Back from a break

Lots of happenings at the Casa De Neil. We had friends come down from Virginia that we have not seen since Texas. Mary, Lance and Amanda came down to see the shuttle launch , the shuttle was not so cooperative but they did get to finally see it. The weather here in central florida is a bit ugly in the late afternoons and they had to keep delaying the launch.

The kids had their birthday party. We ended up with about 16 kids and close to the same amount of adults. Thank god for the margaritta machine! While Mary was here, we made up some adorable goody bags and tshirts for all the kids for party favors. They were a huge hit.
It was a fun party, and the kids loved having friends over, but I did learn that next year they can have seperate parties if we are doing it at the house. Hunter had the hardest time figuring out that his birthday was on the 7th but his party was on the 18th. NEVER AGAIN. Trying to tell a 5 yr old to WAIT is damn near impossible.

Upcoming visitors: Sean, Becky, David, and Ashley should be here on Friday. Adam leaves on Sunday and then on Tuesday the whole family comes down. Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Sabrina and Nate, Aunt Morgan and Uncle Greg. They get in on Tuesday and Leave on Monday. We have lots of fun activities planned and can't wait for the visit.

We hit Epcot center on Sunday, Had a great time. No lines, etc. Hunter did not want ANYTHING to do with the rides until later in the day when he decided he liked them. I dont know about that boy. I had to take him crying on the finding nemo ride. I mean its slow enough for a newborn, and he was in TEARS! He stopped as soon as it took off and he realized it was slow. I think his exact words were "this is not so bad." I am afraid to say that his fear is completly gone, I know the next time we go, its going to start all over again. But have you ever heard of a 5 yr old that wants to go home instead of being at DISNEYWORLD???

I found a local place that has Shorin Ryu Karate. (the type that Adam did with Grandpa). Adam took both kids to it with him on Saturday and Hunter went again the other night. The instructor told Adam that he has NEVER seen a child do what Hunter does at such a young age. Adam was proud as a peacock over that one :) Tina is still on the fence. Problem is they want to quit right after they start something because "its too hard" or "I'm scared". We are working on it though.

Now I have a question out there for all of you moms and dads. Hunter has started getting up earlier and earlier and coming into our room . If its after 530 we let him crawl in bed with us and snuggle, but this morning it was 430 so Adam took him back to bed. He carried on crying about how scared he was of ghosts and the dark for the longest time. Then he came back into the room around 5am. I have no idea how to break him of being "scared". He has a night light, he has soft music, hell we even kept the door open this morning. He KNOWS there are no ghosts, and part of us thinks he is lying (which how do you prove THAT one?) He doesnt fight us about going to bed, so why the freak out in the middle of the morning? Thoughts?

Daisy the gaurd dog.

Daisy gets sooo worried when the kids are in the pool. She paces back and forth the entire time, and barks at them when they are about to jump in and when they go ahead and jump.

Even if they just in the water, she paces and follows the kids. For whatever reason she is really concerned about Tina, not so much about Hunter.

We are SWIMMING!!

The pool is up and running!!! After 5 weeks we are swimming! Last night, the kids and Adam took the first dip.

But first, my brilliant husband had the kids eat a serving of green beans (they HATE green beans) so that they could go swimming. I think I may have to make this a routine thing.. eat something healthy BEFORE you swim.



B