On Top of the World!

This past weekend was a special one for Whine 2. She is our most independent and unpredictable child so we are never quite sure what each event with her might bring. Friday night was the Spring Concert at her school. She waited all week to get to put on her fancy dress and big brother wanted to look his best too.

The evening began with a pasta dinner at the school. Since Christian was wearing a red tie, I wasn't too worried, but both girls were well covered for the meal.

After dinner it was time for the concert. Jayna might not be the most cooperative during rehearsals, but when it comes to the show, she gives it all she's got!

I do not believe that it was an accident that she was standing next to her teacher, Mrs. Arin, throughout the performance.

The final number was a song she had been practicing for weeks and Daddy and I have had a lot of fun with it too. They sang "Believe it or Not." Jayna was definitely "walking on air".

No coincidence that we have since started watching episodes of The Greatest American Hero.

That night Jayna was definitely my hero. 

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It's Raining, It's Pouring, Soon I will be Snoring!

Are you familiar with the phrase, "When it rains, it pours?" Usually this is referring to what seems to be a deluge of challenges coming at us all at once. I am grateful that God sends us challenges in groups. I tend to be a person who dwells on a single negativity even when it is in an ocean of wonderful events. Just one bad thing drowns the positives and gives me the grumbles. Well, when I have days when it pours, there are too many negatives to focus on any one of them. I find it much easier to block a group of events rather than a single event that plays over and over again in my mind. That leaves me open to focus on the sunshine that is there - and they are there no matter how much rain the day had.


While running errands today, Hope brought a smile to so many faces as she waved, played peek-a-boo and blew kisses to those around us. I will easily fall into a peaceful slumber imagining those precious blue eyes.

Tomorrow will be full of its own challenges. We'll start the day off with a great workout with Baby Boot Camp. And then return home to finalize our items for the Pasadena Community Church Children's Consignment Sale that opens to the public on Friday.


Hopefully I'll be able to sneak onto the computer to blog about the great weekend we had.

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I Miss it... I Miss it not

Going from a two salary household to a one salary household has required some creative cuts to our spending. Some things we have changed have gone completely unnoticed while others I will admit to missing (but not enough!).

I Miss it...

* Cleaning Help: For one year we had a wonderful woman come and clean our home every other week. It was a huge blessing that is dearly missed. I thoroughly enjoy being able to serve my family by keeping up with the housework, but I haven't quite figured out how to get it all done.

* My daily IM chats with my FLVS girls. They kept me grounded and laughing and I miss them dearly. I no longer have enough computer time to chat, write blogs and keep up with Kindness Closet. 

* Going out to eat. This was our biggest cut back. We are not fast food people but would frequently find ourselves at our favorite restaurants. We especially miss frequent trips to The Westy where everybody there really does know our name (and not just because we are often fussing at the kids to keep it down and be still).

I Miss it not...

* Cable TV: I had expected to happily miss this but as it turns out, there is nothing to miss. With an antennae that brings in about 50 channels and $8 a month for Hulu Plus, we have everything we did with cable including a great substitute for the DVR. (We've never figured out how to get the kids to bed in time to catch our favorite shows.)

* Haircuts for the guys: While they may miss this - especially as Barber Andy has been cutting three generations of Morrison Men on a regular basis - we have found that an inherited set of clippers gets the job done just fine. I'm still fine tuning my skills; especially the Rayhawk, but overall my men are looking good!

* Paper plates: We had an un-healthy habit of using paper plates pretty much all of the time. I have rediscovered the dishes I received as wedding gifts and love using them again. 

* 20 pounds: I definitely do not miss the 20 pounds I have lost since  resigning my online teaching position. While much credit is due to the MOLO Challenge (Mother Love Fitness Challenge), I'm sure that not sitting in front of the computer all day helps also.

This is just the beginning of the miss it / miss it not list that I've been compiling the last 2 1/2 months. I'm sure there are many things yet to discover.

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Ball Game With My Buddy

Yesterday I was blessed to have a special outing with my buddy-boy. We went to the Rays game and had a blast watching them win against the Twins. We had to push it to get to game after church  in time for the kids' hat giveaway, but we made it. Love the new green Earth Day Rays hat!!

Christian has been in love with baseball for as long as I can remember. We were told that the general rule of thumb is that kids would make it through the number of innings that matched their age. So at 2 years old we expected Christian to sit through 2 innings. He surprised us by making it through the entire game then and now he wants to stay as long as possible after the game. He loves every second of it and I love the special time with him.

Since it was Sunday Family Fun Day at Tropicana Field, Christian was able to run the bases after the game. The picture was a little off, but you can kind of see him just after he crossed home plate.

Thanks again to Nana and Papa for the tickets, the ride and the yummy ice cream!!

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"Born With A Broken Wanter"

First, thank you Pastor Colin of Faith Fellowship St. Petersburg and Dennis Taylor for the above quote and title of today's post:


"Born With A Broken Wanter"


As humans we want. As Americans we want a lot. As Americans we also get much of what we want but are never satisfied. If your household is like mine, there is a daily battle of the "wants".  The kids (okay, parents too) are too susceptible to the media and peers to determine what our wants are. Unfortunately,  these are all wants of a broken wanter. How and when can our wanter be repaired?


At the end of our earthly lives, what do we want the most? I often hear of the elderly saying the only thing they want is to be surrounded by their loved ones. Is it because they have been their whole lives and loved it? Or is it because they missed those opportunities throughout life and want to make up for it before it is too late? Either way, there seems to be a trend toward the wanter getting repaired as you prepare to enter Heaven. But why does it take so long? Wouldn't life be more fulfilling if we lived it without a broken wanter?


Psalm 37:4  Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart. (NIV 1984)


The sooner you put your trust in God and delight in Him, the sooner you will no longer have a broken wanter. Let's be accountable to one another to trust in God and live with a well working wanter.

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Class Information

Born to Read - Yes! Born to Run - Great book!

As I've mentioned before (see Stickwithititos), I'm not one who sticks with things well. One of the few things I have stuck with consistently for many years is reading. When I left my job two months ago, one of the things that just fell into the place was the revival of a book club I used to meet with. Last month the club read was Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Super Athletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen by Christopher McDougall.

As a wannabe runner, I LOVED this book. As someone addicted to my fancy running shoes and orthotics, I was a little frustrated with this book. 

This book is a biography. I read very few biographies of people currently living and might not have read this one if it had not been selected for our book club. However, like any really good book, I got completely sucked into it. While corresponding with a classmate from high school, she mentioned she knew some of the people in the book. Thought that was totally cool!

The anthropological segment of the story proved to be some of the most fascinating to me.  The argument that humans were evolved to be a running animal instead of a walking animal was beautiful. The simple living of the running Tarahumara was inspirational. The discussions of running form were educational.

When I was a classroom teacher, I was saw a native Hawaiian student training for a cross country meet and was intrigued by his running form. Instead of his feet coming up and forward with each stride, they seemed to come almost straight down and kick back. This intrigued me and I tried copying it for awhile before I reverted back to me original form that really doesn't resemble anything traditional. Born to Run talked about this kick-back running style as a way to conserve energy and prevent injuries while running. I'm committed now to working on adopting that as my style.

After finishing this reading adventure, I was hungry for more. The story had talked about a photographer who had been so I went to Google to search for the images. I started off with a search on one of the main characters in the book, Caballo Blanco. Unfortunately, images of the Copper Canyon Ultra Marathon were not my first results. What came up instead was the awful news that Caballo Blanco was missing after setting off for a morning run. I followed the stories and the next day it was reported that his body was found. Not the ending I was hoping for, but then again, that's what happens in biographies that doesn't often happen in fiction. 

Live long, read often and run.

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My Sunday Lesson

After a few weeks of serving in the nursery, recovering from birthday parties and dealing with sick children, I was finally able to sit and enjoy another wonder lesson at church today. Pastor Colin is continuing to teach through Philippians. The two points that struck me the most didn't really come from the meat of the lesson, but rather from points that were made to reinforce the meat (maybe that would be the garlic and pepper... yum...).


The first item to really catch my attention was nothing new, but has an entire new meaning to me.


"Our joy is complete when we completely share the desires of Christ."


I have no notions of experiencing complete joy until I reach Heaven. Until then I will continue to be pulled away by my human desires. However, the recent decision to quit my job and focus on my family was something Christ has been calling me to do for years and I didn't do out of fear. I couldn't image being joyful with so much less money and spending my time as a housewife and mommy. I love being a wife and mommy, but I couldn't imagine being fulfilled in that roll. After (almost) 2 months of obedience, I see that I am much more joyful now that I have time to focus on the priorities God has set for me life. 


The second item ties into the first.


As a Christian I must humble myself as a servant to Christ and as a wife and mother I must humble myself as a servant to the family with which He blessed me.


During the years of disobedience regarding my work life, I argued that I was best serving my family with a paycheck. Boy was I wrong!! God will always provide for our needs and His provisions are perfect. My family needs me and I had failed to see that He was providing for them through me. Not monetarily but me. Serving them is a special privilege He has set aside for only me. I am the wife He chose for Chris and the mommy He chose for Christian, Jayna and Hope. My goal now is to ensure that I find joy in every task that comes with fulfilling God's plan for my life. That joy is there since I'm caring out the desires of Christ and it is up to me to humbly live and share that joy as His servant.

Micah 6:8

New International Version (NIV)

He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. 

   And what does the LORD require of you? 

To act justly and to love mercy 

   and to walk humbly with your God.

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Deal!!

Warning, this post will not include pictures as we prefer to clean in our underwear due to the intense heat with which we live and the frugal nature with which we run our air conditioning.


Like most families a regular struggle in our home is getting the kids to pick up their rooms. Our oldest two share two rooms. One is their bedroom and the other is their playroom. We like that it creates separate sleeping and playing areas and promotes a sharing spirit. However, it does make it difficult at pick up time to determine who should be picking up what messes. We've tried letting them figure it out for themselves, but the fact is they need help. We've given them each a room to clean or each a side of a room to clean. We've set timers, set up reward systems and threatened consequences. All to no avail. One Saturday morning Whines 1 and 2 were told they could not go play with their friends until their rooms were cleaned. They were in those rooms all day except for meals and bathroom breaks and still went to bed that night with a mess. We've tried daily pick up so it doesn't get too bad, but frankly we just don't have time for that on most days. So one of my biggest dreads each week is pick up day. 


Last Thursday was pick up day. The kids were told I'd be vacuuming on Friday and would throw away or give away any of their toys that got in my way. On Friday morning as they were leaving for school (and the rooms were still a mess) Whine 1 proposed a deal. He said that if I would clean their rooms without a garbage back then they would clean all three bathrooms after school. I pointed out that would include showers and toilets and they were both on board. Now neither of them have ever cleaned a bathroom and I knew I would have to supervise that task, but it still sounded like a good plan.


While they were at school I got their rooms done (and was able to clear out some junk they will never miss) and when they got home, they were more than happy to get started on their new chore. We did the first bathroom together and then they did the  second two on their own. Now, they aren't perfect, but them main parts are done and they are passable. Best of all, I didn't have to do it and they worked together as a team without arguing (for the most part).


I'm not expecting to pass on the toilet brush for good, but it sure is nice to know that they are each capable of a new household task. We all get bored completing the same jobs day after day so if changing it up makes it better, I'll be more than happy to share the household duties to make that happen. 

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Kitchen Disaster ... or not??

I'm a bit picky about my babies eating refined sugars. By their second birthday they are usually digging into a store bought or boxed cake, but for the first birthday I make them a healthy version of a cake to tear into. The problem is that I am rather incompetent in the kitchen. I'm famous for messing up Hamburger Helper... three times. So a from scratch cake is really pushing my limits. Christian and Jayna each got an Applesauce cake that was okay. They enjoyed them for the most part, but most of the leftovers got tossed. That recipe has long since been lost (perhaps thrown out with the Hamburger Helper Boxes) so for Hope I had to find a new one. So off to the trusty Google search I go and found this site: 

Healthy First Birthday Cake Recipes

  I scrolled through them and was captured by the following statement, "If you have little baking experience and you're worried about making a mess of baby's first birthday cake, then this is the recipe to try - it's almost foolproof!"

Recipe and Foolproof are usually not words I put in the same sentence so I figured I would prove the author wrong. The problem was I didn't! The Banana and Blueberry cake was delicious! We had muffins for breakfast the morning of Hope's birthday and they were a huge hit with the entire family. Well, not the icing. I was shocked. My entire family was eating the same thing that I had made from scratch. It was not only healthy, but the kids only wanted the "cake" and not the icing. 

After this great triumph I was determined to make these cupcakes part of our everyday diet. So one day this week I stocked up on ingredients and decided to tackle a double batch. My first task was to mash up 12 bananas. That didn't sound too fun so I decided to try out the strange machine that recently took up residence in the corner of our kitchen.

Lo and behold

So maybe this baking thing might just work out. 

I continued to prepare the dry ingredients and then the others that needed to be added (chopping blueberries which I found was easier to do if they were still a bit frozen, melting butter, and whipping eggs.) During the egg whipping stage I ran into a snap. I needed 8 eggs and only had 6. Looking out my window I did not see the cars of any neighbors home to borrow from (yes, we do that on our street) so back to Google I went. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that bananas can be used as an egg substitute. Since I already had 12 bananas in there I figured being short a couple of eggs wouldn't matter. This kind of thinking often gets me in trouble. Before I could finish the project it was time to get Whine 2 from school. So after lunch I was back to business but now with a helper. I mixed up the ingredients and filled the muffin tins.

But oops... there appears to be an ingredient that didn't make it into the mix. So I scraped everything from the tins and little cake pans back into the mixer, turned it on (too fast, got splattered, learned a lesson) and cleaned all the pans to begin again. Got it all ready and realized I had never turned on the oven. So wait to preheat, put them in, nurse the baby and...

Maybe a little burned as previously mentioned nursing baby stops at no timer, but overall not too bad. Final test of success:

YES!! Both Whine 1 and Whine 2 gave their approval and ate about 3 mini-muffin cakes each. If the lack of eggs, late added butter or slight browning was a problem, it was completely missed by these two.

The only challenge I'm facing now is that this process took me all day. That was three days ago and there are only about 4 muffin cakes left. Please tell me the process can be streamlined.

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(Almost) Free Family Outing

A couple of weeks ago we packed up the family and went to the "Fancy Mall". AKA International Plaza. We call it the fancy mall because it has many higher end stores that the mall 1 mile from our house does not have. Now we are not typically a family that shops at the higher end stores, but this mall does have two specific draws that keep us coming back. One is the Kid's Play Area that is huge and has a Tampa Bay Rays Looney Tunes theme. To avoid the tempting California Pizza Kitchen that we pass to get to the play area, we packed our own lunch and had a ballpark picnic.

After lunch the kids took off playing and Hope practiced her new walking skills around the bases.

And she's safe!!

As the kids were playing, we happen to notice this sign:

Oh yay!! It was FREE PRETZEL DAY!! So for dessert we each got a delicious pretzel from Auntie Anne's. (Until I just typed that while looking at the picture, I always called it Aunt Annie's...). Then it was time to round up the troops and head to our second reason for going to the Fancy Mall. Off to Fit2Run we headed and while Mama and Daddy tried on new shoes, the kids got to run around the track. Great way to burn up energy! The shoe shopping was successful (especially thankful for the gift card we got for Christmas) and now we are ready to prepare for our next races. I've registered for the Women's Half Marathon in November. Sounds like a long way off, but I know I better start training now. 

Who wants to train with me?? If I can get out of bed early enough on Saturday mornings, I'm hoping to join the IRunMommies St. Petersburg and IRunMommies West St. Petersburg for some runs. They are some HOT mamas and even though I can't keep up, with the motto "No Mommy Left Behind", even a turtle like me is welcome. You will also find me cross-training at Baby Boot Camp St. Petersburg enjoying the beautiful parks and company of the great friends I've met there.

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Singing the Baby Blues

While I'm no stranger to the postpartum blues that follow the arrival of a baby, nothing tugs at my heart more during the baby stages than the first birthday. My sweet Hope Elizabeth turned 1 yesterday and I'm so happy and sad all at the same time. With each child I have struggled with this momentous event, but with Hope it seems to be an even bigger challenge. I think it's because I know she will be my last baby.

No picture can recapture the moment I held her for the first time. No journal entry can recreate the feeling of nursing her as an infant. All of the First Holidays are done. At Target the other day I saw outfits for "Baby's First Easter" and almost got one forgetting that this will not be Hope's first Easter. I'm having a hard time imagining what life will be like without the anticipation of a new baby to look forward to. Chris, my wonderful husband, reminded me that the precious newborn and infant time, for me, is like a slice of heaven and that I haven't made it to heaven yet. My heaven will be holding my baby forever. Until then I need to focus on the wonderful gift God has given me on Earth. The gift of standing beside my husband and watching our three wonderful children grow up. There are many milestones to look forward to during Hope's second year. Each Holiday will be new for her as she doesn't remember last year's. She will cheer for Christian at his baseball games. She will copy Jayna's dance moves.


She will tell me she loves me.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, HOPE!!

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First Comes Love, Then Comes Marraige

I want to start off wishing my wonderful husband a Happy Anniversary!! Here we are 9 years ago today:

As with most anniversaries, we usually take some time to think about how it all began. Prior to meeting Chris I had very few long term relationships and was not much of a "dater". I would sometimes fantasize on how an arranged marriage would be so much easier. My parents probably know me better than any else in the world so why not just let them pick the person they thought best and we'd go from there. Of course that is not how our society and culture works so I was on my own for finding Mr. Right. Or was I??


Jeremiah 29:11
"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. (NIV 1984)




While I had no idea who I would marry or if I ever would, my Heavenly Father had already made those future plans for me. I had the wrong perspective in wishing I could rely on my earthly parents to choose my husband. God knows me better then even they do and He also knows Chris (who my parents had never met and therefore could never have considered for my husband). I am so grateful that I left it to God to find the perfect husband for me. I, nor my parents, could have made such a perfect match on our own.




Whine 1 (with the help of Grandma) made us each a card to celebrate this special day. This is how they were addressed:

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Stickwithititos

 Not to be dramatic or a hypochondriac or anything but I believe I have a disease that has not been discovered yet. Or perhaps it has, but I haven't had much time for watching the news or reading the paper lately. I also try not to google medical issues because that just leads to further panic. So, my unofficially diagnosed, perhaps undiscovered disease may or may not actually exist. It is, without a doubt, more of a psychological disease rather than a physical one but those two are never mutually exclusive.

So consider that A is ... , I'm stopping myself. Although this is taking everything in my being to do. I have a great desire to turn this into a lesson on Venn Diagrams and disjoint events, but that's not the point today so I'm turning off the Statistics teacher in me and moving on with my new career as a disease inventor.


I have named this psychological/physical disease Stickwithititos. Stickwithititos is when an individual fails to see tasks through to the end on a regular basis. My current symptoms can be seen in losing weight, various crafts and projects around the house, my career, exercise programs and the list goes on. I know these symptoms are common and that many others must also suffer from Stickwithititos. But why??


I recently read an article in Parade Magazine about getting over a breakup. Now I have absolutely no reason to need advice in that area, but I always read Parade Magazine. My love for it started as a child reading the Ask Marilyn column where people write in to ask questions of and try to stump one of the smartest women in the world. In my geeky world, she is the epitome of coolness.


The article suggested that to get over a breakup you should start a new hobby. It went on to discuss the relationship between starting a new hobby and the increase of endorphin releases at the early stages of doing that new hobby. This gave a person who was sad over their breakup something new to focus on and a good release of endorphins. Made great scientific sense to me and led me to understanding a little better that as activities continue, the endorphin release became less and it was just not as appealing. So essentially, a person with Stickwithititos is an endorphin junky.


I then examined what I have been great at sticking with over the years. Reading is at the top. I am an avid reader, not just of Parade Magazine, but of almost anything. While I have continued reading without fail for years, my choice in what I read changes regularly. I'll go on a mystery kick, then history, biographies, contemporary fiction, fantasy and back and forth and on and on. I'll read almost anything as long as it isn't too smutty. I believe the start of a new book gives me the endorphin rush I long for.


Another area where I have had some recent success with overcoming my Stickwithititos is in my current exercise routine. I was wondering why Baby Boot Camp has held my attention for so long. I think the answer is that the classes are in different places throughout the week and there are different instructors. You also have the social aspect where you can see your friends, but it is a thrill each time to see who will be there. While exercise can provide an endorphin rush, I personally need more to keep me going and I'm thrilled to have found it.


Now, moving forward, how can I use this knowledge to overcome my Stickwithititos? The answer seems to be in keeping newness to the daily grind. Not becoming so remote and mechanical in my daily activities that I can't find something new and exciting about them. It occurs to me that I might even be able to make my new job of cooking and cleaning fun if I don't force too many routines into it.


We shall see... I'll keep you blogged.

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Rethinking Date Night

Don't hate me because I have free babysitters almost whenever I need them. That is just an added benefit of living near both my very generous parents and in-laws. Not to mention also living near other very helpful family members like my Grandmother-in-law and brother.


While having this built village makes date nights much easier and less expensive, it does not change the cost of the date night itself. Our recent choice to cut our income in favor of more time caused a huge hit to the wallet that funded these date nights. There are just no longer funds for even your basic dinner and a movie that could easily run us at least $50.


At church on Sunday (Faith Fellowship) our Pastor and his wife were absent. They were setting a wonderful example for us of taking time out for your spouse. That reminded me that we cannot let a sparse bank account keep us from making each other a priority.


We were blessed Sunday night to be able to attend a wedding. That is probably one of my favorite kind of date nights and assuming you aren't opposed to wearing something you already own and the ceremony is close to home, the only cost is a gift which you would probably want to give to the new couple whether or not your were going to the wedding. But how often do we get to go to a local wedding? Not often enough for sure.


We discovered a stay-home-with-the-kids date night recently. Sounds impossible, huh? Well, I can't classify it as a full fledged date night and we did have to break some of our personal rules to make it happen, but it was very nice. Almost very night we eat dinner as a family at the dining room table (not formal, mind you.) On the occasional weekend night we will eat in the family room and watch a movie together. On Saturday night, we set up the movie and got ready for our casual family room dinner when Chris and I decided the two of us would eat in the dining room alone (actually, with the baby, but she doesn't interrupt us yet). We broke 2 "rules" here. 1. Not eating as a family and 2. Letting the TV be the babysitter. BUT, it worked. We ate an un-interrupted meal and it was wonderful. Not something we will do often, but it was a great way to have a date night.


To come up with some other ideas for simplified date nights I try to imagine what couples in the pre-technology age did for dates and put a modern twist on them if necessary. Chris and I love studying the Bible together but have a hard time finding time. So I imagine we could pack up a picnic and head to the beach for a walk and some reading time together. If we can finagle a day-time date then we could even ride our bikes to the beach. In fact, a good date day could simply be a bike ride together. Little cost at all if you bring your own food and drinks. And there are plenty of places to ride in the Burg. Fort Desoto has a beautiful trail and you can park before the park entrance and bike into the park avoiding the new $5 toll.


Now, you will call me crazy for this one. Date night PTA meeting. We have to go to them anyway so why not make them fun. We can sit in the back of the auditorium and pretend we are in college meeting in class. As the Whines get older we will have three kids at three different schools. That will make for many PTA date nights.


Dinners out will not be something we can enjoy as often as we used to for sure. There are some great deals with Groupon, Living Social and Restaurant.com that make them a bit more manageable. Just be careful to look at the fine print so you go when your vouchers are valid.


One final idea is group date nights. The Baby Boot Camp St. Pete moms and their hubbies recently had a bowling date night. By going in a group, you get a group discount. This also gave the daddies and great opportunity to see who we've been hanging out with so much.


Unfortunately I was unable to finish this blog before picking Whine 2 up from school. Within 30 minutes of being home she smeared makeup remover all over the bathroom and herself, crushed the crackers on Whine 3's tray, almost broke the refrigerator trying to close the door with the produce drawer still open and told me the complete stories of Winter the dolphin and Rapunzel.


Now, I am definitely ready for a date night!!

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Home Town Girl Living in a Whine and Cheese World

Everyone in the Whine and Cheese household is a native of St. Petersburg. Often people find that unusual as St. Petersburg is often referred as God's waiting room. Both Chris and I have parents from other parts of the country (hence the obsession with the Packers and Alabama Football). Many people come to St. Petersburg to vacation but "couldn't imagine living there". For many of the same reasons people come here, we choose to keep this our home. Here are some of our favorite Hometown sites:

St. Petersburg Pier (soon to be redone)

The Vinoy Hotel
This was a mysterious abandoned building when I was a child that was renovated in  the 90's.
Chris and I had our wedding reception at the Vinoy's Golf Club.

The Sunshine Skyway Bridge
All natives (born before 1980) know where they were when the original bridge collapsed.

Home of the Tampa Bay Rays!
The outdoor stadium is where they used to have Spring Training games. In the far back is the indoor stadium for regular season.

There are thousands of reasons people come from far and wide to visit St. Petersburg and natives choose to stay. However, it's supporting the local businesses that will help keep St. Petersburg a beautiful place to visit and live in. 

Some favorite local businesses:

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Baby Boot Camp is a fantastic workout option for moms. My first class I had to  sit out parts but 9 months later I completed a half-marathon

The Westy is truly a local hangout. Great food and wonderful atmosphere. Perfect for the entire family.

What are some of your favorite local places and activities?? Mention them in the comments and I'll try to feature them in future blogs.