Vacation in St. Maarten

Mike and I just got back from our early Anniversary trip to St. Maarten. It was a wonderful time of relaxation and time to regroup and get to spend time together. It was also the first time that I had been on a plane or to a foreign country (except Canada and Mexico).

Here is a picture of my second plane (we had a connecting flight).





We checked into the hotel/resort and had a nice dinner that first day. We had been up since 4:00am to catch our 7 something flight so we didn't stay up late. We were a little disappointed that we could not watch netflix on our laptop over there because netflix will not stream out of the US. Bummer! We were looking forward to watching some more "Lost".




On Sunday we rented a car for the week and drove around the island to explore. There were many, many beautiful beaches to choose from. We choose to see Le Galion beach and Mullet Bay. We spent most of this day on the beaches and in the ocean. As you might have guessed, I am not one to lay out in the sun with my fair skin.










On Monday, we took the "Man of the island" tour which was a tour of the island in a van given by our guide Curtis. We made a stop to go shopping in Margot, the capitol of the french side of the island. There were little vendors in the street where we bought some souvenirs for the kids and us.





On Tuesday we took the Rhino Safari ride out to a little rock where we went snorkeling. I found out that I like snorkeling. Mike wasn't so fond of it. He did like driving the boat out in the ocean though. I was mostly hanging on for dear life. I definitely got points for being his recreational companion right then. Here is a picture that I took of some other people on the trip. It's the little yellow boats not the big boat.








That was all the excitement for the week. The rest of the time we just went to the beach, ate one main meal a day at the local restaurants and hung out reading by the pool or beach. We also walked on the boardwalk in Philipsburg, the capitol of the Dutch side. We could always tell when a cruise ship was in port because the town got really bustling at that time. Otherwise, it was pretty dead. Lots of little shops to see but most of them jewelry which Mike and I weren't interested in although through our resort we did win a sapphire pendant which is pretty cool because that is my birthstone and our anniversary month.




On one of the days we went to Fort Louis. I can't remember which day because they all ran together. It is a very small island so there is not a whole lot to do that doesn't cost an arm and a leg. Our last fun thing we were going to do was a Sunset cruise on a small yacht but that was canceled due to engine problems. It's a good thing because it rained all Friday anyway.



Saturday it was time to come back home. We were both ready to come home to our kids and get back in the United States. Unfortunately, our flight was delayed and we had missed our connecting flight back home. It ended up being a special blessing in disguise though because we were able to spend the night in Charlotte, NC in the Renaissance hotel courtesy of the airline with a dinner and breakfast to boot. That was the cherry on top of the trip. It was most certainly much nicer than the hotel we stayed at on the island and we couldn't have ever stayed there on our own due to the fact that it cost $350.00 a night for one person. On Sunday morning we finally made it home and saw our beautiful, wonderful, children. Thanks Memaw and Pop for watching them all week!!!!

Happy 6th Birthday Cameron!!!

On Mother's Day, May 9th, Cameron turned 6 years old. His actual birthday was on Mother's day so it is a very special day for me. We started out the day by going to church to worship Our Lord and then we came home to Cameron's big present. Memaw and Pop bought Cameron a trampoline. Cameron, Garrett and Daddy spent about an hour and a half on it while I was making the birthday cakes, one for us and one for him to take to school the next day. When Memaw and Pop arrived Cameron was able to open his other presents that the rest of us gave to him. He received a game of Connect 4 and a video game G-Force from us. Grandma and Grandpa gave him a Monster's vs. Aliens puzzle to put together, and Memaw and Pop gave him a human body model in addition to the trampoline. After presents Mike grilled up some steaks and we had that and corn on the cob and other yummy food. It was a wonderful day! Oh, Mike (the kids) gave me a tomatoe plant full of tomatoes and a TomTom for Mother's day.

P.S. The cake may not look that fancy compared to the others that I have made but it was super yummy. It is a white chocolate fudge cake. Delicious!

Pictures From Our Good Friday Trip

On Good Friday Mike took off so that we could take the family on a day trip for family time. I actually had an Etsy order to deliver in Arnold so we thought we would check out some sights in that area. The first stop after dropping off the order was at Mastadon State Park. That is where the above picture was taken. There was a nice little museum there with some walking trails. There were no digs going on at this time. But the weather was beautiful and we were outside.



The next stop on our journey was Kimmswick and lunch at the famous "Blue Owl Restaurant". Lunch was delicious. Afterward we were so full that we took a walk around town to walk it off. It is just a sleepy little burg with plenty of old time charm. I went in several shops but didn't end up purchasing anything. Then we went down to the river where the boys and Daddy walked around a little. Keira was so worn out that she finally fell asleep.

It's Official

It's official! Keira is a full fledged walker. She has been practicing walking everywhere for a full week. It is so exciting!

Cameron goes tomorrow to have another x-ray to check on his ankle but we think that everything will come back fine because he has been running and playing on it for a week now. He still has his air cast on but it is not stopping him.

Garrett is my little helper. He loves to sit on my lap while I am sewing and he also helped me vacuum today. We are looking forward to spring and planting some flowers. They are already shipping them. Aghh!

I have been busy with Disney outfits for someone from church. She and her family are leaving this week so I spent all week last week with my embroidery machine. This week I have a shower curtain and diaper bag to work on for some etsy clients.

Mike has been gone a lot with all kinds of different meetings and such. Tomorrow he has his writer's meeting. He has also been helping out with the upcoming auction for Cameron's school. On the weekends he has been fixing the upstairs toilets which decided to go out at the same time.

Update On Cameron

For those who do not know, last Saturday night Cameron went out the back door and fell down one step and twisted his ankle. We told him to rest and put some ice on it so the swelling would go down. By Sunday his ankle was not any better so we were advised by Memaw to take him to the Urgent Care Center to have it x-rayed. They took a look at it and did the x-rays and told us it was a small fracture. He was sent home in a 3 sided hard splint and we were told he would get a cast when he went to the doctor. He was looking at 6-8 weeks in a cast.

Monday and Tuesday he went to school with his crutches, which he loved. He also loved all of the attention that he was getting. Mrs. Foreman found a wheelchair and Cameron used that for when they left the classroom. All of his classmates wanted their turn at pushing Cameron around in the wheelchair.

Tuesday after school was Cameron's Doctor appt. with the orthopedic specialist. Cameron was all excited about his new cast and he already decided that he wanted red and all his friends were going to sign it and everything. Well, it turns out that the Doctor didn't think his ankle needed all that so he gave Cameron a plastic air cast that he has to wear for two weeks and then we go back for another x-ray to see if he is all healed. What a blessing that he only has to wear a cast for two weeks. It's getting so nice outside that he was just starting to get outside to play.

I'll let you know the outcome in a couple of weeks.

Garrett's 4th Birthday

Last Sunday we celebrated Garrett's 4th Birthday (it was actually on the 25th). He wanted a Spiderman theme so I went all out with the decorations. I made a cupcake cake with spiderwebs on them and little figurines. He was very surprised. He received some very nice gifts from everyone. Thanks Memaw and Pop for the clothes and the froggy. Thanks Bonnie for the money and Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for the sleeping bag which has already been used once. All in all we had a great time of celebrating the life of our middle child. He is so sweet and sensitive. At times he can be ornery but that is everyone, right?

Keira

Monday, February 15, 2010

Keira took her first steps today. She was in the middle of the hallway and she took a couple of steps down the hall and then balanced herself and fell down. Cameron witnessed the event because he was off school today for Presidents Day. Actually, he has been off for several days due to teacher days. Tomorrow he goes back that means I have to get up early again. I have enjoyed my 5 days of sleeping in.

Garrett and Keira and I didn't go to church yesterday because they were coughing so badly. They both caught a horrible cold in the same day. Cameron is doing well. I hope he doesn't get it tomorrow in time for school. The other two are doing much better today so hopefully they can kick the cold soon. At least Garrett hasn't spent the day coughing the whole day.

Busy, Busy

We have been keeping ourselves busy around here. I have steady sewing jobs each week to keep me on my toes. I've earned enough recently to pay for the renewal fee to enroll Cameron in his private school for next year. Tomorrow is the open house so we will re-enroll him then. The school is so wonderful though we can't imagine sending him anywhere else. If you have local school age kiddos than come on out tomorrow and check Maryville Christian School out. It is from 6-8 pm.

Mike worked on the bathroom this past weekend and he replaced some rotting studs and the tub floor. I love the smell of sawdust in the basement. We have a long way to go but there is some progress.

I am working on getting some Mary Kay tax paperwork together so that Mike can get our tax documents done. We need the refund for the bathroom and for our anniversary trip to St. Martin. I need to book the flight and get our passports. It's a little hard to think about when it is so frigid outside. I can't wait for spring and flowers.

Keira turned one and she is now cruising all around the room. As long as she is holding on to something she can walk around; otherwise, she just crawls all over. She is one who does not like to be confined in one spot. I guess because she wants to keep up with her brothers.

Keira's Birthday and The Dinosaur Adventure

This past Saturday we celebrated Keira's 1st Birthday. Her actual birthday was on Thursday, but I couldn't get the whole party together on that day so we had it Saturday. The theme for the party was ladybugs. I made a ladybug cake, ladybug appetizers, ladybug cookies, and ladybug sandwiches. Garrett picked the theme and I am wondering if he remembered that we nicknamed Keira ladybug when we first brought her home because she was so red in the hospital. She had her first piece of chocolate ladybug cake. I don't think I got a picture though because we took a video instead.




Here is Memaw holding Keira in her birthday outfit. I made the skirt for her and Bonnie bought the shirt.



Here is Keira cuddling with her blankie that Bonnie made her. Now she has one just like the boys. They love their blankets and they go everywhere with them. I'm sure it will be the same for Keira. She also received clothes and a shabby chic picture frame and some books.



Today we took the kids to the Science Center where we saw the Dinosaurs Unearthed exhibit. It was very cool. Cameron loved it, Garrett was a tiny bit scared and Keira was taking it all in. The dinosaurs were animitronic puppets that moved and roared. That was what had Garrett a little on edge. He even had sweaty palms. Poor guy. It was a fun family day/weekend.










The Koala bear in this picture is the class Koala bear named KC. He got to go on the adventure today with Cameron. Every weekend a different child from class takes KC home and they take him on an adventure and they take him back to school and tell of KC's weekend fun.

Ahh, Mommy Night

I am having my first Mommy night in a while and am enjoying the quiet, peaceful house. It is so wonderful to hear nothing sometimes. Even the animals are behaving themselves tonight. Of course, I have spent most of my evening on this silly computer but that is okay.

In the way of family news, Cameron got his second report card and he is doing excellent in everything. That is no surprise to us because he is a very smart boy. He is also learning to follow directions most of the time. I think he does better at this at school than he does at home sometimes.

Garrett is still very quiet during the day and doesn't do much during the day without his brother. He has discovered video games on the X-box and computer and he is starting to enjoy them more and more. In fact, Mike just bought the boys a kids role playing strategy game and he installed it on all three computers. They can both play the game on their own computer. The only problem with this is that Mommy can't sit down to check her e-mails because the boys are playing their games. Oh well, I don't need to spend all my time on the computer.

Keira is almost one year old. I can't believe how time flies. She is not walking yet but she loves to crawl and to pull up on anything and everything even if they are not sturdy enough which has caused more than a few bruises. She also falls down all the time which causes more bruises. What are they going to think at the Doctors office when I take her next week? LOL She'll get the hang of it soon with all this practice. In fact, just today she was concentrating on a piece of mail that she had in her hand and forgot to hold on to something so she was standing on her own for a few seconds. She did very well.

Mike is putting in some hard hours of coding at work. He is the sole worker on this project he is working on so everything must be done right. It is taking a lot of effort but will pay off in the end. This project should be over by the end of the month though so he can take a breather. He still has his game nights to look forward to this month.

I have been very busy with my new job. I had two projects the week before last and 5 projects this past week. I have a little bit of time on a couple of those projects. It is so exciting for me. You may wonder how I can get it all done with three kids. Garrett and Keira are so good during the day that it is not hard. After I drop Cameron off at school then I come home and do some chores. When Keira goes down for her nap at 9 or 9:30 I then do a little sewing. She gets up for a nap and I feed the kids and spend time with them and at one Keira goes down for another nap. I then sew for another hour and then go pick up Cameron. I am usually done sewing when he gets home until after the kids go to bed and then I may or may not work on some more sewing. It's not that hard to work in I just have to use my time very wisely.




Mike already has Keira on the computer.