Easter Pictures

The girl's Easter pictures





Here are some additional Easter pictures...Click if you need to enlarge.

Swimming lessons

Gianna and Ainsley are continuing their swimming lessons at Miss Cate's Swim School. Gianna was swimming so good, and then when we got to Disney, she was afraid to go into the water without a life jacket, and she acted like she forgot how to swim. I talked to the instructor and thought that maybe Gianna was only comfortable in Miss Cate's pool and only with her. So the instructor had Gianna just swim back and forth almost the entire lesson to build confidence. I can tell a big difference now and she doesn't look to the instructor to be right by her side.

Ainsley is also taking lessons. She can "swim" underwater and come up without coughing. This is because the instructor has taught her to anticipate that she is going to go under the water and she takes a deep breath, then she blows bubbles underwater. When she comes up, she takes another deep breath. Its amazing that a baby can learn that. The instructor also teaches her to "fall" into the water by playing Humpty Dumpty and also try to roll onto her back. Ainsley is doing so good with it.

Here are a few videos...

Disney Vacation

Kevin and I decided to take the kids on a spontaneous trip to Disney after receiving a really good Disney deal and being able to find cheap airfare on a few weeks notice. We were just there in November, and the kids were both sick with ear infections, so this was going to be our "do-over" trip....well, it ended up being even worse: stomach virus!!!

Gianna's school called me on Friday 3/6 and told me she was throwing up. Since we were leaving on Sunday 3/8, I was not happy. She seemed fine the rest of Friday, until the evening hit and she spiked a fever over 104 degrees!! Sunday came and she seemed to be over it. We left for the airport at 8:00am and on the way there, Ainsley started puking. I think I had a panic attack just then. She continued to throw up all through security, and the officers gave us a hard time about taking the plastic bag full of puke through the metal detectors. So, luckily, Ainsley seemed to be acting better after puking in security. Then about half way through the flight - Gianna throws up. Then on the bus to the hotel, Ainsley throws up....and then Ainsley continued to throw up for the rest of our 6 day vacation!! (And I didn't even touch on the diarrhea in this posting - or the fact that Kevin and I were both out of commission for an entire day with stomach pain and diarrhea).

Wednesday, 3/11 Kevin took Ainsley to the emergency room because we feared that after 4 days of vomiting and diarrhea that she may be dehydrated. Luckily she wasn't, and the doctors there gave us a prescription to stop the vomiting.

We did get to enjoy some of the vacation. On Monday we went to the Magic Kingdom, and even though Ainsley threw up during the parade, she seemed fine enough to stay for the fireworks. On Tuesday we attempted the Magic Kingdom again, but Ainsley threw up all over her stroller so we had to leave about 20 minutes after we arrived. Wednesday Ainsley went to the emergency room, they gave her some anti-vomiting medication and we spent the rest of the day in the Animal Kingdom. Thursday we made it a full day without vomit in Hollywood Studios and then another full day in the Magic Kingdom on Friday. Here are some pictures that we took from our eventful vacation....



Gianna got picked from the parade crowd to dance. Here's a video.

Ainsley Feeding Her Daddy

Our First Snowday

Here are pictures from The Blizzard of 09' Cape May County Style. That means slightly more than a dusting of snow, but not quite an inch. You may be able to make a snowman, but it will be half snow, half dirt, with leaves sticking out of it and take up all the snow in your yard. If you live in Avalon, you won't even know it snowed unless you are special enough to have a front lawn or a blacktop driveway. Otherwise, it blends in with the pavement. Two or more inches of snow in Cape May County usually results in missed days of school and pandemonium.


Gianna is catching snowflakes on her tongue!



Daddy pulling Gianna and Ainsley on their new $2 sleds from Acme with Grandpa's extension cord.


Writing in the snow.



Ainsley sliding off the sled.


Our girls on the sled.

Gianna's version of The theme song to Hannah Montana! (Of course, if Miley Cyrus struck this pose, she'd end up in the headlines again..)

And...Gianna's practicing for a future in talk TV.

Happy Holidays!

Wow! Its been over a month since I last posted. That is a record for me...seems I've been spending all my time on Facebook. (For those of you on Facebook, you know what I mean...)

On December 16th, Gianna had surgery to place tubes in her ears. She has had ear infections constantly for the past 3 years and we are optimistic that this is the answer. The very next day she came down with a really bad cold and did not get an ear infection, which is a miracle. Ainsley, on the other hand, has had 5 ear infections since June...2 in November and 2 in December. The ENT is reluctant to put tubes in so soon, and wants to give her two more months to see if the fluid clears up.

Christmas was great. We spent Christmas Eve in Saddle Brook with family, and Christmas Day traveling between Carman and Lois and Rick and Lois. It was a hectic day, but fun! At one point it seemed that the presents were never going to end. The after-Christmas clean up is not going so well.

Gianna's big gift this year was her Geotrax Air Set. Unfortunately, Santa was at the firehouse at 2am looking for AAA batteries, while Mrs Claus frantically searched all the electronics in the house. Luckily, handheld solitaire and handheld sudoku required the same amount of AAA as Geotrax. Her other gifts included an electronic globe (for her facination with Earth), a ton of High School Musical items, which she loved, a Play-doh ice cream shoppe, Leap Frog Tag system, and games for her leapster...oh, and an mp3 player so I can have mine back (yes! she is only 3).

Ainsley got a train, a ride on pony that interacts with the TV, a musical zoo that she loves, a shopping cart, and a waterslide bath toy that is really neat.

I got a really nice digital picture frame from Kevin, and I got the same frame from my mom. I traded the frame for my most favorite gift of all - the new Keurig One Cup coffee maker (for dummies). It uses the little cup of coffee so you can't screw it up. Even Gianna made me a cup of coffee this morning! Kevin got a charger valet to contain all of his electronics, and an atomic timekeeping watch. I get him that every year because they don't seem to last very long.

Unfortunately, Santa forgot to fill Snickers stocking this year, but I don't think she was upset about it.

Here are a few highlights of our holiday, and as always, a slideshow of pictures. I always enjoy reading the comments and guest book, so don't forget to sign it!

Gianna's Christmas Play at Happy Day Nursery School.

Santa visited our house on a Firetruck!!

Gianna checks her stocking on Christmas morning.

Ainsley opening a present on Christmas morning.

Apparently Christmas was too much to handle for some of us.

Gianna and Ainsley's new present from Grandma.