Potty Training

Can you believe it? Brady is using the potty!!! He is only 2 and is going on the potty. Hopefully he won't get bored. He doesn't really get the whole wet diaper thing yet. I have to ask him if he wants to go to keep his diaper dry. It's a start. It doesn't hurt that he gets skittles every time he goes...oh and he has to have two because everything he gets he needs one in each hand. So what if his teeth rot out, as long as he is potty trained. NO MORE DIAPERS!!!

Maybe not shingles

I am so tired of itching. When is it going to end? Now the doctor doesn't even know what it is. I could have had shingles on my face but now the rest of my body where it is spreading to is unknown. Will the itching ever stop? It consumes me. I go to the dermatologist tomorrow with hope of some answers. Until then...

Poison Ivy?

Okay, so last week on Wednesday my face started to itch. I thought that a bug just got me a few times on the face. Well, I scratched and scratched. It started to get worse and spread all over the right side of my cheek and my neck. I tried everything . Now keep in mind that my husband gets poison ivy all of the time, he can just walk by it and get it. So how did I get it and not him? We were in the same places on Sunday at the park? I also am so careful not to touch anything. Meanwhile he fishes through a pack of leaves and vines to get someone's basketball and I say, hope you don't get poison ivy...you should have used your foot instead of your hands.

I should have gone to the doctor on Friday when I called to see if they could give me anything for the itch. They said they had to see me first. So I tried to make it through the weekend. Well by Monday, my face was swollen and throbbing. I went to the doctor...I have shingles!!! ON MY FACE!!! How gross is that!? So I have to call all of my students to make sure they have had chicken pox or have been vaccinated. What a pain in the neck, literally...and in the face too. I hate leaving the house and I feel like I have to explain my disgusting oozing crusty face to everyone I see, even complete strangers. I won't even go to the gym. Probably better off, the people wouldn't be able to work out because they would be too busy looking at my face. Ashlyn even looks at it. She'll be talking to me and I will catch her eyes moving to look at it. I will say, "are you looking at my shingles?" she'll say, "yes, I like to Mommy." I hope this medicine kicks in soon, we have a block party on Saturday.

"Melmo"

Last week I took Brady to see Elmo Live with a couple of my neighbors. Brady loved it. We had third row seats. The characters came right up to us. Cookie Monster rubbed on Brady's head, and now that's all he talks about. I'm surprised how attentive he was being that he decided to get up at 5 am that morning. Although when the show was over we opted to go home instead of eating lunch with everyone. He, of course, fell asleep on the way home...

"I used to be 4" "Now I am 5"

Today, Ashlyn came home from school wanting to write. She asked for some paper and went upstairs on her own to write. She asked me how to spell the words that she wanted to use. I am so proud of her! She even made designer I's...getting a little creative. What next? Reading? I would think math, but who knows.

Disney World

We're back. I can't even begin to tell you how great our trip was. We had a rocky start when Tommy woke up sick in the middle of our second night there. I had to venture off myself with the kids to Animal Kingdom. It went okay, except for some fighting in the double stroller. Oh...we left our stroller in Charlotte and had to buy one at Super Walmart in Orlando (that was an interesting trip...Tommy said it was his worst shopping experience ever...no wonder he bought a huge bottle of vodka there, yes in Walmart). Anyway, I rented a double stroller in Animal Kingdom..$31 for the day, but well worth it. Thankfully Tommy started to feel better and we all went to Hollywood Studios the next day with my parents and my brother and his wife.

September is a great time to go...very little lines to wait on. Some rides had no wait at all. Some of Ashlyn and Brady's favorites were: It's a Small World, Winnie the Pooh, Cars, Thunder Mountain (Ashlyn's favorite, even though Brady kept saying "me too, me too"...he wanted so bad to be tall enough), Splash Mountain, and the Mickey Mouse Philharmagic Show (Brady was a little scared of this one, it was 3-D). I loved Space Mountain myself...I went on it all by myself. I wanted to try the Rock-n-Roll and Mt Everest rollercoasters but Ashlyn was an inch too short. Next year she'll be tall enough but I don't think she really knows how crazy those coasters are. She may have my 'love for rollercoasters' genes though.

Ashlyn got her wish to become Princess Jasmine at the Bibbitti Bobbitti Boutique. She was so lucky that she even got picked to get made up in a special area (in the front window of the store). People were walking by waving and pointing at her. She felt like she was famous. When she was done, people asked to have their picture taken with her and some even asked for her autograph. She ate it up.

Ashlyn also got to eat lunch with 5 of her favorite princesses (Belle, Jasmine, Cinderella, Alice, and Aurora). She got many autographs and pictures taken with them. Brady got to eat breakfast with Mickey, Pluto, Lilo, and Stitch on his birthday. Too bad he didn't eat a thing (not even his birthday cupcake) and wanted to leave pretty much as soon as we got there. Ashlyn had fun though.

Daddy and Brady going down the water slide at our hotel for the 100th time. Brady has his own song, "Slide, um, um. Slide, um, um."

Ashlyn's favorite princess, Jasmine.

Mine. Mine. Mine. Mine. Mine. Mine. Mine.

Donald Duck and the family in Mexico (Epcot).

Streesed out but excited

We're off to Disney tomorrow. Hope the car ride is okay for the kids.....