Take me out to the ballgame

Tonight was the first practice of the baseball season! (Our first practice was a rain out.) We received their new uniforms and they look more like baseball uniforms with buttons in the front and lettering on the sleeves. Cinderella was picked to be pitcher and she did a great job! She took her job seriously and everyone played their best. Baseball is my favorite sport. I don't like to watch it on tv, but the real thing is the best! Mr. C was only interested in batting so it was hard to get him to field. Cinderella has power in the bat and hit it really far! She was happy to see another girl on her team so she isn't the only girl.

Sunday is Opening Day and it's going to be a fun time! Let's play ball!!

A Sunday Drive

Cinderella asked Uncle Jerry if he would take her on a ride on his new Razor. Of course he said "Yes!" I could hear Mr. C yelling "Go fast Jerry! Go fast!"

Another "first!

This was taken when we first arrived at Kings Island. Those photographers are very aggressive and there was no way to get away from getting a photo taken. I thought this one was actually decent and since it was the first time we have been together as a family, I decided to order it!!

Opening Day at Kings Island 2012

 They love Snoopy!

 Gotta love pink jeeps!

 Mr. C was "Joe Cool" on the bumper cars!

 They loved the cars!!

 It was sunny for the first hour, then cloudy, rained for 20 minutes, and then was just chilly for the rest of the day.

We had a BLAST! It was the kids first ever trip to Kings Island. We live 20 minutes away, but with Mr. C's sensory issues (in the past) and vacations, we just haven't bought season passes. This year will be very different! We started off in "Planet Snoopy," which is the kids' rides in the park. We rode every ride and some a couple of times, we then ventured into the rest of the park and had lunch. Later, Cinderella insisted on riding the water ride. It was VERY chilly for that but we only got a smidge of our hair wet. Matt and C went to wait on us (they had more common sense!!). Cinderella SHOCKED me and wanted to ride EVERYTHING! Of course a couple of times she lived to regret it!! They rode "Adventure Express" and luckily Cinderella BARELY met the height requirement. She LOVED it! Mr. C would cry and laugh! I think he liked everything though!! It was such a fun day!

Anticipation is great!

We drove up to Kings Island today to buy our season passes and get them processed and made. The kids have never been or seen Kings Island before. It was like Disney World revisited! Cinderella was squealing and Mr. C was mesmerized.

They were testing the ride formerly known as "Face Off." And yes, I have ridden that ride before with Matt! Cinderella kept watching and was scared that she would have to ride it. After explaining that that ride was for adults, she was feeling better.

We went to get our pics made and passes. I haven't had a pass in over 9 years. Back then, the pics were actually ON the passes. Now they are not! You get your pic take but it is nowhere to be found on the pass. We did not have to wait in a long line and I am sooooo glad we got them ready for Saturday in which we can just walk into the park without major waiting.

Well, after the passes were made, we started to head to the parking lot and Cinderella asked why we were leaving. We told her (beforehand also) that the park was closed and we were just getting our passes. She angrily stomped her foot and cried ALL THE WAY HOME. I told her that we would be going in 2 days, but that was not good enough for her!! Poor girl! I must admit that I would have liked to have ridden a coaster or two this evening!

Germs go away!

I haven't blogged in awhile due to being busy and of course being sick. I came down with sinus/allergy junk Thursday and was basically miserable until today. Cinderella also had the same thing and Matt had just a minor case with basically a sore throat and a mild cough. Mr. C came down with it yesterday and he is still fairly miserable. He and I stayed home from church so that he can get more rest and will hopefully go back to school tomorrow.

Although I can't stand to see my kids sick, I have cherished these days where they have snuggled with me. Mr. C's snuggles just make this sinus junk disappear!!

Last Week:

Mr. C had a field trip to Sharon Woods on Friday. That was quite the day because I had to take them to the dentist EARLY in the morning so that he could make it to school on time for his field trip.

This week:

Cinderella has a field trip with all the first graders to the zoo on Thursday. She is looking forward to going to the zoo again. I am excited about getting my last IV of venefor on Friday. We're all looking forward to May arriving and boy will it be busy with baseball, showers, wedding prep and last day of school (for the kiddos).

Conversations with Cinderella

Yesterday, we were driving back home from visiting a park when Cinderella says out of the blue, "I want to go camping." "Camping?" I ask. "Yes, all of us in this van. All four of us go camping." "Where do you want to go camping?" I ask the princess. "The place where you go camping," she says. LOL! Apparently, she and Matt saw a camper a few hours ago and really liked it. It was one of those REALLY REALLY nice driving campers that cost probably close to $100,000.

We have been thinking of getting a small pop-up camper, but nothing as luxurious as the camper she liked. Nope. We're going to buy a house before we spend that $$ on a camper!! LOL! So, I guess we'll have to go camping this summer!!

She cracks me up these days. I am starting to see some pre-teen mouthy talk that I do not like, but I am amazed at what conversations she is bringing up!

One step forward

I have been slowly recovering from a huge health issue this past winter, two surgeries, 2 blood tranfusions and just a couple more procedures, I will be sparkly brand new! Tomorrow I have to have iron infusions at the hospital. Hopefully this will be the last procedure I need to get me feeling better so that I can start working out for the wedding in June. Then in July, I will have the final surgery which will eliminate my major problems once and for all.

I am looking forward to getting active and feeling normal so that I can spend my life enjoying my family and not worrying about my health. I appreciate prayer for this procedure tomorrow and for my surgery in July. I just know that I am ever so close to getting out of this horrible, never-ending tunnel!

I have a feeling that this summer will bring renew and possibly something else to look forward to in the near future!

Wordless Wednesday - Sibling Love

Easter 2012

 Cinderella in her Easter dress!

 Mr. C loved his suit! He is so handsome!

 Matt and I are so very blessed!

We had a really nice Easter! The kids enjoyed their baskets of goodies, we had a great church service, and we had a nice dinner at home with a bunny cake for dessert. Grandparents came over and we had a fun egg hunt.

Today was the last day of Spring Break for my kiddos. They go back to school tomorrow and I get a day to spend child-free (gasp!) to get alot of things taken care of without any distractions.

We had a great week together and look forward to the summer in the weeks to come!

Good Friday

We have a standing tradition of boiling eggs, decorating them and also make the annual bunny cake on Good Friday. We emphasize the real reason of Easter, however, we believe kids can have fun with bunnies and eggs. Last night, the glow-in-the-dark Easter egg hunt went well! The kids LOVED it! It took awhile to get the small glow stick bracelets into the eggs and then taped closed. However, it was totally worth it to see how excited they were to do an egg hunt in the dark! Mr. C found the bunny prize egg much to Cinderella's disappointment (putting it lightly), but Cinderella won the prize of finding the most eggs. She is an egg hunter professional!!

Glow in the Dark Egg Hunt

Tonight, the kids will get to do their first-ever glow-in-the-dark egg hunt! I found this idea on Pinterest. (LOVE LOVE LOVE that site!) We'll be hunting after dark and they will looking for glowing (glow sticks inside) eggs. Whoever finds the SPECIAL egg will win the grand prize!!

We haven't told them what we are doing tonight, just that there will be a surprise if they are good (Can ya tell it is Spring Break??!). Cinderella keeps asking me when we are going to have our surprise. I love doing special things for them!!

Tuesday Fun

Yesterday, Miss Cinderella went to the Zoo with her friends and her sweet cousin Brittany. Brittany wanted to take her future flower girls to the Zoo and yesterday was the perfect day. Not wanting Mr. C to feel left out, I took him to see "The Lorax." It was a wonderful movie with such a cute message! We will definitely buy this movie when it comes out!

Today, we are going to play outside and we have an Easter Party at church tonight. It's going to be a fun day!!

Roaring Fork

Saturday morning, we hit Smoky Mountains National Park and I wanted to visit something similar to Cade's Cove but not drive so far to get to it. I researched it online and found this beautiful driving trail just minutes from downtown Gatlinburg. We saw gorgeous views of the mountain, waterfalls, breathtaking views of moss covered creeks, and historical cabins and buildings. No bears were sighted unfortunately!! We had a wonderful time visiting and will definitely visit again!

Nascar SpeedPark

We had a blast at Nascar SpeedPark with unlimited go kart rides, miniature golf, and lots of carnival style rides. Cinderella rode her first go kart car all by HERSELF! She was very proud about that! She also wanted to drive Mr. C around the bigger karts which she wasn't tall enough so Matt and I had to drive. Cinderella and I rode the Starship ride which is like the Electric Rainbow but indoors. It made her really disoriented and I really didn't think she should ride it but she was being independent again! Mr. C enjoyed the go karts and Scrambler. The little roller coaster scared him as well as the Tilt a Whirl and Mini Drop Zone. I am starting to rethink the Kings Island pass.... I have a few more weeks to decide before I have to purchase them. Hmmm!

Rainforest Adventures Zoo

After our shopping, we visited a cute, out of the way zoo that I discovered online. It was a great indoor zoo filled with lots of rainforest animals as well as an outdoor exhibits with goats, sheep, chickens, emus, kangaroo and turtles. Mr. C loved the parrot that said "I love you!" and "Row, Row, Row Your Boat!" Cinderella loved the reptiles. It was so much fun and very affordable!!

Grateful

Yesterday started out great with sunny skies in TN and shopping with a trip to the Rainforest Adventures Zoo before heading back home. We had a wonderful time looking at all the animals. Mr. C enjoyed the goats/lambs and Cinderella loved everything!

We left the zoo around 12:30pm. Our first traffic jam was just past Sevierville near Kodak, TN. We sat in that traffic for about an hour. Then, everything was smooth sailing for awhile. We stopped for gas at Williamsburg, KY and about 15 miles later was the beginning of another traffic nightmare.

We just passed London's exit when we hear on the radio about the accident. Not knowing that area well enough we couldn't think of anything but to stay on the highway. We sat in traffic for about 4 hours. It was just awful!! People were getting out of their cars, letting their dogs out, talking to people in other cars and I saw people heading to the woods for a nature call.

The kids did remarkably well considering this was our 3rd traffic nightmare in 3 days. We had snacks and drinks so that kept all of us comfortable. If we just had a toilet, all would have been tolerable. We had to shut off our van to keep the engine from overheating. I did over 10 word searches and the DVD player and Kindles kept the kiddos entertained.

I was then starting to think, if we had not stopped for gas, we could have been in that awful accident that took the life of a man from our state. We also heard that his wife is a teacher and is in serious condition. Another couple in the city next to us was hurt as well. This accident involved 3 semis with one of them being an oil/liquid tanker. I am so thankful for the Lord protecting us from being there when that accident happened. His protection is just amazing! We are so grateful to be alive, unhurt, safe and that although we were uncomfortable for 4 hours, it's so much better than what could have happened!!