Photo Disaster

Well, we’ve been MIA in blogging mainly to do my BFF visiting with her eldest daughter and our travels around Orlando keeping us very busy, and then the sickies invaded the entire Hamilton household…even Nonnie managed to catch it.  Yuck!  The boys have been fine for about a week now, so we are hoping that first cold was the worst of it for Winter. 

Back to the disaster.  This week when I tried to put a cd together of my friend’s twinkies birthday party pictures, I noticed I could not get any pictures off of the server. Yes, it takes an entire server to store all my pictures. I thought nothing of it, went on with my busy week, but then I tried to do a little catching up last night and was still unable to get to the server.  Low and behold, after Matthew tried without success, he called HP and they said, well, the server is just a computer without a monitor, and it sounds like the hard drive crashed.  Huh?  What? Excuse me?  Of course we were devastated at the news, but Matthew has been able to take a few files off the server and put them on our computer, so I am hoping he can salvage most of them…although it is very time consuming and he was up past midnight last night trying to work on it.  Fingers crossed he or some other professional can work their magic to restore the files.  I will be looking into Mozy storage immediately, but if anyone else has any suggestions of where they store their data, I would love to hear it!!!

Disney was awesome. My BFF since I was two and I met up with another “old” friend who lived on our most awesome street as a kid.  We were able to bum our way into Epcot and the Magic Kingdom for free. I was so sad to hear that the boys, Matty and my mom could not meet us on the Sunday of the trip because of their awful coughs, but we still had fun.  It was ridiculously cold that weekend, so that was a little bit of a downer, especially with how ridiculously beautiful it  has been, but we managed to stay warm.  I know the boys would have loved, loved, all the princesses Annie got to see that day.  Here are a couple of cute pics…stolen from FB.  I am thankful I found time to upload a few pictures after our trip…really, really, really hoping I can get them all back from the server, sniff, sniff.

We’ve been at a lot of play dates this week to make up for lost time during our sickies.  My favorite one was the super hero play date.  My awesome friend Sara got an idea from another web site where you create a cape for the kids to decorate out of an old t-shirt.  I think the parents t’s worked great since they had a bit of length, but even an old, dirty, stained one of theirs that still fits around their noggins would work as well.  You just cut on one side of a seam if your shirt has one to help it not completely fray up, and then cut the sleeves off and around the neckline to maintain the cape, and voila, super hero cape extraordinaire!!! You can even use the sleeves to make a mask!

Yesterday we spent the most beautiful weather day at Sea World.  It is crazy to me to be wearing a tank top, shorts and flip flops in the middle of November.  The boys were really good for the most part…no real disasters of running off, talking back, or throwing any tantrums – it seems they save those for days we stick close to home – so it was even more enjoyable for all of us.  The dolphin area of Sea World, not even the amazing Horizons show, just the feeding area and underwater viewing area, are just too amazing. Not to mention that their artic area now hosts a Polar Express experience; which is super cool since that is the boys favorite movie. It was the first one they watched, and couple that with trains, and the idea of Christmas, and they are sold.  They got to talk to Santa.  Both were eager to let him know they wanted a big digger and a fire truck.  However, when we went to stand next to the big version of the actual Polar Express train, the boys were timid and scared – something I was not sure they boys possessed.  I think the next time we visit, of course we’ll be going again and again, they will be more sure of it.  This was the last thing we did before departing, so they were over-tired by that point in the day.  Nonetheless, what an extraordinary experience for these boys.  They have seen the Shamu show more times that I had ever before, and they are not even three yet.  They love it and I cannot wait to see them grow to appreciate it more and more.  The pictures of the dolphins are cool, the top ones are of a dolphin before feeding time.  He/she was using a leaf to play catch right next to the viewing area.  So playful and adorable!!!

One of my favorite shots ever!

Rals, super excited to touch the ice in the artic area where they visited Santa.

Raleigh whispers to Shamu Santa that he wants a digger…

Rals entranced at the Shamu show

In other news, we are so happy that our friends Heath & Jane welcomed another healthy, beautiful girl in Sydney. Happy birth day Siena! Well wishes to two of my friends who are not feeling their best, Miss A and Miss N.  I hate to see you girls in pain – get well soon!!!

Catching Up

Well, today I got a nap in, so that was a bonus. It has been one of the busiest Christmases I can remember. I am exhausted, and based on the boys chatter in their cribs, they are super over-tired tonight too. Last night they were out cold by 6:45 pm. Wow! It was nice though since we had great friends in town from Oz and we were heading out to eat with them at one of our favorite Greek restaurants. Although the service was a little lacking and the garlic was a bit overpowering in everything - very unusual for them - it was still such a nice night out. We have missed seeing H & Jane terribly since they've moved back to Australia for a few years. Matty was definitely the happiest since his family was here last month. Very good to see him in better spirits, particularly during the holidays away from his parents. It was so great to see their baby girl Ashley walking all over and terrorizing the boys. Oh wait, I think it was the boys terrorizing her.

The boys are really territorial right now, and we will need many more play dates at our house for them to learn to share their new toys better. It is sad to see their good sharing stage come to an end...I know it will come back, but wow, the "mine" phase coupled with the throw themselves on the floor and cry when they don't get the toy they want stage, is trying to say the least. Raleigh really started the terrible twos this weekend. Gus was such a good boy though, so it was nice to see they were willing to take turns with something...

Ashley is about as cute as can be. She was killing me with her "I'm a Little Teapot" dance. This girl can really dance and is so darn happy. H & J - you are doing an awesome job as parents, it totally suits you both:) Miss you guys already!

Here are just a few pictures from our weekend.

In other random thoughts:

We want to send our love and kisses to "Auntie" Kristy. Hope you feel better soon. Six weeks will go by so quickly! It seem like just yesterday that you were merely six weeks preggers;) Love and miss you lots! My mom and I cannot wait to visit you when little baby girl number two arrives. Stay comfortable and get all the rest you can, while you can!

Thanks to Miss Eli for the awesome books. We will treasure them always. You are such an amazing person, and I am so glad you came into both my mom's and my lives. XO.

The boys got a special delivery from Australia today with more books for the boys. Thanks so much Great Uncle T and Aunt J. So kind, these boys will continue to be well read!!!

Tim Tams are HERE! Yuppers, thanks to our trusty friend Amanda, who texted us the 'alert,' we now have two new packages of Tim Tams. Pepperidge Farms is making the Australian cookie here. These are no knock-offs either, the real deal. Yay! Now if we could only find Vegemite in Target too, we'd be golden.

That is enough random thoughts by Brooke for this evening. Looking forward to a much quieter week, and hopefully less snot too! Good-night!