Florida Spring Break 2011

We had an awesome trip to North Port Florida for spring break. We drove 18 hours straight through and all came out in one piece. My parents have a house with plenty of space for our crew. My niece joined us for the week and the kids loved having her around. The weather was perfect, sunny and 85 the entire 8 days we were there. The kids enjoyed the pool, the beach, the sun.... We made an overnight stop in Chatanooga, TN on the way home and did some sightseeing at Rock City and Ruby Falls. The ONLY hard part was coming home to 6 inches of snow. We were spoiled with the sun and summer like weather. At least we all have great tans to sport around in the cold weather.

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Seriously???

Less than 48 hours ago it was 68 degrees and the kids and I were at the playgound riding bikes and playing in short sleeve shirts. I put the girls winter boots away and had high hopes for spring. Last year I had the winter coats dry cleaned too early so at least I didn't fall into that trap this time, because...

This is what we woke up to this morning.
Absolutely beautiful but completely unexpected. Some school districts were even closed. (luckily not ours!!)

And in another 48 hours it is supposed to be 75 degrees.

That's the thing about living in St. Louis. The saying goes if you don't like the weather, just wait until tomorrow.

My new look

It's been 3 years since I had my hair cut. My hair has always been long and extraordinarily healthy so time just goes by and it doesn't get cut. I was going to get a lot cut off when we got home from China but life got busy and I didn't do it.
So I was thinking I should just let it go and donate it. Cancer is unfortunately a topic near and dear to our hearts. Brian's mom and my grandmothers life were taken by cancer. Brian's best friend as well. And my dad is currently battling lung cancer. It seems to be all around us, all ages, all circumstances. This past year I have been measuring and waiting, and measuring and waiting.
I was extremely nervous about it. I haven't ever had short hair. I told friends I wouldn't like it. Many people asked why I was doing this if I didn't want to. The fact is, to get this close to be able to contribute to something I really believe in and not do it was harder to swallow than having short hair for a while. So here is the before and after.

My ponytail is sealed in a ziplock bag ready to mailed to Locks of Love on Monday. My kids are having a harder time with the hair loss than I am. I'm still in a little shock but so glad I was able to do this. And now I can wait another 3 years before the next cut.

Weekend Recap

Awesome!!! In a word that was our weekend. I know I posted a bunch of swim pics in the last post but this is where we were all weekend and Jack had a great meet. No top finishes but improvements in all of his times and a great sense of team spirit. My parents flew home from Florida to watch and his cousin was along for the ride all weekend long too.

Jack and his cousin Morgan, my niece.

My mom and dad.

Not sure if he's waving or telling me not to take any more pictures of him.

Getting ready to step up on the block.

Our crew camped out with activites in between races.

My mom, Anna and Callie.

And Carter....

So my boy Jack did indeed swim fast. On friday night he told me the t-shirts weren't so embarassing after all. We yelled and cheered and acted kinda crazy, just the way I like it. But when it comes to my kids, I'm all in and lovin every minute of it.

Big Fish, Little Fish

So I'm not a mama that likes to brag about her kids but I'm going to do it, just this time. Jack has been swimming a lot. That means 4-5 days a week, every week. He swims with a competitive team and we spend many a weekend at swim meets. The kid works hard and this weekend we are headed to the Division I Championships. I could not be prouder and any more excited for him. He is one of the youngest qualifiers.


I had t-shirts made to wear this weekend to support our rising star. We love them but he is a little embarrassed. Jack's team name is FAST and team colors are yellow and green.

A big smile at the last swim meet after qualifying for another event.

And the other kiddos. They have been such troopers. They spend a lot of time on gym floors at swim meets. I have a large bag of "stuff" that travels with us. Crayons, markers, coloring books, DS's, DVD players, snacks.....Brian and I do try and alternate going to the meets and staying home with the kids so they don't have to go all the time but we do want them to go and watch Jack swim one day of a 3 day meet.

Jack has had a fantastic swimming season and we continue to be wowed by this kid. He is outstanding, hard working, upbeat, excited, a great team player, and wonderful learner. His coaches certainly get a kick out of him. He has been the big fish. This weekend he will be the little fish, swimming with the big fishes. He will not finish in the top of anything, but the point is he made it there. We are all going, in our embarrasing t-shirts. So swim hard kiddo- you rock!!!

Wordless Wednesday

Belated Birthday Trip

The weekend of Jack's birthday we were supposed to take a mini trip to a small water park a couple of hours away. Our trip got cancelled due to weather and flu so we went yesterday. We made it a day trip instead of spending the night and it worked out just fine. Jack brought a friend and we spent about 4 hours playing at Tantara water park. Everyone had a great time and I love watching the kids have so much fun and know we can take these trips with 4 kiddos and manage just fine.

Callie happy as can be.

Anna having fun on one of the little slides. She and Carter must have gone up and down a hundred times.

The boys stomping.

Jack loving his birthday celebration.

Carter was trying to give me his tough guy pose.

I wish I would have taken more pictures but it's hard to have a camera in a water park AND we spent most of the time in the water with the kids!

Happy Belated birthday buddy.