Our Mardi Gras Party in the park!

Our neighbor hood hosted a Mardi Gras party in the park last weekend. We had a blast. Sam found great fun in all the activities for the children and was amazed at how good his chicken fingers tasted in the dark around a bon fire!
A little scared of the fire, which I guess I can say is a good thing!

This was the, "magic man". The magic man was going to attempt to paint his face, but Sam got scared and together they opted for a snake on his arm! It was priceless as he walked around on a chilly night with his sleeve up telling everyone there was a snake on his arm!
Finished product!

Then we discovered the bennets!

Do they know how to knock?

Every day, at least once, and always during nap time, our doorbell rings. I've decided I am going to have to get a NO SOLICITORS sign and blow it up and paste it to the entrance of our house.

Yesterday it was someone trying to sell us $100 dollar dictionaries along with many many magazine subscriptions. When I stated that I wasn't interested he then asked me to renew my current subscriptions through him so he could build his dream race car. Then he told me he would cut my grass and wash my car. The day before the guy had a "magic" bottle of cleaner for only a small fee of $90 that they would divide over 5 months for me and the best part about his "magic" cleaner is that my children could drink it (and he fully demonstrated it for me). And the best one was a guy who wanted me to give him my money for him to support his children and get them into college and to get his children out of the inner city???? And yes, we also have preachers knocking down my door, wanting me to take their pamphlets on God. -Always all with a warm slimy hand shake.

Now, if it isn't solicitors it is neighbors being nothing but courteous, but sometimes I think they are a little over the top. Yesterday the boys fell asleep in the car and I ran each one in and tucked them in bed. Well, only 2 minutes went by and the door bell rang AGAIN. The neighbor came over to tell me that I left my trunk open and my stroller outside. I graciously said, "thank you" and went and closed it and he felt much better. Then, last night I ran home to get some warmer clothes for the boys because we were outside and I left my head lights on and car door open with full knowledge that I was running in and grabbing the sweatshirt for Matthew that we forgot in the family room. My front door wasn't even closed and the door bell rang AGAIN and it was a different neighbor politely telling me that I left my headlights on & car door open. Again, I graciously said, "thank you" and went about my business.

Everyone is so nice and full of thought, but come on people....give me at least a few minutes instead of a few seconds to do what I need to do before ringing my door bell. They must think I am the neighborhood ditz. If you're selling girl scout cookies or Market Day I would be HAPPY to support you. I don't want to put your kids through college if I'll barely be able to do my own. I don't want your $90 magic bottle cleaner unless you'll clean for me. I don't want to shake your hand if I don't know where your hand has been and DON'T DARE wake my kids up because you'll be taking that "magic" bottle cleaner, pamphlets on GOD and $100 dictionaries and doing you know what with (I'll keep my blog clean). And nice neighbors, I'm NOT blonde, I have highlights!
Better yet, I'll customize my sign to read:

NO SOLICITORS!

NO NEIGHBORS UNLESS YOU BABYSIT!

Will Prosecute

A new find...

SOFT SERVE ICE CREAM! Sam discovered that McDonald's now serves soft serve ice cream in a cone and we believe his world will NEVER be the same. Last night we had a quality family dinner at the local golden arches. Sam ate his entire cone as Brad was fiercely intercepting the paper wrapping that surrounded the cone. If Brad didn't act as fast as he did, the paper wrapping would have disappeared in his little tummy.

While Sam devoured his new found love of soft serve ice cream Matthew sucked the life out of his left over chicken nuggets! These 2 new discoveries made for a great shopping night at Target for Brad and I as they were both completely 100% distracted.

What?

So we were driving along last night and we came across a sign that looked
like this....Brad and I both just looked at each other and laughed. This is a lot to incorporate into your head as you are driving along. First off you have to think about what day of the week it is. Then when you accomplish that you need to look at the sign and read it thoroughly and then look at your clock to check the time and then verify it is am or pm. Then you need to think, is it a holiday? This sign is hilarious and just made for a good laugh last night while Matthew was having a complete FIT in the car as we were driving home from the palace, McDonald's!

Wanting to...

...but just not ready to crawl. At least this child of ours likes to be on his tummy and is determined to crawl unlike his brother! Soon I'll be eating my words, but for now it is hilarious to watch him scoot backwards and scream out of pure frustration!

Washing Dishes

Home Free!

I'm excited to post that as of 10:30 this morning, someone new now holds the keys to our "old" Port Washington Condo! The closing went great, the keys were in hand of the new owners and our proceed money is now being wired into our account!!!

Thank you Barb for doing an outstanding job for us as you knew how important it was for our place to sell!

"This is fun!"

And to our surprise, Matthew LOVES the feel of soft green grass on his little toes!

Blue top brothers! Brad told me Matthews hat is girly...so we have to discard and go shopping. Hmmm...I wonder if they sell hats at my new favorite food store? Heck, I must go to Publix and check it out! $100 dollars later, I'm sure I'll find something Matthew can put on his precious head!

The faster you run, the better you'll sleep! RUN Sam RUN!!!

This child of ours could swing ALL day! Find Matthew

College; starting young

Could it be the next John Belushi Poster?

determined

Matthew is damned and determined to stand, walk and crawl so he can chase after his shining star, Samuel. He wants to do things just like Sam does and gets sooo frustrated when it just isn't as easy for him. His new favorite distraction, digging in the bucket of balls!!!

Cottage Cheese,

and tomatoes and prunes!!! A PERFECT meal to end the day with! He thought his dinner tonight was EXCELLENT! All because he was able to feed himself and mommy was able to shovel the prunes in his little mouth! You should have seen the look on daddy's face when he turned towards Matthew...(daddy does NOT like dirty hands and messy babies!)

What do you make of it?

Sam received a new train table for Christmas. Brad and I decided we were going to wait until we moved here to set it up. What a great decision that was on our part. Sam was on a cho cho train diet for the first 3 days after we set it up. He was tooo busy to eat because he was afraid he would loose his trains. We still have to peal him away from the table every once in a while because he is addicted. Here is what we've been seeing a lot of recently.

What do you make of it?

Everything had a story: The animals were getting ready to eat; the car was stuck in the water; the choo choo train was waiting to get on the tract...etc.

He had all his matchbox cars lined up in a straight line. When I asked him what he was doing he said, "I'm putting my trucks in a straight line". I replied, "Great! Can mommy put some matchbox cars in a straight line as well and help you?" Sam, "No mommy, no cars, only trucks go here and 1 taxi". MY goodness, when I looked at his line up, he had pulled all the matchbox trucks out of the bin and left all the matchbox cars. What a creative little mind. The funny thing is, He would not let me help him.

Then Matthew woke up, so I left Sam for a while, hearing nothing from him. When I went to check on him, he had pulled out all the animals and was starting to line them up. I asked, "What are you doing?" Sam, "I'm lining up the animals from smallest to largest!" Sure enough, he was. The out came the choo cho and the tracks! He is so precise!

And our first visitor was...

Gaga Judi! Gaga and her side kick Sassy dog came up to visit us from her winter get away in Sarasota this past weekend. Unfortunately the weather was cold cold cold so we were unable to do fun Oakleaf things. But we were able to show her around Jacksonville and Sam was able to have her undivided attention as he showed her all his toys!

I think Sam wore Sassy OUT.

Sam made sure Sassy was with him at all times!


Gaga showed Sam how to clean Chicken




Smile Sam!!! "I don't want to...I want to play with Sassy"...

"Phew, got out of another picture"


Thank you for making the drive and spending some time with us! We promise the weather will be warmer in April when you and papa drive through!

The missing grocery list

The boys and I went food shopping yesterday. I have to say I am addicted to the grocery store (Publix) down here. It is GREAT. We could honestly spend all morning there. Yesterday they were celebrating Valentines Day a little early and I got to sip champagne though the aisles and eat chocolate covered strawberries. It was fantastic. Sam carried a heart balloon through the store and stopped at all the food stands to try a sample. I was impressed at his ability to follow directions and walk beside mommy which was a big fear of mine.

Matthew was starting to get anxious and was in need of some attention. I actually think he was upset that nothing was for him to eat. Regardless, I left all the toys at home so was in need a distraction. So, I gave him my grocery list. He remained quiet the remaining of the shopping adventure, but as Sam and I were walking the aisles I was struggling with what I needed to get and was fiercely trying to find my shopping list in my bag and it was no where to be found (totally forgetting that I gave it to Matthew to play with). We checked out, Matthew still happy, Sam talking to the check out ladies and all of a sudden I looked at Matthew and he had 2 letters on the side of his cheek. The letters 'ha' were imprinted with black magic marker on the side of his cheek with a little piece of yellow paper stuck in the creases of his neck. MATTHEW ATE MY GROCERY LIST and the remaining list was stuck on his face and in the creases of his neck.

We're still looking for the 'shbrowns" to come out the other end....

Poor baby.

Matthew, already 7 months old!

And what a fun time it is going to be. The beauty of 7 months is the ability to start to become independent. Everything that Sam does, Matthew admires and wants to be just like him. Last week, Matthew went on a hunger strike. He absoultly REFUSED baby food and insisted on eating everything that we were eating and insisted on eating anything that Sam was holding. So, it was either give it to him, or make him starve....we opted for giving into him and letting him eat what we were eating. Downfall, he has no teeth.
No teeth = gagging and choking.
Matthew = determined.

So, for our family Valentines dinner, Matthew tried pizza . Wasn't a fan, but was a HUGE fan of tomatoes this afternoon for lunch. He sucked the life out of the tomoato. The juice stained all the way though to his onzie! His other favorites: cheese, fruit fluffs, peas, grilled cheese and bitter biscuits.

No hand leg coordination yet, which is fine for now. However, I sense all the frustration in his mind as he tries sooo hard to get to where he wants to go and just can't do it yet. Sam and I are working on it with him and we hope that by Easter he'll be a pro.

Happy Valentines Day today!!!
We celebrated with a picinic in the park and a trip to the playgound followed by dinner with pizza with daddy and a walk around the neighborhood. Man, living in a warm climate is definately treating us all well!

the traveling potty

We have been unpacking boxes for some time now. Sam has been so excited to see what is in all the boxes. Yesterday we unpacked a new children's potty chair that has never been opened. I had intentions of saving it until we moved, however, I thought about returning it since Sam has proven to us that he enjoys the big toilet. However, his eyes just lit up with excitement when he saw it. The words, "My potty, open, come on mommy" were rambling on and on in his mouth. So, I gave in to my intentions and opened it. His eyes lit up with such enthusiasm it was priceless...and all over a little potty?

So we put it together, put it in his bathroom and turned off the light and went about out day, as Sam became distracted with another object of interest.

Moments later I was occupied with Matthew on the other side of the house and Sam told me that he'll be right back, but I needed to stay where I was. So Matthew and I remained with direction and went about our business. Minutes went by, no sign from Sam. So I kept saying, "Sam, where are you? Can Mommy and Matthew come find you?" Sam, "No Mommy, I'll be right back". Now many many minutes went by and I began to wonder, but no worries yet as our house is completely Sam friendly.

A sudden rush of, "mommy, LOOK, I did it" came roaring into my room along with Sam holding his new potty chair, a roll of toilet paper and a naked bottom!!! He was so proud of himself as he had went potty in his new potty chair and carried it across the house to show off.

What a big BOY he is becoming!!!!

WELCOME WARMER TEMPS!

PARKS, PARKS and MORE PARKS!!!!!!! Brad and I already find ourselves going the longer way to the store so we AVOID seeing a park and AVOID a toddler meltdown. Sam is in PARK HEAVEN! We've been frequenting the parks daily and the weather is finally warming up. Today it is 70 and just beautiful. I feel guilty when I speak to a friend of family from home and they say it is in the teens. Sorry for the post, but I had to document

Sort of a picnic and helping

While waiting for the house to be cleaned, Sam enjoyed a picinc lunch in the back of mommy's car. Matthew enjoyed eating his fruit fluffs and was just content w/o his socks on!

On Monday morning we got our keys to our new home. Sam helped the workers who were finishing hanging our blinds...they were great at letting him help.

Our Hotel delay

We spent the first few nights in a hotel waiting for our truck to arrive with all our goods. Sam had a the time of his life. He was welcomed every morning with a continental breakfast that included his favorite: Eggs, bacon, milk, orange juice and bagels. He thought it was great to be able to eat ALL these things all at once! He even made friends with the maids who just adored him. They let him play with their feather duster. AND...Sam insisted on carrying his luggage through the hotel. It almost weighed more than him.

We also discovered that side rails DO work. Sam hit the walls a few nights as he tumbled off the side of the bed and landed face up on the floor! Not sure how he didn't wake up...through the thump of his body and Brad and I just laughing...his snored kept on coming!

The pacifier: we've been talking up moving to Florida now for a few months. One of our challenges we wish to accomplish is to say bye to the pacifier or as Sam refers to it as his nene. So, every day in Wisconsin when Sam would ask for his nene we would give it to him, but say, "remember, no nene's in Florida". He would repeat back to us and say, "okay mommy". So...when we landed in Florida it started. He has been doing great at not having a pacifier during the day. Heck, the kid is TOOOO busy to even THINK about sucking on a piece of plastic. Every time he is caught in his bed with his pacifier in his mouth he takes it out and throws it across the room and says, "No nenes in Florida"!!!

Thank you Papa Tom for showing Sam the straw trick. I must say he is getting better at blowing the paper off, but still needs a little assistance as his little fingers still are a little uncoordinated. Sam was spoiled to death eating out at restaurants. He had a great appetite and did very well sitting for dinner. However, what kid wouldn't, he got grilled cheese, pizza, spaghetti and PB&J almost every day!!!

This is Marla the maid.

Our day of Travel

It was a very very long day on Sunday, Feb. 4th, 2007. We awoke (with alarms, not children) at 4:00 a.m. on a very very cold cold morning to arrive at Mitchell International airport by 6:00 a.m. We were welcomed with a 3 hour mechanical delay due to the extreme cold temps, which meant we would miss our connecting flight through Atlanta to Jacksonville. So, our trip was re-routed through Cincinnati and we finally arrived in Jacksonville around 6:30 p.m.

The boys did great, given the circumstances.

It was STILL dark when we got to the airport...but Sam was so excited about the planes he had no idea what time it was.

Sam fell asleep as we were heading for take off...poor little guy was so excited to fly, he didn't even get to experience the live excitement
Matthew, he was so happy (THANKGOODNESS). He just played with his toys, ate bread and played with the mans hair in front of us.

The Adventure has started...

We are ESCAPING this nasty nasty cold cold ridiculous weather. This morning we woke up and the weather man told us it was 2 degrees with a -12 windchill. I really can't remember when it has been this cold. But, I guess we've had a mild winter so far.

What have we been up to?
These past few days have been what we call unbelievably crazy. Matthew and I met the movers at our home to pack up on Thursday morning, along with our realtor to sign some last minute paperwork for the sale of our Condo. The movers had all our home goods packed and ready to board the moving truck by about 4:30 p.m.

On Friday morning the movers arrived at 6:30 a.m. to start the load up. Man it was a chilly one for them. One of the men had to put another layer of socks on to maintain some warmth. Thank goodness it was Brad's morning to be on "owner duty" to see that all our goods got on the truck. Both our cars got picked up by yet another big truck a little later that morning. A few hours later Brad saw off the movers as they pulled their truck out of Cumberland Lane, heading south to Florida. We expect to see our home goods on Tuesday Morning at 8 a.m. and until then we'll be hanging out at our hotel, playing choo choo with Sam!

Mimi and Papa Tom, Thank you so much to taking care of Sam these past few days. It just made things so much easier and less stressful for Brad and I and Matthew too! He will miss you dearly.

Tomorrow starts another journey for us as we board our Delta Flight to Atlanta and then to Jacksonville. We are all packed and ready to go, it's just a matter of making sure everyone it up and ready to go by 5:30 a.m. which never really is a problem in the Teplin household.

We will keep you posted with our journey in the next few days. We are out of internet commission until Wednesday morning. Pray for us that our plane door isn't frozen shut and we can deplane.

We love you all and will miss you all.