Fun With Gymnastics

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Originally uploaded by WelshFamilyVideos

Here I am doing some gymnastics again after so many years. I must say that I am having a blast!

SF Lancers Win First Round of Playoffs

The St. Francis Lancers (Andrew's football team) won their first round of playoffs tonight! Hooray. The downside is that they will have practice on Thanksgiving morning. The upside is that all the hard work and long hours are paying off.

Kayla Performs "The Little Engine That Could"

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Originally uploaded by WelshFamilyVideos

The other night Kayla gave us a priceless rendition of the story the Little Engine that Could. She was "reading" the Crock Pot cookbook to us - upside down. It is too funny!

Halloween

Halloween has come and gone in the blink of an eye. We filled every minute of our weekend with activities, and had tons of fun. Here are some pics of the festivities.

Here is an outing to the pumpkin patch.

Here is Kayla (looking thrilled as Tinkerbell) and Matthew (a Clone Trooper) getting ready to trick-or-treat.

We had a new prop in the yard this year - a witch (made out of a step stool and sticks, a mask, and some black fabric) and her cauldron. It looked great at night, and I'm pleased to say that once again we had the coolest house on the block. I visited two day-after-Halloween sales and bought a couple new things for next year, too. I just love Halloween! Hope you had fun, too.

Rue la La Invite

I just found Rue La La, the destination for 2-day-only Boutiques, filled with the designers we love at private sale prices. It's free, fabulous, and invitation-only. Here's your invitation!

http://www.ruelala.com/invite/mwelsh06

Apollo Is Doing Well

Apollo had his TPLO surgery last Wednesday, and is doing very well. We brought him home on Thursday afternoon. We are doing our best to keep him very calm, and feel pretty lucky that we are starting out with such a calm dog already. We are letting him roam free around the house while we are home, but he gets locked up in the laundry room while we are away. He is going a little stir crazy being cooped up in the house all the time, but he'll have to wait another 4 weeks before he can leave the house for short walks. Here are some pics of his leg after surgery.

He gets his staples out in 10 more days, and until then he has to wear the dreaded e-collar, or cone-head as we like to call it. He hasn't quite learned the finer points of managing the cone. He runs into everything with it, and then struggles to navigate around things. It's rather funny, but Apollo isn't laughing. Here is a pic when we first put the collar on him, and he was amused by it.

This second picture shows how he feels about it now.

That is not a very happy dog.

Matthew Makes a Funny

Friday night after the football game (Andrew's team won, by the way), we were walking to the car and Matthew sees a bright star in the sky.

He says to me, "Wow Mommy look at that beautiful star in the sky."
I said, "Yeah, buddy, pretty cool isn't it?"
He says, "Yeah, that's something you don't see every night."

I had to spend the next five minutes explaining to him why I was laughing so hard. Kids sure are good for a laugh sometimes.

Doggie Woes

So, it was determined that Apollo definitely needs a TPLO surgery, and we had to make some tough decisions about that last week. He is 8 years old, but still likely has another 4-6 years of life in him. It would be a different choice is he were already 12 years old. In the end, we chose to do the surgery for Apollo despite the financial and emotional hardships involved. He is one of our babies, and we just couldn't live with the other alternatives.

So, Apollo goes in for surgery this coming Wednesday. The hardest part will be the recovery - we have to keep him quiet (no exercise or excitement of any kind) for several weeks, and then very limited exercise for another 6-8 weeks after that. He's a Lab for crying out loud! And he needs to lose 15 pounds to reduce the risk of rupturing his ACL on the other leg. This isn't going to be easy for anyone. In the end, if all goes well, it will be worth it. He'll be able to return to normal activity for the rest of his days, which we hope are many.

Weekend Highs

Even though poor Apollo got injured this weekend (see post below), we did manage to squeeze in some good stuff, too. Here are some of the highlights of our weekend...

Andrew's high school football team won their first game of the season, 35-0.

Matthew rode his bike without training wheels for the first time.

Family miniature golf - always an adventure with Kayla. "Kayla, don't pick up all the other balls." "Kayla, get out of the water!"

Family dinner over at my parents house. Seeing my Dad doing so well just fills my heart with happiness. Our kids are so happy to be able to see Grandpa again.

2 hours of shopping for Melissa - alone.

2 park visits

Watched America's Funniest Videos with the kids on the couch - laughing together while cuddling is so wonderful.

Convinced Kayla that taking a nap would make the entire family much happier, and she actually bought it.

A visit to Bed Bath and Beyond with the kids. Kayla informs me half way through, "Mommy, I love you...but this is so booooooring."

Snuggling with my son and having him tell me that he loves me to "the end of the Universe."

Good times...

Our "First Baby" Gets Injured

On May 10, 1001, Andrew and I became the proud parents of the best darned chocolate lab one could ever ask for. He really is the best dog ever - so sweet and mellow. Apollo is wonderful with our kids, and we all adore him. The only time you ever see any sign of aggression is when the gas & electric company comes to check the meters in the back yard. You would think we have an attack dog living with us the way he barks and puts on such a great show - he does not like strangers or small rodents coming anywhere near the back yard uninvited. It's just the way I like it. He comes back in his dog door wagging his tail, proud of his big show.

For those of you sorority sisters out there, this behavior reminds me so much of how Andrew used to be called out to the front yard at the frat house when anyone uninvited showed up. He would puff out his chest and act tough, scaring off anyone with any real sense, but then would turn around and give us a big goofy smile.

Well, we threw a ball for Apollo Saturday afternoon and he chased after it with his normal gusto. Now Apollo is a retriever that doesn't actually retrieve. He just chases after the ball and then eats grass. You have to go physically get the ball and throw it again for him. I went to "retrieve" the ball and saw that Apollo wasn't putting any weight on his back foot. After careful examination we couldn't see or feel anything, and he didn't indicate any pain.

The next day we took him to the ER vet because there was no improvement, and were devastated to hear the he has torn his ACL, and will likely need surgery ($$$$) to recover any normal use of his back leg. It is so heartbreaking to see your pet injured and know that his quality of life has been impacted. This unfortunately means the end of any more doggie daycare for Apollo - his most favorite activity, next to eating cat poop.

[Insert sigh of frustration here]. Is it too much to ask that we just get to the end of the year without anyone else in our family visiting the ER, please?

Back Home at Last

Great news! My Dad came home on Friday after 2 months in the hospital. Needless to say, he is so happy to be home. There will be a caregiver staying at my parent's home every night to help out, and there will be rehabilitation specialists making house calls throughout the week for therapy. My Dad still has a little ways to go before he can be physically independent. With minor assistance, he can walk with a walker, and feed himself.

And I am so happy that my Mom won't have to spend her days at the hospital, but rather at home with the man she loves. We've seen enough of hospitals for a long while.

Kayla and Matthew got to see Grandpa for the first time in months this weekend, and it made their day. They have really missed him, and have been so concerned about him.

Kayla's Birthday - a little late

So, our little Kayla girl turned three over 7 weeks ago, but family events being what they were over Fourth of July weekend (my Dad's aneurysm on July 3rd), I didn't get around to posting about it. Her birthday certainly is more than worthy of earning a post in our family blog, so here it is...better late than never.

We first celebrated Kayla's birthday at her daycare and brought rainbow cupcakes with rainbow frosting to give all the kids a good sugar high before their moms and dads came to pick them up. Matthew and Kayla helped to make the cupcakes, and thoroughly enjoyed licking the beaters (who doesn't?).

Next we celebrated Kayla's birthday with a small impromptu gathering at our home. She opened presents from family, and we had my mom, my Aunt Carol, and Andrew's mom Janet there with us to make the day special for Kayla. One of her favorite presents that night was a beautiful Tinker Bell costume complete with sparkly light-up shoes, fairy wings and a magic wand.

Our final celebration for Kayla was a party at a neighborhood park. She had three "requirements" for her party...a pinata, her two bff's from daycare, and a Tinkerbell cake. I stayed up until midnight making that cake, but it was fun and turned out pretty good, if I do say so myself.

Here is Kayla with her two best friends - Callie and Sharna.

The next two pics are of Kayla pulling a pinata string, and opening her presents sitting next to my sister's kids (Marie-left, and Emma-right)

So, even though it was one of the most difficult, most emotional weekends of my life with my Dad's aneurysm, we managed to give Kayla the celebrations she deserved. I'm so proud of the beautiful and sweet little girl she is. And even though her hands often seem possessed and can't stop touching things, and her hearing seems to be rather selective for such a young girl, her antics make us laugh and her love make our hearts melt. Happy Birthday sweetheart!

Football is coming...

Just a quick update to let people know that my Dad is back at the medical rehabilitation center as of Friday, and things are going very well. He is on blood thinners to dissolve the clots in his body, and that seems to have helped with the confusion and speech. He is getting a little stronger and every day brings him one step closer to going home. So far so good.

On another note, we are gearing up for school to start for both Matthew (Kindergarten) and Andrew (teaching and coaching). I must say that I am really excited for Matthew to start at our local school because I am looking forward to meeting more people in the neighborhood. Matthew is a little anxious about meeting new people and what to expect of Kindergarten in general.

Football is about to start and is heading at us like a freight train. This begins the most hectic and stressful time of year for the Welsh family, as Andrew takes on a 70 hour work week, and my life resembles that of a single mom. I am not looking forward to it, but I know that we will get through it as we always do.

Matthew has started a fall soccer league and is so excited about it. Unfortunately, the coach thinks that kids under 6 need two practices a week, so that just adds more stuff to our already busy lives.

I have given up my beloved dance lessons for the fall, as it doesn't work with our new schedule, but I've picked up another hobby -- adult gymnastics class. I know, crazy, huh? But, I'm totally excited about doing some gymnastics again.

That's all for now!

A major setback...

My Dad was transferred last week to a medical rehabilitation center for physical and occupational therapy. We were so excited that he was moving on and were sure that with the aggressive therapy there he would be back on his feet in no time. He has continued to have some slurring of speech and confusion, which we all figured was likely still due to the drugs that he had been given for such a lengthy period of time during his ICU stay. The new doctors and nurses, however, wanted to run some tests to determine if anything else was going on.

They performed a CT scan, MRI, and Doppler of my Dad's head and neck this weekend and found some disturbing things. He has a clot in his lung, and I think 3 clots in his brain that have formed recently (within the last 3-4 days or so). So, he was taken back to the ER yesterday afternoon, and was placed back into ICU last night. They have started him on blood thinning medication to dissolve the clots, but this carries with it significant risk for internal bleeding (following his recent surgery). We will be walking a fine line for a while. It is risky to do nothing, but also risky to give the blood thinner, as well.

The good news is that they may have found an issue that could have reared its ugly head in a fatal way in a matter of days. The bad news is that we have taken a major step backward and are back in the ICU for an undetermined number of days. These setbacks really take their toll on the whole family. The range of emotions we've experienced over the last month have been just exhausting.

Dad is Out of ICU

It's true...after 24 days he was moved out of the ICU today and into another room in the hospital!

He has been making tremendous progress this week. All of the "tubes" are out of his body (catheter and chest tube were the last to go yesterday and today). He is eating food, talking, and working hard with physical therapy. His mental state is very clear now, and he certainly hasn't lost his sense of humor.

The challenge now is to get him physically stronger. He can't quite feed himself yet, stand, or sit in a chair on his own. So, he needs a great deal of rehabilitation to be physically independent. The doctors would like to see him transferred soon to an inpatient medical rehabilitation center near the hospital where he would work aggressively with physical therapy 3-5 hours per day.

Needless to say, we are thrilled with the progress and we hope it keeps going in this positive direction.

Update on My Dad

Well I am happy to report that my Dad is doing much better this week.

He was finally (FINALLY) extubated on Tuesday morning after 17 days on the ventilator. He can talk, and they have evaluated his swallowing and OK'd him today to start eating hospital food. Not sure if that is a blessing or not :-)

He is no longer sedated and no longer on any pain meds, but we are starting to see the effects that prolonged use of these drugs has taken. It appears that Dad is suffering from something called ICU Psychosis or ICU Syndrome. Basically, he is unable to separate fantasy from reality (delusional), and is hallucinating. He says that he has some "very strange"memories of the time he has spent in ICU, and many of them may not be real. This is apparently fairly common in people that have been sedated for long periods of time in the ICU, and it should go away completely when he leaves ICU.

Yesterday he was agitated, and was talking about not living much longer. That made for a tough and sad day for all of us. Today he was, well...amusing. I will protect him from any embarrassment, but, for example, he seems to have an intense craving for fruit (mangoes and grapes especially), and says that his water is not water, but it tastes delicious. It will be interesting to see how this plays out over the next several days to weeks.

The physical therapy team also started working on the goal of getting him to stand up and get out of bed. You can imagine that we are so excited to see such major steps taken this week (no pun intended).

Laundry Countertop

This weekend we finally completed a project I've been wanting to do for a long time - putting a countertop over our front-loading washer and dryer in the laundry room. The project took a little thought because we didn't want a permanent countertop due to the fact that the shut-off valves would be underneath it. Our washer/dryer are also super deep, and it was going to be tough to find something that would cover them. But, in the end we installed a preformed laminate countertop that rests on 2x4's, and we're happy with the result. No more missing socks behind the dryer - hooray! The before and after pics are below.

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Worst Date Night Ever

Andrew and I had tickets last night to go see Blues Traveler and Big Head Todd at the Paul Mason winery up in the mountains nearby. Great music that was sure to bring back college memories, good wine, and a beautiful warm evening in the mountains - what could be better? We had been waiting for this night for months!! My niece Hilary was coming over to babysit and the kids were super excited.

But alas, 5 minutes before Hilary arrived Matthew dives for a ball in the family room and hits his head (hard) on the coffee table. I saw it happen and thought, "ouch, that one is going to hurt!" Matthew immediately started crying and held his head, and I rushed over to comfort him. He moved his hand and there was blood all over his hand, and streaming down his face. Well, there goes date night...

Andrew and I drove Matthew off to the emergency room. We headed to the same hospital that my dad is at, thinking maybe we could squeeze in a visit while we were there. The waiting room at the ER was packed, of course. We waited for an hour to see the triage nurse. She showed Matthew a chart that had pictures ranging from a very happy face to a crying face, and asked him to point to the one that showed how he was feeling. He chose the happiest face on the chart (the kid was excited to be out of the waiting room!), which bought us another hour in the waiting room. Note to self: teach Matthew the finer points of triage.

We finally get back to an ER room two hours after arriving, and they put numbing gel on the gash in his head. It had finally stopped bleeding, and was just oozing a bit at this point. We wait for another 45 minutes for the doctor to be available to put four stitches in his head. We finally got home at 10:30 at night, without having eaten any dinner. Needless to say, we were all tired and a wee bit cranky.

I'm starting to feel like fate is just not smiling down on me these days. Do I dare ask "what's next?" But, our little Frankenstein is doing just fine. We're watching him for signs of concussion and we've been teasing him about having a scar to match Harry Potter. Poor kid, and poor us for having the worst date night ever.

Update on My Dad

My Dad is still in Intensive Care. He is doing remarkably well, all things considered, and he continues to improve a little bit each day. The recovery is just going to be very long (months), but at least he is heading in the right direction.

We are 11 days post-op, and they still have him on a ventilator. They wanted to take the tubes out days ago, but he developed pneumonia in both lungs, and they had to wait for that to clear up. They are again weaning him off the vent today in the hopes of extubating this afternoon or tomorrow morning. This will be a big step with his condition, and we are all a bit scared and anxious for it.

Dan has been awake and, while not able to talk with the tubes in, he is asking questions and understands everything. It takes about 30 minutes to figure out what he is asking for with pictures, and pointing to letters on paper, and only about 5 seconds to answer him. Needless to say, we are all eager for the tubes to be out. He remembers everything up to the aneurysm, but the post-surgery time frame is a little fuzzy for him (due to heavy sedatives and painkillers). They are no longer concerned about any neurological changes that could have occurred during the surgery, which is another miracle in itself.

So, things are going well, and we are so thankful to all of you for your thoughts and prayers. What a tremendous blessing it is to have such wonderful friends and family!

A very rough weekend

Fourth of July weekend was going to be very busy for our family. We had Kayla's birthday to celebrate, and barbecues to attend, and my brother was going to start the TransPac race (a sailboat race from LA to Hawaii) down in San Diego.

But life threw us a curve ball...

Friday night my dad was rushed to the hospital with an aortic aneurysm. Before rupturing, it dissected the arteries in his body from his neck down to his legs. This is a catastrophic event that results in death more than 90% of the time. He had emergency surgery that night, and sometime early Saturday morning we were told there was nothing more that could be done. They would transfer him to ICU and we would probably have an hour or two to say our goodbyes.

But somehow, we have been blessed with a miracle, and he is still with us. He is improving a little bit every day, and while the long term prognosis is still very uncertain, we now have hope where we had none before.

Please pray for our family and for my Dad. We have already seen a few miracles already, but I'm hoping that we will be granted a couple more to get through the next few critical milestones of recovery. Thanks for all of your love and support. It means the world to us.

Bears

Kayla named her two stuffed bears this week. One is called "Mia", and the other is "Freckaleckamunomuno." Huh? The funny thing is she has actually remembered Freckaleckamunomuno's name for four days now.

We're Back from Our Cruise

I'm back! Where does the time go? Can't believe it's been a month since my last post. What on Earth have we been doing all this time? Well, work has been really busy for Melissa (a couple of 50-60 hour weeks). Andrew just finished up the school year and is now off for the summer. And we all just got back from a great vacation to the Caribbean.

We went on a 7-day Royal Caribbean cruise aboard the Freedom of the Seas (picture below). We left out of Port Canaveral, FL and stopped at a private island owned by the cruise line called CocoCay, and then at St. Thomas, and St. Maarten.

The ship is enormous and beautiful and has an ice skating rink and even a miniature golf course on board. The food was fantastic, and they have an amazing kids program. We were not sure if they would let Kayla participate because she isn't 3 yet, but they did, and it was so great to have several hours a day of adult-only time for Mommy and Daddy. Here are some pics of Matthew, and Kayla with my mom and Grandma at a talent show that the kids did with the kids program.

They also have this cool thing called a FlowRider. It's a surfing simulator, and is very fun to watch. I didn't get a chance to try it this time, but here is a video of Uncle Steve trying it out - very amusing.

Andrew and I went on a snorkeling trip at St. Thomas (without the kids) to a place called Turtle Cove. There were tons of sea turtles to look at and the water is so clear and warm. It was a nice little excursion.

Oh, and I forgot to mention that before we embarked on the ship we took a trip to Kennedy Space Center, which was very fun for Melissa. Here is a pic of Matthew standing under a Saturn V - the rocket that sent the Apollo missions to the moon. It's HUGE (the picture only shows a small part of it)! We also saw the Space Shuttle on the launch pad from a distance, which was also very cool.

It was such a great trip and I can't wait to do it again sometime! Here is a pic of the family on the last night of the cruise. The seas were so calm, it was almost eerie. We had a great time, and it was the perfect way to spend our last vacation of the year.

Matthew loves Hockey

Tonight we celebrated my niece's 17th birthday.  (Am I old enough to have a 17 ear old niece?)  Anyway, Matthew got to play street hockey in the driveway with his cousin Austin and his friends, and you would think the kid died and went to heaven.  He had a permanent smile plastered on his face.  Matthew loves to watch hockey, loves playing hockey, and loves playing with the big boys.  This was a dream come true for him.

When it came time for dinner and we called him in from outside he yelled back, "I never need to eat again!" 

When it came time to go, he said, "Mommy I want to stay here forever!"  I told him that we would miss him so much at home and he says, "You can view pictures of us online."  Geez, kid, thanks a lot!

When we finally got him in the car, he cried big tears for the entire 20 minute ride home, saying that he missed his cousin (i.e. hockey) and wanted to stay there forever.  It was 9 o'clock at night and well past his bedtime, which certainly was a factor.  And, of course Andrew didn't help matters by playing old-school George Strait in the car - a song about losing your friend.  I told Andrew he was torturing the poor kid - kind of like when you break up with a boyfriend and force yourself to listen to "love songs after dark."  

As he was drifting off to sleep he said, "Mommy I want to invite Austin to my birthday and play hockey in the driveway."  Sure buddy, we'll see what we can do...What can I say?  The kid loves hockey.

  

The kid can eat...

The Welsh kids have always had a good appetite.  From day one, they came out hungry, and have continued to eat and grow much faster than average kids.  People asked me how I lost the baby weight, and my only response is, "breastfeeding."  Both kids drank up to about 40 oz per day at their peak, and boy does that take a lot of mommy's calories to make.

Matthew at times can out-eat any adult.  It often surprises me because I can't quite believe that his tummy cannot possibly hold all of the food that he can put into it.  Tonight was no exception.

We have developed a wonderful weekly tradition.  Every Saturday evening the kids have swimming lessons.  Afterward we go to Chili's for dinner.  Mommy gets her delicious Blue Pacific Margarita and Daddy gets his tall Guinness.  Tonight Matthew ate enough to impress even a professional sport eating champion.  He ate an entire kids pizza (which would have been a challenge for any adult to finish off), and his corn on the cob.  Then he finished off Kayla's corn dog.  Then he proceeded to eat about 20 of my french fries, and about a quarter of my Oldtimer (hamburger) with Cheese.  He then further shocked me by deciding to eat the remaining partial tomato slice on my plate and a handful of shredded lettuce bits.  This was all washed down by a smoothie and some of Kayla's chocolate shake.  Good Lord!  I don't know how he does it.  

The best part was at the end of the meal when I said, "Wow Matthew, you must have been really  hungry."  And he replied, "Yeah, I really Hoover-ed that up."  Where do they get that stuff?

A quick update...

So here's a short update on the Welsh Family.

Mother's Day was filled with lots of activities. We went out to breakfast in the morning with my folks, and then washed both of our cars, planted tomatoes, and went to a fun barbeque at my sister's house (complete with swimming). It was a great day, although not what most would call relaxing. But hanging out with the kids, and my family is something I don't get to do during the week as much as I would like. So, it was just the perfect way for me to spend the day. Andrew and the kids got me two bottles of my favorite 'sanity juice' (a.k.a wine). Yummy.

Gearing up for our family trip in mid-June - a cruise to the Caribbean! We were originally booked on a cruise to Mexico, but with the recent H1N1 (swine) flu scare the cruise line made a change to the itinerary. They gave us the choice to either get our money back, or cruise the revised itinerary: LA --> San Francisco --> Seattle -->Vancouver. Although much of the fun of being on a cruise is being on the ship itself, those destinations just didn't cut the mustard for us. We booked on another ship. It's huge, and has an ice skating rink and a rock climbing wall, and a kids water play area, and much much more. I cannot wait!

I have so many fond memories of going on cruises as a kid, and I'm so excited to share those fun times with our kids. There will be 22 of us going, including my Aunt Carol and my Grandmother. Matthew is most excited about the fact that we are going where pirates used to hang out. We are leaving out of Cape Canaveral, so that means we also get to take a tour of Kennedy Space Center, which is a big highlight for me (Ms. Space Junkie).

Speaking of space...Andrew and I saw Star Trek last weekend, and loved it of course. But, I walked away with quite the little crush on the new Captain Kirk. He is one tasty piece of eye candy - yummy!

Other Pics from the OBX

Here are some shots from our side trip to the USS Wisconsin in Norfolk, VA.  Talk about some big guns!

I call this one my calendar shot.  It was taken of the Whalehead Club historical house in Corolla, NC.

Here is a shot of Matthew at Jockey Ridge State Park.  It is the largest natural sand dune on the east coast.  Basically, a giant sandbox with hills you can roll or even sled down, and great wind for kite flying.  It was one of the highlights of the trip.

OBX 2009

I just realized how long it's been since my last post.  We got back from our wonderful vacation to the Outer Banks on April 19th and suddenly it's May 8th.  Where does the time go?

First things first...our vacation!  What a fun time that was.  We traveled all the way across the country to spend a week with our dear friends and all of our kids in a beautiful beachfront house in Southern Shores, NC.  The weather could have been a few degrees warmer, but the company more than made up for it.  We spent our days touring the area, and our nights (after all the kids went to bed) laughing like crazy.  It was a great trip, and I can't wait until the next time we are all together again.  Here is a video of the adults playing the Olympics on the Wii one night, and looking very silly.  It's a swimming race...alcohol may have been a factor.

Here is a shot of the house we stayed at.

Car Trouble

It's always fun to share my embarrassing moments with the world...

I'm driving home in our Passat last night, and I come to a stop at a left turn lane behind another car. I decide this is the perfect time to apply some chap stick, and I flip down the visor mirror to take a look at myself. A few seconds later I feel the car jerk just a bit, and I look behind me thinking that some idiot has rear-ended me. Unfortunately, the car behind me is about 15 feet away, and as I look forward my face falls as I am confronted with a very awkward situation. While looking at myself in the mirror, I apparently eased my foot off the brake ever so slightly and drifted right into the car in front of me.

What does one do in this situation? Well, I go about waving my hands in the air and mouthing, "S-O-R-R-Y" in an effort to convey that my little tap of their car was totally unintentional, all the while expecting that the person in front of me will exit their vehicle to confront me. Lucky for me, they just gave me a really dirty look and continued to stare at me bewildered in their side mirror for the several long minutes that it took for that light to turn green. Meanwhile, I wave my arms a few more times in apology and avoid all eye contact with any car in a one block radius.

Thankfully my car was the nicer of the two, and the other driver was very forgiving of my embarrassing vehicular blunder.

Update

Well, things have been very busy lately - as usual. T-ball, swim lessons, and chores galore! I've had a huge delivery I've been working toward at work, and a large part of it finally wrapped up this past weekend. I was getting very tired of late nights, and working on my weekends and days off. So, now I have time to daydream about our next vacation!

We are heading to the Outer Banks in NC for a fun weekend with our dear friends and their kids. We rented a huge house on the beach, and we are all so excited to hang out together and see the sites. This is the type of vacation that I would not pass up for anything. It will be a week filled with belly laughs, and memories that last a lifetime. You just can't put a price on that!

I absolutely live for vacations. There is something so amazing about slowing down your life and getting away with friends and/or family. The hectic pace we live can really overwhelm us, and putting it on hold even for a short time and having quality time with those you care about is the stuff that makes life great.

T-Ball and Pony Rides

it was another busy weekend for the Welsh family. We started Saturday morning at 9 am with Little League Opening Ceremonies. This was followed by T-ball practice and Matthew's first official game ever. He has enjoyed lots of sports lessons, but never been on a real team before with a real uniform, playing in a real game. He was so excited, and nervous, too.

He was so nervous going up to bat for the first time that he forgot which side he bats on, and the coach had to move him to the other side and show him how to hold the bat. Now, keep in mind this kid has been hitting balls off a tee or with a pitch since he was 2. So, it was pretty funny to see him get so nervous and completely forget what to do. He was totally into the game, though, and once he got over his initial nervousness, he played great.

It was so fun to watch the kids - they do the funniest things when they are first learning. On the other team, there was a kid running to second base, and his teammate had just hit the ball. The ball was coming toward the base runner, so he picked it up and threw it to first base for us. Very funny. Here is a pic of Matthew getting ready for the next play. Yep, that's Andrew out there behind Matthew is the shorts - he's an assistant coach.



After T-ball we headed up into the hills for a birthday party where the kids got to ride ponies around a ring. Matthew loved it and took many turns riding "Spirit" (who was not at all very spirited).



We finished the day with Swimming lessons for both kids, and a date for me and Andrew. Andrew's mom came down for a visit, and was generous enough to spring us for the night. We saw Slumdog Millionaire. I can understand why it got best picture - we both really liked it.

The Face on the Shirt

So let me start by saying that this is a very random post, but I can use your help.  

Last night Andrew and I are talking in the kitchen and I look at his shirt and there is a face on the shirt.  Kind of like when someone sees their Cheerios form the face of Abe Lincoln.  Andrew asks what I am looking at, so I tell him not to move, and that I'm going to take a picture of the face on his shirt.  He, of course, moves to look at the face, which distorts the left side of face a little bit, but I get a pretty good shot of it nonetheless.  I show Andrew the picture and he can't see the face for the life of him.  He affectionately calls me "stark raving mad," and a "total loony bin."  So, I decided that I'm posting the silly picture of the "Face on the Shirt" on this blog for others to judge my sanity.  

Now let me just clearly state that I don't believe I've seen Jesus or anything...I just thought it was cool that Andrew's shirt was making a face, and apparently I may be the only one who can see it.  So, let me know if you can see the face, too.  It's on the right side of the picture underneath the "O" in Colorado.  You might have to squint your eyes a little to see it.  

And while I think it more closely resembles a pirate, let me know if you think it looks like Jesus so I can submit it to the National Enquirer for a few bucks.  We are in a recession after all.

Our Weekend in Arizona

We're back from a great weekend in Arizona! We stayed at a beautiful golf resort, saw two baseball games, and visited with our friends Linds and Chris (and baby Carter).

Here is a pic of Andrew and the kids on the golf cart. Andrew and Matthew went golfing with Andrew's Dad every morning.


Here we are at the Giants/Angels game on Saturday. I can see why people love coming to Spring Training. The stadiums are very nice, and much smaller so you sit a lot closer to the action. For this game we had the best seats (see first picture below)! We sat in the 4th row, right behind the Angels dugout, and right in front of first base where all the action was. At the end of one of the plays, the first baseman threw the game ball right up to us. Andrew caught it and gave it to Matthew. Both of them were very pleased! Here are some shots at the game.



And the weekend would not have been complete without seeing our dear friends Linds & Chris and meeting their adorable baby! Andrew and I spent Friday night with the Phillips' drinking beer and eating pizza, snuggling with Carter, and watching crazy Baxter (their dog) run all over the house after tennis balls. It wore us out just watching him!

Poor Bree, I know you are dying reading this because you haven't seen Carter yet. You should be very jealous, Bree, because Carter is just so dang handsome and very sweet. We brought the kids back to see the Phillips family with us on Sunday morning. Both Kayla and Matthew took turns holding Carter. Here are some pics from our Sunday morning visit.






What a great weekend! Now we're gearing up for trip number 3 this year to the Outer Banks in April. Can't wait for that...

Upcoming Weekend Getaway

We're off again this weekend for our second of four family trips this year. Yes, it's a fun year for the Welsh family! We're headed to the Phoenix area for Spring Training. Andrew's dad is treating our family to this trip, and we're all very excited to go. I'm looking forward to this trip for three main reasons.

The first is that I live for vacations. I'm already thinking about potential vacations in 2010. I love being able to slow down our hectic pace of living, even if just for a weekend, and instead fill our days with fun things on our own schedule.

Secondly, I am going to get to see my dear friend Lindsey, her husband, and their baby boy, Carter. I'm definitely looking forward to getting my hands on that adorable baby!

And the third reason is that the weather in Phoenix/Scottsdale is sunny and 75-80 degrees and it has been raining here non-stop. A little sunshine is definitely in order!

And the mom in me will admit to this other small thing that I'm looking forward to...snuggling with the kids, 'cuz chances are that they won't sleep together this trip either. Don't get me wrong, I love snuggling with my hubby every night. But the kids never sleep with us - our queen size bed is only big enough for the two of us - and I'll admit it feels pretty great to have your little ones snuggle up close to you all night long.

Brides Against Breast Cancer

I wanted to bring to everyone's attention an organization called Brides Against Breast Cancer. You may have heard about them recently on various talk shows, such as the Today Show and Oprah.

This organization sells donated wedding dresses to raise money and provide an opportunity for metastatic breast cancer patients’ dreams or wishes to be fulfilled. Their wish-granting service helps put the realities of this terminal illness aside, if just for a few days, while providing the opportunity for a family to spend quality time together. Their hope is that every metastatic breast cancer patient will be able to pass from this world comforted with the joy of having left his or her family a final beautiful memory—something the family will look back on and remember for a lifetime.

So, how can you help? Please consider donating your wedding dress to Brides Against Breast Cancer. Your gift, including shipping cost, is tax-deductible. And please help the cause by passing this information along to others who have been recently married.

I know many may find it difficult to part with such an important reminder of your special day, or may want to save your dress for your daughters. I struggled briefly with the decision myself. But, keep in mind that with this donation you will be helping create a special memory for a dying woman and her family.

Disneyland

We just returned from 5 days in Disneyland with the kids, and it was soooooooo much fun!

Day 1,Friday: We leave for Disneyland in the afternoon, and the drive that normally takes us about 6 hours takes us 7.5 hours due to rain.   Ugggh! We get to our hotel, the Candy Cane Inn, at about 10:30 at night and we are all cranky and tired. Not a great start. We have a room with two queen beds, and the kids absolutely refuse to sleep with each other. Heaven forbid someone's feet might touch the other. So, I sleep in the bed with Kayla, and Andrew sleeps with Matthew.

Day 2, Saturday: I awaken in a much better state of mind. I look over and see that Matthew is hogging the entire bed, and poor Andrew is literally on the very edge. I wake him up and we laugh at the kids sleeping habits. Andrew describes one of Matthew's nighttime moves as "Jesus on the Crucifix" - he frequently throws both arms out in a t-formation and gives you a whack to the face. Kayla, on the other hand, is fond of jujitsu at night. She gives you a wicked, double-foot side kick to the stomach, and a backwards head butt to the nose. Both kids love to snuggle up very close while they are sleeping, which is one thing that is absolutely wonderful about sleeping with them.

We get ready and head to the park. It is packed! Way more packed than when we were there in the summertime. We manage to go on Pirates of the Caribbean with no wait, and two other rides before the lines easily reach 45-60 minutes in length. We stay off most of the big rides. We have lunch and watch the Jedi Training Academy. Matthew has to purchase a light saber after the show with his Christmas gift card money. We head back to the hotel after lunch for some much needed naptime, and then we go for a swim in the hotel pool. Swimming in February you ask? Yep...while it may only be 60 deg out, the pool is a cozy 90 degrees. Very fun.

We head back to the park around 5 and try to get some wine over at CA Adventure. It is packed, and now I'm annoyed because I have to wait 30 minutes for a glass of wine.  We eat dinner and then head back over to Disneyland.  During the nighttime shows we go on a few more rides and on the newly refurbished It's a Small World.   The Peter Pan ride line takes 1 hour, and the ride is only 2 minutes long.  Kayla doesn't like the fireworks, and we're stuck in the crowds, and it takes us 45 minutes to walk down Main Street in Disneyland.  Think cattle, and mooing.  That's how crowded it was!  We go back to the hotel exhausted.

Day 3, Sunday: Much less crowded today - hooray!  We go on tons of rides.  The kids are totally into the rides this trip, and Kayla isn't scared at all.  A fun day.  We end up with more weapons - both kids now have Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters.  Kayla wanted to wait in line to see Mary Poppins , and was soooooexcited when it was her turn.  It was really cute.  We head back to the hotel a little early tonight - Disneyland definitely takes its toll on you.

Day 4, Monday:  A rainy day.  First off, let me say that this was the best day at Disneyland.  Disneyland doesn't shut down on rainy days because most of the rides are inside, but no one wants to brave the rain, and the park is practically empty.  It's fantastic!  We came prepared with rain boots, rain pants, rain jackets, and warm clothes.  We walked on so many rides - there were literally no lines at all.  We went on Splash Mountain three times in a row - no line, and we were already wet.  We made sure to go on every ride we wanted for our last day.   We ended up going on Pirates of the Caribbean 8 times!  Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me.  The other family favorites were the Matterhorn, Snow White's Scary Adventure, Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, and Pinocchio - went on these at least 6 times each.   The only bummer about this day is that they decided to close the park early due to rain, so we had to go home at 9.  I highly recommend Disneyland in the rain.

All in all, this was a fabulous family trip.  We had a wonderful time, and there were far less fits and tantrums than anticipated.  The kids surprised us by really enjoying all of the rides this time around.  Matthew even went on Indiana Jones and loved it.  They were both really brave and adventurous.  It was so fun as parents to see our kids having such a great time.  They are already planning our next visit to the Magic Kingdom.