If You’re in Austin…Great Benefit Concert Coming Up!!!

Ok, folks, yes, I’ve been less than present the last month with a poor excuse of working a bunch and trying...

If You're in Austin...Great Benefit Concert Coming Up!!!

Goin’ to the Lodge…Great Wolf Lodge

GREAT WOLF LODGE   Santa brought our little family a gift to stay overnight at Great Wolf Lodge in Grapevine, Texas. I’d estimate...

Goin' to the Lodge...Great Wolf Lodge

The Little Stinker

More of Mina’s Artwork….   Today I picked up Mina from school. She proudly held up a picture she drew.  Gotta love those pictures they draw for...

The Little Stinker

The Little Stinker

More of Mina’s Artwork….
 
Today I picked up Mina from school.
She proudly held up a picture she drew.  Gotta love those pictures they draw for us!
It was a very cute picture of our family, which I had her describe to me as we walked down the hall. 
She was very proud of Pogi and the eyes she [...]

Benji’s Feet

 
My poor sweet Benji.
I was at my parents’ house today and they are repainting one of the rooms at their house.  I came across some pictures and was looking through them and laughed when I saw a picture of Benji with his plastic shoes.  And I’m not talking about crocs.
Benji is obsessed with shoes and [...]

Top Chef Mina

 
Mina has been taking classes at Young Chef’s Academy.  Our little chef in training has been eagerly awaiting a night when we’d get to eat at home because she wanted to make dinner for us.  These recipes come courtesy of Young Chefs Academy.
 
I had to cook the ground beef, of course, but after that it [...]

Eating Out with Kids

So, how do you optimize your dining experience with your children?
I’d like to share my thoughts -these are based on a little bit of science and a lot of experience…
They are children, you know.
There are several baseline factors that come into play for your chld as an individual.  First, their age, but more importantly their developmental stage.  These [...]

I’m Ba-ack!

Well, I wish I could say I took a Thanksgiving Break or went away on a holiday trip, but, no, hospitals don’t close and I was working this past week.
I have to tell you, though, that I am thankful for the ability to work and enjoy what I do.  Over the past few weeks, I’ve also [...]

Got Chocolate Milk?

Got Chocolate Milk?
 
Well, ya better ’cause it’s the OFFICIAL DRINK OF HALLOWEEN!!
I was fortunate enough to participate in Got Milk?’s tour through Dallas yesterday.  They were at the now open, but yet to have a grand opening Legacy Bookstore in West Plano (Grand Opening 11/7/08).
Now, I gotta tell ya, my kids HEART chocolate milk.  Big [...]

This Year I Resolve To…..

Not make any New Year’s Resolutions.
1.  Should I eat more healthy??  Of course.  Is there anyone who shouldn’t???  Am I going to? Unlikely.  You can see what I eat at childsplate.com.  It’s usually not that healthy.  I have never been and never will be the type of person who likes salad unless there’a really good [...]

Another lesson learned…the hard way

I know it’s because of stress.  My migraines.  I know I get them from being all stressed out about this and that.  I’ve decided though that the stresses in my life are constant and unavoidable at this time. 
I am not ashamed to admit that it’s freakish, but I went to my doctor and together we [...]

Goin’ to the Lodge…Great Wolf Lodge

GREAT WOLF LODGE
 
Santa brought our little family a gift to stay overnight at Great Wolf Lodge in Grapevine, Texas.
I’d estimate that about half of Team Phipps was excited about this mini-vacation.  I don’t actually like the water so I was kind of along for the ride.  Benji was a little under the weather, so he [...]

WOWOWEE!!!!!

WOWOWEE!!!!!

 
WOWOWEE!!!!
This weekend, we were totally submerged in my Filipino culture!!  Even my very white husband Ogre and half-white-in-genetics, full-blooded-Pinoy-in-spirit children. 
My parents watch a Filipino variety gameshow called Wowowee!  every weekday.  They subscribe to the Filipino channel, so if you’re not a subscriber, you probably haven’t seen it.

It’s kind of a crazy show.  It’s filmed in [...]

A Letter To Cancer…

 
Cancer,
YOU SUCK.
 
There are many reasons why you are hated.   Here are my top three:
The children.  You make parents fear for their child’s life and, far too often, you take their most precious love away from them.  Only an entity as despicable and vile as you could cause pain and suffering in an innocent young child.  You force them out [...]

To One of My Dearest and Bestest Friends,

 
Hey…
You’ve had a very difficult few weeks and I am so proud of you.
You were strong when you tried to conceive and over and over again realized that you were not yet pregnant.
You were strong when you endured the battery of tests to determine why you were having such difficulty conceiving.
You were strong when you [...]

If You’re in Austin…Great Benefit Concert Coming Up!!!

Ok, folks, yes, I’ve been less than present the last month with a poor excuse of working a bunch and trying to get a new business venture off the ground.  Instead of blogging “after hours,” which means after the kids go to bed, I’ve shifted my attention to, honestly, a much more important issue.  My [...]

O Tannenbaum!

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree…
This year, I decided it would be fun to chop down our Christmas Tree.  As usual, I got great recommendations from DFW Area Moms, which led us to the Walls Family Farm.  It’s a little bit of a drive, but not too bad since one of my hospitals is in [...]

Flickr Photos

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If You’re in Austin…Great Benefit Concert Coming Up!!!

Ok, folks, yes, I’ve been less than present the last month with a poor excuse of working a bunch and trying to get a new business venture off the ground.  Instead of blogging “after hours,” which means after the kids go to bed, I’ve shifted my attention to, honestly, a much more important issue.  My dear friend, Leah.

If you’ve read some of my other posts, you might have read my open letter to Cancer.  I mention Leah as she was diagnosed with Triple Negative Invasive Intraductal Carcinoma in May 2008 and endured a double mastectomy followed by months of chemotherapy.  While she endured the chemotherapy, the physical effects of having a port in place (a durable, long term central venous access line) and what was ultimately a “botched” mastectomy has left her with continued stresses and continued medical needs in the new year.  To assist with her medical bills, we are organizing a Benefit Concert in Austin on March 7, 2009

 

Join us for a great time in Austin, Texas!!

Check out our website: fortheloveofleah.org and leave a note or a donation, we love random acts of kindness!

Goin’ to the Lodge…Great Wolf Lodge

GREAT WOLF LODGE

 

Santa brought our little family a gift to stay overnight at Great Wolf Lodge in Grapevine, Texas.

I’d estimate that about half of Team Phipps was excited about this mini-vacation.  I don’t actually like the water so I was kind of along for the ride.  Benji was a little under the weather, so he really could’ve cared less.  We decided we’d bring him hoping he’d feel better by the waterpark time.

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We, being the good parents we are, forgot to even bring any diapers or wipes for our sick little child.  Nice, one.  Luckily, there was a mostly stocked diaper bag that just happened to be in the back of the Tahoe.  That got us through the evening. 

We opted for the Kids Kabin room with a “patio/balcony.”  Since we were on the first floor, we had a patio, which was just a sliding door that went onto a little 2×3 feet rectangle of concrete over looking a fountain and a busy road.  We never went out there, but this didn’t cost extra, so no harm, no foul. 

Mina LOVED the room, she immediately informed us that she’d be sleeping on the top bunk since Benji was too little and it would not be safe for him.  I actually opted for guest services to bring us a pack and play for Benji (they do not have cribs).  Ogre and Mina (the ones actually excited to be here) immediately put their swim clothes on and left Benji and I to relax in the room.  Benji was in desperate need for nap. 

While Benji napped, Ogre and Mina had a great time in the waterpark.  After about an hour, they were ready to head back, but Benji was not yet awake, so Ogre took Mina to the MagiQuest store and bought her a magic wand and topper ($15 for the wand, $15 for the unicorn topper) and $10 bucks to play the game.  Ogre says they even have costumes and other accessories if you really want to get crazy!  They started playing this game until I called them to let them know that Benji awoke and we were ready for dinner.

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We changed Mina into pajamas for dinner (just because she thinks it’s cool to eat out in her PJs) and headed out to dinner at the Camp Critter Bar and Grille.  You can read all about that experience here.

After dinner, or really during dinner with Ogre and I switching off kid watching duties, the kids went to see the Clock Tower animatronic show.  Mina said it was kind of boring.  I don’t really believe that though, she was totally engrossed and Benji kept pointing to all the talking components and seemed to enjoy it, too.  Afterwards, because we went to the 8 o’clock show, they had someone read a story with Wiley the Wolf there to hug the kids and provide photo ops.  Benji was having none of that, but Mina was all about it!

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We played MagiQuest for a little longer before finishing off the night back at the Camp Critter Bar and Grille to have the S’mores.  It was actually quite tasty.  They had a little piece of cotton candy under the melted hot fudge as “fire.”  The kids found particular enjoyment with that little aspect -Benji stuffed his portion in his mouth and repeatedly nodded his head saying “YUMMM!  YUMMM!”  Then, he hit his own little jackpot of cotton candy gold as he saw a piece I’d missed under the bowl and quickly grabbed that to stuff his face.  “MMMM.  YUMM!” he said again.

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We headed back to the room to get everyone to bed and Ogre headed out to buy the forgotten wipes and diapers.  Benji was already crying in his pack and play so I got the bright idea to put him in bed with him.  I asked Ogre to hand him over before he left.  Benji was not happy.  He cried until about two minutes before Ogre returned and Ogre was gone at least 30-45 minutes.  Awesome.  And he’d turned himself sideways in the bed, so Ogre got to sleep in the Kids Kabin.  I’m still hearing about it today.  Why he didn’t just pull out the sleeper sofa?  I shrug my shoulders. 

He’s also complaining about the fact that Mina was up at 7am.  Hee hee.  Ogre was actually kind enough to let Benji and I sleep in while he entertained and fed Mina.  Benji didn’t wake up until 9am.  Thank you, Benji.  We went to the breakfast buffet at the Loose Moose Cottage and you can read about that here.

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That’s when we decided that Benji would have more fun “vacationing” at Lala and Lolo’s.  Since Mina and I had spa appointments from 11-12, I suggested Ogre drive back to Plano to drop off Benji with the grandparents.  He did and Mina and I went to our respective appointments.

I got Mina settled in at the Scoops Spa, which is ridiculously cute and ridiculously overpriced.  I’ve never paid that much for a mani/pedi!!  It was worth it for Mina’s surprise and excitement though.   I just got a regular old pedicure upstairs.  They let her wear a tiara and beads during the mani and pedi and I let her get a few designs painted on her nails, as well.  She was able to pick out the types of lotion, fizz and color nail polish she wanted and told me she had “so much fun!”  It was $70 for her mani/pedi!  Yikes.  Ogre, don’t look at that bill.  Our spa services were more than anything we’d paid for up to that point in total!!

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And then, of course, we went to the waterpark after lunch and most of the nail polish was chipped off.  Bye bye $70. 

The waterpark is actually really cool, if you like that kind of thing.  I only enjoyed the hot tub because I thought the water was too cold.  Ogre thought I was silly, as did Mina.  They had a ton of fun though.  They have life jackets for the kids to wear and towels so you don’t even have to bring your own.  Ogre really wanted to ride the Tornado, but it requires two people.  Just for the record, I told him I would ride on it with him (begrudgingly, I’ll admit).  In the end, he opted to spend the last bit of time finishing up playing MagiQuest with Mina. 

What is MagiQuest?  It’s kind of like and interactive scavenger hunt all over the hotel.  Mina ended up having the most points and most runes the day we left.  Ogre accidently typed her name has Tinkerball Mina (instead of Tinkerbell Mina).  Mina was not pleased.  Ogre said that he would’ve loved this as a kid.  Pfft.  He loved it as an adult.  I swear he didn’t want to leave.  Me?  Not so much.  I know I’m totally starting to sound like a kill joy, but I just didn’t get it.  Mina seemed to enjoy it though, I guess she lucks out having at least one parent who enjoys everything in the hotel!

They also had a pretty cool looking arcade (we just didn’t have time to go it) and a Cub Club activity center, which we didn’t have time for either.

Overall, I think it’s a great concept and Mina had a lot of fun.  I think Benji was probably a little young for most of the activities, but if he were well, he would’ve enjoyed the waterpark.  They do have a lot of shallow areas that he could’ve played in.  I’m sorry he was sick and we’ll definitely be back.  I really think the winter is a great time to go!  Just as an FYI, there were definitely reports of unscrupulous people accessing the waterpark area and being inappropriate with the kids.  The front desk staff assured me that they had “heightened” their security in the waterpark and in the hotel.  Ogre said they checked his wristband every time.  I know I strolled right in (not on purpose) with my wristband covered up in plain clothes bringing in our lunch.  Hell, he even held the door open.  We just didn’t let Mina out of our sight and Ogre was with her the entire time in the water.  Better to be safe that sorry!

 

Other things you might want to know:

The pricing is tiered, but easy to figure out with their room availability feature on their website.  If you can go on a weekday during the off-peak months, it’s great savings!!

You can bring hotel food into the waterpark area, but not your own.  They also have a little cabana type restaurant in the waterpark area that serves burgers, hot dogs, quesadillas, drinks (including alcohol).

They have refrigerators in the room.  Make sure your kid doesn’t turn the refrigerator off.  Benji.

I would recommend this resort for some good family waterpark fun!

The Little Stinker

More of Mina’s Artwork….

 

Today I picked up Mina from school.

She proudly held up a picture she drew.  Gotta love those pictures they draw for us!

It was a very cute picture of our family, which I had her describe to me as we walked down the hall. 

She was very proud of Pogi and the eyes she drew on him.  She pointed out Papa and Mommy with our shoelaces and she and Benji were also there. 

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I looked a little closer at the picture.  “What are those little dots?”  I asked her.

She replied, “Uh, I can’t tell you here.” She covered her smile and giggled.

“What? Why not?”  I asked her.

She coyly looked around.  “It’s you…”she said, then whispered, “farting.”

We had to stop dead in our tracks.

“What?”

Mina giggled even more.  “I can’t say it again!”

I took the picture out of her hand and looked at the “dots.”  Nope, not dots, “p”s. 

Nice sound effects, Mina. 

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I can only shake my head in despair. (Sigh).

This Year I Resolve To…..

Not make any New Year’s Resolutions.

1.  Should I eat more healthy??  Of course.  Is there anyone who shouldn’t???  Am I going to? Unlikely.  You can see what I eat at childsplate.com.  It’s usually not that healthy.  I have never been and never will be the type of person who likes salad unless there’a really good sweet and/or tangy dressing.  I don’t really like vegetables either.  Shhhhh.  Don’t you tell Mina that!!  (Believe me, I hear about it all the time from my parents!).  I believe in moderation, anyway.  I can’t eat a lot of anything, no matter how much I like it.  I think I’ll be alright.

2.  Should I exercise?  Notice I didn’t say “excercise more.”  That’s because I don’t excercise.  Santa brought Ogre and me a Wii Fit.  The only reason I did anything on it was so that I could beat Ogre’s scores.  I’m competitive like that.  My heart is NOT in it for the right reasons.  We went ice skating the other day because Mina has been wanting to go.  I had to drag Benji around the skating rink with one arm for MAYBE thirty minutes.  That thirty minutes of exertion has left me with a sore arm for THREE DAYS NOW!!  Sheesh.  That’s a lot of pain for thirty minutes of “working out!”  I’m scared to know what pain feels like after a real work out.  (Those Wii Fit things that I did were yoga moves, not as painful).

 

What other common resolutions are there?

-Work less?  Not going to happen.

-Smile more? For no apparent reason?  That’s just crazy.

-Read more? Did you see the work less one?  If I’m working I probably don’t have time to lounging around reading. 

-Spend less/Get out of debt?  Yeah, I’d love to do this one, hence the inability to work less.  A few months ago, I decided to start “no frills” spending, which means I wouldn’t buy anything we didn’t “NEED.”  But, you know, “NEED” is very subjective. 

-Spend more time with friends and family?  Does that have to be a resolution??? Isn’t that a given??

 

-I don’t smoke.  I don’t drink heavily or even moderately.  Maybe I’ll resolve to start so next year I can make it my resolution.

O Tannenbaum!

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree…

This year, I decided it would be fun to chop down our Christmas Tree.  As usual, I got great recommendations from DFW Area Moms, which led us to the Walls Family Farm.  It’s a little bit of a drive, but not too bad since one of my hospitals is in Rockwall.  The tree farm is in Quinlan.

We asked Grandpoo and Oma to come with us.  Actually, they drove with Ogre and the kids because I was on call and was rounding in the morning and not even sure I’d be able to make it.

The Walls Family Farm is huge and seemed well-organized.  We got off at the first stop, although some of the mroe seasoned patrons advised us that there was further to go if wanted.  We realized what they meant when we started wandering to find our tree!  Of course, Mina and Benji were not impressed at all.  They were more interested in finding sticks on the ground. 

O Tannenbaum

Ogre was very concerned with finding the “perfect” tree. 

O Tannenbaum

I nixed the first one, saying it was too big.  We argued on the height, and finally decided to bypass the first “perfect” tree.  Onward we walked.  And walked, and looked, and looked, until we found the perfect tree.  We were very proud to find this tree:

O Tannenbaum

Ogre was hard at work sawing the tree down while Grandpoo made sure the tree would not be falling on any of our heads.  I cheered Ogre on!

O Tannenbaum

Timber!!

O Tannenbaum

Afterwards, we enjoyed some cider while the kids played in the play area.  Ogre and Grandpoo went off to tie the tree to the truck, which took longer than sawing the tree down!!

O Tannenbaum

 

We took our tree home and decorated it with our family ornaments and gifted ornaments.

We have a tradition of each member of the family (including our pups) gets to pick out one ornament and we have an family ornament each year.  The ornament can just be something cool that someone likes or have a special “meaning.”  I try to alternate.  Anyway, it’s fun to reminisce as we put ornaments on the tree.  Here are a couple of my favorites:

There’s the family one from our trip to Las Vegas for my dad’s 60th birthday party.

O Tannenbaum

And one of my favorites, from our last year in Tennessee…

O Tannenbaum

 

O TannenbaumOne year, Ogre bought me this ornament as a gift so we can remember each every year the wonderful cabbage patch “doll” I received as a child from my dad, the jokester.  You can read about that here.  Yeah, it really puts me in the Christmas spirit to open old wounds!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then, there was the year Pogi (our dog) almost choked on a chicken thigh and I had to give him the heimleich -Ogre says he didn’t know that I had that kind of strength!  Hell, you better believe I’m saving my first baby’s life.  I swear he was going towards the light!

O Tannenbaum

Then there’s the year Pogi used an adirondack chair to jump off a second story balcony when we were vacationing in Panama City beach.  Yeah, Pogi has nine lives.

O Tannenbaum

 

O Tannenbaum

This year, Mina and I got our ornaments when we were in Hawaii.  I just loveO Tannenbaum Hawaii and it was Mina’s first trip to Hawaii…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ogre and I suck at parenting and got Benjamin an ornament for his first trip to the circus…except this year wasn’t his first year to go to the circus.  It’s his second.  Doh!

O Tannenbaum

Ogre picked a giraffe to remind us of our trip to Fossil Rim.  He and Mina experienced having a giraffe eat out of their hands.

O Tannenbaum

That trip was such a fun time for the whole family and Mina mentioned that she LOVED the T-rex (even though it wasn’t actually a T-rex at the park), that we got a cool T-rex ornament for the family ornament!

O Tannenbaum

 

O Tannenbaum

For the dogs this year, we got a cute one for Pogi, who even though he turns 12 in February, thinks he’s still a puppy.  And an ornanment that plays “Bad to the Bone” for our dog Jonas who has ruined almost every piece of furniture in the house, as well as almost killing one of my favorite plants and trying to kill my new dragon tree.O Tannenbaum

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And, this, my friends, is this year’s Tannenbaum…

O Tannenbaum