As I'm stressing about our recent move and trying to scramble to find Avery a preschool that's perfect and a new dance school, doctors, etc. I stop and think about people like the Florida couple in these articles: Sarasota and Bay News 9.
I went to high school with Cory. Eden (also from Fort Wayne) went to Notre Dame and I met her through the scholarship we both received. Eden lost her parents, was raised by her grandparents, worked her way through college prep school to get into Notre Dame and went on to Harvard Law. It's so tough to put these things in perspective. I mean, I often think about what we went through with Spencer and believe we've put in our dues, don't let anything that terrible happen to our little family again. But then I find myself thinking about people like Cory and Eden who have been through a lot in one lifetime (and that's only 30-31 years worth) and then to lose a partner like this so young just makes me wonder what the bigger plan is.
I just thought I'd share their story with you. I can't imagine having to go through this with my one and only and be left to live a long life without him. Please make sure your loved ones always know how much they mean to you!
Monday, July 18, 2011
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Change of Address
Needing a change of scenery-among other reasons-we decided to take a leap and finally move out of Fort Wayne. We are now residing in the wonderful city of Cincinnati. We're crashing with my father-in-law until we get organized and figure out a little more about the lay of the land and decide what school district we want the kids in. So far, we like our new surroundings. It's also nice that the big tennis tournament down here is right around the corner to welcome us-both Artie and I are volunteering as marshals this year. Speaking of tennis, Avery has assimilated well into her new racquet club and the lessons she takes now are a great build on what she has already learned. Since this is a private blog I'll go ahead and post our new address on here for those of you that would like it.
Belschner Family
5038 Lord Alfred Court
Cincinnati, OH 45241
The "Orange Park," as Avery calls it, is literally right across the street from us and it's a very nice place to take the kids-even on hot days since there's water to play in!
Avery's happy her new home has even more flowers to pick than she had in Fort Wayne:)
For some reason there is this squirrel outside the Queen City Racquet Club, where Avery takes her tennis lessons. Every week when we leave, Avery requests to have her picture taken with this tennis playing squirrel!
We're still in the process of finishing our move and logging lots of miles back and forth, but will hopefully be completely finished soon! Wish us luck:)!!
Belschner Family
5038 Lord Alfred Court
Cincinnati, OH 45241
The "Orange Park," as Avery calls it, is literally right across the street from us and it's a very nice place to take the kids-even on hot days since there's water to play in!
Avery's happy her new home has even more flowers to pick than she had in Fort Wayne:)
For some reason there is this squirrel outside the Queen City Racquet Club, where Avery takes her tennis lessons. Every week when we leave, Avery requests to have her picture taken with this tennis playing squirrel!
We're still in the process of finishing our move and logging lots of miles back and forth, but will hopefully be completely finished soon! Wish us luck:)!!
Friday, June 24, 2011
Production 2011
I am interrupting our Florida posts to bring you "Raindrops" Production 2011! I realize I'm way behind on my blogging, but good reasons-explanations coming. But, in the meantime, you all know how extremely excited I was to get Avery involved in dance. Finally, this past weekend we were able to watch our baby girl's stage debut! I had the absolute best time doing her makeup-duh (all that time spent as a MAC artist will pay off!)-and her hair. She looked so grown up and did the most wonderful job when it came to performing the dance she and her ballet class had been working on for so long:)
Proud mommy and daddy!
Brother and sister:)
Beautiful Girl!
Here she is in all of her cuteness!
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Clearwater Beach
We took a break from park hopping on Saturday, May 21st to head over to Clearwater Beach. It's on the gulf coast just outside of Tampa and it's our favorite beach to go to when we're in Orlando. I, of course, still traumatized from my stingray sting last year at this very beach did not venture into the water but we had a great day!
You'd think my kids were born at the beach, they absolutely adore it! Avery cried when we left because she didn't want to go:(
My pretty girl (I could never get a good picture of Spencer)! About 2 seconds in to being at the beach, Avery's suit broke (you can see the supposed halter strap had just broken when I snapped this)! It was the first time she had even worn it. Luckily, I was able to tie it and she made it through the day without any peep shows-phew!
The most fun to be had was looking for shells:) We brought back a whole baggie full of them and I was more than happy with this activity because it allowed me to get my feet wet and be with my family without having to actually be IN the water:)!!
A quick family picture! I wasn't able to get many photos at the beach because my phone kept getting sandy, but we had such a nice relaxing day-it was a great break from the scorching heat inland! Plus, on the way back we stopped at Five Guys for dinner-our first experience. I have always been reluctant to go there, but then I found out they make wonderful grilled cheeses! It was so good, I'm hooked!
One more post about our birthday trip and it's done!
You'd think my kids were born at the beach, they absolutely adore it! Avery cried when we left because she didn't want to go:(
My pretty girl (I could never get a good picture of Spencer)! About 2 seconds in to being at the beach, Avery's suit broke (you can see the supposed halter strap had just broken when I snapped this)! It was the first time she had even worn it. Luckily, I was able to tie it and she made it through the day without any peep shows-phew!
The most fun to be had was looking for shells:) We brought back a whole baggie full of them and I was more than happy with this activity because it allowed me to get my feet wet and be with my family without having to actually be IN the water:)!!
A quick family picture! I wasn't able to get many photos at the beach because my phone kept getting sandy, but we had such a nice relaxing day-it was a great break from the scorching heat inland! Plus, on the way back we stopped at Five Guys for dinner-our first experience. I have always been reluctant to go there, but then I found out they make wonderful grilled cheeses! It was so good, I'm hooked!
One more post about our birthday trip and it's done!
Monday, June 6, 2011
A Magical Birthday
...at Magic Kingdom. We spent Friday, May 20th of our trip at this park celebrating our little man's 2nd birthday. We're pretty hot and sweaty looking in most pictures because we were-it was nearly 100 and not a cloud in the sky!
The Birthday Boy with his celebration button!
First thing we did was head off to meet some characters.
Meeting Buzz Lightyear. Spencer was completely star struck!
He kept pushing Buzz's buttons-I'm assuming that he was trying to play with him like his Buzz toy:)
Woody and Jessie. Spencer was still star struck meeting his "idols" from Toy Story-Avery was pretty darn excited too!
We waited in line for over an hour to meet Ariel-Avery's favorite Disney princess. She was excited in the line and talking to the little girl in front of us about their shared love of all things Ariel and the Little Mermaid. Then, it was Avery's turn to meet her and she turned to Artie and I with a frightened look on her face and asked to leave!! The same thing happened on our trip last year. She was perfectly fine with the characters, but the real people dressed as princesses/princes and such she is for some reason terrified of! So, daddy took her to meet them so she didn't totally miss out.
She got a little brave after Ariel asked so sweetly if Avery would take a picture with her. By the way, Avery was ecstatic after this encounter and thought it was the coolest thing-no mention of her last minute terror!
Prince Eric took a second to come over and chat with Spencer and wish him a happy birthday:)
After having to socialize all morning, Spencer completely crashed out. I don't know how he did it with how hot it was but he slept forever! So, in the meantime we took Avery on a few rides.
Such a sleepy boy-keeping his Mickey stickers close by.
Riding Aladdin's magic carpets. Everything we went on that had something pink, Avery had to ride in it. We weren't assigned this particular carpet, but Artie negotiated with the people in front of us to switch carpets so Avery could have the pink one:)
Tea Cups! Avery loves spinning it:) Spencer did get to ride this once he woke up!!
.
Then, we had a little accident. The kind that is mommy and daddy's fault for playing around. Artie and I were enjoying our one-on-one time with Avery while Spencer napped and after a ride we were swinging her (you know, she's in the middle and Artie and I each have one of her hands). She loves to do this and we've done it before. However, like I mentioned, it was really hot. Artie's hands were sweaty and somehow he and Avery lost their grips on each other. She went flying through the air and landed on her head. The people around us gasped in displeasure of our parenting (though not one of them came to Avery's aid) and the sound of her head hitting the concrete is not something I'll soon forget. Luckily, we knew where first aid was located (remember last year when I had just been stung by a sting ray?? I had to visit that very first aid station to get help for a painful, seeping wound). We rushed her to first aid and she got checked for a concussion-no signs of that, but she had a massive purple egg on her forehead and huge bruises on her knees. After a quick dose of advil and some band aids, the nurse tells us if she's up to it we can continue our day. Phew.
This is what Avery looked like for about 20 minutes while we had to keep ice on her head. Thank goodness we were able to get her to keep it there that long because it helped so much! She was acting like her usual self in no time, especially when she got candy as a reward for being so good at first aid and spotted the Mickey performance at Cinderella's castle!
One quick family photo in front of the castle before heading out for the day. These are such great memories for me (minus cracking my daughter's head on the ground) and I hope one day the kids will look back and be happy that we spent this time as family celebrating our little miracle(s).
Almost there!
The Birthday Boy with his celebration button!
First thing we did was head off to meet some characters.
Meeting Buzz Lightyear. Spencer was completely star struck!
He kept pushing Buzz's buttons-I'm assuming that he was trying to play with him like his Buzz toy:)
Woody and Jessie. Spencer was still star struck meeting his "idols" from Toy Story-Avery was pretty darn excited too!
We waited in line for over an hour to meet Ariel-Avery's favorite Disney princess. She was excited in the line and talking to the little girl in front of us about their shared love of all things Ariel and the Little Mermaid. Then, it was Avery's turn to meet her and she turned to Artie and I with a frightened look on her face and asked to leave!! The same thing happened on our trip last year. She was perfectly fine with the characters, but the real people dressed as princesses/princes and such she is for some reason terrified of! So, daddy took her to meet them so she didn't totally miss out.
She got a little brave after Ariel asked so sweetly if Avery would take a picture with her. By the way, Avery was ecstatic after this encounter and thought it was the coolest thing-no mention of her last minute terror!
Prince Eric took a second to come over and chat with Spencer and wish him a happy birthday:)
After having to socialize all morning, Spencer completely crashed out. I don't know how he did it with how hot it was but he slept forever! So, in the meantime we took Avery on a few rides.
Such a sleepy boy-keeping his Mickey stickers close by.
Riding Aladdin's magic carpets. Everything we went on that had something pink, Avery had to ride in it. We weren't assigned this particular carpet, but Artie negotiated with the people in front of us to switch carpets so Avery could have the pink one:)
Tea Cups! Avery loves spinning it:) Spencer did get to ride this once he woke up!!
.
Then, we had a little accident. The kind that is mommy and daddy's fault for playing around. Artie and I were enjoying our one-on-one time with Avery while Spencer napped and after a ride we were swinging her (you know, she's in the middle and Artie and I each have one of her hands). She loves to do this and we've done it before. However, like I mentioned, it was really hot. Artie's hands were sweaty and somehow he and Avery lost their grips on each other. She went flying through the air and landed on her head. The people around us gasped in displeasure of our parenting (though not one of them came to Avery's aid) and the sound of her head hitting the concrete is not something I'll soon forget. Luckily, we knew where first aid was located (remember last year when I had just been stung by a sting ray?? I had to visit that very first aid station to get help for a painful, seeping wound). We rushed her to first aid and she got checked for a concussion-no signs of that, but she had a massive purple egg on her forehead and huge bruises on her knees. After a quick dose of advil and some band aids, the nurse tells us if she's up to it we can continue our day. Phew.
This is what Avery looked like for about 20 minutes while we had to keep ice on her head. Thank goodness we were able to get her to keep it there that long because it helped so much! She was acting like her usual self in no time, especially when she got candy as a reward for being so good at first aid and spotted the Mickey performance at Cinderella's castle!
One quick family photo in front of the castle before heading out for the day. These are such great memories for me (minus cracking my daughter's head on the ground) and I hope one day the kids will look back and be happy that we spent this time as family celebrating our little miracle(s).
Almost there!
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Animal Kingdom
On the second day of our trip, we headed to Animal Kingdom. Artie and I hadn't been to this park since 2005 when we went with my brother and sister. It's such a relaxing park compared to the other three and we were glad to get back and share all the fun with the kids!
First stop at this park is always the Lion King show. No matter how many times I've seen it (I think this was the third) it is always awesome! I'm sure it's just a taste of what's on Broadway, but it's a pretty amazing show and there isn't a bad seat in the house. The kids sat still for the whole thing and since they're really into the Lion King movie right now, they loved it!
The next several pictures are from our safari. This is probably the next best thing to an actual African safari and Avery is still talking about all of the animals we got to see up close on this adventure!
Rhinos.
Ostrich eggs.
Elephants.
Termite mounds.
Giraffe-it was right next to our truck!
Hippos. Up until a few nights ago I thought these animals were so cute and harmless. Then, I watched a show about them on the Nat Geo Wild channel. Did you know that there are more human deaths per year by hippos than any other animal? I'm fairly frightened of hippos after that show, but when this picture was taken I was still naive!
Grandpa with the kiddos in front of the tree of life. This is a 14-story tree with 325 animals carved into it, it's an amazing piece of artwork.
A view of Expedition Everest. When we were last at the park in 2005, this roller coaster was being built and torturing us because we couldn't go on it. This year Artie and I made the most of being able to ride it and went on it 3 times in a row-very fun!!
My little drummer boy:)
...and girl, of course!
We had a blast at this park. The only thing to watch out for if you're visiting Animal Kingdom is that it has shorter hours than all the other parks. Because of this, it is absolutely jam packed in the morning hours, but relatively clears out in the afternoon. There's also a dinosaur area in this park, but I didn't get any pictures of it:(
If you're still hanging with me, I'm half way there. Three down and three to go of our Spencer Birthday Celebration in Florida!
Saturday, May 28, 2011
The Big Golfball
We left Wednesday, May 18th, and had an early 7am flight. Sounds simple, but we actually drove from Cincinnati to Dayton to take a nonstop flight to Orlando. The nonstop part was nice, but, as always, there is some drama when the Belschners attempt to fly:) Apparently, airports are VERY busy in the early hours of the morning and we literally got through security just as they were making the last boarding call for our flight. We made it to the gate just in time, but the car seats we brought for the kids caused some drama (i.e. at baggage check they said they were airline approved, on the plane they were telling us they weren't). So, we ended up just gate checking them with our strollers-not really a big deal we were just nervous for Spencer to fly without a car seat. He did pretty well, though he kept unbuckling his seat belt!
I don't ever drink, but the heat had me sucking down a berry margarita! It was good and a nice way to end our first day!!
Three more parks and the beach to come!
Relaxing to a movie-what else but Toy Story 2!
Avery chose Toy Story 3-she was absolutely perfect on the plane!
"It's the big golfball!" This is what we heard from a very excited Avery every time she saw the Epcot ball:) Since our flight was so early in the morning, we loaded up our rental van, checked in at our hotel (pics of that to come later) and took off to Epcot for the rest of the day!
Beth, you would have loved all of the beautiful flowers!
We waited patiently to meet some characters-snacks helped keep the kids occupied in long lines:)
Gotta start with Mickey!
Pluto:)
Big hugs for Minnie!
Donald-the whole Mickey Mouse Clubhouse gang was here (except Daisy).
Goofy. Spencer was like this most of the time meeting characters. He was in complete awe and it was so cute. He would blow them all kisses, he was very star struck:)
I was disappointed that we missed the topiary festival they had by only 1 week:( But, luckily, they still had some spread throughout the park so here are the few we were able to see.
Grandpa and Avery in front of Minnie, Mickey, and Pluto!
Lighting McQueen and Mater.
Tigger.
Rafiki and Simba.
Pumba.
Timon.
Towards the later part of the day we had one princess getting a bit cranky. Honestly, we all were really. We were tired from being up early, going all day, and trying to adjust to the heat! But, I think this face is precious. She was actually pouting because she wanted ice cream really badly and we weren't finding any for her fast enough!
I don't ever drink, but the heat had me sucking down a berry margarita! It was good and a nice way to end our first day!!
Three more parks and the beach to come!
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