Harrison Fire department visit

I want to give a huge shout out to to the guys at Station 57 Harrison,Ohio fire department. They are amazing. Today we were headed to the store and as we were passing by the fire truck was headed back into the station. My 4 year old son LOVES firetrucks and got so excited just to see it. We decided to stop in and see if they would let us visit the firehouse and check things out. The nice firemen there let us come in and explore. The kids got to see the firetrucks and ambulance. They were so happy and it definitely made their day.

So again thank you to the firemen there for being so nice. You made my kids happy and made their day.

Girl Scout Cookies

And so it has begun, cookie season kicked off today. As a troop leader and a mom of 2 girl scouts, cookie season can be fun, but very hectic. This is my first year having both girls in scouts, so I am having to try to split all the orders between them as evenly as possible so that they get the same prizes and everything. I have to try to keep up with their orders, plus help all the other girls/moms make sure they know what they are doing and help them have a successful cookie season. Our troop this year is way bigger than last year, and we hope to do many more booths. We have a troop goal of selling 1500 boxes and hope to use the money to go camping, horseback riding, zoo, spa day, and save for a big trip. Plus we buy patches and everything with the money, so lots in mind. The more we sell the more our troop makes. This is Girl Scouts 100th year of selling cookies!!! They have come a long way since then as in the beginning they made their own cookies and sold them, and now they use 2 different bakeries and add new cookies every year. This year the new cookie is the Smore's cookie. The one our council sells is very good with a graham cracker cookie and a layer of chocolate and a layer of marshmallow inside. It is definitely worth it to try.

The sales also teach the girls important skills. It teaches them business skills as well as personal skills. They learn about money, setting goals, wants and needs, and donating time. Also this year we are doing operation cookie which allows customers to donate money to be used to send cookies to the troops. Those interested in donating may also donate boxes to be donated to our local fire department to thank the firefighters.

If you are interested in buying from the girls you can buy online and have the cookies delivered right to your house. Buy some, help our troop, and even freeze some so you can have some all year. https://DigitalCookie.GirlScouts.org/scout/kaya727313 https://DigitalCookie.GirlScouts.org/scout/bella489483 The girls also earn different prizes depending on how many boxes they sell.

Holidays and the Cincinnati Zoo

Well we are coming upon the end of the year. Christmas is over. We seen lots of family and the kids got SO much. They really had a good Christmas, which is great. We loved getting to spend time with family and friends. One of our big gifts this year was a family pass to the Cincinnati Zoo. I wanted a gift we could all get use out of and that we could enjoy all year long. This will be a great opportunity for plenty of family time. This pass was the best choice. Just this month we have been twice. I love seeing the amazement of the kids seeing the animals. Sometimes the animals even interact with the kids, which makes the experience so much better. I love seeing them smile and hearing them laugh at the animals. We took a trip today. We got there shortly after opening, and we got to watch some of the animals eating, which was pretty cool to be able to experience. Also in the cat exhibit there was one of the cats that was playing with Bella, my 6 year old, by pacing with her and if she stopped it stopped. We call Bella that cat whisperer. The white Bengal tiger was on a roll today. He was upset over something and kept roaring. It made the kids quite excited to hear the sounds. We hope to have many more wonderful experiences at the zoo this upcoming year. If you haven't been and you are in the area I suggest making a trip as the Cincinnati Zoo is a wonderful zoo.

2016 at a glance

2016 has all but come and gone. This year has been one heck of a year, that's for sure. Silas turned 1, Louie, turned 4, Kaya turned 5, and Bella turned 6. Silas got diagnosed with Chiari Malformation and had his decompression surgery right before his first birthday. The girls have had so much fun with girl scouts. We made a trip to Gatlinburg which was a lot of fun. We also went to Indianapolis and went to the Children's museum and visited the speedway. Louie started his second year of preschool. Kaya started kindergarten and Bella first grade at Crosby, but we decided home was a better option and are now doing great in online school here at home. Early in the year Kaya got diagnosed with scoliosis and recently we found out she has a condition similar to Silas's Chiari and Silas got tubes in his ears and can finally here us. In the coming year we will find out so much more with everything with the kids. In January we will see if Silas will need glasses, Kaya sees the headache clinic for her really bad headaches, and Silas follows up from his tubes. In February we start the psychology journey with Louie see if he has an intellectual disability and see if he is autistic and he sees the CP clinic again. March Kaya will be 6 and she sees neurosurgery to see what they want to do with her condition. In april Silas turns 2. He sees the developmental dr again as well as the CP clinic. May Bella will be 7. Kaya and Louie will have their check-ups and we round out another school year. July the boys go back to genetics and we should start testing again to see if we can find a diagnosis for everything. Should have answers with that by October. August silas has his yearly MRI and neurosurgery appointment. It will also be Lou's birthday, only 1 more year until he is 30!! november will bring mine and Louie's birthdays, me 28, Louie 5! Merry christmas everyone and Happy New Year. Let's finish this year out great with family and friends and see what 2017 has to bring.

Indianapolis Children's Museum

We recently visited the Indianapolis Children's Museum.

It is the largest children's museum in the US. It is something I believe everyone should visit. When you do go, make sure you have plenty of time to be able to experience everything that is there as it takes a while to enjoy it all. There are 5 floors of fun for everyone to explore. There is a mix of permanent and moving exhibits. One of the exhibits we really enjoyed was the Hot wheels Exhibit. It was my son's favorite exhibit. There were a lot of hands on things to check out. You could race hot wheels, pretend to be a NASCAR pit crew member, check out how engines work,dress up like you are in the winners circle, and more.

Another favorite exhibit was the Beyond Spaceship Earth. They had a model International Space Station where you could experience what the day in the life of an astronaut is like. You must check out the planetarium where they have amazing shows and on exhibit is the Liberty Bell 7 which had been lost at sea for many years.

Pirates and Princesses: Storybook Adventures was also a kids favorite as well as being another traveling exhibit. Kids got to do one of their favorite things, play dressup in fairtale creatures, kings and queens, princes and princesses and could even sit on the throne. Kids could be a pirate on a boat, or play a dancing type game to get jewels and fight dragons.

This exhibit also had on show wonderful objects from movies and TV that go along with the theme.

We were running short on time, but got a few minutes to explore all aboard. As you might guess this themed area is based on trains. You can play like you are in a train station, see what it's like on a train, and explore a few train tables. Our main reason for this trip was the grand opening of the Doc Mcstuffins exhibit. This is the first of this exhibit that will be making it's way around the United states so look for it coming to a museum near you. Play like Doc and give toys a checkup in the check up area, operate in the toy operating room, check patients in, or watch over the baby toys in the nursery.

As this was the grand opening, we got the pleasure of meeting Doc Mcstuffins herself. This made the day.

. There are other exhibits we didn't get to check out, as well as various other rotating/traveling exhibits that are ever changing. Check out their website for a list of upcoming exhibits and more information.

Moana Movie Review

We got the pleasure of previewing the new Disney movie Moana and were very pleased with it. It is a movie about a 16 year old girl named Moana who takes a journey to both save her island and to find herself. The actors really bring life to the movie. They could not have picked a better voice for Maui then Dwayne Johnson. The music is amazing. It really adds to the movie and has some amazing songs that really catch onto you. This movie is one of the best movies I have seen from Disney. It is the perfect mix of laughter and seriousness. It also has an amazing message for everyone. It teaches everyone to follow their dreams and believe in yourself. If you want to do something, go for it. There are no boundaries to our dreams if we just follow them. Gender or age doesn't determine what we can do. Don't let anyone tell you that you can't follow your dreams. This was my daughter's first movie they had been to and it was able to hold their attention the entire time. Being only 5 and 6 this is quite a feat. They have seen just about every Disney movie and even they say they loved the movie and that it was the best movie ever. I would definitely recommend this movie to everyone and it is a must have for my Disney collection.

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