updates....

Well,I feel like everytime I update this blog, I am saying how long it had been since I updated it. You would think that would entice me to update more. Maybe I'll try that ..... we'll see.

Now for the updates.....

All 3 kids are still playing soccer. They are doing great. Aric started off not wanting to be on the field at all, and now right after he takes a break to get some water, he is ready to get back out there. Dehlia is still impressing everyone with her footwork. Madison is helping the other girls on her team learn the game.

We've gotten rid of all the boxes that were hanging out in the house waiting for pickup. We had enough and just decided to take them up to recycling on our own....keep in mind we still haven't heard from the pick up people to come and get the boxes.

Easter brought Grandma and Grandad Rakowski to visit. They came in from the long drive from VA on Thursday afternooon. They stayed with us til Tuesday. We showed them around town (some of the not so pleasant ones too unfortunatley). They enjoyed seeing the grandkids and visiting.

The kids were on Spring break 2 weeks ago. Had a good time. Spring Break was right after Easter, so Grandma and Grandad were still visitiing at the beginning of the week, but at the end of the week we went out of town ourselves. We went to Atlanta. We visited the Zoo, Aquarium, and the World of Coca Cola. Stopped by the Lego Store too. Was a great weekend of weather and sightseeing.

My mom had surgery on last Thursday and she is home now. I went up there on Wednesday afternoon and came back on Friday. She came home from the hospital on Sunday. She has been doing really well. Just trying to keep her from overdoing it is all Dad is having trouble with.

Saturdays areound here are full of soccer, and last Saturday was no different. We had one game in the morning and 2 in the afternoon. Inbetween the games, we visited the Spring Carnival that they were having at the girls' school. IT was a beautiful day, but hot. We all got a little bit sunburnt afer being outside all day, but we had fun and that's all that matters.

Wel, this week is full of soccer as usual. Practice or games every night.

Til later....but hopefully sooner.....

At last.....

I am updating this blog. We've been busy, go figure. Wanted to first say a big THANK YOU to Jennifer at craftygiveaways for the wonderful package of quilt blocks. Now I just need to decide if I want to orient the blocks in this layout......

or in this layout.....

Any feedback/opinions????

Then the happenings since I last updated. We've put the floor back together. The moulding went down tonight. Now to paint and caulk then it will be completely fixed (I hope!!). We've been out of town the last 2 weekends. The last weekend of August was spent in Charlotte at a soccer tournament for Madi's soccer team. They came in second place in their division!!! Labor Day Weekend was spent in VA visiting and helping parents. We helped my parents by doing some yard work and went to the Zoo with Derek's Mom (Dad wasn't feeling good) then went to the beach.



In between these weekends, Aric had his meet the teacher at preschool. While there for that, I was lucky to get out of there alive. I felt like Aric's new teacher was out to prove me the worst mother in the world because he isn't potty trained. I tried to explain taht he just turned 3 in July. Should he be potty trained??? I don't feel like he is ready. Also, we pushed the girls and didn't want to push him since pushing the girls created TONS of problems. Sooo, since the preschool wants him potty trained we are trying 1/2 naked times at the house. Aric gets to run around in the house in a shirt and nothing else. We started Wednesday afternoon and have been doing pretty good. I have kept him upstairs and he tells us that the tinkle is coming out and we run to the potty and go. We also race him there when we foresee him needing to go and most of the time he goes then too. Now to work our way into underpants. We've tried underpants today, but I don't thin he is that far yet. We've been just peeing in them like a diaper. He realizes that he is going and we run and go potty. Hopefully the lightbulb will click on fully soon. The preschool told me if he wasn't trained and had an accident of the poop variety they would change the first one, then they would call me to come and chage the next one. DO WHAT???? I have been very upset with all of this and frustrated at the same time. What's a mom to do. I am just trying to get thru the next week and if I come home next week feeling as crappy as I did about all of this then, I will probably pull him from the school. It's not fair to him or me to be treated this way. I can't make him be ready. Can I??? Any advice would be appreciated. The picture is of him on his first day of preschool. He has gotten too big too quick. He didn't want to go to school, but did really well (well except for the potty issues). Had to drag him somewhat on Friday. I thin kit is just going to take him getting used to the new routine and environment and teachers. Also, the girls go back to school on Modnay, so it will just be him and I going to preschool for dropoff. HOpefully the potty isses and everything will work out soon!!

Later!

Vacation to Myrtle Beach.....

Here are some pictures from our trip to Myrtle Beach.

The girls hanging in the car on the way there.....

Aric being cool on the way there.....

If you want more, head on over to the Flickr page as there are PLENTY to fit your fancy. From Lions and Tigers to Battleships and Beaches amd some alligators inbetween!!!

Day one was Tuesday. We left in the morning and headed to Wilmington to see the Battleship North Carolina. The kids were somewhat interrested in it. I thnk Derek wanted to see it the most. Hopefully next time we got, we won't have to chase Aric so much when we are on deck. Just a little bit scary thinking that he could fall off the side into the water. Not something that I wanted to experience at all. From Wilmington we headed down the road to Myrtle Beach. Got to the hotel (After figuring out that there's too many streets with the same name down there!!!)and got all of our gear up to the room and decided to go over to Barefot Landing and see what we could do there. Found a really nice place called Alligator Adventure that we were curious about. Finally found it and they were going to be closing within the hour. We made a plan to definitely go back there during our trip. We then decided that the kids were hungry (and so were us parents) so we headed down the street to a seafood buffet. They had some good Crab Legs and Shrimp. Mental note: Train girls on how to open up their own crab legs soon. Seemed like Derek and I didn't get to eat until the kids were already done. Luckily they behaved enough for Derek and I to get in some eats too. We left there exhausted so we went back to the hotel to relax and go swimming in the pool.


Day two was Wednesday (needless to say). Decided to get a sart on the day by goin' racin'!! We headed over to the Nascar Speedpark. Got there before they opened the kids and Derek were so excited to go go-kart driving. When they finally opened, we got our tickets and headed out to the track. Both girls drove cars and Derek took both girls on the larger track to race with him. Aric was kind of bummed that he couldn't go on the tracks, but they had a ride there that he was able to go on too. It was pretty much a carnival ride, but he was thrilled. After Nascar Speedpark, we went over to Broadway at the Beach. We did some shopping and found the Build-a-Bear and Build-a-Dino stores. Needless to say, there is a new Striped Cat (Stripes - Madison's) and a new Ankylosaurus (Spike - Dehlia's) that live at our house. Went to lunch at Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville restaurant. Had some good Cheeseburgers in Paradise and Derek enjoyed Margaritas. We finished there and continued to do some more shopping til the rain was threatening. Went back to the car and moved it closer to the Aquarium. Enjoyed our walk through there with the kids. They have a moving walkway that takes you underwater in their large tank. It is so neat!! After we were finished there, the rain had passed and we headed back to the hotel. Aric fell asleep on the way back to the hotel, so we took him inside and layed him down. In an effort to let him sleep, Derek took the girls down to the pool for a little while. We got dinner and had a quiet evening.

Day three was Thursday. Woke up to a dreary morning with misty/light showery rain. We headed back to Barefoot Landing and hit up Alligator Adventure. It was really neat. They say that they have 1100 alligators on their property. I can believe it. There were Alligators in pens and then there was this HUGE Alligaotr open range area. Pretty much was a marshy area. There were hundreds of them. The girls and boy enjoyed looking at all the Alligators. We got to see an Alligator Feeding and Reptile Show. The 3 kids each petted a turtle, snake and alligator at the reptile show. After Alligator Adventure we headed over to the shops at Barefoot Landing and shopped for the afternoon. We went to Dixie Stampede for dinner and a show. It was great. We caught the preshow which was a juggler and comedian. Then we went inside the big arena to get ready for dinner. Aric was alseep during the preshow and ended up waking up while we were waiting for the show to get started. The food was great and plenty. The show was wonderful too. We all had a good time. The tricks that they could do with those horses were amazing. We went back to the hotel that evening and swam for a little while.

On our last full day in Myrtle Beach (Friday) we decided to go out to the Waccatee Zoo. It seemed to be a family owned zoo and we were able to feed the animals as we went along visiting the zoo. Greeting us everwhere at the zoo were peacocks. There were even 2 fighting on the roof of one building. The kids enjoyed being able to get close enough to the animals that we could feed them carefully by hand. We were amazed at how close we could get to animals like zebras and deer (A chain link fence dividing us) and tigers and lions were only a table width away from us. After the zoo visit, we went to the beach on our last afternoon. The kids loved it. We went to Hard Rock Cafe for Dinner.

We were able to go to the beach about 3 times while we were there. If we couldn't get to the beach, we would go to the pool. Dehlia remembered while she was there that she can swim underwater. Gave her more freedom to be able to play and something to look forward to when we got back home and went to the neighborhood pool.

On Saturday (The day we left), we stuck around Myrtle Beach long enough to catch a game of putt putt at the nearby course. Had a good time except for chasing Aric down to keep him out of the water hazards. There wree some ducks at the course that the kids were able to feed after we were done playing. After we played putt putt we got on the road and came home to good 'ol NC.

I believe that everyone of us had a great time in Myrtle Beach. It was nice to be able to spend time as a family and not have the interruptions of work or school or sports or nieghborhood kids, etc. Derek is already trying to talk his boss into creating a test facility down there and let Derek staff it. I think Derek enjoyed just being able to sit on the beach with tthe kids and let them romp in the surf.

We realize that the kids aren't going to be this little for long and that we need to cherish every single minute of it.