vacation

so ted and i have finally decided to take the kids to florida for vacation. we really want to see his brother and family (we haven't seen them in years) and the kids need more time with their grandparents. so, we're spending time in south florida, central florida and then heading over to orlando for family vacation with mickey. ted let the girls in on the plan. now every time we leave the house the girls ask if we're going on vacation. the other day the kids and i were driving in the car and corinne says, "we're coming, mickey, we're coming!!" yeah, they might be a little excited.

20/ something

i should have expected this day with ted's eyesight and mine...first trip to the eye doctor. i was so proud of ella. she was such a trooper and did everything that was asked of her. the doctor and all her assistants kept saying how good she was. she only cried when they put the drops in to dialate her eyes. i think she got a big kick our of telling the doctor the shapes on the mirror.

in the end she will be sportin' some glasses soon. one of her eyes is weaker than the other and has become lazy. we'll have to go back another day to pick out her frames. my guess is we'll come away with some pink ones...just a guess.

monterey weekend pt 3

when we made our hotel reservations we had the option of purchasing aquarium tickets for 2-day entry for the price of one. so sunday we spent our second morning there. it was nice to go at kid's pace and not rush through.

this tank was one of the highlights for the girls. look how bright those fish are! guess who's there?! nemo and dory, of course:)

bohdan, of course, all smiles.

besides major bedtime drama in the evenings it was a great trip!

monterey weekend pt 2

one great feature of the monterey aquarium is the play area. both girls enjoyed running around.

ella loved playing dress-up. especially if she could get some of the older girls to help her with her outfits.

bohdan pretty much enjoyed sucking on his finger. he did get a kick out of looking at the swimmy things in the tanks, but, as usual, he was a happy camper wherever we were.

we also had fun at a nearby park called the "dennis the menace" park that tanya had suggested. the kids LOVED this place. so great for them to run around and enjoy some open space to play.

monterey weekend

we took the kids to monterey for the long weekend. it was kind of like a mini-vacation. we were all pretty excited for a change of pace and scenery.

ella absolutely loved the aquarium, but it took corinne a little to warm up to it.

once she got to see the penguins she was sold and was up for looking at all kinds of fish, octopus and sharks. in fact, as we were peering into one of the large tanks that housed a few large sharks she started growling at the biggest shark as it was swimming by. she looked at me and proudly said, "i roared at the shark, mommy!"

the the end of day one all the kids were exhausted, so we headed back to the hotel after lunch.

awana awards night

a few weeks ago we celebrated awana awards night at santa rosa bible church. ella started cubbies in late november and caught up in her book. she earned her cubby bear for completing her first awana handbook!! she was so pleased with herself.

as we were on stage ella was a bit shy, but once she got back to show daddy, corinne and bohdan she was to the moon!!

after the ceremony we went out with the gaffney's for some ice cream at cold stone. ella and collin were so excited!!

my little lady

we went to monterey this weekend. i just so happened to pack corinne's minnie mouse glasses. she kept asking me to put them on her. so while we were in the car one evening she asked me to put them on her. i helped her with them (as best i could while buckled in the passenger side of the car) and then for some reason i started singing tom jones' "she's a lady". well this caught on and she kept requesting it. then ella said, "i'm a little lady, too". corinne quickly said, "no, ella, you not a lady, i a lady". and that's that!