We Could Not Ask For More

2011-10-05T18:55:00.000-04:00

Hi.

I'm still here! :)

Anyone out there??

Unfortunately the blogging has taken a backseat to all of the activity going on with our busy family!

But, I have started a photography business, Happy Nest Photography.

You can find the blog here:

Happy Nest Blog

My Facebook business page here:

Happy Nest on Facebook

Emily - From the perspective of her 7-year-old brother

2011-05-15T17:13:00.011-04:00

We met with the Child Study Team and Emily's teacher this week. She'll be returning to the same school again next year and is eligible for a program in July/August as well. We have seen tremendous improvement this year.

Back in October, Drew spent a few nights writing a book about Emily. He chose what he wanted to write and we picked/took photos to match. I don't know why we never posted it, but we think it will be a wonderful keepsake for all of us to see Emily through the eyes of Drew years from now. He was only 6 when he wrote it, but turned 7 soon after.

Enjoy!

Clutch Bag from Gardenhouse Boutique

2011-05-13T15:58:00.002-04:00

You can win this super chic clutch HERE!!

Gorgeous headband!

2011-05-13T15:54:00.002-04:00

Forty Toes Photography is givng away this amazing headband HERE from Chickapee Creations!! LOVE!!

Baby Chunky Cheeks!

2011-05-13T15:51:00.002-04:00

How adorable is this set from Baby Chunky cheeks?

Forty Toes Photography is givin it away HERE!

Pretty skirt giveaway!! :)

2011-05-13T15:43:00.000-04:00

Jennifer at Forty Toes Photography is hosting a giveaway for a gorgeous skirt for Moms!

Check it out HERE !!

Check out this amazing giveaway for moms from Laura Winslow Photography!!

2011-05-03T21:18:00.000-04:00

ONE winner will win 138 prizes worth more than $6500!!!! Please let it be me!!!
Click the link below to check out her blog.

http://laurawinslowphotography.com/blog/2011/04/28/laura-winslow-photography-presents-mamas-rock-giveaway-2011-over-6500-to-one-winner/

A new adventure

2011-04-28T20:30:00.001-04:00

Photography has become more than just a hobby for me lately, it's become a passion. I've always loved taking pictures, in fact, when I was younger I loved an older camera my Dad owned - with it's hard leathery case and a loud "click" when you pressed the shutter button. I used to pretend to be a photographer or a reporter back then, but I really remember loving how that big and clunky that old camera felt when I held it.

I've starting doing informal photo sessions for family and friends and I'm really enjoying it. Now I'm hoping to take it to the next level and actually make it a little business. I'm trying to set aside my self-doubts and just go for it!

Tonight, I've been brainstorming names for my business. I could go with Aimee Gollihur Photography or Aimee Lynn Photography, but I'm just not thrilled with the sound of it. Many others incorporate other things I love like music and my family; HeartSong Photography, Fourever Photography, Caboodles Photography, All 4 Love Photography (too Color Me Badd!), and Quartet Photography. Others ideas were Snap Happy and Ever After Photography.

I don't want to be too cutesy, or too formal. I also don't want it to seem limited to one kind of subject because I hope to do babies, children, families and maybe even events like birthday parties. No weddings though . . . yet!

I just love this one that just came to me.

Live. Laugh. Photograph.
But it's taken!! As are many of my other ideas. :(

Still thinking about it . . .

Lemonade Stand/Grocery Store Giveaway at Gummy Lump!

2011-04-08T15:24:00.002-04:00

What kid wouldn't want to play with this?

Go check out Gummy Lump for a chance to win!

Click on the button on my sidebar.

St. Patrick’s Day Eve Decathlon for 3 Year Old Supremacy

2011-03-16T20:05:00.012-04:00

You read that right. Today while eating dinner, Drew explained that Carter and Brenna were going to have a heavy lifting competition after dinner to see who is stronger. Their crazy parents allowed the event to become a fun-filled after-dinner activity to focus everyone’s energy rather than continuing what everyone was doing before dinner (being cranky).

Our initial event, Hula Hoop Jumping came down to a tie due to the limits of my analog stopwatch and no clear-cut winner.

Although the 10 Yard Dash was a photo finish, we still don’t know who won, because Carter was busy tackling Drew at the finish line. Apparently, the 9 yard dash is all Carter can handle before falling over.

Heavy Lifting, which ended up resulting in a victory by Brenna, also won the ROTFL award. Watching toddlers trying to figure out how to lift a rocking horse over their head is more entertaining than most prime time tv.

Hoop Hurdles was the only activity that ended poorly, due to an overzealous seven-year-old in charge of holding hoop #1. We judged it a tie in an effort to move on.

Up the Ladder-Down the Slide was a competitive event. Although Brenna did win the three lap event by a two-second margin (18-20), Carter did show some style when heaving his body across the slide. Perhaps, as a fan favorite, he’ll end up with some endorsements…

The Slam Dunk Contest was less than impressive with neither contestant showing any slam dunk proficiency. After several missed attempts and a few poorly executed finger-rolls, Drew, who demonstrated an impressive jump and dunk in the explanation, was declared the winner.

The Obstacle Course which combined the rigors of cross-country running, long distance kicking, and an impressive display of automobile pushing ended in a tie, although I do believe Carter would have eeked out a victory if he hadn’t turned back to fix the askew hula hoop.

The Javelin, Shot Put, and Discus events rounded out our big evening. Carter won the Javelin throw by less than an inch, Brenna threw the Shot Put past Carter while his was still being marked, and Carter’s Discus had a 14+ inch lead over Brenna in the final event.

Final score you ask? Clearly, everybody wins here at the HHOMC.

Happy Valentine's Day Deja Vu?

2011-02-10T22:35:00.000-05:00

When I came home tonight after running some errands, Gee-off told me he had written a blog post and shared it with me. So sweet!

Well, it just so happened that a few days ago I had made a smilebox "scrapbook" for him and had it set to send on Saturday (when weg et to go out for our Vday date)!

While it seems like I was a copycat, I promise, I really had this made already!!!

I love that we chose some of the same pictures too!

Anyway, Happy Valentine's Day to the best husband! (And just for the record, it was NOT a fake question!!!)

Scrapbook design customized with Smilebox

Happy Valentine's Day

2011-02-10T18:28:00.012-05:00

As Valentine’s Day approaches, I think back to the days when I was courting Aimee and how much I envisioned spending the rest of my life with her. I met Aimee on my very first day as a transfer student to Rowan University. I still remember the sweatshirt she was wearing, her gentle smile, and her beautiful red hair. She verified that I was indeed in the right classroom — after having a short exchange of introductions, I walked away, hoping to eventually build a friendship with the beautiful woman who, unbeknownst to anyone, would be my wife in three short years.

I remember being disappointed to learn soon after that Aimee was already seeing someone, but years later I realized that it was essential for our eventual relationship. I never put up any fronts or tried to impress, we were merely classmates, so I could just be myself. Aimee was so genuine and welcoming to me, I have to think the barrier of her being “spoken for” was to my benefit, because I had no reason to think that my actions would change her feelings and she only ever knew the “real” me.

The following fall, several key unplanned events occurred that resulted in seeing Aimee a few days in a row, and a trusted friend learned from both of us that there was mutual interest. I still remember going to campus on a day when I had no classes, hoping to bump into Aimee and perhaps work up the courage to ask her out. I never did spot her, but when she called me out of the blue to ask me a made up question about a class she was taking, I knocked an entire shelf over in my closet, trying to find my notes. During my avalanche, I distinctly remember my very sad attempt at asking Aimee to dinner. Since her intention was to ask me out anyway, she made it easy for me, and our story officially began…

To me, it was hard to imagine a girl so wonderful might be my girlfriend, much less become my wife. Aimee is smart, talented, beautiful, caring, funny, understanding, creative, and beautiful. Who could ask for more? She helped me to realize that I also have some pretty good qualities too, and I’m not embarrassed to say that she brings them out of me like no one else ever has. And if you noticed I wrote beautiful twice when describing Aimee, It was intentional — She still takes my breath away.

Fast-forward through a thousand sweet kisses, an unforgettable engagement, a beautiful wedding ceremony, a cute little apartment, a teeny-tiny shack on the outskirts of town, our first new home. New challenges — new solutions — a real team approach. As we have grown, we’ve grown together, learning new responsibilities and accepting sad realities. Realizing a combined optimism to get through every unexpected turn, we have weathered storms we never anticipated, always emerging together and happily enjoying our greatest blessings hand-in-hand.

Valentine’s Day — a day when we ask to be loved, and we share that same love to those we care for — I’m proud to say that I don’t need a holiday to remind me.

Aimee, I’m so glad you’re my Valentine.

“You don't choose your family. They are God's gift to you, as you are to them.” -Desmond Tutu

Looking in your eyes, seeing all I need
Everything you are, is everything to me

And these are the moments I know heaven must exist
And these are the moments, I know all I need is this
I have all I've waited for… And I could not ask for more…

A Vocabulary Lesson…

2011-01-30T19:02:00.006-05:00

We have a few catch phrases that don’t make sense elsewhere, but have very specific meanings here at our house. I’d like to take a few moments to share…

HHOMC- Our only acronym, and coined by my father in reference to our house: Hammonton House Of Many Children. Ex. As planned, the whole family will meet at the HHOMC for lunch.

Shore Leave- An afternoon or evening alone and free of child-rearing responsibilities usually used for shopping in peace and quiet. Ex. Aimee spent her shore leave scouring AC Moore for discount scrapbook supplies.

Carter-safe- A product not containing peanuts (and until recently, eggs). Ex. We can’t buy that cookie mix. It isn’t Carter-safe.

28 cents- The average cost of a pull-up diaper, usually used when a child wakes up dry from naptime, and the pull-up can be reused at bedtime. Ex. You did a great job using the potty. You just saved us 28 cents!
Spin For It?- An opportunity to allow the “Wheel of Responsibility” to determine which parent will complete a particular task. Mostly used for diaper duty and other unpleasant jobs. Ex. Brenna is screaming that she missed the potty. Do you want to spin for it?

Jerrel!- My friend Jerrel, we call his name and raise our fists anytime something goes wrong that can’t be explained. He’s basically our go-to-guy when we want to blame something on someone. This originated this summer, when we found a Boston Red Sox sticker on Drew’s booster seat. I asked Drew where it came from and he responded by raising his fist in the air, while looking up and shouting, “Jerrel”! (Who is a good friend, but is also a noted Phillies Hater)-It should be noted that no one ever took responsibility for defacing the booster seat. Ex. This milk is sour and it isn’t even past the date yet. …JERREL!

Nowhere- Where whining will get you. We say this so often, that the kids will now even answer. Ex. Mom or Dad: “Hey, you know where all that whining is going to get you?” Any kid: “Nowhere!”

Carter-Bear

2011-01-23T20:13:00.003-05:00

Each day, we witness so many subtle changes in the social and emotional growth of our children. They play together much more now and truly care about each other. Carter, however, is clearly showing that he is going to be such a sweet young man. He still has his fair share of tantrums and continues to want things a certain way, or he can’t deal with it, but even some of those things are milder than before.

Yesterday, I watched Carter approach Emily and her V-Tech KidJamz Studio. It’s really an awesome toy, so we made the rule that the kids could only play it when they were “sharing” with Emily, hoping to encourage more interaction. Carter, rather than taking over, actually was pressing Em’s fingers on the keys, which she loved. They played together like that for more than 5 minutes.

This afternoon, Brenna was teasing both Drew and I by making her unicorn kiss us. We were both engrossed in the Flyers game and Drew asked Brenna to stop several times before she focused her attention on me. I told her I didn’t like gross unicorn kisses while she continued to sneak kisses at me increasing her giggles. Eventually I nudged her away from me and covered her with blankets, while she continued to giggle away. Realizing that she was beaten, she remained on the floor and called for Aimee. Carter, who was playing on his mini “cup-pooter”, immediately powered down and got up. I asked the little guy if he was going upstairs and he replied matter-of-factly, “No, I’m checking on Brenna.”

He’s funny too, in his own way. He mostly just repeats a word or sound effect relating to a particular bodily function and his brother and sister laugh out loud. In fact, he was playing Drew’s Leapster game and realized that a sunscreen bottle squirting lotion sounds a lot like, well, you know... He sat there for 2 minutes continually pressing the button and laughing out loud. He catches on what is going on and appreciates a good joke. He’ll often make a low pitched sound , “EHHHHHH”, when he thinks something is funny, which is funny to hear and reminds me of my Mom’s, “Dit”. Even tonight, after Brenna did something silly and said, “That was fun”; Carter quietly said, “knee”(as if she hadn’t finished the word).

Today, Carter really impressed me at Shop Rite. While we were in the checkout line, an associate asked him if he wanted a balloon, and she clamped a yellow Shop Rite balloon on the cart for him. He looked up and smiled so big you’d think she’d just given him a lifetime supply of ice cream. We were extra careful clipping the balloon on his shirt, zipping his coat up, and wrapping the string around his arm twice. As I put him in the car and pulled the string down to get the balloon in with him, I watched the balloon float away as the 22 degree temperature must have been too much for the adhesive to handle. No doubt, Carter was disappointed as we watched his balloon float away, but he handled it. He didn’t even cry.

Carter is known to get upset when I answer his calls at bedtime. For example, he calls downstairs to Aimee, and I go up to check on him. “NOOOOOO. I WAS TALKIN’ TO MOMMMYYYYYYYYY” is generally all I can get out of him. We have continued to challenge these behaviors; giving in to his “demands” for the sake of calm could have long term consequences, not to mention how unfair it would be to Aimee since he clearly favors her for potty issues.

Carter is clearly improving on many of his balance, communication, and frustration issues. After a great first year of school, I really look forward to his growth at camp this summer, and in Pre-K next year.

Days 6-7 We're home and safe

2011-01-03T01:24:00.022-05:00

Emily’s Wish Day 6
We decided a long time ago that we’d spend New Year’s Day at Magic Kingdom. We had been warned to stay away on the 31st (I found out that they were at capacity at 10am, so I’m glad we were not at a park for that). We also really wanted to be able to do the fireworks as a last hurrah before we left.

We arrived at the park at 9:15am and caught the trolley show on Main Street, USA as we walked toward the castle. My friend, Tommy, who has worked at Disney for the last 12 years, sent me a text this week and told me he was performing in Mickey’s Castle Show. So when we realized the first show of the day started in just a few minutes, we sat right in front . Tommy was great and the kids loved the show (although they never did find out that Tommy was in it.)

The first ride of the day was the Jungle Cruise, which was very funny and the way they put Emily on was awesome. We saw another family whose daughter was coming off (who clearly loved it) that said how impressed he was with the improved accessibility in just the past few years. I think our narrator was particularly good at the pun delivery throughout.

We met Tiana, Naveen, and Ariel, which was awesome, as each treated our kids like royalty. Brenna can be quite a handful when around a princess or two, always grabbing and looking where not entirely appropriate, but these princesses never missed a beat, and Tiana even cracked a few funny jokes along the way.

We had lunch at the Crystal Palace, where we completed our autograph books by meeting Pooh, Tigger, Eyeore, and Piglet. The lunch was really good and the chef made a special nut-free brownie for Carter, which he enjoyed.

We visited the wish lounge to relax a bit since we had such a long day ahead of us. I read a condensed version of 101 Dalmations while Aimee took care of Em’s tests, diaper change, bag cleaning and refilling.

Then, a costume change!! We were off to meet the Princesses and Fairies. We met the princesses first after about a 10 minute wait and a frightening moment when Brenna walked the wrong direction in pursuit of a Mickey Mouse sticker. It was only about 5 seconds of absolute fear, but everything was in slow motion, just like in the movies. We met Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, and Belle (in yellow- and no, they didn’t think it was odd that she didn’t remember them from before). They spent SO MUCH TIME with us and the rest of the room was empty, which I don’t think is the norm. I know a ten minute wait isn’t the norm either, so needless to say, Aimee and I really appreciated the VIP treatment Emily and the whole family received throughout the trip, but especially the personal touch received when meeting the characters.

We had to wait just another five minutes or so to meet the fairies, where we met Fawn, Tinkerbelle, and Vidia. We really liked Fawn and Vidia, because it was clear that they both really enjoyed their characters.

The highlight of our day came at somewhat of a surprise. I think the ride was called, The Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, and to me, it seemed pretty ordinary. We had virtually no wait and the handicapped car was able to have the bouncing turned off (thank heavens!). Emily absolutely LOVED THIS RIDE. I screamed ahead to Aimee (who had the other kids in a separate car) because Emily was looking, smiling, and audibly laughing pretty much the whole time. There were lots of bright orange and yellow things, which Emily favors, plus black lights, which really made them jump out. Aimee and I have sort of decided for her that Tigger is her favorite, but boy-oh-boy did she verify it during this ride! I was so excited for her. Don’t think us strange if you ever visit and we have a fluorescent Tigger picture and black lights in our living room!

Right after the ride, I checked my cell phone for messages as Tommy would have a two-hour break between 3:30 and 5:30 and I was hoping to get to see him. He caught up with us behind the castle within a few minutes and took some much needed “Facebook Update” photos
(The only other shot we have was 14 years ago). The family took to him quickly, and we were able to catch up while we waited in line for the coveted Dole Whip. This was Aimee’s surprise for me: Pineapple softserve ice cream. I’d never heard of it, but certainly will never forget it.

After lots of peer pressure and a slight mockery by Aimee of a certain Jamboree, we decided to alter our schedule and visit the Tiki Room, which was really fun. I caught Brenna out of the corner of my eye clapping furiously right after the first bird sang. She (and the rest of us) thought it was really cute.
Unfortunately, Tommy needed to get back for his next shift, so we said our goodbyes. (It was great seeing you again, Tommy!)

We made our way to the Magic Carpets where Aimee, Carter, Brenna, and Drew got “spit on” by a camel during the fun flying adventure. Emily hung out by the exit for this one!

The Country Bear Jamboree was as much fun as I remembered and more fun than Aimee remembered. We both agree that your perspective changes when you have kids and you enjoy things because you see how much they appreciate it. This was especially clear to us during this last week.

This is the part of this post where I mention how Aimee and I scoffed at the idea of standing and holding a spot for the parade because everyone was getting cranky and the 45 minutes would have been not fun. We figured we’d be able to see the bright lights no matter where we were… (some of you may know where this is leading…) Aimee took Drew, Carter, and Brenna on Peter Pan as the last ride before the parade and fireworks and they all came out excited about it. Emily had been fading out and we really wanted her to be awake for the bright lights, so we didn’t push it.
We returned to the Wish Lounge for Emily’s care and drinks and I took turns running Brenna, Carter, and Drew to the restroom. The looks I was getting from the people sitting on the patio were pretty funny since I kept coming out of the door with a different kid.

When we finally made it out we started to understand why people planned their spots so meticulously. We couldn’t get near the street, which would have been ok if everyone stayed sitting. Unfortunately, everyone in the front stands up, and everyone in the second row on puts their kid on their shoulders. Thus, even Aimee and I couldn’t see and we were grossly outnumbered in the kid to shoulders ratio.
We wanted Emily to see it, so I held her up and Aimee took turns holding up each of the other three, but although this works in theory, there are several problems with this plan. One, neither Aimee nor I particularly enjoy holding children in the air for extended periods of time. Two, the two kids on the ground typically get bored since they can’t see and tend to wander a bit in a large noisy crowd IN THE DARK. And Three, as time elapsed, Carter, and Brenna were much less tolerant of being on the ground for extended periods, so they just cranky crashed into tantrums… meanwhile, I was stressed out that we’d lose a wandering crankster. This is where I definitely ended up being unhappy at Disneyworld. Now the bright side of all of this is that Emily loved what she saw, as did everyone else; it was just a bit of a letdown. The good news was that we were in prime position for the fireworks that would start in an hour. But… Now we were an hour hungrier and an hour crankier.

We went over to get hot dogs so we could come right back, but apparently hot dogs are in much higher demand right after the parade than they were 10 minutes ago, so we waited in line much longer than we expected. By the time we finished eating, the fireworks were about to begin.
Tommy had told me that we would be fine if we were in front of the castle. When we started to move that way, there wasn’t enough room to get the stroller through and we had to go back to the left and eventually just had to stop and watch because otherwise we’d miss it while trying to find a spot.
(Above is a good shot of the tree that blocked much of our view)

Again, Emily was awake throughout, didn’t seem bothered by the loud noises, and clearly watched the lights during the whole presentation. But it was a bit of a letdown after all the planning.
We talked about it and decided to stay for the next parade, even though we were another hour crankier and another hour loopier. We staked our spots on the sidewalk edge and joked and sang songs, and cuddled together waiting for our incredible trip end on a high note. It was SO WORTH IT. Cranky or not, it was worth it.

Emily’s Wish Day 7

We ate breakfast, cleaned up, packed, went on a final carousel ride and checked out. At check out they gave us a special passport that will allow free admission for all 6 of us at over 100 different parks nationwide for the next year. Several of them are close enough that we will likely get to use it more than once.
As promised, we took Drew and the money from his piggy bank to the Lego store. He was able to find some things he liked and we got to see some really neat creations.

On the way to the airport, Carter got sick in the car and needed to be changed, plus emptying out a rental car when you have a child who needs to be held and another who wants to be held is pretty impossible without other adults. All told, it took nearly an hour to get to the ticket counter.
Adam the TSA Agent came to our rescue. He escorted us through the checkpoint and carried Em’s car seat and two bags all the way to our flight. Quickly Aimee took Emily to get her changed and I mixed her meds and unfortunately poured water into the pill crusher which may create some additional difficulties tomorrow.
When Aimee came back and Emily had her medicine, I volunteered to go get food from Wendy’s. I suggested giving the kids our cheese crackers and get fries to go with them, because I didn’t think they’d eat the Wendy’s nuggets. Aimee disagreed and insisted that I get the nuggets. Finally, once at the front of the Wendy’s line, I ordered the nuggets: The cashier told me they were all out. I asked her if she’d write me a note to my wife… Yeah, I asked, I’m not ashamed. I didn’t think Aimee would believe me. Even if she did, the doubts would linger. The cashier apparently isn’t allowed to write notes on company time, so she called over Jeff, the Wendy’s manager, to see if he could help. I explained my plight and he said he’d do me one better. He comped the meal and wrote a note on the bottom of the receipt, “Sorry, no nuggets”.
Luckily, since the flight was full, we (and anyone else on the flight) were invited to check additional carry-ons for free, which made transferring to the plane and off much easier.
The flight was unremarkable; the ride home was quick and warm. I’m looking forward to going to bed after a long week wishes coming true. Thanks Make a Wish-New Jersey, Give Kids The World, and all the sponsors of these incredible organizations. We will never forget this week.

Day 5 Emily's Trip

2010-12-31T22:51:00.019-05:00

Emily’s Wish Day 5
A conversation with Aimee this morning:
“What are we wearing today?”
“We’re just staying here at the village, it’s a choice day.”
“Really?”
“Wait, let me check my list.”

So it was a choice day for me, but everyone else had an assigned outfit. We were scheduled to do Sea World, but my nausea is really becoming an issue, Drew’s ear was still unresolved, and Carter has been crankier than normal and was sick on the flight, and he tends to be carsick more when he has an ear infection… So we called the urgent care down the street to see if our insurance was accepted (it was) and we went to breakfast at the Gingerbread House after a quick visit with Scooby Doo in the Castle of Miracles.

After breakfast, the boys and I were off to urgent care from 9:30 until 11:15, when the desk clerk told us it was silly to wait in the lobby, the Doctor couldn’t see us until 1:30. She suggested we should go get some lunch. I had a few suggestions for her, too, but I kept them to myself.

While we were out, Emily and Brenna went to the Twinkle Hope’s La-Ti-Da Royal Spa for their scheduled manicures, made their pillows in the castle of miracles, visited the Train Station /arcade and enjoyed some late-morning ice cream.

We shared a light lunch then the boys and I went back to urgent care and then to get prescriptions for each of us at Walmart. We finally made it back at 3:45 and the boys finally could join the girls on Matthew’s Boundless Playground in the beautiful weather (72 and clear)!

We all made our way down for a train ride, games, and a huge train set with individual buttons the kids could press to make the different trains and animated features go.

Carter was so excited when looking at the trains that there were audible bangs twice when he pushed his head forward to look at the trains. Perhaps they keep the glass too clean around here, because he kept ramming into it!

Drew also got to try some remote control boats and some old school video games. For the record, Aimee’s score on Ms. PacMan was higher than mine but she will only play games she is good at, so I think we can assume I would have whooped her in Joust, PaperBoy, and NBA Jam…

Since Emily was fussing a bit and I didn’t really want to eat, I brought her back to the villa and relaxed while Aimee took Drew, Carter, and Brenna to dinner at the Gingerbread house. When they returned, we headed over to the pool area for the Pirates and Princesses Party. Our girls dressed like Sleeping Beauty and were given tiaras and makeup, while Carter and Drew received inflatable pirate swords, mustaches, and tattoos. After all the standard festivities, they started passing out hats, light sticks, noisemakers, and cups of sparking apple cider.

Carter liked it a LOT.

He then showed us what too much cider will do to you.

Then, he said he didn’t want anymore, but in proper three-year-old behavior, he changed his mind, threw his light stick and started crying on my shoulder. Beware future college buddies of Carter; 2am isn’t going to be pretty…

Day 4 -WOW!

2010-12-30T23:09:00.016-05:00

Emily’s Wish Day 4 It’s hard to believe that our day was filled with even more magic. Our slumber was uninterrupted last night and Drew was miraculously feeling much better (although he knew Universal Studios and the Wizarding World of Harry Potter might be put on the back burner in favor of going to the Doctor) but we decided to have breakfast in the village prior to deciding.

This was the first “meal” we ate at the village that wasn’t delivered due to our schedule and illnesses and we couldn’t have been more impressed. Not only was it a high quality meal served cafeteria style with hot and cold buffets and servers at each station, but volunteers throughout to assist who even carried our trays to the tables for us. An interesting note, GKTW does have some employees, but so many activities and services are provided by volunteers. I spoke with a server in the hot food line, who was here with her husband and daughter and told me that when they come down from Wisconsin to visit her father, they always spend a day here to volunteer! She also told me that many of the young volunteers that were here today are from church youth group that drove down from Georgia!

After breakfast, we went to the Safari Theatre to meet Mickey and Minnie who come to the village twice every week to give guests the chance to interact with them. We were able to take lots of pictures and share some moments in our special outfits that we were going to wear to meet those special mice on Tuesday had we not been interrupted by Emily’s sudden illness. (Yes, Aimee was washing and ironing late into the night.) Brenna and Minnie compared dresses and everyone enjoyed the special attention.

The big surprise was when we returned to the vestibule, Belle was waiting and RECOGNIZED us from yesterday. This time she wasn’t wearing her Christmas dress, but her more familiar blue and white and gave all our gang the attention they wanted. First Brenna asked for a kiss. After Belle obliged, Carter said, ”I want a kiss too!” Belle granted our handsome blue eyed prince his wish only to see Drew sidestep closely toward Belle with a sheepish grin. I’ll let the photos tells the rest of the story!

When we stepped outside, Goofy and Pluto were also available for some autographs and photos.

At this point since Drew was feeling ok and we expected the crowds at Universal would be crazier or New Years Eve, we decided to make an attempt at getting a wand at Olivanders and a Chocolate Frog at Honeydukes for Drew. COSTUME CHANGE! We were “allowed” to wear Philadelphia Eagles gear for our trip to Universal!

As it turns out, we’ll likely not find out if the crowds are crazier tomorrow, but the roads were crazy and the sign as we entered made both Aimee’s and my heart sink: “Islands of Adventure is at Capacity.” This is, of course, where The Wizarding World of Harry Potter is located. We persevered, figuring at some point someone would leave, and they’d reopen. We parked, entered and had to go into the stand by line for a few minutes until an alert attendant saw Emily’s GKTW button and welcomed us to the entry gate right away! We entered and started to weave our way around the park to find Ollivander’s wand shop, noting the crowds were getting thicker the further we ventured. Emily briefly spit up and had to change her shirt (Aarrrgh! my one oufit choice!), but I forgive her, Seussland is indeed a little too much to handle on a sensitive tummy!

As we reached Hogsmeade, the potential for fulfilling Drew’s dream was starting to fade, as the lines were long and wide. It didn’t seem realistic that our trio of three-year-olds would be able to relax in line for over an hour, or for Aimee to navigate the double stroller and Emily’s Kid Cart through the park if I remained with Drew. I asked the line attendant about the length of the wait, because I couldn’t even see the end of the line. He said we’d have to leave the double stroller up front while waiting in line, because it couldn’t make the turns, and used the word, queue, which was entertaining, because even though I knew the word, and knew this guy was from the UK, for a brief moment I was completely lost. Ask Aimee, it was pretty funny… The happy ending is that while we discussed Emily’s Kid Cart, he noticed her GKTW button, and said we didn’t need to wait in the “queue” at all; we should stand to the side and we could participate in the next show. We waited a grand total of two minutes until we were escorted in towards the right while everyone else filed in towards the right. I’ll let the video tell the rest of the tale…

Please do me a favor and even if you don’t normally comment, please leave a comment about how cool that experience was for Drew and how lucky he is. Aunt Mary sent me a text message after I told her and he was tickled by her reaction. Thanks in advance… : )

After Ollivander’s, we were off to search for chocolate frogs that come with wizard and witch cards, just like in the book. The coolest part of the Harry Potter experience is that I read the first Harry Potter book before the craze took off, and even read it with my students in the Challenge Program in Galloway all those years ago. Then, this July I relived the magic one chapter at a time reading Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone aloud with Drew at bedtime. We even watched the first movie after we finished. We agreed to wait until next summer for the next installment, but I think that may happen sooner. We found his Frog (His card was Rowena Ravenclaw) and he was thrilled. Aimee and I were equally thrilled when we got in the butterbeer line and finally were able to enjoy the coolest treat available to Muggles…

We landed back in Seussland and went on the Caro-Seuss-el where Emily’s cart was able to be rolled on and latched down, and we all rode together. They told us we could all stay on and ride a second time, but Emily slept through it and, besides, we had more plans for today.

Aimee found “Thing 1”, “Thing 2”, and “Thing 3” t-shirts for our trio and we were on our way back home in no time.

When we arrived back at the villa we rested a bit and COSTUME CHANGE! Thursday night is Christmas every week at GKTW. We dressed in festive colors and went to dinner, where Elaine sat with our kids while Aimee and I stood in line for turkey dinner with all the trimmings.

After we finished dinner, we went back to the Safari Theatre, which was newly decorated in a Christmas theme and Santa himself was there for photos. Afterward, each of the children were allowed to select a gift, which was exciting for all. We then watched a choir sing some carols. They invited Brenna (and Carter and Drew) to join in the bell ringing and got a fan for life. She stayed with them for most of the performance…
Then we enjoyed ice cream cones and waited for the parade. Then it was time to join the parade at the end in singing, dancing and a with a “snow” machine.

Everyone says that Disney is magical and I know I’ve spoken about how wonderful Give Kids the World Village and Universal Studios have been, and even wrote about the “pixie dust” from the Dis-Boutiquers. The one constant here is the kindness of others. The Make a Wish Foundation, GKTW, and other charitable organizations that send people here do it with donations from companies and individuals, and the volunteer hours from so many people. In addition, we had some friends and family bless us with gift cards and gifts to help us really enjoy ourselves on this trip. I want to thank you all for letting me “let go” and allow the kids to pick a souvenir when they wanted it and not scoff at the price. To not have to plan out a picnic lunch because park prices are ridiculous, or get upset that we bought diapers (insert shudder here) without a coupon. For one week, we were able to say “yes” to all our kids and allow them the freedom to feel like any dream could come true and that nothing was out of reach. And Aimee had a week without me complaining about the cost of gas or the need to wait for things to be on sale. This trip has been so incredible and honestly, I had no idea it would be as emotional and invigorating as it has been. I’ll end this post with, Merry Christmas, because it’s Thursday, and at Give Kids the World, that means it is indeed, Christmas.

Emily's trip Day 3

2010-12-29T22:18:00.016-05:00

Emily’s Wish Day 3
Well, the laundry is still being completed more often than we’d like, but you have to keep your perspective. Our kids get sick every year, this year they are being sick at the happiest place on Earth.
Emily woke us at 3:30 with another round of dirtying sheets and blankets. Not cool, but she was able to settle down and sleep the rest of the morning. I gradually felt better throughout the day, and the weather warmed up a bit, although still a bit too cold for Emily.
Drew came in to get us this morning already wearing his Epcot shirt. –Here might be a good place to tell our readers about the “DisBoutiquers”. This is a large group of INCREDIBLY TALENTED and EXTREMELY GENEROUS ladies who met Aimee on a Disney board when we first learned about Emily’s trip. Starting in the middle of November, we received gifts in the mail (Referred to as THE BIG GIVE) nearly every other day or so up until we left. In all we received between 20-25 packages in the mail. Each package was a true gift from the heart, either handmade or purchased with our trip in mind. Hats, bows, dresses, shirts, pajamas, personalized ornaments, things to keep the kids busy, and even gift cards to use at the park is just the beginning of the list. The kind notes sent along with the gifts often touched our hearts as it really is just absolute kindness in the greatest form. The Gives really excited the kids and pumped them up for what a great experience we’re having. So outside of my fear of being “that guy” we’ve been wearing thematic matching outfits to each park and did actually have a costume change today. We look really great in our well-planned combinations, despite my original nightmares of my family showing up in matching newsboy hats and argyle Disney sweaters at the next family gathering(they've been know to mock our Christmas outfits) to mock us. It will have been worth the mockery, as the oohs and ahs from the passersby who asked Aimee if she made the outfi€ts and we told them about these sweet ladies who still believe in the spirit of giving. All the advice and support they’ve given Aimee in planning this trip has really been a blessing. I hope they know just how much it meant to us. – Anyway… Drew came in to get us this morning already wearing his Epcot shirt. He was so excited, and we did get off to a faster start. We were on the road by 9am. We had originally planned to go to EPCOT this morning and then go to Animal Kingdom in the afternoon, but we instead went to Hollywood Studios, so we could see the things we planned to see yesterday.
We went to EPCOT today because of the surprise Aimee had planned – a reservation in Norway at Akershus, for brunch and a photo with Belle. Because we were early, we stopped in Mexico and went on a real gem that we didn’t really remember, but that Emily and the rest of the kids enjoyed. The Three Caballeros was a boat ride similar to It’s a Small World.

When we arrived in Norway, Emily was really upset by the cold and we were worried she would be sick again. You see, she was wearing her beautiful handmade Cinderella Dress and we couldn’t possibly allow her to be sad and sick when meeting the princesses! Brenna was wearing her handmade Belle dress and Carter was wearing his Prince shirt my Aunt Sue made for him. Our gang was getting a lot of second looks as we strolled through the park in such super cute outfits. Anyway, I brought Emily inside while Aimee waited outside with the rest of the kids and Em calmed down after a few minutes. She did, however, start crying immediately when we were invited to get her picture taken with Belle and briefly spit up on her matching bib but the photo turned out nice, despite the drama. Belle was very convincing and sweet with all the kids.

The brunch was good and included visits from Snow White, Jasmine, Mulan, and Mary Poppins. Mulan spent plenty of time at our table, clearly pausing for photos and making a memorable experience for us and Mary Poppins paraded around the room not once, but twice with Carter and Brenna in each hand. This personalized experience was very special and will be remembered fondly.

After the brunch we visited Journey Into Imagination, starring Figment(Who Aimee defends furiously to the non-believers) where Em didn’t love the ride, but didn’t get sick either. Otherwise, the kids loved the cheap jokes and gags, especially the skunk spray.
Next, we entered The Seas with Nemo and Friends and Turtle Talk with Crush which was enjoyed by everyone. We briefly visited the Siemens VIP lounge (by special invitation) where we had some time to clean Emily and decide on our gameplan. Since everyone seemed up to it, we ventured to Hollywood Studios.
Our first stop was an early dinner at Backlot Express which overlooked the Jedi Training show. Drew wanted to do it, but the time invested wasn’t fair for everyone, especially since we already saw the show, so he settled for a souvenir from the Tatooine gift shop. We found Mater and McQueen from Cars, which was Carter’s big plan for the whole trip.

Right before we saw Muppets 3-D, because I love the Muppets, Drew told Aimee that his ear hurt. By the time the show was over he was wincing about it. Unfortunately, we couldn’t leave until Emily could see the Osbornes Light Spectacular. Drew tried to be patient but was starting to cry because he really was hurting. Emily did enjoy the light show and was still awake the whole ride home, although Drew was asleep inside of 90 seconds, and Carter was out in five minutes. It would have been nice to stay and see the show a second time, but it was wonderful to see her truly enjoying the lights at all.

We decided that we’ll likely alter our plans again for tomorrow, and we’ll likely stay at the village and participate in some of the events offered on site and determine if Drew needs to see a Doctor or not.
For now, I’ll have to check with our costume coordinator to see what we’ll be wearing tomorrow…

Emily's Trip - Days 1-2

2010-12-28T20:53:00.012-05:00

Emily’s Wish Day 1
The unexpected snowfall was both unwelcome and inconvenient; however, it didn’t create any problems other than worries and several trips out to the driveway to shovel the accumulating snow.
Both NJ and PA had declared a state of emergency, so our scheduled driver couldn’t leave until 7am, causing us to be delayed about an hour. To be fair, the Make-A-Wish coordinator had him coming a little early because of the car seats to be sure we’d have enough time.

Jay was an excellent driver and had us at the airport in plenty of time and was a big help loading and unloading in the cold and wet weather. Once we were inside, it really wasn’t too bad until we got to the security checkpoint, only because we had so many carry-ons, so many kids, so many pairs of shoes, and so many jackets that we were still loading things into the machine with nobody to unload on the other end causing a bit of a pileup. Aimee dotted all her i’s and crossed all her t’s in regards to Emily’s medical bag, so that delay was even relatively short.

The flight was right on time and we had priority boarding. The attendants were very helpful throughout and even though takeoff was EXTREMELY turbulent, our kids were shouting and screaming because they thought it was so fun! Even Emily was all smiles… Carter did get sick about an hour in, but was very happy that we had an identical shirt for him to change into (sometimes, OVER planning is just enough).
Once we landed, the GKTW greeter, Hope, met us and helped us to quickly find and move our baggage to the car rental garage. Once there, they told me to go pick a van. I found a Dodge Caravan and we loaded everyone in. When I started to put Em’s KidKart in, we realized we’d just hit our first major snag. It didn’t fit. It didn’t fit in any direction unfolded or folded. Once we admitted to ourselves that we’d have to start moving car seats into another van; Hope and I sought out a van that could hold Em’s chair. We ended up in a Sienna. If it had been white, I think the kids would have thought we’d had our own minivan shipped to Florida.
The kids were cranky, tired, and hungry. If you wonder why I didn’t include a lunch break in this detail filled post, it is because we never had any. Oops…
We arrived at GKTW and met another greeter, Don, who gave us the rundown of the village and escorted us to our villa. This place is beyond description. The playground across the street would be enough reason to fly down here. The carousel that is at ground level and wheelchair accessible is at the top of our list for the rest of the week, but for now, we needed to eat something. We called and ordered (Boston Market sponsored) chicken and meatloaf from Kate’s kitchen as well as took a ride to the ice cream parlor(Friendly’s) for dessert. Aimee went to the orientation to get our park passes and other info while I tended to the medicine, formula mixing and crankiness. Once Aimee returned, she led the bedtime routine and unpacked all the clothes and I went to Walmart for some essentials.
The kids enjoyed some made-up Disney songs as we tucked them in. Aimee’s lyrics rhyme better than mine, but we all have our weaknesses…

Emily’s Wish Day 2

A highly respected friend has a saying, “Some people wouldn’t be happy in Disneyworld.” Sadly, some people just can’t be pleased and can’t help but complain. Thankfully, there is nothing to complain about here. Our day was FANTASTIC. The kids got to see a parade, go on a few rides, enjoy some souvenirs, see some shows and see kindness from everyone.
The master plan was to dress in our Mickey Gear, go to Magic Kingdom in the morning, then do a costume change and check out Hollywood Studios. We set the alarm for 6:30, hoping to be out the door at quarter after eight…
At 6:30, Emily’s feeding ended and then she choked and became sick all over her beautiful personalized pillowcase. After four episodes, she calmed down, stopped crying, and fell sound asleep in her own mess while Aimee ran the bath water. During the early morning bath , Emily giggled throughout, while I put the laundry on*.) *Yes, GKTW not only provides a full size washer and dryer in the villa, but also enough detergent to do 2 loads each day!
Unfortunately, I too, started feeling nauseous and we were starting to question how to alter the schedule, but everyone was so excited about seeing the castle, and Emily seemed to be ok…
Drew, Brenna, and Carter got to try Matthew’s Boundless Playground which is a Candyland themed playground that is as accessible as possible for children with disabilities. They (of course) loved it and took turns running to colored spaces and can’t wait to go back.

We finally left the village at 10am and the kids loved the monorail once we got to Magic Kingdom. Emily slept through the parade, but everyone else was wide-eyed throughout and we got our first Photo Pass picture taken (which ended up being the only time we saw a photographer the whole day, but we aren’t going to be unhappy in Disney World).
Aimee and I decided long ago that It’s a Small World would be our only “Must see” attraction, since we thought it was gentle enough for Emily, and there would be plenty of music, movement, and lights. It was our first ride, and I can honestly say we could come home tomorrow and I’d have no regrets. We were able to have her stay in her chair on a special boat and she(right on cue) opened her eyes and smiled throughout the entire ride.

After lunch, we enjoyed the Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor. They even used a joke that Drew submitted. “What happens when a ghost falls down?” wait for it… “He gets a Boo Boo”. The kids all laughed and Emily stayed awake for the whole show. I guess she has a lot of Aimee in her, she also sleeps during boring things like car rides and conversations with me…but wakes up for the end of movies and game winning homeruns. Afterwards, Emily and I hung around while everyone else defeated the evil Zurg on the Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin. Carter and Drew each found Buzz Lightyear light up guns and we proceeded to another shop to get Minnie headbands for Emily and Brenna.

While Aimee and Brenna were in line, the rest of us hung out by the door out of the wind. Emily choked once and then got sick BIG TIME. Her cart, her coat, her texture bag, and her brother (Carter, who was standing in front of her) all were in need of a good cleaning. No less than half a dozen strangers offered to help and (cast member) Ralph, who we had struck up a conversation with earlier ran to get Aimee, brought me additional tissues and a bag for the initial clean up.
We were planning on meeting Mickey and Minnie, but instead detoured to a secret chamber of awesomeness hidden in Magic Kingdom (I’ll never tell)
The Wish Lounge is a quiet room decorated with beautiful furniture, a life sized replica of “The Genie’s Lamp” and wonderful Aladdin and other Disney artwork. This lounge is exclusive for guests of the charitable organizations that send kids to Disney. Aimee cleaned up Emily and her chair in a private area while Carter, Brenna, and Drew relaxed on oversized pillows, a vintage chaise lounge and drank cold bottled water in the only quiet room in Magic Kingdom (I know, awesome). The best part was the discussion between Drew and I on the dangers of rubbing the Genie’s Lamp in a small room with lots of fragile, fancy, furniture. He decided we should take it out of the room to rub it, because we’d have to use our first wish to clean up everything. This kid is going to grow up to be something pretty amazing. He’s far more logical than the standard middle school kid.
After we cleaned up, we headed back to the Village. Emily was able to ride the carousel, but we didn’t have a camera with us. We’ll be returning tomorrow, I’m sure. Everyone loved it and Emily could park inside a turtle and smiled until the carousel (on her second turn) slowly soothed her back to sleep.
We are back at the Villa now, enjoying some pizza for dinner and hoping tomorrow will be as special as today was, but with less laundry…

Shutterfly Christmas Cards

2010-11-28T23:05:00.002-05:00

Hi everyone!
Well, the Christmas holiday is quickly approaching and for me that means I’ve got to get a move on making my 2010 photo cards to send out to all of my friends and family. Shutterfly has given me a chance to earn 50 free Christmas photo cards by writing about their 2010 card collection on my blog! How nice, right? I thought so too.

I went to http://www.shutterfly.com/ to browse this year’s selection and I was very pleased with the choices of cards they have available for Christmas. It’s a nice mix a traditional, modern, and fun designs to suit whatever you might be looking for. It didn’t take me long to find the Christmas card that I thought was perfect for our family photo this year. In the past I have needed cards with 4 photo spots, so I can put a single picture of each kid looking their best. But this year, I’m so happy that I was able to figure out the self timer on my camera and got a pretty great shot of the whole family! Hooray!!

I know I can trust Shutterfly with my holiday cards this year because I have purchased Birthday Thank You Photo Cards and Photobooks from them in the past and have been satisfied with their quality.

My favorite card is the Holiday Window Christmas Card (sample shown here)

(you'll have to wait to see MY kids!!!!)

If you’re looking for the perfect card or photo gift check out these links:

Christmas photo cards - http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/christmas-photo-cards

Holiday photo cards - http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery

Christmas ornaments - http://www.shutterfly.com/photo-gifts/pewter-ornament

Wall calendars - http://www.shutterfly.com/calendars/wall-calendars

And Photobooks - http://www.shutterfly.com/photo-books

Happy Holidays!!!

The Cliff's Notes - June 2010

2010-11-05T00:01:00.001-04:00

I haven't really updated the blog at all since the big trip to LA, which we actually took in April!!! So, I'm officially making an attempt to blog again!

Since I'm so far behind and so much has happened, it'll be the very quick version!

Here goes . . .

In June:

We got a shed for the backyard. The garage has been overflowing for a while now so we really needed this. :)

Baby bunnies made home in our backyard as they have for the past few years. One bunny, whom we have named, Norbert, is still hanging around.

Emily continues to make progress with her therapies, and is interacting more with us. We believe her vision is improving too! Check out the eye contact here!

Nicole, Joe, and Sierra rented a "shore house" so we got to visit them several days the week they were here. We are all hoping to make it an annual tradition! (I have more pics to add here from a beach photo shoot)

Drew had his Kindergarten class show, Italian restaurant themed with songs, poems and costumes. Totally cute! Drew LOVED his teacher and did a great job all year. He is reading at around a 3rd grade level! (Here he is with his teacher.)

I started doing more at home photo shoots with my camera, these were some I took for Father's day.

This is the picture I ended up giving Gee-off.

We also took a few trips to the Garden State Discovery Museum and I got to go to an all day scrapbooking crop.

Photography

2010-10-25T12:11:00.000-04:00

I've been really enjoying taking pictures lately, it's become my latest hobby, or obsession. I've been taking pictures of the kids mostly, but I did one family photo shoot for a friend and some "modeling" shots of Drew for a Gap contest and it's been really fun! I have a nice camera, though I'm sure it's not what the professionals use, and I don't really know how to do all that fancy editing stuff, but I'm learning and hope to keep learning more!

Here's a link to a really awesome contest on Facebook for photographers. You can win props, editing "actions", really sweet stuff! Check it out!

http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.juliemayree.com%2Fblog%2F%3Fp%3D822&h=e3498

I'm hoping to win this stuff so wish me luck! :)

More time

2010-09-19T10:28:00.000-04:00

I'm going to have a little more time this week coming up with school FINALLY starting, and one of my goals is to get blogging again. So if you've still been checking in here, I thank you for caring about us, and I'll be catching you up very soon on all the latest news from the summer and the months before that!

A new post!!

2010-08-04T21:47:00.000-04:00

It's been over a month since I lasted posted!! What can I say, our summer has been very busy! I have tons of pics and stories to share, but no time or energy to do it. Tonight, I messed around with the new Blogger Template Design feature. I like the sky background, very cute. :)

Next Direct Model Competition: Part 2

2010-06-30T22:44:00.001-04:00

I know it's been over a month since I posted Part 1 of our trip, so if you've forgotten or have just found this blog for the first time, please scroll down past Emily's video and you'll find the post about the first two days of our trip LA!!

Here are few more pics from Part 1:

After our very busy day on Saturday, we knew we were going to get to spend some time exploring Universal Studios and then "walking the red carpet" at the final party where the winner would be crowned!

On Sunday morning, all of the kids met outside the hotel to wait for the tram to Universal for the Studio Tour. While we were waiting, our team leaders passed out portfolios containing 2 of each kid's best shots from the photo shoots, so exciting!!

The Studio Tour was fun and I was able to get some cool shots of movie props and sets. However, I'm not sure it was the best idea to take a group of 4-7 year olds on the tour as it was a bit scary at parts. Norman Bates made a guest appearance with a knife as we rode through the Psycho set (creepy!), Jaws, of course, the dark Mummy cave, and the earthquake in the underground subway were all a bit much, especially for the littlest ones and even for Drew at 6 1/2. He did mostly enjoy it though.

After the tour, we all split up into our teams and "The Penguins" went to the Shrek 4D movie ride. We sat in a theater and got little surprises while we watched the movie, like being sprayed with water when Donkey sneezed, and "spiders" crawling up our legs when they appeared on the screen!! After that, we headed over to the Simpsons ride, which is a simulated roller coaster with the characters from the show on a huge screen. I really liked it, but Drew wasn't feeling so well and didn't really like that ride too much. Too much jiggling, shaking and lurching up and down for him I think!

Then it was time to head over to the Globe Theater to get dressed and primped for the final party! Each group was taken in and given their outfits that they had tried on the day before. After getting dressed, they led us through the back of theater to the hair/makeup girls who were outside just before the red carpet. Of course, it was right before the red carpet walk that my camera batteries died and I had to run back to the coat/bag check room to get my extra batteries so I wouldn't miss any picture opportunities!!!

They lined each team up and they walked the red carpet and strutted their stuff! The photogs took their pics at the end of carpet like they were real superstars! Then they had them all go back to the beginning and walk the carpet together which was so stinkin' cute!! Once all of the teams were finished on the carpet, they got all of the kids gathered together on the steps of the Globe Theater for some group shots of the Top 50!

We then went in to the Globe for the final party where they would be announcing the winner! They had two female hosts (one a former model and blogger, and Eva LaRue from CSI Miami) who introduced the judges and showed some photos and videos from the competition. They invited each team to come up on stage while DJ Tony O (from Ellen) spun some tunes. Drew just couldn't stop dancing on stage and I have the video to prove it too!!! :)

Drew's Team Leader

Unfortunately, Drew did not win the big prize; a $100,000 educational scholarship and a year modeling contract with Wilhelmina. The big winner was Savannah L. from the orange group, and they also picked 3 runners-up; Miles and Paige from our group (Yay!!!), and Jake V. from the red group! All of the kids did walk away with prizes though, because they let us keep the clothes that they wore to the party, gave each finalist a $150 shopping spree on their website, and they eventually emailed all of the photo shoot pictures to us as well!!!! I was really happy about the pictures! :)

They also said that if they were interested in our children as models they would contact us within the next few weeks, but we haven't heard anything. :( I do still keep in touch with many of the Moms from the Top 50 on Facebook and it doesn't seem that anyone else heard from Wilhelmina either. The runner-ups and the winner did recently go to New York City to do a photo shoot for Next, so that is exciting and I'm waiting to see the pics!

We also got a chance to see my "computer friend", Shannen, and her beautiful daughters, M and A. Thanks for coming over to see us girls!!!!

Finally, Drew was able to get in the hotel pool for a while before we went to the airport and headed home! He had been waiting to swim since we had arrived on Friday night!!

Again, to everyone who helped with the grueling voting process to get Drew in the Top 50, we thank you all very much and appreciate your devotion to us! Drew and I got to experience a once in a lifetime trip together and I know I will never forget it!

Emily stood today! Do you believe in miracles??

2010-05-26T14:12:00.000-04:00

Next Direct Modeling Competition - Hollywood Part 1

2010-05-12T20:44:00.000-04:00

Drew and I headed to the airport on Friday morning with plenty of time to spare before our 2pm departure time. We parked in the economy parking lot and took the shuttle bus to the terminal. We made it through security (with the dvd player, leapster, cell phone, chargers, and camera) with relative ease, and had some time to walk around. We had some Chik-Fil-A for lunch - mmmmmmm - got some Twizzlers and gum for the plane and headed to the gate. After a few minutes, I thought I recognized one of the other boys from the competition. We had seen the Top 50 photos many times during and after the voting phase and a lot of the moms of the finalists had been chatting online leading up to big weekend so we knew that some of us would be traveling together. After chatting with the first boy and his Mom, another Mom came over and introduced her son who was also in the competition. And one more boy and his Dad were also on the flight with us too!! There were only 15 boys in the whole Top 50 and 4 of them were on our flight out!

Drew and the Phanatic at the airport!

Drew was excited for the plane ride (his very fist time - excluding one trip when he was only 5 months old) and did great during take off. He enjoyed looking out the window and seeing the ground getting further and further away until we were above the clouds. We read a book, some magazines, he watched some movies, played his video games, and only used the bathroom once or twice. :) It was almost a 6 hour flight, but we made it safely and landed in LA about 5pm PST. There was a driver waiting for us at the baggage claim, and one of the other boys and his Dad rode in the car with us to the hotel. It was about an hour ride with friday night traffic.

Around 6 pm, we arrived at the Sheraton Universal and checked in. The Next Direct staff welcomed us and gave Drew his straw hat and white superstar sunglasses. :) They gave us our schedule for the weekend in a cute little notebook and a goodie bag with snacks, water, tissues, sunscreen wipes and such. They also gave Drew two blue t shirts to be worn each day of the competition and one for me as well. They had broken the finalists up into 5 groups of 10 - by age - and gave each team a mascot from Madagascar (the movie) and a color. Drew was on the Skipper The Penguins team. Go Blue!!!

In the hotel restaurant for dinner Friday night

We were given vouchers for meals, so after we got our stuff up in the room and checked it all out, we went down and had some dinner. we met some of the other families, but were pretty tired with the time change, so we went up to bed by 8:30, 11:30 our time!!!

On Saturday, we had breakfast and met some more of the finalists and their parents. Then we had time to go back up to the room and get ready for a full day of activites at Milk Studios. We headed downstairs as soon as we were ready and Drew found some buddies to run around with outside for awhile. As it got close to 11, our team leaders started to appear. Each team started to gather in the lobby and our team leaders tried to keep the kids busy with some games while we waited. We ended up waiting a long time to get on the bus to Milk, and we got there around 12:30 or so I think. Once we were there, I definitely lost track of time!!

Races around the hotel pool

Getting together with team Blue!

Eye Spy

Our team's first stop was the "play room". The kids were able to draw on a huge roll of paper on the floor, grab a quick snack, watch the magician who did some cool tricks with Drew, and got their pics taken for a fake OK magazine cover. It seemed like we weren't there for very long at all before we went to the dance room.

The first thing we saw was a huge white floor area that curved right up the wall. It was too tempting and a few of the boys ran right up on the wall leaving shoe marks to prove it! There were two men on the dance floor, Christian and Kelly, the choreographers. And then, off to the side, were four others, who turned out to be the judges! Two from Next, and two from Wilhelmina. The choreographers (C and K) took the kids on the dance fllor and got right into some introductionms and warm up games. Then they did some dancing in a circle where each kid took a turn in the middle. Drew really loved the dancing! They had some LOUD music playing and he just gets so into it! Gotta love him, he's not the best dancer, but you can just tell he feels it!

In the T - ball "ready position" ;)

We went out to take a bathroom break and then to lunch, but they called us back into the dance room to dance some more. C and K did a few more circle dances with the kids and then they worked out a whole number with each kid doing a different part of the routine. While we were there, Tony O (the DJ from Ellen) walked into the room to take a picture with one of the hosts! I was just a little star struck. I happened to be video taping the dancing when he came in and shreiked a little bit! ;)

We ate some lunch and then it was our turn to do photo shoots. They took four of the boys in our room and each boy got to sit in the hair and make-up chair and get "prettied up". Mostly, Drew got his nose wiped, and then she moved his hair around a little bit! When it was his turn the photographer made him really comfortable by making farting noises to get him to laugh and then Drew just started dancing because there was music playing. The photographer seems to really like it so he just went with it. Now that I've seen the photo shoot pictures, though, I wish they would've asked him to pose a bit more, or at least gotten hime to stand still for even one picture. Anyway, I think he had fun and did a great job.

Gotta have a clean nose!!!

Photo shoot! :)

Finally, we went to the fitting room, to get the kids' outfits for red carpet event on Sunday. They ended up switching Drew's shirt and shoes after his shoes didn't fit right and he looked really cute in the final outfit!

This was the original outfit that was changed

Team Blue! :)

Not sure about this pose, but love this face!!!

The Top 50

After that, we caught the bus back to the hotel, where we had planned to meet my cousin and his family and go to the City Walk for dinner. Unfortunately, there was a meeting with the judges scheduled smack in the middle of our break time, so we ended up hanging around the lobby for awhile, went to the meeting which ended up starting more than an hour late, and finally meeting my cousin and his family at the City Walk where they had already scored a table and had waited for us to get there to order! After we took a few pics with them, Drew and I walked around for awhile, stopping in some of the stores and watching some people try indoor parachuting (jumping from a plane - what's that called???) Again, it had gotten to be very late, so we headed back to the hotel and called it a night.

My cousin, Ryan, and his boys

He's a Model, Ya Know What I mean . . .

2010-04-26T21:24:00.001-04:00

Here are just a few of many shots I took during our AMAZING weekend in LA! What an experience, so much fun! They kept the kids very busy and scheduled with modeling "work" and plenty of fun!!

For now . . . .

Saturday morning - meeting the Blue Penguin team members for the first time. "Hellooooo, ladies!" ;)

Getting his hair fixed - and the photo shoot!

In between rooms at Milk studios, they posed in front of the red carpet banner

The final party red carpet outfit from Next - we got to keep it too!!!! :)

More pictures to come . . .

A great trip

2010-04-25T16:24:00.003-04:00

It turns out that everyone is a winner. Although Drew didn't win the big prize, Next Direct is providing him with $150 in clothes and a portfolio of pictures in addition to all the memories he'll have from this wonderful experience. He and Aimee had such a wonderful mini vacation. Thanks so much to everyone who voted for him.

Saturday Night Update

2010-04-25T07:45:00.004-04:00

Next Direct posted 6 photos from the competition yesterday and Drew is clearly visible in two of them.

I talked to Aimee late last night. After the activities and photoshoots, each of the groups of 10 went back to the hotel to meet with the judges. Each child was asked to introduce themselves to the judges. Aimee didn't think Drew spoke loud enough to be heard clearly, which probably wasn't the best impression... The good news is that the judges were in the dance class during the activities and Drew did do well following directions during the choreographed part. I'm sure he had lots of fun doing his own thing during the free dance time, too! He isn't necessarily a good dancer compared to the other kids (I figure most of these kids have pageant experience and dance classes) but he clearly enjoys it. Aimee said that one of the choreographers came all the way across the room to specifically tell Aimee that Drew was clearly having lots of fun and that we should persue that with him now while he is excited about it. (Yeah, like we can afford that!)

After they met with the judges, Aimee and Drew walked over to CitiWalk and met up with her cousin Ryan, his wife Marcie, and their boys. I think they had dinner and walked around, endlessly looking for the Hot Wheels Store which may or may not exist... Aimee promised me a call from Drew when they get up this morning. I'll update if there is anything to add.

Saturday and Sunday in LA

2010-04-24T08:31:00.009-04:00

When Aimee and Drew checked in last night, Drew received a goodie bag with snacks and a (very noisy) stuffed penguin. He is apparently in the "Blue Penguins" group. Aimee and he have matching blue shirts. He also received a straw hat with blue ribbon, a blue wristband and white "movie star" sunglasses. According to Aimee he was seen wearing them in the mirror saying, "Right on, Ladies"... I swear, I don't know where he picks this stuff up.

Here is Drew's schedule for today.
8-10 Breakfast
11:30 Depart for Milk Studios

12-3:45 the groups of 10 kids each will rotate around different stations including a dance class, photo shoots, video shoots, fittings and other "group activities"

The rest of the day is free time.

Sunday starts a bit earlier. Briefing at 8:45, 9:15 private trams to Universal Studios and private tours of the studios and the park including a visit to Animal Encounters, Shrek 4-D, and Simpsons Ride.

11:15 Finalists go to Globe Theatre for final fittings and to change into outfits for awards ceremony.

11:45 Finalists to red carpet.

12-2 Awards Ceremony/Lunch

Aimee and Drew head to LA

2010-04-23T21:41:00.004-04:00

Aimee and Drew are in Califiornia. Aimee called around 8pm EST and they were on the way to the Hotel after an uneventful flight. Drew was acting crazy due to the time change and being cooped up so long on the flight plus the time change. Once Aimee learns their schedule for tomorrow, I'll post it.

Carter and Brenna played so nice outside this afternoon. It is cute to watch them interact without Drew. I seldom get to see and hear them have their little conversations. It's very sweet how much they truly love each other.

I baked chicken drumsticks for dinner since Drew is not a fan of chicken at all. I beleive his school journal included the following quip, "Chicken is good for some people. Chicken is not good for me." It is good for some people. Carter and Brenna both loved their first try at eating the chicken off the bone and did very well.

Phils are starting late tonight, so I'm off to watch that, then some rest. I have chocolate cake to make for breakfast if I want these kids to cope with the lack of Mommy and Drew another two days.

Easter: Egg Hunt x2 and Family Fun at home and the zoo!

2010-04-05T19:54:00.000-04:00

Happy Easter everyone!

The gorgeous weather, sunny and in the 70s, made our easter weekend so enjoyable! The boys (Daddy and Drew) had off from school on Friday and Monday and we were able to have some nice quality family time all weekend.

Last weekend we attended the town egg hunt at the park. It was actually very chilly that day, and Emily was not happy about it. But she made it through, and although it was very crowded as usual, the kids all got some eggs and candy. Carter and Brenna hunted with the 2 and under crowd, and Drew and Ann's daughter, T, got to hunt with the 5&6 year olds. Carter ended up finding a few small prize coupons too! Lucky boy!

We went to the Cape May County Zoo on Friday with my longtime friend Erin and her family who were up visiting from the far south! :) It was so nice to see them. It was very crowded, but again, the gorgeous weather made the day!

Yesterday, we celebrated Easter at our house with the rest of Gee-off's side of the family. We even took a risk and tried dyeing eggs despite Carter's egg allergy, because it seems to be getting better. Yay!! He actually touched some of the eggs and had no reaction!

The Easter Bunny hid eggs and lots of candy around the living room and then sneakily hid their baskets down in the basement playroom. :) When the rest of the family arrived we had a delicious lunch (brought by everyone else -thank you!!!!) and more baskets and goodies for the kiddos!

We hope you had a lovely weekend too!

If you haven't voted for Gee-off yet in the South Jersey Mom Magazine contest, please go HERE to vote now!! Scroll down and you'll see the voting box on the left sidebar. THANKS!!!

Story Time and Outside Time

2010-03-29T17:32:00.017-04:00

The weather has been either really great or really crummy, but the kids have fun either way. It's great to see them all outside, but we'll settle for storytime with Mom.

A day trip to Ocean City!

St. Patrick's day in the yard

Easter Egg hunt at the park

Don't forget to vote for Gee-off to win the Dad's Point of View contest for South Jersey MOM Magazine. The voting on www.southjerseymom.com isn't as unbalanced as it appears. Despite the numbers and percentages that appear on the site, the decision for who will win the monthly Dad's POV column votes will only be counted one per IP address. If you haven't voted, Please do(It'll only take a moment)! If you have voted, please share this with friends and encourage them to vote for me! Thanks,
Gee-off

Really???

2010-03-20T09:23:00.005-04:00

We couldn't ACTUALLY be asking our friends and family to vote online for another family member just days after our unprecendented victory with Next Direct, would we?

Well, in a word, yes...

In January, before I knew that I was losing my afterschool program job and the many training opportunities that went with it, I answered an ad in South Jersey MOM magazine to write a monthly column from a Dad's point of view. I was named a finalist and the decision has been left to, you guessed it, an online vote. You may only vote once per computer and I do not encourage shenanigans to give me any advantage. In fact, I'm even sharing the writings of each of the other finalists, so if you think they are better suited for this you should vote for them (however, as fair as that seems, I'll definitely take you off our holiday card list).

You can place your vote at http://www.southjerseymom.com/ (along the left sidebar towards the bottom)

Aimee was right!

2010-03-18T19:06:00.003-04:00

What can I tell you? Women's intuition can go a long way, especially when that woman has an army of support in friends, family, and just about anyone those family or friends could convince to vote for our big man. Thanks so much for the overwhelming support! We received a call today and lots of forms to fill out and mail tomorrow. At the end of April, Aimee and Drew will be off to LA on an all expenses paid trip to compete in the finals. Drew and each of the other 49 finalists will have an opportunity to win the grand prize, a $100,000 scholarship and a 1 year modeling contract with Wilhelmina Models!

$100,000 for college?

2010-03-16T18:43:00.008-04:00

As many of you know, Aimee signed Drew up for an online competition for Next Direct to be a model for their clothing line. I, being the cynic, never believed at all that he'd have a chance to be selected. It isn't for a lack of being cute, he's got that in the bag. It's because it is limited to the top 50 kids out of nearly 4,000 that are eligible for the grand prize. I figured the top 50 would be filled with technology savvy parents who would cheat their way to the top.

Well, Aimee has exhausted her facebook friends with constant reminders and several friends have been recruiting people to vote and some have gone above and beyond to encourage voting(Thanks Marie, Ann, Pamela, Lindsey, and others I don't even know about).

The contest ends at 7am on Thursday, and this morning he was in 49th place. He's since bounced back up to around 200, where he had been for the last few days. If he manages to make the top 50, Aimee and Drew will get to go on an all expenses paid trip to Los Angeles for the final competition to compete for a $100,000 college scholarship.

The larger prize, however, may be that Aimee would be right and I would be wrong. I know most of our followers are female. C'mon ladies, this is a great opportunity to prove men are wrong about things like this and mothers intuition goes a long way.

We all know Aimee and the best big brother could use a vacation! Let's make it happen!

You can vote quickly with as many e-mail addresses that you care to use (each counts as one vote) every 24 hours. Thanks to anyone who takes the time to do this for us.

To vote for Drew now, click here!
http://apps.facebook.com/next_direct/gallery/show_entry/26303

or go to www.nextdirect.com, find the view gallery tab, search Drew (or #26303), wearing a black, gray, red sweater vest!!!! Click to vote!!!

Thanks,

Gee-off

Vote for Drew!!!

2010-03-10T16:46:00.003-05:00

I entered Drew in a modeling contest on Facebook for Nextdirect, a clothing company out of the UK, but coming to the US. They are doing a FB search/contest for models ages 4-7 and the top 50 kids who get the most votes will get to travel to LA for the final competition and could possibly win the grand prize of a one year modeling contract with Wilhelmina models and a $100,000 college scholarship!

Right now, Drew is only somewhere around 475th place!!!!! We need as many votes as possible to get him into the top 50! You can vote every 24 hours here until March 18.

I know many of you who read the blog have already seen my frequent (annoying) FB messages to vote for him, but I'm trying to think of any avenue possible to get more votes!!!

Thanks so much!

Update on Emily

2010-03-10T16:41:00.002-05:00

The doctor covering for Emily's neuro (who is out of town) called me Tuesday morning, of course while I was at ShopRite with Carter and Brenna and had a hard time concentrating! After explaining the episode to her, she said she can't really say that it was a seizure at all, though Gee-off and I are sure that it was. Also that she wouldn't change any of Emily's medicines and that we should be fine to wait until her appt on the 22nd. If she starts having more of these episodes or we have any other concerns, of course we can always call back.

Thanks always for keeping our little girl in your thoughts and prayers!

No laughing matter . . . not really punny either.

2010-03-08T20:34:00.004-05:00

We think Emily had a new kind of seizure on Saturday night.

Let me rewind just a little bit.

Emily has been doing really well lately developmentally. She has been sitting assisted and even unassisted for longer periods of time, her visual awareness and focus has continued to improve, and she has been vocalizing and responding to me, Gee-off, her brothers and sister, and her nurses more and more often with kissy noises, babbling, smiles, and laughing. Lots of laughing. We've found that if Gee-off is snuggling with her and starts kissing her cheek and neck she really laughs, that nice big belly laugh. It's so nice to hear.

Sometimes she seems to bust out laughing for no reason though too. And until Saturday night, I was happy to hear it anyway. "Oh she's laughing again!" And I'd run to grab the camera or video camera to record it. This time, Gee-off was making her formula in the kitchen and I scooped her up from her crib in the den and brought her out to show him. But she was slightly shaking by the time I got down the hallway and had stopped laughing that fast. So I continued to the living room to do the last diaper change of the night, but then realized she was still shaking. And then she closed her eyes and mouth tightly and wouldn't respond to us talking to her. Her arms were shaking the whole time, for about 2 minutes. Afterwards we waited to see if she would go back to "baseline" (her "normal"), and she did, trying to mouth her fingers, eyes open and looking around, not shaking.

We talked for a while about calling the on-call neurologist at CHOP to see if we needed to go to the ER, but she seemed fine and was sleeping normally within the hour so we decided to take a wait and see approach unless it happened again.

But, I couldn't sleep right away and in the back of my mind I remembered reading a few times about laughing seizures. So, I did what I shouldn't have, and Googled "laughing seizures". Sure enough, there is a type of seizure called a gelastic seizure that seems to be what Emily had. The person will burst out in a belly laugh for seemingly no reason at all, but it is actually a seizure. It also said that gelastic seizures can be caused by a benign brain tumor, and that removal of the tumor through surgery could stop this type of seizure completely. Surgery is not a great option for Emily since she coded during her gtube surgery in July of 2008. For her, it will probably mean a change to the diet or another med.

I'm waiting for a call back from her neurologist to see if we should bring her in sooner than her next appt on March 22nd. I'll keep you updated.

Coupon Dad's Ultimate Complete Unabridged Guide to Saving Every Possible Penny

2010-02-25T09:54:00.006-05:00

A penny saved is better than a penny earned, because you don't pay taxes on what you save!

Anybody who knows me well is aware that I am a coupon fiend. I think it started when Drew was born, because I didn’t like spending all that money on baby food and diapers, and now it is totally out of control. Unlike many coupon junkies, I don’t track my spending in a spreadsheet (because that takes time and would only serve to confirm what I already know), or keep my coupons in alphabetical order (that is just plain silly—the store doesn’t stock its shelves alphabetically).

Recently, Aimee was “bragging” about my savings and promised to share my tips with her friends, so since today is a snow day, I have some time to share… If you make it to the end, I’ll be impressed.

1. Buy the Entertainment book. We hardly ever go out, but just the grocery chain coupons and dry cleaning coupons pay for the book itself, and then I post to craigslist.org and “trade” coupons I won’t use for the ones I will. This year I traded with two different people and ended up with an extra $40 in Shop Rite coupons for the cost of a pair of stamps.

2. Subscribe to the Sunday newspaper. We receive three different Sunday papers each week for a total cost of $4.35 a week. Most weeks I clip over $100 in coupons, and on average, use 30-40% of them. Additionally, you’ll be aware of sales in all your local stores like Target and Best Buy with their weekly ads. This article from the Wall Street Journal, totally supports using coupons as a way to save during these difficult economic times.

3. Let friends know you clip coupons. Perhaps you can trade the coupons you don’t clip for the ones they don’t clip. I have several friends who share coupons with me because I don’t use the pet coupons and they don’t use the diaper coupons.

4. Use web-based blogs to be aware of matchups and links to printable coupons for things you wouldn’t necessarily be looking to buy. Yeah, they basically let you print money right off the internet. Yesterday, in about three minutes I printed two Dannon coupons, a Coffemate liquid coupon and a Cinnamon Toast Crunch coupon to save $4.00 twenty minutes later at Shop Rite. Each of the twelve yogurts I bought cost $0.22, the liquid creamer cost $0.24, and the huge box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch which included a pull-back racer that is sure to create some drama at the breakfast table for only $2.00. I like www.forthemommas.com, www.livingrichwithcoupons.com, and learned a lot when our little ones were young on www.babycheapskate.com. Additionally, I visit www.dealnews.com at least 6 times a day. Their team reports coupon codes and sales on any item from electronics to toys around the clock. I find it to be handy especially around the holidays or when planning for a tv or computer purchase.

5. Be organized. I have a plastic check organizer that I use to store my coupons. I organize it by store aisle, so when I go in the juice aisle and see that Juicy Juice is on sale, the coupons I might use are easy to find, because they are right next to the Capri Sun, Gatorade, canned fruit, and raisin coupons.

6. Clip every coupon you might ever use, but don’t let coupons determine your shopping list. Yes, this means you might clip coupons you won’t use because most expiration dates are around 8 weeks. But most popular items go on sale at some point during those 8 weeks, which is the time you want to use your coupon. This is a “matchup” and it is the reason most of the (brand name) cereal in our pantry cost between $0.50-$1.00. In addition to the printable coupons I mentioned earlier, I bought four packages of Go-Gurt(which is not a normal purchase for us, because it is usually $3.29 for 8 tubes) on sale for $1.49. With each package I used a $0.35 coupon (each doubled to $0.70) making my cost only $0.79 per package. That is more than a 75% savings. The expiration date isn’t for 4 weeks and you can freeze them. If I had used the coupons when I clipped them, I would have saved the same $0.70, but I would have still spent $2.59.

7. Have a large pantry and extra freezer available when there is a super deal. We currently have 36 boxes of cereal in our pantry. Ok-I recognize that is a little bit insane, but with 5 of us eating cereal every day, we do go through a ton. Yesterday, post cereals were on a super 4 day sale (limit 4 boxes) for $1 per box. I used two $1 off 2 coupons making my cost $0.50 per box for Alpha Bits and Honeycombs. Last week, I bought 4 boxes of Froot Loops and 1 box of Corn pops for a $0.05 profit! Each box was on sale for $1.99, had a “$1.00 off this box” peel sticker coupon on it, and there was a “buy 5, get a $5.00 off your next shopping order coupon” promotion.

8. Take advantage of promotions and rebates, and the rules associated with them. Anytime there is a store promotion for buying multiples to save additional money off another shopping order, I just figure the net cost to determine if it is worth it. I purchase diapers pretty much exclusively at Shop Rite for several reasons, but primarily for the baby buck program which gives you $10 back after each $100 in baby purchases. Although their regular prices are not competitive with superstores like Walmart or Sams Club, their sale prices are, and the additional 10% in baby bucks make it a no brainer. Plus a lot of supermarkets double coupons up to $1.00 when most superstores do not. To make this deal even sweeter, the Baby Bucks are figured based on regular prices, not sale prices. A few weeks ago Pampers big boxes were on “sale” for $20 per box. With seventy size 5 diapers for $20, that costs nearly .29 per diaper, which isn’t great, but not bad either. Consider that Proctor and Gamble had two promotions I qualified for because I also bought some bounty paper towels, I would receive a coupon for $10 off a future shopping order and a $10 Visa gift card by mail. Taking the paper towels out of the equation since they were a good deal on their own at less than $0.50 per roll, my net cost for the two big boxes was actually only about $11.80! I spent $40, saved $20 on the promotions, $4.00 by using two $2 off coupons, and since the regular price on the big boxes is $25.99, I earned 52% of my baby buck redemption, which equates to $5.20. That’s a lot of numbers, but the end story is 140 diapers for $11.80, less than 9 cents a diaper. Lets see Walmart compete with that!

9. Know your prices, and utilize unit price as your method of comparison. I learned a long time ago that although that huge box of diapers at Target seems like a great deal, the unit price isn’t always competitive with the smaller packages when paired with coupons. Yesterday, I compared the Pull-Ups unit prices at Shop Rite (yes, I brought my calculator with me). I had to do my own calculations because the unit price on the shelf will not include the “price plus discount” or take in to account my coupons. Three different sized packages were on sale. The 50 ct box was $19.99, the 44 ct. was $16, and the 26 ct. was $9.99. Funny, everyone always thinks buying the bigger package is the better deal, but the unit prices tell a different story, especially if you have enough coupons to buy multiple small packages.
50 ct = 40 cents each 44ct =36.4 cents ea. 26 ct = 38.4 cents ea.
After applying $2.00 off coupons, however…
50 ct = 36 cents each 44ct =31.8 cents ea. 26 ct = 30.7 cents ea.
10. Don’t feel obligated to a particular brand or store. There are only a few brands that we buy exclusively. Melitta Coffee (mmmm…) and Strohman Whole Wheat Bread (Aimee’s request-and I love her very much, even though the regular price is $3.49 a loaf!) are the only brand name items we’ll buy when not on sale, but usually I stock up enough so that doesn’t become necessary. Bread freezes easily and defrosts on the counter in a hour or so, so when it is on sale, I’ll buy whatever will fit in the freezer.

11. Stock up on your regular weekly meals. We keep things pretty simple. We eat chicken nuggets with french fries and pasta with Perdue turkey meatballs once every week. When those things are on sale, I stock up. After sales and coupons, each of those dinners costs less than $3-4 for the entire family, which obviously can keep our grocery bills down.

12. Let the weekly ad dictate your menu. After considering our pantry and regular meals, Aimee and I plan our meals around what is on sale. I have a shopping list that is basically a categorized table for each aisle of the store so when I make the list everything is written in the appropriate aisle, and I never need to double back. This may seem almost as crazy as my coupon organization, but it only took a few minutes to make, and I’ve been using it each week for years without having to double back to an aisle because I forgot something. Some people say I have too much time on my hands, but maybe I have so much time because I saved so much time in the store by not doubling back!

13. Buy only items on sale. Yesterday, the only things I bought that were not on sale were bananas and milk. Again, the large pantry and freezer are needed for this to work effectively. Each week, there are always some meats on sale, there are always some canned goods on sale, and always some type of yogurt on sale. I let the ad determine our meals brand selection and let the coupons help us conserve our resources.

14. Play fair. Don’t use expired coupons or try to slip a coupon in that isn’t for the exact product listed. Be nice to the cashier and keep your buy-one-get-one coupons on the top of your pile so they can keep an eye out for those items as they ring up your order. He or she will likely need to take note of the price so they can write it on the coupon. By alerting them, it will speed up the order and the gesture in most cases is appreciated.

15. Take your kids shopping with you. Get them used to hearing the phrase, “It’s not on the list”, early and often and they won’t hassle you for the cereal with the cool prize. I’ll never forget the time Drew wanted Danimals Crush Cups and saw they had the yellow sale tag and said, “Dad, Crush Cups are on sale, do we have a coupon?” The first word Drew ever read was the big 3 foot letters that spelled out B-R-E-A-D in the front corner of the store. Hopefully, he’ll learn from his Dad, just like I learned from mine that coupons are a great way to extend your budget. My Dad did it way cooler than me; he only brought the coupons he needed in a small inconspicuous envelope, whereas I carry my 8.5” x 11” shopping list and bright yellow coupon caddy every time I set foot in the market.

Yesterday, my total shopping order was just over $100.00. If I hadn’t used a single coupon and just paid full price for everything, the total would have been over $250. I know that everyone saves a bit each time they shop by buying things on sale, but I really think this extra effort saves our family significantly and I hope this post shows how relatively easy it is to do.

Me with the ShopRite mascot, Scrunchy.

2010-02-22T00:14:00.003-05:00

I just love these Christmas pics of the kids so much, I used Photobucket to make them usable year round. See? They're black and white. Now you have no idea that they were wearing bright green and red Christmas pjs, do you?? *wink*

I'll use this as a siggy photo for one of the message boards I'm on.

Valentine's Day Photo Shoot

2010-02-07T13:57:00.008-05:00

Valentine's Day is almost here, so I dressed the kids up, clipped up my oh so professional pink fleece blanket backdrop, set up my lighting equipment that I don't know how to use, and had a little photo session!

I'm actually really happy with the results. I took Emily's pictures on Friday when the other children were sleeping so they wouldn't bother her, and we were able to get some really cute smiles out of her. Drew, Carter, and Brenna got their pictures taken during the snow storm on Saturday. Brenna and Carter were not too cooperative at first, but when I mentioned CANDY they had no problems sitting together and holding hands for me! :)

Squiddly-dogs!

2010-01-30T15:40:00.005-05:00

We found this idea in our recent issue of Family Fun Magazine, and last night Gee-off made them for the kids.

Simply push 4 pasta noodles through chunks of hotdog and boil them up - an instant hit!!!

Brenna chowing down (in her Cinderella headband of course!)

Drew ate his so fast, in this pic he had already moved on to the grilled cheese but wanted a pic of himself anyway!

Carter likes it! No surprise there! :)

In other news, everyone is finally feeling better. Unfortunately both of Emily's nurses got the bug too, and Emily has been having diarrhea for about a week now. It does seem to be easing up for the past two days though and we have a sample out to the lab just in case. I'm just glad we were able to keep things under control at home and keep her out of the hospital!!

Sick of being sick...

2010-01-24T20:00:00.003-05:00

So, we all took turns being sick this week with the 24 hour stomach bug. It hit some of us worse than others, but I missed work twice, Drew missed 2 1/2 days of school, and none of us ate a regular meal for dinner all week.

Emily is still on continuous feeds, gradually increasing volume.

This picture was taken during Carter and Brenna's "hangover". They'd been up all night, and finally could rest. If you look carefully, you can see that Brenna has her Fairy costume AND mittens and hat on under the blanket.

Keto Diet Anniversary

2010-01-13T22:03:00.004-05:00

On this day last year, Emily was admitted to CHOP to start her initiation week on the ketogenic diet. You can follow this link to read my posts on how it all began. (Thanks to our fellow keto family for the reminder!!)

We had a very rocky start, the diet really caused her blood sugars to drop to dangerously low levels, and she got 2 stomach viruses in the first 2 months. Blech!! At that time, I was very pessimistic about any kind of success on the diet.

But once she was able to keep down the required formula, the diet began to work it's magic. Emily started having completely seizure free days in March and went SF for 103 days!! Her spasms have crept back on and off since then, but mostly off. We rarely see any spasms at all, and if we do, they are so mild we can hardly identify them!

Freedom from seizures has also made a miraculous difference in her development. Last year, Emily slept almost all the time. She was eating a bit by mouth, rolling some, and smiling more often. Now, she has much more awake time, she's holding her head up, her vision has improved - she focuses on objects and people and often makes eye contact, she is smiling all the time and laughing, she rolls, lifts her head up and props herself up on her arms while on her belly, she holds toys, puts them (and anything else she can get in her hands on) in her mouth, and in the past month she has started sitting UNSUPPORTED!!!!!! Unbelievable.

We are so thankful to the CHOP staff for continuing to recommend this diet and we're so glad we gave it a try. Emily has made such amazing progress and it is so awesome to watch her getting stronger and happier each day.

Emily

January 2009 (with my Aunt Nancy)

Emily

January 2010 (with Carter, Brenna, and Uncles Mark and Evan)

Our favorite vegetable devouring superhero returns

2010-01-05T23:34:00.000-05:00

Broccoli Boy

2010-01-02T16:17:00.000-05:00

2009 - Our Year in Review

2009-12-31T21:25:00.007-05:00

Drew

This year, Drew started playing recreational sports. He started with T-ball in the spring and really enjoyed it. This fall, he played soccer and loved it. He was a real asset to the team! He spent his 4th summer at Tall Pines Day Camp where one of the highlights was singing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" on the big stage for the whole camp! After graduating half day Pre-K, Drew moved up to full day Kindergarten and made the transition like a champ. He's doing extremely well in school, and is reading well above grade level - his teacher even has him helping to "teach" some of the other students as a challenge for him. Amazing. You know the teachers in us are so proud! This year, he has lost 4 teeth, had his 3rd set of ear tubes placed, and his adenoids removed. He had his first official birthday party with friends at a local indoor jump/bounce arena when he turned 6 in December. He also got to watch all 6 Star Wars movies with his Dad and is now a bonafide Star Wars fan! He continues to be a big help with his brother and sisters (most of the time) and really loves to play the Wii.

Carter

This year Carter has grown so much. Physically, he is still our peanut, and weighs the least of the crew. By the summer, we were realizing that he wasn't talking nearly as much as we thought he should be and within weeks of starting speech therapy, he started talking up a storm. And now, he's finally saying his own name, which he absolutely refused to say for quite awhile. He also started physical therapy because he was falling a lot. He has flat feet and drags his right foot a tiny bit because he doesn't bend his knees like he should. In the last few months, he is definitely falling less, and his balance has started to improve. He is still a fabulous eater - loves his veggies. There are really only two things I can think of that he will NOT eat. Surprisingly, they are macaroni and cheese and oatmeal!! He can count to 10, but won't say 4. He can repeat all of the alphabet letters and recognizes most of them. He knows some shapes and colors too. He is not quite ready for the potty yet. In fact, both Carter and Brenna were very interested in sitting on the potty for awhile. Then I told them that they would only get Smarties if they actually went in the potty, and their enthusiasm faded. :)

Brenna

This year Brenna has become such a little lady! She loves anything Dora, Diego, Princesses or My Little Ponies! She gets thrilled over shoes and boots, and anything "dancy" (fancy) or dress-up. She can also count to 10, and can say and recognize all of the alphabet letters. She has been right on target or ahead with all of her milestones and skills and has not needed any Early Intervention services. Brenna is showing signs of potty training readiness. She will sit and do #1 occasionally, and ver rarely #2, but we're working on it. :)

Emily

2009 was a huge year for Emily. She started the ketogenic diet in January, and has made miraculous progress! She has been mostly seizure free since March, having a few breakthrough spasms here and there. But changes to the ratio of the formula have helped. She started eating by mouth a tiny bit, right now she eats every other night (and gets the rest by g-tube). She continues to get both OT and PT services weekly and has really made some huge advances. She can hold her head up, roll, push up on her arms while on her belly, and most recently began sitting unsupported for up to 10 seconds!!!! Unbelievable! :) Back in the spring she was accepted into a program provided by the Department of Developmental Disabilities (DDD), and through them we have been able to get nursing care in our home, 6 days a week - 8 hours a day, to help with Emily's daily care (baths, feeding, medicines, exercises). This has been one of the biggest blessings of the year! The DDD has also supplemented our insurance to help with medical expenses and the cost of adaptive equipment. Last week, we just received a Tumble Form chair and a Squiggles stander. She is also having more alert time, more smiles and giggles, making eye contact sometimes, and even following us as we walk by!

Aimee and Gee-off

This year we celebrated 10 years of wedded bliss! :) We used our camper twice this summer and also took a road trip to Maine. Gee-off is still teaching 6th grade Math as well as teaching for the after school program. He also continues to give his Positive Discipline Workshop for camps and after school programs in NJ and PA on evenings and weekends. He was honored to present at the ACA Tri-State Camping Conference and the NJSACC Convention this year, and is booked to do both again in 2010. In his "spare time" he likes to host poker nights with the guys and fight bad guys on the Playstation 3. I have been able to remain a stay at home Mom this year and have been able to get Carter and Brenna out to daytime activities more often (thanks to Em's nurses and having Drew in school). I've also been more active in Mom's Club events and have been able to help out in Drew's classroom as well. I was so happy to get to go to 3 all day scrapbooking crops throughout the year and attended 2 major scrapbooking conventions. I've really been enjoying my Canon DSLR camera, and I just got some home lighting equipment to experiment with too. If only I could find some cute kids to take pictures of!!! :)

Here's to an amazing 2010 - Happy New Year!!

Christmas Card 2009

2009-12-18T10:11:00.003-05:00

Merry Christmas everyone!!
I think this is my favorite Christmas card yet.

To all of our friends and family, your cards are in the mail and should be arriving very soon!

And to all of my "cyber" friends, this one's for you!

We hope everyone has a safe, healthy, and happy holiday and a wonderful New Year!

From top left, clockwise:

Emily, Drew, Brenna, and Carter

Drew - 6 years

Emily, Brenna, and Carter - 2 years, 4 months

Camping in November too?!

2009-11-24T22:28:00.006-05:00

Ok, you got me, it was actually the first week of September! :)

We had so much fun camping earlier in the summer, that we went again and stayed for a few days longer during the week this time. This time, we chos Hospitality Creek and loved it!!

Emily was able to stay with us in the afternoons, evenings, and overnights, but got to go home and relax with her nurses during the day. This also kept her away from the mosquitoes and bees!

Our set-up: the pop-up camper, the corral (playyard with extra panels to enclose a play area for the little ones), and the picnic table with canopy. Looks good, eh?

Cozying up by the fire - Drew and Daddy

Mommy and Drew

(more pics of the campfire below - issues moving pics.)

The campground had a very large lake area with a shallow spot perfect for the kids. They loved the low dock, the climbing turtle, and tunnel slide. Maybe next year Drew will attempt the BIG tunnel slide and rope swing!

(more pics of the lake below - I couldn't get these in order and I've run out of time!!!!!)

They also had an amazing activity pool that we enjoyed everyday. It had zero entry all around one end where Carter and Brenna spent most of their time playing with the sprayers. The deeper area had some water guns and a lily pad course that Drew got to play on. So fun!!!!

The Boardwalk in November?!

2009-11-24T22:12:00.005-05:00

Actually, we went to the boardwalk in August, but I'm just that far behind with posting the pictures!

Before school started, Gee and I decided to take Carter, Brenna, and Drew to the boardwalk to use up some amusement park tickets. Emily stayed at home with her nurse since we were going to be so active that day.

First, we stopped to enjoy some apple cider donuts. YUM!

I HAD to step on the beach, and Drew didn't mind posing for me. :)

Bumper Cars were the first choice for Drew.

Brenna was so thrilled with this race car ride, it was hysterical watching her! I posted a video of them on Facebook back in August, you really have to see and hear them in action to appreciate the full experience!

They had an "Emily" boat, but we couldn't get it fast enough! :(

Enjoying some lunch after all the fun - Carter

Brenna

Drew

We're the featured blogger!!!!

2009-11-10T09:01:00.003-05:00

I'm so excited to say that We Could Not Ask for More is the feature Blog today at Multiples and More!

You can check out the interview I gave at the link above. :)

Steps for Seizures - Team Emily!!

2009-11-09T19:02:00.004-05:00

It was a beautiful day for a walk on Saturday. Our friends and one of Emily's nurses walked with us. We were so happy to see so many people there to support the cause. We got to meet Shelby, Clayton's Mom as we started the walk too.

We would like to thank everyone who donated again for all of your generosity with donations. We ended up giving over $1400.00!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Miss Emily

Drew, sporting his Steps 4 Seizures t shirt!

Team Emily in action :)

Go Team Emily!

Mr. and Mrs. G. times 2!

In My Daughter's Eyes

2009-11-06T11:27:00.004-05:00

It's been a long while since I've sung publicly, but I felt it was a worthwhile time to share... I recorded In My Daughter's Eyes with some new lyrics in my brother's studio(Thanks, Mark) and created a slideshow of Emily in honor of our Steps For Seizures Walk tomorrow. We raised $1,375 for Clayton's Hope (Thanks, Everyone) and are endlessly proud of our little girl and how she has changed our lives.

I hope you'll take 3 minutes to watch and listen to this tribute.

2009-10-15T21:43:00.007-04:00

2009 Steps for Seizures - Team Emily

**We have received more than $700.00 so far! We'll be accepting donations until the day before the walk. Thank you again to everyone for your kindness and generosity!**

As many of you are aware, Emily began having seizures, known as infantile spasms, when she was just four months old. Her spasms were uncontrolled except for short periods of time with various medications for nearly fifteen months. During that time, Emily made progress, but it was very limited. Emily is now on the ketogenic diet, which is keeping her seizures under the best control they have ever been. She has had long periods of seizure freedom, going for weeks and even months without a spasm. Since starting the diet, she has also been progressing with her physical development, and is now rolling, holding her head up, smiling and laughing, and even eating some by mouth again at 2 years old.

But Emily’s battle with epilepsy is not over. She has had some breakthrough spasms on and off and will most likely suffer from some type of seizure for the rest of her life. After speaking with Clayton’s mother, we were encouraged to learn that the money raised by Clayton’s Hope (a 501 (c)3 non-profit organization) will be used towards funding a study at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia as to how the adrenal gland plays a role in seizure management and control and, in turn, what medications will break the brain barrier and work on the adrenal gland's mechanisms.

We believe in the incredible doctors and researchers at Children’s Hospital and look forward to walking with Emily in the 2009 Steps for Seizures Walk on November 7, 2009, at Washington Lake Park.

We are hoping our friends and family both near and far are willing to help us raise money for the walk by donating to this cause. We also would like to invite anyone else who wants to walk with us on the 7th. If you are able, please let us know as soon as possible.

With our sincere thanks,
Geoff and Aimee Gollihur

You can email me for our address to send your donation.

Please make checks payable to: Clayton's Hope

http://www.claytonshope.org/

Intimidation

2009-10-09T18:13:00.002-04:00

Manwich

2009-10-08T06:22:00.004-04:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hofH02FKunc

Drew is a bit picky when it comes to trying new foods, so we gave this 20 year old slogan and his love for the media attention a try. He did indeed enjoy his first Manwich.

"One Short Day in the Emerald City"

2009-10-03T21:37:00.004-04:00

On August 21st, Gee-off and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary! With the help of some friends who were kind enough to watch the kids all day and into the evening, we spent our special day in New York City and got to see Wicked! We had been trying to see the show for years but it never worked out. While waiting, I read the book and memorized the soundtrack. In fact, I listen to it so much in the car that even Drew frequently requests it. :)

We drove up early and had time to walk around and have some lunch. We shared a HUGE sandwich at a deli for lunch and then it was showtime! We got yelled at for taking this picture in the theater. Ooops.

Or maybe she yelled at us for this one. ;)

A nice family took our picture in front of the dragon clock.

Times Square

This our traditional "take our own picture" shot.

We're still smiling after 10 years! I'm so happy to have such a great hubby. Thanks for asking me to marry you so so long ago! I love you!

Happy 2nd Birthday to Carter, Brenna, and Emily!!!

2009-09-21T21:39:00.005-04:00

I realize that everyone says this, but how did this happen?? 2 YEARS have gone by since the day I gave birth to these three amazing babies. We welcomed them into the world at 8:44, 8:45, and 8:46 pm on Saturday, August 18, 2007. It's a day we'll never forget. Drew officially became a big brother, and we became the proud parents of four. :)

Now they are 2!

When we came home from Maine, we had a party in their honor with the Gollihur side of the family.

The big two year olds with Mommy

Sweet little cupcake, Emily

Fun with tissue paper and a picnic table ;)

Brothers coloring - awwww!

"Bday" girl Brenna

(who loved the balloon so much that she ran back and forth at least 20 times saying

"Mommy, buh-fly, bayoon, WOW!")

Road Trip - Part 5

2009-09-21T15:05:00.004-04:00

During our last days in Maine, we swam some more, went to the park, and enjoyed our time with the family.

Here's Meme giving Brenna swimming lessons.

Drew posing with the Unity moose :)

Brenna at the park

Meme and the grandkids (Emily was with Pepe) at Unity Pond, tossing rocks.

Playing Hangman

And that's all folks!

Road Trip - Part 4

2009-09-12T14:04:00.005-04:00

After a day shopping in Bangor, we decided to head back the following day to play at the Children's Discovery Museum. There were 3 floors (all handicapped/stroller accessible!) and we had a blast exploring all of the exhibits.

Meme and Pepe with Emily in the art area

Drew, Carter, Brenna, and Daddy making a design on the huge Lite Brite!

The "Goodnight Moon" room - how cute!! They even had a bowl full of mush. :)

Mommy and Em

Aunt Nicole and Sierra fishin'

Road Trip - Part 3

2009-09-12T13:49:00.003-04:00

Happy 2nd Birthday to Brenna, Emily, and Carter!!!

The babies' actual birthday was one of the days we were in Maine, so, of course, we had to celebrate! We researched ice cream cakes, since Carter is allergic to egg whites and found a Friendly's (or was it Carvel?) cake that was safe. Hooray! We all enoyed it and even Emily had a teeny tiny taste (but don't tell her docs - ice cream cake is definitely NOT on the ketogenic diet approved list)

(Again, Blogger is being a pain! I tried to switch these next two pics, but I couldn't!)

They were kissing Emily first while waiting for cake . . .

and then . . .

Here are the best shots from the annual front porch photo shoot.

Meme and Pepe with all the grandkids - that's my niece, Sierra, with Emily.

Meme and Pepe with the Gollihur kids

Road trip - Part 2

2009-09-11T17:58:00.005-04:00

**Posts will now have no more than 5 pictures - Blogger is such a pain!**

We spent a lot of time swimming at Meme and Pepe's. Did I mention it was hot? ;)
Drew loved showing off his new swimming skills in the big pool and the little ones loved splashing around in the baby pool and being sprayed by Pepe too!

Meme and Pepe gave the babies their Birthday presents, a pink school bus for Brenna, a Little People car wash set for Carter, and a piano for Em, plus oodles of new clothes!!!

I think she likes it!

Drew is still the only one big enough to do sparklers!

Stay tuned for Part 3 . . . . .

Road Trip - Part 1

2009-09-05T16:29:00.010-04:00

As soon as camp ended in the middle of August, we packed up the van and the kiddos and headed up to Maine to visit my parents and my sister and her family. We started out at 4am, and drove straight through, only making about 4 stops, and arrived in Maine 13 hours later! Mostly the ride was smooth, the kids are really well behaved in the car and didn't complain hardly at all. Unfortunately Carter still has MAJOR motion sickness issues and got sick more than a dozen times on the way, yuck! Poor guy, but he is so sweet, as soon as he gets it out, he is smiling again. :)

We had a fun week planned at Meme and Pepe's house. We had a BBQ the night we arrived, and my Dad had painted a baseball field for Drew in backyard! They put up their pool which was great, because it was actually near or above 90 degrees everyday we were there! In Maine!! Even the evenings were hot, but we sweated it out and made sure we visited a few places with air conditioning.

Enjoying some cool popsicles!

Carter actually started off with an orange cream pop and then went for the fudge!

Brenna and Carter chasing the tennis ball by the barn

On our second day, we went to Swan Lake State Park, just a short ride from Unity. Everyone, including Emily, enjoyed swimming in the lake and playing on the playground.

Drew loved being tossed up by Uncle Joe!

Aunt Nicole and Sierra - what a sweetie!

Brenna, Carter, and Sierra stayed close to the lake's edge and had a blast picking up handfuls of rocks and dumping them back into the water. Brenna was saying, "Mommy, rock, wa-tah!"

Watch out for the shark!

Mommy and Carter

I was very nervous about bringing Emily in the water. The only water she is used to is during her bath, which she hates! But it was very hot, and the water was not cold, and she seemed to really like it! Gee-off is holding her in this picture.

The cousins playing in Meme's kitchen

The Carusos

Punch Balls!

Stay tuned for Road Trip Part 2, coming soon . . .

Summer Catch Up

2009-09-05T16:15:00.002-04:00

I'll be playing catch up forever! But, I am seriously dedicating some time this week to posting about our busy and super fun summer.

Here are some highlights to look forward to:

Road Trip to Maine to visit my family

Carter, Brenna, and Emily turn 2 years old!!!

Family Birthday Party

Aimee and Gee-off's 10th Anniversary trip to NYC!

Day Trip to the Wonderland Pier in Ocean City

Camping at Hospitality Creek

and everyday fun around the house!

I (I mean YOU) could win this beautiful bag!

2009-09-05T16:09:00.003-04:00

Kelci is giving away one of her gorgeous bags!! Check it out here for your chance to win!

Tall Pines Day Camp

2009-08-31T07:02:00.012-04:00

They say "Summers are Magical" at Tall Pines Day Camp and I won't disagree. On August 14th, we closed out Drew's 4th season as a camper at Tall Pines and my 14th year as a counselor at the premier day camp in South Jersey.

Drew came home happy every day talking about the adventures with his group (The Yellow Yodas), his wonderful counselors, and his "very best friend" Alex.

Drew grew so much this year as he became more

confident with swimming. He started being an edge grabber and wouldn't put his head under water without lots of encouragement. Before this year, he would mostly run and splash around in the baby pool, but now he is practicing strokes and is comfortable in the deeper pools and is swimming underwater and playing swim tag with the other kids. Thanks so much to Drew's swim instructors, who worked so well with him.

Drew also was more willing to try new things at lunch and grew more comfortable with the sports activities especxially tennis, gaga, soccer, lacrosse, minature golf, and kickball. Drew especially enjoyed participating in music class and dance class where he prepared to sing We Will Rock You and learned a dance to Thriller for the Junior Camp Show. He also performed "Take me out to the Ballgame" in front of the whole camp on baseball jersey day.

It was a great to see Drew grow in his four years at camp. I know how lucky we are that he gets to experience all of this fun and excitement and know that his involvement in camp has improved his confidence and will make him a better

kindergartner when school starts in a few days.

I also particularly enjoyed this season as my group was fantastic and the counselors that worked with me are two of the most incredible young men I know. It's nice each year to get a break from teaching and do something that is also rewarding and in my skill set, but without the pressures of gradebooks and standardized tests.

The following photo is from Drew's first season at camp in 2006 (the date printed on the photo is incorrect) as an active 2 1/2 year old!

How's Emily?

2009-08-12T16:11:00.004-04:00

I realize I haven't posted a medical update in a while, and mostly it's because she's doing pretty well. But, also because it's just hard to write about most days. The reality is, Emily is never "OK". She has a chromosome disorder for which a prognosis can not be given. It will never be cured or fixed. She has wrong information in every chromosome of her entire body. She has epilepsy everyday, even though she has not had seizures on a daily basis since March. Everyday she also has hypoglycemia, hypercalcemia, g tube dependence, cortical visual impairment,

kidney reflux, gastric reflux, and constipation issues.

Will some of these conditions get better?

Maybe.

Will she grow out of some of these issues?

Maybe.

Are some of these conditions improving with medications?

Yes.

But any day, any moment, we live in fear that something new and scary could "attack" her and make this stable period we are in right now feel like a distant memory.

As far as right now goes, Emily recently had an EEG, prompted by a few break through spasms 5 days in a row in July. She had one cluster of spasms in May (after being seizure free for 103 days), and one cluster of spasms in June. She has also recently been sleeping more during the day, and having difficulty eating again, so her neuro thought maybe her EEG was getting worse. It turns out that her EEG has changed. She is not in hypsarrhythmia now (for the first time since being on ACTH 12/07-2/08!), but the EEG showed a slowing pattern according to the docs. This could mean that she is developing Lennox Gastaut Syndrome, which means she will probably have some type of seizures for the rest of her life.

The plan was to wean her off of Zonegran, keeping her on Keppra and the keto diet. If the seizures were to start back up again, we would start Lamictal, most likely.

She has been finished with the Zonegran for a week now, and we have seen no seizures, so we are holding off on starting any new meds for now.

In other areas; she is still smiling a lot, laughing some, blowing raspberries some, eating a little bit better, rolling all over the floor, holding her head up pretty well, and sitting fairly well in a supported position.

And as always, she's absolutely adorable!

Trivia Winner!

2009-08-04T22:01:00.002-04:00

Well, I apologize for fizzling out on the last week of trivia. But, I did finally get around to putting all of the entries into the random.org number generator from all of the comments from all of the weeks of trivia, and the winner is Julie!

Congrats Julie, and thanks to everyone for playing! I'll be emailing you for your address to send out a prize!

Google, Deegle, Honey, and Baby

2009-07-24T21:10:00.004-04:00

Brenna's vocabulary has been exploding lately, she is so talkative. Sometimes she babbles so you really can't understand her, but most of the time she says what she means very clearly. The cutest things she's been saying lately are everyone's names. She has been saying Da-Da or Daddy for along time now, as well as Mommy. She has also been saying Doo for Drew for awhile now too. And she always refers to Emily as "Baby". Just recently she started calling Carter, "Google". I have no idea where this came from, but she definitely means Carter when she says it. She will bring him his hat, and say "Google? Hat?" - as in "Carter, do you want your hat?" So CUTE!!! Shortly after starting with "Google", it turned into "Deegle". So even more recently that has been his name. We had been trying to get her to say Carter by having her repeat Car and then Ter and then Carter, but she would give a sheepish grin, and refuse to say it. Funny!

Just as we decided to get this "Google/Deegle" thing on video, she finally caught on and has been calling him Carter! It's still cute though because she really hangs on her R's and puts a slight pause in between syllables when she says, "Carr - Terr". Love it!! She can also say "Em" now, and sometimes even Emily.

As for herself, she had not been able to say Brenna, and I guess because I say it so often, she started referring to herself as "Honey". She'd say things like, "Honey's shoes", or "Honey's book". Adorable! We started getting her to repeat Brenna just recently, and now she can say that too.

As for Carter, I mentioned a few posts back that we were having his speech evaluated. He had no where near the number of words Brenna had a month ago, he was not repeating words, and was becoming VERY frustrated when he wanted to tell us something, ask for help, etc. We taught him the sign for "more" to help at the table, and his vocab was less than 10 words, including Da-Da (but not Mommy), Doo for Drew, shoe, choo-choo, uh-oh, and bye. He could only do one animal sound for doggy and didn't name many objects at all. At his early intervention evaluation, he scored well below his age for speech and they suggested getting him started with a developmental interventionist, or teacher, rather than a speech therapist. They thought his speech was more of a minor delay and not something more significant. So we agreed, of course, to start therapy for him once a week. It takes a few weeks to get started and in the time we have been waiting to begin, he has been talking up a storm!!! The first noticable change was when he said "Mommy" for the first time about 2 weeks ago! :) I was so proud, and his voice is like a little whisper, so sweet you could just cry. He is also repeating words, naming toys, like ball and book. And the funniest thing is that he has now started calling Brenna, "Google"!!! He has been saying Daddy, Doo, and Baby for a bit now, and then Mommy, but he never called Brenna anything. Just in the last week though, he's been coming out with "Google", all the time. So funny! He had his first therapy session this week, and his teacher seemed to think she wouldn't need to work with him for very long! Good job buddy!

He can also now say "Em" for Emily, and it is just the sweetest thing, if they hear her crying they will both stop and say, "Is Ok, Em!" And just today we were watching Baby Einstein's Baby's First Moves DVD (one I don't think we'd ever watched before), and they were sitting on either side of me on the couch saying "Baby Em", "Baby Em" when the babies came on the screen. Brenna would say it, then Carter, then Brenna, like ping-pong!

Emily has been smiling and even laughing more lately, but still no words, or even sounds. She had been blowing raspberries a while back, but not recently.

Triplet Trivia Tuesday

2009-07-21T16:15:00.004-04:00

We had some correct answers! Grandmom Joanne, and my friends Rebecca and Jennifer all figured it out! Basically, all of the notes represent a member of our family. The first notes that are together are G and A for Gee-off and Aimee, the next is D for Drew, and then the triplet note is B, C, and E for Brenna, Carter, and Emily. A big thanks to Uncle Mark for taking our idea and creating the finished logo you see here. He also made each of us a vinyl decal for the back of our cars! We are crazy busy preparing for a yard sale and birthday bash this weekend, so prizes will be coming for all 3 of you next week! Thanks for playing!

After weeks of begging and pleading, I was given permission to post today's trivia question.

It's quite a simple question, but I'm interested to see if anyone knows - What is the significance of the design included with the title on the blog?

Since this is a tough question, I'm raising the stakes. If you think you know the correct answer, e-mail the answer to Aimee at agollihur@comcast.net THEN post a comment that you have submitted an answer. Every answer (even the incorrect ones) will be in the running to win the July prize. We will also randomly choose one correct answer to win a special prize that will be sent out this week.

Good luck!

Gee-off

Birthday Portrait Session

2009-07-14T16:17:00.009-04:00

Yesterday, I took the babies to Picture People to get their pictures taken for their birthday. It's almost a month away, but they sent me an awesome coupon for a free portrait package. Emily's nurse came with us, they all had good naps and lunch before we left, and they all looked so sweet in their coordinating outfits.

BUT, when we got there, we spent the whole session trying to keep Emily from falling off of the props they had (which are meant to be used with infants of course), and trying to keep Carter and Brenna in the room and out from behind the backdrop. Our photographer was very sweet, but not much help in getting them to "pose".

Here are a few shots:

OK, so this one was pretty cute. But I wanted to get the whole dress.

Uh, Brenna? What are you doing, hmmmmm?

If only you could hear the audio on this one, "No, No, NOOOOOO!"

Well, this one speaks for itself!

Triplet Trivia Tuesday

2009-07-14T13:23:00.005-04:00

Well, questions 1 and 2 were about Carter and Brenna, so this week, of course, will be about Emily.

One of Emily's favorite toys is a colorful __________ that she first enjoyed during one of her stays at the hospital. We searched high and low for it, and finally found one for home.

What is it?

Yes, you're right! Emily really loves her Sassy mobile. It has four different music settings, colorful/interchangable hanging toys (some are soft and some are hard and rattle), it rotates and takes short stops so she can focus on it, and it has a remote control! We love it too!

Big news on my workshops...

2009-07-12T07:22:00.003-04:00

After much preparation and Mark's expertise, a website advertising my workshops on positive discipline techniques is online!

As some of you are aware, I've been presenting these workshops to aftercare programs for the better part of two years and just started doing camps and schools within the last year. A good friend agreed to videotape a workshop so programs could get a peek at the energy I bring when I present.

Although it means Aimee has to spend even more time as primary caregiver while I'm "on the road" on evenings or Saturdays, her support for me has been so important.

The first video on the site shares a humorous story from my childhood about my Mom, the greatest "rule writer" of them all. Giving workshops to teachers upon retirement was an unfulfilled dream of Mom's and I know how proud she'd be if she were able to see me now!

Please check it out!

www.positivedisciplineworkshop.com

Gee-off

Triplet Trivia Tuesday

2009-07-07T08:49:00.003-04:00

Which baby came home from the hospital first?

You all said Brenna, who has recently taken to calling herself "Honey" (more on that in another post). You're all right!

Brenna came home on September 5, 2007 after 19 days in the NICU.

Carter came home on September 9, 2007 after 22 days in the NICU.

Emily came home on October 5, 2007 after 48 days in the NICU.

Thanks for playing! :)

The things people say

2009-07-06T19:04:00.006-04:00

I have been meaning to write this post for LONG time about the comments people make about the triplets. Some are funny, some are sweet, and some are really downright rude!

I'll start with some of the very first comments ever made to me. These two comments I will NEVER forget, because they were made in the first 24 hours after birth, they were particularly hurtful, and they were made by my nurses at the hospital!

The babies were born just before 9pm, so it was very late after I went to recovery, got into the NICU for my first looks at them, and finally to my room. My nurse for the night came in, introduced herself and said, "Triplets! What were you thinking?" I don't remember what I actually said, I think I might have just smirked uncomfortably, but what I was thinking was, "I was thinking that I wanted another baby and I got 3! How special is that?" And I think I cried when she left the room.

Then my morning nurse came in, introduced herself and immediately asked whether we had used fertility drugs. I replied that we did have some help and she said, "I sure hope I'm not taking what you were taking!" Seriously???? Yes, she said that. Again, I can't remember what I said, but that one stung.

Since then, we have had many hurtful comments, and while I do believe people really don't think they are being rude, I still can't believe they say things like:

"Better you than me!"
"Triplets??? I'd kill myself!"
(OR) "I'd shoot myself!"

Mostly we get these two comments. In fact, we get these so often, sometimes we count how many times in one outing! 14 times is the record I think.

"You have your hands full!"
"God Bless You!"

To the first, I usually say, "I sure do." Sometimes I say, "better full than empty!" And sometimes I get that when I just have Carter and Brenna out with me, and I say, "and this is only half of them!" Which usually leaves them wide eyed, speechless, or laughing.

To the second, I usually say, "He sure did." Or simply, "thanks."

Then we move on to the very intrusive, I mean curious, comments. These people usually make one of the above comments first and then stop to get a closer look.

A lot of people ask, "All boys?" No, 2 girls and 1 boy.

"Are they identical?" Nope, all fraternal. Or I say, "no 2 girls and 1 boy" again, for those who I can tell don't get it! :)

Then they really want the dirt. Can you imagine a total stranger asking you how you conceived your single baby? I guess when they see more than one, all privacy goes out the window!

"Did you do fertility drugs?"
"Are they natural?"
"Do multiples run in your family?"

It really depends on my mood when I get these questions. Sometimes, I'll say, "we had some help". Or, "we did IVF".
Sometimes I'll say, "No they don't run in our family." Which doesn't really answer the question because I know that they really wanted to know if we used fertility drugs or not!
And sometimes, I'll say something like, "No we just did it 3 times in one night!"

These questions particulary bug me, because we did HAVE to do IVF to have another child. Our children, although conceived with the help of doctors and medicine, are in fact, completely natural! And when they find out we did IVF, people usually tell me about someone they know who had multiples spontaneously (which is what they mean by naturally) and how rare that is, as if to say those babies are more special than my "artificial babies". Sometimes even other triplet parents really point out that their babies were spontaneous, it feels like just to brag. For example, in forums, many triplet parents have their name at the bottom of a post and then "Mommy to A, B, C, spontaneous boy/boy/boy triplets". But I would never write, "Mommy to Carter, Brenna, and Emily, IVF b/g/g triplets. It just doesn't matter!

And then there was the woman, whom my Mom and I were chatting with at a park. We just had Drew with us, but my Mom was talking about the babies, and the woman asked (I still can't believe she asked this!!), "Were you drinking? Because I hear alcohol can increase your chances of having multiples." What??? Are you freaking kidding me??? She was totally serious though. I actually came up with this response on the spot, which I thought was pretty funny, "No, but I did take a LOT of drugs!" Meaning, of course, the fertility drugs, but I don't think she got it. Oy! But then I was mad, because if it were only that easy for us! If I could've sloshed back a couple of drinks and gotten pregnant, I most certainly would've. It would have saved us an awful lot of trips to the doctor, uncomfortable ultrasounds, almost daily blood tests, money for docs, accupuncture, anesthesia, freezing, storage, therapists, and no injections in my tummy, thighs and behind!

We also get these comments from more caring, understanding strangers:

"How do you do it?"
or
"You are so lucky!"

And the best comment I ever got was when we took the babies out shopping around 4 months old, and a man who worried me, because he looked a little scruffy around the edges, stopped, took a really long look, smiled, and said, "3 babies? Now that is heaven times 3!" Awwwww. I'll never forget that. :)

I know I'm forgetting some, but as is life with triplets plus one, I am out of "spare time". Lately, whenever somebody suggests we do something in our "spare time", they ALWAYS use the air quotes!

I didn't want to do it!

2009-07-05T23:01:00.003-04:00

But I HAD to!

I had to delete the guestbook! Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!

I apologize to all of you who have taken the time to post a message, picture, or both to the guestbook and show us some love!

The last 2 times I have clicked on it, I have gotten a trojan/virus/fatal error warning and while it has seemed to be just an ad for antivirus software (since our real antivirus program says we are all clear), I decided I should delete it to prevent future problems.

But please continue to leave comments after the posts, so we know you're out there! Oh, and thanks for reading, we hit 20,000 visits over the weekend. :)

First Family Camping Trip!

2009-07-02T19:25:00.007-04:00

Last fall, we bought a pop-up camper so that we could take a family camping trip. Of course, we had to wait until the summer due to school, work, and the weather, but we finally picked a weekend and went for it!!!

Gee-off made many lists and so we spent all week preparing to go, packing everything we would need and more. Of course with all of Emily's equipment plus the regular items we needed to pack for each of us, plus all of the actual bodies we had to fit in the van to get there, it had to be well thought out and carefully packed. Surprisingly, we didn't forget anything!

We went to Ocean View Resort Campground in Ocean View so Grandmom and Grandpop could spend the day with us on Saturday and so they'd be close by if we needed help. Luckily, they only needed to come for fun! Though it was pretty necessary to have the extra hands at the pool.

We arrived around dinner time Friday night, and immediately set up the playard with multiple extensions on the site so Carter and Brenna could play without running away! Drew played in there too, though we could also let him roam a bit which he enjoyed. We got everything unloaded, had a quick dinner and went for a walk around the campground. We got Carter and Brenna to bed around 9:30pm and at first they were crying, but soon they were laughing and playing and eventually fell asleep around 10:30!!! The air conditioner in the pop up made great white noise so we were able to go in and out without waking them up later too. Drew stayed up for our first campfire and roasted his first marshmallows.

On Saturday, the babies woke us up around 6:15am (thank you sunshine!) and we got going for the day by 7 or so. Gee-off had brought along the griddle and made bacon, sausage, and eggs, for breakfast. Yum! The little ones had Pop Tarts and bagels. :) We played at the site until Grandmom and Grandpop arrived. Then we went to the pool, had lunch, and all the kids took nice looooong naps while the grown ups played cards. We went to the game room and then we had pizza with Grandmom and went to play at the lake playground. Drew and I went for a ride on the tram and had ice cream. And we spent another late night by the campfire.

Sunday morning we got up and got to packing up right away. We really had fun, and although it was a lot of work, we plan to go probably 2 more times before the summer is over.

I apologize for these pictures being so out of order, but for some reason I can't reaarrange them like I usually do. (These are mostly in backwards order - from Saturday evening and back to Friday night)

Daddy and Emily (LOVE this pic!!)

Carter

Brenna

Drew

Drew 2

Skee Ball!!!!!

The shock of the trip - Brenna HATED this train ride, and Carter liked it!

Saturday nap time

(Brenna and Drew slept from 12:45 - 4PM, and Carted slept until 5PM!!)

Practicing with the new camera :)

Frito . . .

. . . meet Gee-off!

Grandmom and Mr. Blue Eyes

Mommy and Brenna

I told her this was a "princess chair" so I could get her to stay still for a second. Notice she's still moving!

Drew getting chilly

Carter - splashing in the baby pool

Our site (I got a few pics of the camper - but they're on the other camera!)

Friday night campfire

Emily says, "I love camping!!"