Jamaica Baby . . . . . . . .

(I'm channeling Dick Vitale in my post title. It's obviously March Madness.) Anyway, we were able to take a FANTASTIC vacation to Jamaica thanks to Randy's hard work last year. We went to Montego Bay in Jamaica and stayed at an all-inclusive Sandals Resort. We were there for 4 days and it was so much fun. Basically we ate, relaxed on the beach, swam in the pool, ate, relaxed on the beach, swam in the pool, ate . . . . . . wait, I'm beginning to see a pattern here. :) Randy also managed to fit in some beach volleyball and one of the guys he was playing with said to me, "Is this your husband? He's amazing!" I know. :) If only he could have seen MY mad volleyball skills . . . . . . Anyway, luckily for us there was unlimited alcohol available the whole time. Which for us, meant A LOT of virgin strawberry daiquiris and pina coladas. One exciting thing that we found out is that if you ask the bartender for a "Miami Vice" it's those two drinks mixed together. Yep, we were living on the edge. The bartenders would look at us like we were crazy when we asked for non-alcoholic. The sentences, "You want a virgin daiquiri with rum then?" and "we don't serve virgin in Jamaica 'mon!" were said to me numerous times. It was beautiful and gorgeous and so great to spend time with just my hubby. Once Sunday morning rolled around though, I could not WAIT to see my kiddos. I think the grandparents couldn't wait to see us too. :) Thanks Grandma Annie, Papa, and Grandma and Grandpa Cuff! The kids had a blast - even in the middle of the night I'm sure. :)






The view from dinner . . . . .

Snorkeling . . . . . .




Paddle Boat Thingy . . Not as fun as it looks honestly, but makes for a great pic!

Exotic Rendezvous Beach. Clothing Optional. Nobody was nude. We checked.


The view from our room . . . . .

St. George and Some Pics of Our Life . . . . .

We went to St. George a few weeks ago for a softball tournament. We only stayed one night, but we packed the fun in! We went swimming and the kids LOVED it! Ava only almost-drowned once, so I consider it a success. This is the first time Kai had really been swimming and as long as he was in the warm water, he was a happy camper. After a little while, he wanted to crawl all over the place and his bare knees and the hard floor just weren't a good combination so he ended up throwing a small fit. Ever since then, he has gone from small fits to more dramatic ones and I have to admit, it is pretty funny to watch. Ava found a friend at the softball games and could not have been happier. The fact that she didn't get bored really made my day and the fact that Randy's team won the whole tournament really made his day. All in all, it was a successful, short trip.







One day when Kai woke up from his nap, I told Ava to go entertain him until I could get up there. This is what I found when I went up:

Ava is a girl of extremes. She LOVES her little brother and is such a good big sister, but she can also get really, what's the right word, agitated? when Kai isn't playing her games by the rules or ruining something of hers. Times like this make me really happy. Ava was reading to Kai and they were both loving it.

Some days I can only handle so much pretend. Ava could play pretend from morning until night. She has two of a lot of her favorite princesses or characters and she always says to me, "Mom, let's be Belle's" or "Let's be Minnies". It cracks me up. Anyway, on days when we need a distraction, I let her frost something. Anything really. It keeps her entertained and gives me a short break from "being somebody."

Dude Man. I really don't think I need to explain this picture.

I took the kids to Target a while ago and Ava INSISTED on getting this cart. To be honest, Kai is not big enough for it, but I strapped him in anyway because Ava can be very persuasive. Well, Kai thought it was the funniest thing in the world and Ava was so happy that they were both in there. I actually got a lot of looks from people in Target. They may well have been thinking, "That kid is far too young to be in that cart. I just pray it doesn't end up in a trip to the ER." I choose to believe though that they were thinking, "Wow. Those kids are so darn cute and happy. She must be Mother of the Year."

And here is the last, sad picture. Our entire family was so sick for a couple of weeks and it was miserable. I thought this picture showed exactly how we all felt. Poor kid. :(

Happy St. Packwess Day!

That's how Ava says it. :) We had a really fun St. Patricks Day, despite STILL being sick.

We made delicious sugar cookies with lime icing. Ava LOVES to cut out sugar cookies, but that's about the only part.

Showing off one of her beautiful cookies. I have a Wilton set of cookie cutters. There are over 100 designs and they don't have a single St. Patricks Day cutout. I couldn't believe they didn't have a shamrock! That's why we ended up with stars and circles.

Ava and Kai woke up to find out that their doors had been shamrocked by a little leprechaun! Kai could have cared less and Ava kept saying, "Mom, why are there trees on my door?" I am obviously a bad artist and she just didn't quite get it. :)

We had green pancakes and green milk for breakfast. As always, they were a huge hit with Kai. Ava said they "didn't look right", but ate half her plate anyway and she was thrilled with the green milk.



You can't really see it, but she was so happy with her green milk mustache.

I made these St. Patricks Day cupcakes for the Cupcake of the Month Activity. Aren't they cute? They were good too. I should know. I pretty much ate them all.


My little leprechauns at the park. Kai is still under the weather, but he still managed to have a good time. Ava, as always, could practically live at the park.




We got to go to lunch with daddy today also. This morning Ava said to me, "I think we need to go visit Daddy." So we did. :) I told her she needed to pinch daddy because he wasn't wearing green and she said, "But I just don't dare Mom!"

Catch Up . . . . . . .

I was going through my pictures today and found the missing folder! I knew I was missing some:

A few pictures from Valentines Day. These are our pink heart-shaped pancakes.


Ava with her singing card and blanket that Grandma Annie and Papa sent her. I think Randy will be happy if he never hears the song, "Every Girl Can Be A Princess" again!

And here are the missing pictures from Grandma and Grandpa Cuff's visit. I knew we had some pictures of Grandma! We went to the M&M Factory, saw the lions at MGM (do they ever wake up?), watched the water show at the Bellagio, and made a little trip to ESPNZone.








Is he is daddy's boy or what? He is so thrilled with his new bat and ball. Apparently so thrilled that he can't even put it down to sleep.