Vacation - So Happy To Get Away!

We're baaaaaaaaack! Vacation was a blast! I'm pretty much the least spontaneous person I know, but we kind of winged this trip. I booked our trip to Myrtle Beach months ago, but the forecast looked horrible for the time we were supposed to be there - rain, 50s and wind chills. Uh, no thanks. So, we cancelled on Friday (yes, two days before we were supposed to leave) and rebooked a trip to Florida!

We stayed at the Innisbrook Resort, just north of Clearwater. I've always stayed on the beach, but I have to tell you, this place was awesome. It was on a golf course (four courses, actually) and was just immaculate. There were six pools, a wildlife preserve, nature walk, mini golf course for the kids, tennis courts, fishing ponds, playground and more. The big pool was made to look like a beach and had sand, etc. Who needs the beach when you have all that? We may stay there again next year. It's cheaper too, because it's not on the beach! Not very crowded either.

Here are some pictures from our adventures!


Taylor on the plane ride down. Both kids did great!


Michael in our rental van. Yes, I drove a van. Yikes!

Michael liked playing in the sand at the pool.

She's too much. She wore these sunglasses day and night, haha.

The Pear and I at the beach. Do not let my attire fool you. The wind was cold!!

Mike had his shirt off for all of about three minutes. Brrr.

Cutie ready to go out for dinner.

We had a one-bedroom condo and Taylor claimed it as hers! Here she is in her king-size bed. Lanie made her third beach trip. The bear's been on more vacations than I went on in the first 20 years of my life!

We went to Chuck E Cheese's one night. Here Michael is taking pointers from Daddy.

Taylor whacking the crap out of some game.

I usually buy healthy snacks for the kids, but Mike picked up a bag of Lay's one night. Michael was addicted! He'd see the bag and shriek with his little arms stretched out. Here, Taylor is feeding him. This picture cracks me up.

Michael at the playground.

The Pear running around like a madman. He did that a lot during our trip.

Taylor on the nature hike.

The gang ready to start the nature hike.

Breakfast! Something about this picture looks 70s-ish.

Michael flashing his fine physique.

My natural sunblock.

My boys. Check out the cool waterfall!

The Worm showing off her new tankini.

Cool water spout thingies.

The Worm and the Pear goofing off at dinner on our last night.

Gotta go prepare for the Easter bunny. Take care!

Until next time,

Mommy Kel

Finger Painting Gone Wrong

I feel bad for the Pear sometimes because Taylor and I typically save our fun, crafty type activities for when he's napping. The mess, the screaming, the tears. Yeah, I'm just not ready for it. On Sunday, I decided to try something they both might enjoy - finger painting.

Taylor hated finger painting when she was Michael's age. She's never been a big fan of getting her hands dirty and she never got the concept that she was supposed to intentionally make herself messy. It's kind of fun for her now that she's older, but she's still very careful to keep the paint on her hands and the paper only. She went through about 10 paper towels in 20 minutes of painting tonight.

Taylor and her controlled finger painting. Never mind the shirt. It's a size 3T (she wears a 5). Of course, she didn't get any paint on it anyhow.

Michael had absolutely nooooo problem getting messy. I squirted a little bit of paint on his paper and he went to town, squealing, smearing the paint and reaching for more. He'd fill up one paper and I'd remove it and put down another sheet. It was going well until I stepped away to get Taylor a paper towel. I turned back around to see this:

Ack! No, he's not bleeding.

Michael decided he'd rub the paint into his hair. I stopped him, and he went back to the paper, but that didn't last long.

"Where should I put these messy hands?"

"This is a great spot!"

"Oh man, this is fun!!!"

The finished artwork. The bottom four are Taylor's. The top one is Michael's. He made several, but they all pretty much look like this.

Michael, of course, got an immediate bath. Taylor just had to wash her hands off, haha.

Here are a few more pictures from the past couple days. Enjoy!

Taylor playing with the Littlest Pet Shop stuff handed down from her cousin Gracie. Yes, Michael was sleeping.

Michael up to no good.

Hanging out with his buddy.

The Pear is "petting" Champ with his feet. I love his little legs!

I need to get some sleep now. Have a great start to the week!

Until next time,

Mommy Kel

Real Live Bunnies!

I was going to skip out on buying any spring photos of the kids because I just purchased a big package at Christmas and still have lots of Taylor's school pictures left from the fall. I barely even glanced at the photo sign up form she brought home a few weeks ago. Well, when Taylor found out that the kids could pose with "real, live bunnies!" she begged me to let her get her picture taken with them. All I heard about for a few days were the "real, live bunnies!".

Finally, I broke down and signed up for the smallest package. It was only $25 and I could even bring Michael in to be in the picture. Okay, we'd try it, but I had my doubts based on Michael's tears during the Christmas shoot.

We got them back yesterday. Here's the result:

It's a little grainy because it's scanned, but I think it turned out sooo cute! They did great! (For the record, Michael's bunny is not real. He was not thrilled with the real one, so they gave him the stuffed version.)

Until next time,

Mommy Kel

Pear's 15-Month Stats

I forgot to put in these in my last post!

The Pear facts at 15 months:

* 24 lbs., 10 oz. (50th percentile)

* 33" (95th percentile)

* Head is still huge.

* 12 teeth - soon to be 16 teeth (yikes, I just looked back at the 1-year-old post and the kid has gotten 5 teeth in 3 months! And, he will probably have gotten 9 teeth in 3 1/2 months!)

* Clothes - 24 months for shirts and 18 months for pants

* Latest tricks - blowing kisses; saying "Go, go" as he runs and "whoa" when he stumbles; says "Hines" and points to pictures of Hines Ward (or any football player); says "tree" and "bush"; uses "mama" skillfully now; can almost same "more" (or is it "milk?") when he's thirsty; smells his socks or shoes and says "Ooooo" (we say "Ooo, pooey when we do it); shoots hoops and cheers for himself (Mike built him a sweet hoop in the basement); throws the ball really far with either had; hits the ball off the tee with daddy's help

* Latest not-so-good trick - He's been smacking lately, mostly Taylor and I. Ugh, we're working on that one.

BUZZZZZZZZZZ!

Mike has often joked that as soon as the Pear got hair, he was going to buzz it off. On Saturday, he got his chance. Of course, I didn't let him shave it, but Michael did need a trim. The sides are growing so slow, but the top and back were getting kind of stringy and I'm in total fear of baby mullet. Mike tried the eight blade first, but it didn't really get anything, so he went with the six blade, which did the trick nicely. We're probably the only ones that can even tell it's been cut, but I think it looks cute!


The Pear, giving his golden locks one last comb.

Let the buzzing begin! You can see how uneven the top was.

Handsome new 'do!

We're always out walking or playing when the weather is nice, so we pretty much know every neighbor on our street. It's been nice seeing some of their faces again now that cold weather is leaving!

The Worm, the Pear and our neighbor Allison.

Taylor with her buddy, Caden. He turns 3 today!

I bought Taylor a pink recorder this weekend, probably my most regretful purchase to date. Oh my, that shrill noise is enough to make anyone go insane. It even makes Champ howl!

Hope you all have a great week!

Until next time,

Mommy Kel

Great Season 'Cane!

I guess all good things do come to an end. Mike's team lost to Thurgood Marshall in the regional semifinal game last night. They were down by nine at one point in the fourth quarter, but came back to tie it with four minutes left. It came right down to the end and while they never led in the second half, they were only down one with 30 seconds left. So close! I am so proud of what Mike, his assistants and the players have done this season - 21 wins, conference, county and districts championships and huge wins over big-time teams like Centerville, Elder and Dayton Dunbar. We'll miss the three seniors and have great aspirations for next year's team. (Yes, coaches and even coaches' wives are already thinking about next season.)

The support from the community, family and friends throughout the season has been incredible. I bet Wilmington had 4,000 fans at the game last night. Mike's mom, dad and step-dad were there, as well as my dad. (My mom would have totally been there, but she had hip surgery on Monday. She's doing well!) I also spotted some old friends from the Post, Mike's friend Barry and a former player from Wabash, Chris Keefer. It's been a long time since Mike coached Chris, but he still uses the Chris Keefer standard. If he says someone is a "Keefer", I know he means that the kid is smart, never complains and pretty much does everything right. He had a "Keefer" on his team this year and we'll miss him next year!

Hopefully the weather stays nice and Mike is able to rest and keep his mind off basketball as much as possible. Basketball season is hectic and time-consuming for our entire family, but we all hate to see it come to an end. Taylor got me all choked up after the game last night. She started crying when she realized that we lost and "Kirby would never play for Wilmington again".

The good news is that vacation is now only two weeks and two days away! Basketball helped time fly by these last few months.

Have a good weekend!

Until next time,

Mommy Kel

Warmer Weather - Eggsellent

It's been warm enough here for nightly walks again and I'm so happy! The other night we passed the neighbors' house who had decorated a tree in their front yard with Easter eggs. Taylor spotted them right away - "I wish WE could have an Easter egg tree." Tacky? - probably. Something to make a 4-year-old really happy? - absolutely. Alright, I'm sold.

We bought the big plastic eggs Saturday night and I used fishing line to string them up Sunday. I was going to just hang a couple in one of the little trees in front of our house, but Taylor insisted that they needed to be everywhere. Each bush HAD to have one. I can't decide if the finished product looks cute and festive or really bad. Oh well, the boss is happy, so I'm happy. It was fun decorating with her.

That's a lot of eggs.

The Worm stringing up the eggs.

Proudly posing with the finished product.

She insisted that I pose for a picture, too. Her photography skills are getting pretty good!

The Pear slept as we decorated, but was excited to play outside when he awoke. He points to his tummy now when you ask, "Michael, where's your belly?" Soooo cute.

Michael didn't quite seem like himself yesterday afternoon and I'm starting to suspect that his ear infection might be back. He was a little warm and crabby, but he's also getting teeth #s 13, 14, 15 and 16, so it's hard to know what's up. He has his 15-month checkup Tuesday and I'm hoping we can hang in there until then.

A small request - My mom has her hip replacement surgery in the morning. Keep her in your prayers!

Here are a couple more pictures from the week. Excuse the blur on the pictures. I have no idea how my camera lens would get a smudge on it. A grimy little hand maybe...

A good color for my blue-eyed cutie.

What a cutie! I just want to pinch those little cheeks.

The Pear's other side. He wanted his sister's Leapster. Oh, the temper...

Until next time,


Mommy Kel