What have I done?

**** TO clarify for my mother..... No we didn't go to the nail salon today. (I know, I have sick kids) They are now playing "pretend" nail salon since they have been to the nail salon and like it. ALOT, almost too much. And the purse, is because they know what you do at the nail salon, talk on your phone, wear your sunglasses, and read magazine! Seriously, look at the way Ruthie is smiling and has her pants rolled up. Scary, she is only 3 going on 16.

Well, Lulu has pnemonia. (I can't even go into it, because I am just up to my eyeballs with sick kids!) I am seriously considering moving to Florida. Simon could commute right?

So needless to say, we have been stuck in the house. We are getting a little cagey. The girls have been so good about playing and not killing each other.... Well, I have stopped the fighting before it got to that point. Thankfully.

Today they were playing by themselves in our bedroom and I was in the kitchen. All of a sudden I heard our bath running. I go in to see them in this picture. Their response........

"We are at the nail salon getting a pedicure!!!"

Ruthie got herself dressed today, hence the layered shirt with her 2nd favorite "Little Miss " shirt. She is the official president of Little Miss Sunshine's fanclub.

I ran to get the camera (naturally) and noticed the purse on the floor. All the essentials are there.... sunglasses, phone, and a hand held game in case you get bored. I guess the US Weekly didn't fit in that small purse.

Santa Claus

We are working with Ruthie (as always) Bad Action =Bad Consequence.

In this case, it was dinner and she had bad table manners and would not listen. We gave her a warning and said she will not get the brownies that she and Daddy made earlier ( I know right, he does the laundry, cleans, and makes brownies, ah the life). Well, she didn't shape up and we told her the brownies were not an option her reply.......

I DON'T LOVE YOU!!!!!

Our reply: That is ok. But it hurts our feelings.

She quickly followed that with: (on the top of her lungs!)

AND I DON'T LIKE SANTA CLAUS!!!!!

Why did she have to bring him into it?

SERIOUSLY

I can't take it anymore. Strep throat, bronchitis, traveling husband, stuck in the house. I can handle giving up Target but honestly, this internet thing is not going to work.

Isn't living far away from family and friends and being stuck in the house forever, Lent enough?

Target and the Internet - I love you BUT......

I have given this serious thought, and I have decided! I will be giving up Target and the Internet for Lent!

The Target removal is for many reasons. I honestly think I would be able to see a drastic change in my bank account if I just stopped going there for the next 40 days. I realized this leading up to my florida trip when I think i went there 4-5 days in a row! And everytime, it seems like it was for one thing and I came out with many more. Plus, it will really be a large sacrifice to give that up.

The other thing I am giving up is the internet. I know this one will be CRAZY difficult. And I will have to probably put up parameters of usage not just giving up cold turkey. Especially since I do all my bill paying and banking online. Certainly don't want to be delinquent, and have some of my utilites turned off, or anything like that. So I am thinking of perhaps a 1-2 hour increment of time ONCE A WEEK. That should leave enough time to get all bills, and things in order.

Also, the girls birthday's will be during this time. And since this blog is all about them, and documentation. I will have to allow for a few posts to commemorate their special days. I just think that, while this will be a very hard challenge. I know that I can do it. And that my family will benefit from this.

I love everyone and the withdraw I will go through from not seeing the daily updates will be insane, but this little experiment will hopefully help get more focus on our family. Find out what is absolutely necessary, and what we can live without. Like Obama just said in his speech, to "turn off the tv" well, the internet for me is way more time consuming than the tv. Simon has not bought into this, and is pretty bummed out, as he relies on this blog while he is traveling to see the kids and updates. SO, perhaps he can post things, or we can fit in mini-updates in my 1-2 hours of usage. I know that his travel schedule is crazy over the next month so, we may have a negotiation in the future! (check me out, I am already talking myself out of it) SO FICKLE!

Happy Lent everyone!

Florida Vacation

Simon had a conference and some donor visits in Florida and is away for 9 days and it just worked out for me to meet up with him while he was at his conference in St. Pete's Beach for 4 nights and 5 days!

Picture taken from our beach cabana.

Gammy the great came to Michigan to stay with the girls and they were ecstatic! I could barely even get them to wave good-bye let alone give hugs or talk to me on the phone when I would call to check in. (honestly, I wouldn't want it any other way. Leaving with them crying or attached to me is never a good feeling)

I arrived and Simon picked me up from Tampa, we immediately hit the hotel restaurant and the pirate bar. So much fun. I can't even remember the time I stayed awake until after 11pm! We spent many hours on the beach on Saturday before Simon's meeting and we got MAJOR SUNBURN! We also rode jet ski's and saw dolphin's while we were out there riding! I kept waiting for the Loch Ness Monster to come up and swallow me whole! (remember, I am TOTALLY the worst case scenario girl!) But of course it wouldn't have been the Loch Ness Monster as much as it would have been The Gulf of Mexico Monster. It was pretty amazing riding around out in the golf. I kept freaking out when I would get the wave runner into the 30's. When Simon got off her was saying how he got up to 55 mph! Yowza!

Due to sunburn, we had to take a late afternoon trip to Nordstom. Doesn't everyone know that Norstrom cures sunburn? Well, we really had to stay out of the sun. Simon more than me, he has a problem with not being able to sit still so, after his meetings were done for the day, I figured we could hit the mall. He was borderline purple, not just red sunburn. Then, back to the bars, and hospitality suite for the conference. We also completed a pub crawl at our resort where they give you a passport and have you get a drink and get a stamp at all the bars and then you get a great t-shirt.

Simon huddled into the cabana and covering his sunburned legs.

Lastly, we watched the sunset, and had a fabulous dinner on my last night. Such a relaxing few days for me. I read plenty of magazines. Read a book cover to cover, took alot of naps on the beach. And hopefully it was good for Simon, even though he had to work! But hopefully since he is gone alot and always by himself, he enjoyed the company this time!

Beers at sunset.

Now back to reality. My mom had to take Ruthie to the Doctor this morning as she has Bronchitis! No sleep for me tonight as she can't stop coughing.

Pile on

For as long as I remember, whenever I catch Simon making the bed, I have always liked to dive in the middle and mess it up. And for the record, he makes the bed every morning. Not that this routine happens everyday, (then I would run the risk of him not making the bed), But enough that now, I have the girls joining in the fun!

We love you Simon, please don't stop making the bed. Just let us have our fun!

Paint your own pottery

We took our favorite babysitter out for her birthday to Paint your own pottery. (Her birthday was in January so I am way behind in posting this...) In my defense, we had to wait a few weeks before we got the finished products so that bought me a little time.

We had a wonderful time. Of course the girls fought over who got to sit next to Andrea. Lulu picked a duck, Ruthie picked a unicorn plaque and Andrea painted a bowl for her cereal. Lulu's duck was the most creative as it was Red/purple. But I think everyone's projects turned out great and it was such a fun afternoon.

The finished products.

Happy Birthday Simon.

Since Simon is out of town until tonight I thought he would want to see the girls first thing, and I know he will check the blog.

Happy Birthday to my very best friend! The love of my life!

Another great year for Simon. Just some accomplishments to add to the list for Simon.

* Traveled to many cool places this year for work, and school. He is lobbying in DC right now.

* Has a 3.6 average in his Master's Program at IU for Master's in Philanthropic Studies.

* Finally purchased a wii to help him relax, yet I manage to log way more hours on the thing

* Has relaxed slightly on his obsession to vacuum everyday. He has been know to skip a day here and there. Those who really know us, this is a huge accomplishment.

* Had some awesome family time and some great vacations

* Managed to hit the links 3 times this summer! And with some new clubs for his birthday and Christmas, hopefully that will get him out there more this summer.

* He is an even better father, husband and friend than he was last year on this day. If that is even possible.

* Favorite recent story of his awesome Daddiness.

We were at a huge indoor boucey house place with friends that were visiting. And Lulu is either hit or miss, she loves it and can't get enough of it or, if it is crowded she gets a little overwhelmed. This particular time she was attached to Simon. I heard one of our favorite 80's tunes that we normally dance to at home, and I look over through the crowded place and there are Simon and Lulu dancing like nobody is watching having the time of their lives.

Not the greatest picture but it makes me smile.

Too Cool for Little Miss Sunshine

As if that were the case......

Our wonderful friend and Lulu's Godmother Bridget sent the girls a wonderful little Valentine's surprise. I had to take pictures because they were just too cute. The were tights modeled by Lulu for both the girls and then......

Little Miss and Little Mr. Tattoo's. First of all if anyone who knows Ruthie knows her love for 2 things. Tattoo's and Little Miss Sunshine!

Funny story, Ruthie's friend David was coming over and she was all dressed up in tights and a dress and when I told her that David was on his way, She panicked...... Covering up her dress and running around the house. She was yelling, " I can't let him see me like this.... In this dress! Boys don't like dresses!" Should I be worried? She has a thing for Tattoo's and her shirts that are too small that show off her tattoo's and she likes Lightning McQueen underwear. Maybe I went overboard with all the pink when she was little and she is just rebelling.

Our First Cousin

It's a BOY!!!!!

The girls are so excited for their cousin. My sister Katie and her husband Tim welcomed their first baby.

Harper Leslie Conway

Harper Leslie was born January 31, 2009 at 9:55.am. Weighing in at 5lbs. 12 oz. He arrived 3 weeks early. Katies first lesson in parenting things don't always go as planned.

I went to Columbus for less than 24 hours to welcome baby Harper, and run around and help Katie get things settled!

Comedy of errors: Katie had to drive herself to the hospital. Tim is on cruches until Feb. 12th due to a broken ankle. So he can't drive, and obviously can't carry anything while on cruches. I had to run around and get newborn diapers and clothes since he is way to little to fit into anything and as previously mentioned, noone can drive. Tim's mom who lives in town was in Florida at the time and missed the birth. She arrived the next day though! And lastly, the sink in their room where EVERYONE was having to wash their hands before holding the baby was not piped properly so all the water was draining into their luggage that was placed in the cupboard below the sink. Clothes soaked, more laundry, I had to take the baby carrier to the hospital. All so funny.

Nothing can take away from the absolutely beautiful and too cute Harper. We can't wait to spend tons of time with him.

Ruthie called it.... All along she insisted it was a boy and named him Pingu. She announced this morning while we were looking at pictures again, that it was Pingu in the pictures and that she was going to call him Pingu, but Katie could call him Harper if she liked. I am sure Katie appreciates the permission to call him by the name she chose.

All picture are on snapfish and they won't let me download. Hopefully I will have a better picture soon!