Labor Day and School Dazed

I'm so far behind with finishing my post for our Disneyworld vacation, but I don't want it to keep me from adding some important updates. First of all, Eva turned 10 on September 3rd! She had an extraordinary birthday "week" of constant celebrations with various family members: Sunday (before) at Kalahari with Daddy and her cousins, Thursday (day) at Grandma Nancy's, Thursday (evening) at home celebrating early, and Friday (her actual birthday) at the Heart concert at DTE (Pineknob) with her dad, cousin Rachel and Aunt Alicia. Eva's Aunt Alicia is a big HUGE Heart fan, and because she's in their fan club, she had front row seats and wanted to treat Eva because it was her birthday. Well, I had reservations about Eva going to an "adult" concert, but I was so happy when she called me from the parking lot afterwards to tell me that they wished her a happy birthday from the stage, and personally gave her guitar picks. Then, afterwards the drummer walked over to her and gave her his drumsticks. Eva didn't care who they were, they were rockstars, and they made her birthday very special. Then on Saturday, we headed up to the Country Chalets in Mio with my family: Rob, Alise, Brian, Diane, Becky, Dan and all my wonderful neices and nephews. It was a very cold Labor Day weekend, but we celebrated Eva's birthday (AGAIN) and just had a great time. We went letterboxing, one of my favorite things to do, and bought the best baked goods from an Amish bakery. And we went to an Amish farm where Jaidyn, Jordan and Josh picked out bunnies to take home. No tubing on the river that weekend, but it was a very nice get-a-way.

School started September 7th. Eva's in fourth grade and her teacher is named Mrs. Koledo. She is the Linden superintendent's wife and very, very nice. I couldn't be happier with the way the school year has started out for Eva, she loves school and tells us how much she likes it every day. I'm so proud of her and so happy for her. Now Kayla is a completely different story.....

Kayla has been excited all summer about starting school, talking about it to everyone and getting her school supplies all ready. We signed her up for preschool at Care-A-Lot in Linden on Wednesday through Friday each week. Because we need daycare after school, she stays there after preschool and Eva rides the bus there on those days. Thursday, Todd gets out of work early, so it's really only two and a half days that she has to be there. There was not a doubt in my mind that she would run into school on the first day and take over the place. Boy was I wrong! Toddd and I both took her on Wednesday the 8th, and Kayla was a mess. She cried so hard when we dropped her off. I had to practically drag Todd out of there because he felt so bad leaving her. But I remember Eva crying the first day of preschool, and kids always stop when the parents leave. Not Kayla! I think she cried the whole day on and off. And that night, and the next morning, and the next, and even on the weekend! My heart was completely broken and I was wondering if we did the wrong thing. Eva likes it and the only reason Kayla mentions is that she hates to take naps and naptime is too long. Hmmmm, it sounds like someone is not adjusting well to rules and structure, something favorite Aunt Becky did not do for her this summer with all the spoiling. My sister is awesome, and I'll never be able to repay her or thank her enough for everything she's done for me. But, she has a hard time saying no to little K. :) Each day has been better, but it's a very slow process. On one hand I think this is good for Kayla (her teachers keep telling me I'm lucky we're doing this now before Kindergarten), but another part of me is very sad that my poor little Kayla is having such a hard time adjusting. I'm going to give it a little more time, it's only been three weeks, but something needs to change because I just don't want to see her so upset all the time. She's normally a very happy little girl.

Disney World Vacation!

I feel very lucky to have spent the past seven days with my family vacationing at the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida. We have been planning this trip since May and it was the BEST VACATION EVER!!! We booked an all-inclusive trip, including food and park tickets. Since we stayed in a hotel right on the resort, we used the Disney transportation system that took us everywhere we wanted to go. Since this blog is dedicated to my sweet girls, I want to share everyday we had there. Now, I'm going to be a little sappy here, but my hope is that we look back on this vacation years from now, when the girls are vacationing with their own families, and remember Disney how it was when we were there in 2010. I really think I'm going to love being a grandma (a little too early, I know, but I don't like the disciplining part of parenting so much, so I can't wait to spoil them!) We saw so many grandparents treating their entire family to a Disney vacation, and I would love to do that one day. Okay, now on to our vacation:

Day 1 - Sunday, August 1st - Magic Kingdom

Our Airtran flight was scheduled for 7:30am out of Flint Bishop Airport (our favorite airport) so we woke up around 5:30am to get ready to go. We were all packed and took showers the night before, so we didn't have much to do before we left. The girls were sleepy but very excited to be leaving for Disney. I am pretty scared to fly so it was nice to have Todd (who jumped out of airplanes in the Army, so he's not scared at all) to be that source of strength for the girls. Eva and I sat in the row in front of Todd and Kayla while the plane took off. Eva was pretty freaked out, but once we got in the air she was fine. Kayla was not afraid at all. They were both very well-behaved on the plane.

We flew non-stop to Orlando and the Disney Magical Express picked us up from the airport. We didn't have to worry about our luggage because they transported it to our hotel for us. We stayed at the All-Star Movies resort. We arrived at our hotel around 11am. Check-in was not until 3pm but they got us into our room right away. Our bags arrived shortly after and we went down to the food court to have lunch, then back to our room to take much needed naps. It was so nice to be so close together in the same room for one week. I thought the girls would have a hard time sleeping together but we were so exhausted every night, we all slept great. Then we went to the Magic Kingdom for the evening. The only problem was the huge thunderstorm that started as soon as we boarded the bus! When we got off the bus, we stayed under the bus stop to wait for the rain to stop. The only problem was, it never seemed to let up and there was so much lightning, I really didn't want the girls out in that kind of a storm. So we waited for about an hour, then Kayla had to go to the bathroom (happened MANY times during our trip!) so we had to brave the weather and head inside the gate. Todd bought ponchos for all of us and we headed in. Cinderella's castle was the first thing we saw and the girls were so amazed. I will never forget the looks on their faces. Kayla said, "can we go there right now!" We had heard it rains everyday in Florida and I thought it would be a problem, but it's actually a good thing. The clouds hide the hot sun, the rain cools down everything, and people leave so the lines aren't so long, lol! We spent the evening walking through the Swiss Family Robinson treehouse, riding on a boat through the jungle, went on the pirate ride, Aladdin's Magic Carpet ride, ate dinner, and watched the Electrical Parade twice. The girls got to shake Snow White's hand and thought that was the best :) The Magic Kingdom is just that, magical.

Day 2 - Monday, August 2nd - Typhoon Lagoon

Day 3 - Tuesday, August 3rd - Hollywood Studios

Day 4 - Wednesday, August 4th - Animal Kingdom

Day 5 - Thursday, August 5th - Blizzard Beach

Day 6 - Friday, August 6th - Magic Kingdom

Day 7 - Saturday, August 7th - Downtown Disney

Memorial Day Weekend Plans

Tubing! This will be my very first tubing trip with the girls, something I've been waiting to do for five years. I took my first tubing trip back in 2005 when I was pregnant with Kayla, and hoping to plan a trip with them ever since. I just ordered our tubes today. Todd and I are going to ride in this tube, and I bought these for Becky, Dan, Dakota and Kayla:

We're going on the Au Sable River on Saturday. I hope the weather is nice! And I hope the girls like it as much as I do. Can't wait to post pictures.

Being Organized & My Favorite Technology

I am convinced that being organized is one of the most important things I can do for myself and the girls. I am less stressed and irritable when things are not so chaotic. I’m not too overly concerned with the house being perfect, I just want things to be easy to find when we need them. I don’t want to promise things that I will not be able to do by overscheduling us, and I want to make sure Eva has all the tools necessary to do her homework and not have to rush. I am amazed at how much homework she has this year! It’s not easy making sure she has her library book on the right day, her popcorn money, her snack, her field trip slips, etc. So, I think being organized is the key to my success as a single working mom. I have a few tools that I use to help me stay organized that I would like to share:

www.rememberthemilk.com

This is the best site I’ve found to manage my to do lists. The site allows me to add tags to my tasks for more sorting, and I’ve added home and work tasks so I have everything in one place. I even added a birthdays list and a grocery list, and Eva’s spelling lists and homework due dates. Everyday, I receive an email reminder containing all of my tasks that are due for that particular day. I can even add an app to my cell phone which will sync with this site. I haven’t done that yet, but I’m going to very soon. Which brings me to my next tool……



I LOVE my new phone. I have an iPod Touch and loved it so much that I’ve been waiting for my contract to expire with Sprint so I could get an iPhone. But someone at work told me about this little beauty, and I’ve never been so in love with a phone as I am with this one. Plus, Sprint lets me call any mobile # for free, so I’m on a plan that costs me less than $70 per month and that makes me love it even more. It connects Bluetooth to my car, it has all of the apps that Apple has, unlimited text & data, plus it has the girls TV shows on-demand, so we plug it into the car speakers and they both can listen to it while they watch, and (my favorite) it never drops calls. I just absolutely love it. I can’t wait to put the Remember The Milk app on it.

I also use Google Reader to combine my favorite websites into a one-stop to catch up on all of my news and blogs. I usually sign-in right after I check my email in the morning. I also love Facebook for one thing, and one thing only: I can catch up on my family’s whereabouts, injuries, travels, etc. without having to call everyone all the time. Don’t get me wrong, I love talking on the phone, but I have very limited time after work to spend with the girls, so FB is a great way for me to feel connected and not spend too much time on the phone.

YouTube – I love YouTube because I created a playlist of all my favorite praise & worship songs. Many of them are PPT presentations set to the songs that have the lyrics play while the song plays. We have a laptop on the kitchen counter and Eva loves to watch while I make dinner and we dance around the kitchen.

There is one thing that I learned when we drove to Tennessee for our white water rafting trip, and that is I need a GPS. It’s one of those devices, like a cell phone, that you just can’t live without once you’ve had one. Well, I don’t have one….yet. My car came with one year of On-Star, so when that’s up, I’m getting one. I just found out the other day that if I spend a little more, I can get a GPS that you can use for hiking, and your car too. Well, we’re addicted to letterboxing (www.letterboxing.org) and I get nervous walking around in the woods with the girls, so I think we may get one of those.

Good to the Core - By John Blumberg

I was in Honolulu to speak at a large national conference. I scheduled an extra day onto the trip since I had never been to Honolulu and because a few great friends were also at the conference. The day after the conference, we awoke at the crack of dawn to visit Pearl Harbor. As we stood above and looked down upon the sunken USS Arizona, the depth of our experience came to life. It was moving and humbling.

Upon our return to the hotel, I had some time to spare before departing to the airport. A couple of my friends and I decided to rent a raft large enough to hold three adults. We targeted the white-capped waves, out in the distance, as our destination. With the incoming waves, we had a hard time getting away from the shore. At first, there seemed to be enormous momentum keeping us "grounded." Slowly, but surely, we began to make progress. It seemed to get easier. We eventually got within a few feet of the whitecaps and decided to board our raft and relax as a celebration of our efforts. It was in our moment of pause that we felt the reality of our situation. Drifting two feet out and one foot in. Again, two feet out and one foot in. We all felt the unsettling formula of our ever-so-gentle drift out to sea. We immediately abandoned the raft and grasped for safety, with one arm holding the raft and the other arm aggressively swimming. I have never scissor-kicked so hard in my life.

Twenty minutes later we had made minimal progress. Out of nowhere, a lifeguard on a kayak appeared on the scene asking why we were so far out. Feeling the comfort of his presence, we laughed for a moment, lightly commenting about our distance from the shore. He wasn't laughing.

The orange balls had warned us, and we unknowingly ignored them. Infrequently placed across the ocean's surface, they created an invisible line on the ocean's floor. They silently warned us not to drift beyond them regardless of our vision or mission. "You see those big orange balls on top of the water?" the lifeguard inquired. We could see them, but they didn't look very big from where we were still struggling in the water. They did, however, give us the insight that we were basically five times farther out than we should be. I think the lifeguard was trying to teach us a lesson. He didn't leave us, but he didn't assist us either. Forty-five minutes later we walked up on the shore. I was shaking from exhaustion. I began, for the first time, to feel the numerous cuts on my legs and feet from the sharp coral rocks lining the ocean floor.

We had briefly noticed the orange balls on our way out. We had paid little attention to them and certainly had not given any thought to their significance. We had been too focused on our mission to get to the white-capped waves in the distance!

We don't go running away from our values. We go drifting away, and one day wake-up in a place we never meant to be, drifting in a direction we would have never chosen.
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Eva & Kayla - I thought this story was a good example of how we as people tend to ignore boundaries that we should not cross. Without settting boundaries and goals for ourselves, we will find ourself stuck far out somewhere that is hard to come back from. Little choices we make each day can inch us closer to our goals, or farther away from them. Always focus on your goals, and be strong!!

xoxo,
Mom

Happy 4th Birthday Kayla!!

I cannot believe my little Kayla, my baby, my tiny toddler, is now four years old! Happy Birthday, my sweet little K, I hope you have the best day today. Since you have been born, you have brought nothing but fun, joy and laughter to us. I love the way your eyes sparkle when you smile, and how you are always in a good mood, I love our dance parties, and how brutally honest you are (like the time you asked me really loud why a girl's hair was so crazy, or point out different races & body types of people very, very loud!) :) Kayla, today you are 29.4 pounds and 38 inches tall, you're still so tiny! I love you and your sister more than I could ever explain, happy, happy, happy birthday!!

And Happy Half Birthday to Eva! Today, Eva is 9 1/2 years old. It's fun that they can both feel special on each other's birthday. And that means Eva will be 10 before we know it, which is really crazy!! Eva D, you are amazing. You are turning into this wonderful young lady who is so fun to be with and talk to. You are wise beyond your years, that's for sure. It has been so fun watching you play basketball, that's been the highlight of the past couple weeks, and I'm really proud of you for trying it and sticking with it. I have a feeling we found a passion of yours :) I love you so very much and wish you both would stop growing up so fast!

Happy Birthday, girls!
Love,
Mom

xoxoxoxoxo

I love my girls.....

Eva and Kayla are growing up way too fast! Kayla will be four in less than a month and it is crazy to me how fast time has gone by since she was born. I still feel like she's my new little baby, and she's so tall now! And Eva is such a little lady, so fun to talk to, so smart. I am a very proud mom, but I miss these little girls every single day when I'm at work. I get this feeling of excitement every time I drive home to see them. I just feel really lucky that I get to be their mom, and share life with them. Kayla asked Eva and I the funniest things tonight in the car. She started by saying, "I just don't understand my life." Eva and I were a little surprised so we asked her what she was saying and she said, "I just don't understand my life in the world." And then she said, "because I'm really tiny, you know!" She's just so funny and keeps us laughing all the time. Then Eva responds by saying, "Are there any questions you'd like to ask us, honey?" She's so motherly to Kayla, it's pretty sweet.

I just wanted to update our blog and let everyone know the girls are doing great. xoxo