I was just giving the kids their bath and Liam accidentally bunked me in the eye with a toy. "Ow, Liam!" I cried.
Bailey goes, "What's 'ow'?"
I replied, "Liam just hit me in the eye."
Bailey goes, "Maybe it's time to get rid of this baby. Whaddaya think?" You know she has been waiting forever to make that little suggestion. I told her lucky for her, we don't get rid of our kids when they mess up (otherwise she'd be in real trouble, LOL).
McDowell Family Blog
Sunday, July 22, 2012
Friday, July 20, 2012
Treehouse Vacation
For her birthday this year, Will's mom, Stephanie AKA Grandma, wanted to stay at the Treehouse Villas at Saratoga Springs (Disney World) with the kids. She took Emily out there on Sunday night. I brought Bailey out to her on Monday, and Eileen, Andrew, Xander, and Derrick were there Monday as well. The kids stayed all week. I drove back and forth each day with Liam so that he could be a part of it all as well. I think the kids had an absolute blast. We got to visit the various pools at the resort, which have water slides and splash parks. We considered going to a water park but the kids had so much fun at the hotel pools that we skipped that. However, the girls got to go to the Contemporary Resort and watch the fireworks over Magic Kingdom. They went to campfire stories with Chip and Dale and had s'mores. We had a family BBQ on Wednesday to celebrate Grandma's birthday, and then we took the kids back to the Contemporary to see the fireworks again. Bailey said, "Mommy, to go to the 'pireworks' we have to ride the 'mama-rail'"--SO cute!!
Liam on the slide in the splash park--he LOVED it!
Bailey coming down the BIG slide!
Emily's 27458th trip down the big slide!! She screamed the whole way down EVERY time.
At the Paddock pool at Saratoga Springs Resort.
Bailey on the 'mama' rail :)
Getting ready for our boat ride!
Catching up!!
Wow, it sure has been a while since I've been on here! Here's an update on everyone and all of the things we have been up to lately.
Will is working like mad on his dissertation and research hours to finish his PhD. He thinks he's about 12-18 months away from completing it. He has also been busy with work. He went to New Jersey for two weeks in June and he has to go back in September.
Jennifer is training for a 10 mile race on September 28. It is at Disney's Hollywood Studios. She is both nervous and excited about it. She is running approximately a 12 minute mile consistently--although she can run at 6 mph for a lap or two! She is trying to do a long outside run each Saturday to help prepare for the race.
Emily is enjoying her summer vacation and her time with Mommy, Bailey, and Liam. She and Bailey made a list of a bunch of things they wanted to do this summer and so far we have done most of them! We have about three weeks left to finish checking off our list. Emmy is reading ~2nd grade level books on her own and also is listening to The Kingdom Keepers: Disney After Dark. Both she and Mommy are enjoying the book.
Bailey has been rather challenging lately, LOL. I think it has been hard on her to have to share the spotlight with her sister and brother all of the time. Her dearest wish is to have Mommy all to herself. A few weeks ago she spent the night at Mimi and Grandpa's house and she had a blast. She didn't want to come home!
Liam has a LOT to say lately! Much of it is still gibberish, but he will babble an entire conversation! Mom says he is Chinese because a lot of what he says sounds like, "Gong gong gong gong gong!" It is very cute. He is so busy, too! He has been nodding yes and shaking his head no which is really cute (and helpful!) because you can say, "Do you want to eat?" (Nods.) "Time to get out of the pool.
(Shakes head no.) "Time to get out of the bath." (Shakes head no.) LOL.
In June we did a "staycation" in Cocoa Beach. It was disappointing. We'd booked a resort that looked great online, and they had something called kid suites which was a room that had a separate area with two bunk beds and a twin bed. We thought that would be good because otherwise staying in a hotel with little kids means everyone goes to bed at 8:00, LOL. Anyway, Will and I were not too impressed when we arrived, but the girls were thrilled, so we figured we'd just make do. After a swim (towels were NOT provided--what the heck??), we went back to the room to clean up for dinner. We discovered that the phones didn't work, the internet was out, the help line provided in the guest guide book was outdated and that company no longer provided internet help for that hotel, there were ANTS in the bathroom (the last straw for Will), and underneath the bottom bunk was a soggy towel and some TRASH. We were out of there as fast as we could carry our stuff downstairs! We moved to a Holiday Inn Express, which was much nicer, but it was not *on* the beach and there was no separation between us and the kids (so it was lights out at 8 pm). The first night the kids were up until after 10! Normally they go to bed between 7 and 8 so that was unacceptable. The next day I told Will I wanted to go home a day early because if we had to drive to the beach, then we might as well drive to the beach from home and at least have our HUGE house to sleep in! We did get to visit the Brevard Zoo, where the girls fed giraffes and birds. Liam liked the animals and we spent a little time in their splash park, which was fun for the kids. The beach was an adventure--Bailey freaked out because there was sand on her (shocking!!). Liam apparently felt that sand and salt water from a bucket was a tasty treat! Emily loved the beach but cried when we had to leave. Mommy had HAD it, LOL. I think we were all glad to get home after that adventure.
Will is working like mad on his dissertation and research hours to finish his PhD. He thinks he's about 12-18 months away from completing it. He has also been busy with work. He went to New Jersey for two weeks in June and he has to go back in September.
Jennifer is training for a 10 mile race on September 28. It is at Disney's Hollywood Studios. She is both nervous and excited about it. She is running approximately a 12 minute mile consistently--although she can run at 6 mph for a lap or two! She is trying to do a long outside run each Saturday to help prepare for the race.
Emily is enjoying her summer vacation and her time with Mommy, Bailey, and Liam. She and Bailey made a list of a bunch of things they wanted to do this summer and so far we have done most of them! We have about three weeks left to finish checking off our list. Emmy is reading ~2nd grade level books on her own and also is listening to The Kingdom Keepers: Disney After Dark. Both she and Mommy are enjoying the book.
Bailey has been rather challenging lately, LOL. I think it has been hard on her to have to share the spotlight with her sister and brother all of the time. Her dearest wish is to have Mommy all to herself. A few weeks ago she spent the night at Mimi and Grandpa's house and she had a blast. She didn't want to come home!
Liam has a LOT to say lately! Much of it is still gibberish, but he will babble an entire conversation! Mom says he is Chinese because a lot of what he says sounds like, "Gong gong gong gong gong!" It is very cute. He is so busy, too! He has been nodding yes and shaking his head no which is really cute (and helpful!) because you can say, "Do you want to eat?" (Nods.) "Time to get out of the pool.
(Shakes head no.) "Time to get out of the bath." (Shakes head no.) LOL.
In June we did a "staycation" in Cocoa Beach. It was disappointing. We'd booked a resort that looked great online, and they had something called kid suites which was a room that had a separate area with two bunk beds and a twin bed. We thought that would be good because otherwise staying in a hotel with little kids means everyone goes to bed at 8:00, LOL. Anyway, Will and I were not too impressed when we arrived, but the girls were thrilled, so we figured we'd just make do. After a swim (towels were NOT provided--what the heck??), we went back to the room to clean up for dinner. We discovered that the phones didn't work, the internet was out, the help line provided in the guest guide book was outdated and that company no longer provided internet help for that hotel, there were ANTS in the bathroom (the last straw for Will), and underneath the bottom bunk was a soggy towel and some TRASH. We were out of there as fast as we could carry our stuff downstairs! We moved to a Holiday Inn Express, which was much nicer, but it was not *on* the beach and there was no separation between us and the kids (so it was lights out at 8 pm). The first night the kids were up until after 10! Normally they go to bed between 7 and 8 so that was unacceptable. The next day I told Will I wanted to go home a day early because if we had to drive to the beach, then we might as well drive to the beach from home and at least have our HUGE house to sleep in! We did get to visit the Brevard Zoo, where the girls fed giraffes and birds. Liam liked the animals and we spent a little time in their splash park, which was fun for the kids. The beach was an adventure--Bailey freaked out because there was sand on her (shocking!!). Liam apparently felt that sand and salt water from a bucket was a tasty treat! Emily loved the beach but cried when we had to leave. Mommy had HAD it, LOL. I think we were all glad to get home after that adventure.
Sunday, July 15, 2012
What's the problem with chocolate milk????
Grandpa and Mimi babysat Emily, Bailey, and Liam last night. Emily and Liam went right to sleep, but Bailey was up for a while crying. Now, you have to understand the situation to really get this one. We have been trying to reduce her sugar intake, because I noticed that when she has sugar (especially 10 grams or more), she gets really mean. So the other day, after she had chocolate milk, she started yelling at me and just generally being mean, so I said, "Okay, Bailey, you just lost chocolate milk." Obviously she was very upset about that--chocolate milk is an important food group, in her view--and she cried for a while when I told her. But when Mimi and Grandpa put her to bed, she was in there crying, "What's the problem with chocolate milk? Mommy says I can't have chocolate milk any more but I love chocolate milk! I don't understand what is the problem with chocolate milk!" To make it even funnier, she still has a few sounds she can't say, so her crying ACTUALLY sounded like this: "What's the pwobwem wif chocolate miwk?" LOL. That kid is something else!!
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