Spring Break & Easter

We spent the second weekend of Spring Break at the Gaylord Palms. Ya'll know it's our home away from home. I've been making a little extra money selling jewelry, so I treated my favorite guys to a weekend getaway! The weather had been cool all week, but warmed up just in time for us to splash in the pool. We did a little shopping and even had  Easter breakfast at Villa de Flora. Ben was thrilled that the Easter Bunny found him and delivered a basket of goodies at the hotel. Nana got Ben a Thomas and Friends dvd a few months ago, so he has been on a Thomas kick. The Easter Bunny brought him the wooden engine James, the Chug Wash from Chuggington, some books, train stickers and a chocolate bunny. On the way home, we met Grandma & Grandpa at Bok Tower for an Easter picnic. Grandpa is taking another photo workshop, so he snapped some pics while we were there. 

We've had such a great week off! I am so thankful to have a job that allows me this much time off with my family!

Ben picked this flower for me while we were loading up the car.

Swimming with his train, Paxton!

Walking to Wrecker's for dinner

Silly boy! He's had one too many Shirley Temples :-)

my guys :-)

More swimming on Saturday!

and fishing

sunglasses and shirley temples

Poolside with a People magazine! I haven't done that in years! I stopped and picked up a few magazines on the way to the pool. The clerk said something about me reading my "weekly gossip" and I almost told him about all of the books I just read on world history, economic theories, wars, revolutions and geography. I was overdue for a little "light" reading. Don't judge, dude!

poolside picnic!

Ben was so tired after swimming all day. I snapped this sweet picture of him watching Fireman Sam in the hotel room before we left for dinner Saturday night. 

We got back from dinner in time to watch the men from Gator World feed the alligators in the atrium. It was really cool!

Ben was so excited about his chocolate bunny! I love his face in this picture!

I may have stolen these from his Easter basket...........

ready for breakfast at Villa de Flora!

my handsome baby!

We had a fun egg hunt at Bok Tower!

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter!

Spring Break

We spent our first Friday afternoon of Spring Break at Dr. LaRue's office. Ben developed a weird rash on his bottom Monday and we just brushed it off as a sort-of-like-diaper-rash rash. By the end of the week it wasn't getting any better so I decided to take him on over to the doctor without an appointment. That's the awesome thing about Dr. LaRue...you may have to wait an eternity, but he will stay at his office all night if a patient needs him. We actually lucked out and got in fairly quickly. Dr. LaRue checked the rash and looked at it with an ultraviolet light to check for a fungal infection. No fungus! LaRue was fairly sure it was bacteria. He did a culture to check for the bacteria, but started treating it right away with an antibiotic and ointment while we waited for the results. Dr. LaRue was pretty sure it was Strep bacteria and after talking in his office for a bit I said, "You know, about a week ago he complained of a headache just above his eyebrow." For those of you who don't know, a sudden headache with no other symptoms is one of the signs of strep. We laughed and started talking about Sherlock Holmes novels and how being a doctor is like being a detective! And sure enough....it was strep! Jeremy had to take me to the Urgent Care in Winter Haven Sunday morning because my throat hurt so bad I could barely swallow! I got to have a throat culture for strep, too! Fun times! It was a rough start to our week off, that's for sure! This has been my best friend:

Ben was my superhero on Monday while Daddy was at practice. He did such a good job taking care of his mama!

We all got to feeling better and made one of Jeremy's baseball games at Lake Region High School. We got to cheer the Bulldogs on in the championship game. We lost by one run in extra-innings (again! just like last year), but Dad rode home with us and took us out to dinner at Outback Steakhouse.

Ben got tickled at something during the game!

Silly faces while we waited for our dinner!

Ben and I made some Rice Crispy Treat Eggs one afternoon over the break. They didn't turn out like the picture, but we had fun trying!

A Great Week

We have been very busy this last week, but it has been so awesome! Jeremy has had 3 games a week for the past several weeks--that has been exhausting. If you're familiar with Frostproof, you know you can sit on the hill that faces the outfield and watch the games from your car. Ben and I have been doing a lot of that lately. Sometimes we get our chairs out and sit on the hill and other times we just eat ice cream in the car while we watch the game. Grandma parks beside us so we get to hang out with her, too! We met the Mills family at Frostbite before Friday night's game. I have worked with Elya for six years now. We were pregnant with our babies together. Wren and Ben are less than one month apart and had so much fun playing together. I have a cute picture of them together below. In addition to all of the baseball games, we've been busy at home, too. We got a new dresser for our bedroom that Jeremy and Ben had fun putting together. I've also been studying really hard for a test that I took yesterday--and passed! I am adding the Social Science grades 6-12 subject area to my teaching certificate. I am ecstatic because it really gives me a ton of different subjects that I can teach (and that I'm passionate about!). The test covered Geography, Economics, Political Science, U.S. History, World History and methods of Social Science. I've been teaching Reading for seven years now, so I cannot wait for a Social Science position to open up so I can switch!

Here are the pictures from our past week:

I was so happy to see this after my exam yesterday!

Ben had fun celebrating St. Patrick's Day at school on Friday. He came home sporting this cute hat.

This was Ben being silly one night at the baseball game. It was dark, but he kept putting these sunglasses on and leaning out the window singing "you gotta stay cool" to Grandma

Ben picked out a Trapezoid and Triangle to share with his preschool friends for letter T week. Jeremy's has been teaching Ben these names since he was a baby and he knows them by heart!

I loaded up Ben's bike one afternoon and we headed to the park. He rode his bike from the park to the library to return his books.

Ben also rode his bike to this old tree that I used to climb as a little girl. I decided I would show Ben  where I used to sit and he thought his mama was awesome for climbing that big tree. After getting up there, I told Ben I wasn't so sure about how to get down. I said, "I guess I'll have to jump." He closed his eyes and turned his head and said, "Oh no! I can't watch!" So cute!!!!

Helping Daddy with the new dresser

Ben and Wren at Frostbite

My handsome date last Friday night

Chillin' and watching those Bulldogs!

Random Cuteness

I apologize for all of these "random" posts, but that's about all I have time for these days. Jeremy is gone a lot for baseball practices and games, so I feel accomplished for just making it through each day with work, household chores and taking care of my sweet boy! We are blessed with work for sure and I'm so thankful for this handy iPhone that helps me capture some of our special times together.

Fun dinner at Tapatios one night! We were having fun playing some counting games while we waited.

coloring at Tapatios

sweet angel sleeping after some Sunday shopping

My happy and very helpful grocery shopping buddy

We played trains outside one day, so this is Ben with his conductor's hat on in front of the pretty azaleas.

helping mama snap the green beans for dinner one evening

playing firetrucks!

I cannot believe how fast he is growing! He will be bigger than me in no time!

We found Ben his very own chair for watching baseball games at Sam's Club

Somehow, I missed blogging about Ben's Thanksgiving program. I found this sweet picture and wanted to share. This was the night he said he was thankful for "Mommy & Daddy" in his best British accent. LOVE him to pieces!!!

Super Gnat

Ben attended his very first Super Gnat celebration at Babson Park Elementary this morning. We are so proud of him for earning a stamp for good behavior every single day of this school year! Mrs. Watts called his name in the microphone and he got to walk on stage and shake Mr. Henson's hand.

Here is a picture of Ben with his Super Gnat classmates. He looks thrilled, but it was so cold this morning! I thought he looked so sweet with his hands tucked in his pockets.

Super Gnat was extra special today. The students at BPE collected over 7,000 box tops, so Mr. Henson and Mrs. Tyler had to kiss a pig!!! The kids just loved watching them kiss that big 'ol pig!