Talk Amongst Yourselves

We're off to the beach tomorrow and we'll be back in a week. Well, that is unless Hurricane Gustav has other plans.... We're going to the FL Panhandle and it's definitely likely to not be very pretty for a couple of days, but hopefully it won't be too close for comfort. We'll keep a close watch on things and pray we don't drive 8+ hours only to turn around and come home. So, if everyone could say a little prayer... And while you're at it, pray that Hanna doesn't head towards Central FL while we're gone or we'll end up back home early to deal with that..... ugh. Somebody smack me if I plan another beach vacation in the middle of hurricane season.

I'm not bringing a laptop or anything, so I won't be blogging. But, I'll be sure to take tons of pics.

The Haircut

First, Gabriella had a good day at school. The teachers quickly learned that they will have to keep Miss G's fruit(her dessert) hidden until she has eaten her lunch. Apparently, they gave it all to her and, surprise, she ate all the fruit and only picked at her sandwich.... And, as anticipated, lots of hissies and drama when I took her out of there today. I do hope that she will get used to the routine of it and realize we will go back in a few days and that it's not so bad to leave. She's been having the same huge fits when we leave the OT clinic. The OT(who she sees for her sensory-seeking issues) used to come to the house, but we recently switched to going in to the clinic. So, when it's time to go, a major tantrum happens and I have to drag her kicking and screaming to the car since they have toys and stuff we don't have here.


Anyway, after we left school, we went to get her haircut. She did do good and really surprised me at how well she sat there in the chair.


First, we tried to convince her to lay in the chair and get her hair washed, but she wanted no part of it. We even tried to let her sit and watch daddy while he got his done, but nope, she wasn't buying it. Remember that I have to give her cups and buckets to get her into the splash parks with the spraying water, so she wasn't too keen on having it sprayed on her head.
















All done!








It is a bit shorter in the back now, but she really did have some long, stray ends that had to get trimmed up and I know it will grow back....




Oh, and Bing has a new post on his blog

Off to School

Today was Gabriella's first day of early preschool/Mom's Day out (Who are we fooling? This is what it's about!) . She will go twice a week from 9-1.

We went on Friday to meet the teachers and hang out for a while and she had a huge fit when it was time to go(just as I expected). I told her it was time to leave and she looked right at me and said "Bye Mommy!" while waving her hand at me. As if to say, ok, see ya, but I'm staying here.

So, needless to say, this morning when daddy and I left her, she didn't even notice. On the one hand, I'm happy about that as I would hate to feel guilty for leaving her. But, gee, would be nice to be missed a little!! I expect her to be mad at me when I show up to take her home this afternoon.

Here she is ready to leave for school.













Saying bye to daddy.





Stay tuned. It's a day of firsts and she is getting her first haircut later. That one may be a bit more drama. We'll see.

Forever Family Day #2

Today we celebrated our 2nd Forever Family Day. It's definitely one of those "feels like forever, yet feels like just yesterday" kind of milestones. 2 years ago a little tiny 5 1/2 month old was placed in our arms and we became a family of three. Now, two years later, she has blossomed into this feisty, independent, sweet, sassy and beautiful toddler. Every day she learns something new and surprises me.

I cooked the same meal as last year(Guatemalan chicken with pineapple, Guatemalan rice and plantains). And, like last year, we just had a quiet dinner at home with Grandma.

Send an Ark Please

We may need one soon if this rain doesn't stop. This storm has decided to just stall out for the last day or so and has been just churning away and dumping rain. Last night and today was actually the worst weather we've had so far in our area. Quite windy(right now we have steady 30mph winds and gusts up over 40) and a ton of rain today. It's ironic. They closed the schools Tuesday and Wednesday when the weather really wasn't that bad and sent them back today.

Please pray this storm gets a kick in the butt and starts to move. The coastal areas can't take much more of this wind and rain. Some areas have gotten about 30 inches of rain. And the beaches have been eroded terribly.

And to make matters worse, Ferdy went out this morning to turn on the pool pump and drain off several more inches of water and the pump died. Oh man... I sure hope it comes back to life. Thank goodness they build pool decks to slope slightly away from the house. The overflowing water is draining off towards the back and side of the enclosure safely into the yard instead of the house.

The frogs are happy campers though. I am sitting here listening to them loadly croak over the baby monitor.

Wordless Wednesday - Artist at Work

Happy Sunday and Here We Go .......

Hope everyone is having a nice weekend. Pictures of Gabriella's new 'do. First time I've done the 3 ponies.

And a couple from the other day of Miss G and Bing.

Sorry the flash didn't go off in this one, but I thought it was too cute not to post.

And welcome to hurricane season in FL. Let's hope this storm stays weak and the forecast changes some. Sigh ...... After the 2004 season when we had 3 direct hits here in Orlando, I grow weary of the weather-watching we have to do. Thank goodness this one isn't a major hurricane like Charlie was in 2004. But, if it goes on this path, we are on the NE side of it which is the worst(especially for the spin-off tornadoes and such). Looks like Tue and Wed around here won't be so nice. Hopefully nothing more than a bunch of rain and wind.

Wordless Wednesday - Compliments of Yo Gabba Gabba

My Tag and some pictures

OK, I was tagged by several blogger peeps and awarded this Brilliant Blogger Award.... I am not tagging anybody though because this one definitely has made it's way around and there's nobody left!!!

So here is how this thing works: 1st I have to answer a little questionnaire, which is pretty much all about ME! Get excited folks--this is big stuff! Then, I have to choose 7 bloggers who I feel are BRILLIANT (like I said, not going to do that part) and I give them the award.

Here is the questionnaire (drum roll please...):


A. Attached or single? Very attached(together over 20 years now!)
B. Best friend? Sares. My bestest bud and Miss G's godmother.
C. Cake or pie? What does Tiramisu qualify as?
D. Day of choice? Saturday or Sunday
E. Essential item? My computer(I have a pretty serious blog addiction going!)
F. Favorite color? Purple
G. Gummy bears or worms? neither really. Not much of a candy person.
H. Hometown? Merritt Island, FL
I. Indulgence? Key Lime Martinis(hey, what can I say? I know how to make them and I'm not afraid to use it!)
J. January or July? January since July is soooooooooooooo hot here
K. Kids? The fabulous and fiesty Miss G
L. Life isn’t complete without? Family, friends and my kitties
M. Marriage date? September 17, 1994
N. Number of brothers & sisters? None, I'm an only
O. Oranges or apples? Apples
P. Phobias? Frogs, lizards - yuck
Q. Quotes? "Not flesh of my flesh nor bone of my bone, yet still miraculously my own. Never forget for a single minute that you weren’t born under my heart, but in it" Author unknown
R. Reasons to smile? Miss G's smile and her dimples that light up a room
S. Season of choice? Spring
T. Tag seven peeps! (nope)
U. Unknown fact about me? I was adopted(though I think this one is known by now by most)
V. Vegetable? Fresh asparagus
W. Worst habits? Procrastination
X. X-ray or ultrasound? um.... yeah. Had both. Is that what the question was???
Y. Your favorite food? Italian
Z. Zodiac sign? Saggitarius


And lastly a few cute pictures.

One morning I was doing some cleaning(gasp!) and I put Gabriella on the couch with Sesame Street. I was gone for a few minutes and came back in and found her sacked out on the couch. This has NEVER happened!!! I know it looks like her eyes are open, but that's how she sleeps sometimes. And please notice her awesome footwear!










The other night before her bath after she was undressed, I put her towel on her head and she took off running through the house with it on. I had to chase her down to get it off and get her into the bath.





And here's that smile that lights up the room.

FFF - Having a Ball

The FFF theme from Sarah this week is "Having a Ball". It just so happens that we went to a splash zone today with some friends and Gabriella had a ball playing there. Armed with a bucket and cup, she went right in. I'm so happy to have found that trick to overcoming her fear of the splashing water. She ran around and played and had such fun.



She had several groups of older kids that came over and were playing with her, filling her bucket and pouring it on her. She had so much fun with them. She would grab their hands and lead them wherever she wanted them to go with her. It was fun to watch. She even shared her bucket and cup with some smaller kids. That is an accomplishment, let me tell you. I was poised on the sidelines ready to go in and prevent a disaster when they came up and wanted it. But, she did really good. Phew!

Enjoying a snack after playing.

I've been tagged by several people and I promise to do that some time this weekend.

BFFs

I haven't posted for a while because Sarah was in town from Thursday until last night. We had the BEST time. We took zero pictures. How bad is that???? Sarah emailed this to me this morning and asked me to post a cute pic of Miss G along with this message.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

True friendship can endure even long distances if the bond between two friends is strong. It has, and it will for Al and me!

I can’t believe we didn’t take any pics for Miss G’s blog while I was w/ Al and family. Oh well, we were tooo busy laughing, talking, eating, drinking and yes, SHOPPING! Did I mention shopping?

I celebrated my 29th (for the 19th time) Birthday while w/ Al, Ferdy and Gabriella, and we had a wonderful day! Al invited some of our girlfriends over for lunch and some pool time. That evening Al, Ferdy and Miss G sang Happy Birthday to me. There’s nothing quite like sharing your Birthday candles w/ a little one. My nieces are now 16 and 13 so it’s been a while.

Al and I have known each other since May 2001, which was our first day at a new job. I was running late because I was stopped for passing on a solid yellow line. Hello! I am late for an new job, Officer!!!! When I got to orientation the only seat left was next to Al. For the life of me I couldn’t remember her name. So after asking her multiple times, “What’s your name again?”, I gave up and told her I’d call her Al. She’s been Al ever since! We’ve been through a lot together – bird sitting for her and Ferdy for a bird that hated me. Hmmm, wonder if that had anything to do w/ the fact that I would play Inxs (and she hated it) when I would go over?!! We’ve shared the ups and downs of family, pets, friendships and life in general, and we are as thick as friends could be.

Thanks for a wonderful five days, Al, Ferdy and Gabriella!

XXX,
Auntie S