It's Potty Time!

As most of you know, Libby has been really been on a roll with her potty skills over the past few days. She got a "Potty Time" chart for Valentine's day that I hung in the bathtub. After she goes on the potty, she gets to put a sticker on the chart and get a piece of candy.

We told Libby that after she earned a row of stickers (which was 20) that we would take her to the store and let her pick out whatever toy (gulp!) that she wanted. Last night, she finished the challenge....and as promised, we headed to Target this morning to claim her prize.

After much debate, she decided on a baby doll that she named "Molly". It's so sad to see my little baby grow up into such a big girl before my eyes...but so exciting to anticipate what lies ahead.

Anything for charity....

On Saturday night, my cousins and I participated in the 4th annual "Mardi Gras Lip Sync" at St. Joseph's Church. This was the 3rd time in 4 years that I had participated in this fundraiser. Last night, some of my cousins joined together for an act we called, "Night at the Movies". This 8 minute act contained clips from movies such as Little Orphan Annie, Mrs. Doubtfire, Farris Bueller's Day off and Shirley Temple. Above, Diane and I pose before going on stage.

Tomorrow, tomorrow, I'll get rid of this wig, tomorrow, it's only a day away.

How do you solve a problem like Maria?? I'm the nun second from the left. Don't I look holy?

Mike as Mrs. Doubtfire...this dude did look like a lady!

The final scene from Farris Bueller's Day Off was amazing. We did a great job (if I must say so myself) and looked like Broadway stars! We earned aver $500 on our act, alone!

Me with my oh-so-handsome Godson, Todd. Isn't he adorable?

Gary did his best to entertain himself.

Snow Bunnies

On Saturday, we headed to the Banet's hill with about 25 other people to go sledding. Libby was crazy about the snow! She threw snowballs, made snow angels, ate it (thanks to Uncle Shawn) and went down the hill many times.

Taking her turn on the bobsled.

No, she's not napping. She's making a snow angel.
Ally, Kayla and Libby making snow angels (they look like their mommies do after too many drinks).
JP broke his sled going down the big hill. You'll be glad to know that he didn't spill his beer when he wiped out.

Gary drinking a beer to stay warm. Sledding makes a girl hungry...for donuts and milk.
Libby mastered the "bunny slopes".

Sarah and I made about 10 trips up and down this treacherous hill. Here she is on one of her solo rides.

This was the funniest wipe-out of the day. We all got very comfortable going down tandem on a tube. In order to do so, we had to run and jump on it at the exact same time. This particular time, Gary and JP missed the tube when they jumped on it...leaving Gary face-first in the snow and JP like this.........hanging on for dear life. Lucky, their girls had more coordination then they do. Kayla and Libby show them how it's done. Lanie and Libby

Ice and Wind and Snow....Oh my!

The winter storm hit us hard, leaving us without power, with many down trees and limbs and with a mess to clean up! I hate to admit it, but the ice and snow hanging from the tree limbs is a beautiful sight!

On Monday, we were hit with several inches of snow, and I spent a long day at the hospital trying to have crews pick up nurses, nursing support and physicians so we could try to run business as usual. After an exhausting day, I came home to watch the news. We had heard that we were expecting an ice storm, so I finally opted to head back into work about 11P.M. to spend the night. I knew that missing work was not an option for me, and new that with the hill and road that I live on, that making it downtown early the next morning might be impossible. I spent the night at work, but was up most of the night talking to staff, arranging rides, and simply trying my best to hold my part of the hospital together. Gary called about 6:00 AM to tell me that he heard a tree fall on the house and that he and Libby were going to the basement. Not long after, we discovered that our power was out, and other long day at the hospital awaited me.

We were so fortunate that Ray & Betsy had power, and spent Wednesday and Thursday night with them. Friday, while at work, we were thrilled to hear that our power was back on! We were really lucky to not have more damage than we did, looking at our property, the amount of trees on houses, cars and debris everywhere! Here is the limb-covered side of our house.

This is the other limb-covered side of the house.The trees down on and around our fence.All and all, we have a mess to clean up, but we were lucky. I am looking forward to actually getting to spend some time playing in the snow!

Disney--Day 4

On day 4, we went to Magic Kingdom again to do the things that we didn't have time for on day 1. The weather much warmer, but the lines were longer. We did find time to wait in line for Libby's first ever roller-coaster ride. She was just tall enough to ride it...and loved it! I think we are going to have an enthusiast on our hands!

She was equally as thrilled on the Aladdin ride. What a fun day!

Disney Trip---Day 3

We started the morning out on Day 3 visiting Hollywood Studios. This place was right up Libby's alley...completely full of characters from the shows that she watches every day on The Disney Channel. We went to see a show starring Handy Manny, Tigger & Pooh, Little Einsteins and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. She was standing up, dancing, singing, jumping and laughing the entire time. We went into the "Honey I Shrunk the Kids" playground where she took a ride on an ant, slid down a leaf and played with lots of over sized everyday items. Betsy and Gary waiting in line to audition for American Idol, but Paula and Randy threw them out before they even got to meet Simon.
It was not long before the character spoting began again. We walked up to a few Power Rangers, but Libby was not too excited about meeting them. She was thrilled to meet Handy Manny, though! She was so sweet, hugging him, kissing him and giving him high-5's, that a couple in line behind us were taking her picture, too.
I must admit that I am not that familiar with Jo-Jo's Circus (but Gary was--go figure), but again, Libby was star-struck. Finally, she got to touch Rocket from The Little Einsteins! She was singing the intro to the show while we waited to meet a few of the stars. She thought it was pretty cool.
We rode a few rides, watched a funny Monster's, Inc. interactive show and enjoyed the warmer weather. We got to meet Mike Wazowski from Monster's, Inc. Libby was not so sure about walking up to him on her own...do you blame her? I was excited about meeting Woody from Toy Story, but Libby has never seen it, and was not that thrilled about them. I guess Buzz Lightyear can be a little overwhelming if you've never seen him before.
After a short nap on the bus, we went back to Epcot in hopes to spot a princess or two. Also, we knew that we needed to take the tram to dinner with Chef Mickey, so we figured it'd be a good spot to spend the rest of the day.

We ran into Princess Jasmine, Aladdin and the Jeanie right away. We saw Belle (Libby's Daddy was glad to meet her), but Libby was scared of the Beast. He stood behind her for this cute photo-op.Dinner at Chef Mickey's

Chef Mickey was a lot of fun! We got to meet all of our friends again (Donald, Mickey, Minnie, Pluto and Goofy). Betsy said she heard Libby tell Donald, "You are my favorite" again.

Disney Trip--Day 2

We got up early on day 2 to go to the Animal Kingdom for breakfast with Donald, Goofy, Daisy and Micky. Just as we had discovered the day before, Libby was in love with the characters! She has small toys of each of the characters, so she had to show it to each of them (note the Donald Duck in her hand!) Mimi, Libby, Gary & Goofy. Gary's the one on the far right. Hugging Daisy Duck.

As we were getting ready to leave breakfast, they started the parade--which Libby joined in. She marched around (Yes, in her winter coat!) shaking her instrument with Goofy. It was so much fun to see this through her eyes! After leaving the restaurant, we went to Animal Kingdom, where we had more character sightings.

It warmed up enough for us to enjoy an awesome safari--getting to see lots of cool animals up close!

Libby decided to take a nap as we ran into more friends---We parked her next to Pluto for a photo-op.

After her nice long nap, we took the bus to Epcot.

One of our first stops was the "Finding Nemo" ride. It was so cute and Libby loved it (plus we didn't have to wait!)Here she is looking for Nemo...thanks to Libby, we found him!

She also found some of Nemo's friends.

We waiting in line for a few minutes to see Mickey and his friends. She had been doing really good with the characters up to this point, but were still unsure if she'd walk up to them herself.

She saw Pluto again (this time while she was awake).

She loved Minnie Mouse!

We got to see Donald Duck again. I had to go up and get her from him, since she was hugging all over him! When we were walking away from him, she told him, "You are my favorite". My heart melted! What a long and awesome day we had Day 2! Literally, the only time Libby cried was that morning when I put her hair in pigtails! What a trooper!