Headed to Disney

Woke up at 3 and out the door at 4am. For the last two years the plan was to hop in the car but an hour prep is doing good for us! 

It's a 12-13 hour drive to Orlando. We packed breakfast and lunch and are hoping to make it there for dinner but we will see! 

Sunday is a fantastic day to drive! Enjoying the mountains with little traffic!

Olivia is super excited to soon see Minnie's house! We are Disney amateurs with 4 kids and only 1 day! We hope to pack it in but also go slow. Does that make sense? We have brought the double stroller for naps and shade, 2 small coolers, food, snacks and lots of water. Isabella helped everybody make autograph books and we even prepurchased a few souvenirs. Only had to pay $2.50 for Minnie ears instead of crazy park prices. Also found the kids some really cute disney trading pins for less than $1 each on eBay. In the park they are $8 each. I know zach will love trading them with cast members. There were lots of great tips online

We will see how it all plays out tomorrow! You can't plan too much with kids! They are so excited so the day will be all about them! 

Kyles trip notes

1st leg - 4 hours, 20 min - 314 miles exit 355 (20 min break for gas 8:45am)

2nd leg - 3.5 hours - 256 miles, exit 101 75 south (15 min, 12:30 pm)

3rd stop - 103 miles, at Florida state welcome center for picture break and poopy diaper stop! (2:09 pm)

Welcome center

1st time ever...4 kids asleep in the car at once! Thanks to Camera obscura for the sleepy time tunes. 

Arrived at Orlando hotel 5pm!! 

Sisters

I don't know how or why we decided to have 4 kids! I never thought about having a large family as a kid. I never really imagined myself in any particular situation, as in married with 2 children.  As a kid, I was just a kid. I never tried to get into the adult world. But now I am so grateful that we decided on 4. Again, I'm not sure it ever was a decision, it was just what seemed right. I never felt like I was finished having children until Olivia and now it has all worked out nicely. 2 boys and 2 girls.  I am so thankful for that. 

So this post is about sisters. I now sometimes think about how nice it would be to have a sister. Sisterhood is a special bond. I see it in my friends who are close to their sisters and I sometimes wish I had that relationship. Hopefully Isabella and Olivia will too. They are 6 years apart which is a big gap in age but they still have that love for each other that I think only sisters have. I hope they treasure each other for years to come. 

Slip Slide & Sled

Another snow day!! While we hunkered inside today and baked some delicious spinach lasagna, Monday we hit the slopes! So...Monday was out, Tuesday was early dismissal and wedneSday was out! Can we make it a whole week without missing a day???

Here are some shots from Monday sledding day at George Rodgers park! Uma joined us with her awesome new llbean inner tube! 

My angel

A Letter from the President

A few months ago Isabella began a letter writing campaign. It started with the Lego company. She had lots of model ideas to send them! She got a nice response from them which was personalized. You could tell they took the time to read her letter and respond to her drawings and ideas. 

That kind of got her on a roll and next she wrote Papa John. He lives only about 15 miles from us so Isabella insisted on finding his home address online and sending her letter to his home instead of to the corporate headquarters. Just a few days later he replied with a handwritten post card and a ticket for a free pizza! It was really nice. 

Next she decided to get more organized so she wrote a list of all of the people she admired and wanted to write letters to. 

It was really interesting to see the wide variety of people she chose without anyone's influence. She developed this list all on her own. It consisted of authors,  pop stars, actors, businessmen, an athlete,  coaches, a politician, and even her former school principal. 

Today she got her first response from her 2nd wave of letters. A large envelope from the White House! All of the kids were super excited! Vincent declared "maybe Obama is real!!!"  

Inside was a nice letter from the president, a map of the White House, a signed photo of President Obama, some stickers about healthy eating and exercise, and a booklet about art in the White House. Isabella was really proud! It has been a fun project so far! It's very cool to see what she writes to her admirers and exciting for all of us when she gets something in the mail. Will keep the blog posted on her next package! 

Inspiring letter! 

 Papa john and Obama 

Her letter:

1000 books before Kindergarten

Last week our local public library started a new program which encourages people to read to their young children. It's called 1000 books before kindergarten

Kyle picked up 2 booklets for the little ones and we calculated how many books we would have to read before Vincent becomes a kinder in 6 short months. It averages out to be about 5 per day. 

So we have started off our journey pretty well! Olivia LOVES to read!  I think she has learned that she gets my undivided attention! But Vincent is more of a doer, a player or a boy on the move. We are making the time now and hopefully it will help him with those early reading skills. 

We have already surpassed 25 books and I believe they get a sticker or small prize every time that they hit a milestone of 100 books!  

It will be a fun journey and a huge accomplishment! Only 974 to go! 

Filing a Humana appeal and grievance...

The best news of the week came in the mail on Monday! Maybe the best news of 2014 so far! Humana accepted our appeal for a little ER visit with zach.

I won't go into the long story..but on a Sunday back in September he suffered from a horribly painful episode of abdominal pain (which turned out to be constipation). After several OTC medications failed and lots of screaming ensued we decided to take him to the er. 

About 2 months later we get a nice bill for $500 and upon follow up with Humana, I realize there was another $1500 one on the way.  

Unfortunately when it comes to talking with Humana representatives I can't keep myself together no matter how many deep breaths I take. Just when I think "I can do this!", I totally lose it. And my last phone call ended with a click on the other end. I wouldn't have been so upset if:

1. I didn't owe $2000 dollars

2. They hadn't transferred me 3 times and I was on hold for 30 minutes

3. They hadn't lost all of my paperwork and claimed to have no knowledge of the fax number I sent the paperwork too. To make it worse I read the fax number off of humanas own website as I was on the phone with them! 

4. I'm imagining $600 per month disappearing from my paycheck only to be denied medical coverage. 

So I just gave up and told Kyle I could no longer deal with them from them on the phone. Thankfully I had already done all of the paper work and had saved a copy of everything. I just wasn't planning on ever calling them again! 

So, what to so when you are denied??  I went to the internet for help and found a great website with advice on how to file an appeal. 

http://www.patientadvocate.org/resources.php?p=36

Here's what I did...although hopefully I won't ever have to do this again.

1. I wrote a 2 page letter detailing everything that happened that day, why we went to the ER instead of the pediatrician (they were closed) and why we thought it was potentially a life-threatening condition

2. I got his pediatrician to write a letter, which actually ended up being just a statement saying he was a patient and had gone to the ER on that date. Even though I'm not sure it was very helpful, at least it showed that I was making an effort. 

3. I printed out medical info from a reputable medical website, which documented a serious life-threatening condition (obstructed bowel syndrome) that had the exact same symptoms that zach had that day. I highlighted those symptoms and was sure to note that we didn't know the cause of his pain. 

It was an ordeal but we were so relieved that they ruled in our favor!! I couldn't be happier!!  Now..as somebody at work teased me...what I am going to do with the $2000 I just earned? Nothing too fun I'm sure!! 

curbing the pet population!

An frigid early morning run in 30 mph gusts (polar vortex part II), an 8 hour work day, hair appointment, dance and a pet neutering were all on today's plate! 

My friend at work did my hair today at her cute little salon on Baxter ave. The girl chat was fun & getting my hair done was relaxing. However it's a total change and it's going to take me a long while to get accustomed to!  but it's only hair! It will grow back and out! Yikes! 

And Cat news...

Our little ferrel cat turned out to be a boy. He has been named "Extra" by Kyle for extra cat! Last year on January 1st we adopted a working cat named "Kyoti" from the humane society. She was a sweeti but has since abandoned us! It all started when this little ferrel kitten showed up. Kyoti was annoyed with it from the beginning but as it grew larger her intolerance soared! Before the first polar vortex hit, she took off. We haven't seen her in about a month or more. Now little tag-a-long "extra" rules the front porch. He's not been as welcomed by the family since he is frequently tripped over and has gotten a bad rap for running off Kyoti. :( 

Nonetheless, we had to get him fixed. So we turned to a local agency called alley cat advocates. It took 4 trips to the west end of town, but we had him fixed, de-infested, ear tipped and vaccinated for next to nothing thanks to a bunch of volunteers who are committed to curbing the cat population! 

Extra being annoying! 

Extra being cute! 

http://alleycatadvocates.org

Nothing much else happened today...but I must congratulate myself for being a better blogger. (Even if our boring day to day stuff is not all that interesting!) 

Until next time! :)