100 years of Magic

Disney World on Ice was here again this spring and boasting the theme 100 years of Magic. Here Reece is sporting the Nemo hat that sits on top of the $10 cotton candy

The girls apparently didn't get enough of the Disney Magic, b/c the following day they grabbed Halloween costumes from years past and forced their baby giraffe legs into clothes too small for both of them

I brought along the Brownie Troop as a group, but our seats were behind a railing and in the nosebleed section, so after intermission and a quick glance to make sure no one was sitting below us, we crept down about 20 rows

The one truly awesome part was a tribute to the It's a Small World ride at Disney World. They had light up scenery and costumed dolls from around the world

Emma kept bugging my co-leader Shannon and I about how much longer until the show started. So, Shannon gave her the task of continuously talking with no stopping until the performance began. Here is her hamming it up face, while she rattles off some jibberish

Reece and Adeline sat with Dad, they had fantastic seats 2 rows from the ice thanks to the military. Here Adeline is shocked that Monstro the whale's rubber teeth fell out, then Prince Eric fell and finally Simba almost dropped Nala. I must say though that Dory the Blue Fish from Nemo had the worst/best placement of eyes on a costume of the night. Let's just say it looked like Dory's eyes needed a bra

Saturday Sleepover

What kind of sleepover includes getting a chance to walk on a active runway and climb into a real military trainer plane? Awesome, your the best daddy

A glimpse into the future?

The afternoon at Flounder's on the beach, here were the seafood nachos. Ya I know it sounds weird and a little gross, but actually the crab meat was out of this world

Reece doing his best green goblin impression

50 cents well spent, we got at least 5 minutes of quality spying time to peep into all the Gulf Breeze mansions and up close on a sea gull's bum

Western Day at Reece's preschool. Here are the 2 quiet cowboys of the class. Brody and Reece are 2 peas in a pod, they are both reserved, shy, tobacco chewing gunslingers. What a cute pair

A little at a time

This house needed so much in terms of loving care, the yard was of course our first necessity and the annihilation of the wallpaper. But, now 2 summers into living on Oxford Pl, we are starting to expand the improvements. The liner on the pool had a small leak and was 15 years old. So,,, they came, ripped out the green swamp land and we are now awaiting the pretty new liner. This giant cement hole was just too tempting for our skater dude neighbor boy who politely asked if he could shred in our backyard. Go right ahead Levi/Tony Hawk. This gave Reece the courage to grab his scooter and join Levi in our half pipe.

A beautiful Friday afternoon brought us out to the local playground near the water. I tried to be a nice pet owner and take Muffle snuffs with us, but she ended up wrapping herself around my legs and trying to smother all the preschool kids there to death.

So, Reece, Emma and Adeline all jumped on the swings and needed to be propelled by mom power to the highest heights

I thought this one of Emma closing her eyes and feeling the weightlessness was dreamy

Rick put up a new rope swing in our front yard, to the excitement of ALL the cul-de-sac kids. Even the high schoolers who secretly get on after it gets dark like plastic swing vampires. I see them long after I've put mine to bed, out there just spinning on this swing and trying to make one another sick. Go ahead kids, enjoy it while you are young you'll be out in the workforce and the ratrace soon enough

Baskin and Robbins Ice cream always seems to get me on a nice afternoon. Darn you 2 scoop sundae with marshmallow sauce and almond pieces. It never fails, this is what happens EVERY time we go to get ice cream. Reece peruses the sneezeguard displays for the most psychedelic color pattern, chooses this, no matter what it might taste like, then spends the rest of his licking time, asking for tastes off of our cones and trying pitifully to exchange his flavor for one of his sisters. When will he ever learn NOT to pick those flavors?

Our 2 new palmy beauties out front. Slowly but surely we are improving our home and making it into the home we could see ourselves in for the long term.

Just because I lost my tooth doesn't mean I'm growing up

Reece was complaining of tooth pain for about 2 weeks and since his gum was also red, I decided to take him to the dentist. Who he absolutely loves by the way. He would go home with that man, if Dr. Bonin asked him to. So, Stu Bonin, peeks in his mouth, says " oh looky here mom, this little boy has 2 loose tooth, give me some of my ticky tack." Then he puts some pink stuff on Reece's tooth, waits 1 minute and makes Reece pull out his own tooth. The completely violated look on Reece's face was replaced by joy when they gave him a tooth shaped container and let him pick out a sticker. Plus he knew the tooth fairy would be coming now.........

Ok, Mom was soooo NOT ready for her "little guy" to lose a tooth. It means he's growing up and when the child who is supposed to stay itty bitty, sweet, with all hugs and smiles, starts growing up, a mother starts getting nostalgic. Can I turn back time, if only for a short time?

Soooo, just when I think my little boy is growing up right before my eyes, we stop in a consignment store and he picks out Indiana Jone's official hat, a new light sabre, and some crazy brown boots to wear to school for Western Day. Then proceeds to look the part of the crazy person no one wants to get near at the bus station, while at CiCi's Pizza for dinner. At least he got some chuckles and smiles out of some elderly people near us and the entire work force behind the pizza counter. Notice the 2nd light saber attached to his pocket?

I guess 5 years old, still just means 5 years old, even if you start losing teeth. Somehow or other I think the missing tooth makes his smile even more heartwarming.

The day started off fine.......

Reece had his field trip to a helicopter business last week Wednesday. They were treated to a tour to see the helo's, the paint shop, and even got to sit in the Heliworks helicopter. After explaining what his business does, the VP of the company opened it up to the preschoolers to ask their questions. This started a barrage of fiery death scenarios involving "what if" situations. What if the propellers fall off, what if the helicopter catches on fire, what if the windows fall out, what if what if what if? I think I heard him say three different times, "then we would die." When he walked us over to the paint area, the first question out was " What if you run out of paint?" ha ha

This is a collection of Reece's classmates called the Curious Cats

Hanging out on the GIANT airport firetruck

The field trip was to then go to a playground, have a picnic lunch and hang out. That would've been nice, had I not returned to my car and had a completely flat front tire. Long story short, we couldn't find the spare, called a tow truck, had to have the kids take a hotel shuttle to the playground, rode with the tow truck weirdo to the tire shop, found giant nail in my tire, repaired it and went home to place cucumbers on my eyes and forget all about this field trip.

Easter comes with garbage and a moose

Easter Sunday was beautiful in Florida and Daddy hasn't been home for Easter in 3 years. So, we celebrated lunch at McGuire's Irish pub with a garbage burger and Senate Bean soup for 18 cents a bowl. The garbage burger has everything on it from sauerkraut, chili, bacon, liverwurst, blue cheese, and is topped off with a hot fudge sundae on the bun with a little flag on top. Emma split it with us this time and we just dug in with our forks. Gross yummy The kids got their picture taken under the infamous moose. When the Irish ballad singer comes on Thursday nights, he forces unwilling participants who won't sing, to come up on stage and "kiss the Moose" AND if you won't kiss the moose, next to him is a picture of voluptuous nude woman, and you will be forced to "kiss the ass." So better pucker up if your not going to sing. And Yes, that is money hanging from every inch of the restaurant. You write your name on it and staple it up somewhere.

After church Easter morning , don't worry we didn't force our kids to eat garbage the entire Easter day. I did make a honey baked ham, mashed potatoes, green beans and rolls. We had German chocolate cake for dessert.

Spring Break in Ft. Walton Beach

The ice cream bunny cake that hopped over to the condo

Adeline kept saying, take my picture, take my picture

Rick's older sister Cathy and her family drove the 15 hours down from Maryland to stay for 4 days at the beach. A kite festival was going on that weekend as well. Not quite sure what the giant red spiky balls were? I liked the giant green fish best

Bethany our oldest niece kept begging for an airbrushed tattoo, so Emma found tiger paw prints she liked also. They thought it would be cool when they get tan and the tattoo fades to have the spot still there

For the better part of an entire afternoon the girls and Reece collected dead jellyfish that were washing ashore. Some were as big as basketballs and some as little as a nickel. People kept stopping to take pictures and talk to the girls, I think they liked all the attention.

Bethany is now 14, Angela is 12 , Emma is 8 and Reece is 5. Bethany is now taller than me and wears a shoe 2 sizes bigger than me. Everytime I see her, I tell her to stop growing, but I think she's not listening. Now do you see where the baby giraffe legs on Emma come from?

4 years running we have had an Easter Egg hunt with our cousins. Aunt Cathy and I did the hiding and the kids go crazy

The first day there was spent digging a giant hole to flood with water

This is a typical Adeline silly face. She makes this face while coming down the stairs 1st thing in the morning or when she sees Daddy coming home from a trip

This spring break meeting of our families, started 4 years ago. Rick's younger sister Emily lives in Jacksonville, Fl now with her husband and we caravan over to see them, while the Rysaks head down from up north. Last year Rick's Dad even flew down to join us. We all love when Uncle Dave comes with his cast iron skillet, to make us scallops and fresh fish, we don't mind the smoke, cause the food is sooooo good! This is the first year we haven't done the Jacksonville Zoo during break since Kindergarten. Well, giant gorilla who gave Rick the stinkeye, we'll see you next year. But don't think that I won't be out east before summer is over to go to Harry Potter World with Emily like the ginormous dorks we are.