Halloween Pics (finally!) :)

Just a "few" Halloween pics to brighten the day :)
Yes, the dad (and the mom) of the house actually handmade Ashley's costume :) We were proud of ourselves! I got the idea last Halloween to dress Ash up like a cupcake this Halloween. I think I saw a cute handmade costume in Family Fun magazine...but for the life of me I could not find it again this year when the time came. But, I was very excited when the Pottery Barn Kids catalog came in the mail and there was this cute cupcake costume on the cover. Of course, I'm too cheap (aka Dutch thrifty) to pay $60 for a costume, so instead we improvised and bought some cheap flannel and sewed to our heart's content. Of course, this all occurred the eve before Halloween since we had no time this October due to our crazy lives, cruise, etc.....Thankfully daddy took a home-ec class in high school so he did a good portion of the sewing. What a great daddy/hubby we have! And does he look excited or what to be sewing on Halloween morning!? :) We were also glad to have our bear model since Ash did not want us constantly trying her costume on her. I think the end result was pretty good for two novices. And it only cost us $6! :) Nice.
And because we were so last minute this year we also had only about an hour on Halloween to quickly carve and decorate 3 pumpkins. Thankfully the kids picked an easy one for dad to do. Hailey used our light-bright lights on one and I did a sad rendition of a pumpkin face on another. As you can see all the kids liked digging out the "gutts" :) Dylan grew bored quickly...but the girls were a great help...even Ash! :)
Ash really got into it....she was very curious :)
Here's where Dylan disappeared and the girls took over :)
And then Ash got very curious....and took her first bite of pumpkin! :) She LOVED it....
...and ate and ate and ate :) (yes, she is our BEST eater!) :)
I had to post this above pic not only cuz Hailey did a great job digging out the seeds and stuff, but because she definitely cannot hide that she is a ballerina (plus she had just come from ballet). Just look at her good posture!
A funny pic of my 4 with all our pumpkins. Can you tell some of us Stegs have sun-sensitive eyes?! :)
"Grandma's Lil' Pumpkin" :) (one of the very cute Halloween bibs from Nina Stegs) :)
Ash chowing on our festive Halloween meal, "Bats and Cobwebs"...yumm! :)
And then it was time to get the kids dressed. Hailey was our Geisha girl :) I loved her costume...it's one of my favs of all her costumes thus past. Love that green on her. It was perfect timing that ballet was that morning cuz we just left her hair in a bun and stuck 2 chopsticks in it. Walah! My beautiful girl!
We also called her the "goofy geisha" (can you guess why?) :)
Gotta love her!
Don't let the ballet talent and smart-ness fool you...she is a ham underneath! :)
But, a pretty one at that :)
This was actually after trick-or-treating...but you know me and all my pics and poses and angles :)
She even points her toes when she's sitting! :)
And our little man. God bless him! I love him so much. He was our Funny Fighter Pilot! :)
He brings new meaning to the word "fighter pilot" Check out those "guns"! :)
This is the "I have to pee badly" fighter pilot pose :)
And here's the handsome man under the mask :) He's my Handsome! :) (that's what I call him, My Handsome) :)
He's my sweet boy
LOL...this mask cracks me up...and he was a good sport and wore it part of the night. Look at those big blue eyes shining through. I was so glad this costume finally fit him. I got in on clearance at KMart like 2 years ago. We've waited forever to use it! It was so cute.
And then there's our fairytale princess Shelby. I loved her costume too. Very elegant and a few people said she looked like an American Girl, which she loved to hear :) She ended up being grumpy about her outfit cuz all of a sudden she wanted to be a ballerina the day before Halloween (and she doesn't even like ballet)...but we had bought this costume on clearance the year before cuz she really wanted it then.....so she HAD to wear it. She ended up loving it....and looked beautiful.
My pretty girl :)
I love this face :) I can't wait til those eyes are shining bright like that again...they are almost there! :)
And here's our lil' chocolate cupcake with pink icing and sprinkles :) I was mad at myself cuz as we were finishing up trick-or-treating I realized I never put her white ruffle-collared shirt on under her costume so it would look like she had whipped cream under he neck. Oh well, a mama of four can't remember everything I guess :) I'll let that be my excuse. But, it would have looked even cuter with that white shirt under!
Is she not sweet or what? And I have to admit this was the easiest photo session ever. She smiled and sat so quietly...usually she's too chatty and on-the-go. She didn't even smudge her make-up too much and she wore the headpiece/headband almost all night w/o fussing :) What a good Cupcake!
I love this scrunchy-nose face!
She LOVES pumpkins too! Especially the lil' ones!
Golly, I love this baby...even with her tongue hanging out!

And she LOVES this kitty trick-or-treat bag from Nina and Poppi in FL. It's staying out all year cuz she loves it sooooo much...carries it around all the time in the crook of her elbow :) Thanks, Nina and Pops!
The Gang plus Urkel :) (aka our fav. Maddie girl/friend/babysitter/neighbor...is her costume hilarious or what?!). I never got a pic of them all w/o one of them with their eyes closed. So, this was the best shot I got! She fits right in with our 4 doesn't she?!
Urkel and the Cupcake....the dynamic duo. We were so thankful to have Maddie along for the evening...she was a great help with Dylan and Ash. She's a wonderful gal and we love her.
Me and my lil' sweetie :) Apparently the white shirt under Ashley's costume wasn't the only thing I forgot this night....I apparently never put on any make-up. This rarely happens, esp. when I'm public...but oh well. I just plum forgot. Good thing I had a small amount of tan left from the cruise! :)
The whole trick-or-treat/neighborhood gang....it was great fun to run around the blocks with all of them! (our 4, plus Urkel Maddie, Princess Leia Hope, Ben (can't remember what he was? A Power Ranger?), Harry Potter Seth and Doctor Riley
And then it was time to Trick-or-Treat....the Pilot was off like a flash of light to get some candy! You'd think he'd be the kid that came home with the MOST candy, but all he wanted to do at each house was carefully go through their bowls and find just the RIGHT candy and then look at it afterwards in the driveway for like 5 minutes and show it off to all of us. :) It was pretty funny....and it really slowed him down...but he didn't care.
Ash was lazy for awhile and took a nice leisurely wagon ride
But, that was short-lived...she mostly just wanted to RUN everywhere! And RUN she did...with her little kitty trick-or-treat bag in hand and her tongue out the whole time!
LOL! She's the funniest baby...I love this age!
Urkel and the Princess helped Ash get to a couple front doors....but mostly she just wanted to jog the sidewalks....
...about halfway through she needed a nap (yes, she laid down right on the sidewalk) :) Have I mentioned that she is a hoot lately. She has quite the personality on her.
And then it was back in the wagon...the only way she would stay in there was if I gave her candy....so she ate and ate and ate......lollipops were her fav! This one lady saw our cute, tired cupcake from her house and ran out in her socks to let Ash have a whole handful of candy...and raisins. Ash loved that!
Me and my two babies :) You can see what was on Dylan's mind...he was all about candy....as was lollipop-lickin' Ash!
Non-make-uped mama and her girl....awww, she's the sweetest cupcake around!
Finally it was dark....and by this time we were almost done trick-or-treating. Ash went through about a half dozen dum dums :)
the Pilot soon grew tired too and wanted a snack so he shared a ride with lil' sister :)
And then it was time to go though the loot back at home! LOL! Look at Dylan's face! Are those "Gimme Candy!" eyes or what?!
Ash and her lil' stash. She worked hard for all that! :)
Shelby and her large mound!
Hailey and her organized groupings :) (reminds me of myself and how I used to make lil' piles of everything too...like mama like daughter, I guess :)) And then it was time to go to our backyard neighbor's house for some hot chocolate/cider. Yumm! Dylan tried his first hot choc...he liked it, no surprise there! :)
It was a great night had by all! Actually it was one of the most relaxing Halloweens ever. It probably helped that it fell in on a Saturday. And would you believe almost all our candy is gone. Shame on us treat-lovin' Stegs! :)

Update

Just wanted to pop over into blog-world and let everyone know that Shelby is doing FABULOUS!

Her eyes have had this amazing transformation over the last couple days. Truly...it's shocking. I was very worried last weekend to see how deep and dark and red the old whites of her eyes had become. Even Monday I was still worried. But, something happened overnight and by yesterday both eyes just looked bloodshot and yellowish (a sign of healing) and we could actually see white showing through. And, now today her right eye is almost completely normal looking. The left eye is soon to follow, I'm sure, but I'm wondering if more repair was done to that one (as that has always been the eye turn I noticed the most). Maybe Dr. N. did more "tightening" of that muscle? I don't know. But, regardless I can see that both eyes are on the mend and I am so grateful. (oh, and I don't notice any more crossing of the eyes...which is also a relief) Praise the Lord!

And, Shelby...she's continued to be a trooper. Going back to school on Monday even with "the scary eyes" and answering TONS of questions from her inquisitive classmates. Actually I have to say...it's the youngest kids that have been the most tactful when it comes to asking her "what's wrong with your eyes?". While adults and older kids have been less-so. That kind of shocked me...but then again I've always known that younger kids can have the softest hearts...so maybe that has something to do with it :) Either way, Shelby's been great. Not afraid to answer questions and just non-chalantly telling everyone, "I just had surgery and my eyes will be better soon" :) I'm so proud of her for that. I know it's hard looking different and having to come up with answers "why". And we all know how cruel people can be. I know sometimes I don't want to go in public with a big zit on my face....and having two blood-red eyes is much more noticeable than that! So, I give tons of credit to Shelby for her bravery and willingness to be in public during her healing time. I will say that she tried to slightly weasle her way out of going back to school on Monday by saying "I can't see at all!" that morning.....but I think that was just her nerves talking and an hour later she was happily in class. So....all that is GREAT news! YAY!

Thanks to all you wonderful friends/family out there who sent emails and posted comments and who have stopped by with such sweet gifts and notes. It is appreciated more than you will ever know. And thanks to those of you who sent uplifting notes to this mama who was just slightly worried. It meant a lot to hear words of wisdom from you all.

And I wanted to close in saying that I'd love a few more prayers this week as I'm suffering from a fairly large ovarian cyst. I actually thought I had some kind of stomach bug, but a "routine" ultrasound yesterday showed a big, nasty cyst on my left ovary. I've dealt with these in the past, but this one has caused quite a bit of discomfort. It's hard enough keeping up with our busy schedule when I'm pain-free...so it's been slightly more challenging this week since I'm in pain. For now it's a wait-n-see thing and I go back for another u/s in 6 weeks before we leave for FL. Pray that it's gone by then and that I don't experience worse pain. Thanks so much and hopefully I'll get my rear in gear and post some new pics soon (i.e. cruise, Halloween and Shelby's new eyes! :))

P.S. Happy Vet's Day to all our service men and women out there and specifically to my fav. service guy, my lil' bro. We can't thank you all enough for what you do for our country and for our freedom.

Surgery Pics

Well, since my dear ol' hubby is working the evening shift tonight I thought I'd take a few moments and do a surgery recap picture post of yesterday's events :) I'll post below on a few closing thoughts about how the recovery is going too....but I want to say first that we so appreciate all the prayers being lifted up for our Shelby and if you could keep them coming that would be great. I've had a bit of a hard time seeing her eyes so full of blood today. I'm not much of a worrier, but ya' can't help it when you you're used to the beautiful eyes above.....(this pic was taken the day before her surgery...a pre-op pic of sorts :)) I just love this girl!
And here we are yesterday...our first pic of the surgery day :) She was all smiles even in the midst of her nervousness clutching her little pink blankie in hand :)
Hamming it up with mama :)
And then off to wait in the waiting room....making daddy carry all our bags :)
As you can see she was still her normal "hammy" self even with her stomach growling like a bear!
Mama tried to plan ahead and bring some "distracting supplies"....the puzzle worked well.
Then it was time for pre-op....vitals, etc...
Shelby took time to say a quick prayer....ok, not really....she is just hiding from mama who won't stop taking her picture...but maybe she was praying here and I didn't know it...I'd like to think so :)
She finally turned around to show off her stylish surgical attire :)
She started to get nervous about this time....
She was not making eye contact...and I think this is where she refused to answer questions correctly :) Her ploy to avoid surgery did not succeed :)
Our true Shelby still shows through though!
Her lil' pre-surgical suite...
Finally finished with the puzzle...she was proud of herself.
Some pre-surgical wisdom from dad (since he's so wise in the ways of medicine :))
One last smile before she's wisked off to surgery...
And above is the pic I love of the surgery nurse making her pink bear blankie and llama talk to each other about going off the surgery (they both assisted with surgery too :))....as you can see Shelby thought it was very funny...and mama and dada thought it was a great distraction technique :)......and then it was surgery time.....
And before we knew it we were being summoned to see our waking girl....here is how we found her in post-op....with her eye-patched llama looking over her (fyi the cup over her face had a tube of oxygen coming through the bottom...I've never seen this approach, but it worked well and probably also served as a vomit cup just in case :))
Our sweet girl starts to stir...but is still very sleepy and groggy....she wants to open her eyes so badly, but she can't seem to...this annoys her...she starts to cry a little....bloody tears....
The nurse gets her some groovy movie star shades to help with the brightness...and also sits her up to see better....gives her a snack of graham crackers/7-up and tylenol...
Daddy offers comfort :) He's good at that :)
He's also good at multi-tasking....texting on his i-phone and holding the vomit basin. He's a man of many talents apparently :)
And off we went....home....I got the lucky job of carring the post-op patient :)
And she slept the whole 2 hour ride home...out like a light....
Here's a few pics from last night once we got home....I tried to take these pics in the dark so as not to hurt her sensitive eyes. You can see where they cut into the side of the eye (the outside white which is slightly blood-filled at this point). Her eyes are dilated from the drops. She's intently watching her new Scooby movie :)
This is after she's vomited quite a lot and her eyes filled with blood. Scary. I tried to cheer her up with the new beatle bug I bought her (which she had a hard time seeing). FYI: She's addicted to Bug cars....loves them, notices them everywhere and plans to own a red convertible one once she can drive. So owning a mini-black one now was super fun for her :)
Hailey tries to comfort her with a hug :)
This pic before bed last night shows how much blood filled her eyes....I'm trying to document this healing process with pics....it's not easy to do cuz it's very hard to see my baby's eyes like this :( But, it's still great to see her smile.
Here's another close-up. Hard for me to see....and below you'll see how much more bloody they are today :(
Here she is with her super yummy Cold Stone ("Get Well Shelby") cake from Nina and Poppy Stegs. We had a fun "Get Well Party" for her tonight....the end result was Shelby in tears, which I will explain in a sec....
She's still a ham even with her bloody eyes....here she is showing off her surgery gifts :) Her yummy cake (which we feasted on tonight...thanks, Nina and Poppy!) and her two Scooby movies, 3 matchbox cars and Black Beetle and flowers from mommy and daddy)...and her cute surgery bear from the Surgery Center. She has watched the movies over and over again...they have been a lifesaver...and she loves the cars, esp. the beetle and convertible ones! And below is the Get Well Party accident compliments of the clumsy lil' brother. I almost caught the whole thing on video, but I was focused on Ashley at the time. Apparently Dylan was standing on Ashley's moveable walker toy and trying to look at the ice-cream cake at the same time...the toy moved/he slipped and grabbed the cake and it landed on him and then proceeded to roll across the kitchen floor. Somehow daddy caught it while rolling and saved it from being demolished....and since it was still wholly frozen it was still intact completely (thank goodness!)...but it sent Shelby into hysterics. She is very emotional the last two days (can't blame her). Anyway....but we still ate and enjoyed the cake....and will for days to come :) Below is the brother looking very dumb-founded and apolgetic :)
So....there's where we stand. Our beautiful girl with her beautiful eyes...praying they return to their beautiful state.

If you could, please pray...pray for peace...for Shelby who has said a few times after looking in the mirror today, "my eyes are scary"....and for this mama who will admit that seeing that blood in her baby's eyes is scary and who just worries that maybe we made the wrong decision to have this surgery done....that maybe her eyes weren't really that bad before....that now they might be crossed forever (which they are today at times). I am just unnerved a bit. I'm not a worrier and I trust that the good Lord has His hand in this...but this is still my baby...and her eyes...both very important to me. I cannot help myself, but doubt and worry a bit. So, please specifically prayer for the blood in her eyes that we might see more and more white in the next couple days...and that her vision will improve (she is still blurry and seeing double) and for her crossed eyes to correct. Apparently all these things are normal post-op and the nurse who called today reassured us of that...but it's still hard to be patient and trust this. As far as our girl and her attitude and outlook. She's been great. Actually almost every hour today she has run up to me and said, "Mama, I think my eyes look better...what do you think?"...to which I look and say a little prayer and smile and agree (hoping that by agreeing they WILL look better soon). So, God bless her for being so optomistic. She is a brave girl. She's been up and running all over today, playing outside (with glasses on), fighting with her brother (always a good sign of her fiestiness :)) eating and drinking and not vomiting....and just being her same ol' self. It's good to see. Now all I need is reassurance that her eyes will heal. I don't have that yet, but hopefully with every passing day I will gain that. For now we wait. Tomorrow we will be taking another day off from activities and I welcome that. Today was so nice...to enjoy the nice warm breezes blowing through our open windows...to take a mid-afternoon nap next to my sweet girl....to do puzzles and read and just enjoy each other. Sometimes good things come out of recoveries :) Today has been a good day....and I'll pray tomorrow will be even better....

Surgery Success (hopefully) :)

Well, it is done....and hopefully Shelby's muscle eye repair surgery has been a success. As far as we know (from Dr. N) all went well and the muscle repair went just as planned. I have a few pics from the day that I will try to post later this weekend, but for now I just wanted to thank everyone out there who was prayerfully thinking of our Shelby girl on this day....

She was definitely nervous this morning....actually, I think she's been nervous all week. Not really wanting to talk about it and avoiding the subject if brought up (Nina G. called yesterday to talk to her and wish her well and all she wanted to do was talk about the excitement of going to the dentist...who knew that dental appts now rate up there as "exciting outings"...apparently compared to surgery they are like Disney World :)). Anyway....so all that to say that Shelby was visibly and audibly nervous. And in addition to that nervousness this morning we added hunger pain :) All she could do from 6:30am til 10:30am was talk about how hungry she was, when she could eat, what she could eat later, why she wasn't allowed to eat, and even planning her post surgery trip to Mc. D's for a hamburger, fries and milk. The whole eating thing (or lack-of) was the pits this morning. NPO for kiddos is not a fun task...for them or the moms and dads :) She did not hide the fact that she was NOT happy about her hunger issues. So, that is what we heard for that long 2 hour drive to Indy. Try as mama might to distract her with "I spy" car games, puzzles and other such frivolous tasks...she never strayed from the fact that she was "super hungry" as she put it (and super grumpy about it) :)

Anyway....so there were no issues (aside from hunger) this morning. Nina S. arrived early to watch D & A and Kev and I and our beautiful-eyed Shelba were on the road to Indy by 8:30. We arrived at the surgery center early and the whole process seemed to run right on schedule (or even early) and by 10:45 ish Shelb was back in pre-op. I could tell she got even more nervous back in the pre-op room cuz she was not making eye contact and when the anesthesiologist came in to ask her some questions she pretty much answered every one of them wrong (on purpose) in hopes that maybe failing the question-taking quiz would allow her to go home, eat and forget all about this icky surgery (i.e. He asked if she knew why she was here today....to which she answered "no" :)). But, try as she might she could not weasel her way out of the surgery and actually going back to the surgical area was fairly painless. The pediatric surgery nurse was great with her....she grabbed the little pink blankie Shelby had brought, along with Starburst (the famous AG llama :)) and she had those two stuffed animals chatting to each other about the surgery. Shelby thought this was a hoot and this totally distracted her as they led her away to surgery. I don't even think she noticed Kev and I slip out to the waiting room. It was a very easy transition. No tears, no crying, no drama (semi-shocking). And then we waited...

Probably only about a half hour went by and the nurse came to get us. We chatted briefly with the doc. and received the good news that all had gone well. He had made two very small cuts in her eyes...one on each eye on the bottom white part where he was basically able to stretch (tighten) the muscle. These were sewn up with one stitch each that would dissolve. She would go home with no patches on and no bandages, might have double or blurred vision for the next day and would basically just feel like she's been scratched in the eye for about 24 hours (apparently eyes heal very quickly). There would be some bloody tears for the next couple hours, but no need for much restriction (just no swimming) or any medication (eye drops)...and just Tylenol as needed for pain. So, really no issues and he said Shelby was in post-op, sleeping and resting peacefully. We were allowed to go back and see her when she started to wake up, but for now we waited some more. She slept awhile as we probably weren't called back for another 45 minutes. She was just laying there peacefully with her llama watching over her (with a patched eye himself...this was hilarious to see :)). She desperately wanted to open her eyes, but she just couldn't...tried and tried....and all she wanted to do was eat, of course. The nurse dashed her hopes of a juicy burger and instead gave her some nice, bland graham crackers. She washed this down with some 7-up and Tylenol. Shortly after this we were given the green light to go home. I attempted to change her into her clothes and that's when the vomiting hit. She threw up all her crackers and drink and medicine...and then continued to do that. Poor thing. After all that "wanting food" this was not what she'd hoped for post-op :( But we made it out of there shortly after with Shelby on mama's shoulder and in no time we were back home and she was resting comfortable on the couch. She actually had her eyes open and was watching her new Scooby movie. Her eyes were just slightly blood shot (and dilated), but looked good. Then the vomiting started again and I will admit I got scared. I have never seen blood come out of eyes before, but the pressure from the vomiting made her eyes well up with red blood. It scared me (have I mentioned eye stuff wigs me out?). Needless to say we turned off the movie and are now making her rest her eyes (nap). Praying the bleeding stops cuz that was very unnerving to watch my baby's eyes fill with blood.

So that's all I've got for now. I'm exhausted. We all are. Kev and I were both up late last night and up early this morning...and it's been a long day of driving and waiting. But, the end result seems to be eye success, so for that we are so very grateful. We can't thank everyone enough for all the thoughts and prayers today. And to Nina S. for helping with the other three so we could focus on our sweet Shelby (and for all the traveling she did to get D&S their H1N1 shots and to get Shelby a big surprise...a Cold Stone Get Well cake...she can't wait to eat it when her tummy is feeling better....maybe mommy and daddy will have to taste-test it for her tonight?) :) And most of all I want to send a big "I love you/I'm so proud of you" shout-out to my sweet Shelby girl who has the biggest, most beautiful hazel eyes I know! You were a super trooper today and I was so proud of how brave and calm you were (fyi she was apparently the best child at the surgery center today....the others there was screaming when they woke up...she was not! YAY! Daddy and I made a bet on if she'd be a wild one or not...he said "yes", I had more faith and said "no". I won....a not-so-yummy Wendy's lunch :)). But, all that to say that we are just so proud of our Shelby and so thankful to the good Lord for keeping her safe and giving Dr. N. the wisdom and expertise to fix our baby's eyes.

Please keep praying for her speedy recovery, and specifically her vomiting and bleeding. I'll keep you posted and will update soon with pics :)

***Update (7:30pm)...Shelby's vomiting has ceased and she just ate a very full meal of chicken fried rice (ok, so not the bland meal that was recommended to us by the nurse), but it's what she requested and so far she's kept it down. We are so thankful as she was at her limit for vomits (we were instructed to call if she had more than 3). Her eyes are still very, very red and blood shot, but the tears are not bright red like before. She did just proclaim, "I see two Dylans and two mamas", so apparently the double vision that was predicted has set in :) But, so far so good...and I imagine tomorrow will be a much better day. Talking/seeing Nina and Pops on Skype just now helped also :) So, more prayers answered and we can rest easier tonight knowing our Shelby is feeling better. Nighty, Night...

Misc. Wed.

Well, I'm terribly behind on blogging and really, really behind on posting pics, but time just is not allowing either. At any rate, I didn't want to let the week slip by w/o posting a few misc facts and also to ask for some prayers.....

1. The big prayer need of the week is for our Shelby. Her long-awaited eye muscle surgery is this Friday at 10:30am. I don't have much more detail than that except to ask for prayers for her. She seems quite nervous (can't blame her!) about the whole thing and the last couple days she's repeated over and over again "I wish it was Hailey who was having surgery" :) How nice of her to want to share this experience with her big sister :) So, I know she is nervous. I told her that she'll be sleeping during the whole thing and it won't hurt, but I can't help but feel nervous for my little girl. Eye stuff still wigs me out so to know that they'll be cutting the muscles under both of my baby's eyes...well, please just pray for surgery success and peace in our hearts. I'll update you on Friday if time permits. All I know is that we plan to be in Indy for about 4 hours so I figure we'll be home by mid-afternoon. And hopefully by Monday our sweet Shelba will be back to herself and back to school with her beautiful eyes fully corrected. Amen.

2. It's been quite an adjustment getting back in the swing of things after being "lazy" for like 10 days as we cruised the seas. I can't speak for Kev really (though I'm certain getting back to a real job must be even worse than my laid back "job" :)), but I will say I have had to actually look at the typed calendar I made for Nina Stegs just to keep our schedule straight again. And I've already missed a few unimportant things here and there. Thank goodness the kids had fall break last week for 2 days after we got home...that definitely allowed more laziness than normal at home. So, vacation definitely got the best of me and I loved being lazy and pampered for a week and a half. But, on the up side it's great being surrounded by my babies again. I truly missed them and as much as I loved our get-away it'll probably be a long time before I can do that again. Not to mention it's been a bit of an emotional roller coaster (and painful experience) having to stop nursing Ashley cold turkey in FL....only to have to pump every day on the cruise...and now still trying to stop my milk production now that Ash LOVES real milk. That's a whole 'nother blog that I probably won't ever have time to write. But, I'm just trying to not think about all that....about how much I loved to nurse my last baby and how it's all over now :( As they often say, "all good things must come to an end." :) So, we're back in the rat race and making it through. Though I will say that Nina Stegs graciously came out to help us again yesterday....we are so grateful for her flexible schedule and her willingness to give of her time. She is super-nina for sure and we'd be in a big bind w/o her! On a side-note S&D have been bickering like there's no tomorrow. I don't know what it is, but since we've been back they are at each other's throats...pushing each other, fighting over baby toys...you name it. I have had to pull them off each other a few times. I never thought we'd have this problem with opposite gendered siblings. But, it appears they like to get on each other's nerves. I hope it's just a show for us since we were out of sight for 10 days :( But, they are running me ragged. And poor Ash...she has been severely overstimulated the last week. There was one day last week where she cried almost all day and I think it's cuz Dylan was rubbing her head all day long and all she wanted to so was to be an only child again like she was for that glorious week in FL :) She's picked up this dramatic screachy scream too...the kind where she's trying to tell you something or maybe just trying to tell us "bug off, people!" :) Either way, it's fiesty and funny and somewhat annoying at times :) But, ya' can't blame the girl for needing to fight for attention and being so confused over the chaos again. So, yes, we are still readjusting back to the crazy Steg life...

3. Finally, I just wanted to touch on one of the big highlights of my life right now...my ballerina, Hailey. I know I mentioned that exciting day that she received the awesome news of her new role in Nutcracker, but since then we've just more good news, after good news..... Not only is she the Mother Ginger child she's been waiting for for years....but she is a GIRL Ginger!!! I cannot even tell you how happy she was to find this out the day before we left on our cruise. Her eyes were just dancing with excitement! Never did I dream she'd be a girl since she is quite tall (we just assumed she be one of the wig-wearing boys)....but somehow she won the prized girl role and will get to wear her own hair in pin curls and be all dolled up in a frilly little dress :) YAY! And....last week she found out she gets to be the cute little girl at the end of the Ginger song that tries to stay on stage and waves and gets to be the last girl off. She was sooooo thrilled I can't even tell you. We had just talked about "who would get that cute role" the day before and to find out SHE was the one...well, it was incredible. I can't even tell you how excited I am for our hard-working and talented ballerina. She has worked so hard for all this and she has such a gift for dancing....to see this all unraveling before our eyes....well, it's just so fun. So, one month from today she will performing (and then again 3 more times, yes, she is in ALL 4 performances this year). I can't wait....and I can't wait for my mom to be here to see it and for all the wonderful friends and family who will be seeing it all as well. I'm just so proud of our Hailey!! Oh and for any of you who are in Bloomy, Hailey's ballet class was videotaped last night by WTIU and will be featured on PBS' "The Friday Zone" (shows on Saturday mornings, I think)....not sure if it's this week or one of the weeks coming up, but stay tuned!

So, there's a few snip-its into our life....lots more going on but who really has the time time to blog all that or read it! I sure don't. :) Hopefully soon I'll post some Halloween pics and next week I'd like to work on posting/organizing the cruise pics. So stay tuned.....and for now, I'll leave you with a few fun pics of our recent jaunt last Thursday to Spring Mill with our wonderful friends, Jill and kiddos :) (they graciously let us tag along to try to get some nice fall pics....unfortunately it started to rain during the photo shoot and half the Steg gang didn't cooperate anyway....but still some cute pics...probably cuter/better on Jill's camera!) :)
This is my fav from the day....and all the kids are actually smiling! Shocking! Jill chose a great backdrop too....love this old building. LOL at Ash's big smile! She's such a sweetie and she obviously loves the Hootie kids! :)
The 6 kids scattered in different directions...
Everyone wanted to help Ash walk....which, by the way, she needs no help. Ever since FL she's been walking everywhere always...mostly w/o falling....she's basically running :)
This is proof for Pops in FL....Ash hears EVERY airplaine now thanks to him! She even hears them before we adults do. This was one of those times. And she loves to point at them and say "what's that?" :)
Hailey and Maddie loved swinging Ash....Ash loved it too!

And Dylan loved jumping into Maddie's arms :)
The best pic I could get of the kiddos while it was raining and getting dark :( Ash had had it by this point :)(so much for trying to get a picture for a Christmas card....I guess we'll be doing New Year's cards this year :)) And look at my handsome boy, below....I just love him so!

Happy Halloween!

Trick-or-Treat from the Steg Kids--Fighter Pilot Dylan, Geisha Girl Hailey, FairyTale Princess Shelby and Cupcake Ash :) Hope you have a Spooktacular Halloween! :)

Home Again, Home Again...

...jiggedy, jig....

Well, I'd like to say Kev and I are doing a happy jig to be back in town from our awesome cruisin' in the Caribbean, but the down right truth is that I think we are both reminiscing of our incredible week of sailing the high seas, doing as we pleased and being waited on hand and foot all the whilst forgetting we even had responsibilities and 4 crazy kiddos back in the states!

A part of me wants to snap my fingers and have it be a week ago when we were just embarking on our adventure :) But, alas every incredible vacation must come to an end...and with that reality always has to follow :).....

Ok, so I think you get my mood today. It's not bad being home per say....it's just always difficult being thrust back into reality after being in a dream-like state for over a week....and today was just like that...5 hours of sleep and back in the "rat race" of activities.....Halloween parties, school activities, ballet, church etc, etc. All this reality has me exhausted and after being on my feet for the last 8 hours already I am sitting here dreaming of my days at the pool last week with my strawberry daiquiri in hand :)

For those of you wondering how it all went....it was FANTASTIC!!!!! Every bit of it. I don't have words to even tell you how super awesome it is to spend any amount of time on a cruise ship...and if you haven't ever been you simply have to do it. There is nothing like it. To be pampered every day and night....to have every food imaginable at arm's length at any time...to not have to clean up after yourself or do laundry....to wake up whenever you want, take a nap in the middle of the day for no reason, lay on a lounge chair and sip on whatever drink you fancy....to watch fabulous broadway-type shows every night, to have "free" room service whenever you wanted...to enjoy the amenities of a fabulous room complete with a big ol' balcony....and to enjoy the marvelous sights and tropical heat of the southern Caribbean......well, it was simply marvelous...every single part of it. Of course, the BEST part was getting a whole 8 days alone with my amazing husband...with no kids to distract us from each other :) There is no denying that was my favorite part :) But, what an incredible experience it was....to cruise on this HUGE mansion on the sea. It is really indescribable. I wish I had some awe-inspiring words about it...but it truly was just something that everyone has to do at least once in their lifetime (we'd love to do it many more times if we had lots of cash and no kids!). And, I'm sure you know that I took many, many hundreds of pictures that hopefully in the next 30 days I can start to post :) But, for now, just picture Kev and I looking somewhat tanned/burned right now and know that we had the most fantastic time on the Carnival Miracle and in St. Kitts, St. Lucia and St. Maarten. Whohoo!

And---the kiddos--they did fabulously. Both loved their time with "the Ninas and Poppys" :) I guess Ash never even noticed mommy and daddy left her for a week in FL cuz when we hopped in the car yesterday after not seeing our baby for a week she just looked at us and smiled like we'd been there all along. Apparently Nina and Pops in FL make good adoptive parents :) And I know they had a super great time with their little granddaughter playing in the pool and shopping and taking nice long walks (there's a rumor out there that Pops even changed a poopy diaper or two :)). Wonder of wonders! :) So, all went well in FL and I guess there was no homesickness (or mommy/daddy sickness) for Baby Ash...she adapted well, ate like a champ, slept like a baby, pooped and peeded like a pro, and sounded like she overall treated her Nina and Pops like a king and queen :) And the other 3 up here in Bloomy....they did great with Nina (and Poppy) Stegs. Bless Nina for taking on the craziness of our crew for that many days...I honestly don't know how she did it all almost all by herself. Usually Kev and I split a lot of the responsibilities on a daily basis, but she did it all AND she was still sane when we saw her last night! :) AMAZING, NINA!!! :) She took over as cook, cleaner, launderer, taxi service, homework helper, comforter and definite prayer warrior (I say that cuz apparently Hailey cried herself to sleep on at least one occasion cuz she missed us so much....and Shelby...she got slightly ornery at times saying "this is too many days with Nina and too much time away from mommy and daddy" :)). But, Nina persevered and had a good sense of humor through it all and she should be mighty proud of keeping our brood up and running for 11 days. I think it's quite a feat to tackle! I hope by now she is home sitting eating bon bons in the peace and quiet or maybe taking a much-deserved nap! :) Whew! I get tired thinking of how tired she must be.

I really can't thank our wonderful parents enough for allowing us this time away. For taking such amazing care of their grandkids....for giving so unconditionally (as they always do). There are no words to describe how grateful we are to all four of you for giving Kev and I this time away. As tired as we are today we truly did come home refreshed and renewed and there is no greater feeling that that. It's been a long time since I've felt that way.

So, there ya' go...a quick run down of the many emotions I am feeling today (and felt last week as we were cruisin' along). I'm sure many of you are wondering how this mama did for 8-11 days w/o seeing or talking to my "babies". Well, it honestly went ok....I would have never guessed I'd say that, but I simply had to just put the kids out of my mind somewhat and just focus on the good times....just enjoy the "now time"...the time with Kev. It wasn't always easy, but for the most part we just enjoyed that "in the moment" time...and we didn't sit around much chatting about the kids and what they were doing. I really tried not to do that. That would have been too hard on me. I did that once and had nightmares about Hailey and Nutcracker and her cutting her hair herself (really short) cuz she was mad we were gone...and how Shelby disowned us for leaving her for so long....and I even dreamed Ashley completely forgot about us and didn't remember who we were when we got home. But, mostly I just tried to keep the kids out of my mind. I know it sounds awful to say, but it was the best way for me to enjoy myself. And so I just got lost in the big boat, lost in the island life....it really was like a dream. We lost track of the calendar and the time (things we rarely get to do in our crazy schedule)....but it was wonderful...it truly was. I'll admit by day 5 on our way home to Ft. Laud. I was missing my kids....getting excited to see them again....but the time away was well spent with my husband and I wouldn't have traded it for anything (and it definitely would not have been the same with the kids along)....

So, there ya' go. A quick summary of how it all went. I'll do my best to get a few pics up soon to show off the good times, cuz I think for those of you living here in Indiana and this chilly, dreary north you might need some nice, sunny beach pics to brighten your day. This Indiana rainy, gloomy weather is downright depressing! I miss the Caribbean fun and sun!! :) Whohoo for vacations and double whohoo for cruises! Awesome times!!!!!