Another Congrats!!

I am very pleased to post that Britany has received an invitation to audition for Cirque Du Soleil in Orlando on May 2nd!!!

While her father was completely immersed in the Air Force deal, I was formulating back up plans. One of my ideas was to send a video of Britany to Cirque. They were impressed and want her to audition.

So, wouldn't that be super cool to be a student at UCF and a cast member of Cirque? I thought so!!

Go Britany!!!! I am proud of you!!

Congrats To Taylor!

I just have to send a shout out to my beautiful daughter Taylor. She has just been selected as a finalist in the Miss Teen New Hampshire pageant to be held September 26, 2009. Her selection was made after submission of the above photo by her adoring mother. ;)

Thank God It's Friday!

Thanks for the great potty-training ideas! Keep them coming and I will keep you all updated with our progress. I do have to tell you something funny though. A couple of days ago, I said to him "Okay, time to go potty" and his response? He shook his head slowly with a slight chuckle and a smile and said "Mommy....I don't have time for dat" as if to say "What are you thinking silly woman?" LOL

Hope is adjusting well to her new school; already made a few friends. (no surprise there) An old friend of hers from her first school over here, St. Cecelia's invited her to a dance tonight (I think it's a dance) it's at a Rec Center and it's called Freaky Friday or something like that.

Britany and Taylor are doing well, although Britany does have a serious case of "senior-itis". I think I've gotten 100 new grey hairs in the last few days alone.

New Friends

Christopher has now entered the stage of imaginary friends. It is so cute. His two new friends are "Vika and Auto". He talks about going to school alot too. He is always going off to school with Vika and Auto. I would love to try and start a pre-school program but I am having a heck of a time with potty-training. I have obviously successfully trained three girls, but my little boy wants NO part of it. When I try the underpants, he says that he is scared and needs a diaper. He begs "please Mommy, please!" I feel so bad. I've tried all of the standard responses and nothing works (even tried bribery)...any advice out there??

She's Baaaack!

Yep, Hope is moving back! I am picking her up at Tampa Airport at 7:25 this evening. I was going to try to keep it a secret from Christopher so that I could delight in his expression when he saw her, but I could not resist this morning when he woke up, I had to tell him. He was so excited. He smiled this big smile and said "Wets go get her now!"

She is going to be going to the small, private school that Britany and Taylor went to just to finish up the school year and then next year it looks like it will be Osceola with a couple of old friends.

Stay tuned!!

Adjusting

Lola is adjusting well here. I started out trying to house train her the traditional way, which was very stressful considering our living arrangements. We live in a three story townhouse with no yard of our own, no fence, etc. The girls were here to help out so it wasn't too bad. However, trying to race down all the stairs and get her outside at the first sign of an attempt to mess in the house while Christopher stood at the top of the stairs crying for me to come back inside and not to leave him alone was not working. I'd have to leave the front door wide open so that I could hear him crying and wait for her to potty. Meanwhile bugs and God only knows what else could crawl inside my house.

So, I took a trip to PetsMart and bought a book "Puppies For Dummies". Then Christopher wasn't feeling well and refused to do anything and insisted that I sit on the sofa with him all day long. I used that time to read my book. I had purchased some puppy training pads when I bought the book. I learned that it is perfectly acceptable to paper train and traditional train. She will learn that when the training pads are down she has permission to use them, but when they are not down, she must hold it. These pads are suggested for use during times of inclement weather (hmm. hurricane season maybe) or if you live in an apartment, condo, etc.

She is doing extremely well using these pads. I am following the advice of my dog trainer/author and it is working perfectly. She uses the pads for her #1's about 98% of the time. We are working on the #2's though. I did have her first check up with the vet and he suggested what I have been contemplating...putting a little bit of her #2 on the pad as well. We'll see.

Patrick is coming down this weekend with Colin's mom. They will be here for a week. We will be going to Orlando for a couple of days, so the Vet told me that it would be good to put her in the kennel there at his hospital. She is a good dog though. She is very smart and how could you not love that face!

The girls are doing well. Britany and Taylor's cheering squad just won a competition in Vermont last weekend and "states" is this coming weekend.

Hope is still certain that she wants to move back with me. She wants to move back now, but the schools down here finish up in May so she would be working overtime to get caught up to where they are and I don't think it is wise for her to be the new kid with only a couple of months left. I explained to her that because of school choice here, the kids are always moving around and trying out other schools, so in the Fall, she will not be the only new kid and will not stick out like a sore thumb. She is going to try and stick it out.

Manic Monday

It has been a wonderful week with "Da Goyals". I can't believe it is over! My only solace is that Hope is still certain she wants to move back at the end of this school year, and Britany seems 95% sure she is going to UCF.

We had a great day at Animal Kingdom and then Downtown Disney on my birthday, Friday the 27th. It was totally sunny and about 78-79 degrees. Such a pretty day. We had dinner at T-REX in Downtown Disney. Colin had the waiters bring me a smoking volcanic chocolate dessert and sing "Happy Birthday". The kids really enjoyed the restaurant. It has very large animatronic (sp?) dinosaurs around and it is set up to look very pre-historic. The section we ate in was a large ice cave with crystals. On the way out, they have a Build-A-Bear workshop with all dinosaurs. Hope and her friend Mallorie each created a new dinosaur friend to bring back home.




We took the plunge and got a puppy on Saturday. She is very sweet. Colin has been wanting to get Christopher a puppy ever since he went to his medical conference in Vermont this past Fall and one of the topics of discussion was how having a pet can improve your overall health and how beneficial it is for people who may be lonely. Since Christopher misses Patrick and the girls, he thought having a puppy might help out. He hasn't shown much interest during our trips to the puppy store, until he went there with his girls. Then, he bawled when we tried to leave without her. HE named her "Lola". She is a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. When I went into the store, I had my checklist of what I would accept in a dog and what I would not. She fit the bill exactly: easily house trained, little barking, calm while in your lap, playful while down from your lap, gentle/easy going, low grooming maintenance, and only one full walk per day needed. Sold.




Britany really enjoyed the tour of UCF. After seeing the campus, she is more excited and less nervous about the entire prospect of living on her own and going to school. The tour seemed to settle some issues that she had been worried about. She is also happy that after seeing the campus, her best friend, Taylor wants to attend. How nice for mom!! I would love nothing more than to have all three of my girls back in Florida! Hope, here with me and Britany and Taylor an hour and a half away in Orlando. That would certainly be a dream come true for me!!