Disgusto

Disgusto means disgusting of course. It was a word invented by Max but most often used by Jack. We went through a period where everything that Jack tasted was "disgusto". It is actually pretty cute to watch him wrinkle up his nose and say it. Well its the word that best describes our last 24 hours. Luke, Jack, Doug, and I all have the stomach flu and it's disgusto. The smell, the laundry, it's all disgusto. Thus far Max and Mer have dodged the bug, they are actually loving it I'm sure because they have been sipping sprite all afternoon and Doug is getting them wendy's or something for dinner. That's what's happening here.

We have a one year old!

Luke is One!! Man that year went fast. We celebrated the day by getting balloons, wrapping presents, and making a ball cake. Of course Luke had his regular day of naps, driving the kids to school, and playing with Jack with the addition of Jack telling him all day long "It's your birthday Luke". Jack was so excited for him and couldn't wait till everyone got home for the party.
After dinner we had presents. Luke tried to open a few but got a bit of help from everyone. New clothes, new books, a sand toy basket, a ball, some spoons, a little elephant, and a little dog that barks and pants when you pinch his ear.

He wouldn't let go of his new pail and shovel once he got his hands on them and we eventually had to hide them to get him to notice any of his other presents. Then we had CAKE and let Luke tear into it. It was supposed to be a ball cake but with all those pokey circles I'm not sure he recognized it as one.

The frosting was hard from it being in the fridge and we had to help him get started. He had been playing with his new spoons just before cake time and he woudn't let them go, so the funny thing is that he ended up digging in with a spoon in each hand and eating like a pro. Such good table manners Luke!Happy birthday little buddy, we love you

Happy Valentine's day

Ever since Jack heard about Max's school V-day party he's been asking if he gets could go to a party like that. So Since Valentines day was on Saturday this year we had a V-day party at home in the afternoon with everyone. We all exchanged cards, decorated heart cookies, did a sand art/glitter picture, and opened packages from Grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. Thank you everyone for your valentines. We had a nice time and laughed over Doug's personalized Valentine poem cards. Mer and Doug gave me pretty red tulips and we treated ourselves to Papa Johns.


Monday was a day off from school. The kids really wanted to go swimming. I checked the forecast it said the high was going to be 80... so we ventured out to the nearest heated pool. Driving there we had to make a few stops and in getting in and out of the car it seemed the day was not heating up as the forecast said it would. The temp was 66 at ll:00 when we arrived at the pool! We had fun anyway and it was only cold when we got out because of all the wind. Luke and I even got in. Luke absolutely loves the water and kept squealing with delight at all the splashing. Here's a pic of Max shivering in his towel.
Meredith was a little mermaid and was last to get out
After we swam we changed clothes and had our lunch in the WARM car. Sufficiently toasty again, we went to the neighboring park for a little run around time.


Oh yes, When we got home in the afternoon I looked at the computer which was still open to the forecast of the day. It was then that I realized that I had pulled up the Melbourne, Australia forecast. No wonder it never got up to 80.

Twenty-Six Point Two miles

I'm a little slow at posting this but last weekend Doug ran his first official Marathon. He did the local Inaugural Melbourne and Beaches Marathon. We all went out to cheer him on and keep tabs on him around town. He was looking really good here when he passed us at 16 miles he was placed 30th male.

Here he is running over one of the "causeways" of the Indian river.

The last 6 or 7 miles he had to run/walk because his legs were cramping up pretty badly. He came in at 3:46. Of course, Doug is his worst critic and would say he didn't do so great. But I think he did awesome. Good job Doug! Now that he has followed in the footsteps of his Dad and Sis, (and Mom if I'm not mistaken?) he can finally be considered a true Markos.I have to add one more note and show off a couple of aprons that I made this week for a raffle basket at school. They are matching Mom and Daughter ones. I love how they turned out.

Go Diego Go...in the Cold

We've had a lazy week, dealing with a couple of colds and enduring the freezing Florida weather. The chill is finally lifting, it actually got up to 63 or so today. Over the last couple of cold spells the majority of our landscape plants have had the outer layer of their leaves frostbitten to death. I think this might be the coldest winter we have had since we've moved here. We have done our part this week to keep Swiss Miss in business this week with all the Hot chocolate we've been buying. This week we got a Diego Video from the library and so of course Jack current favorite game is pretending to be Diego the animal rescuer. Last week he was pretending he was a lost boy. And so today the two merged into "Hey Mom, pretend I'm a lost boy who likes to rescue animals" In the lost boy theme he's lost because his mom and dad died at Halloween.
We also set up a pretend house this week in our front room, which has served many purposes this week. Yesterday it was a castle and the kids kept running back and forth saying pretending to slay and run away from the evil bad guy army. Max is the warrior who captured and killed the most evil bad guys. "King" Meredith just gave him a medal of honor in this picture

Luke just loves to watch the action and get in on it when he can.

I finished a project this week that I started last October. A baby quilt for Doug's cousins "new" baby. Baby Veda, if you're reading, this should be coming your way soon.
I finally figured out a way to make a tag for my "business" that looks somewhat official. Yay!

Not Chicken Pox??

So I took Max to the doctor today to confirm the diagnosis. She said she "wouldn't call" them chicken pox because he has had the both immunization shots and they are not exactly tale tell chicken pox. She "couldn't say" what they were either, even though they continue to appear on him. So we are back to school tomorrow with a doctor declared not contagious slip. I guess if I'm right about the chicken pox then Luke should get them some time in the next week and a half. We shall see...I have definitely been wrong before, hopefully that's the case this time.

Anyone Want Chicken Pox?

Luke is 11+ months now and seems to be increasing in his ability to zoom around daily. He's not walking yet but he has started to walk around things and push chairs around the kitchen. A couple of days ago I turned around and found him sitting on the dishwasher door. Luckily I caught him before he grabbed knifes or something.

He has always loved plinking on the piano...this week he learned how to get there and do it himself. It was so cute to see him balancing on his toes to reach it.


And who said boys don't love doll houses? I thought this shot was too great to pass up.


I got a chance to try a project I've been meaning to do. I made these cute shirts for a baby shower this week.

Max was in Lego League at school this year and yesterday they had their Expo where each team presented their final project and was judged. Here is his team receiving their participation award. Their team had to develop devices to measure climate change. He built the ship on the top left. Max loves lego, and will be sad there is no longer and hour a week where he's required to build something out of lego.

And then we came to the conclusion yesterday afternoon that we think Max might have chicken pox. Yes he's had the required for school vaccination. He has had one little dot on his face and one on his elbow for the las few days and we thought they were odd but he wasn't seeming to get anymore and they didn't itch or anything and it looked like they were going away. Well yesterday afternoon we notices a bunch more tiny ones on his face emerging. Also after looking for them we found one on his torso and one more on his arm. The look like the real deal, blistery, crusty when they break and everything. He wouldn't let me take a picture of it. So Max and Luke and I are home from Church watching WALL-E today, I'm going to assume he's contagious until I check with the doctor tomorrow. Sorry if we have already exposed any of you without knowing. Luke hasn't had his vaccination yet (not typically given until 12 mo. old) so if this is really the pox I can only assume he'll get it in the next two weeks. My previous doctor, in discussing vaccinations, said she had a whole list of people who wanted to know when someone had chicken pox so they could expose their kids and not get the shots. So if we've got the virus, does anyone else want it too?? Doug was joking with Max that this might be something he could use to make money...charge people for his exposure. Look like we'll be quarantined for a while I guess.

Oh, yeah, one more thing. We found a cute valentines gift idea on family fun...A conversation heart iPOD. or iLOVE as they call it. Max and I made one today. He thinks it's awesome.