Summer Cold - YUCK!

I guess you can tell, from the title of this entry, that I have

a summer cold.  Came down with it last weekend and

it's about to kick my rear.  I just can't seem to kick it.

I think I feel worse this weekend than I did last week.

Oh well, I'm sure that it will get better.  I just have to

keep working on getting better by resting when I can and

trying to get as much sleep as possible.

Last Saturday, before I got sick, I went to the movies for

the first time since February (so much for going once a month).

Anyway, I saw The Jersey Boys, which is the story of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons.  It was a really good movie that I enjoyed.  Had planned on 

going this weekend and seeing Maleficent but that didn't happen

with my cold.  Oh well, maybe next week.

I still have been keeping the little ones and, as far as I can tell,

they have NOT caught this cold from me.

They are continuing to grow so darn fast!

It's hard to believe that Adalyn is already six months

old - has cut two bottom teeth, about to cut another one on the

top, and is just about ready to crawl.

Give her another week or so and she will be.  Right

now she can get just about anywhere she wants to go by

doing the belly flop crawl.  She knows how to get up on all fours and

how to move the back legs - she just hasn't figured out moving the

arms yet.  It won't take her long and then - well, Lorelai better

watch out.  Ada wants to be where ever her big sissy is - so far, Lorelai doesn't mind - and I'm hoping that will last.

The weather here has been so terribly hot!  The temperatures have reached

100 degrees (or higher) four of the last five days.  It has been so

hot that I won't let the girls go out and play too much outside.  Then the bad thunderstorms move in around four o'clock or later.

Thursday night we had a terrific thunderstorm - with lightening flashing everywhere - Dan checked the rain gauge on Friday morning and we got four and a half inches of rain in one night.  It was pretty bad, but I guess we shouldn't complain - at least we don't have any flooding as so much of the country has had.

We did let the girls go out and play for a little while on Monday.

 Lorelai loves her slide almost as much as her little pool.

What she doesn't love so much is 

her bathing suit.

I don't know if the one I bought her is too little, but

she would much rather just run around in her

swimming pants and a t-shirt.

That's okay with me.

This was the first day that I took Ada outside in the

sand.  She loved watching her big sister play in

the pool and slide.

She also liked to dig her little toes

into the sand.

Looks like we are going to have another little one that loves

to be outside.

Dan had cataract surgery on Thursday - the doctors did his left eye first.

We will go back in two weeks and have the right eye done.

He was really nervous going into this - not really knowing what

to expect - but he has not had any issues and now says that it was a piece of cake.  They are telling him that he probably won't need glasses at all after it is all done - or, if he does, it will only be for reading.  He thinks he can already tell the difference in the brightness of everything.  He says it's like you have been looking through a dirty glass and didn't know that it was dirty.  He can still tell when he closes his left eye and just looks with his right.

This whole thing has made me a little nervous - I have an appointment to have my eyes checked in July - don't know what to expect.  When you reach a certain age things like this seem to creep up on you fast.  Well, there is no use worrying about it.  What will be, will be.

We really haven't done much else outside - between the weather being so hot, the rainstorms, and Dan's surgery - things have sorta come to a halt.  We still have to put down the landscaping cloth and the mulch - but it will get done.  Sooner or later.  We did pick up a couple of plants to go on the porch - an English Ivy and a Spider Plant - but that's about all that we've done outside.

These are some of the plants we have hanging on the pergola.

We even added a bird feeder.  Dan and I enjoy sitting on 

the porch in the morning (on weekends) and in the

evening (after the babies go home and dinner is done)

watching the birds and just relaxing.

Today I did make myself get up and go into town for just a little while.

I had made an appointment with a consignment shop to take some

of my clothes that I will never wear again - things I used to wear to work or things that are too small for me now.  Anyway,  I didn't want to cancel the appointment - so Dan went with me - and we got it all taken in - 20 different pieces.

I certainly won't make a fortune on the clothes - the shop takes a 50% cut AND they set the price - but a little is better than nothing.  I usually donate everything - but I had some nice suits (Jones of New York, Kasper, and Brooks Brothers) and I thought that I would try the consignment thing.

Dan also went by the nursery and picked up the bleeding heart vine that he wants to plant by his grill.

Hopefully, we will get all this finished at some point!  

Well, I think that just about does it - 

I hope everyone is having a 

good weekend.

Talk at ya later!

Still so much to do!

Well, Dan and I are continuing to work in the back yard.

I think we almost have it all done.

I have some pictures for you, but they were taken with my

phone a little while ago - so the quality is not the best,

but I really wanted you to see what we have been up to!

We planted these four azaleas tonight.

As you can see we still need to add mulch - but we have the azaleas here.

We still have to get some plants to go under the window -

I'm really wanting hydrangeas but I'm just not

sure how well they will do.

Although, if you look in the left upper corner of this picture, you will see a hydrangea that seems to be doing really well.

I also have to repot my geranium.

Maybe I can get this done tomorrow night.

Have to get some kind of plant to go into the pelican

and add the mulch.

This is the side of the house that we still the 

most work to do.

We have the plants and Dan is going to

fix the "screen" for around the 

garbage cans and air conditioner.

We are hoping to get this done later this week

and at have it all finished by the weekend.

Things certainly look different than when we bought the house a little over a year ago!

After we get this all finished THEN we will start working on the front yard.

But that project may have to wait for a little while.

Why?  Well, Dan has to have cataract surgery a week from Thursday and then they will do the other eye the next week.  Anyway, we figure he will out of commission for a little while to recoup.

Then we will do the front yard.

Some day it will be all done - 

then I'll really share!

Have a great rest of your week!

What has been going on??

WOW!

Has it really been almost three weeks since I posted the last time?

So much has been going on - from keeping the 

little ones to working on stuff here

at the house.

Plus, Dan has hurt his knee and his back.

He has been going to the chiropractor every couple of days

(he is there now) and his back is better but

he is still having issues with his knee.

He also went to get his eyes checked yesterday and

found out that he has to have cataract surgery - 

to say that he is not a happy camper is a

major understatement! (I go to have my

eyes checked in July- I'm pretty sure that

I am going to need new glasses since it's been almost 10 years
since I had my eyes checked - YIKES!!!.)

Now, that all our medical issues have been

discussed let's talk about things better things.

Dan really worked hard on the pergola

before he hurt his back.

All the lattice is screwed down and ready for the
baby to play again outside
(now, if the rain storms would allow her
to go outside and it wasn't so
very hot!)

This picture was taken while he was working on the

plantings and the step.   As you can see

he didn't have everything painted

yet, but it is done now.

You can also see the garage sale find that

we picked up for Lorelai.

The playhouse does have a roof - we

had just painted it -

(we are going to paint the entire

house and make it really cute)

and it wasn't dry yet when I

took this picture.

Then Lorelai decided to help "P" with the

new steps.

She LOVES the broom!

Now, the steps are finished and some of the landscaping
is done.  We still have a few things to plant and
we have to mulch everything.  However, Dan wants to
finish some stuff up on the side of the open
porch before we finish this up.
Hopefully it will be done 
SOON!!!

On May 28th we went to Animal Kingdom!

Loved it!!!

All these pictures were taken with my
phone, so the quality isn't the best
but I think you can see
how much we enjoyed ourselves. 

We went early in the morning so we were on the
first safari tour and saw lots of animals.
We rode a couple of other rides -
the river rapids ride and went to a show -
we were going to do the Mt. Everest roller coaster but after
Dan getting a little stomach upset after riding
Space Mountain we decided that we
would by pass it this time.
We have decided that Animal Kingdom
is our new "favorite" park, but
Dan also decided that he is
done until the weather cools off some.

The next week we took off from the parks and decided
to go peach picking instead.

In about 10 minutes (or less) we had picked
this entire box of peaches.
These peaches are not huge but they were really, really
sweet!

The next week saw us with the sweet ones again before
leaving for the weekend.
Where did I go?
Well, to Disney World of course!
See, this past Saturday was this sweet one's second
birthday and we were going to spend it
at Disney World.

Melissa and Justin found a condo off "campus" for a reasonable
price that had three bedrooms, two baths, and a loft.
Why did we need so much room?
Well, Melissa's sister, Aunt "Tul" came in from
Nashville, and the kids dad came in from Georgia - not counting their half sister from Lakeland.

I went over and picked up Justin and the two girls Thursday afternoon and drove up to Avon Park to Melissa's office to pick her up.  Then is was off to Disney.  After checking into the condo and getting the cars unpacked we headed to the park for our first adventure.
We went to Hollywood Studios for the Disney Junior live show where
Lorelai and Ada saw all the characters from the Mickey Mouse Show, Doc McStuffins, Sofia the First, and Jake.  The two girls were enthralled and I don't think Ada blinked during the entire show.
Melissa and Justin were able to ride the Tower of Terror while I watched the girls (I don't do rides like that!) and then we went to the fireworks and laser show.  While it was not exactly what we thought it was going to be the girls really enjoyed it!

Friday we took the girls to Animal Kingdom.
Lorelai was so excited to see all the animals, especially
the giraffe and the elephants.  We did several other activities, like riding the dinosaurs, and "meeting" Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, and Goofy.
Aunt "Tul" also arrived from Nashville to spend 
the rest of the weekend with us.

Playing with stickers while sitting in "Tul's" lap.

Saturday was actually Lorelai's birthday and we attended a character breakfast at one of the resorts.  Minnie, Goofy, and Donald (Lorelai's current favorite character) walked around and "posed" with the birthday people.
This picture was taken in the lobby as we were waiting to be seated.

I do have other pictures of the breakfast - but they are not on this
computer - I'll explain that later and hopefully will post some of 
those at a later date.

Justin's parents, youngest sister, Melissa's half sister, and her dad were also at the breakfast along with Aunt Tul, Melissa, Justin, me and the kids.  The
food was EXCELLENT - much better than I thought it would be since it was a breakfast buffet.  Everything I had was very good - and while the price was high (isn't everything at Disney?) it was a very good meal.

After breakfast some of us headed over to the Magic Kingdom for a very long day.  The kids had such a great time and were so good.

Meeting Goofy and Donald:

Getting a bite to eat:

Ada decided to take a nap and suck her thumb
(Aunt "Tul" forgot her pacifier) while
we watched the show in front of the 
castle.

Oh, I just had to buy her that little hat - didn't want her
head to get sunburned.

And of course we HAD to ride the one ride my
dad (who helped build Disney World in 1970 - 1971)
refused to go on because he had listened to the song
over and over, and over again on his 18 hour shifts during
the final weeks of construction.

It's A Small World

I really don't have any pictures of Lorelai on this ride
since she was sitting in the seat in front of us - but
she would point out all the different things.
She really seemed to enjoy the ride.

Ada was pretty happy for the first part of the ride,
but then she decided she had had enough and
cried and fussed for the second half.
She was NOT a happy baby.
(I'm sure my dad was laughing in heaven!)

Sunday we spent some time around the pool before
the kids dad and Emily left to go home.
I packed up and headed back home around 3:30
leaving the kids and Crystal in Orlando.
Crystal flew out Sunday night and the
kids enjoyed one final night of
"vacation" with no one there but their family.
They headed back home on Monday.

Monday I thought I would be able to sit back and get a little time to recoup from the weekend, but that was not to be.
Dan and I went out for breakfast then headed into Sebring to the grocery store to pick up a few things for Lorelai - you know things like milk, fruit, and the staple around here of Mac and Cheese.
My mom came over when we got back home - she wanted me to check something for her on my computer.  I had just gotten on the website when I hear a bang and my computer goes off immediately.
Figured that was not a good thing and I was right.
It could have been worse but the power converter had blown up.
To make a long story somewhat short we went back into Sebring to get a new one.  However, after much discussion, we decided that I would get a new computer and Dan would take my old laptop.  They only had one in the store - the floor model - and we got an additional 10% off the price (which was on sale).  The biggest problem was it had to be reformatted which meant we couldn't pick it up until the next day.  So, since it was after 5 by the time we finished everything we stopped at Chili's for dinner.  Oh, and in case you are wondering, we did get a power converter (at WalMart) and I have transferred all my pictures from the old laptop to a external hard drive.
That is why I didn't have the birthday pictures on the blog today - I had already downloaded the pictures and I haven't put anything on this one yet.

Well, this has turned into a small book - so I think I will close for now.
I hope to be able to post once a week from now on.

Have a great week and I'll leave you with one more picture.

Here is "P" taking a nap with three of his girls.
Lorelai, Jessie, and Samantha.

Talk to you soon!

Hugs!!!