Disney On Ice-Princess Edition

This girl was very excited for her first ice show experience and I couldn't think of any better way to introduce her to the wonderful world of figure skating than to see Disney Princesses On Ice! 



We had seats high up so that Spencer wouldn't disturb too many people if he got cranky-which, he did-but they were still really good seats!  The show was over 2 hours, including an intermission, so it was a long time for the kids to sit still.  Spencer had to leave the arena a few times from just getting a bit too restless, but we had snacks that kept him busy most of the time.  Avery bopped in her seat and was probably most excited to see Mickey and Minnie who had cameos to introduce the show and conclude it.

I managed to snag some pretty good pictures so here is a sampling of what we got to see!









p.s. Thank you for all of the well wishes with my surgery and recovery.  I have to say I think it has been harder to get better from this than my two c-sections.  If you can avoid nasal surgery, please do.  After 11 days, I was finally able to sort of taste a little bit of my dinner last night.  I can't put into words how frustrating it is to not be able to breathe, smell, or taste for that long.  By this weekend though, almost 2 weeks out from surgery, I am finally getting energy back and starting to get my senses back.  I'm still pretty swollen so I don't know if everything worked but I have my stitches out and finally all of my bandages off.  I really hope it worked because regardless, I will not go through this surgery again if I can help it!  Once my swelling goes down some more I'll get some pictures up:)

Happy 32nd!

Today, it's this guys birthday!



He's kind of liked around here and we hope that he has a wonderful day!

Happy 32nd Birthday, Artie:)!

My Surgery

So, I might have mentioned a few (or more) posts ago that I would be having surgery to fix some issues with my nose.  Well that time finally came yesterday:(  The procedure took about an hour and a half and the recovery was rough.  I cried because I couldn't breathe out of my nose and had a bit of a panic attack-fyi, not good right after surgery!  I joke that this is the closest I'll ever be to a celebrity because I can now understand what they feel like getting all of those nose jobs done, but the procedure is no joke.  I don't know why anyone would really elect to have this done and be this uncomfortable!  I know one thing for sure, I will NOT be having any elective plastic surgery!  My nose is swollen shut and I have drainage constantly running out, plus a headache from all of the pressure.  Not to mention I have stitches and bandaging that isn't super flattering-and no ability to taste!  I am thankful though that everything seemed to go okay and I just hope that what I had done works because I will not be doing this again (well, never say never, but at least right now I'm saying no!).  I feel lame for saying I had a deviated septum because that's what we hear all the stars have in order to get their nose jobs.  But, really, mine was in the shape of an "S" and had caused one of my nostrils to collapse.  Here's a before picture:



This picture is from my first mother's day and as you can see in my nose it was the right side that had collapsed in from the weight of the deviated septum.  I'm really anxious to see what my nose looks like after the bandages come off and the swelling goes down.  I don't go in for my stitches to be removed until next Tuesday so sometime after that I will have an "after" picture for you all.  The goal of this was to help me breathe better, not to fix the appearance of my nose, but my surgeon said he would try to straighten it if he could so I'm really anxious to see if I can tell a difference!  I turn 30 at the end of the month, so it would be nice to have endured all of this and not be so self-conscious of my turned nose, but we shall see!

Luckily, Artie has taken the next week off so I can focus on healing and don't have any accidents while taking care of the kids-they seem to always find a nose to bump.  I did pick a pretty good week for this though.  Since I'm going to be so laid up for at least the rest of this week, I have the Big East tournament to watch and tennis brackets to fill out for the Indian Wells tournament that starts this weekend!  We also have tickets to take the kids to Disney Princesses on Ice this Saturday and Artie's birthday is Sunday!  I won't be able to hide in the house until my bandages come off, that's for sure!

Have a great rest of the week everyone!

Ballerina

After I envied so many of you and others with their little girls in dance classes, it's so nice to be able to finally have Avery in ballet.  She's not yet the most graceful or attentive, but she loves it and I love watching her.

Our Little Ballerina 



Some pictures were taken through the window of the studio where parents watch, but still some glimpses of the dance her class is doing to "Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head" complete with umbrellas.  The blue and pink dresses other girls are wearing are their recital costumes and Avery can't wait to wear hers!  I'm looking forward to hopefully many more years of dance recitals!

First Park Time of 2011

We got our first taste of spring this past weekend.  Thank goodness we were able to get out and see what spring can be like since, as I type this, we are in the middle of another winter weather advisory.  The snow is coming down outside and it seems impossible that we were just out at the park in 50 degree weather only a few days ago.

Avery had a weekend off from tennis due to a tournament being held at the racquet club so we took the kids to play at the Y and Avery way so excited to see that the park they have on their grounds was finally open!

Here's all the fun we had...
 














Spencer is still learning his way around the playground and just recently he has started actually going down slides on his little behind-before he would turn around and go down on his stomach. Well, mommy was more concerned about getting a picture of his first time down the slide on his bottom at a real park (instead of indoor play areas) that I accidentally hit record on my phone and, well, caught this on camera...

Cupcakes and Computer Time

The kids and I made some cupcakes not long ago to use the pink spray frosting we picked up in the Valentine's section at Target (and to use up some red sprinkles left over from Christmas).  Avery is very big into helping with whatever Artie or I are doing, which can be nice:)  Now, Spencer is in the mode where he wants to do anything and everything that his big sister is doing.  So, I pulled up a bench for the kids to reach the counter and they both helped decorate.

 This is what one cupcake (and eventually a few more) looked like after Mr. Spencer started sticking his fingers in the frosting...

 He's showing me the frosting on his fingers and I just couldn't help but laugh a little bit:) Just excuse Spencer's "flash face"!

 Avery's trying to show him the ropes of how to get the perfect sprinkle pattern. Spencer ended up discovering that the frosting on his fingers made a good glue for the sprinkles to stick to his hand (he hasn't quite got down the pinched-finger needed to sprinkle) and he soon got the hang of it...

 Two sweet little hands decorating cupcakes. I love, love, love moments like these with my kids!

 Happy little munchkins after the job was done:) Big smiles while they both say "cheese"!

 I had to show what Spencer did the other night with a much pinker cupcake we had gotten them as a special treat. Let me tell you, it took a lot of bleach to get the pink out of my counter! Spencer headed right to the bath and still had some pink lingering!

My kids have recently discovered the plethora of "educational" games online. I don't know why I had tried to keep them from this as long as possible, but, I did.  That is, until Avery started asking me to get online after being able to understand the advertisements for it after watching Nick Jr., Disney, and even PBS.  So, I have caved and my kids get to have a little bit of game time now on the computer.  I know many of you have kids that do this.  I'm not against the computer games, I think I'm resistant to a) my kids growing up and being able to use a computer and b) the changing times of technology.  It's silly, a bit, but now I'm coming along and the kids are enjoying the fun that playing on the computer brings!

 They even fit in the computer chair together:) I recently got a different computer so now the kids have my old laptop just for their games. Artie even found an external mouse to use with it (that works with macs!) for dirt cheap at Best Buy-Avery has a bit of trouble using a track pad.

Spencer's pointing out where Avery should click here. It's so cute watching them work together:) I've been working with Avery on using the mouse and she's doing a pretty good job. If you can't tell from most pictures, Avery's our little lefty. It's been a bit difficult actually trying to help her with this because everyone else in the house is very right hand dominant. We're trying to really let her embrace it and try to be mindful of it when there are little things-like the difference in using a mouse-that arise. If there's any advice out there on how to nurture a little lefty (I know at least a few regular readers that are left-handed!), I'm all ears:)!  Though, she may end up being right-handed after all, she is only 3!

Hope everyone has a wonderful Valentine's Day celebration! And a special thank you to Megs for the adorable new header on the blog:)

RANDOMS

We survived the big snow storm of the winter.  I can definitely say, though, that I am SICK of snow.  Not only did we get a foot of snow, but we had lots of sleet under and on top of that snow which made it so hard to shovel our very long driveway.  Thankfully, Artie's work was closed yesterday (day after the blizzard) and we were able to work together to clear our driveway-though he lasted longer than me.  A few hours after we finished, wouldn't you know the plow came through our neighborhood and plowed our drive shut, so poor Artie had to go out in the dark and shovel it clear so he could get out to get to work today.  I don't have any pictures of our drive, but I did get one of the dogs in the backyard... 

 Domer isn't that bothered by the snow because he's bigger. Ace, on the other hand, doesn't like it all and waited until Domer made a worn down path before he'd venture out more than 5 inches from the door to go to the bathroom!

Other pictures from the last week:

 Spencer enjoying a chocolate cupcake after dinner one night.  I just love the smile:)

 Finally getting a picture up of Avery at tennis lessons-and it's not even a very good one!  She's the one all the way on the far end of the court in pink-they're working on volleys.  She just started her second session a few weeks ago and has improved so much since starting in November!

 The kids having snack time in a laundry basket.  These two have so much fun with a such a simple household item!!

 Avery used the laundry basket as a comfy spot to relax after ballet class this week!

 While running some errands last weekend, Spencer fell asleep in the car-not unusual for him.  When Artie brought him in the house and put him on the couch, he rolled over and stayed like this, sleeping!

 Thanks to cousin Garrett, the kids have discovered their love for Super Why on PBS.  We had coupons for Toys R Us so while there looking around I found Super Why kits on sale and we got them for just over 4 bucks! Here's Spencer modeling his-each kit came with a wand that says phrases and makes sounds, a cape, and Spencer's came with a mask.

 Avery picked out the pink princess one-of course-and hers came with a crown.

 Trying to get a picture of the two of them...still have trouble with that one:)

Spencer spent a whole day wanting to wear Avery's crown-much to the dislike of Artie. But, I thought it was so cute and Spencer couldn't have been happier! These are the kinds of things that happen when you're a boy with an older sister, just ask my brother-who had two older sisters!

Hope everyone's February is off to a great start (minus the weather!)!!