Things Going On, and On, and On

From the middle of August, to the middle of October is a very busy and exciting time of the year at our house.  The beginning of a new school year, and all the activities and social interactions that come with that.  Nathan's birthday, in mid September.  Finally, Annalise's birthday, at the beginning of October.  Planning birthday parties, even small ones, three weeks apart, makes a mom busy. 

This year, we added some other events to our busy time of the year.  First, after being over seas all summer, Steve came home the day after school started, in the middle of August.  Very exciting!!  In September, Steve and I went on an incredible cruise vacation to celebrate our 15th Anniversary.  Nathan's third birthday was the day after we got home from our cruise.  Two weeks after that, We had new floors put in the house.  One week after that, we will celebrate Annalise's 10th birthday!  Double digits for my baby girl!  I can't even believe it!

Right now, we are at the "new floors" stage of this busy and exciting time of the year.  This stage started last week.  We had to pack up everything in our bedroom, and on the floors of our closets.  We also had to pack up everything in the office area, living room area, and dining room.  For the kitchen, we just had to get things off the floors in the pantries, and take things off the stove, and top of the refrigerator.  The floor guys moved the big furniture, we just had to have everything off it. 
We were scheduled to stay with our friends around the corner, in an in-law apartment they had built on to the back of their house when her mother came to live with them several years ago.  Her mother has since married, and has left their apartment fully furnished.  it was a perfect place for our family to camp out while our floors were being torn up and re-laid. 
Steve and I picked out this beautiful porcelain tile, that looks like hardwood planks.  I was excited that he liked the tile enough to want it not only in the living room/kitchen/dining room/office area, but also in our bedroom.  I really dislike carpet, and didn't want to replace old carpet with new carpet.  Until he saw the tile that looked like hardwood planks, he was dead set against having tile in the bedroom. 
The man at the flooring store told us that we would have to be out of our house from Thursday, until Tuesday.  He said that the floor guys would spend all day Thursday ripping out the old floor, then spend Friday and Saturday laying the tile, and Monday and Tuesday grouting.  We weren't happy about that, but were very grateful that our friends were willing to let us stay in their in-law apartment that long.  I finished up the packing on Wednesday night, and put Nathan to bed at his usual time.  I had planned on getting the five of us packed up for our five day "vacation" away from home after I got Nathan in bed.  A little while after I put Nathan to bed, he started crying.  The kind of crying that says, "I'm not messing around because I don't want to go to bed, there is something VERY wrong here!"  I rushed to his room, thinking he'd gotten out of bed, and gotten hurt somehow.  I WISH he had gotten hurt!  In reality, he had thrown up all over this bed, and was still throwing up when I got in there.  Long, disgusting story short, he threw up until a little after 1am.  I did load after load after load of vomited on laundry in those hours, while everyone else slept.  At a quarter to eight Thursday morning, the floor guys showed up.  As prepared as I thought I was going to be, I was completely unprepared!!!  Annalise was just about ready to walk out the door to school.  Nathan was still laying on the couch, with a trash can at his side.  I had gotten dressed, but was still trying to scarf down my breakfast.  Gabriel was in the shower.  Those guys came in, and got right to work.  Right in the middle of me trying to clean up a sick bed, and a child who was still not well.  Right in the middle of me trying to finish my breakfast.  Right in the middle of Gabriel trying to get ready for school.  Chaos and disarray!!!  I don't handle that kind of pressure well.  I started freaking out.  I started just grabbing things I could think of that I knew we needed, but my brain was stuck.  I couldn't think!  (and in case you are wondering, I got NOTHING packed up for the five of us after Nathan went to bed, or after he started throwing up.)  By the time the last of us left the house, presumably for the next five days, what we had was woefully inadequate.  I managed to grab a package of diapers, and a package of wipes.  I also managed to grab a change of clothes for Nathan, and a shoe.  Yes, just one shoe.  I couldn't find the other one, and the floor guys were moving furniture into his room, so I couldn't look for the other one.  Other than that, we all had the clothes on our backs, and the phones in our pockets, and the kids and Steve had backpacks.  I had my purse, of course.  That's it.  Nothing else.  No shower stuff.  No hair brushes.  No tooth brushes.  No medicines.  No contacts (for Steve).  No jammies.  No other clothes.  No food. 
As I was getting into my car, the head floor guy, a guy named C.W., came to talk to me.  He said that they would rip out the old flooring that morning.  He said it shouldn't take more than an hour.  He said that they would lay most, if not all of the tile that day.  He said they would finish laying the rest of the tile (if there was any left to lay) on Friday, and then start grouting.  He said that the grouting would be finished on Saturday at the latest.  He said that the worst case scenario, if things go wrong, and bad things happen, the last of the grouting will be done on Monday.  Ok, that's a heck of a lot better time table than the man at the store gave us!  I was excited about that!  Then C.W. said, "You aren't coming back here today, are you?  Because you can't walk on anything we lay today.  You can't walk on it for 24 hours, so you wont be able to come back into the house until tomorrow morning at the earliest."  My addled brain held this information so it could examine it at its leisure once it found a place that was not riddled with chaos.  So I nodded, and left.  Nathan and I got to the in-law apartment and I started to take inventory of the situation.  No other way to say it.  I had totally dropped the ball!  Man was I going to be in trouble when everyone found out that they had to wear the same clothes to sleep in, and go to school/work in the next day.  Plus, Steve was going to have to go to work blind, because he not only didn't have contacts for the next day, but he also didn't have his glasses!  And I don't even want to get into what I was thinking about with my medications being missed a day. 
Suffice it to say, we walked on newly laid tile that night.  We crept into the house, and walked carefully on the tiles and gathered up everything we needed.  All was well.  I'd spent all day stressing about it, and about Nathan being ill, and about Val being stuck in the back yard...
One thing we noticed when we stole into the house Thursday night, was that C.W. was right.  They laid all but 7-8 tiles that day!  Woo Hoo!!!!  On Friday, they grouted, and put the 1/4 round in.  By dinner time on Friday, they were moving the furniture back!!  Yesterday morning, we moved back into our house, with new floors!!  The grout still has to cure completely, so the tiles still have that dusty, dirty look.  Tomorrow I will be able to properly mop and clean up the tiles.  After I do that, I'll put all the rugs and stuff back down. 
Nathan was very ill on Friday, and I was worried we would have to take him to the hospital.  He had gotten very dehydrated, (he had only peed one time in 24 hours), and was running a fever.  I couldn't get him to drink anything either.  Luckily, once Steve got home from work, he was able to get Nathan to drink some pedialyte, and then gatorade.  By yesterday, Nathan was very much better.  Today, he's back to normal.  Tomorrow he will be happy to help me clean the floors, I'm sure! 

I estimate having everything unpacked and put away by Wednesday.  After that, we just have Leesie's birthday, which is a week from Tuesday.  Steve has missed her last two birthdays, and he's going to miss this one too.  He has been scheduled for continuing education.  He asked if he could go at a later date, told his boss that he will miss his daughter's 10th birthday, and his boss just doesn't care.  He wants Steve to go now.  Fine.  I spit in his general direction!  Poor Leesie.  This will be her third birthday without daddy.  At least this time he'll be back the following week, instead of the following month, like the last couple of years.  We will have something little here at the house, with just her brothers, and me, on her actual birthday.  The weekend after daddy gets home, we will have her big party.  We only do big birthday parties on the 5's.  That's what you get when you have a mom with social anxiety!  She will be able to invite friends from school, and we are going to have it at a place called Plaster Palace.  She and her friends will be able to pick a plaster craft, and paint it however they want, then have pizza, drinks, and cake.  Gabriel had his 10th birthday party at the bowling ally by our house in GA.  They both thought that was the best party in the whole world!  They got to bowl, play video games in the arcade, and eat pizza and cake.  Up until I pointed Plaster Palace out to her a few months ago, she's been sure she wanted the same kind of bowling party for her 10th birthday party.  Plaster Palace wowed her away from the bowling party!  It should be fun for a gaggle of girls to paint plaster crafts.  I'll be sure to bring the camera.

I am including a few pictures of the floors, the way they looked when we walked in yesterday morning.  They still look like this now, but will look better after tomorrow.  I'll probably have to mop them a few times to get all the grout dust and stuff off.  That should be fun for just the first few minutes! 

The Cruise Edition

Cruise Line:  Royal Caribbean International
Ship:  Oasis of the Seas
Sail Date:  September 8, 2012
Return Date:  September 15, 2012
Ports:  Ft. Lauderdale, Nassau, St. Thomas USVI, St. Maarten

Statistics for Oasis of the Seas:
225,282 gross tons
1,187 feet long
208 feet wide
213 feet high, from the water line
30 foot draft
6,296 guest capacity
2,165 crew members, from over 71 countries
8,461 people aboard a full ship
2,706 staterooms
24 dining options
24 elevators
21 pools and hot tubs
16 guest decks
7 neighborhoods
3 theaters
2 rock climbing walls
2 flow riders
1 zip line
1 carousel
1 casino
Uncountable bars, nightclubs, activities, parades, shows, classes, and things you can't even guess.

Two things you need to know about me, if you don't already, are that I have social anxiety, (bordering on agoraphobia.), and I have an unbelievable fear of deep, dark water.  I know what you're saying.  Why in the world would we choose to go on vacation on the worlds biggest cruise ship, over deep, dark water, and with over 8,000 people???  You're partially right.  It was a pretty stupid idea.  I spent the week in varying degrees of fear, and nervousness.  Beyond that, (and in my 39 years of dealing with excessive fear and nervousness I have become pretty good at looking beyond it to experience other things), it was a BRILLIANT idea to go on a cruise!  The problem I had was that it took me three days to calm down enough to really start enjoying everything.  Therefore, it would have been nice to have an extra three days on the ship!  We missed quite a bit of what that ship had to offer, because we didn't start paying attention to what it had to offer right from the beginning.  That had less to do with my phobias, and more to do with us being novices with this type of thing.  For example, we were unaware of all of the classes, seminars, games, sports, parades, and other activities always going on in various parts of the ship until the last couple of days!  I now understand why they have people on board to book your next cruise even before you're finished with your first one!  I also understand why people choose to extend their cruise an extra week, instead of disembarking with the rest of us at the end!  If we had had the freedom and funds to do that, we would have.

We saw the most fantastic shows that week!  The first night we were on board, we saw comedians Al Romas, and John Campanaro on stage at Comedy Live, in the Entertainment Place neighborhood.  That was a great way to end the first day on the ship.  Laughing our heads off!  When we left that show, my cheeks hurt from smiling and laughing so much!
We saw the ice show, Frozen in Time, the next evening.  We were awed by the skaters and by the sets and costumes!  We left that show feeling like we were little kids again!  So much excitement!
The following day, we were at sea all day, so we saw two shows.  In the afternoon, we saw Hairspray in the Opal Theater.  Steve doesn't like Hairspray.  He's seen it on stage, and on screen, and he just doesn't like it.  He wasn't looking forward to seeing it on the ship.  Well guess what??  He LOVED it!!  He had such a good time at that show!  It was fabulous!!!  And again, the sets and costumes were amazing as well as the acting, singing, and dancing!  That evening, we headed to the aqua theater to watch Oasis of Dreams.  The diving, dancing, acrobatics, and synchronized swimming in that show were phenomenal!!!  (And of course, so were the costumes!) 
On our fifth day, we saw Scott Record in the Headliner Showtime.  I'd never heard of Scott Record before that day.  I'll tell you what, that man is EXTREMELY talented!!  Another incredible show!  You know a show is good when it ends, and you are sad that it's over!  All of these shows were like that!  We didn't want them to end!  They were so good!
Our sixth night was our formal night.  I spent all afternoon in the spa, getting gorgeous, and Steve put on his tux, and we had a three course meal in the main dining room.  Then we walked around the Royal Promenade, and Central Park, and got our picture professionally taken in several locations.  We rode the Rising Tide bar up and down a couple of times, while sipping on drinks.  Then we saw our final show, Come Fly With Me.  It had acrobatics, dancing, trapeze artists, flying, and singing.  The singing was done by the same performers that were in Hairspray, the ones we loved so much.  They just didn't nail this show like they nailed Hairspray.  Come Fly With Me would have been so much better if it had just been the acrobats and trapeze artists!  They were incredible!!

The Rising Tide bar was the only bar we went to all week.  We never went to any of the night clubs on board either.  Next time, we will check those places out.  We feel like we were busy, busy, busy the entire time we were on board, and we didn't even do half the stuff the ship has to offer!  It wouldn't be over doing it to say that you really need two full weeks on this ship in order to experience everything on it! 

Below is the link to the pictures on Flickr.  I didn't talk about the shore excursions, because the pictures talk about them better than I can.  Click on the link, and choose the sets at the right hand side, instead of looking at the pictures in the photostream, or slideshow.  To get from one set to the other, click on my name, next to my little face, in the upper right of the screen.  That will take you back to the photostream, and you can then choose the next set to look at. 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/animagusthree/

Even if you have hang ups about boats, or water, sea sickness, or whatever, I would encourage you to take a cruise, if you have the opportunity.  There is just so much to do and experience that you don't get with any other type of vacation.  Steve and I will definitely do it again, the first chance we have!  Yes, it was that good!! 

First Day Of Preschool

Nathan started preschool yesterday.  He is in the same class this year as last year.  It's the 2yr old class.  The reason I didn't move him up to the 3yr old class this year with all of his classmates from last year, is because he doesn't turn three until the middle of September.  Follow me here... His birthday is in the middle of September, so when he starts Kindergarten they will require him to be five years old on or before September first.  By keeping him in the 2 year old class one more year, he will be on track to enter Kindergarten after PK4. ( Another good reason to hold him back is that he is not even remotely potty trained.  Not for lack of trying on my part, either!  This boy thinks it's great fun to pee in underpants.  We went through four pairs of underpants within an hour the last time we tried to potty train.  He thought it was a game, and the object was to pee in as many places in the house as possible.  So, we will try again in another month or so.)  Since he is in the same class as last year, he has the same teachers, and is in the same class room, so he's right at home.  He LOVES school!  He walked right in yesterday like he owned the place!  He acted like he hadn't just had an entire summer off, like it was just another day at school!  I'm so grateful for that!!  I LOVE him to be in school!!  He got to wear his two favorite characters to school, which made him very happy.  Lightening McQueen, and Mario!  Can't get much better than that!   

Education Snob

We are just finishing the second week of this school year, so it is probably premature to say that everyone is doing well in school.  The kids seem happy, so that's good.  I have some issues, though.   I don't think my children are getting a very good education. 
There are things that have been bothering me, from Annalise not being able to preform basic addition without counting on her fingers, and not knowing place value, but still getting straight A's all year last year;  To Gabriel not being able to write complete sentences,  or know how to spell his brother's name, but being recommended for advanced language arts.  Or how about Gabriel not knowing the difference between a state and a country, and not knowing the names of all 50 states in the country he lives in, but making it to advanced Geography this year?  Then, of course, there was the beginning of the year welcome letter from Gabriel's "advanced" language arts teacher that was riddled with grammatical errors.
 I've been concerned with Annalise's lack of understanding, and memorization, in math for the past two years.  I've spoken with her teachers for the past two years about getting her extra help, and they've both said that she is doing fine.  It irritates me to no end to know that the problems and frustrations she will have this year, in fourth grade, could have been addressed in the second and third grades if her teachers hadn't blown me off.  I know, I should have trusted my instinct and gotten her extra help anyway.  At the beginning of 3rd grade, her teacher announced that the students are no longer made to memorize multiplication facts.  At the beginning of 4th grade, the same teacher, (who moved up with the class from last year), announced that the students will be responsible for memorizing their multiplication facts, as it will help them to complete the type of problems they will be doing this year.  Oh, do you really think so???  Don't get me wrong, I really like this teacher.  I was happy to hear he was going to move up with the class.  Annalise loves him!  He is very charismatic and does a wonderful job with the kids.  However, he is a product of the system, and the system says, "teach the big bad test, so the kids do well on it, and we get funding."  I am so over FCAT, or CRCT, or MEAP, or TAAS, or whatever the 'big bad test' is in your state.  It's not helping anyone. 
I haven't been overly happy with the junior high that Gabriel goes to, as a whole.  The administration has never impressed me, and as I indicated previously, the language arts and geography teachers are idiots.  I do, however, like his band teacher.  I think she is a phenomenal gem in the dung heap that is that school.  His science teacher this year, and the two math teachers he's had have also been very good. 
The question that has been on my mind for the past two weeks is this:  What can I do to give my children a better education than the one they are currently getting?  There are a few options.  Private school, homeschool, virtual school. 
Private school is expensive, especially with two kids.  A good private school is also quite a drive from where we are.  I know that with tuition assistance, we could probably scrape by and send them both.  I would also drive across town if it meant my kids were getting a rock solid education.
Homeschool is a non-option for us.  I know homeschooling works very well for some, but we just don't work together the way children and parents need to work together in order for homeschooling to be successful. 
Virtual school is a whole new thing to me.  Florida has a program called Florida Virtual School.  http://melearning.flvs.net/?gclid=CPiHztSq_rECFQSEnQodtkYA4A
I looked at this as an option for Annalise's math class, but much to my chagrin, they only offer classes for middle school and high school students.  I did, however, find a few classes that I believe would greatly benefit Gabriel if he were to take one at a time as a supplement to his normal schooling. 
http://issuu.com/fdgcreative/docs/flvs-course-catalog?mode=embed&layout=http://skin.issuu.com/v/light/layout.xml&showFlipBtn=true
Using the link above, find the course entitled, "M/J Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, Learning" on the right hand side.  If you click on that page, it will zoom in so it's easier to read.  Read the course description.  That is the first class I would love Gabriel to take.  All of the language arts and social studies type classes look like great classes for him to take as well, but I'm pretty sure I can't "a la carte" his normal school, and fill in the blanks with this virtual school.   If I could, I'd keep him at LAJH half the day for band, math, and science, and have him home doing virtual school for language arts, and social studies.  In a perfect world, that would work!  Since this isn't a perfect world, I think we will just supplement the crappy education he is getting with these on line courses.
None of this fixes Annalise's math woes, though.  For the time being, Steve and I are going to have a meeting with her teacher and tell him that we want her to have extra help.  If that doesn't work, plan B is to look into private schools. 
What would you do?  I would LOVE suggestions!!

First Day of School 2012-13

Gabriel and Annalise started back to school last Tuesday.  Gabriel is now in 8th grade.  Annalise is now in 4th grade.  So far, each of them like their new classes. I can only hope it stays that way all year!!

Sleepy Leesie, trying to get ready.

All ready to head off to 4th grade!

My big 8th grader.  He was really irritated that I wanted to take a picture of him on his way to the bus stop.

He was even more irritated when I wouldn't stop taking pictures!  I live to irritate my children.  :-D

Logbook for Houston Trip

Vanity, Oh Vanity

The kids and I went to Houston the last week of July to visit family and friends.  We left on a Tuesday, and came back on a Tuesday because for some reason, it's cheaper to fly on Tuesday than any other day of the week.   More about the nuttiness of air travel later.  The week and weekend before we left, I did what I do best.  I procrastinated.  The Monday morning before we left, I decided that I didn't want to go visit family and friends with my roots showing, so I went to Fantastic Sam's to get my roots colored, and to get a trim.  I should add here that at this point, on this Monday morning, less than 24 hours before we are scheduled to leave town, I still had three loads of laundry waiting to be done, and the suit cases hadn't even been pulled out of the closet yet.  Naturally, instead of staying home and doing laundry and packing, I headed out to Fantastic Sam's to get my hair did. 
I've been to Fantastic Sam's four times in the last 8 months, and I really like how they do my color and how they cut my hair.  It always looks nice when they are finished.  The draw back to this is that it takes a LONG time.  I'm usually there for a little over two hours.  Another thing they do at Fantastic Sam's is waxing.  The last couple of times I've gone, I've also had my eyebrows waxed, and they do a really great job!  It's barely even red where they had the wax, and they follow my instructions to just clean up my brows, not make them pencil thin.  On this Monday morning, less than 24 hours before we are scheduled to leave town, I decide that my eyebrows could look better, and since I'm getting my hair done, I'll go ahead and get my eyebrows done too.  I'm going to look FABULOUS for all the family and friends that we are going to see! 
I can't say what the problem was, if the wax was too hot, or if the technician just put it down too low, but something bad happened.  I think the technician put the wax too low, but my friend, Lynn, thinks the wax was too hot.  Whatever the reason, a couple of layers of skin was torn from my eyelids that morning.  I am here to tell you that that is one of the most painful things that has ever happened to me!  And I've had three babies, and two surgeries!  I think it's so painful because of where it is.  There is no way to keep your eyelids still while they are healing.
 It took a little over three hours, instead of a little over two, for my hair and eyebrows to be finished on this particular day.  My hair looked good, like it always does, when I walked out of there.  My eyebrows looked nice and clean.  My eyelids were bleeding.  Now that's attractive!!  I wanted to look good for the trip to Houston, and all the visiting.  What I looked like was a bloody eyed crazy person!  I couldn't wear any make up the whole week we were there, and my eyelids scabbed right over. 
At this point, on this Monday afternoon, less than 17 hours before we are supposed to be leaving town, I STILL had three loads of laundry to do, and the suit cases had STILL not been taken out of the closet.  I returned home in full blown panic mode, with throbbing eyelids.  Don't worry, I got the laundry finished, and I got us all packed up and ready to go.  We even made it to the airport ahead of schedule! 
The moral of the story is this:  If you insist on primping and preening before you go to see people you haven't seen in a while, do it the week before you leave, not the day before!  Vanity will bite you in the tookus if you procrastinate.

Irritations of Air Travel

I love to fly!  I took my first airline flight when I was 20 years old, and it was a trans Atlantic flight.  I loved it!  I have loved every flight I've ever taken.  Even the bumpy, scary flights are great!  I just love to fly!  I would prefer to fly rather than drive anywhere that's more than a 4 hour drive away.  When Steve worked for Delta Airlines, we would fly to places all the time.  Well, much more frequently than we do now, which is only about once or twice a year, depending on who's willing to kick in for the outrageous prices of the tickets.  I have only been on four flights in my entire life without any children in tow.  What I mean is, I'm very used to flying with children.  We've got the security thing down.  We've got the boarding thing down.  We've got the potty thing down.  The kids and I are well versed in flying together. 
I noticed a few things on the four flights, (two flights to get there, two flights to get back), required for our Houston trip.  These are things that I haven't noticed before.  These are things that have either just started in the past few years, or I've been oblivious to them in the past.  These things are extremely irritating.  The first thing I noticed is that passengers are awful people.  In the movie, Men In Black, Tommy Lee Jones has this line:  "A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it." 
This sentiment can be applied directly to airline passengers as well. One passenger is kind, and has a soul.  The entire plane of passengers has no sense of right or wrong, are selfish to the point of absurdity, and collectively think the rules don't apply to them.  People!  I know that it's ridiculous that the airlines charge you to check your bags.  I know this!  I ALWAYS have two checked bags, and a car seat to check.  I am well aware of the fees.  No, I don't agree with them either, but they are there, and there isn't anything we can do to change it while we are a passenger.  BRINGING SIX OVER SIZED CARRY ONS WILL NOT FIX THE PROBLEM!!!  All that does is piss everyone else off, which is funny because 90% of the people you're pissing off are doing EXACTLY the same thing!  So the first 20 people on board take up all of the carry on space, and everyone else's six over sized carry ons have to be gate checked, after looking up and down the plane several times in the over head compartments to make extra sure there isn't more space hiding in there somewhere.  WAY TO GO!  Let's hold the entire plane up because we are dingo turds and the rules don't apply to us!  So that's the carry on issue.  The kids and I always have carry ons that we can stow under the seat in front of us, so we can get at our stuff while in the air.  Thank goodness the carry on dingo turds haven't started taking up those spaces too. 
It may seem extreme to pick on the carry on dingo turds this much, but this problem runs into other areas too.  Getting on and off the plane is a huge pain in the neck with all of this luggage stowing going on.  Which brings me to the next thing I noticed.  I noticed that it doesn't matter where a person is sitting on the plane when it's time to get off.  They don't go in order.  People from the back are eager to be in the isle, cutting in front of anyone and everyone in front of them, instead of waiting their turn.  This is something I've always noticed, it just seems more irritating now.  I'm telling my kids, "Wait, it's not our turn yet." and the people behind us are jumping past us.  Are you that much more important than we are??  Then, and this puts the icing on the cake, they hold up the line getting their carry ons out of the over head bins at the front of the plane! 
The last thing I'm going to complain about is leaning your seat back.  Unless you are in first class, please don't do this!!  The person behind you has precious little space, and by leaning your seat back just that little bit, you've successfully eaten up a good portion of it.  Do those two inches really make you that much more comfortable?  I mean, come on!
Ok, I'm finish ranting about my fellow passengers.

Houston At Last

We made it to Houston around lunch time on Tuesday, July 24th.  Bleeding eyelids, and irritating air travelers aside, we were very, very happy, and excited to be there!  We had such a great week with everyone we visited with. 
There were two highlights of the week.  The first was going to Johnson Space Center with our dear friends, the Scalia's.  Of all the times we've been to Houston, we've never gone to the Space Center, this was a first!  The kids LOVED it!!  I LOVED it!!  How could you not love it??  I took a LOT of pictures at the Space Center.  Steve has been in love with the idea of space travel, and NASA since 1981 when the first space shuttle was launched.  He was born and raised in Houston, so NASA was always a BIG part of his life.  His grandparents lived a stones throw from the NASA facility in the 50's and 60's.  His dad and uncle were kids when the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo Projects were going on, and the astronauts would drive down their road to get to the training facility, which was at the end of the street.  When the neighborhood kids, Mike and Parks included, were playing ball in the street and the astronauts drove by, they would stop and talk to the kids a little, instead of just driving by when the kids cleared the road.  NASA is a big part of this family!  It was so sad that Steve wasn't with us for this first time the kids went.  That's why I took so many pictures.  I wanted him to be able to see everything we saw.  I have them all posted on flickr,
http://www.flickr.com/photos/animagusthree/,
if anyone is interested in seeing them.  (Click on the word "Collections" next to my big fat face at the top left of the photostream page.  Then click on the "Houston Trip" collection.)  The kids and I agreed that the next time we go to Houston, Steve has to be with us, and we have to go back to JSC! 
The second highlight of the week was visiting with Steve's dad, step mom, and brother with his family.  We had such a great time, and the food was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!!!  I was unaware that my brother in law was such an awesome cook!!  Again, everyone missed having Steve there.  He HAS to come with us next time! 
In between those two highlights, we had a really nice, relaxing time with Steve's aunt and uncle, and even some cousins that had come from Austin.  It was a great trip.  As I said earlier, I have not only the JSC pictures on flickr, but all the pictures we took while we were in Houston. 

Epilogue:  House of Horrors

As great as our trip to Houston was, it was nice to get home.  It was nice, that is, until we walked in the door.  Three things greeted us when we walked in the door. 
1.  The laminate flooring in the kitchen was buckled and warped, as if it had been water damaged.  But it was completely dry.
2.  There was a horrible smell in the pantry.
3.  There was a gash in the pool liner, above the water line, that was about four inches long. 
What in the world happened while we were gone?? 
I was able to figure out what was going on with the smell in the pantry.  A bag of potatoes was rotting, and stinking it all up in there.  I've never had a bag of potatoes rot before.  WOW!  What a horrible smell!! 
It took me another day and a half to figure out what was going on with the floor.  The A/C unit is in a closet near the entry of the kitchen.  It was leaking.  It had been leaking the whole time we were gone, and all the water was going under the flooring.  That's why the laminate tiles were warped and buckled, but completely dry on top.  Thank God we have American Home Shield!  I called them, and they sent a technician out and he fixed the problem.  We had a colossal algae clog that was caused by the pipes there at the unit going up, instead of down.  The technician took the old pipes off and put new ones in, going down, instead of up.  That also took care of the clog problem.  Our land lord is still working on replacing the damaged flooring. 
I still have no idea how the gash in the pool liner happened, but it's gotten exponentially bigger over the last couple of weeks.  The bottom line on that is that we need a new liner, this one is just too old and falling apart.  Our land lord is taking care of that as well.  Have I mentioned that we have the best land lord in the history of land lords??  He's actually a good friend of ours.  He and Steve have worked together for years, both here, and in Atlanta.  He and Steve were over seas together while all of this madness was going on, as a matter of fact.  I told them both that they can't be gone at the same time anymore!  One of them has to be here at all times!  They both agreed. 

Happy Birthday to Me! Or, 39 For The First Time!

Happy Birthday to Me!
Happy Birthday to Me!!
Happy Birthday to Meeeeee!
Happy Birthday to Me!

Ok, so it's two days after my birthday, but I was busy celebrating for two days!  It's true that Steve was over seas on my birthday, and that he's still there now.  It's also true that he's been over seas for my last three birthdays. ( I'm going to start taking that personally if it happens again next year!)  It's true too, that I was feeling very sorry for myself on the days leading up to my birthday, because I was going to be alone, with the exception of my kids.  Even my friends here were going to be out of town for my birthday, so I couldn't even pretend there was anyone around.  I have to give HUGE props to all of my family and friends on facebook here.  Only two of my friends knew I was very sad leading up to this birthday,but I had the most birthday wishes from friends and family ever!  Nearly 50 people wished me a happy birthday!!  WOW!!  I was speechless!  It really did make a difference.  I've cut down a lot on wishing people a happy birthday on facebook, because I didn't think it really mattered.  Well, I can tell you that it does matter!!  I'm going to make a point to wish everyone on my facebook friend list a happy birthday from now on!  See, you never know when you are going to make a difference in someone else's life. 
On my birthday, the kids and I went to the movies.  We saw Ice Age 4: Continental Drift.  The kids and I are huge Ice Age fans.  We've seen the first three movies countless times each.  Even Nathan, who is not yet three, was excited to see this movie!  I can tell you that it was good. I can tell  you that it was funny.  I can tell you that we will buy it when it comes out on video, and watch it over and over and over.  What I can't tell you is whether or not it's the best of the films.  My mom thinks it is.  I'll have to watch it a few more times to know.  I kind of don't think so, but I'm willing to give it the benefit of the doubt.  If you have a chance, go see it.  It's not a waste of money, like most other movies are. 
My plan for my birthday cake was to teach Gabriel how to make it, so I wouldn't have to make my own birthday cake.  That's just sad on a level I don't want to think about.  What actually happened, was that my beloved first born had an acute attack of teenage hormonal brain damage, and wanted no part of learning how to make my cake.  So, I made it myself.  It was A. M. A. Z. I. N. G.  Flourless chocolate cake topped with hot fudge, whipped cream, and Rainier cherries.  Oh yeah!  It didn't look like much, but let me just say that it was the best birthday cake in the entire world!!!

No, my babies didn't sing happy birthday to me, but they did insist I make a wish before blowing the candles out.

I've been asked a few times for the recipe for the flourless chocolate cake under all that whipped cream and hot fudge, so here it is:

Flourless Chocolate Cake

Nonstick butter spray
4 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1 stick cold butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 oz vanilla rum
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup cocoa powder, sifted
3 eggs, beaten
1 jar hot fudge
Whipped cream
cherries

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  Spray an 8-inch square, or round, cake pan with nonstick butter spray and line bottom with parchment.
Put the chocolate, butter, vanilla, and vanilla rum in a large bowl on top of a double boiler.  Stir the mixture frequently until combined and smooth.  Remove the chocolate from heat and put the bowl into an "ice bath" to cool the chocolate. 
Cooks Note:  The "ice bath" is important so the eggs will not cook when added to the chocolate.
Mix in the sugar, and cocoa powder.  Stir in the eggs and pour into the prepared cake pan.  Put the cake pan on a sheet tray and bake for 20-25 minutes.
Remove the cake from the oven and invert onto a rack over a sheet pan lined with parchment paper.  Allow the cake to cool and set for at least 10 minutes.  Pour hot fudge over the cake, then spray as much whipped cream over the hot fudge as desired.  Dot with cherries if desired. 

As you can see, I didn't get it out of the pan.  I didn't have any parchment paper, so I didn't do that step, so it wouldn't come out of the pan right after I took it out of the oven.  It's ok, it still tasted wonderful!! 

Yesterday was part two of my birthday celebration.  We went to the beach!  Yay!!  The beach is my favorite place in the whole world!  I LOVE the beach!  My children love the beach as well.  (what child doesn't love the beach??)  Yesterday, the waves were great for body surfing.  I love playing in the waves!  For some reason, Nathan picked yesterday to decide that he thought the water was terrifying.  Usually he loves to splash in the shallows and dig right there where the waves lap up.  Yesterday he wanted no part of it.  I carried him out, kicking and screaming, to play in the waves with me a couple of times, and he was scared the whole time.  Not only that, but if I left him at the tent, (yes, I have a beach tent because I get sun burned really easily), with Leesie and went out in the waves by myself, I could hear him screaming the whole time!  The last time I took him out with me, he sort of calmed down a little.  He wasn't crazy about being out there, but he wasn't kicking and screaming and choking me with his death grip around my neck like the first two times.  Then it happened.  Out of the depths of the ocean came a giant wave!  This thing was over my head, and there was nothing I could do about it.  Nothing.  It just appeared out of nowhere, and then it was on us.  I lost my footing.  I went tumbling in the surf, head over heals, knickers over elbows.  I didn't want to let go of Nathan.  I didn't want him to get sucked down to the bottom, and/or sucked out to sea further.  I kept thinking, "Don't let go of him, don't let go of him!"  But I did.  I let go of him.  When I finally found my footing and stood up, he was right behind me, just under the surface.  I plucked him out, and he coughed a couple of times, and that was it.  I had ocean water and sand in my sinuses all the way up to my forehead!  I still had water draining out of my sinuses an hour later!  Nathan coughed two times and was fine.  He was crying and wanted to go back to the tent, but he was fine.  You know, if I hadn't let go of him, he would have been much worse.  I can't help but think that it was the hand of God that made me let go of him so he'd be alright. 
We packed up and headed home within an hour of that happening.  I didn't think Nathan would want to go back to the beach ever after that.  I'm not sure if he will ever want to go in the water again.  Probably not with me, that's for sure!  With all of that, do you know what that boy said to me when he woke up this morning?  "I wanna go to the beach!"  LOL!!  I guess getting tumbled by a giant wave didn't phase him any more than anything else that happened at the beach. 

Before all of that, Gabriel and Annalise were playing in the waves, and Nathan and I were at the tent, and I saw a pod of dolphins swim pretty close to where Gabie and Leesie were.  I called them in and asked them if they saw it.  They had.  I gave Gabriel the Optio (waterproof camera) and he went back out to try to get pictures of them.  By the time he had gotten back out there, the pod had moved on.  I went out a few minutes later, when Leesie came up to the tent, and Gabriel took a few pictures of me playing in the waves.  I found something out about him.  He doesn't have enough experience taking pictures to know when to push the shutter release.  Oh well.  He will get better. 

Salt water! 

About to ride the wave

I took a few pictures of Gabriel body surfing.

The end of the wave

Going in again!

All things considered, I had a good birthday.  :-)