have been completely zapped of any & all energy.  All you moms out there know what happens when you're under the weather... the house falls into disarray!  Despite feeling yucky this morning & being up for hours last night, I'm going to plug away in hopes to get ready for a camping trip we have planned with friends this weekend.  I'm hoping & praying I can get some rest & feel better before Friday afternoon because camping while sick is no gouda!  Sometimes I think camping in general is no good... I mean, I have a perfectly warm & comfortable house, why in the heck would I voluntarily choose to sleep outside with the bugs in the 40 degree weather?!?!  The things you do for your kids!

 Before the baseball season picked back up last weekend, we took advantage of our last free weekend & did some local, touristy stuff which I love.  When you live near the Gulf beaches of Florida, there are plenty of interesting things to do!

We hit the St. Pete Saturday Morning Market which is an awesome arena of local shops & restaurants with plenty of yummy foods.  The bonus is that the area is positively gorgeous & it's right on the water.

The kids' favorite part was climbing the amazing trees that scatter throughout St Pete.  My not so favorite part was stepping into a huge pile of dog poop that an inconsiderate pet owner left behind!  I dragged my shoe through the grass in attempts to rid myself of the mess as the kids ran away from me because of the awful stench!  Good times!

There was a car show going on & I fell in love with this turquoise VW Bus... what a dream it would be to drive this thing!

In other happenings, I dusted off my inline skates & hit the trail that I often walk on near Reese's daycare.  Lets just say that my outing was not a success.  These bad boys were in my garage, baking in the heat for the past ten years & apparently that took a toll on the wheels.  After feeling like I was skating up Mt Everest, I accepted defeat & did the walk of shame back to my car, in my socks!  Ya win some, you lose some!

The weather has been gloriously chilly so we've spent a lot of time walking & playing outside.

We also opened a level II NICU at my hospital which has been both exciting & challenging.  I'm an acute care, clinical dietitian who has only worked with the adult/elderly population so this is a whole new ballgame!  Of course, the NICU opened in our busiest season at the hospital.  Lets just say, I've been working long hours at a go-go pace!

We've been playing with the many, many games the kids got for Christmas this year.

They asked me if I wanted to play the pie in the face game... "No thanks, I'm good!"

A few weeks ago, we wrapped up the holiday season with our annual kid's gift exchange at Auntie Lo Lo's house.

Lauren's so crafty & creative so she had the kids make an ice cream cone/cupcake Christmas tree which was super cute.

And last but not least, I have been love, love, loving the aviators Mike got me for Christmas!!!  I could totally hang with Tom Cruise on Top Gun now!!

Sick little princess

Yesterday was my usual Wednesday off & since the weather has been so nice, Reese & I walked Cameron to school.  We had a great morning & Reese was happy as could be.  When we got back home, I told her I had some wrapping & cleaning to do so I put a movie on for her upstairs in our bonus room (which Mike wants to call our rumpus room!)  I periodically checked on her & I noticed she was very often covered up & on the couch but still not complaining of anything.  When she didn't eat the lunch she normally scoffs, I felt her head & she was burning up.

 

The first swipe of the thermometer showed 103.6 degrees; poor girl!  I gave her Motrin & laid with her & within a half hour she was a sweaty mess with a normal temp.



She seemed better as we took the short drive to pick Cam up after school & by the time we were driving home, she was crying that she was tired.  I got her cozy with a movie & she fell asleep until we were just sitting down to dinner.  That's when she woke up crying & as I comforted her, she puked ALL OVER!!  It was a hot mess & the poor girl was in hysterics.  After we both cleaned up, I put her to bed with me & she thankfully slept through the night with no more pukes!!  It's amazing how quickly one can go from feeling well to feeling like garbage.  But, I'm home from work today to nurse my sweet girl back to good health!  On top of Reese being sick yesterday, Cam came home with a swollen lip, all gashed up inside from a classmate punching his water bottle as he drank from it.  This is two days in a row of an injury from the same little a**hole kid (Monday he kicked Cam in the face!!!)  so I was not a happy camper.  On top of it, he had been sent to the clinic at school to treat his lip & no one had the decency of notifying me!  I emailed his teacher as soon as I got home; poor communication makes me crazy!

As much as it stinks that Reese is sick, I'm so glad it's this week & not Christmas!  What a bummer that would be.  I'm praying this bug gets out of our house before then.  Speaking of our house, it's all decked out this year since we put colorful lights around our family room (oddly enough, I got the idea from the movie Home).

Reese was having a fun week before she got sick..  She made a snowman made out of a tube sock & rice at school.



And she went to a princess birthday party for her friend, Sophie.  She loved getting her makeup, hair & nails done; right up her alley!

Reese is 100% girl & loved being pampered & showing off her stuff on the runway.  It was so stinking cute & I think I smiled the entire hour & a half we were there!

I couldn't resist sharing this monstrosity of a picture from a recent "Awkward Christmas Party" we went to.  I picked up these gorgeous sweaters from Target & Mike decided it would be perfect to go without a shirt under the sweater vest.  Of course, it looked like he had a sweater on since he's such a hairy beast!  It was quite hilarious.

Get your groove on!

It's the fourth week of school & we're finally getting into a new groove & a new normal.  It hasn't always been easy, but we're trucking along over here.  I must say, the days are long since I leave the house at 6:30 in the morning & get home after 5:30 in the evening.  Of course from there comes all the good stuff of homework, dinner, baths, making lunches, wading through school paperwork....  you know the drill!

It's September which means we're in the countdown to Cam's 7th birthday on the 24th!  Cam's chosen a Minion party this year, so I'm trying to get things in order to prevent last minute scrambling & chaos.



Speaking of September, my husband is in hog heaven since the NFL season is officially here.  You would have thought it was Christmas!  I've wanted a Bears flag since we've owned a home & we finally got one!  I officially feel like a home-owning adult at the ripe young age of 36!

I've gotten into the mindset of, "if you can't beat em, join em!"  I used to protest 50% of our already short weekend being compromised, but I've learned to embrace it & now we make an event of Sunday game days with food & friends.  It's just an excuse to eat something yummy & catch up with good peeps!  I must say though, by the end of the season, I'm so ready for it to be over!

We were in desperate need of new bedding so Reese & I headed to IKEA on my Wednesday off last week.  Since we got there just as it opened, the place was basically empty & we got in & out in a flash!

I knew I needed a comforter/duvet cover so I could easily wash them since our last king comforter was way too bulky to fit into our washer & had to go to a laundromat instead (which grossly enough, never happened).  We use our comforter as a blanket at night & I tend to get hot so I picked up a comforter that's really light & cool.  Fresh new bedding for under $70?  Score!

Amidst the madness of the recent weeks, we've squeezed in some fun too!  Reese has had some time to frolick in the rain!  She watches a lot of Peppa Pig & if you've had the pleasure of watching the show, you know that those damn pigs love to splash in their English muddy puddles!

I use the gorgeously beautiful cutting board my woodworking neighbor crafted for me on a nearly daily basis, but I was finally able to use it as a serving platter.  This is a cutting board I will treasure forever!  Half of the wood is from American trees & the other half African trees & one side is flat for cutting, the other has a slight curve for serving.  Love, love, love!

With Cam back to school, Reese & I have our girly Wednesdays together & things have been very smooth & productive.  A lot less fighting without Cam to push buttons!  We normally do "quiet time" for at least an hour so she has time to herself & I have time to myself.  We abandoned it over the summer, so when we went back to it a few weeks ago, she saw it as a punishment.  For whatever reason, that flipped like a switch & now she asks for it.  She takes her tablet into her room, watches a movie or just relaxes or plays with her toys.  Last week she even ended up falling asleep.  I get a lot done in that uninterrupted hour & sometimes even steal 15 minutes to relax.

There are many weeks where Mike will choose a weeknight to meet up with the guys for whatever reason.  I adore those nights since I put the kids & dogs to bed, pour myself a glass of wine & relax with my treasured trashy TV shows like the Real Housewives of O.C.  However, Mike's last guys night did not fare well for me.  Not five minutes after he left, I was in the bathroom taking out my contacts when I heard a very loud buzzing sound that could only come from a VERY large bug.  Without thinking, I bolted from the bathroom sans contacts, slamming the doors behind me, sealing the bottom with Mike's pants so the bug couldn't get into my room.  Without the contacts, I couldn't see a thing.  Unfortunately my glasses sat next to the bathroom sink with the dreaded, unknown bug.  If you know me, you'll know that I'm irrationally TERRIFIED of bugs so there was no way I was going back in there.  But how was I to watch my trashy shows without my glasses?!?  It was 7:40pm & the world was my oyster for two blissful hours.  Dang.  Mike refused to come home & Cam was too scared to get my glasses.  Yes, I got my six year-old out of bed & begged him to get them.  Low, oh so low.  Well, time for the big guns.  I grabbed my winter, hooded jacket from college & zipped it tightly so only my eyes were barely exposed, ran into the bathroom, closed the door behind me, grabbed my glasses & sealed the door back up.  I begged Mike to kill the bug when he got home & not lie about it like he's done in the past.  He said it was a "small" flying beetle but I'm not buying it.  That thing was probably the size of a small child.  Ha.

But, after my bug scare, I was finally able to catch up with my "programs" while my kitties snuggled next to me!  So, that's what's been happening around these parts! 

Recent happenings

What hasn't been happening lately?!  We've been keeping very busy (perhaps a little too busy for my tastes) so there's been plenty going on.

Grammy got an awesome flight deal so she came in for a week at the spur of the moment.  I was so happy she was able to spend some uninterrupted time with Cam before he heads back to school next week.

Cam & his buddy Tyler

Cam stayed home from summer camp every day but Friday since he didn't want to miss his big Legoland field trip.

Me & lovely Lo Lo

Grammy was nice enough to watch the kids while we headed to see Sublime in concert last Friday.  I really wasn't even excited to go (I know, I know I'm lame) but sometimes the idea of a big, late night out is just not very appealing to me after an insane week, but we ended up having a great time.

Me & my darling hubby

 It ended up POURING on us as we arrived & I was dumb enough to ditch my typical flip flops for wedges.  Big mistake.  Huge.  After the rain though, the weather was gloriously cool, unlike the typically insane heat we've been dealing with. 

My Minions seeing the Minions

While Grammy was in town, we headed to see the Minions & the kids were so excited that we decided to make Minion cupcakes.

 


The kids made quite the mess with the sprinkles but the cupcakes ended up turning out so cute!  Cam's birthday is about a month away so we'll be whipping these up for his Minion party (unless he changes his theme by then!)

We got the dentist checked off the before school to-do list.

 

Luckily there were no cavities!!

I was done with my ever growing hair so I decided to hack 5" off.

And my three year-old has decided that she prefers showers to baths.  It's quite hilarious to see her naked little body standing in the huge shower!  Love her!

Speaking of love, this picture is positively adorable!!  Such a big personality in a petite, little body!  Reese cracks me up... she's the best.

We also hit a Tampa Bay Rays vs. the Mets baseball game with Matt, Kelly, Grammy & the kids & snapped this precious pic of Cam & Leah.  Since Matt's a Mets fan & Cam played little league on the Mets, Leah wore his jersey so we kept joking that they were married.  That would be awesome.  I seriously hope I end up with a daughter-in-law like Leah when Cam eventually gets married!

This pic of Reese & Sammy is ridiculously sweet.  They love each other so much!

PJ day at school today!

Tomorrow we all have the day off to head to Cam's open house at his BRAND NEW SCHOOL!  Exciting!

I must be getting overwhelmed with everything that's going on since I cannot sleep well these days.  I read a quote that said, "When you're anxious, you're living in the future."  That is so true for me since I'm always worrying ahead & I just lay in bed at night, thinking of the ever growing list of things to do.  Even just stupid stuff like, Haven't flossed in a while.  Speaking of flossing, I never floss my kids teeth!  Speaking of teeth, my dog hasn't been to the vet in forever to get her teeth cleaned!  Ahhh!!!  Why can't I just shut by friggin brain off for a minute?!?!