2 days to go!!

Only 2 Days to go!! I'm not as excited as in previous posts because I have so much to do and so little time to do it in. And I don't know why this is underlining my post, oh well! Yesterday was very eventful!! Parker was sick and I ended up taking him to the ER. It ends up that he will fine. He has a viral rash infection. He has a right swollen hand and swollen feet and a rash that appears, disappears and then reappears somewhere else. This is just one of those things that just has to work its way out of him, hopefully quick. :-)

He just woke up and walked all the way downstairs to the basement not complaining about his feet, so I'm hoping the swelling has gone down. He couldn't even wear shoes yesterday. Please pray for him, so he can get healed before our trip. Today we do a follow up visit with the Infectious Diease Doctor. She will be getting some test results back today. I'll keep you all posted.

Because of all this craziness I have not made it to the gym this week and will not be able to make it to Weight Watchers tonight, so I will be back in full swing with a workout plan and eating plan for after the trip. I will be posting the plan and letting you know how it goes. I need to get going now if I'm giong to be ready for my Triathlon in June!! Catch ya later, Melissa

Look at my Cute Colonial Kid!!

Today started Colonial Days in Tricia's Class, so here is my cute little Colonial kid. We found the coat, skirt, apron and shirt and the local GoodWill. She had the long hair and bonnet already.
I love this picture of Tricia. She looks so grown up. Next thing I know I'll be packing her up to head out to college. SIGH!
The pictures taken outside were taken this morning. Yes, that white stuff for those of you who don't know, is called snow and yes, I did make her pose without her jacket so we could see the whole outfit.

Remember how I said this was going to be a goofy day (see post below) and week, well, this morning started off with a bang. I was driving Tricia to the bus stop, which is only about 5 houses down, but it was still snowing and it was cold and she was in her Colonial stuff, so I drove her. Well, I didn't realize that my windows on my car had this thick layer of ice. So I turned on my window wipers and it scraped a little hole for me to try and drive with. I was driving blind. I pulled over 1 house down and scraped a little then drove again. No good. Pulled over 3 houses down, saw the bus in my rearview mirror. Yelled at Tricia, "Get out and run babe." Turned on my flashers, started running with Tricia, yelling for the bus to wait. It was a funny picture, me running after this little colonial kid to the bus, my car parked now 4 houses away with the flashers on. When I got back in the car, I couldn't find my keys. In the craziness of yelling at Tricia I ripped them out of the ignition and throw them towards the passenger seat. I'm just thankful I didn't lock the door. :-) So that my friends is my goofy morning. I just hope this day gets better.

Your Goofy Friend,
Melissa

It's going to be a goofy week!!

I'm wirting to tell you only three days until we leave for, you guessed it, Disney World. I'm a little less excited today because Parker ended up really sick last night. Keith is on a business trip all week, so I have to call off work to take care of my little man. I have so much to do before Friday, so I figured I could get stressed or just look at it as a goofy situation, so that is what I decided to do. You can never go on a family vacation without something happening before you go.
I know that Parker will be fine, I'll get everything packed and will let out a BIG 'OL sigh as soon as the plane is in the air, but until then I am just going to roll with the punches and laugh like goofy!! :-)

Have a goofy kind of day!
Melissa

A Man and His Mouse!!

We only have 4 days to go until our trip. I don't know if you can really understand just how excited I am. :-) This is one of my all time favorite pictures of Walt Disney. I hope you enjoy it!!

I also wanted to let you know that my buddy Chris left for Iraq at 2:30am this morning. This is his second time going. He will be there 12-14 months. Please pray for him, his wife, Melissa and their kids Blake, Destiney, and Mason. When the war started I went to a great website www.operationmilitarypride.org and requested a soldier to support. I was given Chris' name and the rest is history. He is like a brother to me now. I know longer say he's this guy I met on the internet. He is my friend.

We called and talked to him last night, which was good, but I cried after I hung up. This whole war thing just stinks. When you talk to Chris though he was ready to get back and do his job. He doesn't like the whole leaving the family part, but he was eager to get back and help finish what was started. That's very admirable to me because if it were me, I definitely wouldn't want to head there especially a second time.

As the war goes on it seems that support for our troops isn't as big as it was at the beginning. Just like Hurricane Katrina Relief. It seems everyone gets all gung ho at the beginning, but as time marches on so do people's lives. Please reach inside yourself and see what you are doing to support our men and women overseas and the victims or Hurricane Katrina. Is there something more you could be doing? The one thing that soldiers have told me over and over again is that the letters mean more than any care package sent, so if you think that you have to make a big deal to support a soldier it's not. Letters and cards are most welcome.

Just some thoughts to ponder.
Melissa

Good Morning!!

It is 12:04am and I am still up, so guess what that means? Only 5 days until I leave for Walt Disney World.

I would like to take this moment to salute Walt Disney for being the creative genius that he was and for creating Disneyland( which I went to a lot as a kid and where my love of Disney began) and for creating Walt Disney World. I would like to salute him for dreaming BIG and making those dreams a reality. I know this is sappy, but I really do admire the man behind the mouse. I'm tired, so I'm going to stop blogging before I make a complete fool of myself. I know it's too late I already have. :-) Good night!!

Thanksgiving Day

This is Dar and I reinacting our morning Turkey Trots. We are really doing well with our new lifestyles. Like I have said in the past we have been eating buddies and now we are getting healthy buddies. We still eat together, but we eat the right stuff now.
Here we are sporting our Turkey Trot shirts. I'm so excited because I can wear an XL now. No more XXL for me. Her hoodie is way cool!!
We went to Darlene's house for Dinner. Seated at the end of the table is Dar's Dad, Bob. On his right is Keith, Dar's Grandma, Tricia, Dar, Parker, Dar's Uncle Joe and Dar's Mom.
We had a great time eating, but more importantly spending time together. The food was great, but the company was greater.

Things I am thankful for this Thanksgiving.

1. My relationship with God
2. My Family
3. My Friends
4. My new healthy lifestyle
5. Being my kids role models
6. Having the best husband in the world
7. My kids at Church that I work with
8. Laughter
9. My friends and support at the YMCA
10. The country that I live in and my freedoms. Thanks to all you military men and women.
11. That I leave for DisneyWorld in 6 days. :-)

I have so much more that I am thankful for, but that is list for today. Have a blessed day and if you get stressed concentrate on what you are thankful for and the good things in your life.

Walt Disney World Here We Come!!

YIPEEEEE!!! We are on our way to Florida to Walt Disney World. One week from today!! I'm so excited. We've got all our days planned out and all our reservations made. I can hardly wait! My best buddy Darlene is coming with us. We have been friends for 20 years for those of you who don't know that. She went with us on our last trip there too. It's a lot of fun and a great benefit for me. My husband Keith will do something with the kids so I can go out with Dar and then Dar watches the kids so I can go out with Keith. I offered to watch the kids so they could go out, but they didn't take me up on the offer. :-)

Also, Keith and I have friends that are our kids adopted Grandparents. It is there timeshare that we use when they go, so I asked them if they could go with us this time and it worked out. We are so excited that they are coming too. Now we not only have Auntie DarDar to help with the kids, we also have Grandma Anne and Grandpa Jim. :-)

I'm not sure I will be able to blog while we are there. I'm trying to convince hubby to take his laptop, but don't you worry at all. I will be blogging with tons of pics when I get home. Last time I went pre digital camera I took so many rolls of film. Just think of how many more I can take now that I have my digital with my huge memory stick. I can't wait. So many pictures to take so little time. :-) Dar, remember I can't have anyone in the background even at Disney World. :-)

I need to go help my daughter finish cleaning our hamster cage. You don't want to know.

Later,
Melissa

Black Friday

I went out on Black Friday. I went to Target, Staples, Menards and Walgreens.

Last night Keith and I were driving home from our Thanksgiving Day. We drove by a Best Buy and a Walmart at 11pm and there were already people in line. It was freezing out. I cannot imagine how cold that must have been all night.

I looked over the ads and my list and decided I would run to Target. They had something that somebody in my family really, really wants, so I knew I had to go. I was in and out of there in 10 minutes.

I ran to Staples next for Keith to pick up a few items. The line at Staples was way longer than the Target line, so even though I got in there only 13 minutes after they opened I couldn't get anything I wanted. They were ticketed items and they handed out tickets to people while they were in line. I looked for a few minutes and then left. Sorry Keith.

Next it was on to Menards. I just wanted one thing. Of course they were out, so I went looking around the store to see what other deals I could find. None worth waiting in the insane line. One lady had what I wanted, so I asked her where she got it. She was willing to give me one, but I couldn't justify standing in the long line for over an hour for one thing. She offered to give me cuts, but I told her I couldn't do that to the people behind her. She looked surprised, so I decided to pass it up. Sorry Keith again.

Next I was off to Walgreens. I got there about 5 minutes after they opened. I got everything I wanted and Keith wanted. YEAHHHHH!! The most important store I needed to go to was Target and I was very successful there, so going out early was well worth it to me.

If any of you went out and faced the crowds please tell me your stories. Did anyone get a laptop for $199 from Best Buy? Afterall, there were 10 per store. Fine print stated that you had to sign up for AOL for a year to get the deal and even finer print said 10 per store. Can you imagine? Anyway, please comment with Black Friday Stories.

I'm off to take a nap!!
Melissa

My Turkey Trot 5K

Here is me waiting for the 5K tobegin. It was 15 degrees out with a windchill of -2 degrees. I wasn't sure I should go through with it, but I did and I am so happy I did. Only about 15-20 people showed up.
Keith and the kids met me there to see me finish the race. Parker was too cold, so he waited for me in the car. Tricia and Keith met me on the trail. The pictue below is of Tricia and I hiking up the last hill and the middle picture is of Tricia and I crossing the finish line.
My personal best for a 5k is 50:53 seconds, which I didn't beat this time. I had back problems leading up to this and wasn't even sure as of this past Tuesday if I was going to be able to do my 5k. It was very windy and a very hilly course, so I finished in 52:40 seconds. Not to bad.

Darlene was doing a race today as well. She did a 4 mile course in 55:00. Let's all give her a WAAAAHOOOO!! YOU GO GIRL.

Well, we are off to Dar's for Thanksgiving Dinner. Have a blessed day with the ones you love.

Lots of Love and Turkey,
Melissa

Tricia's Birthday

Things have been crazy for the month of October and they are still busy. We are getting ready for Tricia's 8th birthday party on Saturday. We are having a Mad Scientist party. The kids each get their own googles. We will be painting a Volcano to explode at the end of the party, making their own slime to take home, we have a Frankenstein ring toss, an eyeball pinata, and they got to put flavored sugar in test tubes for them to take home. We also bought one of those Electric Balls where they put their hand on it and the electricity follows their hand. They also get a Frankenstein cup with a lid and straw to drink out of and they are eating off of eyeball plates. I'm not sure all the food we will be having, but one thing will be a brain made out of Jello. It will be cool. I will probably blog at the beginning of the week with pictures. Have a great weekend. Take some time for yourself and remember you are too blessed to be stressed.

Take care,
Melissa

Halloween Night

Here we are in our Halloween get ups. Tricia was a fly, Parker a Black Widow Spider and I was a Bug Exterminator. My tool belt had fly swatters, Raid, and a net in it. It was really fun to make the costumes and we got a lot of great responses.
Here is my little fly girl!! She had a lot of fun buzzing around the neighborhood.
My eight legged little man. Parker had fun with his arms because they were attached with fishing line, so when he moved his arm all the arms moved at the same time. He liked doing Black Widow Karate. He put on his outfit the Friday before Halloween for a party at the YMCA and said, "I am Black Widow man ready to fight crime." He started doing all this Karate stuff and flying around. I envisioned his costume falling apart before Halloween even arrived, so I told him, "Black Widow man can fight crime on November 1st." He understood and Black Widow Karate was only practiced a little bit here and there.
Do I even need to caption this picture? It was a creepy crawly kind of night. Hope you enjoyed this pictures. I would love to hear what you were for Halloween or see pictures of the kids.

Have a great day.
Melissa