Daily at the Hills'

Long Time No Talk....

2009-05-06T07:28:00.000-07:00

Well, it has been almost 5 months since I last blogged. Wow, how did that happen!?! I guess we got busy, busy, busy....but, now I am on bed rest so I guess I have some time.

Anyway, here are some highlights from that past couple of months:

In December, we traveled to Virginia to visit Brian's family. We were hoping to see snow, but it didn't happen :( Well, I take that back, we saw flurries. Not much but enough for Savannah to try and catch flakes on her tongue.

January we celebrated Brian's birthday. Happy Birthday Brian! Also, we (OK, Brian, my dad, my mom, my brother Guy and a friend, Will) tore out the carpet in Savannah and the nursery and laid down laminate flooring. They did a wonderful job!

February brought Savannah's 5th birthday! I cannot believe how big she is getting. She is so excited about becoming a big sister. She now has a "big sister" bed and new furniture in her room. She loves her "princess bed". A group of my friends from our old playgroup hosted a joint shower for myself and another friend. It was nice to get out with the girls!

We did a lot of running around in March, but nothing too noteworthy :)

In April my mom gave me a baby shower! Many friends and family came from all over to help celebrate the upcoming event! My WOW friends from church also had a shower for me. How blessed I am to have do many good friends and a wonderful family! Savannah also got to take part in a "Becoming a Big Sister" class. She loved learning how to hold, feed, burp and diaper a baby. She also got to make a gift for Taylor. We went with friends to an Easter Egg hunt at UCF. Savannah enjoyed running around finding as many eggs as possible. Brian played a total of 5 services the weekend of Easter! He was beat, but he enjoyed it. We celebrated Easter at my parents where Savannah got to enjoy another Easter egg hunt. The bunny was good to her and she has been enjoying her craft projects and toys ever since. Oh, and Savannah is officially registered for Kindergarten! Can you believe it is already time for my little baby girl to start Elementary school!?! Although, she is VERY ready!

So now we are at May. At my appointment on Monday my blood pressure was high for the first time which lead to my doctor sending me to the hospital. After over four hours of sitting around, having my BP taken, blood drawn, and baby monitored, they sent me home with orders to sit, sit, sit. Bed rest, or more like house arrest. I can get up and move around for food, shower and bathroom but have to be sitting at all other times. No lifting, cooking, cleaning...nothing. So, here I sit until Taylor makes her entrance. I am predicting sometime next week. My dad thinks this upcoming weekend. And my friends are picking dates on Facebook :) Anywhere between the 12 and the 20. Oh, I should mention that all the tests they ran came back completely normal but they still feel I should slow down. So, hope all is well with you and look for updates on when Taylor is born!

Baby Girl

2008-12-27T19:42:00.001-08:00

Here she is, our new baby girl:

Hello Taylor Jane! She is on track to be born May 18. Savannah is thrilled. She loved getting to go see the ultrasound and can't wait to meet her baby sister. By the way, that is just what she ordered :)

It's Official

2008-12-24T20:20:00.000-08:00

We got a special early Christmas gift today. Brian, Savannah and I all got to head down and see the baby! (My ultrasound was today) After a lot of jostling around they were able to tell us that we are having a girl. Savannah is thrilled! She wanted a sister and cannot wait to meet her. They had me do a level 2 ultrasound because I declined the genetic testing. Also, my original scheduled ultrasound date was too late and they didn't think they could get me in at the office for an ultrasound this week (due to the short week) so we got to go to Winnie Palmer for the ultrasound (where the baby will be delivered). Everything looked good with the baby, healthy and growing. She is 11 ounces (not sure if that is the norm or not). And, might I add, already sitting on my bladder! The ultrasound tech made a point to say that the baby is sitting really low (which explains why I have to go to the bathroom sooooooooooo much more this time around). Anyway, it was a nice present to get to find out what the baby was! Merry Christmas everyone!

Trip to Disney

2008-12-12T20:12:00.001-08:00

Brian and I decided to take Savannah to Disney this past weekend. This is only the second time she has actually been to the park. Thanks to our friends we were able to get tickets at a pretty reasonable price so off we went. We did not tell her where we were going. Just got her ready and headed off. She was funny! We past Sea World (which she knows well) and said, "oh, we are passing Sea World". Then we pull onto Disney property and she says "oh, we are going to pass Disney too". Now, she hasn't been enough to know that when you go through those arches with the Disney characters that means you are entering their property, not passing by it :) So, at this point we told her where we were going. She was actually speechless for a second or two! It was really quite amazing :) Needless to say she was thrilled. She had a wonderful day up until dark, at which point she decided it was time to go because there were going to be fireworks, mind you, it gets dark at around 6:00 and the fireworks were not until 9:00! No concept of time, though, so that did not help. Her favorite ride was the Aladdin Magic Carpet ride. She really enjoyed that! She also went on Pirates of the Caribbean and the Haunted Mansion. Not sure she loved those, though :) Of course, we sucked up about 4 hours in Fantasy Land. It's a Small world, Snow White, Peter Pan, Winnie the Pooh, Cinderella's Carousel, meeting Ariel (for the first time!) were all fun but the lines are definitely the longest in this area. And full of tired kids (and parents). After all of this, we went to meet the princesses because it was dark at this time and the princesses were inside (which meant no fireworks). We did not get to do this the last time we were at the park because the wait was an hour and a half. We ate lunch at the Crystal Palace where we got to eat with Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, Piglet and Eeyore. It was a wonderful day!

EA Kids Christmas Party

2008-12-11T08:46:00.001-08:00

One of the new benefits of Brian moving to EA is that he is finally working for a company that is actually family friendly instead of just claiming to be. Last Friday Savannah and I got to visit Brian's job for a Christmas party they put on for the kids of the employees. There was cookie decorating, a visit with Santa, a gift from Santa, goodies to eat and it was even "snowing" out back.

After the festivities, we were able to go up to Brian's office and meet some of his co-workers. We got a tour around the building and Savannah got to see her "crush" Mr. Doug. Brian and Doug worked together at Highwinds and Savannah took an instant liking to him. So she is thrilled to able to see him again now that Brian and Doug are working together again. Savannah also enjoyed the arcade that EA has for their employees. She tried her hand at Ms. Pac-Man and enjoyed "driving" race cars in the Nascar game. She had a great time and I enjoyed getting to meet some of Brian's new co-workers and seeing his new office.

Happy Thanksgiving

2008-11-28T18:14:00.000-08:00

Well, another Thanksgiving has come and gone. Savannah asked today when the next Thanksgiving was going to be. She was disappointed to hear it was not going to be next week :) We enjoyed the day at my Brother's house with his family and my parents, Aunt and Uncle and Grandma. We had TONS of food (I think Brian calculated 42 pounds of meat, that is insane!) and a wonderful day. The day was actually a little chilly which was a nice change to most Thanksgivings we have had down here. Actually, most of November has been in the 60s as a high which I have really enjoyed. I did not take any pictures on Thanksgiving day so nothing to share :( But, I do have an interesting picture of what happens when I leave Brian alone with my laptop :) Actually, he was replacing the mouse which is a bit more detailed than doing so on a desktop computer. Thankfully everything went back together without any extra parts and even booted up the first time!

I did end up going out shopping today. My mom and I ended up heading out around 9 and got home around 2. I was able to finish up a couple of people and get a good start on Brian. Once I got home we went out and got a tree! Savannah was very excited. We like to buy our from a local nursery who gives you a coupon to get a free tree to plant. I am a little sad because we are discussing possibly getting a fake tree after Christmas this year. It just doesn't seem like Christmas without a real tree. I also do not particularly like the look of a fake tree but the prices are getting a little ridiculous. Also, I am pretty sure that they are really bothering Savannah and I with all of our allergies. Even Brian seems to have a hard time with it. So, we are discussing the idea of a fake tree. We'll see how it goes. After dinner we decorated the tree. We seem to have a new tradition of watching The Polar Express while decorating. It helps keep Savannah distracted when we are doing the not so fun parts like putting the lights on. As we go through the ornaments, she gets to hang up all of the non-breakable ones. So, the bottom half of the tree is full of the soft or metal ornaments we have and all the glass one are on the top :) It works out well, too, because the heavier ones end up at the top where the branches are stronger. Anyway, I hope everyone enjoyed Thanksgiving and Black Friday, if you participated.

Thanksgiving Program

2008-11-21T18:54:00.000-08:00

Tonight was Savannah's Thanksgiving program at her preschool. She did such a good job! She got to dress up as a pilgrim. They looked very cute :) Each group got to sing two songs and then all of the 4 year old classes sang three songs together. It is amazing how much more they can do this year compared to last years Noah's Ark program. Apparently she was telling her teacher in school today that she didn't want to go up on the stage tonight. I was surprised because she has not mentioned anything to us and has been performing all the songs for us all week. Well, I am glad to say that she did go up on stage and did a wonderful job. The highlight for her was the her daddy played the piano for the program. Here are some pictures from the evening:

Thanksgiving Feast

2008-11-21T18:38:00.001-08:00

On Thursday Savannah's class hosted a Thanksgiving Feast. Boy did we have fun! There was a lot of yummy food for us all to enjoy and then the children performed some music using the drums that they made at home to take in to school. Savannah loved getting to make the drum so I was glad that she was using it in class :) They made cranberry relish as a little gift for each parent and pine cone turkeys we can use as centerpieces. I can't wait to try the relish on Thanksgiving!

Halloween

2008-11-21T18:21:00.000-08:00

I have been meaning to get on here and post some pictures from the actual night of Halloween. It seems that time just runs away from you sometimes :) Savannah had a lot of fun trick-or-treating this year. She had two of her good friends come along, which made it super fun :) She was able to venture out a little bit further this year but did not make it too much further. We all had a wonderful time!

Every year I look forward to cutting out the Jack-o-lanterns. Savannah enjoys scooping out the insides but she gets bored with the cutting part pretty fast. This year I almost bit off more than I could chew! It was touch and go there for a while, but I was able to get them done. Here are my masterpieces:

Savannah's Grammy and Papa gave her this fishing game for Halloween. Boy does she love it! It was an instant hit :) Of course, her friend has the game and loves to play it every time she goes to her house. So, I was pretty sure it would be a hit to have her own at home :) Thanks Grammy and Papa!

Please Pray

2008-11-13T04:30:00.000-08:00

As we heading into this week we felt that things were finally settling down. Brian's work situation was finally resolved (he can't wait to start his new job), the baby news had finally been announced and Savannah was finally sleeping in again after that awful "fall back". Well, Tuesday night we get a call from Brian's sister saying that his father had been taken to the hospital. It appears he had passed out at church and they took him to the hospital where they were having a hard time stabilizing his heart rate. They eventually emitted him into the ICU and put an external heart monitor on him. On Wednesday, the cardiologist ran more tests and the decided that they believe he was suffering from something called "heart block". I had no idea what this was so I hit the internet and discovered that it means the "top part" of the heart does not talk correctly with the "bottom half" of the heart. So, they do not beat together causing skipped beats. This leads to dizziness, hence the passing out. After doing a heart cath, they determine there was not really any evidence of anything else wrong with the heart so they are now going to be implanting a pace maker in his heart to help everything beat together again. We pray that this is the answer and that everything goes smoothly today. It so, he will get to go home tomorrow.

Now, this was particularly scary because his father died from a heart attack at around the same age as Brian's father is now. Now knowing that this may be a hereditary complication, I am urging Brian to go get a physical and to inform his doctor of the possibility as soon as the insurance changes over with his new job. So, keep Brian and his family in your prayers as the continue to deal with this scary situation. It has been difficult for Brian to be far away from his dad this week. I pray we are able to see them all soon and that everything goes well today.

Big News!...Cont.

2008-11-08T18:47:00.000-08:00

Those of you who got on here early enough on Thursday might realize that my prior post included two different "big news" items. You might have been confused it you came back later to see one of them was gone. For those who didn't see the original post, there was also an announcement that Brian would be taking a new job. Well, he went to work on Thursday and his current company countered his offer at the new job so he felt he needed to take time to consider what to do. So, after a lot of talking, praying, and a definite answer from God, I can now announce that Brian is in fact going to be moving to a new company. He will now be working at EA Sports programming video games. I know, if sounds like a total bore for him :) He is definitely looking forward to this new turn in his career. We both feel that it is a needed change and that it is the definite path he should be following. His first day will be November 24th. Wish him luck!

Big News!

2008-11-06T04:02:00.000-08:00

We have been off the internet for a while. It seems someone felt they needed to unplug out internet connection. Not very neighborly of them :)

So, for the big news, we are expecting our second child! Savannah will have a new baby brother or baby sister come May. (May 18, to be exact, which just happens to be a good friends birthday). Savannah is over the moon and is telling everyone she can that "mommy has a baby in her tummy". The family is all very excited. This will be grandchild #7 for my parents and grandchild #3 for Brian's parents. We should find out the first week in January whether we are having a boy or a girl. We cannot wait! My new doctor is much calmer than my last, which is helping me be as well, and she will allow Savannah to come in for the ultrasound. I am excited that she will get to experience this with us!

So, as we approach Thanksgiving we definitely have a lot to be thankful for in the Hill household :)

Pumpkin Patch Day

2008-11-01T06:56:00.001-07:00

On Thursday Savannah had he Pumpkin Patch Day at preschool. They went on a hayride, played pin the nose on the pumpkin, traveled through a tunnel for candy, played Hot Pumpkin, and picked a pumpkin for the classroom. Everyone seemed to have a wonderful time! I enjoyed getting to be a part of it with Savannah this year!

Fun at the Zoo

2008-11-01T06:11:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we decided to take Savannah up to the zoo to go trick-or-treating. This is only the second time she has been to the zoo, the first being quite a long time ago. She really enjoyed it but is not ready to go to a large zoo yet. Her favorite part was the petting area because she got to interact with the animals. Grammy and Papa came with us! The weather was beautiful!

Entrance to the zoo.

Savannah got to pet a snake!

Savannah and Daddy playing around.

Grammy, Papa, daddy and Savannah went on a hayride.

Savannah is pretending to be an elephant.

Savannah pretending to be a leopard.

Savannah feeding a goat.

Savannah and Papa going on a train ride.

Bouncy house fun!

Me and mom waiting for the Carousel to be done.

Run on the carousel!

Savannah feeding the mommy cow.

Pumpkin Time!

2008-10-21T16:01:00.000-07:00

Now that it is finally starting to feel a little like fall (at least fall in Florida) we decided to head out and pick up a pumpkin! Savannah loves to go to the pumpkin patch. She runs all around trying to pick up all of the pumpkins. The big attraction this year would have to be the white pumpkins. She loved them! There was a pumpkin tossing game and little pumpkins everywhere. She really enjoyed it. She also got to pull out and wear Meme's sweater that she made for Savannah. Savannah was so excited! She has wanted to wear this sweater/jacket since Meme gave it to her but it is just now getting cool enough to wear it. It looks like a water and has little watermelon buttons. Savannah was thrilled when she finally figured out how to do the buttons on her own (they are shaped different than normal buttons). Thank you Meme for the sweater!

Picture Walk

2008-10-18T18:39:00.001-07:00

Well, it has been quite a while since I posted much so I am going to go with a picture walk through our last month. Here goes:

We took Savannah to see Sesame Street Live again this year. It was a new show though! She loved seeing Elmo. It was a good time for all! (Ok, Savannah may have enjoyed it more :) )

We took Savannah to Sea World to go Trick or Treating with our former small group. She is dressed up as Jessie from Toy Story 2. She had a wonderful time! So much so that we are taking her again this weekend with another friend!Here she is enjoying her favorite ride and getting snugly with a penguin.

My Dad and Brian tinted the windows in Savannah's room, the guest room and the toy room. We are hoping this will cut down on the heat on that side of the house.

Transportation Day Parade was a lot of fun. Savannah got to sit on a Police motorcycle (which she was all gung-ho about until she heard the siren), sit in the back of a Police car (hope that is the only time I have to see that!), stick her head out of the top of some kind of mountain rescue truck (in FL?), and "drive" a Model T.

Finally, Savannah took her first official field trip this past week. We walked down to the fire station. It was a lot of fun! I am enjoying being able to do the special activities with her this year since I am not teaching! Have a wonderful Halloween, if I do not get on here before then.

Interesting Article

2008-10-04T19:41:00.001-07:00

Here is an article I found interesting:

http//www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,432724,00.html

I found the link on a blog I visit. I have never been a huge advocate of buying organic food. This article addresses many of the reasons I feel this way. What do you all think?

Welcome Meme and Grandpa

2008-09-13T07:51:00.000-07:00

This weekend we finally felt it was ok to pick up some new fish. So, Saturday before the UCF game, we headed down to Waterford lakes to pick them up. We picked up a new picastumus to help clean up the tank and two little sharks. Unfortunately one of the sharks died :( Thankfully we do use a separate tank before moving them into our main tank in case of this very thing. You never know what germs the store fish bring home. We have had one pretty much wipe out our entire tank before we started using the transition tank. So, the two remaining fish had to spend a little extra time in the transition tank before they got to move up in the world (literally, the main tank is above the transition tank). They got to make the big step up today and seem much happier now. Here is a pic of Savannah helping get the transition tank ready:

We were back to full swing this week. Savannah started back to speech with a new teacher, Mrs. Rowe. She seems very nice and definitely knowledgeable. Savannah has two other girls in her class that she has made fast friends with. She had a lot of fun at pre-school this week. Her biggest nemesis, Healthy Herb, paid a visit to UCP. Savannah really does not like him. She has had a great dislike towards him since she was in the 2s program. I was hoping this year, being another year older, she would go and watch his presentation, but yet again, she wouldn't. Thankfully her teachers are compassionate and let her go back to the room and help Ms. Rhonda with little things that needed to be completed. The biggest event this week was that Meme and Grandpa came to visit. When they got here on Monday night, Savannah kept asking if they had brought their DVDS to play with. We could not figure out what she was talking about. Finally, once she described them, we knew what she meant. Here they are:

If you're not familiar with this old favorite, it is a Fischer Price record player. We thought it was pretty funny and it made us realize how much technology has changed through out the years!

On Tuesday Meme came along for the ride to drop off and pick up Savannah. What a special treat that was! Then, lucky Meme got to spend most of the rest of the day entertaining Savannah. She didn't want anything to do with the rest of us. Lots of book reading, drawing and playing in the playroom. Even a trip out back! On Wednesday we visited Daddy at work for lunch. Unfortunately, he had to work through lunch so we had to go somewhere he could get free WIFI. Of course, Savannah was happy because she has wanted to go to Panera for a while now. It was nice to see Daddy, even if he had to work :( That night Meme pulled out her french horn. Savannah has been saying for two years that she would like to play the french horn. Meme let her try it out and Savannah was actually able to make notes! I was pretty impressed :)

Thursday was another day at preschool. This was also the "Healthy Herb" day. After school, Savannah decided she would like to play with her easel. Meme and Grandpa picked up some dry erase markers and Savannah enjoyed having some drawing time with Meme.

Savannah sure enjoyed her time with her grandparent's from Virginia! We look forward to seeing them again at Thanksgiving!

Yeah!

2008-09-06T21:07:00.000-07:00

Go Knights! Ok, so they didn't win, but the final score was 31-24 in overtime! It was a great ending to the game. Many people left early so they missed the show. I have to give UCF credit for fighting it out. The refs were definitely flag happy, mostly in USF's favor. We lost a touchdown because of a flag and then lost the game over a questionable (at least to those of us at the game, I think it was more apparent on TV) placement of the ball on the last play. UCF has come so far in football. It was great to watch them tonight. I am glad we decided to get season tickets this year!

On to FSU: 69 - 0! I know it was against a not too difficult team but, hey, last year there is no way that would have happened! I am hoping this means we are back on the upswing :)

Welcome football season!

Busy, busy, busy...again

2008-09-02T19:28:00.001-07:00

Boy have we had a busy couple of days! I started my weekend with a Friday night girls night out celebrating a friends 30th birthday. All the chocolate fondue you would want! Yummy :) Saturday started with Brian mowing the lawn. Savannah and I did some picking up around the house (ok, she played quietly in her playroom while I picked up the rest of the house. Sounds like she isn't doing much but it was actually a HUGE help). After a quick trip to Costco, which helped me remember why I don't ever go there on a Saturday, we headed home to get ready for:

This year we decided to get season tickets to the UCF football games. Our church buys a block of tickets together so we were sitting around a bunch of people we know. Savannah had a wonderful time! It took her about a quarter to take it all in and then she started having a grand time :) She enjoyed watching everything going on around her. During half time she was dancing all over the place imitating the visiting teams cheerleaders. She partied hard until about 3/4 of the way through the third quarter. Then she went down hill fast :) I should mention that the game started at 6:00. She slept through most of the last quarter. Poor Brian carried her back to my brothers house where we had parked. But, all in all we had a great time!

Sunday we had some friends over for lunch after lunch. Savannah enjoyed playing with her friend out in the backyard in her swimming pool and water slide. We enjoyed hamburgers and hot dogs from Cavalaries (a local butcher) and had a good time watching the girls play.

On Monday we has another grill out with our small group from last year. The kids all had a wonderful time playing together! There was a bouncy house, sand box and little tykes stuff to play with in the backyard. They also enjoyed all the toys in the house. I tried two new recipes and they both went over well. One was a mixed bean dish that I got out of a Taste of Home. It was really good! The other was a banana cake I have been wanting to try for a while but I needed an event to take it to so that I would not have an entire cake sitting at home :) It was really nice to have a chance to catch up with our friends after going our separate ways over the summer. I look forward to more fellowship time with them.

Savannah had a very clingy day today. She is having a hard time with the adjustment of me not being at the preschool this year. I find it funny because she never saw me when I did teach there but I guess it is just the idea of me not being there that is upsetting her. She actually started crying when I dropped her off! I had to carry her through the door to get her to go in. When I picked her up she kept telling me that she didn't want me to leave her there and go away without her. I would have thought she would let it go. It didn't help that I had bunco tonight, too. So, as I was leaving I could her sobs of "mommy stay home" in the background.

Today was the first day of WOW (women of the word) at my church. It was nice to meet the new members that are in my group. We are studying Daniel by Beth Moore. I am really looking forward to this study!

And So it Continues...

2008-08-27T07:37:00.000-07:00

I forgot to mention that when we got home from our weekend trip we had a nice gift in our mailbox from the state of South Carolina. They gave us a ticket for running the toll plaza. Yes, the toll plaza where we were hit by a truck because the ever so intelligent toll plaza workers changed the go light to red while we were in the lane. Anyway, they had given us a receipt to hand to the toll plaza worker so that we would not have to pay the toll (after all, $2 is sufficient compensation for the inconvenience we went through because of their carelessness). After all that, they then tell us we in fact ran the toll booth without paying and sent us a ticket. Isn't that nice! Well, after he calmed down, Brian decided to call and be nice and explain the situation. Thankfully, they took care of it for us so we don't have to pay it. However, Brian was sure to get the guys name because I am not confidant this is done :)

Here Comes the Sun...

2008-08-26T16:44:00.000-07:00

Saturday morning brought a bright yellow ball in the sky that we had not witnessed in quite a few days. Yes, the sun came to visit for a while and we were thrilled. We were not going to Disney so we were definitely planning on spending the morning at the pool. Brian and I had already discussed various possibilities in case of rain but we were thrilled to be able to follow through with the original plan. Here are some pics of Savannah enjoying the pool:

Savannah made friends with some children from New York. She enjoyed having someone to swim with other than mommy and daddy! There were many different animals throughout the grounds. There were evening signs leading you to believe there were alligators about. Thankfully, we did not meet them face to face :)

After the pool we headed over to the playground next door. She enjoyed having some play time on ground instead of water. We also headed over to play basketball and Savannah was able to get close to the swans. I do not have the pics of the basketball or swans because I took them in the incorrect mode. Brian has to change them over for me.
After the park we rested for a while and then headed to Downtown Disney. We had a good time traveling through the stores. We got lots of ideas for presents for Savannah and have already planned a date night to head down there and get started on shopping. Savannah got some pixie dust in her hair and I got some pics of her with Lego sculptures and princesses but that would be the same issue with the camera. So, maybe at a later date I can share these :)

Sunday morning we ate breakfast at the hotel for their character breakfast. Savannah got to meet Goofy, Minnie Mouse and Pluto. She ate up a storm and had a grand time with the characters.
All in all we had a wonderful weekend. It was nice to get away and even better to get home and see our house had not floated away :)

Welcome to Sunny Florida

2008-08-22T18:20:00.001-07:00

Well, we are going on 2 1/2 days of rain. But, we did actually get some rain free time this morning. However, it started up again in the afternoon. Savannah and I ventured out for some getting out of the house time. I was amazed at how much water there was all around us. I first saw it as we approached the golf course. Most of the surrounding areas were underwater. Then we turned the corner and the dog park was completely under water. The pavilions were filled up about half way. I couldn't believe how much water there was! The next major place was a the Duda grass farm. They now have two huge lakes. It is amazing! I was nice to get out of the house, though. I am thankful for the little bit of relief we received this morning but am definitely ready for some sun.

We headed down to the Disney area this weekend for some fun in the sun (hehe). We planned this trip about two months ago not realizing it would be raining a lot of the time. I am hoping that it will be a little less wet tomorrow so that we can at least let Savannah get into the pool. It sure would be nice if they had an indoor pool. Don't see many of those in Florida. As I watched the tourists walking all over the Downtown Disney area I couldn't help but wonder how I would feel if I came here for a wonderful week in the sun and had to ride out what has got to be the longest Tropical Storm in history. I imagine I would be a little fearful, especially if I had never been through this type of storm. I will have to say that the people I saw pretty much were grinning and bearing it. They were making the most out of what they were given. However, I know how hard it was to be stuck inside all day for many days with all of our items. I cannot imagine being stuck in a hotel!

Savannah's Real First Day of School

2008-08-21T16:56:00.000-07:00

Savannah had her first day of PreK today. She was very excited. She picked out her outfit and had an added benefit of having a friend go with her to school. Here is a picture of her all ready to go:

I know, great expression. Unfortunately, it is the only one I have :( However, I would like for you to take note of what is in her right hand. Yes, that would be an umbrella. Now, I remind you that the reason Savannah's first day is today instead of Tuesday was because of Seminole County canceling school due to Tropical Storm Fay. Well, we had no school Tuesday and Wednesday and pretty much ok weather. Really not even much rain and no wind. Well, last night it started to get really windy and rainy. It pretty much has been raining since. At one point today they said that it had rained 13 inches today in Oviedo. It has been a few hours of constant rain since then. I have no idea how much rain we have gotten. And the weather is just getting worse. I think that Fay has just turned around and is coming back. I can't keep up with the reports because they change so much. They really do not seem to know what the storm is doing. Well, needless to say, there is no school again tomorrow. I have never been in a storm that stuck around like this! Enough already. One good thing is that Midnight has finally realized she either goes in the rain or she gets really uncomfortable :)

It seems like Savannah enjoyed her day. The three things she told me was that she made some art, played and that Mrs. Linda sat by her at lunch. She told her Aunt Carol Lynn that she also sat by Emma and Madison at lunch. So, all in all, that is a lot more than she has told me before, so she must have enjoyed it. Also, on another note, she was not nearly as tired coming home today as she was last year. I think the change from Zyrtec to Allegra has really made a big difference.

I hope everyone out this is dryer than we are. Enjoy walking outside without getting soaked for me :)

Savannah's First Day of PreSchool

2008-08-19T04:27:00.001-07:00

I am suppose to be writing today about Savannah's first day of preK. She has been so excited! Last Friday night she got to meet her new teachers, Mrs. Linda and Ms. Rhonda. She took instantly to her class. She was thrilled to see one of her good friends Rishu from last year. They pretty much picked up where they left off, as far as their friendship is concerned. She has another little boy in her class from last year too. It was nice for her to walk in and see two people she new right away. However, she never looked at the other kids. There were actually two little girls in her class that she knows but she didn't look long enough to realize she new them! I know that it was a comfort thing, "I know them therefore I play with them." But, I really do hope she makes some new friends. There was one thing I did notice, though. At one point, Savannah was sitting in the "homeliving area" with four boys around her (ie, no other girls). I asked one of the moms "what does it mean when my daughter is the only girl surrounded by boys". Her response was "you are going to have fun when she is a teenager". Thanks :) Seriously, I think she is just really active and would rather play with children who want to play hard (as boys tend to do). Also, she does not like to be told what to do and I think that, even at this age, the little girls tend to have more to say about things than boys :) In other words, she can be the lone boss in the equation.

Anyway, back on topic. I would love to be able to post pictures of her all dressed up in her outfit heading off to school (without a backwards glance, I am sure). However, all I can share with you is:

This would be Tropical Storm Fay and would be why we are sitting at home watching Higglytown Heroes instead of running around getting ready for school. She handled the news really well when I told her. I said "I have something really sad to tell you. You can't go to school tomorrow because of a bad storm." Her response, "Oh. Well, I still love you." Hmmm, I guess she sees it as my fault :) Her next thought was "where will Mrs. Linda be." Nice to know she has some concern for her teacher.

Well, I thought I would take this time to catch up on last week. It was really busy. Savannah had a playdate almost every day plus she was taking swimming lessons. We finally got our car back! Thank you Brian :) He had to fly to Savannah, GA (by way of Charlotte, NC...makes no sense to me). Then, he had to drive all the way home. Meanwhile, mom and I went shopping where Savannah proceeded to have a major meltdown in Children's Place. I do not know what it is about this store but she is always very poorly behaved in it. Any of them! It doesn't matter which one we are at, she can't hold it together. Anyway, after that embarrassment, she was much better. And she scored a total of four outfits between mom and I. Now she is all ready for school. We were varied this week in playdate places. She meet one friend at the pool, another at Chick-fil-a for lunch and all out fun in the play area, a trip to Friendship park another day and we ended the week with a trip to the library (which was closed due to a tax break the taxpayers voted for and the county tries to find any and every way possible to punish us for). Friday night was the big "meet your teacher" night. And, I got to go out with my friend to the movies! Fun! Saturday started as a day of yard work. However, it turned into Brian spending the entire weekend trying to get the lawn mower to work (which never happened). Brian decided to start saving money by doing the lawn himself (I guess this is a bargain he made with himself when we bought the piano). This will be a great money saving thing to do once we fix the mower :)

Savannah had been enjoying dressing up in her clothes. She tends to forget the weather and puts on as much as she can. She really has a liking of tights. However, she hasn't realized yet that they should go on first, not last. Here is a picture of her latest style (notice the pink pants below the tights, oh, and that it was over 90 degrees outside):

Meanwhile, my nights (and Brian's by default) have been filled with the Olympics. I have been enjoying watching all the athletes compete. I have taken up a fondness for beach volleyball. Who would have guessed? Can you believe Michael Phelps? What an athlete! Not doing so well in diving :( I have been learning the finer points of fencing. (as a side note, I noticed that almost all of our fencers and rowers go to ivy league schools. Hmmm) Other than beach volleyball, I have not been able to get myself to watch any of the long sport games (like soccer, baseball, basketball, etc.) although Brian did watch the USA vs China men's basketball game. Gymnastics is one of my favorites. Last night they showed some of the apparatus competition. I have to say that I am not 100% sold on the new scoring system. On the first night of individual apparatus competition, a Chinese woman fell on the vault and still got the bronze. Come on! And then last night, a Chinese lady (ok, girl. Give me a break, they are NOT 16) and an American (our all around gold medalist) tied on uneven bars. And, instead of giving them both a gold, the Chinese girl got it! Do you notice a trend here? I know that they say there is no way for favoritism, but, come on! Anyway, I have enjoyed watching the Olympics (Brian says it isn't that I don't like watching sports, it is just that I do all my sports watching in a two week time every two years), but there are definitely some things that I think need to be rethought out. So, congratulations to all the people who are competing! There are only a few days left. Good luck to all!

Come back on Thursday. Hopefully we will have some pictures of Savannah wearing her perfect outfit and running of (with no trepidation) to her new class :)

Is it Bleeding?

2008-08-08T16:54:00.000-07:00

I thought I would give an update on the last few days. On Wednesday, after Savannah's second swimming lesson, we met some friends at the pool. Savannah has carried on the title of "fish" from when I was little. She is a pretty amazing swimmer. She can now swim to the bottom of the pool by herself and swam almost 100 feet by herself across the pool. Her new swim instructor Zoe has been with Savannah on swimming on her back. She is doing very well. Especially since she would not do this with me at all. The main reason I really wanted her in class this summer is to start learning strokes. She told me the other day that she did not need to go to swimming lessons because she already knows how to swim.

After swimming at the pool, we headed home for a day of rest. We stayed home, had lunch, relaxed, watched a little tv, played some and just spent time together. After a while I decided we needed to get out so we took the dog for a walk. Savannah got herself ready: shoes, socks and her ninoculars (binoculars for those who are not use to speaking Savannah). She was so cute :) She would crawl right down on top of something (thoroughly defeating the purpose of having binoculars) and check it out. Then, I learned a lesson. Next time I take her on a walk I need a bag. She, being 4, had to collect every single thing she observed. After the interest of this ran out, she then decide to race herself. She would crouch down, say "get ready, set, go" and run. Well, after a few times of this, she ended you falling. She curled up and grabbed her knee and seemed ok. Then she asked if it was bleeding. Well, once she saw that it was she started screaming! Well, really just crying but I was trying hard not to laugh because she was fine until she saw the blood. I had the dog with me and could not carry Savannah so she had to limp all of the way home. She was fine, mind you. No child abuse going on here :) Once we got home we had to have a little mini surgery going on. We cleaned it up and put Hydrogen Peroxide on it. She thought that was really cool. She liked watching the bubbles. Maybe she is a future doctor or nurse. She was excited about getting to have a really big band aid on her knee.

Today we went to visit another friend at a different pool. We got down there and the pool was closed until noon because someone the day before had an "accident" in the pool. So, we had to wait 1 1/2 hours to get in. There is a really nice park right next to the park so they had a good time playing while we ate. However, I told Savannah we would go into the pool after lunch so every 15 minutes she asked if we could have lunch :) Well, we finally got into the pool and 10 minutes later they had to close it because of thunder. Needless to say, we gave up at this point. As I was driving home I drove through some horrible storms. I got up to the final road and there was debris everywhere. It just happened to be right by my brother's house so I called to ask what happened. He was like, "well, it rained and there was some wind". Well, for anyone in this area, if you saw the news report about a house in the Oviedo area that had a tree go through the roof, that was two houses down from my brother. Hmmm, some wind and rain, huh? :) There were 35 mph winds going through. Many trees down and stuff everywhere. They were fortunate because a tree limb fell on their brand new huge screen in the backyard but it did not puncture the screen. Anyway, the news was there and everything. Well, we got home and Savannah decided she needed to get dressed for the weather. Well, she has a bathing suit on, rain boots and a "Santa" hat. Hmmm...not sure what weather she is getting prepared for.

And, last but not least, tonight is the first night of the Olympics and I have been thoroughly enjoying the opening ceremonies. I think that China has done an outstanding job. I love to watch the Olympics. I joke that you would think I was more athletic. However, although I am not very athletic, I do know what it is like to train (practice) hard to do something well. What I really love about the Olympics is seeing these people who have worked so hard to get there finally get to compete at a venue that is, for many, the reason they are in their sport. The creme de la creme for them. I wish them all luck and pray for their safety while they are away.

Hi all

2008-08-05T18:41:00.000-07:00

So I finally am making it back to the blogging world. This summer has been insane. And, I kid you not, this is about the third time I have sat down to do this in the past week. First, there was no internet. Then, my time got absorbed into something else and then I couldn't access my blog. I would go to it and the big ugly gray box would come up and I couldn't read by own blog! Anyway, I am back now and am ready to share with you the FUN things about our trip to Hilton Head.

We went to visit Brian's family (Meme, Grandpa, Aunt Sarah, Uncle Matt and Baby Maddux, who someday will be 21 and probably still called Baby Maddux :) ). Brian's parents have a time share in Hilton Head so every summer for the past three years we have gotten together up there. The place we stayed this time was really nice. It was pretty secluded with a smaller pool than last year and a lot less traffic. It felt more like a homey area than a touristy area. I love Hilton Head! Everything is set way back so it seems real woodsy but yet there is civilization behind those trees (Publix, Target etc). Also, and this is the ultimate highlight, they have bike trails everywhere! And I mean, these are real bike trails! Not these little spaces on the road like we have here in Fl. We pretty much ride our bikes everywhere. We could have ridden to the mall or various dinner places. We ended up renting bikes because the bike rack we bought did not work on the van. As a side note, we have decided to someday get a hitch for our van because we think it would be much more secure to travel with our bikes on there (of course, we need to get our van back first!) Although all of the days had the frustration of dealing with the insurance company, we did fit in a lot of beach time, pool time, and other fun stuff. Every year we visit this little Science Museum called the Sandbox. This is an interactive play area with all kinds of cool fun stuff for the kids. Savannah loves it! Maddux really had a good time as well. He found these little nets that were part of the ship play area. He walked all over holding one in each hand. He is awful cute!We took Savannah (and Meme) to play minigolf one afternoon. The one we went to was picked because it was shady. Boy, were we wrong. It was deceivingly hot and sunny. Savannah really did a good job. This is about the fourth or so time we have taken her but it is the first time she actually understood what to do. She is the only one of the four of us who got a whole in one! The first day we were there Savannah and I saw an alligator! I was a little nervous about walking all around since the alligator was just sitting by the side of the lake which was on the way to the pool. And, there was not really any fencing keeping them away from us! Well, we all survived with our toes (and legs, and arms ...) in tact so I guess it was safe. One day Savannah rode her bike (which we did bring in our van not knowing we would be driving home in a much smaller vehicle) to a nearby park. She was swinging (which she can do by herself) and Brian and I were sitting and talking. Suddenly, I turned to look at her and, I kid you not, she was asleep swinging! I have no idea how she didn't fall out of the swing! Brian ended up carrying her back and I got to push the bike back. The final night we celebrated Maddux's first birthday. It is amazing how fast that first year goes! He enjoyed the cake once he realized what was going on. Savannah enjoyed "helping him" (i.e. doing it) open his gifts. After Hilton Head we headed to see our good friends the Nelson's in Aiken, SC. They moved away from FL. about 2 years ago but this is the first time we have been able to go see them. It was nice to see their new place. We visited a really nice park up there and dashed between rain drops a lot of the time. We were able to visit the BEST wing place ever. It is called Wild Wings and we love it! Brian is a big wing man but we rarely eat them. Not so good for you :) However, anytime we are in SC we have to visit this place once. We really did have a good time. We enjoy the time we are able to spend with Brian's family and our friends. Hopefully we will be catching up with his parents again sometime in September.

Car news: our van needed a new bumper, grill, radiator and compressor for the air conditioner. When Brian last talked to them everything was done except the radiator, which was expected to be done today. Brian will be flying to Savannah, GA on Saturday to pick up the van and bring it back. The Camry is a nice car but I am looking forward to having my van back!

Savannah started swim lessons on Monday. She was the only one in the class! The only other child registered was a no show. So, she basically had a private lesson. She is in the pre-school advanced class which means they are teaching her strokes. She can swim, easily, 100 feet on her own. She is developing the ability to swim on her back. I am very proud of her! She is really our little fish. She also found out today who her teacher is for this upcoming pre-school year. Her name is Mrs. Linda. I am very excited about this and hope it will be a wonderful year in preparation for next year. Kindergarten! Yikes! Linda taught at UCP a while ago and then took time off to help with her grandchildren. She came back the same year I started, so two years ago. She mentioned that she has a child of her own who was very strong willed so I am hoping to learn a lot from her!

I hope everyone is well. I am truly going to try to get back to blogging!

Hello World

2008-07-28T12:35:00.000-07:00

Well, you have not heard much from us in a while. That is mainly because 3 out of the 4 last weeks we have had no internet! Two of them at home because our neighbor cut our line and one because we were out of town in an area with no internet (can you imagine?). Anyway, to continue on with if something can happen it will, we have had an interesting week. On our way to Hilton Head, about 10 minutes until we were done, we entered into a toll plaza behind a F150 Ford truck. As we were both entering into the plaza, the toll attendant decided to close the plaza. So, we both stopped and I was asking Brian what we should do now when the the truck in front of us threw their vehicle into reverse and floored it. Well, that started our trip out with a bang! So, the week ended up being a lot of fighting with the insurance company. Oh, and for your records, we DO NOT recommend American Express for insurance. So, the car is in Savannah, GA, which was the closest place they would work with to Hilton Head. We are driving a rental car until our car is done. Once it is done, either Brian will fly up there to get it or we will take a weekend to drive get it and then drive home. Other things that happened: on Monday, I was stung by a jelly fish, Savannah slammed her head against the back of the sofa and cried for about an hour. All said, we did have a good time, just not real relaxing. Once we got home, we discovered we had to internet for the third time in six weeks and so begins another battle :) Anyway, I only have internet when I am at my parents so you will not hear much from me for a few days.

If it could possibly break...

2008-07-17T16:28:00.000-07:00

it has, this week, at work. I wanted to post about what we've been doing, but I've been dealing with broken programs and weird computer glitches at work, and I'm not sure exactly what the rest of my family is doing. Fortunately, some much-needed vacation is on tap for next week.

We'll be going to Hilton Head on Saturday, staying there for a week (happy birthday, Maddux!), and then stopping by Augusta before we head home the following Sunday. Hopefully by the end of the week, we'll have something interesting to share here. Who knows, this post may inspire my lovely wife to post before then! ;-)

What I am Doing...

2008-06-30T19:40:00.000-07:00

Today I am going to dedicate the entry to my two new obsessions. One is a video game that Brian has got me hooked on and the other is a social networking site.

The address for facebook is:

http://www.facebook.com/

So, if you have some spare time on your hands (right :) ) and would like to see what has me hooked, try one. If you join facebook, make sure you make me a friend. Brian has more than me right now :(

Sea World with Friends

2008-06-29T18:53:00.000-07:00

Today we took advantage of our first free weekend day in quite a while by going down to Sea World with friends of ours from church. They have a daughter who is just about Savannah's age and they get along famously. It is always fun to see them together because they tend to approach things the same way and have the same humor. It was also the first day in about a week and a half that it did not rain most of the day. We did get a few showers this evening, but nothing during the day. However, it was hot. I mean, HOT! We were all dragging by the end of the day, especially the daddies and the kids. My friend and I did more sitting then running around due to the fact that she has a 2 month old. But, I tell you, it was still hot. I think that humidity level must have been about 1000% which didn't help. However, I will say that we did have a good time. The girls rode most of the rides in the kiddie area. Savannah even got to ride on the swaying boat ride that neither Brian nor I will ride on (it makes us dizzy). She was lucky to have a friend along with her today that would go with her :) We had a wonderful day together.

Savannah has started blowing kisses to the camera. That is a whole lot better than saying smile and cringing!

Hi Again

2008-06-28T17:11:00.000-07:00

It has been forever since I have been able to get onto the computer and blog! June has been an incredibly busy month. I will slowly, over the next couple of days, go over all the things that have been happening, but I am not going to do it all at once because it ends up becoming a long, long blog. So, I will start by saying the obvious, Brian and I just celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary. Boy, I cannot believe it has been 10 years already! It seems like we were just walking down the aisle. I am so blessed to have meet Brian way back when up at FSU. From the start I knew that there was something special about him. Even though we met briefly at orientation and then went our separate ways (he to VA and I to South Florida) I always remembered him that entire summer as if he had been a part of my life forever. Our chance meeting the week before school in the cafeteria was like meeting up with an old friend. I was blessed to be his friend for two years and then even further blessed to begin dating him. I am amazed and thankful every day that God sent this wonderful, caring, considerate man into my life to be my husband. He is a wonderful father and husband and I look forward to many more anniversaries to come. We went to Amelia Island for a short weekend. Grammy was willing to take Savannah for us for the weekend so we could have some alone time. It was nice to get away but we are finding it harder and harder to leave her behind :( She is becoming more aware of the fact that we leave and we are missing her more and more. We stayed in a nice B & B called Hoyt House. We enjoy it because it has a beautiful pool in the backyard that we enjoyed sitting by and reading. We didn't think to get any pictures, so I do not have any to share of the pool. It is also nice because it is right at the end of the "historic district". We enjoyed taking walks each night through the little city area.

As soon as we returned Savannah started a week of vacation Bible school and I started to prepare for my parents 50th wedding anniversary party. I painted two hallways and Savannah's room (mainly because Savannah was out of the house for 3 1/2 hours each morning) and I had tons of running around to do. On Thursday I told Savannah we would go to Lucas (local nursery) and pick out some flowers to plant in the front yard. We have needed to do this for a long time now but I just got around to it. So, I picked her up at VBS armed with a PB & J for her to snack on and off we went. There was a lot of negotiation involved (Savannah felt we needed one of every flower) but we finally decided on purple, pink and yellow (of course). We got home, finished up lunch, and then got to work. I started with trying to let Savannah dig the holes. Well, that didn't go over well (she isn't really accurate) so we changed to me digging the holes and her doing pretty much everything else. The first picture is of her putting the plant food into the hole. I taught her how to pull the containers off of the bottom of the plant and then she would place them in the hole and pat the dirt down a bit. There was only one casualty (she decided to pat the entire plant down instead of just around the base). All in all, we had a good time. Oh, and an added benefit, it has rained every day since then so I do not have to remember to water them :)

10 years

2008-06-20T13:15:00.000-07:00

I (almost) never post on our blog, but I wanted to take the opportunity to wish my wife Cindy a happy 10th Anniversary. 10 years ago today, we were married in Tallahassee, FL. Cindy's truly an amazing woman, and I continue to fall in love with her a little more every day. In the past 10 years, she's given me a wonderful daughter, a beautiful commitment to our marriage, and truly unconditional love. Thanks, Cindy, for who you are and for everything that you mean to me!

Let the Painting Begin...

2008-06-18T19:38:00.000-07:00

Question:

What happens when you ask a four year old to help you paint a room.

Answer:

I have been taking advantage of Savannah's VBS schedule to get some stuff done around the house without her. However, I thought that she would enjoy getting to do some painting with me. Well, she definitely had a good time! However, not a lot of painting got done :) Unless you count all the paint on her.

Dear God...

2008-06-13T18:59:00.001-07:00

On Wednesday we had another really bad storm. There was a lot of thunder and lightning and Savannah was a little scared. As I wrote prior to this she has developed a fear of thunder. However, this particular night, she seemed to be doing ok. If we close all of the blinds it definitely helps her fear for some reason. Well, Brian came home really really late that night (like 11:30ish) because of problems at work so I got to put her to bed. Her nightly routine starts with brushing teeth, then taking all of her various medicines (poor baby) and then going to the bathroom. After this we read two books that she picks out and then her "special" book (a devotional). After all of this we turn off the lights (but, of course, the closet light stays on) and then she says her prayers. On this night, she starts by thanking God for various people in her life, then she says, really quietly, please God, make the thunder go away, Amen. I was thrilled to hear her take the step to pray for something like this without any prompting (like, what should we do when we are scared). How amazing is it that even at this early age she is beginning to understand that she can talk to God about her fears. And, do you know what the most amazing part was? As soon as I walked out the door, I mean, like, as soon as I closed it, the last roll of thunder sounded and it stopped for the rest of the night. :) Thank you God!

Sunday Tea Party

2008-06-12T13:17:00.000-07:00

Sorry I have been MIA again for a while. It seems that this time of year has caught up to me between end of school stuff, end of small group, party planning, and upcoming vacations I am running around :) This past weekend we did a lot of cleaning. We picked up some paint (and have done nothing with it) and just cleaned out. However, on Sunday afternoon Savannah decided to have a tea party outside. She brought all of her blankets out (one per "person") and then brought a toy out for each "person". While she was doing this our neighborhood cat came to watch. She loves Brian. We call him the cat whisperer. He can call her from down the street and she comes running! However, she and Savannah do not have a wonderful relationship. Most of their interactions end up with Savannah getting scratched or bit :( We continue to remind her that she should leave Kacey alone but she does not listen. It is hard when we have a cat who doesn't bite or scratch her (which, mind you, Savannah is the only one she does not do this to). She doesn't realize that not all cats are like that. So, the tea party was a hit with only one casualty (Savannah's arm).

This is Kacey the neighborhood cat.

Memorial Day

2008-05-30T19:08:00.001-07:00

After spending the morning on Memorial Day at home relaxing, we decided we needed to get out and do something. It was a beautiful day, but not such a good one for the pool or beach so we decided, against what we thought was our better judgement, to go to Sea World. We were thrilled to discover that it was not that busy! I think everyone was next door at the new park Aquatica, their water park. We spent most of the time in the kids area. We had told Savannah we were not doing any shows because we were not going to be there and the shows end up being a lot of waiting. Savannah has wanted to ride this crab ride FOREVER. I truly thought she was not old enough. Of course, I didn't know if I was ok with her riding it, but I always said no because I really thought she was too short. So, while waiting for Brian and Savannah to finish riding on another ride, I walked over and realized she was in fact tall enough to go on the ride. It is basically a mini tower of terror, for those of you who are familiar with that ride. After standing in line for a while and watching it going up and down over and over, Savannah definitely seemed a bit nervous. She was holding Brian's hand with a very concentrated look on her face. If there was a little bubble above her head it would have read "what have I gotten myself into now!". It was really cute. However, about half way through the ride she was all smiles. She really enjoyed her first experience with this ride :)

Not now...

2008-05-23T19:04:00.000-07:00

We are currently having a much needed thunderstorm. I say much needed because of how dry everything is. If you have been paying attention to the news, or you live in this area, you know that we are battling fires off and on again this year. The one concern with a thunderstorm is the lightning that comes with it. Sometimes this can actually create more fires, which defeats the purpose of the rain we are getting with the storm. So, I hope that the rain helps soak up the ground but that the lightning is forgiving and does not leave behind any new fires.

Savannah and I always have the same discussion whenever it starts to rain. Being four, she does not understand the importance of having rain every once and a while. To her, it is just an annoyance that takes away her outside time. So, the discussion always goes something like this:

Savannah: Why does it rain?
Me: Because God wants it to.
Savannah: Why?
Me: Because that is how the trees, grass, flowers (etc) get fed. The rain gives them water.

And it becomes a very circular conversation from there as anyone who is used to talking with a child in this age group can understand. So, later today (after already having this conversation at least once) she was sitting at the table working very hard on a picture that she was making for Daniel (yes, her crush from the gym, but that is a different story :) ) and it started to thunder. Now, along with her curiosity with storms, she also has developed a fear of thunder. She wants us to close the blinds whenever it starts. So, I was amazed she didn't say anything about it. However, after the second roll of thunder, she looks up from her work and says "not now God, I'm trying to concentrate." I just looked at her for a second, trying to process what she said, and then tried not to laugh. I still have to chuckle a bit because I think that it is a pretty cool connection she is making there, however, it also makes me stop to think. How often do we do the same thing? How often do we say, "not now God" when we really should be going to Him, not pushing Him away?

Anyone for a Party...

2008-05-20T19:59:00.001-07:00

While we were walking through Publix today picking up shrimp for dinner tonight, Savannah decided that she wanted sushi for dinner. She has pulled this before and wouldn't touch it, so I had my reservations. However, Brian really likes it so I decided to go ahead and get some. Well, she actually ate one! She said she liked it but I am not sure if she did. Here are some pictures: She did eat it, not spit it out.

This time of year is a very busy birthday party time. We have birthday parties almost every weekend. Savannah decided to throw her own birthday party this evening. Winnie the Pooh got the distinction of being the birthday "child". She made a birthday cake (from playdough), I let her put a real candle on it and I lit it, she helped Pooh blow it out, and she even cut the cake into pieces for all of the guests. You cannot see the guests in the photos because they do not reach the table top. The guests were Cinderella, Gus and Jaq (Cinderella's mice), the Slinky Dog from Toy Story, a Cabbage Patch Kid, a turtle, a Teddy bear and her bath tub Little Mermaid doll. Quite the party! She even wrapped a gift for Pooh, all by herself! Of course, she also got to unwrap it :)

No internet...

2008-05-19T17:35:00.001-07:00

We have been without internet since my last post. I have felt like one of my hands was tied behind my back! I cannot believe how much I rely on the internet to keep in touch with friends, keep up with the world, check the weather, talk to Brian (via IM), and just, in general, survive. Ok, so maybe not that bad, but I really do miss the internet when it is gone. It is funny how quickly we start to rely on something. There was a day (gasp) when I didn't even have a computer, much less the internet. How did I get by? Can you remember no cell phones? How about microwaves? I can remember getting our first one. (Boy do I sound old!) It is amazing how much technology has grown in 20 years. DVD players, CDs, even VCRs (which are becoming a thing of the past). What comes to mind when you think of this topic? I know I can remember mom talking about her first TV. Now she has one in almost every room, and in more than one house! I wonder how many she has total? I know we have way more than we can use.

Busy, busy, busy...

2008-05-17T18:33:00.000-07:00

I am realizing that I am neglecting my blog. It just seems like there is always something to do or someplace to be! This is such a busy time of year as a teacher because everything is coming to a close. However, there is a lot to be done before we can come to a close! Everything starts to go so fast. I am excited about summer coming. I am really excited about getting to be just mommy next school year. I will miss teaching, and I will miss the interaction with the teachers, but I am ready to be just a mommy again for a bit. I can't believe Savannah only has one more year before she goes to Kindergarten! Boy has the time flown by. It is funny because I can remember thinking that some of those lovely stages she went through were never going to end, and now, here we are, and they seem like they were so long ago. Of course, we are now in new stages that are not always pretty, but, in just a little bit of time, I will be looking back at this time thinking how quickly it went by.

So, an update on our lives since Monday. Brian and I are playing in the orchestra at church this weekend, so that means practicing. We only had one practice, so that was not so bad. I am do glad that I am able to play every once and a while. It is a major stress reliever for me. I got a guitar for Christmas but have not been working much on learning how to play it. I need to really concentrate on that because I think it would give me something to help relieve stress. Wednesday was Teacher Appreciation at our preschool. I have to say, we were spoiled this year! The head room mom was a hair stylist and worked at a local salon. She had a bunch of her old colleagues come in and give us manicures and massages. I have never had a massage before. Boy was it nice! Although, it was funny to have someone touching me :) Each teacher and assistant got a gift basket from their class. We got wrap around towels, body lotion, body cream, shower gel, nail polish, a candle, tea, a bunch of manicure and pedicure stuff, a $20 gift card to the spa the ladies worked at and a $20 gift card from some jewelry place. Wow! Lots of fun stuff. It was nice to be able to leave the classroom for an hour and relax. One thing I love about working at the preschool is how well they treat you. I will miss that! Brian did not have practice on Thursday so we got to hang out as a family. That was nice.

Savannah and I were really busy the second half of the week. She started learning the j sound at speech, which she cannot do at all! This one will take a while. On Thursday, after speech we went to the gym, then meet some friends at the pool and then, after a brief rest at home, we meet a new friend at the park! Goodness! Savannah's new friend is so much like her. They really get along well. It is neat to watch them play together because they approach things the same way. She is the first child I have meet who is so like Savannah. They played together today for almost six hours and could have kept going! I don't think she has been able to do that with any child before :)

Savannah started something new at the beginning of the week. Every night during dinner we normally sing "Daddy's blessing". She calls it this because when it was taught to her, she was told it was the one daddy did when he was little. Well, about three days ago, she counts for us (she always counts to 5 before we sing) and then she lays her head down and she starts to pray (instead of singing). Brian and I just looked at each other. It was really quite exciting. I am not sure where she learned to do this at dinner because we always sing. She is really cute and says the sweetest things. She has various things she thanks God for but she always thanks God for mommy and daddy :) It that doesn't put a smile on your face, what will? Also, on the dinner note, Savannah is doing so much better at dinner. This is another knew thing for this week. She sits and talks a lot, but she sits the whole time! We have started a piggy bank reward system. Any time we see her doing something we make a big deal out of it and give her penny (or whatever coin we have available). Once the bank is full, she gets to go buy some candy. The one thing we are doing is not bribing her with it, meaning, we do not say "if you want to earn a penny, you need to do this". It is more of a "I noticed that you did this well, here is a penny". She seems to really respond well to this. One more thing she started about two days ago is cleaning her room! She enjoys making the bed. I am really enjoying getting to see these big girl moments. It is nice to be able to recognize the positive and to enjoy these moments.

Mud/Water Days

2008-05-13T18:57:00.000-07:00

Monday was Mud and Water Days at preschool. Boy did the kids have a lot of fun! Savannah was talking about this one for quite a few days (a sure sign that she was really excited). She remembered that there were umbrellas last year and apparently really liked playing with them. She continually asked me whether there would be umbrellas or not. I was happy to see that they did have them! I am sure she was happy too :) Here are some pictures from her fun day:On a completely different note, Savannah has her first crush. A couple of weeks ago, after going to the gym, she started talking about someone named Daniel. She talks about him a lot, especially if she knows we are going. After a couple days of this, I started asking her who Daniel was and came to the realization that he is one of the adults who watch her in the kids area of the gym. The next time we went in he was there. All she could talk about going into the gym was whether he would be there or not. Then, we got there and she started her shy, hide behind daddy act. So we jump tonight, she is no longer shy about it. She can't wait to go see if he is there. So, I guess that crushes start early! Who would have thought it at 4 :)

From the Mother's Day Tea...

2008-05-11T20:55:00.000-07:00

Happy Mother's Day to all you mom's. I hope you had a wonderful day!

Finally...

2008-05-10T20:19:00.000-07:00

We have finally hit a major milestone in the Hill household...no more diapers! Savannah has finally graduated to wearing underwear at night! So far she has not had any accidents. She even stayed dry while we were on the cruise. Unfortunately it also means she wakes up early every morning now. Oh well. However, imagine our surprise when we walked into her room last night and saw this:

It is hard to tell from these pictures, but Savannah has put on diaper after diaper over top of her pajamas. After having a good laugh, getting Brian and then having another good laugh, taking a few pictures, I then proceeded to take off the diapers. Can you believe she had 13 diapers on! What a little stinker. I guess she felt she needed some extra coverage that night :)

DCL Pics

2008-05-09T18:51:00.001-07:00

Here they are! The long awaited pictures from the Disney Cruise. We had a really good time. I hope you enjoy a little glimpse into our trip.
Savannah at Castaway Cay. We were finishing lunch on the island and she started playing around the table. Brian was able to get some really good pictures of her.
Savannah really enjoyed the Oceanears Club. They had a dress up area. Here she is dressed up as an Incredible. It was nice to have someplace for her to go and play while we ate dinner. It takes up to two hours to eat dinner, which is a really long time for little ones!
Brian and Savannah saw some fish while they were swimming at Castaway Cay. One was huge! Brian jokingly said it was almost as big as Savannah. It probably wasn't that much smaller than her.
This is the farewell celebration in the main lobby. Savannah enjoyed seeing all of the different characters in one place at one time.

DCL Pics

2008-05-09T18:28:00.000-07:00

Savannah enjoying Castaway Cay. She made a couple of friends and they made a sandcastle together.
This time around Savannah was old enough and tall enough to ride down the Mickey Mouse slide. She had a good time, but only went down a few times because she was cold waiting in line.
This is the first day on the ship. We are actually were still docked.
Hello Savannah! We are waiting for Papa so Brian took advantage of the stairs to get this picture. We did a lot of walking up and down the stairs the first two days because she wouldn't go in the elevator. We finally talked her into it.
Daddy and Savannah swimming in the Goofy pool (the family pool).

DCL Pics

2008-05-09T18:12:00.000-07:00

Donald Duck is silly!

Daisy Duck greeted us as we entered Castaway Cay.

Mickey Mouse greeted us at the port before we boarded.
Minnie Mouse greeted us in her swim wear.

Pluto was another character we saw on Castaway Cay.

Pics from DCL

2008-05-09T17:49:00.001-07:00

We waited in line to meet the Princesses the day we were in the Bahamas. Savannah was very patient. It took about 45 minutes to get up to where the Princesses were. Cinderella was the last one she met.
Aurora was the second princess she met. Savannah made sure to show her the picture on her shirt of "herself" (Aurora).
Savannah really likes Snow White right now. She was excited to meet her. Recently Savannah received a Snow White dress from one of her friends. I didn't think to bring it!
We ran into Chip and Dale out on deck 9.
Savannah loved this picture of the Little Mermaid. It was behind the elevators on the deck where our room was. Her picture spans about 3 decks. You can see it as you go up and down the elevator.

Anchors away...

2008-05-04T19:19:00.000-07:00

We are back from our three night Disney cruise. We had a wonderful time! For the most part, the seas were calm and the weather was beautiful. We took a lot of pictures and had some chances to relax. We will update with more info once we have a chance to sit down and do it :) Hope everyone had a good weekend!

High-Caliber Piano Playing and Singing

2008-04-27T18:49:00.000-07:00

Here's Savannah and I playing the piano. I promise, I'll let Cindy take some video of me playing something a little more challenging soon.

Noah's Ark Highlight

2008-04-27T18:04:00.001-07:00

Here is Savannah's favorite song from her Noah's Ark program at the preschool:

What time is it anyway?

2008-04-23T20:34:00.000-07:00

So it is 11:35 Wednesday night and Brian and I are realizing we probably should not have waited until tonight to get our living room/desk room/music room ready for the big day tomorrow (the piano arriving for those who may not know what I am talking about :) ). We ended up pretty much changing the entire room around. The only piece of furniture that has stayed in the same place is, ironically, the one piece we didn't think would be able to stay in the room. This is, in fact, my (I mean our) brown leather recliner. I am very happy we were able to get this to stay because I like to sit in it and read while Brian works/plays games/plays the piano. I am sitting here in it as I write! See, we have come to a point in the moving process where I am no longer needed. Brian is setting up his computer stuff. All I can say is how many different cables could you possibly need! Ridiculous! But, if it all works when he is done, that is all that matters :) He did, as you can gather, get the internet back to working. I will say, though, that one of his computers seems to be having a growling issue. I am hoping it will calm down before we make it to bed (bed, what is that??) so that I can sleep :)

Introducing...

2008-04-21T14:48:00.000-07:00

...our new addition. Brian is now an owner of his own baby grand piano! I was finally able to get him to go out and look for one. He has been putting off getting a new piano for a long time. I don't think he was actually planning on getting one this time but, once he started trying them out, I think he realized how "bad" our current one is. Mind you, we bought our current piano for only $250 from a teacher friend of mine who was trying to get rid of it. So, I would have to say we definitely got our moneys worth (10 years later). However, it is pretty much untuneable. I knew it was getting bad when he would play a piece I didn't know and I could tell that it was out of tune. So, after two days of looking, visiting 4 different stores, Brian finally found the one he just could not pass up. We were definitely in the right place at the right time as far as pricing and we couldn't pass it up. So, next time you are here, you'll have to have Brian play for you :) I am looking forward to hearing more of his playing myself. I think he'll have a hard time passing by it without striking up a tune!

I'll post more pictures once it is delivered.

Food, food, food...

2008-04-19T20:14:00.000-07:00

Not much has been happening in our lives the past few days. We are missing our company but also settling back into our routine. Savannah sort of had a bomb explosion type of day yesterday but did much better today. I think she had just been stretched too thin as far as what she was capable of adapting to over the past couple of weeks and she had to get it all out yesterday (yeah for me :) ). So, what I decided to talk about today is food. As many of you know, I enjoy food :) Well, mostly, I enjoy cooking. Since having Savannah, in particular, I have found that I really enjoy a wide range of food. I enjoy experimenting with different things I thought I would never eat and the food network has become my favorite channel. It has been fun learning new flavors and how they mix together.

Tonight we went out to dinner before our orchestra concert. We went to a restaurant called Aubergine Bistro. Brian was given a gift certificate there as a gift so we decided to try it out. I had a wonderful filet. It was cooked perfect and almost melted in your mouth! The salad was excellent. It was one of my favorite types of salad, mixed greens, feta cheese, walnuts, raspberry vinaigrette dressing, yum. However, they had a new addition to this salad, sun dried tomatoes. I was a bit skeptical because they are a strong flavor and not one I would think would go with this sweet salad. Boy, it was wonderful! I cannot believe how it added a whole knew dimension to the salad! Brian tried something new. Take a look at the picture in the top left corner. That would be what Brian ate tonight! It is elk. This is the second time he has had an opportunity to order it. He passed the first time but couldn't resist this time. He loved it! I wouldn't touch it, but he really enjoyed it. All I can say is that it was awful red on the inside. Me and my medium filet kept to our side of the table :) On our way home we got to discussing what exactly an elk is. So, here is your lesson for the evening. An elk is a deer. It is the second largest deer after the moose (which is in fact a different animal). At one time an elk was believed to be a red deer, however, DNA research has found that they are not the same animal. Also, and Brian was really excited about this part, they are highly susceptible to infectious diseases. Now he finds out! The discussion also lead us to talk about other four legged "deer" type animals. So, just for your information, a gazelle is an antelope. An antelope is related to a cow or goat. And Brian did not eat either tonight :)

Last night at small group the opening question from our study was what foods can you remember eating as a kid that you could not stand. It was interesting to hear what everyone had to say. They also asked if you were ever able to grow to like these foods. We have determined that Brian has gotten over his "green peppers and celery" episode from Kindergarten and has grown to eat pretty much anything. I am amazed at some of the stuff he comes home and tells me he has eaten for lunch with his friends. As for myself, the one thing I can remember is that anything that could be made into a pancake type shape, did. Potato pancakes, salmon cakes, tuna cakes and so on. To this day I do not even like the idea of a crab cake. I am also not a big fan of potatoes au gratin, although I think I ate something along those lines tonight. Brian and I were reflecting on how we were both opened up to a whole new world of eating when we were married. My family eats a lot of spicy foods, which was new for him. For me, the introduction of southern type foods like various forms of greens were added into my "like" column. Anything stand out from your childhood that you didn't like to eat?

As I stated before, I really enjoy cooking. If you have a favorite recipe that you would like to share, send it on out! I am always willing to try something new. There is a running joke that I never make anything twice because I am so busy trying new things :) I am working on this though.

Grace

2008-04-18T06:26:00.000-07:00

Grace as defined by Sandra Lee:

"Grace" has become one of my favorite words. To me it means learning to balance the good days with the bad. Grace is about being proud of yourself, your actions, your life, what you stand for, and the way you give back. It's being generous when someone hurts you; it's knowing when and how to react. It's knowing that someone you're not fond of today might turn out to be the only person who puts his or her hand out tomorrow just when you're about to step in front of a moving bus. Grace is offering understanding and acceptance when the rest of the world does not.

A woman with grace is a hero of her home. She makes everything happen for other people in her life but never forgets to make herself a priority too. She runs the household, where she is the strength and foundation. She teaches by example as much as she does with her words.

This is a really good book if you are interested in Memoirs or nonfiction books. Sandra went through a lot in her life and fought hard to get to where she is today.

Congrats

2008-04-17T18:50:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to my Florida sister-in-law. Tonight was her ceremony to honor the Seminole County Teachers of the Year. She was named teacher of the year for her elementary school. It was a really nice ceremony. It is nice to know that there are people who still give honor to this profession. I think the words that touched me most were the letters that were read from students of teachers who were being honored. Some of the kids (well, adults in most cases) who wrote these letters had these teachers 20 years ago. Wow! To still be remembered that long ago! It reminds me of why I love teaching. I enjoyed getting to see some of my old teaching friends and realized that I definitely would like to go back to teaching in the school system. I am happy for my sister-in-law. She is a good teacher who works hard at what she does. She is one of those who gives the profession a good name :)

What will the furture bring?

2008-04-14T13:15:00.000-07:00

This weekend was a lot of fun. Meme and Grandpa have been here for a few days to see Savannah in her program. Oh Saturday, we decided to go to the park for a while. It was a nice, a little warm, but still nice for the park. Well, Brian remembered that UCF was having their spring game, so he and Grandpa went. Brian was thinking he would like to take Savannah with him. While I would have loved to have some free time, I didn't think this was a stellar idea. Meme and I were not going so it would be two less people to run after her. So, off they went to the game while Meme and I brought Savannah back home. We actually had a very relaxing time at home. We watched The Wild and all took a little nap. I was able to finish up my book and Meme and I both did some knitting. It was nice! Savannah rarely lets us have this kind of relaxing afternoon, so we really enjoyed it. And Brian and Grandpa enjoyed the UCF game as well.

Sunday was the big event. We went to see Beethoven Lives Upstairs at the performing arts center. Savannah had a really good time. The first hour is the instrument "petting zoo". You get to walk around and "pet" or try out all the different instrument families. She was able to try the clarinet, flute, harp, violin, cello, trumpet, trombone, and drums. Her favorite was the harp. Hopefully that will alter someday to an instrument that is a little more practical! The second hour is the performance. She sat very well during the whole program, at least, well for a four year old! There was a little fidgeting, but she did well. There were tons of little excerpts of Beethoven pieces. She really loves to listen to Beethoven so I figured she would like this. I look forward to seeing more of these programs in the future.

Seeing Savannah playing all these instruments and then seeing her play doctor, giving everyone in the house a check-up, made me think of the future. What will she become? What kind of person will she be? Will she ever be able to express herself without yelling? Will she be able to sit and eat and have a normal conversation? Some days I feel stuck in whatever phase she is in. I think it is getting better and then we get pulled back down into it again. I know eventually we will move on to something new. I am really trying to work on my outlook. My mother-in-law was commenting on how you need to try to remember those good times and not just the difficult. I hear some people talk about how it is just going to get worse. This is hard for me because it just encourages the tendency to look at the negative all of the time. But, every once in a while you get the positive outlook. Those people who are able to see past the frustration and enjoy thier grown children. I pray that I can start to see the positives in our life and just keep working through the challenges. I really want to enjoy my time with Savannah and discover who she is and who she is going to become. I cannot do this without letting go of the negative. I am reading a book by Sandra Lee right now. She is one of the Food Network stars and it is her memoir. She had an amazingly challenging life. I am enjoying seeing how she was able to rise above all that she went through to become the woman she is today. I bring this up because for the first 5 or 6 years of her life she lived with her Grandmother. It was the only time she felt safe and happy as a child. I want this time for Savannah to be happy. For her to be able to look back on her childhood and remember good things. I think that the more positive I can be the more happy she can feel. Mind you, I am not saying she should get everything she wants, because I do not think this produces a happy person. But, that is a different topic all together :) So, as I stated, I am praying for patience and a positive outlook on life. And I look forward to seeing who and what Savannah will become.

Noah's Ark

2008-04-11T19:55:00.001-07:00

Tonight was Savannah's Noah's Ark program. It turned out very cute :) Savannah was not so sure she wanted to go onto the stage. You can see in the pictures that Mrs. Terry had to carry her into the Sanctuary to get her to go in. Apparently Savannah was scared on Wednesday during the rehearsal because their was a recording of a rainstorm playing. Savannah has developed a new fear to thunderstorms over the past two weeks. I saw her outside of the Sanctuary and she looked terrified. I am glad that Mrs. Terry was able to get her up there. Once she was up on the stage, she was fine. All of Savannah's relatives who were able to come said that she was singing out and doing all of the hand motions. They could hear her where they were sitting because she was singing out so loudly! I wish I was able to see it :( I look forward to watching the video tomorrow! Brian is busy away playing with his new Mac (his new toy) to make the video. I can't wait!

MIA

2008-04-09T17:21:00.000-07:00

So I have been MIA for a while. I can come up with all kinds of excuses, but, instead, I will catch you up on what we have been doing. Brian posted the picture of Savannah on her swing (as you can tell by the short post. I am a bit more wordy than he is :) ). She had a good time playing with her friend in the backyard that day. She jumped up on her swing and asked me to push her and, when I walked away, she kept right on going! It just seems to click and they have it. It is so nice once they can do it by themselves. She still cannot start on her own. I feel this is due to the fact that she basically is swinging with her upper body. If you watch her in the video, you will see she basically does not use her legs. So she does not have the leverage to get her going. However, it is nice to get her started and then be able to walk away. It keeps her busy while I am trying to make dinner or clean. She will swing for about 20 minutes straight and then come in to the house and tell me she is done exercising :)

Last week was Spring break. It was nice to be able to not have places to rush to every day. I was able to get some gym time of my own in, which was nice. We also visited the library. Apparently I went a little nuts one day putting books on hold because every other day I have a new book to pick up. Many of you know I love to read. A few years back I realized that I do not need to keep buying all of these books (I think we single-handedly kept Borders in business) because there is something called a library where I can check them out for free! There are a few authors I still purchase, but, for the most part, I now spend lots of time at the library website requesting books.

This past weekend was busy! We met up with some new friends at the park on Saturday, which was a lot of fun. Then, we heading home to meet up with an old friend who came to visit us from South Carolina for a few days. We had a lot of fun with her. On Sunday, we went bowling. We went to the Oviedo bowling alley for the first time. It was a lot of fun, but I have to day, I liked the Winter Park alley better. It was much more cozy and inviting. Savannah loves to bowl! Of course, she wants to do it herself. I was afraid she was going to throw the ball into someone else's lane. They have these neat things now (I have not bowled a lot lately, so they may not be that new) for little ones. They are bumpers that pop up just for them! They then pop back down when everyone else plays. The ones I remember from when I was younger had to be put down at the beginning of your game and everyone had to play with them on. So, that was nice. Although, I had to play a few rounds for her once and I determined that I do better with the bumpers up :) However, as a side note, I must mention that when we took her to the Winter Park alley a few weeks ago, there were people there getting married. I have to admit that it is not what I expected at a bowling alley. To each their own :) It got me wondering, where are all the different places you have heard of for people to get married? Enjoy these pics of us at the alley. I had to add the one of her "blow drying" her hair with the fan. It is so her :)

Anyway, Monday was back to school day for us. Savannah had a hard day, as did most of the kids. It is really hard to have time off. It seems to really mess up their little schedules. They do thrive on routine. We also threw in program practices for their upcoming program. That just complicated everything. On Tuesday we went to Sea World with our friend from SC. We had a lot of fun but boy was the park packed! There were people waiting in line for over an hour to go into the Shamu show. Of course, they still had another 40 minutes to wait once they got into the theater! I was thinking it was nuts to wait for that, but my friend reminded me that if you came all the way here to go to Sea World, you were probably coming to see Shamu. Boy how spoiled we are living here! We actually have passes so we can go any time. My thoughts are, I'll just come another time instead of waiting in that line! She was saying that she really realized how much we take all of the things we have here for granted when she moved to SC (from here). She was telling people she was going to Sea World and they were all "wow!". One thing that I think is really neat for the kids around here is getting to see the space shuttle take off. There are many people who will never get that chance. A lot of people will get to come to the theme parks but even most of them will never see the shuttle take off. How cool it is to live here :) (OK, so it is hot, but you know what I mean). Here are some pics from Sea World, including the big man, Shamu himself. We lucked out into hitting the stadium at just the right time to see the show. Although we waited for about 35 minutes in the stadium, we did NOT wait outside the stadium for over an hour. I mean, I can just come another time, right :)

Our friend left today. We were sad to see her go :( We miss having her and her husband here living by us. Tomorrow Brian's parents come into town for a week. We are looking forward to seeing them! They are coming down to see Savannah's program. She is very blessed to have grandparents who are willing to make the drive to come all the way here just to see her program. We wish we were able to see them more but feel lucky that we are able to work out getting to see them about four times a year.

Savannah is going to have a full house to see her on Friday. Brian and I will be there, her Meme and Grandpa, her Grammy and Papa, her Aunt, Uncle, and two cousins and possibly her Great Grandmother! She is definitely loved :)

That is what has been going on in our lives for the last week and a half. Hope everyone is doing well! Safe travels to Meme and Grandpa as they head out early tomorrow morning! We cannot wait to see you :)

Swinging

2008-04-08T19:30:00.000-07:00

Savannah has finally learned to swing all by herself. Here's some video:

Question...

2008-03-31T19:51:00.000-07:00

To all you more experienced bloggers out there, I have a question. What is with the spacing on my blog? I have noticed it on one other and I do not know why it is happeneing. If you do not know what I am talking about, some paragraphs will be single spaced, some are more like double spaced. What is up with that? Is there anything I can do to fix it?

Welcome to March in Florida...

2008-03-31T19:11:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday! Today is my brother's birthday. He has the week off to spend with his family because of Spring Break, so I am sure they had a wonderful day together. We celebrated his birthday with the family yesterday. It was a nice day, a little more overcast than we have been having, but Savannah still insisted she needed to get in the pool. So, Savannah, myself and my niece headed out with her (Daddy put his feet in and then promptly took off in the other direction, wimp!). I was surprised to see how much Savannah remembered from her swimming lessons last year. She definitely needs to continue on, but I was happy to see that she had actually made a little bit of progress since last year. She can now pop up breathe on her own almost the entire length (long way) across the pool! She definitely was not doing that last year. I imagine she is stronger now than she was last year. Savannah also swam, for the first time, without her "swim diapers". She was not really totally on board with this idea. Every time she put her suit on at home to run around in she would put a diaper on. We had to have a little bit of a talk about how she would not be wearing them anymore. She has been potty trained for quite some time now, but she is still deathly afraid of public bathrooms (although it is getting better). So, being her Aunt and Uncle's house, I am sure, helped out with the not wearing the diapers (not being a public bathroom). But, I have gotten rid of them all, so she is just going to have to suck it up. And, we will bring her potty seat to the public pool for when she needs to go there. After all, I am sort of scared of those bathrooms! They are LOUD! :) Oh, and another new addition is that she can touch the bottom of the pool in most of the "shallow" end. She is getting tall!

We also surprised my parents that night by telling them that we all have been planning a 50th anniversary party for them. Our original idea was to have the entire thing be a surprise, but then they kept making plans to go places, so we had to alter our surprise plans :) My sister-in-law put together a Save the Date card to send out to guests and we gave mom and dad the card. They were very surprised! Mom kept saying "What is this? What are you doing?". I hope they will enjoy the get together. It will be nice to see some friends from the past and also get together with some newer friends and celebrate 50 years of marriage! Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad!

Anyone for some Spam....

2008-03-30T19:25:00.001-07:00

Saturday was a whirlwind day! It started at 5:55 am with Savannah screaming because she "couldn't see" from her room. I couldn't figure out what was going on (since she woke me up from a sound sleep) but I got up and walked on over to her room. Normally Savannah sleeps with a light on in her closet because she does not like the dark. I noticed that her room was dark so I tried to turn the hall light on, over and over and over again :) Mind you, I was still half asleep. Finally it dawned on me that the lights were out. So, I picked her up to calm her down and started walking around the house checking the doors and such. I guess it was just a really eerie feeling because it was so dark and quiet. As I was doing this, Brian's cell phone starts to ring. He finally got out of bed to answer it and it was our alarm company calling to say our alarm was going off. Hmmm...it was awful silent for an alarm to be going off. Anyway, Brian finally convinced them to call of the cops (they had sent them out to check on us) and we let Savannah sleep with us for the rest of the night, morning, whatever it was. (We normally never do this, but there was no way we were getting her to sleep in her room when it was pitch black). Anyway, this slowed us down that morning. We had a party to be at at 9:30. We did get there, but just a little late. Savannah's friend R was turning 3 and the party was Curious George. It was very cute. Here is a pic of her and two of her friends from the party dressed up like George.

After the party, Brian, Savannah and I ate lunch at Savannah's all time favorite, Tijuana Flats. If you have never been and you live by one, GO! It is yummy. Almost everyone I know who goes loves it. Then we were off to my nephews soccer game. We really enjoyed getting to see him play. This is probably his last season to play because he is heading to high school next year and will be busy with other interests. So, we really wanted to get to at least one game this season. He won! Which was an added treat. But boy was it hot our for those boys (and girls, which there were some on the opposing team). And, while I am at it, don't you think that they are a little old to be playing together on the same sports team? They are 14, for those who do not know. Maybe I am weird but it seems that they get to a certain age and they need to start being separated, for multiple reasons. Oh well! Just my two cents. We headed home from the game and Savannah actually let us rest for a while! I guess there is a first for everything. Brian and I then headed up to church to witness the baptism of our dear friends little boy. It is always a joyous event to watch parents commit themselves to raising their child in a Christian home, raising them to know God. Congratulations R.B.!

This leads of to the final event for the day:

As a birthday gift this year, I gave Brian tickets to see Spamalot. He has wanted to see it and I couldn't pass up the opportunity to take him. So, when I gave him the tickets, he said "are you sure?" He didn't think I would like it that much. I am not really familiar with much of Monty Python's stuff. I can remember it being played at a party I went to in high school, but I do not think I really payed much attention to it. So, I must say, it was pretty funny. There were a few things that I didn't get, but Brian was saying he thought that if I was more familiar with their work, I probably would have been able to follow it better. However, all in all, it was definitely a humorous evening. There were people just belly laughing throughout the entire show. It was great to hear! You do not get too many opportunities to be in a large place with thousands of adults and hear them laugh so hard for so long. However, I had to wonder what some of the people there were thinking. I know that there are many people who just buy the season tickets to these shows every year. There was an older couple next to Brian who really looked out of place. I had to wonder what was running through their minds during some of the "skits". For those who love, like, or enjoy things that are a little bit different, I definitely recommend going to see this show!

Anyone for a Picnic...

2008-03-30T18:20:00.000-07:00

Friday Grammy and Papa came over for a picnic. The weather here is beautiful right now so we decided to take advantage of it. Papa finished up a few things he was working on with the playground set and then we all enjoyed tuna salad and egg salad. Savannah set up the place settings for everyone. Of course, she could not resist jumping up and playing on her "tree house".

After she was finished eating, Savannah decided she wanted to play in her water table, which of course included putting on one of her bathing suits. This one is from her Great Aunt Judy. She enjoyed running around and splashing water all over.

After Grammy and Papa went home, Savannah had her first guests over to play on her tree house. She loved having them come over and showing off her knew playground. I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!

Missing...

2008-03-28T05:42:00.000-07:00

So I have noticed a pattern with my posting. I tend to go missing during the week. I need to try harder to update so that I do not keep ending up with a huge post like the one on Easter. We have started Spring Break here and the weather is beautiful! Yesterday was spent outback working more on the play set. I say that as if I was the one doing the work :) Mainly, I was the "go-for" for my dad. He finished the fence on the top platform and put in the two slides. He also attached the last board to the roof. So, we are almost done (there I go, taking credit). I also put her sand and water table under the platform so that she can play more with it. She seems to like it there!

So I went to the allergist yesterday for my six month follow-up and found out the my copay has gone up to $50! Goodness! I am starting to question whether I really need to be going to the allergist every 6 months. Having allergies is really not very cost efficient. The cost of the monthly medicine is ridiculous! Between Savannah and I we are filling 3 prescriptions a month, plus our two antihistamines, which are no longer prescription. Oh, and Brian takes one too, but his is much cheaper due to being able to take the generic brand. So, while at the doctor, they took my blood pressure. Why does an allergist need to know my blood pressure? Anyway, if you know me well, you know that my blood pressure always spikes at the doctor's office. I think is was 140/98. Pretty high, even for me. The only time I have had it higher was while I was pregnant. Anyway, they took it again at the end of the appointment and it was 131/88. It had already started going down, so they were happier with that. By the time I got home I bet is was already back to normal. I cannot seem to figure out the special formula to help me calm my nerves while at the doctor. They were not even going to be doing anything to me yesterday! Why so nervous? Actually, it isn't even seeing the doctor that makes me nervous, it is knowing that I will have to have by blood pressure taken while I am there. How ridiculous is that! So, I guess I will need to start taking up some yoga breathing exercises or something to help me out.

We have started trying some different methods with Savannah at dinner. Thanks for all the suggestions. She has four rules to follow and gets one warning if she breaks one of them. After that, she goes to her room while we finish dinner. For the most part, there has been improvement. I have tried to pay attention to what we are doing before hand so that I can see if there is any correlation to her behavior and how she is behaving. I really think the biggest issue is that Brian gets home at 6:00 or 6:15 and we go start to the table. I am thinking that she needs to have some time to play with him before we eat. I have tried the snack approach before but she ends up not eating at all when I give her a snack. She has had to go to her room both nights (we started this two days ago) but she did make improvements from one day to the next and I imagine it will take a few days before she really realizes we mean business. So, hopefully there is an enjoyable eating experience in our future!

That is about it for what is happening right now. We have a really busy weekend coming up, two birthday parties, a soccer game, and Spamelot (Brian can't wait).

Help Please!

2008-03-24T16:52:00.000-07:00

Ok, calling all you parents. I need some advice on dinner time with Savannah. The past two years have become miserable when it comes to eating with Savannah. We have always felt she would outgrow it, and it has gotten better, but it is still no fun. She whines, gets in and out of her seat, jumps out of her seat, plays with her food and drink, and is loud, yelling at us when she is corrected. This is really the last area we have not been able to get some sort of control over. One of my parents today said to me "she'll outgrow it. She won't be 15 and running around the table still." Boy, I got scared. What if she is?? So, any ideas on how to help her get toward the goal of being able to sit through dinner by the time she is 15? (Or 5, for that matter??)

Yes!

2008-03-23T20:06:00.000-07:00

Also, as a personal victory, I have lost 11 pounds! I have a long way to go but am thrilled to be able to say the number 11! It really helps to see the number going down on the scale :)

Time to Play Catch Up

2008-03-23T19:03:00.001-07:00

So, it has been a while since I last posted something. It has been a crazy week. We had two rehearsals for Easter during the week, we both played on Saturday night and then rushed to an orchestra concert after that (in downtown Orlando) and then played in 3 services this morning, plus, Brian played during the sunrise service. Goodness! But, I cannot help but say that it was magnificent. I always get such a renewed sense of faith whenever I have a chance to play for a service. There was a point in one of the services where the choir was singing "Shout to the Lord" and everyone in the congregation started standing and hands started raising. It was amazing to watch the spirit moving in these people. It brought tears to my eyes.

Today was the big day, bunny day. Brian and I have really been thinking about how we want to handle the whole bunny thing with Savannah. Growing up, we both had very different experiences with Easter. For me, there would always be a basket waiting for me from the Easter bunny and the eggs would be hidden and waiting for me to run around and find. And when I say eggs, I mean real eggs. Like, the ones we had dyed. I look back and wonder about that. When did mom and dad hide them? Were they really good to eat after that? Then we would go to church and have a big dinner. For Brian, Easter morning meant heading off to church first thing. They would not get their Easter baskets until they came home. I think I recall him saying something about getting them while eating lunch. The Easter bunny would leave the basket on the front doorstep and ring the door bell. So, now we have our own child and the challenge is to figure out what you want to keep from each tradition and what you want to add that is your own. Brian has been at church every Easter before Savannah wakes up, so it is really hard for her to get the basket when she wakes up because Brian would not be there. So, we have been sticking with the "basket at the door" approach. She really gets excited when the doorbell rings and she opens the door and there is her basket! I was worried that she would feel left out at church when she heard everyone else talking about what they got from the "Easter bunny". However, I was pleased to hear that there are other children out there who do not get their bunny basket until later. The more I thought about it, the more I really like doing it this way. It really helps to set a routine of Jesus first. After all, this is the reason for Easter. The amazingness of Jesus and the sacrifice he made for us.

Here are some pictures of Savannah in her "Cinderella dress" that she wore today. Her Great Aunt Judy and Great Uncle Charlie gave her the dress as a Christmas gift. It really is beautiful, and I love the color. I have always loved blue on her because it really brings out the color of her eyes.

One tradition I have carried over is the dyeing of Easter eggs (although we do not hide the ones we dye. We stick with plastic). Savannah really enjoyed dyeing the eggs this year. She made an egg for everyone that was at Grammy and Papa's house today (mommy, daddy, Uncle Guy, Aunt Carol Lynn, Christopher, Ashley, Grammy, Papa, Great Grandma and, herself, yellow, of course). I found a really neat egg dyeing kit. I had a great time with it! It marbelized the eggs. Of course, I sprayed the green dye all over me! I had green dots going all the way down my pants (which thankfully came out) and green all over my shoe and toes. Unfortunately, I still have green toes :( Here are some pics of the eggs and of Savannah finding eggs is Grammy's backyard:

Finally, an update on our continued construction zone in our backyard. We keep adding more and more toward a completed project. Savannah now has two swings and a glider, which she loves! She can actually make that one go on her own, so mommy and daddy love that one too :) The glider took a lot of work to get up because we had to add support beams going in the opposite direction of what was already there. This is due to the fact that it attaches with four brackets instead of two. There are still no slides, which seems really silly because they are probably the easiest thing we have left to do. I think my dad is going to help out some this week with getting some things built and added on. I really would like the side fencing to go up so that it is more safe for her to be up on the second level on her own. Anyway, here is a pic of her glider:

I would like to thank everyone for their ideas for how to help Savannah with the situation at school. I am helping her add some new phrases to her vocabulary to help her interact better with these children. I think that a big part of the issue is that I am so very sensitive that I take in the hurt as if it is my own (although this is also just part of being a parent!). I know I need to learn to set aside my feelings so that I can help her to have a strong self-esteem and also to help her learn how to handle these type of situations.

I pray that everyone has had a blessed Easter!

On a semi-related note...

2008-03-19T19:32:00.000-07:00

...to the post about Savannah's tree house, does anyone have a nice, industrial strength nail gun they could let us borrow?

Christian Parade

2008-03-18T18:48:00.000-07:00

Monday was the Christian Parade at UCP. All of the children are asked to come dressed up as a Biblical character. Jesus (aka Paul, a member of the church) walks down the hallway of the school and all of the children line up behind him waving palm branches saying Hosanna. He leads them outside and they walk along the fire lane while all the parents watch (and take lots of pictures). It is a lot of fun for the children. Savannah wanted to be Mary and carry baby Jesus. Last year, she ended up leading the parade (running out in front of Jesus). This year she followed along and enjoyed seeing all of the parents. Brian, Grammy and Papa were all there to watch her and I was fortunate that my class was lined up directly behind hers so I got to watch her too.

The big dilema she is dealing with right now is that there are some kids in her class that are not being very nice to her. Well, I think it is to a lot of the kids. They keep saying to her and others that they don't want to play with her and that they are not her friends. I was really upset at first because I thought it was just her, but I actually saw these girls doing this to some of the other kids, so I know that is not true. Anyway, I am trying to boost her self-esteem and have told her to find someone else to play with. I know that this is just part of life, but I am struggling with what I should tell her. Anyone have any ideas on what to say to her?

Construction Zone

2008-03-18T17:59:00.000-07:00

So there has been definite progress made as far as putting together the "tree house" out back. Brian and dad worked for about 4 or 5 hours on Sunday and were able to get the base up and the swing beam. And, there was only one additional trip to Home Depot needed! And, even better (for those who know my dad) there were no band aids needed. Savannah was so excited! She keeps saying that it is her princess castle. She cannot wait to have the whole thing finished. We went out today and got her a swing and ordered her a glider. Dad got a lot of good ideas for what he would like make to go with the play set. She may have the Taj Mahal before all is said and done :)

Brian and I have realized that we are both deficient at driving a nail into wood. We were trying to put up some more stabilizing pieces to the main base tonight. Well, after about 6 nails of destruction we gave up and decided God created screws and drills for something :)

On a side note, as a follow up to our Easter egg hunt on Saturday. As many of you know, we took Savannah recently to an allergist to be tested for possible allergy problems. Well, it turns out she is allergic to many things, including different grasses, mold, multiple trees, cats, feathers, and more. Well, if you might recall the pictures from the last post, Savannah's brilliant parents (not naming any specific names :) ) let her run around in a pen full of hay, goats and rabbits. Needless to day, she spent most of Sunday miserable, with red, puffy, itchy eyes and even a low grade fever. I guess mom and dad need to think a bit more about what we let her do!

UCUMC Egg Hunt

2008-03-15T18:49:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures from today's Easter egg hunt at our church. Before the egg hunt, there was a "walk through Jerusalem" set up in our Sanctuary where the kids can be transported back in time to see what it was like to live in Jesus' time (ok, so it was a modernistic view of what it was like, but more rustic than these kids will ever know :) ). Savannah enjoyed playing different games they had set up and listening to the music put on by the children's choir. I think we are going to get her involved in the children's choir next year. She really loves music and I think she would have a great time. As you can see, there was also a little petting zoo set up outside. Savannah enjoyed petting the goats, rabbits and guinea pigs. To see more photos, check out our photo website.

Savannah's Uncle Guy and Aunt Carol Lynn generously gave Savannah Ashley and Christopher's old wooden "tree house" (playground set) to play with. So, the second half of the day involved trying to determine what all we would need to get to put it back together. It has been sitting in their backyard in pieces since their move from North Carolina to Florida. We, of course, had to visit Home Depot to get the items needed. So, Brian, Savannah, my mom and dad and I all headed off to Home Depot. Now, I am not sure about how it is in your family, but I have found that there is something that comes over both Brian and my dad when they step into a Home Dept. It is a total time warp, meaning we end up in there FOREVER! Mom, Savannah and I finally ended up hanging out at the end of an aisle while they (being dad and Brian) explored the nails and screws for what felt like hours. We finally resorted to coaching Savannah to yell out "Papa, hurry up!". I am glad to say that we did finally make it out of there, hopefully with everything we needed, because, typically there ends up needing to be more than one trip whenever there is a project. Anyway, Savannah is very excited and we hope to have it put together tomorrow.

We ended the day by going to Red Lobsters (Savannah's name for it). She has been wanting to go there for a while. Unfortunately, it has to be planned just right to make sure we do not have too much of a wait. So, basically, we have to go early. The timing worked today so we heading off. Once there, she insisted she wanted fish to eat (yellow fish to be exact). Well, we went ahead and ordered for her, and guess what, she ate it! Wow! Who would guess I would have a child who liked to eat fish? Well, she definitely gets that from Brian. :)

Some Day My Prince Will Come

2008-03-14T16:37:00.000-07:00

Today, before we headed out for the day, Savannah disappered for a while in her playroom. It got awfully quiet for a while and then she came out dressed like a princess. Well, a princess getting ready for a safari. If you look closely, you can see my straw hat hanging around her neck behind her, and, of course, her binoculars. She looked up at me and proceeded to tell me that she needed a prince. It was very funny :) So, I told her that she should take out her binoculars and search for one, hence the second picture. It was cute to watch her look all over for her prince.

Savannah decided to test my limits today with her why questions. After spending part of the day with a friend, we headed out to Target. I was going up and down the aisles, as I am prone to do there because you never know what you will find, and she decided to start asking "why" about everything. Goodness, I think I answered why about 30 times in a minute. There was a woman standing by and I couldn't help but overhear her chuckles. It amazes me the amount of different things she can ask why about! I just have to continue to remember she is learning the whole time. She has moved on to a new line of questioning, the "what happens if..." question. For instance, today she asked "what happens if we don't take a bath", "what happens if we do not eat", "what happens if we do not clean our clothes" and so on and so forth. I guess it is better than "why" though!

Easter Bunny Comes Early

2008-03-12T18:03:00.000-07:00

At pre-school today Savannah got to participate in an Easter egg hunt. She had a blast! She was running all over the playground finding Easter eggs. Although the days are hard sometimes, I enjoy teaching at the preschool because I am so close to Savannah and am able to just pop outside and see what she is doing. She was also the special helper today, which meant she brought in snack for the entire class and got to share a book and a special toy. She took in a singing book (big surprise) and her "Cars" cars, as she calls them (from the movie Cars). The snack she picked out was a mix of goldfish crackers, goldfish pretzels, marshmallows and dried cranberries. Well, actually, she wanted to take marshmallows and cucumbers. I was able to talk her into something that I thought might mix better together :) . She enjoyed mixing it all together and then measuring out one cup each per child. As we approach Easter and all of the "bunny" activities, we are trying hard to remind her what Easter is all about. It is easier for her to understand that Christmas is Jesus' birthday, because she can relate to that. Easter has been a little harder for her to understand. It is always interesting to try to bring everything down to a level they can understand. Today, one of my four year old children was able to tell me that Easter is when Jesus died and then came to life again. There you go! Simple, but true. I think this is a good way to start learning about the importance of this sacred holiday.

Day Light Savings

2008-03-11T19:50:00.000-07:00

So, our lives at the Hill household are revolving around day light savings time right now. As a young adult, I did not like this time change because of loosing an hour of sleep. After having a child, and no longer having to get up to go to work, I realized that this time change actually allowed for some extra sleep because Savannah would sleep an extra hour in the morning! Well, jump forward 3 years, add having to get up for pre-school two days a week and speech two other days (and, of course, myself teaching again), and we are now back to loosing an hour of sleep. At least when I was younger, I only had myself to deal with. A sleep deprived 4 year old can be very taxing (to say the least). So, I am praying that Savannah will be able to catch up soon so that things can settle down at home! Hopefully everyone out there is able to settle into the new time comfortably!

First Post

2008-03-05T18:52:00.000-08:00

I am just diving into the world of blogging. I have not finished putting together the blog, but am excited to see the final outcome. Have a blessed day!