Ballerina Cass

Her rash is really improving as the morning has progressed. She got all dressed up and so I did the only logical thing...snap her picture. What a cutie...red, splotchy and all!

Rash, Rash, Go Away!

Well, it is Wednesday and I don't have any fabulous pictures to post about exciting things we've been doing. Sorry. In fact, we had our fair share of excitement yesterday, but I don't think I'm going to post Cassidy's rash photos (yes, we took some) yet. My grand plan is to post them once she is "all better" and show the progression. That way they don't look so bad. If you don't know, Cassidy had a rather severe allergic reaction to the antibiotic she was taking and broke out in a TOTAL body rash. She appeared to have "turned a corner" last night and had a really good night's sleep. Her rash is definitely still present all over, but not getting any worse that we can tell. It actually looks like it is less pronounced on her face and neck. We are so thankful to God for taking care of our little princess and not allowing this reaction to grow to a worse scenario. I take her back to the dermatologist tomorrow for a check and I am praying they will say we are through the worst part and on an upward swing. Cassidy is still talking non stop and very active so I'm thinking she must feel pretty good even if she still looks pitiful.

Epcot

A very nice lady took our picture as we came into the park.

We look awfully happy about being eaten by Bruce.

Viking children

Cassidy with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (it was Disney's Annual Garden/Flower Show)

Here was Cassidy's review of the "American Adventure" movie.

We had a great time yesterday at Disney's Epcot Center! The kids enjoyed the Nemo ride and the Living Seas area the most...well, duh. We all had a lot of fun riding the rides and exploring all of the "lands." I have to say, in keeping with our nerdy natures, Epcot was SOOOOO much better than Magic Kingdom. In fact, Randy and I can even entertain the idea of going back there. We stayed the whole time the park was open with the exception of watching the fireworks.

Fishy Fun

One of Randy's co-workers spent some time fishing over off the East coast in the Atlantic this past weekend and brought some of his catch to share. Randy brought home a fish we had never seen before - a Blackbelly Rose Fish. They live in deep water, have big ol' eyes and are very spiny. The kids enjoyed "examining" them and I am going to enjoy eating them!

More Camping Pictures

Reed riding his bike.
Reed in front of our campsite.
At the pool with Mr. Larry and Ms. Edie (one of the Elders and his wife from church).



I'm guessing Randy is talking fishing with John (the preacher).
Cassidy "resting" with Mr. Larry

Well, there are few representative pictures of our weekend. We had such a nice time.

Camping Weekend at Hillsbourough River State Park

Mommy and Cassidy in front of our tent.
Cassidy "helping" Daddy boil water for coffee.
Playing dolls with Emma
Peeling potatoes for the fried potatoes and onions.
Reed and Hunter goofing around.

I am supposed to be cleaning the kitchen, sweeping and mopping and folding the clothes, but instead, in this act of true selflessness(is that even a word?), I am posting pictures of our camping trip this past weekend. I just knew everyone was waiting to see them, so I am gladly shirking my duties to put them on the blog. I just give until it hurts (hee hee). We had a great time. The kids really wore themselves out having fun. It was definitely worth all of the work to get ready to go and all of the work cleaning up afterwards. Did I mention it is a LOT of work...but still a worthwhile venture. Even Randy said, "It feels like we were gone for longer than just a weekend." Now, is that a positive comment...like it was very relaxing or a negative comment...like "this weekend is never going to end" ? The answer - a positive comment. We really enjoyed being away from the house and all of our regularly scheduled jobs, duties and activities!

Honor Roll

Reed with his lunch "placemat"

Mommy and Reed

Reed with his certificate and orange lollipop! You can guess which one he really cares about!

Reed made Effort Honor Roll again this quarter. He is doing so well at school - working and improving his reading skills, interacting well with his peers and teachers and learning so much each day. As you can tell, we are very proud of all of his hard work! His school doesn't have Honor Roll based solely on grades. They ask the teachers to nominate any students in their classes who have made significant gains over the quarter. This is especially meaningful when you consider some of the children in Reed's class who began the year speaking NO English at all. They have come so far and are overcoming so many obstacles. Even though they are still performing below the regular kindergarten standard and would never be considered for an Honor Roll based solely on their overall "grades", they are definitely putting in A LOT of effort. I am always so glad to see them honored and pride is evident on their parents' faces as well. It is humbling to think of how intimidating it would be to send my "baby" off to a school where I cannot easily communicate with anyone. Throw in all of the homework that comes home only in English and it is simply overwhelming. As you can tell, I am very proud of Kenny and Armando and their families! I am also VERY proud of my cutie Reed!

Pileated Woodpecker

I was driving away from Reed's school today after his Honor Roll ceremony and I saw something,out of the corner of my eye, fly down and land in a driveway. It was a Pileated Woodpecker (see pictures.) They are rather impressive birds. Quite large...definitely big enough for woodpecker stew (hee hee) and rather strikingly colored. He was apparently intent on a drink and a bath. He didn't even care that I slammed on my brakes and reversed to get a better look and snap a few pictures. Again, as mentioned in a previous post...nature nerd. I did check my rear view mirror to make sure no one was behind me. Anyway, I thought I'd share my one measly "sighting" to try and make up for the fact that I am missing all of the great birds migrating through the Rio Grande Valley right now. Mom, when your eyes quit hurting from all the brightly colored orioles, tanagers and buntings, you can come over here and we will try and hunt up a pileated woodpecker. As evidenced by my recent encounter, they aren't very elusive!

Cassidy...Our Legos Princess!

Cassidy spent hours constructing her "castle wall" out of Legos the other day. She fills in a square base completely and then begins filling in another level completely and so on. I think she managed 4 whole levels before running out of Legos that would work. The thing that impresses me most is she has to search through all those little Legos to find the piece that will fit in the space she has available. As I said, she worked on it for at least 2 hours. You go, girl!

Alligator

Over the past 18 months, there have been about 3-4 alligators that have "hung around" the pond off and on. We have only had one at a time and they never stay for very long. Interestingly, they seem to all love to sun themselves in the same area. They stay across the pond on the side that fronts the wooded preserve area. We've been told (thankfully, we've never had this information tested) that, as long as the gator stays on the far side of the pond and away from homes they are left alone, but if they begin to frequent the banks by our backyards, they are removed. I enjoy seeing them over there. It helps that none of them have been overly huge. The kiddos know they are not allowed down by the pond ever, so they aren't near where a gator could be anyway. This is our latest alligator. I think he may be the smallest one yet. I snapped this picture from our backyard across the pond and then edited the image by zooming in. You gotta love living in Florida.

Sibling Love

We had a family dinner and a movie night on Saturday. We ate salmon and watched the newest Peter Pan movie. It was fun!

Reed, Cass and Lovey snuggling this morning.

Reading the Sunday funnies! Aren't they cute?!?

Here are a few photos from the past few days. Interestingly, they show Reed and Cassidy getting along and enjoying each other. I am always so happy when we have harmony! It is very sweet to see Reed "taking care of" his little sister. And Miss Cassidy LOVES to play with Reed. In fact, when she gets in trouble with her Dad or I, she has started crying for Reed because (in her words), "he helps me dry up!"

This morning at 6:30AM, she woke up and started HOWLING in her bed because she couldn't find Lovey. I ran in there to try and quiet her down, but Lovey was MIA. Before I could locate the missing Lovey (it was in the bathroom...apparently deposited on the counter during a nighttime potty break), Reed came stumbling in...did I mention Cass was HOWLING?! He immediately climbed in her bed, she laid down with him and they started to snuggle and hug! She quit crying and they just rested together for about 10 minutes! It was so precious! A little later in the morning, they were both at the kitchen table eating bananas and "reading the Sunday comics"...like an old married couple. They are too cute!

Writing the word "too" reminded me...it is REALLY hard to explain to a Kindergartner why there are 3 words that sound exactly the same, but are spelled differently and mean different things. Even harder was explaining (in 5 year old terms) when to use "to" and when to use "too." Why was I doing this in the first place, you ask? Well, Reed has to write all 50 of his sight words this weekend and yes, two, to and too are on the list. So I had to differentiate between them so he would know which one to write. By the way, he did a fantastic job! I am SO proud of all he has learned and is learning and all his hard work!

Well, the vacuum cleaner is sitting forlornly in the laundry room crying from loneliness and the floor is slowly choking to death from all of the dog hair. It is Super-Mom to the rescue!

Happy Birthday Gram Ava!

Happy

Birthday

Gram!

We love you so much! God has certainly blessed us with your love, care and example! May God bless you abundantly in the next year! We can't wait to see you and Pa Gary in ONE MONTH! Happy, Happy, Happy Birthday!

Ice Cream Truck

The ice cream truck makes an occasional pass through our neighborhood. Today was the first time of the season! Of course, being major aficianados of ice cream, we ran outside and flagged it down. The kids each got to enjoy a popsicle: Cassidy's was Bubblegum Swirl and Reed's was Cotton Candy Swirl. I have only one word to say about those flavors...Gross!

I do love the excitement and fun of the ice cream truck. We didn't have one that came down our street in the boonies growing up and I remember lamenting that fact. We all tried to make up for it by buying lots of ice cream "up the hill" at River Bend. Not to mention, Mom kept us well stocked in the ice cream department. Alas though, being the sucker I am, I usually say yes to the kiddos whenever we hear the tinkly song cruising past our house! They are forced to limit themselves to $1.00 each though. I think I score alot of brownie points for a buck each!

Sticky Noses and Stumpy Tails

All is well in the Blankinship house! As evidenced by the photo at right,
Cassidy really enjoys her jumbo marshmallows. She just started the whole 'biting them and sticking them to her nose' trick. It's all fun and games until Mommy has to SCRUB your nose and face to get all of the sticky marshmallow goo off. But she does look silly...and that was her goal!

Check out our stumpy tailed lizard on the left! He came out a little worse for the wear (minus a large part of his tail) when the Blankinship men hunted him down a few days ago. We were relieved to see him a day later hunting in the bushes by our back porch. Those bushes are an "all you can eat bug buffet" for the lizards! We can see the bushes from our dining room table, so we have a great dinner time show watching the lizards hunt and eat bugs.

Yep...were nature nerds.

Back to the ol' grindstone!

Reed decorating Easter eggs!

Cassidy posing with the finished eggs.

Reed and Mommy on Easter morning

I know this will shock you all...Cassidy ONLY wanted to find PINK eggs! What a silly kid!

The happy daze after the hunt!

Alas! Spring Break has ended. There were tears and grumbling early this morning at our house...and that was just me! We had a very relaxing week with minimal activities and I just loved it! I was definitely NOT ready to jump back into our regular routine. We did manage to get ourselves around and everyone was in their appropriate places on time.


There is not much of note going on at our house this week. The usual chores and such. I am forever amazed at the amount of laundry our little family generates. I hold no delusions...we are not a large family and there are many, many others who have more laundry than I, but that does not negate the fact that I ALWAYS have laundry to do. Randy's wonderful Grandma Jane would take this opportunity to remind me to count my blessings that I have a husband and children to do laundry for. And I do. Jake Vincent once used the phrase "scrunched down with blessings" to describe those things which truly are gifts from God, but occasionally feel burdensome...laundry, dishes and floors definitely qualify! So, yes, I will praise God for all of his abundant gifts to me - my family, our home, Randy's job which puts a roof over our heads, food on our table and clothes on our backs! And I will continue to work on Paul's admonition in Philippians 2:14 to "Do all things without grumbling or complaining."



I'm including Easter pictures from the few weeks ago. I hold no illusions...you guys check out the blog to see the pictures - not my ramblings! Love to all!

Happy Birthday, dear Randy...Happy Birthday to You!

We had Randy's 40th Fiesta tonight! We had a great time of food and fellowship. Randy and I realize how blessed we are to have Christian friends who love us and treat us like family! Please note the beautiful boquet of black roses the Michaelson's brought Randy - you can't see the spiderwebs in the picture, but they are there!

We served fajitas - made by people in San Antonio who know what fajitas are supposed to taste like! Thanks, Mom for packing frozen HEB marinated fajitas in your luggage for me. Everyone raved about how good they are!

Randy requested the chocolate sheet cake his Mom always made so well. It was definitely a favorite of both of us. Glenda wrote her recipe down for me, so I have all the instructions. If only instructions were all I needed. The cake tasted good, but it wouldn't win any beauty contests. Somehow, I always mess up the icing. But the good news is...it was nothing a little ice cream couldn't cover!

In all seriousness, I am so blessed to have Randy in my life. He is an amazing Christian man who loves me and our children so well. He takes good care of us in all ways!

Mandibles, Munchkins, Mote and McDonalds!!!

You will never know just how proud I am of my title...a "M" alliteration! Yep, it is the small things that make me happy.

Mandibles:

Small things like Reed having no cavities at his dental visit this morning! I did have to admit to the dentist that we don't floss Reed's teeth daily (or even monthly, for that matter). Why do they have to ask...I cannot tell even the smallest of lies. We can all thank Mom and Dad for that.

Munchkins:

After the denstist, we went through the drive thru at Dunkin Donuts and shared some donut holes. DD doesn't call them donut holes - they call them Munchkins (which worked in my favor for my title). Grace (from my MOPS group) had given me a $5.00 gift card at Christmas and I was finally able to use it. We don't eat too many donuts around here.

Mote:

We drove out to Mote Aquarium next. It is always fun. My personal favorite today was the baby clown fish in a small tank. Super cutie! Reed and Cassidy enjoy the touch tank and the interactive shark game. I played my personal best on the shark game today...I finally made it to Great White Shark status!!! It has only taken me 18 months!

McDonalds:

After we finished at Mote, I took the kids to McDonalds for lunch and some play time. No complaints from them!

Reed has a ball game next week at 6:30PM and another next Saturday at 10AM. I'm posting the picture I took last week of him all geared up. The kiddos are all really cute out there. Reed is fairly focused when playing and doing well picking up the skills. Some of the little guys really do dig holes in the dirt or watch clouds or pick flowers...crackin' me up!

To boldly go...where I've never gone before

Here are some of our pictures from today's trip to Emerson Point! We had a great time!

Reed is holding a banded tulip snail in his hand.

Cassidy made a princess castle. The only thing that would make her happier is if the sand was pink!

Greetings!

This feels rather monumental to me, but I realize that it is entirely possible only my mom will ever even see this! I have been reading a few blogs for a number of months now and I've been toying with the idea of actually creating one for our family. Mom said she would like me to start one...so here I am.As we live so far away from our families, it makes sense to create a space to keep everyone up-to-date on our lives.



It is Thursday of Reed's Spring Break from school and we have really been enjoying the laid back pace of this week. Today I took the kids to Emerson Point to play around in Tampa Bay. We had a really great time. I took my chair, lunch and my book. The kids played in the water, sand and mangroves. Let's see...we caught hermit crabs, a banded tulip, mangrove crabs and a molted horshoe crab shell. We saw alot of fish and a spider crab. Sitting there in the shade with my feet in the water enjoying the perfect weather made me remember why being a stay-at-home mom is a great job! Then Reed fell off the LOW mangrove branch he was sitting on and scratched up his lower back rather badly. He cried while we packed up, all the way home, in the bath, and loudly while I doctored it. Finally, we got him all bandaged up and convinced him he'll live. We still had a good day overall!



Well, supper preparations call...or that could just be the kids yelling in the front yard!!!