Arizona Trip to see Pepere and Memere!

Easter break this year found us travelling farther than some of us have ever gone in our lives!  Hubby has a very short bucket list - as in there was only one thing on it - he wanted to see the Grand Canyon.  So we decided to take a trip to Arizona to visit Pepere and Memere and make a side trip to the "Big Ditch" (Pat's name for it!) while we were out there.

We arrived in Phoenix on Saturday and drove to the Grand Canyon Sunday for an overnight.  Sunday evening we went on the Sunset bus tour and Monday morning we took the Hermits Rest bus tour.  We did a lot of traveling in those first 3 days of the trip, but it was well worth it!

The rest of the week through Friday we spent time with Pepere and Memere.  We saw the Arizona Opry show, went horse back riding, and watched cattle rustling, toured an old mining ghost town (where Jocelyn had her first **real** beer - root beer that is!), and ate pizza for dinner one night while being entertained by a man playing a HUGE organ.

During the trip, I took advantage of Memere's long arm quilting machine to quilt Jocelyn's new heart quilt that I've been working on for her!!

It was a fun, educational, enlightening, tiring, exciting, special trip, and we are so glad we went!!

Catching up... Again

The blog is always there, but sometimes there is just no time for the extras in life...

In the last couple months...

The Easter Bunny came!

The Sandbox came!  (though Mommy may regret that one)

Spring came!  (though I'm still not totally convinced it's going to stick around!)

And new fish came - each times 2!

There's more of course, so stay tuned!

It Was Bound to Happen

It was only a matter of time before this....

Became this....


The Maryland Science Center hosted a Family Engineering night at Jocelyn's school last night.

She started by balancing blocks on a tiny can.  She's a great builder!

Then she played with electrical circuits.

She tested the power of the "wolf" fan by building "pig" houses out of Lincoln Logs, popsicle "sticks and "straw"s, and got to learn the wonders of binary code first hand.

Then she built a building out of straws and anchors and tested it's ability to survive a simulated earthquake.  Her building survived an 8.5 magnitude earthquake!!

This stuff was all right up her alley.  She was excited to go to every station and try it all out, even the (Yawn...) binary code.  It should be no surprise that the daughter of an engineer (not me, in case you're wondering) should find her talents in the engineering world.  I can't wait to see where it takes her!

New Family Members!

For over a year, I tossed around the idea of getting a fish tank.  I had one many years ago in another life, and since we can't have other pets, due to allergies, the idea of it came up again.  I went back and forth on whether I really needed just one more thing to take care of, but over the holidays, I finally decided to do it!

I had forgotten after 20 years how to set up and maintain a fish tank, so I barraged the poor guy at the store with a million questions!  We decided on a 20 gallon tank which is plenty for us, but going smaller means more maintenance, so it's a good size.

After the initial set up, we got some Swordtails, a Cori cat, and some Rasbora, which are tiny schooling fish.  Then we were told to wait another month to make sure the bacteria levels don't go crazy before getting anymore fish.  Last weekend we went back for another Cori cat, and as you can see above right, the two of them are already buddies.  We also got these pretty fish below.  This is two out of the three Glo-fish that Jocelyn picked out.  They are really pretty bright colored fish.

In another month or two, we might finish our little fish family with the last couple additions, but over all, I'm really happy with the fish tank.  I'm so glad I finally decided to get it.  It's so relaxing to watch the fish swim around, and it hasn't been hard at all to care for.  So welcome to the family little guys!

Selfies

I once read an article from a Mom about making sure you - as the Mom - are in pictures with your kids.  You can read the article here:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/allison-tate/mom-pictures-with-kids_b_1926073.html

This article really struck me.  Like every woman on the planet, I'm not always that crazy about pictures of me.  But I learned something when I read that article.  My daughter doesn't see my faults, she sees ME - MOMMY, and none of those other insecurities.

So I decided, with the wonders of modern technology, to be in the picture with my daughter so she can look back on those photos one day and know for sure that I was, and always will be here with her.

Here's some of our latest creations, including some from Jocelyn herself!

Mike and Sully from Monsters Inc...   And Mike's eyeball!

More eyeballs, this time from Jocelyn!!   Any guess who's forehead??

Snuggling with my girl.

Seven Years and I Want to Stop Counting!!

This time of year always brings on reminiscing.  I think back 7 years to what I was doing this moment 7 years ago.  The days before Jocelyn's birthday I think about when I went into the hospital scared out of my mind, the time when the doctors told us we were going to have a 32 week preemie, those *wonderful* hours of contractions, and on January 31 at 5:26pm, the emergency C-Section, and the moment my daughter was born.  I was really out of it by then.  Days on Magnesium sulfate do really wacky things to your brain, but I remember clearly thinking how warm Jocelyn was.  I don't know why that struck me so strongly, but it did.  She was so, so tiny.  Only 3 lbs. 5 oz. and 16 1/2 inches long.  So, so tiny...  I always describe it as - stretch out your fingers and touch the tips of your pinkies together.  That's how small that is.

February 8, 2008, we held Jocelyn for the first time, she was 8 days old.  On March 4, after 33 days in the NICU, we finally got to take her home.

The events of Jocelyn's birth were not even close to the birth plans I had made up.  I can look back at them now and only laugh.  I had such high hopes, but NOTHING went as planned.

I learned from that moment on that the plans were no longer up to me.  And in some ways that's still true today, but I've also realized that being Jocelyn's Mommy means so much more than planning.  I still have my schedules and I still have my massive planner, but my plans are now focused on her and what makes her happy.  And that makes me happy.

The latest plans together with Jocelyn involved planning her 7th birthday party.  She wanted a Rainbow Unicorn theme, and yes, there are actually Rainbow Unicorn decorations, pinatas, games and the like.  I had no idea!  She chose it all, decided who she wanted to invite, helped decorate for the party, and ultimately had a great time!

Beating on the pinata!

Making our craft - Rainbow colored door hangers with hearts and flowers.

Saying Cheers with their unicorn cups.

And proudly wearing their unicorn headbands.

The only downfall, was literally, the downfall of the too-heavy unicorn cake topper, but Jocelyn managed to get that candle blown out just in time!

I can not believe my teeny tiny baby is now 7 years old.  The time has gone by so fast.  I am so proud of the person she is becoming.  Despite the scary beginning, I wouldn't change a moment of these 7 years, because it all brings me to this amazing, sweet, beautiful girl and I'm so lucky to be her Mommy.  Here's to whatever plans she has for me in the future!!