Thursday!!

Ack! We leave for Florida Thursday morning! I'm excited/nervous, and the weather isn't helping much. We got a great deal on a 2 bedroom villa ($77/night). It ends up being a resort in my parents' timeshare company, but we didn't book through them. It's going to be a long trip down. A much longer car ride than they are used to. That's where the nerves come in. I'm really excited about looking at the homes/areas, and nuts over going back to The World!! It'll be trip #31 for me!

Disney World is sold out! I'm thinking it has something to do with the Super Bowl. I'm hoping it won't be ridiculously crowded. I'm sure they'll love it either way.

As a side note, you girls know that you are more than welcome when we do move! I may even be able to swing a couple of free passes!

Evan

In the last few days Evan has made a lot of progress. He has just started saying "Evan," and he now loves to go around labelling the family-especially his brother "Willmy" (pronounced Will-me). It's so cute! This morning, as I made my tea and Bruce's coffee, Evan looked up at Bruce's cup and said, "bring." He wanted to bring his daddy his morning cup of coffee! So, with my help, he held the mug by the handle only and carried the coffee to Bruce. Then, he asked to bring me my cup of tea. Again, with major assistance, the cup was successfully brought to our living room!

The most exciting thing is that Evan is showing major interest in the potty! Woo Hoo! I know we are still so far from no more diapers, but it's a start. So, we made a family outing to Wal-Mart, and he picked out his potty! He selected a Winnie the Pooh potty with sound! Evan was very proud to have his potty and loved helping his daddy put it together. He sat on it fully clothed in the living room for quite some time. Evan would like everyone to know that he is very proud of himself for picking out a nice, new potty and for sitting on it so nicely.

We're Going to Disney World????

Yes, we did win something...finally a break with work. Looks like we're going to get some. It's been a long, frustrating road filled with questions of faith for me. But, as with most things with Bruce and I, the bumps finally smoothed and we have some nice prospective things coming very soon.

After the Vegas fiasco, we found ourselves wondering where we would move. My parents became included in this, too. My mother claims that they've decided not to move to Vegas because of the reported poor healthcare. I think my dad just refuses to be far from the boys (not that my mother loves them any less than him) and found appropriate excuses. Anyway, there was a great incentive for teachers in Florida. The alternate route was surprisingly easy to navigate (at least at the level of research I did). So, it seemed Florida was the way to go. Then, of course, hurricanes came up. The area seemed to be fairly high priced and on the coast. That kind of ended that. Then, a friend from the gym mentioned the community he and his wife bought their vacation/retirement home in. It sounded really nice and close to my favorite place in the entire world-Disney World. I thought maybe with the lower cost of real estate, we could live on a Disney full time salary.

That's how the search began. We were all headed down there in a few months. Then-whammo!-this business opportunity hits. It's a year long contract with the possibility of two years. Now we need to go to Florida to see if the area would be a place we could see living so that my parents can go and buy a home there when my dad retires. Small note: If we choose another state after they've moved there, we're dead!

So, it now boils down to driving the boys there in the next few weeks! Of course, we'll be close to Disney World (and if I get my way, we'll be staying in one of their resorts).... How can I NOT take the boys??? Evan is a Mickey nut. It's instant smiles all around and lots of screams of "MICKEY!!!!" when they see him on tv or in pictures or ads. What a great 2nd birthday present, huh???

Making the Most of a Beautiful Day

Okay, so the title is a slight homage to Mr. Rogers Neighborhood. Wasn't yesterday gorgeous??? I'll take 70 degrees in January! Now to just convince the Mister that winter is bad....

The day started out normal enough. We fed the boys, got them dressed and went off to Target on a mission to get my parents an anniversary gift. The boys were very patient as a somewhat slow kid set out to get us a "nicer" box than the one that was out on the shelf. Of course, playing peek a boo with them kind of helped things. By now you know me, so you know it wasn't "normal" peek a boo. It was hiding behind the cart and jumping out peek a boo (which the boys love!). Definately not a thing you do when there are other patrons around! Anyway, the kid finally came along, we looked at some more stuff, and then headed home for lunch.

They demanded a nap when we got home, passing on lunch for later. Since it was 11:30, that was fine. Or so I thought. It seems that the three of them refuse to eat lunch if they don't get it before nap-even if they refuse to eat in favor of said nap. Nothing short of standing on our heads helps this.

Anyway, they got a surprise visit from their silly Pop who had happened to be on the highway that parallels our house. I'm sure he still has no idea how he got to our house and what roads he took. After Pop left, we herded the kids outside to play in the yard. I felt like we were wasting the day by being in the yard, so we headed down to Belmar. I felt brave and daring (since most of my in laws live there now). Bring 'em on!

The boys had lots of fun on the climber on the beach. Then, the bigger kids starting kind of stepping on them, and Bobby headed to the top of the climber where the fence gap is. Ack! Of course, I had to then climb up the rungs and through the "hole." The kids looked at me as if I were strange. Since it's not a new look for me, I paid almost no attention and slid the boys down the slide to Bruce.

Off we went in search of waves and sand. They kept calling the sand "dirt" and were really interested in the feel of it. They also met some very nice boxer dogs who were bigger than them! Bobby went walking up and said, "Hi, Doggie!" It's his thing now to say hello to everyone. It's cute! We played almost an hour in the sand, and without an inlaw in sight, we headed home. I can't wait to do it again!

Desparate Times...

The old addage is true, desparate times do call for desparate measures! Last night was quite possibly the end of my sanity rope, at least that's what I'm sure Evan thought! To be clear, I've been sick. My throat swelled almost completely shut for nearly two days and then I lost my voice. So, I'm not totally myself.
That said, when Bruce rushed William into our room and woke me up to take him, I was a little concerned. I croaked, "What's wrong?" "They're up!" was Bruce's reply (he later told me he was in a rush to prevent one of Evan's famous melt downs). William happily snuggled into me and fell fast asleep in moments. Mommy heaven!!
Nirvana was disrupted by sounds from the nursery. Evan! Bruce cringed. I stupidly volunteered to go in. I say stupidly because they NEVER go back to sleep for me. They seem to want to talk to me and be held instead of sleep. So, anyway I went in at 2:30 to hear Evan's now famous line- "Done." I tried to reason with him that he could not possibly be done sleeping at 2:30 and that it was still dark outside and therefore "sleepy" time. Note to self and other newer mommies: Logic does not work at 2:30 with toddlers.
Finally, I reasoned with myself that William was already coveting my side of our bed and that my only chance of real sleep was to-get ready for it-climb into the crib with Evan. Since the crib converts without any additional supports to a day bed and then full size bed, I further reasoned that climbing into said crib should not cause its eminent collapse sending us to the floor in a thud scarring Evan for life and waking Bobby up. So, I told him to move over and climbed on in!
Evan's eyes practically popped out of his head. My mother informed me later that it was his way of saying, "Oh shit! I've really done it this time! I've pushed Mommy right over the edge!" Luckily, I ended up not having to sleep in there. A mere hour and a half later, after Evan repeatedly telling me that red means stop, green means go and yellow means go fast, he fell back to sleep.
I returned to the bliss of our room where Bruce reported that he was uncomfortable because he had to pee. I told him to try sleeping in a crib. He laughed and said he wished he had a camera. I gave him an angry squirrel.