Wish I Was There

My mom has the wonderful opportunity to keep Jay and Lily a few days each week.  This past Tuesday, she sent me the picture below of the kids napping.  Last week, Ethan had joined the fun for a few days and Mom had to break out the kinder mats to nap them on (since she doesn't have enough beds or rooms).  I guess that Jay and Lily liked napping on the mats so much that they wanted to continue this trend even when Ethan wasn't there.

I love these kids so much and they are all so adorable! I wish that I had a picture of all three of them napping, but that will have to wait.

What's up with you?

So, I've been busy at work since my last post (yes, I know that it's been almost two months), but mainly I've been affected by allergies (at least that's what I think they are).  Since Thanksgiving I have been coughing, battling a sore throat, and stuffy.  Then to add insult to injury, I was diagnosed with the worst double-ear infection my nurse practioner has ever seen!

So I decided that maybe it was time to go to the doctor (I haven't been to a doctor/clinic this much in the last 12 years!) and figure out what is causing this mess.  Also to see if I can find a remedy that won't cost me $20 or more a month (now that allergy medicine is over-the-counter).

I've got to get feeling better because it is almost that time of year again - birthday season in the Southwell family.  The kids will all be celebrating their birthdays in the next month and a half.  I can't believe that Jay will be four and Lily and Ethan will be two!!! Where has the time gone?

I'm not sure what the birthday plans are yet, but I'm sure that I'll be able to capture some cute moments - not to mention our annual pictures.

And then in June, I will be adding another girl to "my" kids!  My best friend Christy is pregnant and due June 15 (really rather hoping that she doesn't decide to come that weekend as I will be celebrating Mom and Dad's 40th wedding anniversary, but. . . )!  I am super excited to have another niece (and this time I get to buy clothes for her)!

More posts and pictures to come soon.  Just keep your eyes open! :)

New Year's Eve 2011

For the second year, I was able to get tickets to Sea World to take Jay and Lily (thanks Christy!!).  Grammy and Mom decided to join us too (Mom had to come since they can't drive themselves, hehe:) ).  We had a blast!!!  The kids were wonderful, no whinning or complaining.




We arrived at Sea World around 10:00 A.M. and our first stop was at the Dolphin Nursery.  One of the main reasons Jay wanted to go back to Sea World was to see the dolphins, so we took care of that right off the bat.  Then we ventured over to the Polar Express Experience where we got to see a Polar Bear, Beluga Whales, and a Walrus.  Lily loved the Polar Bear!!!



Baby dolphin



Fast Lily! You've got to be quick
with the camera!



Waiting for Polar Express to start!





Then we took the kids to Shamu's playland so that they could venture around outside of the stroller and ride a few rides.  Tiffany and Jay went on one of the rides and Lily decided that she needed to ride too, so Grammy joined them. Oba decided to stay on the sidelines to take pictures.



Lily wanted to ride too!

Then we ventured over to the train ride and although Lily said she wanted to ride, Goldfish were calling her name and thus she decided it was snack time rather than train time.  So that left Jay and Grammy to enjoy the train ride.  And enjoy they did!

Train time. Wave at the camera



Cheesy Goldfish smile!



After the kids had some time to play, we went to see the new Shamu show - One World.  It was wonderful (as always)!  Jay was so animated during it (he was also rather animated during the movie part of the Polar Express Experience, so cute!).  Then it was time for lunch!!!



Shamu!



During lunch, we asked Jay what his favorite part had been so far.  He asked: "my favorite part of the whole day?"  We said yes and his response: "having fun!"  Got to love that kid!!!

After lunch we continued around the park to the Shark Exhibit.  Jay was having a lot more fun at this point than Lily, due to it being after her nap time.  She was a trouper though and didn't fall asleep until the ride home.  Jay loved walking through the tank while the sharks swam around us.  Both kids enjoyed being able to see the sharks and sting rays in the pools outside of the exhibit.  Jay was pointing out different characters from Finding Nemo - I love how kids relate things. 

Sharks and Stingrays

Then we were on to the Sea Lions and Seals.  We even got to see a baby seal basking in the sun (until a bird came over and startled him/her so much that he/she fell into the water).  We had two more stops before leaving.  We went to the penguin exhibit and Jay found his animal of choice for the day.  He was asking so many questions about the different types of penguins.  Maybe it's time for him to watch Happy Feet. :)

Baby seal

Our last stop was in the gift shop.  I had told the kids that if they were good all day, that they would get a prize.  I bought each of them a stuffed animal.  Jay chose a penguin (whom he has named Charlie, according to his Mom) and Lily decided that she wanted a polar bear.

We had so much fun.  Jay did ask me as we were walking around when were we going to Busch Gardens.  I guess another trip will have to be planned soon :).  Man I love these kids!  Hopefully, Ethan will be able to join us soon (he doesn't do well in a stroller and not being able to run around).

Christmas 2011

I can't believe that Christmas has already come and gone!  What a whirlwind year it has been!  Christmas was pretty quiet this year and my time at home didn't last nearly long enough!

We did the Southwell Christmas on Christmas Eve.  We gathered all 10 of us at Grammy & Papa's house to eat, exchange gifts, and have some fun before going to Candlelight service at church.  The kids had a blast climbing on Uncle Steven:



Climb and then "throw"



Then we opened presents.  Unfortunately I didn't get that many shots with my camera because Grammy insisted that I take pictures with hers.  I'll see if I can't get some from her to add to the post.  I gave each of the kids a Gator piggybank with their names on it, a personalized ornament in the shape of a Gator, and each family got a movie.  Here's what one of the piggybanks looked like:

Miss Lily with her piggybank!

This is what I got for Christmas:

Isn't it gorgeous?!?!

A brand-new gas grill!  Thanks Mom and Dad (and Josh for putting it together for me and delivering it to my door). I can't wait to use it.  Although, that my have to wait until it warms up just a bit outside!

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas with your families.  May God bless us all throughout the new year!!

Thanksgiving 2011

This year for Thanksgiving, I decided to take the entire week off from work and life in Gainesville and spend some quiet, quality time with the family in Wauchula.  Well, life had other plans!  I spent the week in Wauchula with family, but it wasn't very quiet.  I decided that since I was on vacation, it would be the perfect time for me to get sick.  I started coughing on the Sunday before Thanksgiving and as of the time I post this, I'm still coughing.

But, let's go through the week a bit:

It started with getting to go to the Florida Gators football game.  It was the second to last game of the season and turned out to be our last win of the season.  Jay had a blast!  For the first have of the game, he sat with just me in our two seats (and by sitting "with" me, I mean "on" me).  Then during the second half, we were able to go sit with Grammy and Papa and Jay got very comfortable in Papa's lap!

Fun picture with Jay and Oba



Halftime salute to Veterans



Smiling before the game





Chillin' with Papa



Jay, Papa, and Grammy

Boys on the move



After the game, we all four traveled back to Wauchula and had to stop at Jay's favorite restaurant for dinner: Five Guys Burger and Fries!  And let me tell you, that boy can eat!  He had almost his entire hamburger, some fries, and peanuts (and all of that after having a Fiber bar on the way home).

I spent the rest of the week helping Mom with the kids and Thanksgiving preparations.  Mom was extremely busy with sewing projects and so the kids and I got to spend some quality time together.  And I am happy to announce that I was able to consistently have Lily call me Oba!!! Maybe it will stick with her :).  I wish that I had gotten some pictures of the projects that we did (which, according to Mom, Jay is obsessed with doing now) of hand-print turkeys and apple turkeys, but here is a good one of the kids:

Being silly



Well, it may not be the "best" picture of them, but it was the cutest - especially since Steven use to make that same face that Jay has when taking pictures.

For Thanksgiving this year, I decided that I wanted to make a pumpkin pie from scratch - including the pumpkin.  So, I started with this:

Pie Pumpkin

And cut it up and cooked it, then smashed it until it looked like this:

Pumpkin Mash

Then I mixed all the ingredients and got this:

Pie filling

Very soupy

Mom graciously made a homemade, from scratch crust (I don't do so well with the crusts) and so this is what we put into the oven:

baking

And the final product was this:

Amazing!

It was enjoyed by all and turned out pretty good!  I had enough pie filling left over that we made a second pie (minus the homemade crust) on Sunday for family lunch.  Also, we had enough pumpkin mash was enough that we freezed the leftovers for next year's pumpkin pie! 

So, except for the fact that I was sick the entire holiday (and then some), we had a great time and I so enjoyed spending time with the kids.  I wish that Ethan could have been there, but hopefully next year we'll have all of them together.

Now, CHRISTMAS!!!!

Two years ago

I'm doing this from work (shh, don't tell anyone), so some of the pictures will have to be added later.  I was reflecting on my life two years ago and how wonderful things are now.  This month two years ago was a bit stressful - both wonderful and scary things happening.  I had only been at my new job for a few months and was a little nervous because I was going to have to ask to take almost 2 weeks off in that month!

The month started off with a wedding in North Carolina on October 3.  My friend Denise got married and asked me to be one of her two bridesmaids.  I was shocked and honored at the request.  We had a wonderful weekend at Lake Junaluska, North Carolina.  I remember how wonderful the weather was and wishing that I lived up there all the time. (Of course that was before I had 3 kids down here that I have to be near, we only had one at that time - more on that later).  The wedding was outside and was absolutely beautiful.  I had to walk up and down stone steps in heels and was a little nervous about that, but all was well and no ankles were injured :)

A few weeks later on October 20, my dad went in for back surgery.  That was one of the longest, most stressful days of my life.  Dad had such an ease about the surgery, but I was very scared.  One little slip and he would be paralyzed!  Ok, so maybe that is a bit overdramatic, but that's how I felt.  His surgery was suppose to have started around 10 (keep in mind too that this was in Orlando, so Josh and I left G'ville around 6:30 that morning to be able to see him before his surgery), but it didn't actually get started until closer to 12 or 1.  As soon as we were informed that he was being worked on, we went to lunch (if for nothing else, to get out of the waiting room chairs).  His surgery lasted until about 5 or 6 that night (I think, I know it was later than we had expected).  Then he had to wait in Post-Op until his room was cleaned.  He wasn't suppose to have visitors back there while he was coming out of anesthesia and such, but when we realized how late it was getting and told the staff that Josh and I had to get back to Gainesville, they finally let us back to see him around 8.  He was fine and did so well that they didn't even send him to rehab like originally planned.

So, that was Tuesday.  On Wednesday I headed to Wauchula to an empty house (Mom was staying in Orlando to be close to Daddy).  On Thursday, I had the pleasure of keeping my Jay-man for Mom so that Tiffany and Steven wouldn't have to find someone else to watch him (and so I could have him all to myself for a day!).  We had a wonderful day and I had fun playing with Daddy's good camera and taking pictures.

That night was the rehearsal dinner for Beckie and David's wedding.  We had fun and it was great meeting a new friend, Kimberly from Kentucky.  We then had fun Thursday night and spent the day Friday doing things to get ready for the wedding.  Saturday, after my hair appointment, we had the bridesmaids' brunch.  Then it was off to the church to get everyone dolled up for the wedding.

We had a blast and it was so wonderful to see Beckie find the one that God has intended for her.  It was a great way to end a busy, crazy, wonderful month.

Two year update:  Denise is an ordained pastor and (from what I can deduce) is loving being married to Dean Martin.

Dad has dropped over 70 lbs (I think) and is looking and feeling great!!!  Has no problems what-so-ever with his back (unless he bends or twists the wrong way and is reminded of the steel rods and pins that are holding him together).

Beckie and David just welcomed their second daughter and are having a wonderful time being married and being parents.

Aunt Ethel's 97th Birthday!

My Granny's older sister turned 97 on Saturday, September 17 (just one day after my brother turned 34!)!! We've decided that she is going to out live us all!  She is in fairly good health and has a wit that is sharp as a tack!!  She amazes me!

Since the Gators were playing Tennessee in Gainesville, I suggested that Steven and Tiffany leave the kids in Wauchula and Grammy, Papa, and I would take care of them.  We had a blast!!  The kids were great at the party and other than waking me up at 6:00 A.M. (but I'm not really complaining because I got cuddle time with them for an hour and a half), it was a great weekend!  Jay was too cute at the party.  While sitting in my lap, eating finger sandwiches and carrots, he kept putting his arm around my neck, pulling my head down to his, and saying "Cheese!".  So we took some self portraits!  I did realize that I somehow got through the party without taking one single picture of my great aunt! Hopefully my Uncle Bill will send me some that he took!

Grammy and the two
Gator fans!

Lily and her Grammy!

One of the shots after Jay insisted
on being cheesy!

Our first shot

Playing with the birthday balloons!

If I get pictures of Aunt Ethel, I'll be sure to add them!!

And here they are!

The Birthday girl sitting down to
enjoy the party

Chatting with her son David!

Until next time!