We LOVE Winter!!

Okay, not all the time but it has been absolutely beautiful here the past few days!! We took Michael out for his first cross country ski-he did fantastic! John and I were both impressed how he took to it, wasn't scared, didn't get frustrated but just wanted to do it! Skiiers were all smiles seeing him and very encouraging to him. We were able to work with Michael alone because Phoebe is trying out a new preschool to help me while Michael is in post op rehab... Today we went again and this time we took out our favorite shower present from a couple of years ago-the Chariot Carrier. We attached the skiis and away we went with 65 lbs of kiddos! It was a great, fun day and even Michael had to try it. We just love cross-country skiing and being outdoors, I couldn't believe how at 2 the kids still love that thing!

Happy and Blessed in the New Year

Okay, this will probably take me awhile to finish and most likely will be a long post. I have several things to work on plus I am dealing with major jetlag. We just got back from the Philippines on tues Jan 5th and it was an amazing trip, they are 14 hours ahead of our time zone. We went to visit my Dad's new home there and the kids just LOVED it. The new experiences were incredible for them and I must say, it is one of the most gratifying and satisfying feelings to watch your children experience, learn, and enjoy life. Especially when they are 2 and are soaking it all in! I can't say how much travel was so good for them and their development. I have to brag and say they did fantastic, the hardest part about the trip was of course, the plane ride! Adults hate it, can you imagine being 2 and liking it?
I packed them backpacks with lots of their favorite coloring characters, playdoh, dvd players, snacks, mini games like connect 4, and perfection, Thomas the tank engines, Elmo, and they loved their little backpacks and carrying them around! Although, Phoebe almost tipped over and turtled, the bag was so heavy, I regret to say I didn't get pics with them on their backs!
We are glad to be home, although we had a little blizzard here today on the 7th, and we had a major delay on our trip home. Seems like there was some intelligence that led the 747 we were flying home on from Japan to be run through major security checks. They scanned us, patted us down, looked through our wallets, and all our carryons, the kids even got scanned-Michael thought the scanner was so cool and followed directions implicitly! It was so cute but of course I was not allowed to photograph it. It caused us to be 45 minutes late to our first port of entry in Detroit, then customs took forever because the 747 had tons of luggage, so we missed our flight home by an hour. They rebooked us, but we had an unplanned 7 hour layover in Detroit. So we took short snoozes, including the kids and finally got home close to midnight on the 5th!
Anyway, to back track, we had a busy Christmas season trying to fit in celebrations here and battling with illness. After Thanksgiving, we got hit with a croup like virus that wiped us out for weeks and almost caused Michael to be hospitalized. We made a trip to the Urgent Care and the next morning at 5 am John said his son had to go the ER. He was breathing at a rate at 60 breaths per minute. Way, way too fast! Phoebe had the same virus, but didn't get hit as hard, I had the virus, and felt miserable and coughed up parts of my lung during the illness. Anyway, after the treatments of steroids, nebulizers, and an antibiotic for good measure, if Michael hadn't returned to normal breathing he would have been hospitalized. Thank the Lord he did! It took us 2 weeks to get through it and then it was almost Christmas! Yikes.
So we muddled through the Christmas season here, thankful that my kids were young enough not to remember my lame celebration of Christ's birth, missing Christmas Eve service because of a blizzard on top of it! We did have a feast of prime rib and king crab legs for our family celebration on the 22nd!
So we are home now and feeling happy and blessed despite all that is going on in the world. It is a very humbling feeling.
Anyway, I'd love to post more but I think I'll wait and just share photos, I know that's the part people love anyway!










Dad's house
Makiling Volcano from Dad's frontyard
My Mom's Parents
Grandparents houseWorld War II History
Island of Corrigedor

Happy Thanksgiving 2009!!

Yup, it's been awhile. I've discovered blogging just isn't my thing anymore, I'm finding that I like spending more time with my kids more than anything, as well as activities that revolve around my kids, and this is one of those things that takes my energy away from them. I ocassionally hop on and catch up on others, but right now my focus is taking care of my family, and I absolutely LOVE IT and am totally into it!!! Don't worry, I may still continue to write here at times...or maybe NOT!

Anyway, we had a super Thanksgiving at my sister's house. So nice not to have to clean up mine and have a big to do here, not that I don't love that either, it's just it was nice not to do that this year. We got some fantastic news that my sister is expecting no 5 in July, we are so excited!! My babies love babies!! We also had the traditional Thanksgiving feast and our tummies were quite happy:)

I know that it's been a hard Thanksgiving for many. I hope that those that sit and complain about things when they have absolutely nothing to complain about feel ashamed-had to say it. Many do not have jobs, and many have no family. There are many orphans out there waiting for a home, let alone enough food, warmth, and someone to give them affection. There are families waiting to bring home orphans and are at a loss of what to do. I hope that everyone realizes that each of us has a blessing, no matter how small. It absolutely irks me that people complain about the smallest things when they have it all, a house to live in, someone who loves them, enough food on the table that they have to watch their weight! Enough said.

News on the kid front. Michael is having surgery in January for his club foot. Although his foot is pretty straight now, his tendon is tight and is not allowing his foot to walk properly, or flat and not on the side of his foot. If we want him to perform athletically, we have to lengthen his tendon. Our choices were to cast him again and most likely still have to have the tendon lengthening surgery, or do the surgery. Since Michael is quite the active can't sit still boy, we opted for surgery. Not only that, I don't think he would have tolerated the casting this time around...should have seen him at the x-ray! Barely could keep the lead apron on around his privates!
Phoebe is talking a mile a minute, those two like to argue and it is never a quiet ride in the car anymore. I've been busy training, training, training. Anyway, here's what you've been waiting for, the most recent photo ops of M & P! Hope you like them!
Phoebe in time out mode!

Pool Pictures

Okay, here are the kids "swimming!" You'll have to watch the sequence, my kids aren't performers of which I am very glad!!

Potty training and other milestones

Okay, we haven't been really serious about it but since they've started watching the Elmo Potty Time video they are sitting on their potty all the time. Phoebe went pee the first time she sat but she isn't really there yet. Michael is still a little afraid but likes to sit on there buck naked and then pull on his pants after a few minutes without doing anything. I suppose when I get serious about it I'll pull out the potty doll one day and then try giving them food and wather the next day and see what happens. There are so many theories out there but it'll happen when it does. I can hardly wait to be free of the diapers and the time it takes as well as the cost!! I found out that my little boy definitely needs a potty with a guard, he sits down on those without the guard and I see his little pee stick straight up. He definitely knows about his bodily functions and he's told me when he is going, I saw him one day go no 2 in his diaper, sorry for the graphic, but he said Momma, ucky poop!
Both Michael and Phoebe are getting to a really fun age. They are starting to talk to me, Phoebe mostly one word communication, and Michael 2-3 words in a row. I love it that we understand their almost unintelligible words!! They are also getting to the point where I don't have to put them in the stroller but can have them hang on to my hands when we go somewhere. That's a huge time and hassle saver!!It is so bittersweet but it is getting much easier in some ways and much busier than others. I still can't leave them alone as they would get into a ton of trouble or else somehow harm themselves!!
They have also learned how to sing. Their favorite videos are Kids Favorite Songs 2, another Elmo video(he isn't the parents favorite but he sure captures the kids attention and does teach them some things. They actually sing along with them(I love this part-in intelligible vocals) and do the actions they see on the video. It is quite adorable. They also like Toddler Action Songs by Cedarmont kids. I'm relearning all the words to those nonsensical songs but love it! I didn't realize how charming this age is as they are sponges and can actually do things, although they can be quite annoying with their independent streaks and stubborn wills. They have wonderfully different personalities! Michael is very, very sweet and sensitive and Phoebe is one strong little lady who knows what she wants.
A big milestone is their learning how to swim around in the pool in their lifevests!! It is sooo cute and amazing as I am such a poor swimmer and never really learned to swim well. I hope to get a video of them doing it. They love being dunked, playing ring around the rosie in the water, and putting their faces in the water and back floating. I just love watching them learn something new and independent and the look of absolute jubilation on their faces. These are such precious days in our life as a family!! We are so, so blessed!!!
Phoebe had her year follow up at the IAC and at 21 months she is 23 lbs, 31 1/2 inches which puts her in the tenth percentile. The doc said her verbal is absolutely amazing as well as her fine motor and gross motor skills...nothing like the responsibility of being given an incredibly talented and strongwilled child, it is an honor but also a little frightening at the same time. Phoebe's favorite word is NO!!! UGH!!!
I hope to someday post some catch up photos but there are just so many things to do and enjoy in these fast paced changing days. Their schedule consists of the zoo, the pool, the children's museum, reading at the library, and toddler rhyme time at the library!! They would spend most of their days outside biking if they could...all I can say is the summer is absolutely flying by!!

Fun on the 4th!

Here's the belated post, see below as to why this is late, 2 posts in one night!!!
Anyway, we had a low key day as John only had the 4th off sandwiched between workdays and my sister was off in Wisconsin Dells. The kids got up and swam for 2 hours and then took a 2 hour nap. I stayed home and caught up on the infinite laundry pile and took care of the outside plants. We told our landscaper we wanted low maintenance, ha, it's still more maintenance then I wanted. It'll be better in a few years when I don't have to constantly keep my eyes on the kids. They still do not know what will and will not hurt them, they are getting there but are still learning, just like Mom:) Michael got into his first bike accident, our driveway slopes down into the garage and he crashed into the wall, fortunately, he only suffered minor abrasions to his nose and chin, keeping all of his teeth!!
We took the kids to church, then we ate take home cheesecake factory, mmmmm, mmmm, good!! I bought enough sparklers to last until almost their teenage years, and we gave it a shot. My pyrotechnic husband(chemical engineer turned doc) said these are the things that he got injured from the most as a kid, so he was extra careful:) Of course Michael thought that they were big candles. Both he and Phoebe got a big kick out of singing Happy Birthday to America and blowing out the candles!!
The kids went to bed so we actually watched the fireworks from our house. Our little township or maybe a neighbor put on a very nice show-it wasn't choregraphed or timed perfectly but we were in out of the bugs and the humidity:)
Later that night(oh dark thirty as John calls it) we were awakened by the sound of sirens very close to our house. If you know our neighborhood, there's not that many neighbors around so we were rather curious as to what was going on. We couldn't see anything as it was quite humid and the windows to our house had condensation on them. After a few minutes we heard the helicopter. We are quite used to that sound as John was in the military and we are on the path for medevacs to bring traumas to the level one trauma center. This one took us by surprise however as the copter landed on the road right before entering our culdesac. Now most people would probably walk out and go see what is happening...not us...John said he would find out the next day at work what happened, he was exhausted from working the days before and had to get up again early in the morning and even though I was dying to find out I wasn't about to leave my comfy bed for blood and guts and possibly bad news about my neighbor. By the time the copter came it would have had enough trained people to help out whoever needed the help so it wasn't like we were shirking our duties. Turns out it was a unlighted golf cart vs 2 motor vehicles going the opposite direction. 4 sixteen year olds were operating it heading down or up from the lake. No one perished fortunately, but what were they doing on the road where cars are driving around 50 mph with no lights? Their parents were very, very lucky, we were glad all turned out well. Our kids had no clue what was going on, thankfully, I pray they never have to ride in an ambulance or a medevac!





Trying to get Phoebe to pose for a picture, the best I could get:)

Views of Vail

It took me awhile to finish this post. I updated my internet explorer and now on this computer everytime I try to load pics, it won't do it. So I had to find my little key drive to move it to another computer,alss the delay...so we made it home safely after the two, 2 day car rides. I'll have to say the kids did way better than we expected after about 100 rounds of "I'm bringing home a baby bumble bee...", Elmo's Grouchland on DVD, munching on Honeysmacks, and playing with their sound doodle pads along with good 3 hour naps. It was simply a joy to leave the house full of things to do, and enjoy my husband and kids for awhile with no other stresses. We swam twice a day in the 85 degree salt water pool, went on long walks, went to Donovan park-a great playground for the kids, took a Gondola to the top of Vail and hiked around, met our old friends from Alaska who now live in Colorado, went to Vail village and Lionshead. I could do that again soon, it was a really relaxing vacation for all of us. John and I even went on a dinner date as the resort had good childcare-retired folk who lived up there and did it part-time at the resort. It was a joy for them to spend time with our active young ones and they loved it, praising them on their inquisitiveness and bundles of energy. Now it's back to the daily grind but on a refreshed note!! Here are some pics to enjoy of our time there!