Green Eggs and Ham

Who says that Green Eggs and Ham were just made up by Dr. Seuss? I have some news for that Sam I am, Sydney found the green eggs, now to just find the ham!

Palm Springs Children's Discovery Museum

We decided to check out Palm Spring's Children's Discovery Museum, since it was kinda rainy out. I know, rain and Palm Springs, it's odd. The girls were extremely excited to go and to see each other a second day. Only issue was that every other family in Palm Springs had the same idea to head to the museum as well with the rain.

Heading into the Museum



Syd decided she'd try and solve the rope maze. Let's just say, this maze has yet to be solved.



Next we decided to climb the rope pulley. This thing was HARD to pull! I'm not sure how kids do it alone.



Syd and Savannah



There's nothing Syd loves more than an Art station!



Holy smokes, I'm in a photo! Thanks to Neil of course. The two of us always happen to be BEHIND the camera. So not often are we in a shot...unless one of us is around the other one :) My pretty face



Kinda cool and kinda gross. They had a Volkswagen Bug in the museum for the kids to paint.



Taking her car painting very seriously.



Made a quick little stop at the grocery store for Syd to buy a bunch of items she'll never eat.



It was so cute they had money for the kids to buy their groceries with.



Next stop was a trip to the Vet. Dr. Syd



She takes her job very seriously. She completely cured this dog of his ear infection.



The story of our marriage. We laugh...



...and we laugh more



Fun day at the Children's Museum :)

Palm Springs Ahead

After checking in on my dad several days in a row, Chris returned from a work trip and we hopped into the car and drove off to Palm Springs for a quick weekend. We dropped our things off with Poppie and made a quick sandwich before heading over to the Husvar's. 3 year old mustard and too many month's old mayonnaise (I wouldn't allow Chris to tell me the expiration date) later, we had our lunches. I left with a stomach ache and Chris dodged his bullet by getting a new piece of bread since he noticed the mustard was brown and not it's usual vibrant yellow. Mayo, unfortunately isn't easy to tell when mixed in tuna. Aaaah the glorious moments of having a vacation home when you don't check expiration dates as often as ya should.

Anywhoo, we headed over to the Husvar's to see Neil, Sarah and Savannah after visiting Poppie for a while. Sydney was literally screaming all the way over to her house, she was sooo excited to see all of them. After lots of hugs and squeals, we decided we'd bust out the Kinect. Oh. My. Gosh. Was. It. Fun!! This is wii on steroids. No controllers needed, but prepare to break a sweat (and pull a few muscles). They had bought Kinectimals for the girls and Syd was able to adopt her own black panther named "rainbow", shocking, right? Sarah and I competed in volleyball, track and field and soccer. I nearly gave myself a heart attack trying to prove that a girl 10 years younger can't kick my ass. The guys played some serious table tennis....all night! We ended with a few rounds of bowling, where ironically was better than me. We always have to much fun, we just need to move next door to each other. Until then...I just purchased our own Kinect to play with them virtually. Look out Sarah!

Syd and Savannah playing catch with Rainbow, the black panther



Best Friends



Sarah reading a story to the girls



Mean game of table tennis. Let's just say he and I were a weee bit sore the next few days. Chris gave it his all.



Love "sit on my lap Mannah"

February 22, 2011

A day that will never be forgotten, February 22, 2011. My dad was recently diagnose with prostate cancer. A very scary moment for our family and yet another moment where I'll stand back and admire my father even more than I already did. He's a man like no other and I'm so extremely proud that he's my dad. His optimism, fighting nature, and ability to surprise everyone is truly amazing. The news was completely shocking, but he chose to remove his prostate to never have to deal with this ordeal again. It was an absolutely brave decision that he made without even a blink of his eyes. He headed into surgery joking around and his usual self. Sydney made me run to the hospital before surgery so that she could give the doctor her "magical scissors" which she said would make it so that Papa wouldn't be in any pain. We got to the hospital and she handed these pretend scissors to Papa and instructed him to give them to the doctor. She reassured him that if he used them that he wouldn't have any pain whatsoever. After my dad got out of surgery, the doctor came out to speak with us in the waiting room. First thing he did was to lean down to Syd and thank her for the magical scissors and said they worked perfectly and her Papa was doing great because of her. She had told him he could keep them to use on other people too if he wanted. So proud of her.

Dad recovered in the hospital and returned home the next day. Every day he grows stronger and is able to do more. I can't even begin to say how proud I am of him. He laughs, jokes and even hops up to get Syd another glass of water when we come over for dinner. He's an inspiration to me and I wish to be even half the person he is one day. Papa, we love you, we're so proud of you and we're so glad to have you around for another 60 years :)

The gang in the waiting room during dad's surgery.

After Dad's surgery on the 22nd, Syd and I had to leave after checking on him since they frown upon kids under 10 being in the hospital. We headed off to my doctor appointment together on the other side of town. We sit down in the doctor's office and about 2 minutes into me sitting there, he asks me if I've ever heard of Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome. I hadn't of course, but I do now! For years I've been search for answers to so many issues I've been dealing with. Whether it be breakouts, fatigue, infertility, miscarriages, etc. I knew I had something wacky with my hormones prior to Syd, but my doc at the time simply said "Clomid will level them out and you'll get pregnant just fine." Not a single word more on the topic. I wish now I had pushed for more information, but since I had Syd without any issues, I didn't think twice. Now I know that PCOS causes all of these issues and it's the answer to everything else I've questioned. It's an inflammatory disease which causes a resistance to insulin in my body. Long story short is that I have to watch my diet, 25 grams of sugar a day, balanced meals at every meal. Low carbohydrates and whole wheats/grains when I do have them (which can't be often), no processed foods and no inflammatory foods (I'll miss you bacon!). Regular exercise (daily) and taking diabetic medication. If I don't do these things, I run a high risk of developing Type 2 Diabetes, suffering a heart attack and/or developing cancer of any type somewhere in my body. So...look who's about to be in some amazing shape!

Sleepover with Seamus

We were able to steal Sea away from Jay and Betsy for a night and let them have a night out. The kids had so much fun, Lala and Papa came over for dinner and then the kids played in the toy room before we got them into their jams, brushed teeth and stories. Syd insisted that she sleep in the SAME bed as Seamus. Poor Sea, he was such a good sport and said it was ok. Luckily for him, it didn't last long since she snuck to our room around midnight or so.

The little Indians playing in the teepee.



Chris reading the kids a few stories before lights were out! Seamus is such a great kid, especially with eating and sleeping. I keep hoping he'll rub off on Syd, but according to my dad her awful sleeping and eating habit are simply payback for what I did to them as a kid. Apparently she's my mini-me. Clearly that can't be right :)

Streaker

Syd's pretty known for running around the house in the buff. It's hysterical because you know it's coming when you hear the slapping of her feet on the tile floor at a crazy fast pace. It's usually when she's expected in the shower and waiting for us to call her name. I happen to document her latest streaking, thankfully her birthday suit was hidden under a blanket versus her booty dance where she sticks her butt in your face with an exaggerated hip move.

Valentine's Day!!

I love Valentine's Day. Not sure why, but it's fun! Syd would get so excited every time we'd run to the store she'd see these heart banners and wreaths and tell me that I needed to decorate the entire house with hearts for Valentine's Day and then use them again on her birthday. Needless to say, she got super into it this year too. She wanted to pick out the valentine's to bring to her school this year, of course they were Disney Princess valentine's with stickers of all the princesses.

Her Princess Valentine's and the matchbox Valentine's I made, decorated and stuffed with goodies.



Syd's presents and Chris's card and chocolates before they attacked them :)



I came into the room and told her she had present to open. This is the look I got in return.



Eeeek! I think she likes them.



She couldn't get through them fast enough. Absolutely adored them and had even more fun at school where she got more valentine's from them and the neighborhood kids. Right after this pic, there was a serious game of badminton.

Teddy Visits {with his iPhone}

Chris was pretty excited to have one of his buddies from home, Teddy, come out to visit for a weekend. It was way too short of a trip, but hoping we might've enticed him to come back out again soon. The boys packed in more golf than their bodies could handle. I heard lots of groaning and moaning about muscles, but they still had fun. Syd was a huge fan of Teddy, who she regularly referred to as "Toady" not sure where she got that one from, but it seemed to stick all weekend. We made use of my parents hot tub for the two old boys to soak in after their long golf outings, Syd insisted on joining them.

Chris decided to bust out the wii to play a little bowling and such. Syd wanted a turn and quickly got the hang of it.



Quick group shot. Right after this, Teddy decided to show Syd his iPhone, which changed her life forever after that moment. She was absolutely smitten with it.



Teddy taking his turn bowling....while Syd plays on the iPhone.



A little hot tub time at sunset



Gotta love AZ sunsets



the group chillaxin in the hot tub.

Syd's New Haircut

This was hard. I've been waiting for Syd's hair to grow to this length for quite some time. Sadly, when it did get this length, it just looked stringy. I'd blow it dry and 10 minutes later it would look like I didn't even brush it. Luckily a girl at school, Angel, recently got her hair cut to her shoulders and Sydney loved it! Every day she asked if I would cut her hair like Angel's. So, I reluctantly made the appointment. Syd insisted that she wear a dress and her fancy shoes, even though it was 82 degrees out. I love how she told Cindy to cut it "like Angel's" so cute. She was so excited, she'd randomly start giggling in the chair. When she saw it done, she was going bananas, smiling, giggling. We walked out of the salon and she started twirling and skipping. I think she likes it :)

Her "Before" pictures as we got in the car to head to the salon



Syd asking Cindy if she could cut her hair like Angel



No turning back now!



Look at all her hair!!!



Eeeeeek! It's so short!!



She LOVES it!



She actually passed out in the car on the way home. I think it was so exciting that it zapped all her gusto. She woke up just fine to take her "After" pictures though.