Winter Break is Over

Over this week, I was a little home sick throughout this trip however I will miss the wonderful time and memories I spent with my family. I am glad that we choose to get away from our everyday lives and enjoy just being with one another. Now to tell you the truth it is this time together that I will miss.
It was cold and everything was always wet, but I wouldn't have traded this time for a million bucks.
When we get home we need to remember to enjoy the moments because before you know it your children are seven and no longer need to be babied. They are the first ones down the mountain head first and loving it.

WWWWWEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ski Trip: Day 3 Last Day of Fun

Today is our last day of fun. Tomorrow we leave to go home to sunny Florida. We will miss our time off together. However we will not miss how long it takes to get all your gear on just to go outside. First we needed to get on many layers of regular clothing. Then we covered it all up with our waterproof ski pants, ski jacket, and gloves. You need to remember you accessories such as your hat, scarf, chapstick, and sunglasses for that blinding sun. After all those clothes then we must add our ski boots which are impossible to walk in. Then just to have a little fun you must carry your skis and poles. Which is not easy when you can't walk in those crazy boots.
One thing Steve won't miss is the huge blister he has from skiing. He woke up in the middle of the night to go to the car to get our first aid kit. This morning he headed back out to the slopes for a very short time because the pressure from his boot was making him really uncomfortable. Nick on the other hand has loved skiing and is begging us always to go back out.
He has had fun throwing snowballs and enjoying something that he doesn't get at home.
Snow, Snow and more snow!
I on the other hand has given up trying to ski I am just not good. For now I will remain flat on the ground and I will stick to walking.

Ski Trip: Day 2

Today we spent most of our day snow tubing. I thought this would be a lot like sledding and it would be a great experience for Nick. However for all of you who have ever been sledding you would be jealous. First when you were a kid you would try to find the biggest,and best hill, well the work was all done for you this tubing hill had five separate lanes so you don't crash into each other and the hill was 600 feet of the smoothest snow.
Now when I was a kid I would walk up a hill to enjoy about ten seconds of fun. Well they also made the experience much better. No walking up the hill. You get in a line and the hand the cord connected to your tube to the attendant and they hook it on to a pull. You are then pulled up the hill. It drops you off at the top and you just pick your lane and slide. I can not believe how fast this tube went down the hill. I felt sick to my stomach as I traveled down the hill. I just know that if I would have rolled off the tube I would have broken something. Nick on the other hand was fearless. In the beginning he was going down sitting in the tube. He then moved to laying across the tube on his belly and speeding down the hill face forward. By the end these fearless boys thought putting our tubes together would be a good idea. It went so fast. It was like going down a roller coaster on a dangerous cloud of air. We had a blast!!!
When we got back we ended up ordering pizza for dinner and warming up. Remember those four restaurants I mentioned earlier. Well we first tried these places, of course there was a three hour wait at each. Believe it or not people are willing to wait when there isn't much food on the mountain.
We ended the night with some fun games.

Ski Trip: Day 1

On day one of our ski trip we first had to stand in a huge line for rentals first we were given a paper (I'm still unsure of the reason for this paper). Once we got this very important paper we then had to get in another long line to get our ski boots. Of course Steve ended up with a pair way to small and now he has a two inch blister. After the ski boot line then you are put into another line to get your skis and then you have them adjusted to your boots. This of course took a while considering that the guy spoke very little English. I think the only word he could say was YES. Then we went around another corner and got into a another line for poles. I think this whole process would have gone a lot smoother had there not been so many lines.
One we were all suited up off we went to our beginners class. Nick had a two and half hour class and he spent most of his class time waiting for skis and boots. So he ended up with a shorter class but to tell you the truth he learned a lot more than either Steven nor I.
After my embarrassing class we went off to lunch. Now this may not sound like a big deal, but considering that there is only about four restaurants on this whole mountain. The places here cost so much you have to wait so long. Remember to take out a small loan just to have something hot around here. The one cool thing about this place is that the people who work here are from all over the world. So under their name tags then it tells you where they are from. Our waiter today was from Brazil. Snow I can't say I never meet anyone from Brazil.
I really thought that I would be cold but with a this exercise I am wishing I brought my FL shorts. By the end of our lesson we were so tired I could have gone to bed at 1pm. But this is a vacation and we have to time to rest. So back out to the slopes after we eat.
To tell you the truth I have no idea what I am doing trying to ski. For those of you who know me, I am lucky I can walk and talk at the same time and since I am always talking ... How do I get anywhere?
As I write this blogger I am sitting in the lobby in front of the huge fire. Today we had hot cocoa after lunch as went walked back to our hotel room. I am really having a wonderful winter break. This is what winter is all about.

Road Trip

Mountains Here We Come!!!
We may all have been smiles in the beginning but it didn't take long. I can't believe how much different Florida is from the places we have been today. When I first got to FL I hated everything about it. However now I expect things and people to be the way they are when at home. We drove some of the worst roads that I have ever seen. In FL when we are on a highway it looks like a highway and people come racing just so you don't forget. Here we were suppose to be on a highway and we are passing by homes and we even needed to dodge deer. When we first got into West Virginia we stopped at a gas station to buy a ice scraper because we were already bad there was ice and snow. Isn't there some who gets paid more than a teacher to clean these roads? Well guess he had the night off. While we were at the gas station the girl could not figure out the change. That is another thing, in FL we have registers that do all the thinking. I bet you thought I was going to say smart people. No way! Well after 15 hours of our 12 hour trip we pull in to the coldest place on earth.
You should see the car it is covered in dirt, snow, rock, and ice. That poor car it will be back in FL soon.

Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas together. On Christmas day Nick woke up at the crack of dawn and was ready to see what the big man had left him. Steven and I got a new laptop and this wonderful trip to Snowshow Mountain. Of course I am starting to wonder if the snow clothing cost us more than the trip. Being from Florida we don't have alot of warm clothes. Nick of course got toys, toys, and more toys. He got alot of Bionicles and star wars legos. He got a few board games and some new clothes. Overall we had a wonderful holiday. I do miss my family from PA and wish that I could a have spent the holiday with them. Tomorrow first thing in the morning we leave for our trip. Off to some where colder.

Merry Christmas!!!

Christmas Eve

Christmas eve is finally here! Today we headed off to church we ended up waiting 50 minutes until mass started. We wanted to get there early and make sure we had a seat. Well most people thought the same thing. We still had half an hour to go and the place was packed. The kind of packed that if you leave to pee you may come back to another woman sitting in your spot claiming your crazy family.
When we got home we started our Christmas eve dinner. Then we all opened our one special present. I wonder what it could be... PJ's but of course every year on Christmas eve the whole family get new threads to wake up to. Check us out in our new pj's, even Dogger (pronounced Dodger) got some new clothes as we wait for Santa.
Nick isn't sure he will be able to sleep tonight. He is so excited. We have been tracking Santa on the computer. If you are way out in China or India then you will be happy to hear that your gifts should have already arrived. As Nick tells me those kids are way lucky because they are already playing with their toys.
You may be interested in watching the flight pattern of Santa...
http://www.noradsanta.org/index.php

Making Cookies

Tonight I went to the Bob Carr theater to see the New York Radio City Rockettes with my friend Kristi. What an awesome show! While I was there Nick and Steven went to Grandma and Grandpa Herod's house. Nick went over earlier and baked cookies and had fun playing with Grandpa. Later Steven showed up and they went to Avalon Park where they was a games and rides for Christmas.

Preparing for Christmas

Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells!!!
Today we set up our tree. Nick and dad put the tree up. We have an artificial tree, due to allergies, so it takes a little while to get it put together and up. Once with tree was up Nick and I put on all our special family ornaments. Each year we buy Nick a new ornament to represent something from that year. This year we bought Star Wars figures for the tree. It was this year that Nick has driven us crazy with his love of Star Wars. I only wonder what interesting thing may be on the tree next year.

Christmas Lights

Tonight we went out driving around looking at Christmas lights. We bundled Nick up on this cool night and brought a blanket and cocoa along to keep him warm. We use to do this very thing when Nick was little and we were trying to get him to sleep. Old habits are hard to break we must have drove around for about 30 minutes and before you knew it Nick was complaining about being tired. I guess the car still works.
We saw some beautiful lights and can't wait until the holiday is here.

Holiday Break

Air Hockey, Anyone?
Today Nick and Steven played some air hockey to pass the time. We enjoyed the well needed break together. Today we did some winter cleaning as we prepare for Christmas. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving, just the three of us. We cooked all day and sat down for a short meal. It was short if you consider the amount of time it took to prepare. Then we ended on a sore note when our Dallas Cowboys lost in over time. If you ask a man, turkey and football that's what the season is all about.

A Hard Day of Holiday Shopping

The day after Thanksgiving is the biggest shopping day of the year. Steve headed out early to hit some sales. Since I don't enjoy fighting people for holiday fruit cake and Nick can't go out as his list is being filled, I have always had to opportunity to spend these early hours after Thanksgiving tucked under my warm covers. Someone has to stay home with Nick and since this is a tough job I will be the person to fill these shoes. Every year this is what Steve ends up doing shortly after getting home. Since we had most of our shopping done already he went out for some last minute items that we didn't think of until the sale ads. They truely know what you can't live without.

Thanksgiving Day

What are you Thankful for?
I am thankful for my wonderful family. Each day my boys challenge me to become a better person and mom.
I am thankful for my mellow Abby (our cute Maltese), it is so nice to be welcomed home after a long day.
I am thankful to be a teacher, I look forward to everyday that I get to inspire these young children. I am also thankful for the wonderful Red Bug family I get to work with, they help bring laughter and smiles to my otherwise crazy days.
Nick is thankful for God and the family that God gave him. Today before our meal we said a blessing hoping that you were all having a wonderful and safe holiday.

God Bless

Happy Thanksgiving

Preparing for Thanksgiving

Today we began preparing for Thanksgiving. Steven took the day off to run some last minute errands for our holiday. When school was over Steve picked Nick up and took him out to see Grandpa' s new shop. Nick was so excited, he talked about how cool the new shop is.
Here Nick is doing his part for Thanksgiving, drying potatoes. I know that they are just going to get wet again in the pot, but we are a family and we all have to do our part.

Happy Birthday Nick!

Today Nicholas turned 7 years old.
Since Nick is not a kid who loves cake he wanted me to make a pan of brownies. I didn't want him to go without candles and his name on the cake. Well once Nick saw the cool frosting, he just had to decorate this cake.
He wanted to write Happy Birthday. He didn't realize how big he was writing and that this tube was really hard to squeeze. So we ended up with HB (this stands for Happy Birthday).
I on the other hand decorated 44 cupcakes to go to school. I was covered with frosting from head to toe. I think I wore more than Nick.
Thank you everyone for the wonderful birthday wishes.

Birthday Weekend: Rainforest Cafe

Tonight we ate dinner at the Rainforest cafe. This restaurant was really cool. Every twenty minutes is looks like it is raining. Nick ended up with this huge rainbow Icee that he order with dinner. The place was awesome their were huge mushrooms, trees, and moss hanging from the ceiling. We even sat near a gorilla.
I think Nick's favorite part was when a bunch a people came over to sing to him and gave him a birthday sundae.

Birthday Weekend: Lego Store

Here Nick is at the Lego store at Downtown Disney Market Place. The shark and the Bionicle were complete made out of Legos. This was like a dream come true for Nick and his dad. He loves Legos. Sometimes I wonder who loves them more. We had a fun time. Today they just happen to be building a 20 foot Lego crocodile. There were two Lego artists working on this project in the middle of the store.
Nick ended up with Star Wars Legos. He got some General Grievous and Obi-Wan set. He also impulse bought a R2-D2 key chain. Not that he has any keys to put on it.
I wonder which of his parents will be carrying around this item?

Birthday Weekend: Build A Bear Workshop

Today we stopped at the mall and went to the Build a Bear Workshop. Nick wanted to get his dog, Dogger, some new celebration clothes. When we first got Dogger, Nick dressed him in a soccer uniform. The uniform was the same color as his team. Back then Dogger got a jersey, shorts, shin guard, cleats, and a small soccer ball. As you can see from the picture above Dogger has a whole new do. He is sporting a red Hawaiian shirt, khaki pants, red, white and blue Adidas sneakers, and if that wasn't enough Dogger is a dog on the move. He now has roller skates to get him where he needs to go. Lucky Dog!
While we were in shopping for Dogger we saw cute Christmas pj's for Dogger. Nick is hoping that Santa brings these for Dogger. I guess he will need to be a good dog, no peeing on the carpet.

Birthday Weekend: Miniature Golf

Today we played miniature golf. Nick made sure he picked everyone's color of golf ball. Nick got an orange ball his favorite color. Nick played great. He tried very hard and stayed focus. I on the other hand had one almost in the parking lot. Steve had some young kid many holes away retrieve my ball. I really don't think the PGA tour will be calling me anytime soon. They may call if they want that Tiger Woods taken care of, I could do some real damage with a golf ball.

Fore

First Grade is Hard Work!

Today I had a parent teacher conference with Nick's first grade teachers. He is doing so well in first grade. He now reads chapter books. I can still remember when he couldn't read and Steven and I could spell things around him to keep things secret. Now he is way past that spelling trick.
His favorite subjects are math and science. His least favorite subject is writing. He has such a hard time coming up with story ideas. So as a way to help him. Nick and I spend a little time each night writing in our journals. We both keep a story journal. When time is up, we then read each others stories out loud. As a special bonus we illustrate something from the other person's story. Then we surprise each other. He is becoming such a creative story writer.

Fall Soccer 2005

Fall Soccer
Tonight was a big night for team Lightning, they played their last game of the fall season. This season Nick earned his fifth trophy. Each year he has continued to work with his dad and has become a great player. He works hard and enjoys what he does. This season his dad was the assistant coach. Nick loved that his dad was there as part of the team. I of course get to sit on the side lines and cheer my boys on. I am proud of both Nick and Steve. They worked hard and they had a great season.

Rice Baby

At school my second graders made rice babies as a fun way to learn measurement. The students brought in some baby information about themselves from birth. We then had them measure rice, cups by cups to equal their pounds and ounces and birth. They then had to measure out their length and weight at birth and now. We had so much fun with this project.
Well everyday Nick would come into my classroom and just play with these cute little rice babies. He of course begged that we make one together. So I got out the food scale and measured out rice to equal 6 pounds 12 ounces. He dressed the baby and has just had so much fun with it. We have really working on daddy for a real baby. I think that daddy would rather just have a rice baby to worry about. They are cheap, they are quiet, and if they are bad you can make them into a casserole.

Thank Goodness Halloween is over!

I am so glad that Halloween is finally over. I will not miss the scary commercials for the Halloween Horror Night at Universal Studios. Nick never enjoyed Halloween because of the scary costumes. Well every time our doorbell rang he went running down the hall. Every time the bell rang the dog started barking. Before I could even answer the door I had to get my crazy family in order. Even through Nick does not enjoy Halloween we still do many of the traditional things like carving Jack-o-lanterns, roasting pumpkin seeds, and handing out candy.
As you can see from the picture on the right this is what Halloween has done to us these days. I however am the one on the right, the cute happy one. Steven however is the one complaining on the left. Leave it to a man!
As for Nick he loves to pick through the goo and find all the pumpkin seeds. I think it's kind of like a treasure hunt for him. I however should have stayed out of the pumpkin seeds. I ate so many with the shells and seeds that I ended up with such a belly ache. I think I learned something that I am sure to forget by next October.

Happy Halloween Y'all

Snowshoe Mountain, Here we come!!!

This year our family will be spending the week after Christmas on the slopes. We are heading to a ski resort in West Virginia called Snowshoe Mountain. Well you can only imagine what kind of winter clothes a bunch of Florida folks have lying around.
So today we spent most of the day trying on and looking for winter clothes for our up coming ski trip. You wouldn't believe how hard it is to find winter clothes here in Florida. You would think it never gets cold here. Well we get at least one day of cold. We all ended up getting new heavy, puffy jackets, ski pants, and water-proof gloves. Watching Nick put on all these clothes just made me laugh. It took him so long to try on all this stuff. He kept complaining about how hot it all was and how long it was taking. Let's hope that after he gets it all on he doesn't have to pee.

First Grade School Picture

Fall School Pictures are in!!!
Get you pictures hot off the press. I promise I will be sending out these pictures. I think this is the first time that he hasn't wore his silly smile in posed pictures. When this picture was taken he had only lost one of his front teeth. Now both front teeth are out and they are growing in slow.
Of course Nick doesn't like these pictures, but he doesn't like any pictures of himself. These scanned pictures give you an idea of what the real one looks like, but the real picture turned out much better than the one you see here.
So please wait for the real deal.
Every year he looks more and more like his dad. He got his good looks from the Herod side and his great personality from me. He got the best from both sides, that must be why he's so great.

Bedtime

Just like his mom, reading in bed!
I can't believe how big Nick is getting everyday. He is such a good reader. Here he is bundled up under his covers, reading a good book. Right after the storms went through, the weather got really cold here. We wore our long pj's to bed and had to dress in our long pants for school. Tonight the weather is suppose to drop into the 40s.

Nick-o-lantern

Happy Halloween!!

Halloween is just around the corner and we have our own personal pumpkin. As you can see Nick is missing his front two teeth. It is so silly when kids go through these stages. I really thought he was going to cry and make a big deal of losing teeth. He thought having a loose tooth was so cool he could then really gross out his mom.

Hurricane Wilma

Just a year ago central Florida was hit time after time with Hurricanes. Just our area alone was hit four times. Today we prepared for yet another storm. Hurricane Wilma is heading to Florida. So we were out today stocking up on batteries, water, and propane for our outdoor grill. Last year we spent a full week without power. Therefore, we were in the heat of Florida without air, hot water to shower, and not a grocery store for days. When they did open there was little to buy because most of their food had spoiled. At this time it looks as if Wilma will stay somewhat south of our home. However, we have seen many storms turn just enough to do some damage. Please think of us as we possibly go through yet another storm. We have been lucky this year. We have seen and heard many sad stories of hurricanes. This storm fortunately is the first we needed to prepare for. School is closed this Monday due to the possibilities of this storm.
I can not forget what we lived through last year. The picture above was from a storm last year. I had never in my life seen a tree pushed over like nothing. The roots were actually sticking out of the ground. Trees were laying on homes and cars.
I can only hope and pray that this storm will turn away.

Abby the Race Car Driver

For those of you out there that know Nick, you know how much he hates to write. He tells me all the time that he has no imagination. Well tonight he came up with a really cute story about our dog, Abby. I thought I would share his cute story...

Abby was a race car driver. She was a white, fluffy dog. Abby had a shiny car. There was a race on Saturday. Abby had never won a race. Finally it was Saturday. Abby drove her car so fast it was on fire, she went past 1 car 2 cars 3 cars. At last Abby won the race!
Written by Nick age 6

I think his imagination is getting better.

Pumpkin Patch

Today we went to the pumpkin patch. We had so much fun! We all picked out a big pumpkin for the house. We enjoy carving the pumpkin and roasting the seeds. Nick also picked out a small pumpkin family. He has a big daddy pumpkin, a medium mommy pumpkin, and a little baby pumpkin.Even though we don't celebrate Halloween (the holiday is way too scary for Nick) we still enjoy the traditional parts. So every year when we answer the door to our trick-or-treaters our Jack-o-Lateran lights their way. It would be nice if our Florida fall was a little cooler. As you can see from the picture, we are still wearing shorts.

First Grade is Great!!

Nick has now been in first grade for almost three full months. He has so much fun. He has many of his old friends in his class from Kindergarten. One of the things that his class does this year is bring home a stuffed animal pet each night. We have been lucky enough to have Bloomy visit us one weekend. We took Bloomy to Nick's Friday soccer game. I think that Bloom was a great fan, because they did great! Bloomy also had the chance to go to Nick's grandma and grandpa's house. While Bloomy was there he went swimming and drove the hot rod. We loved having Bloomy visit us.