Puppy Love!

We drove to Rebecca, GA on Saturday, November 1st. We stayed over night in Tifton and then drove out to an acreage to pick out our Whippet. The kids had no idea what we were doing, we only told them we were going on a family trip and we would get a surprise when we got there. Their first guesses were that we were taking them to Disney.

Adelaide seeing pups for the 1st time!


Mia loving on "Boone" after we made the heart wrenching decision on which precious pup to bring home to love!

Dax loved them all and would have loved to get inside the fence with them! I was sure I had video of him giggling when the pups would lick his hands, but can't find it at the moment... it was too cute!

Adelaide holding 'Boone' up to the fence so he could give his litter mates one last smoocher. :o(


We had a good trip and you couldn't have smacked the smiles off their faces on the drive home! We named our puppy "Boone" and he has been a very good puppy so far. The girls and Dax enjoy playing with him, but get nervous from time to time when he nips at them. We have told them he is only playing and that they need to be strong when they tell him no, but it is hard for a 5 and 4 year old to be stern when they are giggling or starting to get scared!

Halloween in FL is much different than NE....no mittens this year!

While the days leading up to Halloween had me nervous about the costumes I/the girls had selected, the day/night couldn't have been better. Temps were in the high 70's to mid 80's and rain held off until the late hours of the night!


We trick-or-treated in our neighborhood for about 30 minutes and then head to a friends house for dinner. Dax loved trick-or-treating and did his best to keep up with the girls. He loved putting the treats in his bag and usually went back for seconds! He was funny to watch and made us and our neighbors laugh. He was a little confused about not going in the house when the door was open, he attempted to get in every door that was left open!

The kids made out like bandits, I think we have 20 pounds of candy (or more). We should have stopped after 15 minutes but we were having too much fun!

Fall Fun 2008

Happy Halloween to you all! Hope you are all having a Spooktacular October. We have been busy with day to day hum-drum, planting our garden(twice!), and getting ready for Halloween of course! We went to the "pumpkin patch" last night and picked out our pumpkins and brought them home to carve. While the pumpkin patch wasn't what we are used to, the kids still had fun walking around the pumpkins and selecting the one they wanted. Prepping the pumpkins for carving was the most eventful. I found out that 2 out of 3 of my children take after their father and seem to have inherited the 'messy hands phobia'. Watch the video and you will see what I mean! Dax was hilarious. LOL


Adelaide dressed up as SilverMist (Tinkerbell's fairy friend, for those of you out of touch with Disney's latest) for the Fall Festival at Lil' Friends Preschool. They brought in a trailer and had a hayrack ride for the kids, had fun with a pinata, and looked for small pumpkins in a pile of hay. They had a great time and were well 'sugared' when they were dismissed!



A preview of Peter Pan...he actually liked his costume and was showing off for the camera. He even liked the hat and brought it to me to put back on if it fell off. Go figure, since he will rarely leave a ball cap or sun hat on when I need him to!

That is all for now...we are hoping for some nice weather for Friday. I okayed the girls' request to be fairies thinking we wouldn't have to contend with possible snow and it would be in the 80's when we trick or treated. Apparently the weather is unpredictable in South Florida too. There is a cold front rolling through and it has been in the mid 40's at night with highs in the mid 60's during the day. They may be wearing sweats under their outfits after all(at least we can keep the hats and mittens in the closet!).

Grandparent's Day at School

Grandparent's Day was celebrated at Morningside Academy yesterday morning. The kids sang songs, recited poems and skits about grandparents and ate donuts together in their classrooms. I couldn't get close enough to get a good video of Mia singing the song the Kindergarten classes sang at chapel, so I had her sing it for me this morning before we went to school.



Let's go see our Grandparents,
Take us there for awhile.
Mommy and Daddy both need a break,
We'll play games and we'll stay up real late!

Oh We'd like to thank our Grandparents
for all the things that they do.
So it's time to say........
"You're the BEST, and
that We... LOVE... YOU!


The song and poem they did in her classroom: I had a Little Turtle and Who Can See the Wind? by Christina Rossetti

Who can see the wind?
Neither I nor you:
But when the leaves hang trembling,
The wind is passing through.

Who can see the wind?
Neither you nor I:
But when the trees bow down their heads,
The wind is passing by.

-- Who Can See the Wind? by Christina Rossetti



Adelaide is doing well in school and has adjusted to going to school in the morning better than I expected. She can't wait to be a big kid like sissy and wear a uniform and play the violin, but for now she is spending time with mom and Dax and taking a quick nap in the van while we wait to pick up sissy. This is Ad's usual position for the 1st 15 minutes after getting home from school!


Dax visits Kindergarten!




Mia gets her violin!

She started violin last week with just the basics. How to hold it in 1st, 2nd and 3rd position and she started learning the parts of the voilin too. Dr. Jon tells them that the violins are very fragile and they should be treated like a baby. It is so fun to watch her be so gentle and careful with it. She really took Dr. Jon's words to heart!

Adelaide's 1st Day of School, Gymnastics, and Dax (enough said)...

It has been a busy two weeks, but we are starting to adjust to this crazy schedule. We made a quick adjustment 2 days after Adelaide started Pre-K and she now takes her lunch and stays until 1:00 instead of noon. It helps me tremendously and gives Dax time to get a decent nap in before we have to go get her. We run errands, go to the library, or the park in the hour and 15 minutes we have before Mia's pick-up time at 2:20.

Mia is loving school and will start violin next week. Adelaide loves school too and loves that she gets to take her lunch to school just like sissy. The girls have become fast friends with two sisters, Finley and Gracyn. Finley is in Kindergarten and Gracyn goes to Little Friends Preschool. Neither of them are in the same class, but they see each other on the playground everyday and they live in the same neighborhood we do. We have been to the park with them and they came over to swim with the girls on Sunday. Mia and Finley have big plans for a sleep over, but I am not sure when that might happen!


The girls started gymnastics last night and had a good time. I asked them if they liked it or loved it; Adelaide loved it, Mia liked it. We will stick it out for a couple of months and see if Mia likes it more...she really liked dance so I may just have to let them go seperate ways. Mia was with an older group though and she was the only one who is a 1st timer, so she couldn't do things as easily as the others and we all know that just really erks a Type A perfectionist now don't we!



Dax has been sick and getting teeth, so it has been a rough week for the poor little guy (rougher for mom though). Despite the cold and teeth he has found his naughty knob and cranked it to naughty to the 100th power. He is into everything these days (yes even the toilet)and doesn't like to be told no. I have a feeling potty train Mad-man won't be as easy as the girls! He has quite the lil 'tude and has even figured out how to pout. I was nearly in tears (laughing) the first time he did it. He even managed to cross his arms and look straight at the ground until big sister Mia came to the rescue!




Below is a pic of Mia swimming... I wanted to check out my new toy (waterproof camera).

Mia's 1st Day of Kindergarten

Much to Mia's dismay, crazy Tropical Storm Fay, pushed back the start of Kindergarten by 1 day!

Although she was disappointed she didn't get to start yesterday, it didn't take away any enthusiasm she had for getting started. She was all smiles when I dropped her off and when she walked passed us in the lobby on the way to her classroom. Her response to "How was it?" when I picked her up from school was..."GREAT!" with a big cheesy smile on her face!

Trip to NE Summer 2008

Our trip to NE was memorable, fast, busy, fun, and of course at times exhausting (for me anyway). We spent 2 1/2 days in Long Pine, NE tubing with my mom and siblings. The weather could have been warmer, but it didn't stop us from getting in the water. The girls loved it and Dax hated it. The 57 degree water was a stark contrast to the 87 degrees he was used to in the pool!



After Long Pine we cruised up to spend a few days with Grandpa Rick and Grandma Cheryl. We managed to get to the pasture, see Gma Ethel and Aunt Betty (Cheryl's sister), show Grandpa and Grandma how we swim, see the newest addition to the Borer Bunch (Baby Sienna), ride the 4-wheeler, ride Chris' horse Jack, and visit with Great Grandma Juan who drove to Albion to see us. Never a dull moment at Grandpa's house...we even marked off a family 1st while there. Adelaide got 5 stitches in the top of her ear after falling out of bed. The stitches are out and all is well! ;o)

We headed for Omaha on Wednesday evening and stayed with Brady, Colleen, Riley, and Tobin for the remainder of our stay. On Thursday we hit the zoo with Grandma Ann bright and early. It was a great day for the zoo, not many people there and we actually got into the Butterfly Complex! I am still kicking myself for forgetting the camera. The girls have taken a liking to catching bugs with their nets and I know they really enjoyed seeing all the butterflies float past us. Arg...next time! We made the most of our 4 hour trip making it to almost every exhibit!

On Friday we hung out at Riley and Tobin's. Piper and Blake made it over to see us for a couple of hours and we met Amy, Alexa, and Alainey at the park for a couple of hours too. Our stay went fast, but like I said we had fun! Thank you to every one who accommodated us while we stayed and those who made it over to see us. We would love to return the favor sometime!

After 8 days in NE, we are still trying to get back to a state of normal. That has been easier said than done with Hurricane/Tropical Storm Fay looming and the start of school just around the corner.

Summer 2008

We have been busy with day to day stuff and I haven't posted for a good month. Swimming has pretty much consumed our lives! Starting with 8:00 a.m. lessons and the usual dip in the afternoon, what other activity does one need?

ISR Lessons have concluded, last Friday was our last day. Both of the girls are free to roam the pool and explore as they see fit, when mom or dad are present of course. While Dax has finished and knows what to do in the event he falls in, I would prefer to prevent it from happening!

Swimming with all 3 kids is a challenge and I often hear "Mom, watch this!" over and over again. Dax is 100% no fear and will get in from anywhere, only to realize that he can not stand thus needing to use what he has learned from Sarah. After a couple of fall-ins and a discussion with Sarah, we decided to give the safety fence a go. Having limited knowledge of pools and its accessories Aaron and I didn't know how convenient they were to use. We thought it was: fence up = can't get in or fence down = get in. Little did we know it had a built in gate that allows access only at the place where Dax can stand. Since putting up the fence and cutting Dax's access to the pool by 90%, swimming is much less nerve racking!

I am posting video of all the kids. Aaron and I are very proud of what all 3 have accomplished and would do it all over again. Well worth the time and money!





Aside from swimming we have kept busy going to the fountains, bike riding, and we have joined the moms and kids of the treasure coast group. We have also ventured to Palm Beach Gardens for lunch with dad on a couple of occasions. The girls have discovered Chick-fil-A on these outtings and are big fans!

We checked out the Palm Beach Zoo and it was nothing to write home about. You forget how good you have it until you are without. Next time you have friends in from out of state don't hesitate to recommend the HDZ, chances are they will be blown away. Sorry for the rant, everyone that will read this knows how great HDZ is, but I just needed to let you all know that any other zoo you visit will probably fail miserably by comparison!

We will be heading for NE in just a couple of days and we are looking forward to it! Hopefully we will at least get to say hello to all of you, and if not we will catch you next time or you can always come and see us!

The Squirrelly Girlies

This one is for the girls' "girlfriends" in NE. They got tatoos painted on their arms at the local pizza joint and they soo wanted to show them off to Pip, Riley, KayLee, Alexa, etc, etc. So we did the next best thing took a pic and said we would send it to them!

Crazy Man Dax

Dax's ISR Lesson

This is Dax after 3 weeks of lessons. She has been working with him to go to the step if he is close enough and if he can't make it he is suppose to roll over for air. In this video clip Dax was suppose to get the step. Once on the step he thinks that if he can stand he is okay, but if he doesn't put both hands down the water knocks him over and he has to start the process over again. You can see Sarah's hands moving under water, she is providing some assistance by way of current to help move him closer to the step so he can practice rolling over to grab it from the float.

Adeliade's 1st Unassisted Roll Over to Swim

Below is Adelaide after 3 weeks of lessons. She is still a bit timid in the water, but has come leaps and bounds from where she was. Adelaide's stubborn side often shows up when she gets in the pool. Ms. Sarah is working on getting her comfortable on her back so she can breathe and take a break when she does her swim-float-swim sequence. As you can see in the video she likes to spend as little time as possible on her back. One breath in is all she thinks she needs. She has learned to take a BIG breath and often surprises us (including Ms. Sarah) with how far she can swim without taking a breath.

Adelaide is also our homesick one. When in trouble or over-tired she is quick to say in a tearful voice that she misses or wants Grandpa Rick, Grandma Sally, Piper, Riley, etc. The other day when she didn't want to get in the pool for lessons she started crying and said she wanted her Grandpa from up in the sky. If that doesn't tug at your heart-strings I don't know what will. Needless to say she is looking forward to seeing her friends and family when we come back in August!

Mia's Swimming Lesson: July 3rd, 2008

After just two weeks of lessons Mia is swimming the length of the pool using the swim-float-swim method to take a breath. We are very proud of her and she is loving her independence and new found confidence in the water! Tomorrow and Thursday she will test out of ISR and begin stroke work on Friday. Testing out consist of wearing summer clothes tomorrow and winter clothes on Thursday. ISR teaches them survival skills should they fall in a body of water know matter what the conditions are like or what they are wearing. I will post video of Dax and Adelaide at the end of this week. FYI...Dax's lessons are hard to watch, but I know that the END justifies the means.

Loving what FL is all about e.i. sunshine, wearing dresses, & swimming everyday

It has been 2 weeks and 3 days since we arrived in FL and it is safe to say that the kids have adjusted well. Dax and the girls took to their rooms with no trouble despite "roughing it" for 4 days with a Pack'n Play and the Ladybug Tent to suffice as beds.

All of the boxes are unpacked and everything accounted for with nothing broken, which I find impressive. Unpacking when someone else has packed for you is a little like Christmas and it is funny how you forget about all the knick-knacks and clutter you have in just 6 days of not seeing it. I found myself saying quite frequently "what on earth could be in here" after unpacking multiple boxes for each of the rooms. While everything is unpacked, not everything has found its permanent home as we try to find the "flow" of the house here. When I first started the unpacking I felt I might be unwrapping for 3 weeks, but it took me just under a week. I was happy with that, especially since I was the lone unpacker as Aaron was traveling a good portion of the 1st week we were here.

We managed to start hanging a few things on the walls this weekend and Aaron has started to tackle the electrical nightmare. The previous owner fashioned himself as a handyman of sorts, but we have found that while he had good ideas and was great at starting a project, follow through and doing things the right way were not his strong suit. With the long 4th weekend coming up we will attempt to paint a few more rooms and then hopefully we can call it quits for awhile.

While unpacking, painting, and arranging/rearranging furniture is fun, we have managed to take some breaks for the kids to have some fun too. They all love the beach, the girls love the water and Dax loves the sand. Tradition town center has a fountain that all 3 of the kids like as well and of course we have been in the pool almost everyday. There have been a few thunderstorms roll through the area and on those days I want to pull my hair out! I get asked every 15 minutes when the rain and lightning will stop and if we can go swim. Needless to say they love having nearly unlimited access to a pool and think it is really something to go swimming at night! I will really love the pool when the girls can swim on their own and I just have Dax tote around. All three kids started ISR lessons last week and I am told that girls should be swimming the length of the pool by the end of our sixth week session. Mia is well on her way after just 1 week and Adelaide has come a long way considering she had to be talked into putting her face in the water!