Holiday Card

One of my oh so favorite things is to pick out our holiday cards each year. This year, my dear friend, Kristy, took MANY amazing pictures at my sisters wedding. She called me after and let me know that she had the perfect picture for our card and to keep it secret! So, in the midst of all the wedding photo sharing, I did not let this one off the MAC!!!! Thanks Kristy! You're the best... "...and I think to myself...what a wonderful world" The Jaworski Family Scott, Heather, Isabelle, Amelia, Preston & Oliver

Miami

Here we are in Miami for 3 days before the ship sails to the Eastern Caribbean. We stayed at the Marriott in South Beach and the kids loved it! I was relaxing until our favorite middle child Milla got the stomach flu the night before boarding the ship. Let me say that was a treat! It is always someone but usually her. She was so sick that when we went to get on the ship they sent us to the nurse to make sure she did not have Noro-virus. The first day was just getting to know the ship and emergency protocol. Amelia did not feel well until the next day. The first few days were a little rough-8 foot waves. I was uneasy, to say the least. I am not a boat person and I was on edge. Once we got to Puerto Rico, the conditions were better! We walked around there in the evening and basically saw some shops and street vendors. We then went on to St.Thomas. It was very nice there! The kids enjoyed the town and got their hair braided. The next stop was St. Maarten. That was beautiful! They swam in the ocean with their cousins and played on the beach. It was a very nice destination-my favorite of all! The next 2.5 days were sailing back to Miami. The days were filled with pictures, fancy dinners, sing alongs in the lounge, pools, shopping for inches of gold, getting nails done at the spa, and more! It was a fun time for Grandma and Grandpa Jaworski's 40th wedding anniversary. It was all that they could ask for and I think they thoroughly enjoyed it. It was even better that our friends from Germany, Kristina and Annika could join us. Oh, and I forgot to mention, we did have a traditional turkey dinner on Thanksgiving! Yum! The best part of the trip was just being with family. The kids went nuts to be with their cousins for a week and I (as well as the kids) enjoyed being with my amazing husband for a week. Yes, with no computer, no phone calls, NOTHING!! Cannot wait until the next vacation...

To Do Lists

So four children is definitely wonderful and fun but packing for all of these munchkins is not so much. Here is my list for preparing for the Thanksgiving festivities. 1. Go to Walgreens. 2. Go to Target. 3. Get more hamster and rat bedding. 4. Write instructions for hamsters and rats and hermit crab. 5. Pack the kids. 6. Re-pack the kids (suitcases too heavy). 7. Pack Scott and I. 8. Re-pack Scott. 9. Annie to Mimi and Papu's. 10. Decorate house for Christmas. 11. Go to 3 doctor appointments with Ollie, Belle and Preston. 12. Pack nebulizer, meds and appropriate foods for Ollie. 13. Call Miami Whole Foods and get food for the ship. 14. Get doctor note to take Ollie's food and drinks on plane and ship. 15. Call Carnival and pre-order meals for Ollie 16. Follow up with Carnival with special paperwork 17. Arrange transportation to and from airport and ship. 18. And more...

Locks of Love

I am really behind on the blogging, as you can see. Since we had been getting ready to go on the cruise, I knew that haircuts were definitely needed. Of course everyone loves them BUT Isabelle. She was concerned to even get a half of an inch off. Amelia knew exactly what she wanted: stacked in back. And, you better believe she must have asked Mary 5 times during the cut "are you making sure it is stacked in back?" For whatever reason I mentioned to Isabelle that there were children who were sick and lost their hair due to very strong medicine they had to take. She immediately asked if she could give her hair to those children and if her hair would grow back. Our answers were yes and yes! That is all it took for her to selflessly give to these little children. Here are the pics to prove it.

Rat Bath

Well, Ms Sarah got more than she bargained for today. She thought she was simply going to watch Ollie for a little while. Little did she know that she was going to assist in giving Fiona and Phoebe their first bath. Actually, she did very well and seemed to have some experience with this!!

Little Hairball

Ollie is officially my little hair ball. He just has this hair that seems to come out of nowhere. Every time I cut it, it does not seem to get shorter. all I can imagine is the day of his first birthday. The kids were all up before him and when they heard him calling for us, they all ran up to his room. Of course he was groggy. The kids stood by his crib and serenaded him with "Happy Birthday." It was one of the cutest moments I have had with these cute kids. They all love each other SOOO much. He just stood there with his rosy cheeks and frazzled hair and stared at them completely unsure of what was going on. I have included a picture below. Oliver is still struggling with a bad cough and stomach issues. The gluten free diet has made a world of a difference. However, the doctors here would like him to see a specialist at DeVos Children's Hospital. She specializes in GI issues. He will also go tomorrow to the Allergist to get tested for allergies. He is such a happy little guy and it is so sad that he has to feel like this. Hope we get some answers!! It took me 2 days to figure out if his medication had gluten in it. The pharmacist did not know, the hospital did not know and so I asked Google. It pulled through!

Pumpkin Carving

So I am a little backwards here but I figure better now than never. I wanted to post our pumpkin carving pics. We had more than enough pumpkins this year and actually needed to carve them on multiple nights. I am not sure why we over did it. I think because a friend of mine called me AFTER we had already purchased pumpkins and told me about the Cinderella pumpkins that look just like the ones in the movie. So, I had to get some of those! Anyway, the kids each had a carving kit and they did a great job. Isabelle was the master carver!!