Hello everyone.. I haven't had the creative mind as of late so that is why I haven't blogged much... ugh.. maybe the Hawaii air cleared my head too much.. :) Yesterday I picked up John and Addison from the airport and we are finally all home under one roof! It was wonderful having everyone home last night... interesting that we have been divided for a month with John being gone and then Addison at Gran and Odie's! Both Annabelle and Addison had a ball visiting their grandparents but I think they will confess they had as much if not more fun watching over the little ones! Hawaii was wonderful... even though I was only there 5 days, it was so nice to get away and spend some good quality time with John without the distraction of children! The whales were amazing and despite the cold weather, yes it was cool there, it was just amazing... We snorkeled and dove a few times.. on our last snorkel, the day we left, there was a monk seal on the beach.. they were always on the beach, anywhoo... while in the water the monk seal decided to take a dip and John and Todd were pretty much face to face with this monk seal.. freaked us all out for the most part but it was amazing... just after that I was snorkeling in a differnt location, a little more out to sea and swam upon a sea turtle.. we saw one while diving but this one was swimming like an angel and I even touched it! That was the best thing ever... next to being able to hear the whales sing while diving... So within about 20 minutes we swam with both a monk seal and a green sea turtle!! AMAZING... Honu is turtle in Hawaiian and Lynnda (my partner in crime in Hawaii) John and I are now all totally in love with the Honu... I will post some photos at the end of this post! Our flight home was interesting.. we flew from Kauai to LA to Denver to Nashville... the flight from Kauai to LA was interesting with a 16 month old (or two) sitting behind me .... remember the flight departs at 9:45 PM and you are supposed to sleep on the way home... that didn't happen.. in addition to the kidos, it was the bumpiest flight I think I have ever been on... turbulence the entire 5 hours, trying not to remind myself we are over water 100% of the flight... Once in LA no big deal getting to Denver.. Denver, however, was not so fun.. our flight was slightly late due to the fact that it was snowing like mad and we sat on the tarmac for 45 minutes waiting because the snow was so heavy the air traffic controller COULDN'T SEE the planes to direct them.. once we were cleared, which neither John nor I thought we would be, instead we figured we would be turned around and the airport would close, we taxied to the runway and scooted and slipped down... but made it off the ground.. Let me tell you, it was NOT fun and I have never prayed so much in my life.. I think if it weren't for the fact I hadn't slept in 24 hours I would have had a panic attack.. It was not not not fun.. Today is Bailey's birthday! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! :) and TOMORROW IS ANNABELLE'S! What a blessed few days we have with their birthdays as well as John's and my dear friend Luke's on the 2nd! We are having a small party at mom and dads tomorrow for Annabelle and I can't wait to see her face and hear her sing along to "happy birthday" because she will...:) Annabelle is certainly a little girl now.. she speaks in complete sentences now and you can actually have a conversation with her.. it is amazing and sad that my little girl isn't such a little girl anymore.. :( I am so proud of her too that she really has taken to going potty.. now, I think her motivation is "CANDY" "YOU GET CANDY WHEN YOU GO POTTY" is what she chants but heck, if she goes on the potty, she can have candy! I think she pee'd 8 times yesterday just to get candy... haha.. Addison slept well last night.. she went down at 9:30 and woke at 3:30.. then again at 6:30 but I was up and ready for some coffee so it wasn't so bad... She didn't eat at the 6:30 time just wanted to get up.... :) I feel like I am rambling... sorry.. We still have snow and ice on the ground.. driving to the airport yesterday there is a huge difference in what we got vs what Nashville got.. because of the cold weather nothing has melted here and we are still white! OK.. I know I am rambling now... :) Love to you all and a huge THANK YOU to Gran, Odie, Grammy, Papa and aunt Sharelle for all their help over the past month! I am so blessed to have to in my life and so thankful for you! Carolyn (and family) Turtle but not the one we saw... we had no water camera... :) Carolyn acting like a kid in her rental!! Monk seal on the beach where we snorkeled Roosters and hens all over the place! Na'pali coastline! Just amazing... Carolyn and John on the beach out front of our condo The view from our room! not too shabby... :)

I have to say being here is just wonderful! I arrived late Tuesday night after 15 hours in airports and on planes to a grinning John who looked more rested than I had seen him in years! I guess working in paradise is relaxing after all! He met me at the airport and we went to dinner. I ended up getting an earlier flight so we had to go back to the airport to get my bags when I was initially scheduled to arrive. We went to a nice little barefoot bar and had fish tacos! at least I did, John had a burger. Aaaahhh... it was nice but I was beat and we went home. The room is just amazing. It is a two bedroom two bath condo with a huge deck that over looks the pool as well as has a nice view of the ocean. There is easily enough room for another couple here. I stayed up until 9:30 (1:30 my time) and crashed... I actually slept very well, windows and doors all open to the breeze and smells of the island. I didn't hear and still haven't heard the roosters at 3am but they are all over the place.. and some are just beautiful!

Yesterday we went for a walk along the water to some cliffs and watched the whales! I have to say if you ever get the chance to come here come during whale migration season. It is just amazing to see them out there splashing and breaching.. very very cool! We had some wonderful lunch and John drove me around so I would know where things were as the guys are working at night and we girls are left alone with nothing to do but SHOP ! haha... Lynnda and I hooked up yesterday afternoon and shopped and ate from 3 until 9:30! We even got lost but we aren't telling anyone that... I really had a great time and look forward to another girls adventure! I really didn't get much shopping done. I got Annabelle a cute hula grass skirt outfit and some "thank you" items for the parents.. Of course I got myself a can of dark chocolate macadamia nuts to snack on but I was really looking for a nice dress to wear to the luau on Saturday.. I have time still but was unsuccessful in finding what I want.

John got back from work sometime early this morning, not sure when but he is still sleeping (it is 7:30a here now).. I think we are going to snorkel today and dive on Saturday.. I'd like to zip line or even try to kayak while I am here. I only have a few days to cram it all in so I might even do a night dive by myself (with the instructors of course) if I can work up the courage to go it alone! They tell me they have a bull seal that they call sir snacks a lot that comes along and eats the food that is seen though the underwater lights! How cool is that??

well, I am in need of more of this yummy Kauai coffee so I am going to go for now.. I can't load photos until I get home, sorry but rest assured I will have plenty to share!!

Love to you all! Mom and Dad Ruppel, kiss the bee for us and Mom and Dad Evans' kiss AJ as well.. we miss them both very much!

Carolyn (and John)

I forgot to mention the fact that we decided to keep Annabelle out of preschool for basically the month of January. She missed a week when Gran and Odie were here and considered putting her in for this current week but decided not to. Due to in part to the fact that a dear friend who works for a local private school is sick and said many kids are out sick as well. I got a call from Annabelle's teacher that she has stuff from Christmas, I decided to take her up to pick up her goodies and give her a reminder of what preschool is about and see her friends. So I get there and go in her room, keeping in mind there are 12 total in her class, and of the few that I talked to up close, all of them had green snotty noses.. WHO TAKES THEIR KIDS TO PRESCHOOL WHEN THEY HAVE CRUSTY GREEN SNOTTY NOSES?? For those of you that do, THANK YOU for making my child sick.. Ugh... I was so pissed and reinforced that we made the right decision of keeping her out and I felt like I needed to take a shower when I left.. it was as if I could see the little germies jumping on me and Annabelle.... GROSS... so needless to say, Annabelle won't be going back until after we are back from Hawaii... Sorry, I just had to get that off my chest..

Secondly... Amber is coming TODAY!! We are so excited to see her show off how wonderful the girls are. Addison, who happened to sleep 6 hours straight last night and Annabelle who is really turning into a wonderful little girl, no longer a baby! She actually ate salad last night!?!? I had a salad and she told me she wanted to try it, so I gave her a bite and she wanted more! I was so happy! Looks like it is time to start feeding her what we eat each night! :)

Amber will be here for the weekend, Sharelle and Craven might come up tomorrow for the day/night and then Amber leaves Sunday as I prepare for my adventures getting Addison to NC and me to HI! I haven't really gotten excited about my trip, trying to get everyone/thing else taken care of first... but in 4 short days, I will be on my way to Kauai to spend some much needed time with John. A huge thanks to both sets of grandparents for helping with the girls!

Ok.. Addison is sleeping so I am going to go get showered and prepare for Amber!! :)
Love to you all
Carolyn

Hi everyone. So sorry I have been delinquent in posting but I seem to spend too much time on Facebook these days.. John is still gone but we have stayed very busy with visitors to include Aunt Sharelle and Craven! They came in yesterday early morning and just left a few hours ago. Annabelle had a blast with her cousin and I very much appreciated a good nights sleep with Sharelle kindly taking Addison duty for me! (Thank you!)

The kids had a blast making cookies, playing with the trains, taking a bath and just chasing each other around the house (as well the cats!)

Annabelle is sleeping now, so is Addison so I thought I would blog and post some really cute photos from the slumber party!

Here you go!
Dinner time!!


Making cookies

Eating cookies


Peanut butter going in....,

and now coming out.. hahaha .. She is her daddys daughter!

Bath time!






Grinding coffee beans for me! very helpful

taking turns pushing the grind button!

A VERY proud big sister!

Annabelle after a long week and a day with no nap!

Annabelle doing her balance act at Grammy's

zonked out Addison!

Addison holding her head up well I'd say!

A smile!! I just LOVE IT!!

Happy Annabelle with her Odie!

More with Odie

Gran with Addison, Odie and Annabelle

Well... I have to say I am a very very blessed woman. I honestly don't know any of my friend that can go 10 hours with their in-laws and I had a wonderful time with mine for 10 days. No kidding... yes, by the time they were to go home we were all suffering a little cabin fever but I honestly can say I truly enjyed having them here and would welcome a visit any time!! Annabelle had a ball with her Gran and expecially her Odie. It seems she is very fond of men as she loves her Papa and Odie very very much... She was always playing with him and trying to take his spot on the couch.. Each day, through out the day she tells me "Odie had to go home".."on an airplane" It is very sweet and I know she is missing both of them very much. She is also getting much better with potty training.. She knows that she gets candy if she goes so it is certainly driven her to go more and try at least. She did poo and pee twice for Gran while they were here and pee once for me so I am happy! She is also counting into her teens now... and can say her ABC's with only a few misses! She loves to sing her nursery rhymes generally saying "no mommy!!" when I try to sing along or help her... and she is very into having her "friends" around her to play .. AKA bears, bunnies, and dolls... She is very very cute and is such a joy to watch... she is also starting to become a 2 year old... Yes her big day is only 2 weeks away... and she is starting to push my buttons.. I decided yesterday that i am going to pick my battles and not stress over her refusing to do something.. she may have yogurt and crackers for every meal until John gets home! haha... I realize I do ask a lot of her and am trying to treat her like a 2 year old..

Addison is finally getting back to her normal self. No more cough and congestion!! She slept for me last night well, sleeping from 10:30-2:30a and actually going from 9:30-2:30a between feedings! then slept from 2:30- 5:30 which I don't mind so much. Getting up at 5ish is my plan anyway. What I have started doing is opening Annabelle's door when Addison gets up and Annabelle is just thrilled to walk herself down stairs in the morning and at nap time.. (she is growing up!) Addisons's tummy is better on the soy but I have been giving her half and half (1 scoop soy and 1 scoop Advance Early shield formula) and she seems to be tolerating it well... Maybe I won't be out all the $$ I thought with formula I can't return and she'll go back to her original formula!

For me, I have trouble dealing with having no one to talk to when John is gone. I really dislike that and spend a lot of my time on line or "shopping" .. that is shopping without buying... Annabelle enjoys it and it gets us all out of the house when the weather is just crappy.

Tomorrow I plan to go to Oprymills mall and maybe mom and dads for the day.. just to have someone to talk to ! I know, I am sad...

Sharelle is going to come help for a day on Wednesday and stay the night and let me have a night of sleep! You are wonderful to offer and I am very excited about it!!! just after Sharelle is here Amber comes for a visit!!! Annabelle is VERY excited about seeing her, maybe more than I am it seems!!:) She is certainly not shy and really enjoys company! (more people to entertain!!) Then just after Amber heads home I head to NC with Addison and then off to Kauai! I am super excited about that but am trying to not look too far ahead and go one day at a time.. that way my expectations aren't set too high..

I am going to go, Addison is calling and I really want to watch the Titans!! forgot to add that each night generally about the 6-7 time frame darling Addison gets really fussy, it is 6 now so it is time for it! :)

Love to you all, thank you all for the prayers and I will keep you all posted on any news that comes along.. :)

Hello all! I have been just horrible about keeping you all updated with photos of the little one(s)... so I am going to post a post of all photos for you! (especially you Amber! )


The first are of Addison and then a few of Annabelle who just isn't a baby anymore.. :(
Addison's thoughts when she found out BOTH mommy and daddy were going to Hawaii without her!

Happy girl in Gran's arms!

FIELD GOAL! or PRAISE THE LORD!! we can't tell which one this is... regardless, it is a cute pose!

After a tough night of eating, sleeping and pooing!

Taken just now.

Annabelle..


Saying Hi to daddy!

Here are a few photos of the new mini van! I am thrilled with it and can justify the move to minivandom with the fact that it does in deed have a GPS navigation system.
This is the van in the garage. It is dark blue with grey leather.


This is the front seat.


Here is an inside shot looking back at the second row. The third row is down in this shot.

Here is a photo of the back storage section with the third row up in place.


Here is the Navi system so I don't get lost!



Here is the back up camera so I don't run over anything while backing out of the garage!


Photo of the parking senser. It has this on all four sides

Photo of the DVD player and the pop out remote! This also has two remote headsets that Annabelle will have to learn how to keep on her head!!

Welcome 2009! May you be even more wonderful than 2008.. I know many of you feel 2008 wasn't all that great but for us, it was a blessing.. :)

I am awake as you can see at 5 am.. I actually woke around 2a concerned because Addison last ate at 9:45p and I hadn't heard a peep out of her.. Yes, I actually laid in bed and was afraid to go check on her in fear something horrible had happened.. so I decide to go and just see.. Well she was just sleeping peacefully as can be until I touched her head...you know, to make sure she was still warm... as soon as I touched her she was awakened.. I am sure she would have any minute anyway but it was funny almost like I touched her and turned her on.. :) She is just wonderful by the way. She still has some congestion and a wicked cough but all in all she looks great and is getting back on schedule with eating and sleeping. I fed her a bottle and she quickly went back to sleep. me? not so much.. that was at 2:45 and it is now 5a and I have made coffee.. It seems I am not going to get any more rest.. I wonder if it is because I stopped taking my hormones? I seriously think that might be what it is... it works out really well with a newborn to not be able to sleep but once she starts sleeping, I'd like to join her... maybe I will revert back to my usual sleep pattern once she sleeps through the night..

John and Carolyn are here and I couldn't be happier. Carolyn and I are taking turns with Addison duty at night so we each get a full nights rest every other night! works great for me and I hope to have John and I do this as well once he gets home from his "training" in Hawaii! haha.. Yeah, right.. (kidding honey) John Sr's ankle is better but he is having some back issues now so he still needs those prayers. (thanks for the earlier ones and especially for the prayers for dear Addison)

I got my Christmas present yesterday!! I have spent the past three hours reading the owners manuals just so you know.. There isn't much to do at 2-3-4-5 am so that is what I did... haha...I am now proud to say I am, no WE are, a part of the MVDA... MiniVan Drivers Association.. yes, I broke down and decided to get a mini van.. After a trip to Annabelle's preschool in the cold rain with a newborn in tow I decided it was time to suck it up and do it. All my friends that have them LOVE them and I finally listened.. Actually what sold me was the automatic door openers (to include the back hatch) and the fact that you can get a minivan with everything under the sun attached... We looked at the Toyota and the Honda and ended up going with the Honda. It rocks!! We bought it used from Carmax (third car now from Carmax and still loving it!) and got the touring model. This one has everything (minus one thing that I really wanted and actually thought it had, the blue tooth) to include, a rear DVD, power everything, navigation system that talks to you and that you can talk to as well to control the route as well as the radio and thermostat!... it has heated front seats, a back up camera so I don't run into any of our junk in the garage, parking alarms (same reason as the camera!) and even a little secret compartment that I just happened upon.. I am a VERY HAPPY mama to say the least!.. It was rather a pain to get it with John in Hawaii and having to use a power of attorney but after about 4 hours it was all said and done and we are proud owners! I figure I won't be taking Addison anywhere in public (until she is 12!!!) so we can "play" in the van and act like we are going somewhere fun.. haha... Annabelle hasn't seen it yet but I know she will be very excited to have her very own head phones and a seat far enough back that she won't (can't I should say) kick the seat in front of her... :) Once the sun comes up and it warms a bit I will take a few photos for you to see.. it is dark blue with grey leather...

Thank you honey.. I did love my MDX but this really rocks..

Today we plan to hang out, maybe take down the Christmas tree and decorations, unpack all the Christmas toys and goodies and eat... Our dear friend Andrea brought over the yummiest meal of shredded beef, potato casserole (the best btw) and salad.. as well we will have to have some black eyed peas today for good luck though Walmart had NONE yesterday when I stopped! WTH? How can a store in the south NOT have black eyed peas on New years eve? so I may be heading out (for fun) to find some..

I may post again today... some resolutions (if I can think of any that I might actually keep) but I do want to wish you all a very wonderful 2009! I am so thankful to each of you for the love that you have for me and my family... know that that love it sent back to you as well 10 fold!!

Carolyn