Dee's last night

Well, we have had a great visit with Dee. I really think the kids enjoyed having him here as much as he enjoyed being here. AND.....I am proud to announce, Dee has become a pro at changing diapers. Steph, you can appreciate that..... I was impressed to see that not only were the diapers tightly in place, they were fastened in the right direction!!

We ended the night and trip with a delicious BBQ dinner at The Oaks and we are all completely stuffed. Here are a few pics from the day and videos.

Ty is waving now

Olivia never wants to eat and now lets me know by shaking her head

Mr Maddox, big boy has learned to ride a two wheeler and can even get himself started!

Jaxon did not wish to be filmed today, so we will have to catch him another time!

Haiti

I was coming back to the computer to write a bit about the family, but before I started I began reading a few of the reports from Haiti. Suddenly my daily activities seemed insignificant. That being said, I am so blessed to have my family and my children to do day to day activites while some families have just been torn apart. So instead tonight or today while you read this, stop to say a prayer for the people in Haiti and for the relief workers that are there.

Dee's Here!

Just briefly. Arik's Dad ( a.k.a. Dee ) is in town for a week. I will keep it short as things are pretty busy, but I will update more next week. Here are a few pics fromthe visit so far!

Children's Garden

Last night a friend at work invited the kids and me to go with him and his wife and their little daughter to the Children's Garden in Sarasota. I had never been so I thought it might be fun to try it out. I kept Maddox out of school so that I could see if it was something that he would enjoy too.

The kids and I have tried just about every park in Sarasota and we test out new little "hot spots" all the time, but I had always passed up on the CG b/c I had this image in my mind of what it was ( plants and pathways ) and it never sounded super exciting. Boy was I wrong! I'll tell you what, after today I am definately getting a membership.

So I guess the best word to descibe it ( and actually a word they use, is "whimsical" ) Things that are there, garden decorations and such, look like they are made from recycled materials and metals. The great thing about the place is that there is one "manned" exit , so the kids basically have free run of the property and you don't have to worry about them getting loose.

We walked in along a paved brickway that is called the yellow brick road and then the kids got to pick out a wagon to be pulled in. We opened a wooden gate that led us into a small and low leave covered canopy/walkway. The walkway gradually got lower and led us to an even smaller door that only Jaxon could walk right under. This opened up into the main garden area. Everything is shaded by beautiful canopy trees and plants are everywhere. It truly looks like a secret garden. There are different themed areas of the garden. For instance a pirate ship with a plank than overlooks the "bogg" ( a small pond with coy ), a treehouse with a slide, a maze made from tall wired fencing covered with plants ( It actually had me a little lost at one point! ), Small wooden houses for the kids to play in with rope swings that swung over stacks of hay, a small wodden stage with big stumps for seats and the list goes on!

The moms seemed to post centrally on the giant checker board where you have a decent view in all directions and from that point the kids were off. I sat for a while talking, but to be honest I really wanted to explore with the boys. Since the twins were with me I was a little limited in the spaces I could crawl, but I still got a pretty good tour of the area.

We spent about 2 hours there and if I didn't have the babies, we easily could have spent all afternoon. We still didn' get to see everything. I'll be curious to see if when the weather warms up it overcrowds. Today there was hardly anyone there, which made it quite enjoyable.

Anyways, all 4 kids took about a 2 1/2 hr nap when we got home.....the one time I didn't nap with them! I went this evening and snatched up some good deals on winter wear for them. Apparently the conditions will be right for some flurries this week! It's crazy, I certainly wasn't prepared for this cold of weather.....I know all you Northerners are probably laughing, but it's stinkin' cold for us!!!

Kiss Please

Tonight Olivia gave me kisses! ( I have a witness too:) I was holding Olivia and she was looking at me and I said "Kiss Kiss" and she gave me the sweetest little kiss ...you know how babies do when then have their little mouth open. Then I did it again to make sure that it wasn't a fluke and sure enough she closed her little eyes and leaned forward to kiss me. I think my heart melted a little!

Tomorrow Ty goes to his physical therapy and gets fitted for his new torticullis collar. We just got it in and it looks a bit odd, but the concept behind it seems logical. It is mad of rubber tubing with a rigid support on one side. As I have said before, by the time he is about two it should be almost completely resolved.

Maddox goes back to school tomorrow. It's funny b/c not having to take him and pick him up has kind of been a nice break for me. He had his first sleepover the other night with his cousin Nicholas ( who is 5 ) and did really well. I guess he cried for Arik a tiny bit before bed, but after his Uncle Rob put Spongebob ( cough cough..yuck yuck) on he fell right asleep.

Jaxon is Jaxon and he is doing great. He is transitioning from that baby/two year old phase quickly! into being a big boy. It is so funny b/c I have them doing probably a lot more for themselves than most 2/3 yo olds are expected to, but I think they actually like the extra responsibility.

Anyways, there hasn't been much going on the past couple of days. We rang in the New Year pretty much like every other night. You know, I think it will be a few more years before we get into the festivities of that night:) I watched a movie with my cousin. Arik worked a detail. Nicholas spent the night......pretty basic. But WOW.....I have to say i can't believe it's 2010!

I am going to hit the sack early tonight so until next time:)