Christmas in Whoa hi whoa (Ohio)

We were blessed enough to spend another Christmas/holiday season in Ohio with our family. It is always a little crazy because we only get 5 days with Jim's basketball schedule. In those 5 days we try to see all our friends and family, eat as much FABULOUS home-cooking as we can and we even try to relax some since it is our break from school.  This year the break was a little wierd with nost of our days in Ohio coming before Christmas. This meant, we had to hurry up and eat ALL the food we love in the 2 days after Christmas before we had come back to Texas! I was so full but oh so sad to leave all the food behind. For those of you who think I sound obsessed with food, next year, I will have to take some pictures of the food table... it is ridiculous!!  Anyway, onto less fattening,  healthier topics! Below is a picture of the kids on Christmas morning. We are always so blessed with how much Santa brings for us. Some of the favorites this year include sparkly "S" earring from Mrs. Claus, an Innotab for both kids, and of course the trampoline Santa left for us in Texas!

 Of course Ohio Christmases wouldn't be the same without all our loved ones. We so love spending those few crazy days with all these special people! We especially love getting to spend time with Nana and Grandpa. Isn't Nana amazing??

 Jim's dad and Holly came down too! This year Jessica and Grandma Kearns couldn't make it, and we were totally bummed. However, Skylar played with Grandpa Jim for hours. I am sure his arms were quite tired from all the flips he helped Skylar do over his arms. He was also quite good at playing Barbies. Hmmmm

Of course my parents were there too! I love that Gogo is so awesome. She shares these holidays with everyone so we can all be together at this special time of year. I don't think you'd find too many people willing to have their in-laws come for Christmas Eve dinner and stay for Christmas morning. She also opens her home to her ex-husband just so we won't have to do any additional traveling in our short visit. She and Grandpa Carl are special like that!
 I had to share this picture too! On Christmas Eve Gogo and the kids spread reindeer food on the lawn. It has beautiful sparkles in it to help Rudolph see where to land! It must have worked too, because we woke up to quite a pile of presents!

Where Grandpa Carl go?

This is the question Jimmy asked EVERY time Grandpa Carl was out of his sight! Ha. Luckily for us Grandpa Carl is a pretty awesome guy. Jimmy loves all the silly jokes Grandpa plays and he really, really likes that Grandpa Carl is almost always up to taking a walk outside which just so happens to be Jimmy's favorite thing to do.  I highly suggest everyone get their very own Grandpa Carl, he rocks!

zoo phonics

This year at school Skylar is learning Zoo Phonics. It is a program that teaches kids letter names and sounds with animal pictures and hand motions. Skylar has learned so many letter names and sounds already! It is a amazing to me that a few short weeks ago, she didn't know any letters except for S, L, and J and now she knows almost all of them. Skylar asks us to practice the zoo phonics songs with her almost every night and she really uses the hand motions to help her recall the names. It is so fun to watch her learn! I love her school and her teacher, we are so blessed!

Muffin Man

Jimmy has taken to singing the song "Do You Know the Muffin Man" I am not sure why he started, but it is very cute to hear. The words sound a little more like, "do you know the muffin main" and then he continues to sing "muffin main, muffin main" over and over!! Cute

First Day of a New School Year!

Here we go again! The first day of a new school year. Skylar will be in Mrs. Alice's 4-year old class and Jimmy will be in Miss Brittany's 2-year-old class. I know they are going to have an amazing year!

Coloring

Skylar laid on her belly on the floor with a big princess coloring book and proceeded to color in Belle. She stayed in the lines and used the correct colors. When did she get so big? Once I commented on how nicely she was coloring, Jimmy laid on his belly and started to color too! So sweet.

Home Sweet Home!!!

We always hate leaving family and friends but it is good to be home. Over the last 3 weeks my kids have not had anything that resembled a schedule, and I am the schedule queen! They skipped their naps almost everyday, went to bed at 10:30 at night or later, woke up at 9:30 in the morning and we ran them ragged. Plus, most nights we took turns sharing a bed with Jimmy or Skylar and they are not nice peaceful sleepers! We got kicked, hit, jabbed, and had to save them from falling off the bed on more than one occasion! I am not going to lie, Jimmy did roll off the bed at Aunt Jan's house... it was a king sized bed, how does someone who is 3 feet tall and 30 pounds, roll off of a king sized bed?? Thankfully, he was okay!


Here are a couple pictures I hadn't posted yet. The kids did spend a few hours in the car traveling between cities in Ohio and Jimmy fell asleep more than once on the floor of the family room. Poor kid, he would literally be running around the house and then a second later he would be on the floor asleep! Once, he fell asleep in the doorway between the kitchen and the family room. His legs were in the kitchen on the tile and his face was on the carpet! 

Oh well, here's to being foot loose and fancy free in Ohio and having lots of structure in Texas!

Ohio Trip

We had lots and lots of fun in Ohio this summer! I feel so blessed that both Jim and I have schedules that allow us to get back "home" and spend time with our families. I only wish we were afforded just a few more days so we could see some good friends we didn't get to meet up with this time. It is also so amazing to me how fast our time goes once we are there. Next year, I am going to make a day by day plan before we leave Texas so I don't leave anything or anyone out! 


I have already blogged about a lot of the things we were able to do. Apple Valley, Youngstown, Great Wolf Lodge but we did other stuff too.


We went to the Columbus Zoo and Zumbuizi Bay. The Columbus Zoo is awesome and I hope to get to spend some more time there next summer. We had lots of fun seeing some animals and my favorite part was watching the wonder on Jimmy's face and a huge stingray swam right up to the glass in front of him in the manatee tank. Jimmy took a step back from the glass and said, "ohhhh, big one!" He is so silly and sweet. Another favorite was watching the baby gorilla "hitch a ride" on his mommy's leg from the top of the tree to the ground where lunch was being served. 

After we toured the zoo we went over to Zumbizi bay which is the attached water park. We were lucky enough to find a day where everyone except Grandpa Carl could hang out. We played with the kids in the children's area which was very nice. They had a really fun yellow slide everyone could go down together and another larger slide you had to get to by climbing ropes. After a little though, Jimmy's lips turned purple and he couldn't stop shivering. It was not cold outside but I guess the combo of getting in and out of the water with the breeze was making him cold. Both kids needed a nap too so Gogo was kind enough to take the little kids home and let us bog kids stay and play! I wanted to go home with her because I am afraid of water slides but she wouldn't let me. Jim talked me into going on the slides and I did have fun but some of them were ridiculously scary. I am pretty sure I will never go on the one again where I saw the girl loose her float and get stuck. I would have DIED if that had happened to me. 

While in Ohio we also went out to eat at a few different restaurants, did a little shopping, Jim got to golf with his dad, We hung out with our siblings and my niece, the kids got to ride bikes, go to a carnival and nice playgrounds. We also got to spend some time with Jason whom we haven't seen in several years. Spending part of the day with him and his cute kids was lots of fun!! We did our annual game night with Mitch and while not everyone could make it, we still managed to have lots of fun. Jim even found a way to squeeze in beer pong a few times while visiting. 

                                                                               Last, but not least, we decided it would be a good idea to tear apart my moms kitchen. We tore down all the old wallpaper and paneling, patched, sanded, repainted and hung beadboard. Grandpa Paul is going to have to finish the job though and hang a chair railing and baseboards. I wish we knew how to redo the backsplash or lay new flooring but it looks much better now and we were happy we were able to help them do some updates! 

I am going to put in a request now for cooler temps next summer though. It wasn't much cooler in Ohio than it is here in Texas and that is not okay! I love being up there in the summer to beat the heat and sitting outsides in the evening breeze is one of my favorite things to do... So, Ohio, you'd better be ready for us next summer!

Great Wolf Lodge

My mom really wanted to do something special for the 2 days my dad would be off of work during our visit to Cleveland. She researched Niagara Falls, little amusement parks, and Great Wolf Lodge. I am so glad we decided to go there, it was TONS of fun! 

The park is made for kids. The whole water park is inside and my kids could do everything including all the slides. The coolest part, was that the adults could do everything too! And these were no baby water slides, they weren't humungous but they were fast!

There were several little play water areas, one of them was very large with lots of ropes and tunnels all leading up to two body slides. I can not believe neither one of my kids had any problem going down the completely enclosed (totally dark) tube slides! There were also two bigger slides that required a tube. We had to ride those ones with the kids and they were so much fun!! Grandma Lynn even got talked into riding a few slides!!

After we played for 5 hours the first day, we checked into our room got changed and headed for dinner. We decided to get two pizzas and they were yummy and huge. Just what we needed after all that playing! 

After dinner we went to the lobby and heard an awesome story told by animated characters (Jimmy was a little scared.) Then a real girl came out with Wylie the Wolf to read us My Momma is Llama. After the story the girl taught the kids the hotel chant. It goes, "clap, clap, stomp, stomp, howllllll, grrrrrrr) Watching Jimmy and Skylar do this melts my heart. I'll have to see if I can get it on video. Too cute! After our bedtime story we ate some ice cream. Hey, why not?? It's vacation!

This hotel was so awesome. It is completely kid oriented and decorated with a theme.. everyone knows how much I enjoy a well done theme!!! 


Getting the kids to settle down and stop jumping on the beds proved to be a slight challenge but in the end, I won! The next morning, we ate a delicious family style breakfast including made to order omelets and french toast sticks (there was fruit too) we put on our bathing suits and went for round 2. The kids and adults all had just as much fun the second day and after several hours of riding the slides over and over again, we decided to call it quits. Jimmy was not at all pleased with this decision and protested loudly. 


We ended our little trip with a late lunch at Steak and Shake and hit the road back home. I hope we get to do this same trip again next summer!

Youngstown Gang

After the wedding we spent some time hanging out in Youngstown. We stayed with Aunt Jan and Uncle Chip this trip and that proved to be lots of fun! Aunt Jan is awesome.. she had a million things for the kids to do and all the Disney movies on DVD. We got to see Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, and the Little Mermaid in 2 short days!! 

We also got to spend some nice quality time with Nana, Grandpa, Jess, Jeff, and Grandma Kearns. We had yummy Cornersburg pizza for lunch one day and delicious homemade meatballs and sauce for dinner... can't beat the Youngstown cooking! We also had a nice picnic at Ginny's house. Another successful trip!

Grandpa Jim got married!

We left Apple Valley a day early to get to Grandpa and Holly's wedding! It was held in a gorgeous gazebo in the Rose Garden. The ceremony was beautiful but it poured. I mean, lightning, thunder, wind, rain, the whole bit. Everyone kind of chuckled as we all moved closer to the bride and groom to prevent being rained on. Luckily, the storm was short lived and it brought the temperature down enough to enjoy the outdoor reception!!

At the reception Jimmy and Skylar made some new friends and played on a huge playground behind the pavilion. Then, after dinner, Skylar danced and danced. She didn't care whether others joined her or not.. just twirled like nobody's business! 

Jimmy was the only one in our family who ate a piece of wedding cake! I really regretted my "healthy" decision later that night!

Later in the evening, we all danced some more and had a great time just being outside and listening to good music. At one point, Hang on Sloopy was played and Skylar informed everyone that she was not allowed to dance to "that" song. When the next song came on, she asked me if "this song is okay to dance too." That made Jim's year! The kids did awesome and we were able to stay until right around 11 before Jimmy "hit the wall" and needed to go home. 

Apple Valley

We were able to go to Apple Valley with Jim's family for almost a week. It was so amazingly relaxing and beautiful! On the drive there (only 2 hours rather then the normal 13 to the ocean) we had lots of beautiful scenery to observe. There were tall pine trees everywhere and we took a back road that was filled with tons of hills. These were the kind of hills that make your stomach drop when you go over them. Everyone in the car was giggling and I was tempted to make Jim turn around to go over them again! The kids faces and laughs were too cute! 

Our first night at the lake was a little rocky. The house was awesome and we had more than enough room as we were given the WHOLE downstairs, but there was no crib, so we had to "make" Jimmy go to sleep. After the first night though, he understood that he had to lay down on the bed and go to sleep. He even preferred to lay down next to Skylar to fall asleep. I couldn't believe it. Both kids crawled into the full sized bed, we covered and kissed them, then left the room expecting them to start jumping on the bed. To our amazement though, when I checked on them a few minutes later, they were both sound asleep and slept till 9:30 the next morning!!! The sun and the water really wore them out :0)

After we spent our first day on the beach, we were invited to spend the rest of our days on the private dock of a friend. Her house was gorgeous, the dock was huge, and it was on a cove which meant total privacy. We spent all of Tuesday just floating in the lake and listening to music... tough! 

On Wednesday Tammy was off of work and she took us all out on her awesome boat. Jim, Dave, Skylar, Grandpa, and Hannah went tubbing. Skylar was not afraid at all and she went on the tube with Jim and Grandpa. Hannah was the champ.. she held onto the tube longer than any of the boys! When Skylar went out with Jim, Tammy went really slowly at first. As it became clear she was ready for more speed, Tammy hit the gas and was pulling them around 40 MPH!! We went back to the dock to rest and have some lunch. Jim took the jet ski out and had lots of fun on that too. Then, we were lucky enough to go back out onto the boat. I could ride on it all day... I love the feeling of the wind in my hair. Jimmy was so tired, he fell asleep on my lap while we were traveling at speeds of 60 to 70 MPH. Sleepy boy! 

On Thursday we went back to the dock and floated all day again. Tammy had lots of life jackets and cool floats. We literally floated for 5 hours that day! I had quite the tan to show for it too!! The kids loved to float. They also enjoyed jumping off the dock over and over and over again. Occasionally, someone would swim out to the end of the cove and the kids would go with them. Swimming back in with a kid in tow, even with life jackets, is a tiring task! 

I can't forget to mention that each night was fun filled as well. Jimmy was obsessed with being outside and luckily Grandpa Carl was a good sport. He would take Jimmy for walks down to a different dock and watch the geese. Skylar had lots of fun building an Ariel puzzle with Gogo over and over again. Dinner was grilled by Jim most nights and was yummy. I was on the clean up crew which I didn't mind at all! I really wish we could have enjoyed the beautiful wrap around porch more... dang high temps! 

All in all it was so much fun and it made me realize how much I want my own boat. I would really, really like my own lake house too but a boat might actually be something I can afford some day!