A Pleasant Weekend

What a nice weekend it ended up being! We had a free day with the kids on Saturday and there was nothing stopping us from doing something fun, so we headed over to Downtown Disney. It turned out to be SUCH a nice day. We did a little strolling and shopping. Then a train ride and carousel ride. Then ate dinner at the Rainforest Cafe, listened to a Children's Chorus do an outdoor concert, and then it was to the Ghirardelli store for some ice cream (or nonfat mocha's for Will and I). :) It was such a nice time.

Here's Anna posing with Sleeping Beauty

Anna and Aiden riding the train.

What a big boy on the carousel!

What fun!

At the Rainforest Cafe. Aiden and Will being silly.

Me and Anna at dinner

Here we are posing after dinner in front of the giraffe statue.

Oh, and the highlight of the day - ICE CREAM!

Today I did a Kindermusik birthday party, and after it was over, I met up with Will and the kids at Chuck E. Cheese. Tonight I led a teleconference for my local Kindermusik educators chapter. I am the new Local Rep and this was my first "official" task in the position. It was a really good phone meeting.

This coming week is our LAST week of classes for our Spring 2007 session. I can't believe it!!! Time flies!!! I will have a little break, while we gear up for our Summer session and then it's back to the grind! (it's a good grind, I'm not complaining at all!)

Have a GREAT week everyone. I'll report back soon!

Love, Holly

I LOVE FRIDAYS!

TGIF!!!

Happy Friday everyone!!

This was one busy week! As always I took Aiden to My Gym on Tuesday. My mother joined us so she could see Aiden do his thing!

On Thursday I took a day off from teaching Kindermusik because Anna's preschool class had a Mother's Day Fiesta! The children greeted us at the door with homemade sombreros on, then served the parents food, followed by a sing along. It was all very sweet! towards the end, Aiden (who was in the toddler club on the other side of the school) was brought to me, and he got in on the act too!

Today Rachael and I did a Kindermusik demo and then the kids started swim lessons. This year we hired a private swim teacher to come to my mom's house. Miss Simone is teaching Anna, Aiden, Kayla (my niece) and Amy (Rachael's daughter). I think all the kids did pretty well for their first time back in the water.

Here's Aiden getting comfortable with Miss Simone

Anna and I looking on with concern. :)

Here's Anna practicing some kicks.

And here she is actually having FUN!


We took it easy tonight, and were happily surprised to receive a call from Sam in Iraq. It had been about a week since we heard from him, so it was a welcome surprise, and a relief that he is okay.

Tomorrow we are FREE and CLEAR and want to have a really fun family day. Not sure what we are doing yet. We'll see.. and Sunday, I have a Kindermusik b-day party to do. So of course there's still LOTS going on!

Have a GREAT weekend!

Love, Holly

Changing the world, a little bit at a time...

I LOVE what John Mayer had to say recently on his blog...
http://www.johnmayer.com/blog#329

Happy Reading, and go LIGHT GREEN!
Love, Holly

Week 9 weigh in!

Well, I weighed in and lost another 1.8 lbs this week for a total loss so far of 11 pounds. I have 8 to go to reach my goal!! YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here is my updated weight loss chart. The pink star represents another 5 lbs lost and it's also my latest spot on the chart. :) I'm getting closer to that goal!



Have a great week everyone!

Love, Holly

SO much excitement!

SOOO much to catch up on!

Friday night we went out to celebrate Rachael's birthday. I of course brought along the camera, and well, I guess we got a little picture happy. We went for Sushi (I can NEVER have too much Sushi), and it was gooood!! The dinner was fun, lots of great conversation and lots of laughing...

but the interesting part happened AFTER dinner!!

We were walking out of Fuji Sushi, on our way down to Urban Flats for dessert, when this guy holding a bunch of signs comes up to us. We were thinking "who the heck IS this", but he asked us if we like chocolate. Well, HELLO, like we are going to say no? So we said yes, and casually mentioned that it was Rachael's birthday, and he leads us into an empty store that has chocolate. It's apparently a brand new chocolate shop, and he only opened 2 days before. He leads us to the center of the store where there were dispensers of various chocolate items, and proceeds to give us samples of everything.

THEN, he took Rachael over and handed her an AMAZING basket of chocolate items to take with her for free. wow!!!

That was quite a shock and sort of surreal. We left there all bewildered, but obviously amused. Will and I both agreed that at first it was sort of eerie -- I mean here's this guy, just randomly unlocks a door to a chocolate factory, and give us free chocolate. Sort of Willy Wonka - esque. Don't you think?? haha!

Anyway, then we finally made it to Urban Flats for some chocolate fondue (like we needed that????). It was definitely a challenging weight watchers evening for me, but I actually didn't do that badly!

Saturday was a long day for me. I taught Kindermusik, hosted a "free play", and then took care of the kids all day/ night because Will was triple booked on weddings & events.

Sunday (yesterday) we spontaneously took the kids to see "Jack and the Beanstalk" at the marionette theater in town. They LOVED it!!!!

Today was a big ANNA day. She went to school, and then had dance class, and THEN we took her to orientation at her new Elementary School. Will and I were very emotional. It was really surreal to be taking our daughter to the school to meet the teachers, etc. I was SO impressed with everything. The staff was really nice. The principal was as well. As we got out of the car, and walked to the school... Will and I both noticed what a BEAMING smile Anna had on her face. She was truly excited about her new school. This just made me MORE emotional, if that is possible. We checked in, and Anna received a goody bag that was decorated by a current Kindergartner. So cute.

Then the principal spoke, followed by some others, and then we were invited to explore the 4 Kindergarten classrooms, meet the teachers, etc. Anna LOVED that, and was excited to see that some things in the classrooms were the same as her school has now. :)

After that, Anna was invited to go through the cafeteria line and get a cookie and milk. The principal was there and explained to Anna exactly what to do, and how it works. Anna was very intrigued. I was so proud of her because she said hello, told him her name, and said "Thank you". What a good girl!!!

After that she of course ate her cookie,

and then we bought her an East Lake Elementary shirt. She posed with it proudly for the camera.

When we got home, Anna couldn't wait to call ALL her grandparents, and one by one tell them about her experience at her Kindergarten.

So there you have it! We have come to my current state of lounging on the couch with my laptop, procrastinating from doing paperwork, and contemplating watching Ugly Betty from last Thursday on the DVR. umm.. Yeah, that's what I'll do!

More soon, I promise!!

Love, Holly

It's Wednesday already??

Hope your week is going well. Our weekend was great. My mom and Jerry took the kids on Saturday night, so we met up with some friends at my FAVORITE Sushi / Japanese restaurant in town, Amura. Then we went and played pool. Lots of fun. My mom kept the kids through most of Sunday as well, and Will and I slept in until after 11am! I can't remember the last time we did that!!! It was AWESOME!!!

The week has been busy. We did a Kindermusik demo on Tuesday at one of the hospitals for the "Mobile Moms" group, which went VERY well, and the week has been going strong ever since. I weighed in at Weight Watchers yesterday and lost a whopping .2 lbs. ugh! However, I knew it would be like that because every 4th week I'm, how shall I say...moody and bloated! LOL. So all I can hope for is that next week my body levels out, and I lose LOTS! I officially have 9.8 lbs to lose to get to my goal. Which seems so reachable now. Yey!

Happy Birthday to Elizabeth, who had a birthday yesterday, and an early Happy Birthday to Rachael who's birthday is Saturday!

Tomorrow I will teach 2 Kindermusik classes and then in the evening I'm going out with my friends to Season's 52. Yummmy, and healthy! Friday I am doing a birthday party for a 1 year old. So sweet, and then in the evening going out to celebrate Rachael's birthday. I am definitely being challenged to stick to my Weight Watchers points over the next couple of days.

Saturday is our last Sat. Kindermusik class of the session followed by our last Free Play of the session. Our Spring session is coming to a close, and we have already gotten Summer registration underway. It's still 2 months away, but we can proudly say that we are almost full in a couple of our classes. Wow!

Today we enrolled Anna in summer camp. It's called "Camp Eagle Day Camp" held at the Double R Private School. She will go twice a week for the summer, while I teach Kindermusik. Aiden will continue to go to A Kid's Gym where he will go to school in the Fall. He LOVES it there, and the teachers LOVE him! That is where Anna has gone for 3 years, and will soon graduate. Anna's Kindergarten Roundup (orientation) is this coming Monday. I can't believe it!!!! I'm getting a little, no a LOT, emotional about that!

Okay, so that is the update on the Lesnick front. I haven't snapped any pictures in the last few days, but will for my next post!

Have a wonderful rest of the week everyone. I'll be back soon! :)

Love, Holly

How Lucky You Are...

Greetings! It's LATE Friday night, and I'm sitting in bed, winding down after a long week. It was a long week for everyone in America though...

However, personally things were pretty good this week. Kindermusik classes went wonderfully.. and here we are, the weekend is here!

On Thursday, we had family haircuts... I took some pictures (of course!).






Today I helped set up a vendor event we were doing for Grow and Sing.


I couldn't stay because I had tickets to take Anna to see "Seussical the Musical". However we did stay long enough for an opportunity to pet a police horse.






It was the last show of our season tickets and it was GREAT! Anna wanted to pose in front of a poster so we would know what show she went to!

It was so nice to spend time with Anna one on one. I think we'll get tickets next season as well. Good stuff!

This weekend my mom is taking care of the kids, so Will and I are going to have some time together to relax. We are very much looking forward to that!! Especially since next week is a CRAZY work week for BOTH of us!!

And now a little inspiration. In the play we just saw, there was a song, that REALLY rang true, especially this week. I thought it would hit home for lots of us right now, so here you go, it's called How Lucky you Are:

When the news is all bad,

When you're sour and blue,

When you start to get mad

You should do what I do-

Tell yourself How lucky you are...

When your life's going wrong

When the fates are unkind

When you're limping along

And get kicked from behind

Tell yourself how lucky you are...

Why decry a cloudy sky

An empty purse A crazy universe?

My philosophy is simply Things could be worse!

So be happy you're here.

Think of life as a thrill

And if worse comes to worse (As we all know it will)

Thank your lucky star

You've gotten this far...

Hope everyone has a good weekend. And... just remember how lucky you are...

Love, Holly

Tuesday tales...

Hello... well, it's been a sad couple of days listening to the horror that went on at VA Tech. I have been watching TV probably a little too much, and crying for those poor college students and faculty that went through all that, and the poor families getting their bad news. I just couldn't imagine. I was just watching a story about one of the Professors that died yesterday. He was a Holocaust Survivor. Imagine escaping the Holocaust and then this.... Anyway, my heart just hurts for what happened.......

Anyway.... on a lighter note, things are well around here. I've been getting some work done in between activities... and tomorrow I teach Kindermusik.

I weighed in today, and lost .8 lbs, which brings me to 9 lbs lost in 7 weeks. Not bad! I have 9 lbs to go to get to my goal. :)

After dinner tonight I read some books to Aiden

and then Anna and I worked on a 100 piece puzzle...

Aiden helped by handing us pieces...

Aiden also decided he wanted to walk in my shoes! Haha!!!

Love to all ---

Holly

Our update, and Iraq update..

Well, it's Sunday night and we just finished watching Sopranos and Entourage, both really good and now I'm blogging, then going to bed.

Unfortunately, I'm not feeling so great right now. A little sinus pain, etc. but hopefully I can shake it off quickly. We had some strange weather today, so that probably has something to do with it.

Anyway, to catch up where I left off ... well... Anna is officially registered for Kindergarten. It was a little traumatizing actually going there and doing it. But Will reminded me that it doesn't mean she starts tomorrow. She still has like 4 months before she goes.. so that's a lot of time to get used to it! :) I took a picture of her new school. It's been open only 2 years, so it's nice and new.. and we hear GREAT things about the principal. There is a Kindergarten "Round Up" on April 30th which is an orientation, and then on May 30th Anna will go for an assessment with all the Kindergarten teachers. I guess they like to find out what levels the children are at before the year begins.



There was a "parent's night out" schedule with my friends for Saturday night, and since Will was working TWO weddings, I asked Rachael to be my date. It was nice to get out on a Sat. night and just have some adult chit chat.


Our original plan today was to go to the Lake Eola Arts & Crafts festival.. but unfortunately we had some pretty severe storms this morning. So we waited it out until the storms passed, and finally around 2pm we made it out. We met up with my sis, Steve, Kayla and Brandon for a late lunch at RJ Gators. It was yummy, and then strolled the mall a bit together.

Here are the happy girls..


Here's my happy boy!


Here's Happy Brandon!


Me and Aiden


The family strolling through the mall (minus me)


Kayla, Anna and Aiden showing off their dollar store purchases...


We ended up strolling to get the kids some cookies to finish off the great afternoon we were having and the kids were hungry, so we ended up feeding them dinner. We caught this very sweet moment... isn't that sweet?


So, it ended up being a pretty good day, just with a stormy start. Will and I also talked with our friend Sam today who called on a Satellite phone from Iraq. He is doing okay.. but he said something that was pretty sad. He said that as we all go on with our daily activities which are always busy, new and exciting... for the Marines over there, it's like the movie "Groundhog Day". He said it's the same exact thing everyday. The good part about that statement is that at least he isn't in the front lines where it IS different every day... but I felt really bad for him when he said that. So Will and I think it's time to help make at least one of his days DIFFERENT from the rest. We want to get another box together of goodies and send it off. SO, if you are reading this and would like to contribute to a box that you KNOW will land in the hands of our friend Captain Evans and his unit... just let me know. It can be anything from food, to books, magazines, DVD's (they have them on their computers), CD's, personal hygiene products, etc. Our last box that we sent over was received well, as it was a CASE of girl scout cookies from us and the Joachims. Apparently the cookies were consumed in about 10 minutes!!!! The box also contained items donated by my mother's co-workers at ORHS (thank you all!!!). Our goal is to send the next box in TWO weeks. If you live far away and are reading this, and want to contribute, you can do so by contributing $$ and we can purchase items for you. Oh, and Sam and his unit were originally supposed to be over there for 7 or 8 months, and now it's going to be at least 13 months. :(

Sam, if you are reading this, please know that it's our goal to bring some joy to one of your days VERY soon!!!! No more Groundhog Day!!!

I think that's all for now. Tomorrow will be busy. Kindermusik, Anna in school, Anna's dance class, my chorus rehearsal. So, it's time for me to go to BED!

Until next time...
Love, Holly