Did I tell you what I got for Christmas?

It's been a while since Christmas, I know, but I gotta tell you about my perfect gift (it will work EVERY time) - a beach vacation!

Brad tried his best to keep a secret but when his wife is super intuitive and smart it's mostly useless :) It doesn't help that Brad gets way too excited about surprises - he can never keep them!

He and I desperately needed a get-a-way. We've encountered a lot of changes and challenges in our lives recently, so it was perfect timing for us. The last time he and I were anywhere alone was on our honeymoon! That may not seem so bad to some of you (being that we've only been married almost 4 years) but it's bad for me. I don't just want to travel, I really need it :)

So we went to the El Dorado Royale in Riviera Maya Mexico. It was so beautiful. We had four days and three nights to relax without the kids. Brad's parents and my sister allowed us this vacation. We are forever grateful to them for watching our babies!

I am posting this now because we didn't have a digital underwater camera, so we had to get our underwater camera developed the "old fashioned" way. Can you believe that it takes nearly a week and costs around $8!!

The beach was gorgeous even with the sandbags out there, it was still beautiful. The sandbags were there to help rebuild the beach that was mostly destroyed after a hurricane.

I hate coconuts, unless they are fresh! We didn't eat any, but it reminded us of our honeymoon in Punta Cana where staff members were cutting them open upon request!

Yummy margaritas!!!

It wasn't really hot while we were there, but it was fantastic weather for January!

We took a day excursion to snorkel. This was at a natural sink hole fed from an underground river from a nearby cenote.

I jumped from that too, but I didn't make it look as cool and fun as Brad is doing right there :)

Here we went snorkeling in the cenote (which is actually a cave) full of stalactites, stalagmites and BATS!! I was freaked out just a bit.

Here is our picture with the gnome! If you don't know by now we got this gnome as a wedding gift and it goes on every trip with us (kinda like the Travelocity gnome, but I stole the idea from one of my favorite movies, Amelie).

The gnome weights nearly 10 pounds, but that is just he burden we have to endure. I tucked him away in my life vest while we were on our tour.

We got to snorkel in the lagoon and see some AMAZING sea life! This is Brad and the gnome in the lagoon (the last part of the tour)

We tried to get that kissing picture, but it didn't turn out as romantic and effortless as advertisements make it seem!

Everyone thought we were crazy taking the gnome with us. Last summer while Brad was in Portugal, the airport security asked why he had a leprechaun in his bag!! Haha!!

We almost paid for a more expensive tour to swim with turtles, good thing we didn't. We saw two!

We also got to see a massive sting ray! It immediately made me think of Steve Erwin, so I was nervous the remaining part of our snorkeling tour. The rest of our trip was spent relaxing!

We are so corny and sweet :)

Had to have that last margarita before we flew home :)

Needless to say it was so much fun. It also goes without saying that we are going to be purchasing a digital underwater camera before our next trip.  

Thank you Brad for my awesome Christmas gift. I love you and look forward to many, MANY more adventures together!

Sh*t Crunchy Mamas Say

One of my Bradley Instructor peers posted this on Facebook and I can't stop laughing. If you want to get to know me a little better than you already do, realize that 90% of this is me!! poor Brad, right? :)

OH! And can I just share my excitement that my academic package to the Bradley Academy has NOT been lost. They have received it, so now I just wait for approval. I am WAYYYY excited! :)

Enjoy the video!

Don't you love good weekends?

In my last post I said I was gonna have one. And we did! We had a blast at the Magic House, so much in fact that we are considering an overpriced membership :)

Here is Nana with her favorite two year olds!

Here is my favorite one year old!

Always something food related going on with this chick!

What's Nana doing in a bubble?

It took him a little bit, but ended up loving their three story slide.

Isn't she the sweetest thing you've ever seen?! it's easier to agree knowing she sorta looks like me here  ;)

Here is our family photo...it's so creepy. It reminds me of the people that were buried in ash at Palermo.

They loved the water table! It's better than a bath (at least for Elijah) because he hates getting washed.

I love watching Elijah and Athena learning new things. I hope they're desire never stops, even into adulthood. My favorite thing they're doing right now is Athena blowing on her food after announcing 50 times that it's "haa". It's so unbelievably sweet. Elijah is talking just like a little boy. The majority of his toddler gibberish is gone. He's just learned the conjunction 'but', so sometimes he tries to make longer sentences by using 'but'. So cute. Most of the time is almost makes sense. :)

Sunday was a typical day. We went to church and actually started a new Sunday school class about building faith at home - I'm excited about that. After church we came home, made lunch and relaxed a bit before going to dinner with my side of the family. Most of us (minus Becky, Brad and Steph) - ok, so that's like half of us LOVE sea food. So my mom treated us to dinner. I love spending time with my family. It's getting harder as the little ones get older, but we are managing to stay connected as much as possible!

Me, George, Athena, Becky and my Mom

Me versus a king crab leg :) yum.

My goofy nieces, Emma and Allison

Yea, we love crab....anyway, I can't stop laughing at Becky trying to squeeze in!

Ha-HA...got you Steph!!!!! (a long running joke between us)

This is where my dad and mom were getting irritated for not getting a 'frame-worthy' photo, thanks to me and Steph :)

So that concluded our great weekend. Actually helped a lot to keep my mind off the fact that my academic package I sent is still not there. Tomorrow is Wednesday, so cross your fingers for me that it gets there!!

I might lose my mind soon

just so you know. Athena has created a new definition for 'separation anxiety'. I try so hard to remember that she is very sensitive and ever since we got back from Mexico, she has been very insecure. It doesn't help that I have recently joined a MOPS group, so she goes to the child care there, and at church, Thursdays for mothers-day-out and at the gym (which is most days lately -go me!). So in her defense that is 4 different places that she sees her mommy leave her. Oh my gosh...when I put it that way, it sounds horrible and heartbreaking!

It's going to get even more interesting when I start a Wednesday morning Bible study in a few weeks. Luckily the Bible study, MOPS and church are all at the same place. Anyway, lets hope that she gets a grip soon.

Elijah on the other hand can't wait to go somewhere and interact. Very rarely does he say he doesn't want to go somewhere. And if he does, he always has a blast once we get there.

Take a look at this....this is what it comes down to in order for me to make dinner or get something done in the kitchen!

 

 

You should have seen the place when they were done! Even after all that, I still didn't get dinner made :)

So it's been kinda rough lately. Especially today when I got the news that the Bradley Method - at the academy headquarters -  still has not received my academic package I mailed on the 18th! Really...!!! It should not take that long for something to go from St. Louis to Sherman Oaks! So I am REALLY bummed and stressing about that. I'm anxious to start teaching!!!

Regardless of the stresses around here, we are determined to have a great weekend. We are headed to the Magic House tomorrow (one of my favorite places) and then hopefully organize the basement.  (yes, organizing chaos IS a fun time for me)

There you have it. Not much happening around here other than expected toddler woes that most parents have encountered (or will encounter) at some point.

Elijah's a soccer player!!

I am so excited! Brad and I signed him up with a friend for Saturday mornings.

A midst everything going wrong, like my good camera missing a CF card, the video camera NOT being charged and my worthless Black Friday cheap-o Kodak being the worst camera ever created...we had a blast.

So, understand that the photos are terrible, because I am terrible for not making sure everything was ready to go the night before (I normally do, but we are in process of making sure Athena sleeps in her bed the whole night and not lazily bring her into ours at her convenience - so needless to say it's kind of exhausting around here).

 

Here he is obliging me with a 'cheese'. Why blogger won't rotate this, I don't know.

Even Athena wanted to get in on some of the fun!

Here he is with William. They are studs of the team! listen at my competitive 'soccer mom-ness' coming out already!

Elijah was the last kid to leave the field because he loved it so much!

Daddy and Elijah not paying much attention to the rules or the coaches...not a good start :)

It was so much fun for me. Being a mom just keeps getting better. God has it perfectly designed so when kids outgrow a stage in their lives you can recall it with love and thankfulness, but He doesn't leave you wishing for the past because the future holds so many great things you can't even fathom. And we are blessed enough to get to do it again with Athena.

The only thing we probably need to change is his Italia soccer jersey to a Greek jersey!

New year, new blog

 

Sort of….

Just a little face lift I suppose. I am so bad at keeping up with technology and I didn’t realize all of the ‘dynamic’ things blogger is doing. So I hope you can bear through all the confusion with me.

This year I plan to make a few changes. Firstly, I’d like to keep you included with my ambitions of becoming a Bradley Birth Instructor. Actually, I just mailed my certification off today!

I am beyond excited to change families’ lives regarding the birth of a baby. It’s more than that to me though, it is a birth of a family -  and to keep it as natural and unadulterated with social pressures is what I hope to contribute. – More about that as the time comes. Stay posted through my new blog: YOUR Intuitive Birth

I am also going to pursuit my DONA (Doulas of North America) certification later this year. I hope to be involved with couples and mothers giving them support during their birth experiences.

I WILL also become an awesome blogger and not make excuses about not having time. Or complain that it’s so freezing in our basement (as it is right now!!) that I won’t keep that from me staying faithful to my commitments.

Now it’s mid-January and I have to catch you up on ALOT of things. Including Athena’s first birthday. (How bad am I, that I haven’t shared that yet!?!)

The party was so much fun. We hired a balloon guy to make balloon animals and such. It was fun for kids and adults!

After her birthday Christmas came sneaking up on us!

My dad left for Greece just before Christmas, so we had a pre-party. I love when the family gets together, it is such a blessing to see how far we have grown and how much love there is squeezed into a room.

We spent Christmas Eve with my mom and Brad’s family. They have a tradition of having “Santa” come by and giving presents to the little ones. Personally, I am not a fan of Santa at all. I think it is a horrible misrepresentation of Christmas and I do not plan on my kids to believe in him. However, it was incredible fun to see Elijah’s excitement with Santa – so I get why people let kids believe.

Here is my little lazy-non walker :)

Candy canes are ALWAYS a huge hit with these two…especially the littler one.

So that was Christmas Eve, on Christmas day we had a great time with Brad’s family in the morning and then my family at Becky’s house. It was filled with fun, love and too many presents – literally, I am guilt-stricken at the thought of all the toys when there is SO much need in our community.

     

There is a quick summary of the end of 2011. Like I said earlier, I am excited for 2012. I hope you stay tuned to my blogs and see what great things I feel are in store for this year!