PINK!

We have a pink problem here and she goes by the name of Lucy. That girl is just a pink fanatic! I'm not sure where this obsession came from. I mean, yes, she has plenty of pink in her wardobe, but there are lots of other colors present as well. Her room is BEIGE and her bedding is BLUE. So, I know it isn't just a result of my pushiness (though, yes, I do love pink and her next room WILL be pink).

It is reported that last weekend she played Go Fish with Grandma & the boys. Apparently she had a card with a pink fish in her hands and she WOULD NOT give it up. No way no how was that girl going to give the pink fish up.

Today I was rocking her and told her she had pretty brown eyes. Then I asked her what color my eyes were. Her answer? Pink eyes! I told her, that no, my eyes were brown, too. And then she clarified, "my want pink eyes". (Note: for some reason the word "I" and their name has been replaced with the word "my" by my children, so we hear a lot of "my likes that" or "my wants that") I told her she couldn't have pink eyes, which resulted in a major fit before naptime. Sigh...what am I gonna do with this girl?

I'm not upset about this development. I mean, really, I love all things pink and girly. However, it gets frustrating when she refuses to wear anything but pink socks, even when she is wearing purple and orange!

Saying Goodbye!

To my scrap booking/card making hobby, that is. I finally had to force myself to make a choice: either I can scrapbook or I can exercise, but I don't have time on a daily basis for both. I chose exercising for many reasons, but mostly because I really enjoy it (and, well, I really enjoy being thin) and it is good for me. My consolation is that I get to keep my knitting stuff -- since I can take it with me when I'm otherwise doing things that are non-productive (like riding in a car) I can justify keeping the hobby.

A few months ago I had purged a lot of my stamping stuff on Ebay, but only stuff I didn't use anymore. A few weeks ago I got drastic with the clean out. I had an indecent amount of extra paper in my office. As in, I had AT LEAST an extra pack of every color of paper that Stampin' Up makes (or used to make anyway -- 48 colors + all the neutrals). So, every pack of unopened paper went. I thinned my stamp collection by 1/2. And I got rid of about 1/3 of my stamp pads. I listed them on Craigslist and have been happy to get rid of most of the sequestered items -- the rest are sitting in boxes waiting to go, but they will NOT go back in my cupboards. I'm in the process of finishing Lucy's 1 year album. And when that is done, the rest of the lot is going (well, almost everything -- I'm keeping some crafting basics for the kids).

I'm kind of torn between relief and sadness. I really enjoy paper crafting. I also really was stressing about having all that stuff and not using it. And it is GREAT to get it out of here and free up the space (and get some of the cash back in my pocket).

So, goodbye stamps and paper and punches and ink! May you bring hours of entertainment to the next person (and surely many grumblings from their husbands)!

The devil lives here!

And he goes by the name of Ross. Seriously, that boy is just a HANDFUL! Anyway, I was snapping pictures the other day and this is what he greeted me with:

Lovely, isn't he? This is one to save for those moments in life when I want to embarrass him!

Critters!

So, it has been a long time since I posted -- too long. My apologies -- there isn't much point in keeping a blog if I'm not going to post on it. I have my reasons, which range from not having enough time (but then, who does have enough time?) to irritations with the world on a whole. Anyway...I want to try to do better.

So, I'm going to get back on track by telling you the tale of our critter problems. It has been a few weeks -- maybe a month or more since this happened -- but the story needs told. One day I walked into the kids bathroom to see something green on the shower wall. Now, the kids bathroom is very white and bright -- white tub and surround, white shower curtains, white trim and very pale beige walls. So, a neon green object on the wall stands out. I look, expecting to see something of the kids glued to the wall, only to find a tree frog (such as the one pictures below that I found in my flower bed) clinging to the wall. Okay, how on EARTH did a frog get in my kids bathroom?!?! The window doesn't even open!!!


So, what to do? I can deal with furry critters, but I DON'T DO AMPHIBIANS!!! I briefly considered calling Jeremy and telling him he HAD to come home over his lunch to take care of this. Then I thought again, since I'm pretty sure he would have said no anyway. Ok, so who do I call? Yup, you guessed it, poor Betty got a call. The first thing she asked me was how much Jose I had consumed that morning. And she asked me that again after she peeked around the bathroom and couldn't find it. Once we found it hidden on the window sill, she finally believed that I wasn't skunk drunk at 11:00 in the morning. So, luckily, Betty got it outside for me. But a few hours later, I look out my front door to see it clinging to the side of the house at eye level right by the door. Poor thing...I got my broom out and played a game of hockey-frog until it was out in the street (I don't think I killed it, but it was pretty sad looking by the time I was finished).

Jeremy almost always gets up about 20 minutes before I do. On good days, I get up once he's in the shower, so that I'm ready to get in when he gets out. About a week after the above incident, I did just this. As I was opening the door to the bathroom, Jeremy says to me (from the shower), in a very serious voice, "Michelle, stop. There is a frog on the window." Now, just so you know...Jeremy likes critters even less than I do. So, I backed out of the room and shut to the door. Crap! How are these things getting in? There isn't a window that opens in our bathroom either!

These things were too big to have come in through the exhaust vents. My only conclusion, after having read dozens of blog posts with similar problems, is that they were coming up the drain of the tub. So, we keep our drains closed now, which is slightly annoying because we have a perpetual puddle of stagnant water in our tubs. And I check under the toilet seats, and behind the toilet and around the windows, etc. before I do anything else in the bathroom!

And somewhere in the middle of these two incidents, I went out to my garage one day (actually, Lucy puked on the garage floor and I went out to clean it up) to hear a funny skittering sound. I look around and note that the noise is coming from an empty box on the floor (we're getting ready to put a bunch of stuff in storage before we put the house on the market, so I've been hoarding boxes). I look in the box to find a mouse. A little thing -- a creepy, ugly little thing. Sorry, but I don't like mice AT ALL -- or rodents of any sort for that matter. Luckily, the box was really tall, so it had apparently crawled up the spare car seat on the floor and fell in, but couldn't get out. Now, normally I have NO compassion for critters in my house. I don't usually let critters escape alive. But, since this thing was already contained in the box, I picked it up, carried it out to the road and down the street a little before letting it out. Wanna know that little ~!@# did? It ran back up the street, straight up my driveway and back to the same corner it started in. Gah!!! It was WAR now. I put rat poison down...I haven't seen the mouse again, but most of the rat poison was eaten.

The worst thing was that we had THREE spare car seats sitting on the floor of the garage, all of which had obvious signs of mouse habitation. One ended up in the trash (it was too old really anyway), but the other two had to be taken apart and cleaned. I really HATE having to wash car seats.

So, apparently my home is just a bit to inviting...I need to find the critter welcome mat that is apparently hidden somewhere and remove it!

I've been stewing about this for a few weeks now...

...and it has finally gotten the better of me, so now I'm going to "speak".

When we were visiting Ohio a few weeks ago, our arrival was greeted with the report that my family had been informed I was expecting another child. Um, no, I'm not pregnant, thank you very much.

I had a rather long rant on this subject typed up, but deleted it because, well, it was angry and nasty and, though well deserved, sure to cause hurt feeling somewhere. So, I'll just say, I'm really upset about this. And, no, I'm not pregnant.

My little goons!

Since all I can seem to muster today is a post centering around pictures, I suppose it is better than nothing! I think stress is hurting my ability to think clearly, so articulate and well thought out posts are apparently on hold for a while.

Anyhoo...here are a few recent shots of the kids.

Ross, being an absolute goon in Ohio:

Hannah at her soccer game in Archbold (and, yes, they really were playing on a soccer field and not in a soybean field):Lucy sporting her latest accessories (I'm addicted to knee socks right now):

Reid getting ready for the Buckeye game (poor kid was really sick this day, too):

My little cheerleader:

And, you know, I really should get a new shot of me for my blog header. Hmmm...maybe not until after my next visit to the colorist -- y'all might be frightened of my hair the way it stands now!

Since my sister said it was okay...

...I thought I would post some pics of my niece.

These were taken last weekend when Laney was just shy of 6 weeks old:

Hannah and Lucy love their little cousin!




Isn't she the sweetest little thing?

And these were taken in September when she was about 3 weeks old:

Ah, yes, Aunt Michelle showed up and insisted on bows. Doesn't she look thrilled?

I'm totally bummed that it could be a really long time before I see Laney again, even though I totally understand the difficult logistics of trips (I'm soooooo not trying to guilt Val & Steve into visiting more often). I never understood what the hullabaloo was about us moving away, but then everyone that I knew was grown and pretty set in their ways (well, except Hannah, but we see her frequently despite the distance). But now I get it...Laney is little and changing and I don't know her yet. She'll be a different person the next time I see her. And my kids are little and constantly changing...family & friends miss out on all kinds of stuff when we're away. Still doesn't change that things are the way they are (the way they need to be, for us at least), but I get "it" a bit better now. Miss you already, Laney Lou (I've already saddled the poor girl with a nickname -- my two little Lous -- Lucy Lou & Laney Lou)!

Really, who thought THAT was a good idea?

Mondays are my cleaning day and, invariably, the day the kids get to watch the most TV. (Hey, you gotta do what you gotta do...and those floors are DISGUSTING after a week of kid crud hitting them.) So, today, Ross requested "Pete's Dragon" as the video to tide them over while I was mopping.

Now, I never liked "Pete's Dragon" as a kid. It was just a bit too sentimental and sappy for me(things I just don't like in movies -- you won't often find me heading to the Hallmark channel). It was interesting, however, to see (what bits I caught when I was flitting around the house) it from an adult perspective. And, my biggest question is this: who the heck thought it would be a good idea to include a drunken old man as one of the main characters and several bar scenes in a movie geared at the "G" audience? Seriously...beer...in a kids movie? WHY? Now, I'm obviously not so offended by this that I'm tossing the movie (it didn't scar me too badly, I guess), but it did make me laugh.

My other gripe with the movie is this: why is the teacher the bad guy? For that matter, why are almost all the adults seen as bad guys (well, except the pretty lady -- apparently pretty ladies are okay)? It seems like an unnecessary inclusion. I mean, really, why would we want to teach our children that teachers are scary creatures to fear? And do we want to teach our kids that you can judge a person's moral content by the way they look?

Okay, so maybe I'm picking the movie apart. And maybe I've been brainwashed with all the PC junk that floats around anymore. However, I think "Pete's Dragon" gets a D in my book for children's viewing. It can stay in the house, but only because the kids think Elliot is a hoot and were giggling uncontrollably at some of his antics.

P.S. I do this to all our kids books/movies/shows, so don't be offended if you are a lover of "Pete's Dragon" (I could nit-pick apart "Beauty and the Beast" next, if that would make anyone feel better, or even "Clifford" -- the opening song on that ticks me off every time). I over-analyze them and can find fault with almost any story.

A Niece!

I guess I touched on this a bit in my last post, but didn't really go into detail. My sister and her husband welcomed their first child into the world in August, which also happens to mean that I finally get to be an Aunt! I didn't think to ask if my sister was okay with me posting pictures or revealing names, so I'm going to call her L. for now. She is sweet little thing and I'm glad I got to meet her a few weeks ago when I was in Ohio!

I was totally thrilled when I learned months ago that she was indeed going to be a she and started planning my knitting right away. I've been just dying to show off my work and I finally can, as I gave the gift to the my sister and her husband when I was visiting. Since they live in Guam right now, but visit Ohio a lot and will eventually move back, I wanted to make something that they could use in either place. So, I picked a lacy pattern, hoping it would make it light enough to use in Guam, but something that you could layer over turtlenecks and leggings. So, this is what I came up with:

I'm totally in love with the pattern and definitely going to make Lucy one for next spring.

And, while I was in Ohio, I got to be a sponsor for L.'s baptism. I also got to make the cake (and in this case, cupcakes) for the baptism. I am really very happy with how they turned out, especially considering I made them in an unfamiliar kitchen. I think I'm really getting the hang of fondant now...

I can't wait to visit again next week -- and this time everyone but Reid will get to go! Jeremy is a closet baby-hog, too, so I know he will be happy to meet little L., too!

A new addition to the family!

I should be exhausted, but I can't sleep, so I thought I would take this opportunity to update here. I drove to Ohio yesterday, getting up at 3:00 AM to make the trip. I stayed up until 12:00 baking cakes (for my nieces baptism) and now I'm awake again at 5:00 AM. Ugh...you would think, considering the fact that I am here without the three small kiddos, that I would take advantage of my opportunity to sleep in and get caught up on my rest a little, right? Nope. Sigh...I'm a maniac.

We got a new car about 3 weeks ago -- an Acura TL. A beautiful, steel grey, fast, sleek and perfect TL. I LOVE it! I fell in love with the TL's the first time I got in one and have been itching for one ever since. I guess my husband got tired of hearing "I want a TL" every time one would drive by us. I have not a single complaint about the car, which is a good thing because we'll probably have it for 10 years (we tend to drive our cars for a long time). I feel a little guilty about not getting the hybrid we originally set out to buy, but I also couldn't feel good about spending a ton of money on a car I didn't love. I drive a van the rest of the time -- I don't want to drive something practical when I get the chance to go somewhere without car seats and diaper bags -- I want something EXHILARATING!

I have a geeky admission, too. We named the car. Not necessarily on purpose, it just kinda happened. It is my fault. Do you know who Tommy Lee is? He is a rocker who played in Motley Crue. I just unthinkingly called the car Tommy Lee the night we bought it. Jeremy couldn't figure out why, so I told him, "because the cars initials are 'TL' and the car rocks". Get it? It rocks, like a rocker does? Hah hah -- I crack myself up! And, yes, I'm a dork. So, if any of you hear us talking about Tommy, that would be the new car, not a new child or pet!

I've been looking forward to driving up here because it would give me a chance to test out Tommy on I-77 in West Virginia. He didn't disappoint. It was a fun ride! I'm not going to want to go back to my van after this trip, though I do miss my little people (and, so far, we're trying to mostly keep the little ones out of the new car).

My crazy kids at the beach!

So, we spent last weekend at Topsail Island again -- one of my favorite places to be in the whole wide world! As usual, we had an absolute blast! For the first time in 5 years, too, we noticed that things are getting easier with the kids -- we were actually able to relax a little. Woohoo!

The boys LOVED playing in the surf (and weren't a bit scared of it, which is why Ross had to wear his life jacket). Lucy liked the water, but favored playing in the sand. By the end of the weekend, though, all three of them were complaining because their bums were raw from the sand in their suits -- I tried to tell them to stop sitting on the sand at the waters edge, but they were sure I was selling them bad advice. Oh well...it is their bum, not mine.

So, anyway, I took a ton of pictures and decided to play a little with black and white. I'm really quite happy with these...

Ross being Ross:
The boys getting along quite nicely (whew):

My favorite person in the whole wide world:

Lucy with her brooding look on:

Lucy being industrious:

Lucy being cute:

Lucy striking a pose:

This is my favorite -- the boys doing what they do best -- running and laughing and having fun:

Ross doing exactly what his big brother is doing:

Daddy showing the kids something neat:

Reid looking entirely too grown-up:

Lucy turns 2!

Okay, really, how did that happen? It seems hard to believe that my baby (my LAST baby) turned two this week. Time sure does fly when you're sleep deprived and too busy, doesn't it?

As usual, we didn't do anything too extravagant for her birthday. We were at the ocean on the big day, so we very happily ignored the event until we got home. Last night we had a small gathering of family and close friends -- no balloons, no games, but plenty of food and good times.

She sure is a sweet little girly-girl who loves all things pink! We got her a bitty baby from American Girls, that she loves (so does Reid, for that matter) and she already has her first beach outfit for the baby thanks to the D. family, which has been on and off her at least a dozen times now. Is it sad that I'm just as excited about the doll as she is?

Here are a few pics I snapped of her in her birthday girl outfit (which has been in the closet since last year and I've been just itching to get it on her)!

Grandma gave her a little pedi in preparation for the party!

I skipped the fondant on the cake this time and opted for swiss meringue buttercream. It was neopolitan themed -- chocolate and white cakes with strawberry and vanilla frosting. It was very good, though my frosting was too soft, which made for a slightly crooked cake. I made the butterflies with chocolate candy discs -- they weren't hard to make, but there was a learning curve to getting them to look the way I wanted.

Sigh...goodbye summer!

Summer seemed to come and go in a hurry this year. Hannah is off to the 8th grade (which is unbelievable to me), Reid started kindergarten (no way!) and Ross is off to preschool (okay, that I can deal with). All three of them seem to be enjoying their new school routines, but Lucy is feeling a bit left out and would be quite happy to stay at preschool with Ross!

Anyway, here are a few shots of the boys on their first days of school:

So, now we're settling into a new -- and busier -- routine. I was completely overwhelmed the first couple of days, but now it isn't so bad. The house is quieter and calmer during the day when Reid (and sometimes Ross) is gone, but I have more running back and forth to keep track of. I'm completely terrified that I'm going to forget someone somewhere.

The only big problem so far is that Reid comes home in one heck of a (sour) mood -- he seems to love school, though. I have several theories on this, but think it mostly the fact that he is exhausted and expends all his good behavior at school (because the reports are that he is an model student at school). So, I'm frantically trying to find ways to sooth this little speed bump!

Is she possessed?

Lately, Lucy seems to be making an exceptional effort at ramping up for the terrible twos. She's always been a pretty laid back kid, and she does still listen exceptionally well for a not-quite-two year old. However, she can get into trouble faster than I can blink (and it is saying something that she can surprise me with anything after her brothers).

Since we changed her crib to a toddler bed, we've had issues with her getting out and playing at nap time. It hasn't been a problem, until this week. Normally, she'll just play for a bit (never trying to leave her room, which is fabulous) and then either crawl back in bed or fall asleep on the floor. So, when she was making noise on Tuesday during nap time, I didn't think much of it. She went to sleep eventually and nothing seemed amiss. She woke up grumpy, which is very unusual for her. I went in to find her covered from head to toe in slime and a wearing a very dirty diaper. It turns out that she found the drawer in the changing table where we keep the diaper ointments, orajel, baby lotion, etc. She had just about every tube/bottle from the drawer out with the cap off. Her toy kitchen dishes were strewn about the floor, covered in muck -- the spoons were full of the stuff, so she must have been "cooking". Plus, she had rolled around and her diaper had leaked. Lovely, just lovely! Oh, and I should mention that she was totally peeved that she was dirty and insisted on an immediate bath (not that I would have let her go anywhere but straight to the tub anyway).

Ugghh...this called for an emergency shampooing of the carpet. I'm really glad we have our own shampooer, though I found ours isn't working right (drat), but it worked well enough to get her room done. So, I better get the part replaced on the shampooer before Lucy can find something else to get into. Hmmmm...she loves the pump of liquid soap in the bathroom, too. Perhaps I should switch to bar soap to avoid anymore unplanned carpet shampooing!

Fourteen!

Somehow -- and I don't really understand it -- but somehow my little girl turned 14 today. I shouldn't be surprised by this, considering the fact that she towers over me at this point, but yet here I sit amazed that she is really growing up so quickly.

I took a few shots today, though I'm not totally pleased with them and think I'll try again tomorrow.

Her cake was a major undertaking for me this year. She wanted fondant and came up with the idea for a giraffe print cake (inspired by one of my favorite bakery blogs). I decided to take a stab at a tiered cake for this, which was really not that hard. Overall, I'm very pleased with the cake!

It wasn't perfect, but that is okay -- I only do these a couple of times a year, so I really shouldn't expect perfection. I tried a few new recipes -- chocolate fondant (for the black) and meringue buttercream (which goes under the fondant). I LOVE the meringue buttercream and doubt I'll ever make a powdered sugar based buttercream again. The stuff was just HEAVENLY!!!! The bottom cake was chocolate and the top was lemon (mmmm....my favorite).

I also tried something new with the fondant. In the past I've kneaded the color into the fondant after making it (as is usually recommended). This time, I added the color to the melted marshmallows before mixing in the sugar. It was much easier this way, though admittedly limits you to a single color per batch.

We had a small get together this evening and had a pretty low-key celebration, which was really nice. Hopefully the next birthday party for Hannah won't creep up again so fast...

Seriously!

I don't know why I'm having such a hard time keeping this thing updated lately. I really miss taking the time each day to look back and review what was going on and what I was thinking. I just need to put blogging back on my to-do list. Of course, my biggest challenge is that Lucy has taken to messing with the laptop if I try to use it. We keep the laptop under one of our arm chairs (and the other one is upstairs where the kids generally aren't allowed because that is where we keep our office and gym equipment), and if I sit down and try to use it Lucy will unplug it, pull the screen down, bang on the keys, etc. I know she'll outgrow it eventually, but for now it is really hard to get anything done on the computer.


So, anyway, I've been busy lately -- not with any one thing in particular, but just a lot of little stuff, one of which is twice weekly physical therapy, which I don't think I've mentioned here before. For a while now I've been having numbness issues in my right hand. It got so bad that I was having numbness anytime I lifted my arms -- shampooing hair, doing the dishes and many other activities left me with numb fingers. The last straw was last spring when I attempted to paint one of our closets -- my hand went numb as soon as I lifted my arm and stayed that way for several hours after. I could hardly get the trimming done, because I don't have good dexterity when my fingers are numb and feel like they've been resting in a snow drift for a few hours (note to self -- the linen closet really should be repainted). I was pretty freaked out -- my active imagination started running amok with all the horrible things that could be wrong with em. So, I ended up at my doctor (along with a slew of other bizarre symptoms --running problems mostly, also on my right side, which now appear to simply have been a result of poor/over training). I was put through a massive amount of tests -- blood draws and an extensive set of x-rays -- and was also referred out to a specialist for some kind of special nerve mapping in my hands.

The specialist discovered that I had a messed up shoulder, which was causing the numbness. I was doubtful when he told me this, but consented to his recommended cortisone injections in my back (which hurt like a *&^#, by the way -- I felt like I had been beat to pulp in my upper body after the shot). Surprisingly (to me), they worked -- or mostly worked. I seem to have some lingering issues that they are trying to work out through therapy, but the numbness is only occurring now when I spend several hours knitting. I can deal with that! Hopefully the therapy will fix the problem completely, but I'm growing quite tired of the frequent appointments, which is just one of the things keeping me hopping. On the other hand, I'd take therapy over the shots any day. He swears they usually don't hurt much, but if you're tense they can be very painful. Apparently, I'm a very tense person -- he told me I need to work on controlling my stress better (hah!). Yeah...I'll get right now that!

July in a flash!

Wow!!! It has been ages since I posted. I guess July has just been a really busy month for us.

We, of course, started the month of celebrating the 4th in our usual fashion. One evening we enjoyed the NC Symphony here in town and then also did the big Ft. Bragg event on post. Both were a lot of fun, though I'm partial to the concert -- it is just a lot quieter and less crowded. The kids loved both, though.

So, here are a few shots of the kids at the 4th events:

Hannah doing her best Ross impression:

The next major event on the calendar was Jeremy & my 10th anniversary. I didn't even get a picture of us, but it is too late to fix that now. We ended up taking a short trip to Greenville, SC (a spot on our list of possibilities for relocation next year) and had a nice time. Their downtown is fabulous and the city is beautiful. The trip ended up being a mixture of house hunting and relaxation, but the fact that we didn't have kids with us was the best part -- we were in need of a few hours sans kids.

Last weekend we made our first trip to the blueberry patch for the year and came home with 17 pounds of blueberries. We ended up stopping about picking up about 10 pounds of peaches on the way home, too. The kids were in hog heaven all weekend -- they are bottomless pits when it comes to fruit (which is a good thing, as far as I am concerned). I need to go back again soon for some more picking -- seventeen pounds won't last us very long!

And then last week we took the grand tour of Virginia for a combination house hunt/vacation. We spent some time in the Fredericksburg area and then headed out towards the coast. We got a day at Busch Gardens in (thanks to their FABULOUS military program it was FREE), which the kids really enjoyed and then headed to Virginia Beach for a couple of days. I'm not quite recovered from that trip. Maybe after the trauma of staying in three hotels over the course of four nights has worn off a little I'll be able to remember the good stuff that happened during the trip. Those pics will have to come later...

Disney!

Uh....I have been so busy. I started this post something like three weeks ago and am just now getting around to finishing it.

So, these are in no particular order. I am too lazy to organize them better.

The last night we were at Disney, as we were getting ready to leave, we discovered a dance party. I think this was almost the most fun we had the whole time. The kids got to dance with the characters and had a blast (even Hannah). Here Hannah is shaking it with Chip (or Dale, is there a way to tell them apart?):

The kids sporting their ears while Ross glowers at me:

Waiting impatiently to ride Big Thunder Mountain Railroad (Ross hated it):

You should know who these people are:

Ross being Ross:

A picture at the beginning of the trip of Hannah & I, before we were all worn out:

Grandma & Grandpa with the kids:

Grandpa doing an uncanny impression of Ross (sorry, Dad!):

Waiting for the light parade at Magic Kingdom (yes, I bribed them to sit still with copious amounts of sugar):

Look at that sticky face!

Reid loved his treat!

Grandma & Ross on the teacups:

Hannah being a goon:

The kids getting along nicely (for a change) at the hotel:

Ross posing for a picture: