Part 4 Disney World!: Magic Kingdom

Anyway as mentioned earlier when we arrived at Magic Kingdom it was raining.  After a potty break at the bathrooms next to City Hall and getting checked in (which is not necessary unless you have special circumstances), we made our way to the Castle for pictures. By the time we got there the rain had started to break to a drizzle so wanted to get our pictures in.  I think I must tell you this was one of my biggest mistake ever. Ever I tell you!  Ever!!!

We had JUST gotten to Disney and the kids wanted to just kind of roam around and check things out, not be wrangled to stand like this, do this, smile.  Plus we were soaked; clothes stuck to us, soaked.  Emma changed from her Crocs into her nice red satin shoes that matched her dress just for pictures.  Also the kids were starving, Nick and I were hungry, but I didn't want to risk food stains on their outfits.  All around it was a bad idea.

Our pictures came out nice enough.  But the kids don't have big smiles of happiness but forced ones.  I feel bad I did that to them.  I wish I had just waited until later in the day and taken them then.  Some of you may be wondering why we didn't just try to take more later, and let me tell you, we tried.  But by then the kids remembered the first picture time so there was no way they were going to cooperate with us again.  And Nick was just getting plain fed up with me (he paid thousands for his kids to have fun, not me force them into pictures again!!!)

So I didn't win. Boo.  But it's my own darn fault.

Afterwards we grabbed lunch at Cosmic Ray's in Tomorrowland.  We went in September and snagged the free meal plan deal.  We upgraded to the Deluxe Dining plan for I think an extra $400.00!  I must tell you, I think the upgrade to the Deluxe plan was totally worth it!  I had oodles of friends warning me against this saying "all you'll do is wait to eat" but we really didn't.  Plus we are major foodies so getting to eat at some really fancy places was super exciting for us!  We ate at Cosmic Ray's which was a Quick Service meal.  Our meal was $65.00 and it tasted like horrible cafeteria food.  After that I was so glad we had upgraded to Deluxe meals.  *I highly recommend a meal plan!  It made it feel so much like a vacation.  All we did was give them our card and everything was taken care of.  Voila!  I didn't have to plan meals to take, or pack, or worry about finding meals to fit out budget, or even tip!  It all was on the card!

Oh and by the way, to explain: Quick Service Meals are basically where you go up to a counter and order.  Think burgers, wraps, etc. Sit down service is a restaurant either with a menu or a buffet.  On the deluxe meal plan we could order from anywhere.  It was so nice!

*A tip is to stay away from Cosmic Rays (or any quick service restaurant I'm guessing) at all cost during high traffic meal times.  There were so many people we literally could not get out of the restaurant.  It was a jam packed nightmare.  I'm not sure if it was because it was raining and people just ducked in or what.  It was our only experience with a quick service and it was so crowded.  Yeesh.

*Another tip: you can bring your own food in to Disney Parks.  I am uber cheap.  I mean tight wad extraordinaire but this trip I brought nothing.  But you can totally pack your own snacks or meals and bring them in.  If you're not on a meal plan I think this would definitely be the way to go.  Cosmic Rays (as I mentioned, the only quick service meal we had) was over $65.00 for the 4 of us to eat!  Nothing fancy: a couple of burgers, sodas, and kids meals.  It was quite a shock!

After that we were amped up, Mom had gotten the dumb pictures out of the way, our tummys were full, so now it was time to Disney it up!  We stopped at Merida's place where we could have a meet and greet with her and get her autograph.  Do you get Autographs?  Autographs are so fun!  I'll write about that in a later post. I wonder how many times I can fit autographs in here in this paragraph?  Autograph.  Ha!

Next it was time for some rides!  We decided to ride on the Iconic teacups and it was fabulous.  We had so much fun!  The children loved it and so did we.  Well, I did.  And Nick loved seeing the kiddos enjoying themselves.  But after the ride he felt sick.  That's right ladies and gentlemen...my 34 year old husband got sick on the teacups!  Ha!

For the rest of the day he couldn't tolerate anything. He almost tossed his cookies on the train.  That's right folks, the scenic train that goes around the park at an alarming slow snail's pace was too much for him.  Oh Lord, help us all!  Geesh! 

 We managed to cram a lot into the day...the Dumbo ride, the Swiss Family Robinson house, the Aladdin ride...we tried to experience a lot.

By late afternoon though we ended up with these kind of kids...

So we headed back to the hotel for naptime before we had more fun.

*Mom tip...get your kids to nap!  Your schedule will not be the same as at home, just know that going into it.  You may be up until midnight some nights (the horror, I know!) so if your kids need to crash and burn at 5 for an hour, let them.  They are having so much fun, just make sure they get rest during the day.  It was nice for Nick and I to get off our feet and just relax in the hotel room while the kids either played quietly or slept.  And honestly (not making this stuff up!) they sometimes begged to go back to the hotel to have play time or to sleep.  It was hot, they were sticky and very sensory overloaded!

It's a Fun and Silly Time We're Having Here

Well I've been posting my blog series about Disney but haven't blogged lately about our day to day life.  Here's just a peek at what's been going on around here...

 What can be more exciting than Sonic's happy hour?  Not much according to these little guys.  They love strawberry slushes...I love Dr. Pepper with Vanilla added.  Yummy!

 This guy has been over the moon lately about Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles!  He went to a Birthday party where he got this headband which he wears ALL of the time.  The other day his Lego magazine arrived and was so excited that it had the Turtles on it!  Turtle Power!

 The other day Emma was hanging out on her bed and I was tossing her clothes for her outfit of the day.  As you can see, this is what happened....poor dear :)

And so of course when Daddy came home she had to tell him about it.  As a result, they both thought at bedtime it would be hilarious to put unders on their heads.  They came downstairs for story time looking like this, singing a song they made up called "we love underwear".

Oh dear.  I love these two so much.  So cute!

Hope you have a Happy Weekend!

Part 3: Disney World! : Arriving at Magic Kingdom

Well being the meanest Mommy ever we settled into our room before hitting up the actual Disney part of Disney.  I had to get everything unpacked and ready to go.  I also had special little outfits that my friend who owns a business made for us.  I was able to send her a picture of a pair of matching outfits I spotted on Pinterest and she was able to recreate them.  And I loved them!  So we got ready to go and set out for the shuttle stop right outside of our hotel room.

And then the ominous clouds rolled in. * If you've never been to Florida just know, it rains almost every afternoon!  Be prepared!  Rain ponchos are a must!  I bought a ton of them from the Dollar Tree to take because who in the world would want to reuse a poncho??  I don't even know how you could?  It's all wet and you have to try to fold it back up?  For the birds!  Just consider buying them as one time use only!  They come two to the pack for a buck.  They were also useful for throwing all of our stuff in the stroller and then putting one over the stroller.

Anyway, the shuttle came and away we went.  I don't think I've ever been so excited in my life!  Is that pathetic of what????  I'm going with not pathetic, cool!  I kept squeezing Nick's hand in excitement!

As we were riding there big, thick drops started to wet the windows and by the time we got there a Monsoon had ensued.  Thunder, lightening, the works.  As the weather had warned us the week before, we were in for not the normal Florida showers here and there but rain all week, every day.  And not just rain, storms.  I have no beef with rain.  I do have beef with lightening as I'm holding an umbrella and pushing an aluminum stroller carrying my child.  That seems to logically pose a threat in my mind somehow.

So we waited at the station where the shuttle drops off.  And we waited, and we waited, and we waited.  Ugh.  Probably about 45 minutes later we decided it just wasn't going to stop.   So we made a run for it.  Magic Kingdom was right there and we were just holding it at an arm's length from our children.  Poor little dears.

So we went.  We ponchoed up, we ran.  We laughed.  In the end we made a memory and had fun.  And the mom part of me is still a little ticked that it rained.  Their little custom ordered outfits were a bust, Emma's shoes were ruined and everything was just blah and wet.  But I think that's just to me.  To the children they had a wonderful time and were in Disney!!!  And that is all that matters :)  I just need to remind my memory bank of that occasionally, lol =)

 Can you see the rain falling?  This is the first area you see in Disney...so cute!  I just kept squealing (in my mind, of course!) We're here!!!  We're finally here!!!  Eeek!

 Poncho clad kids...so cute!  See Cal's? We had to tie it behind him it was so big on him!  Getting mad that mom and dad are trying to wait out the storm...grrr.  It was comforting to know that all of the flags on buildings there are actually lightening rods in disguise!  They've thought of everything!

 I hate being wet.  Nick knew I was sucking at enjoying this time.  So he started taking my picture.  Going to kill him!  This is my I'm appeasing you at the same time I'm plotting your death smile.

Welcome to Disney!  It's raining!  But we finally made it!!!

Here's our little rain soaked little boy.  I dragged him into the City Hall and he was freezing! Isn't he adorable???  

As we've talked about before, Cal is Autistic.  This did make me a little worried because there are so many things that he has a really hard time dealing with.  Put all of those things together away from home with tiredness and hunger factored in and well, we could very well end up in a very bad situation.  

Cal's doctor was EXTREMELY helpful with this.  She gave us helpful situations.  She prescribed a fast acting anxiety medication for him.  And she wrote a doctor's note for Disney explaining his condition.  So here comes my tip...

*If you need special arrangements or accommodations made go to City Hall at Magic Kingdom first (you may be able to start at any of the parks but I had read that getting a special accommodation at, say Animal Kingdom would not necessarily be valid at any of the other parks.  But if you get it first from Magic Kingdom you are in like Flinn at all of the other parks...hope that makes sense).   You do not need a Doctor's note (they wouldn't even think of looking at mine) and the person you are getting accommodations for needs to be there (so little Jacky can't go ride teacups while you get it for him, just an fyi). 

Anywho, Disney was very understanding.  They gave us a special pass for our stroller that allowed us to use it somewhat as a wheelchair.  That if he was freaking out and we needed to keep him in the stroller, we could wheel it on in to rides and things when strollers usually are not allowed.  *TIP: if they offer something, take it!  I thought, he doesn't really use a stroller so we don't need that. But the lady encouraged me to take it "just in case" and I am so thankful because by the end of the trip he was pulling the shade over him in the stroller and refusing to come out he was so overwhelmed.  Eek.  

Also, they gave us a pass which could basically be used as a Fast Pass.  I will say that Calvin is not severely Autistic.  We are very blessed.  So when we got these things I felt almost silly, he was such a sweet boy just having fun.  But crowds and small spaces cause him to freak, so when he started stimming and yelling, we would pull out the card and be able to use it.  It was so nice to use when we had to and a comfort to know we had it if we should need it but we thankfully didn't need to use it the entire time.  By the end of the week though we were having to use it a lot more but again, it was so, so nice to have when we needed it.  It truly made our vacation magical in times it could have become absolutely horrific.  (Seriously sometime when Cal stims he chokes me and that's just not fun folks!) 

Sorry this is taking so long, but it's my blog and I want to write every dab nabit thing down!  Did I say that right?  This may take months :)

Here are this posts blogged in a nutshell:
* Know it rains...a lot (I think.  Everytime I've been to Florida it's rained in the afternoon)
*Buy rain ponchos at Dollar Tree.  I bought enough to have four per person.
*If you need special accommodations on rides and things just ask what can be done.  City Hall at Magic Kingdom is a great place to start.

I'll continue with my blog series next week...stay tuned!

Part 2: Disney World! :Pirate Room at Caribbean Beach

As I mentioned in my first post, we stayed at Disney in the Resort, the Caribbean Beach.  There they have Standard Rooms as well as Pirate Rooms.  We opted for the Pirate Room in hopes that it would keep the kiddos occupied while we were.  Although it wasn't considered a suite, it was a nice upgrade from a standard room for not a lot of money.  We opted for a Pirate theme because Emma loves Ariel the Mermaid and Cal likes pirates so we thought it would be a good compromise. And it was.  There was so much girly stuff Cal had to endure that it was nice he got this.  And Emma likes to pretend she was on Eric's ship :)  And she likes to play pirates too!  Those two are just precious!!!

When we first got there, I ran ahead of the kids and Nick to "find the room" but secretly I was running like a mad woman to get to the room first so I could throw their personalized Mouse Ears on their bed as a surprise!  Above they had just discovered them and they really did think that the hotel had made them and left them for them.  It was so cute! I tried to do a lot of little things that didn't cost a lot of money to personalize the trip for them!  My secret wish is that they will go to Disney one day with their families and realize that all of that fun stuff that showed up was actually their old mom working behind the scenes to surprise them :)  

Anyway, check out their pirate bed!  How fun, right?  About two weeks before we left I was researching our room since my OCDness dictates apparently that I try to find out how  many hangers are in the room and how many washcloths there are, etc, etc.  Yes I am crazy.  Anywho, I was researching and found a kajillion blogs that explained that the pirate beds have specially made prison-like mattresses that are the most ungodly uncomfortable things ever.  Ever.  Like can't get out of bed because your back is in so much pain uncomfortable.  I was kind of freaked after that.  I kept calling Nick, debating if we should try to change rooms or if we even could so late in the game.  In the end we decided that we would just stick with the pirate rooms because the kids would love it.  In the end I am glad that we did.  Yes the beds were uncomfortable but we were so exhausted by the end of the day that it didn't really matter. And they weren't that uncomfortable...it was bearable. Which leads me to my next tip:

*Try not to let the research get the best of you.  I am a researcher and I know a ton of moms who are too so I know I am not the only one.  Don't let a lot of nit-picky people's opinions steal the joy of your vacation.   Remember that a lot of people nag things to death and so take everything with a grain of salt.  Also remember that this is the happiest place on earth so they aren't going to try to kill  you with the mattresses (I don't think, ha!) 

Here's Kazoo trying on her ears. She's checking her ears out in the mirror?  Isn't she just a doll?   Isn't she cute?  

Here's a good view of our room.  Everything is pirate-ish.  And I can't find pictures of it but our room came with a fridge that was hidden in a keg and our dresser looked like a stack of cargo...super cute!  The carpet even looked like planks of wood to give it that authentic pirate feel :)

 Here's Captain Calvin setting sail on our bed.  How cute is this little mate?  I so love that we were able to give them this trip and all of these memories.

 This was carved on the wall of our shower.  It was neat and everything is Pirate themed.  Seriously, everything!

 I will say that this was probably about the only thing with our room I didn't like.  This skull was on a large curtain that separated the sink area from the bedroom.  When the vanity lights were on the skull appeared to "glow".  The kids were freaked out by it and especially as they were trying to fall asleep with that looming over them in the room.  With the curtain opened it wasn't an issue so it really wasn't a big deal.  And what was behind that you might ask??

Ta-da!  Behind Curtain Number 1...

In the door to the right was the bathroom of the toilet and shower but the sinks were outside.  This is what was behind the creepy, scary skill.  Behind Nick in this photo was a closet area with a safe, closet rod, and long shelf.  It was a really, really nice set up.  With the curtain you could dress behind it away from the kiddos, I could get ready at the sink without waking everyone and someone else could be taking a shower or going potty.  Loved the layout!  I also loved that the closet was right there and there was tile in that area because I could hang wet suits, put my makeup on the shelf over the clothes; it was just plain convenient.

So there's a little tiny tour of our room.  Hope that helps answer some questions regarding the Pirate Rooms if you are considering them for your trip! Please let me know if you have any questions...I'd love to try to help :)

Part 1: Disney World! :Arriving & Caribbean Beach Resort

Five months ago we visited the most magical place on Earth: Disney World!!!  I cannot believe I haven't posted about it.  I thought for sure I did and then as I was going through past posts I couldn't find any of the posts...so I must not have ever gotten around to it!  To be honest with you when we got home we had thousands and thousands of pictures from multiple cameras to sort through and it got a little overwhelming, to say the least!  

Plus on the first day of our vacation Cal got sick and by the end of it we were all sick...so we all came home battling illness and the massive laundry piles!  

I know I did post about our stay in Tifton, Georgia on the way to Disney.  I would highly recommend staying there if you are traveling an extended amount of time to Disney.  Tifton was about 4-5 hours away from Disney so it really helped us break up our drive.  Disney is about 20 hours away from our house and we knew we absolutely did not want to spend 20 hours driving and arrive to Disney with the adults exhausted and the kids raring to go.  Stopping in Tifton broke our trip up in that we drove about 15 hours the first day, crashed for the night, then woke up and left about 5 in the morning...getting us to Disney before 10 am...perfect!!!!

But now onto the pictures and about our trip!  I am going to try to post the annoying tourist shots I took too since there may be lots of you out there like how I was: someone who had never ever been to Disney.  It was  a little terrifying exciting planning a trip to Disney with no previous experience!  Here we go: 

 We arrived Tuesday, September 18th to Disney World...this is the site you are greeted with upon arriving.  There were huge signs telling us not to stop but luckily I have a husband who will boldly break rules when I beg him to stop!  First time Disney lady with a brand new camera...make way!

 Here's Emma's face upon arriving.  She doesn't look excited or anything, right? :)  Love our beautiful girl!  Alright and the stupid blogger isn't letting me comment below the next picture but I'm sure you can see that this Cal is below and this was his face upon our arrival. So excited!!!

Here is the site upon us entering the Resort part of the adventure.  Now to find our resort...it's gotta be around here somewhere...

Here was Hollywood Studios...

And The Swan Resort...excuse the bluriness as my husband is driving probably 60ish miles per hour...he wants his kiddos to get to Disney!
 *One of the things I wish someone had told me that Disney has roads and interstates all it's own. It's nothing like welcome to Disney and you're here! It's more like Welcome to Disney now follow this map and half an hour later you'll find (hopefully!) your destination.    There are a lot of signs but it's easy to get turned around!

The Caribbean Beach Resort!  We're finally here!!!  One of the things I love is how Disney makes so much effort to make you feel like you are really at whatever destination is designated for your hotel.  Since the Caribbean was our theme there was tons of calypso music, umbrella drinks, and palms.  They even bring people in from whatever country your hotel is from.  It almost felt like we were in Disney at the parks and at the Caribbean when we were at our hotel...very nice! 

Here's Emma upon arriving at the hotel.  Fresh out of the car after 4 and a half hour.  And I was dismayed to see that the poor dear inherited my Islandy hair.  It only gets worse from here kiddo!  

Here's a random shot of what the hotel rooms looked life.  Each resort is HUGE!  Ours was seperated into Caribbean Islands with each cluster of that islands' buildings being a different color.

At the Caribbean everything is really spread out which I loved!  There is a seperate building just for checking in and out.  Here we are getting all checked in!  Oh yes, and make sure you tell them you are first timers!  They had buttons waiting for us and these balloons!  I'm sure they will give them to you without telling them ahead of time but it made the kiddos feel super special that all of this stuff was ready for just them! 

*Another tip: Can you see in the picture above that the three of them are all in pink?  I do that on purpose in case I ever lost one of them.  I always try to get them to match either Nick or me. It helps me spot them in crows.  Plus, It's a good practice for when you have lost your child and your mind turns to goo and you can barely remember your own name (if this has never happened to you, praise God for that!). Anyway, if that happens I can look at my outfit or Nick's and think they are wearing either blue or pink...and that usually jogs my memory.  

Here was our hotel room's building.

*We worked a lot with the Disney planning people to ensure we had a good room and location for us.  Explaining Cal was Autistic and HATES being upstairs got us a first floor room close to the parking lot and the shuttle so we could dash quickly when needed.

*Again this is the most magical place on Earth so if you have special requests, make them known!  The worst that can happen is that they say no, but it never hurts to try.  I talked to tons of friends before we went to get a sense of what I would be up against mom wise and I knew I would be leaving things out in the car, needing to get a screaming kid down for a nap, and so for us I for went the water view in favor of a parking lot view that afforded me the luxury of dashing out to the car when necessary.  Just my viewpoint. :)

This picture is more for me just to remember that we stayed in Trinidad South, but it also shows you that they give you a cute map of the resort...see how big it is?  The Caribbean has a lake in the middle of it with beach and boat rentals...so fun!

Okay tomorrow I will be posting more...stay tuned :)

Summary of my tips for Disney in this post:
*If driving try to stop for the night somewhere before you get to Disney so when you arrive you are all on the same playing field, sleep wise.
*Disney is huge and there are a lot of roads and streets, ramps and exits.  Be a good co-pilot for your husband because it can be easy to get turned around.
*Color theming your wardrobes comes in handy for spotting a child in a crowd or, God forbid, you need to tell security what your child is wearing.
*Be specific about what you want in your room.  Want a ground level floor? Ask for it?  Want to be close or far away from the parking lot?  Ask for it.  Close to a shuttle?  Ask.  The worst that can happen is that it won't happen.
*Try to cover all of your bases in thinking through how your family operates.  We are leave your junk in the car people so we like to be close to the lot.  If you don't have your car with you maybe you'll benefit better from a water view :)

Happy Planning!

Ice Fishing

This past Sunday we went up to Nicholas' Grandmother's house to go Ice Fishing.  She lives on a lake which she assured us was frozen enough so off we went.  

Over the river and through the woods to Grandmother's house we go...

 There was no way in this whole wide world that I was going to go on the ice.  I stood on the pier with my mom parts all in a ball of worry as my children stood in the middle of a frozen lake with 40 degree temperatures warming the earth.

I was so, so scared the ice was going to crack and just envelope the whole fold of them.

EEEeEEEeeEEEk!

The picture above is Emma and a friend of Nick's Grandma's, Keith, who was taking them out.

 Nicholas and Calvin making their way.

 Calvin on the ice....allow me to interject an EEEEK!

Here they are doing the actually fishing. Nick had the camera.  So at this point my beautiful children, my hot hubby, and my uber expensive camera are all standing on ice in the middle of the lake.  Oh joy.

Here's a picture of Nick's mother and me standing on the dock.  At this point I think we were both yelling at them, trying to entice them inside with hot cocoa.  Heehee.

They are pretty cute ice fishing though :)

I mean, seriously, look at all that water!!!  Freaking out looking at these photos!  And they are safe in our living room right now, ha!

They finally came inside and I was okay.  I stopped hyperventilating a few hours minutes later and realized they had a lot of fun and got to experience something interesting!

The End of Art Class

 Eek!  Now that's an up close picture, is it not?  I love by the way how dark her eyes are...she has the color of eyes like mine and Cal's are a brown like spilt Dr. Pepper like his Daddy.  

Anyway, do you like the paint on Emma's face?  She often comes home from art class with art wounds like these.

 And these....

 And these (while these were harder to capture on camera, but there nevertheless)

And these.  Poor Emma.  These were her favorite jeans.  She was so upset that she got something on them that wouldn't come off.

Anyway, every time we are at Art class she comes home in an outfit that will never be fit to wear again for anything other than art.  So she's been wearing this outfit every Wednesday for the last few months.

Yesterday was her last day of art.  I think in the Fall we will pick back up with Art class but for now we could use a break.  Right now she has art class for 3 hours a week and had gym for 3 hours a week.  It is a homeschool program and we LOVE it but it also cut quite a bit into her regular schooling on those days.

I will tell you though that the one thing Emma has LOVED are the friendships.  She has such cute little friends and it is adorable to see them giggling with one another or to be rolling their eyes in agreement over conversations of what a pain brothers are.  Is there anything cuter than little girls hanging out together???

But ta-ta art!  Hopefully in the Fall the class will have invested in some smocks and we will be able to wear more than one outfit during the year :)

So proud of you Emma!  You are flourishing in all that you do and we love you sooo much!!!

Our Fire Station Field Trip!

Last week we accompanied Cal's class to the Fire Station for a field trip.  We had so much fun!  

 This is Emma telling me "no flash photography!" She is starting to get really tired of me taking pictures of them all of the time.  I hope someday she will look back and be grateful I took them all.

Love this picture!!!  This is Calvin and his best friend in the whole wide world.  Can I just start crying now as I think of them not being together next year?  Waaahhh!

Here's the firefighter showing them the kitchen. Emma like to randomly ask him the questions she had thought of.   So it went like this "So we have big huge pots to make a meal for everyone here on duty."
So how much does your hat weigh?  

I don't think she minds being random :)

And the truck is this big!

Love that he did this!  Dressed to show the kids how scary he looks in his gear and then they talked about how you never hide from him in a fire even if he looks scary.

And here's a class photos...so cute!  I am so glad we have opportunities to go with the class on trips!  He has the best teachers in the world.  They were Emma's teachers too and this is our very last year with them...oh dear, here come the water works again!!! :(

Where We Are Right Now..

Ugh, this week has already gotten me up on the wrong side of the bed several times and it hasn't even started yet!

Ever have one of those?

Nick got a new job.

Well he actually got it a time ago.  Long story.  Anywho right now he is still working his old job and on his off days he is working his new job to start learning and training and trying to pick up the pieces of things that haven't been done for a while.

Oh boy.  He doesn't have to go in on every one of his off days but if you know my husband you know he is about the ethical man and tries to do the right thing in everything.

Which translates to...he works a lot when he can to support his family.  Which all of us back at home sure do appreciate but we also miss him like crazy and it makes us want to cry.

So far he's worked an entire week...weekend and all.  It doesn't sound like much, I know, except these children miss their Daddy something fierce.

My poor babies.  It's hard to face all of the questions...

Does Daddy have to work tomorrow?  
I miss Daddy!  

The absolute worst is when they forget he's at work and come down the stairs in the morning expecting to see him...
Where's Daddy? 
When I have to tell them he's gone it just about kills me.

And this week they've been pretty good.  They don't do it if he's worked like a day of course, but the last couple of days I've gotten the questions.  And I know they will be asking all this next week what is up.

Tomorrow is Nick's first business trip.  Monday's around here are horrid as I've mentioned before and I'm already wishing my husband who should have tomorrow off, didn't have to go.

Nick's new job is a Corporate Auditor position...or so I've been told.  I've also been told it has some other title but I can't remember what that is.  And I basically have no idea what he does all day.  He could be testing football's for their bounce all day for all I know...as long as that paycheck is direct deposited, I'm a happy camper.

I do know he is going to have to travel and I am okay with that.  At least I was until it came closer and now we are standing face-to-face, staring at each other.  Because when it is all said and done, Nick being out of town means a lot of sleepless nights...3500 square feet of creaks and bumps in the night...eeek!

Anyway, people keep asking me if Nick's at his new job and I always say yes but if you ask him he'll tell you not yet, so thought I would explain to all of you in the wondering department. :)  We are so grateful to his Company for this opportunity and so thankful to God for opening all the doors.  His will be done all of the time, right?  :)

So excited about this time we are facing in our lives...if you need me though and Nick's out of town you can find me hiding under the covers from the monsters under the bed ;)

Scholastic Delivers :)

Alright maybe that's a bit of a play on words.  But today Scholastic did deliver...

book orders that is!

And please don't laugh at me but I have to tell SOMEONE this story!

Due to the visitors of the day I was getting tired of answering the door...

No thanks, we don't need our sidewalk shoveled...

We live I guess in a more affluent area and people apparently walk here from all over the city to try to get hired to shovel for us.  Our answer is always no. Well, no thank you :)

Anyway, I was tired of these people so when the door bell rang I came downstairs and crawled to a window in our solarium to see who it was...had to be sneaky to make sure they didn't see me through the foyer and the entry way door.  I still couldn't see anyone so I had to get underneath the baby grand to peep through the window.

And no one was there.  Boy was that a waste of wicked ninja skills :)

It was just the UPS man delivering a box of Scholastic book orders!  I am so, so stinkin' excited.  If you missed my first post about how us homeschooling Mama's can get in on the Scholastic Book Order action you can click here to read all about it!

 This is one of the order forms I am most excited about!  Games, Kits, books on tape...awesome.  You are a speakin' my language!

 I am discovering that almost every order form has at least one $1.00 book!  With 12 order forms to order from, I could fill an order with practically nothing but buck books!

This is another order form that I am super excited about.  And yes I know I am a big huge nerd.  Or dork.  Dweeb maybe.  But whatever the name, I am it.  I love history and I love immersing our children in it as well.

The kids and I got to pour over them, just like if they were in a real school.  I love things like this that can help them to get a teeny, tiny part of what goes on at school.

So the kiddos will have to turn in their order forms soon so we can get our order in...I am so excited!  The one reason why I may have been the most excited though is that I am HORRID at looking at catalogues online...does anyone else have this problem or is it just me????

Unhealthy Picnic Date

Sometimes in life I think you just have to say "screw it" and make yourself a very unhealthy lunch...

I'm talking with sugar, white bread, white flour, and jelly...lots of oozy and goozy jelly.  

What do you do with this lunch?

Why would you commit such a diet sin?  

Well today I did it so I could sit on the living room floor on a blanket a little boy named Cal tried his best to spread out.  We put our lunches on the floor and had a little picnic.  

Emma was at art class so it was just the two of us.  

I got a jelly kiss from a little boy whose face was covered with it.

I'm in love.  

And today I made a memory with a little boy who got to eat junk food...on the floor!  With his Mama!  On a picnic date!!!

Be still my heart...eating white sugar and flour it totally worth it for this! 

Wow, God is Good on a Horrid Monday

Monday was a Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day!

I think I've written on here before how much I dislike Mondays...it involves a lot of back and forth action of taking the kiddos to and from places all day long.

Add to this that Nick has started his new job and had to go to Illinois for the day.

Not too bad except he took my car and left me his older car to drive.

Oh fun.

Also, add to that that Monday evening I had a meeting I had to attend for the children's resale organization I volunteer with.  I was so super excited to go!!!!

Until I got the phone call that Nick was stuck on the Dan Ryan and would get home too late for me to go to my meeting.  Bummer.

He got home around 7 (my meeting started at 6:30).  I had a JCP coupon for $10.00 off a $10.00 purchase and we had a gift card so we decided to get the kiddos out of the house and do some shopping.  The coupon expired the next day and I really wanted to see it used.  (By the way, did you know that they keep track of if you are using your coupons or not?  If you don't use them then they might not send you anymore...just a heads up :)) Which by the way, Nick found track pants for the gym and we bought two huge Christmas presents, and paid $3.00 out of pocket...woohoo!

On the way home oddly enough we stopped to look at a car lot, thinking maybe it was time to start looking for a new ride...and that is where all of our lights got dim and things started going wrong as the "Check Charging System" warning came on...

Ugh. Oh.

We managed to drive to a restaurant parking lot and that's where it died died, dead friends.

Eck.

We called my parents who lived super close to where we were but they were out of town.  So we called Nick's parents and waited the half an hour it took the poor thing to come up.  I felt so bad we had to drag her out.  The weather had been about 50 degrees that day but it was now raining and the temperature was dropping.

As we waited we let the kids climb into the back of the Explorer and, well, explore. They loved it!  I think they thought that was such an adventure and helped to take their mind off of us being stranded.

When Nick's mom arrived he charged our battery from hers and it started, but only made it about half a mile.

We did this 5 more times.  By the time we got close to home...our end stop was right across the river from where we live, it was only lasting about a quarter of a mile before it would die.

So stressful, but in the end thinking about it, I was so thankful God was looking out for us.  Everytime we died, it was somewhere where we could pull off and be okay...a side street, a gas station, a curb out of the way.  In the dark and the rain we could have very easily gotten hit since each time our car died we had NO lights, meaning NO hazards even to flash!  I was so thankful Nick's mom was happy to help.  We had a very nice police man help us right before the last time it died and he stopped traffic so we could get across an intersection.

All in all, as much as it sucked, we knew God was with us and helping us.  And that is what we hope this taught our children.  Every time Nick had to get out in the pouring rain to charge our battery we started praying.  And he answered our prayers.

The next morning Nick went and bought an Alternator and went to where we left it and replaced it.  I am so impressed with my husband that, while certified mechanic he is not, he can fix anything.  He just amazes me and it amazes me the talents that God has blessed him with.

It is running great now and an Alternator was the only problem!  The only other things were either 1) battery (no biggie) or 2) the computer system (way huge-o biggie!)

So there was our horrid Monday and through that we were given the reminder that the Creator of the Universe is always there watching out for us and loves us through the great times and through the storms (literally!) of life!

God is crazy in love with you my Friends!

Our House of Love

In an epic moment of failure last year, I completely spaced having us make a Gingerbread house.  It was one of those things that kept sporadically running through my mind and then the realization hit me on Christmas Eve that we had never gotten to it.  

Oops.  

So I did the next best thing.  

At Target I found a Hello Kitty Gingerbread kit on clearance for 75% off...I think it was $2.50 or something.  I looked at it...it was pink.  It had heart candys...we could use this for Valentine's Day!  

Frugal Tip: Try looking at things on clearance in a different light to see if you have other uses for it.  Sometimes you can come up with creative uses for things and save a ton of moola.  

So we assembled.  I always try to have the kids have their own items to work on so they won't fight and so they have their own spaces for their creativity.  So each kid got a side, a front (or back) and a side of the roof.  

When it was all assembled I added Hello Kitty to her new home, affectionately named 

"The House of Love"  

oh yeah.  

It was the centerpiece of our Dining Room table because I don't have anything Valentiney for our table.  

Anyone have any ideas for me???

So everyday it was there tempting them.  Tantalizing them.  Drawing them in.

 

 Until Valentine's Day when these two adorable children finally, FINALLY got to dig in.

 Eating the House of Love!

It was very crunchy (putting it lightly!) but they really seemed to enjoy it and had fun!  And they finally got to make a Gingerbread house!

Ice Skating

The kiddos got to go ice skating.  Emma loves going ice skating but I am horrible at it!  HORRIBLE!!!  Horrible I don't think even captures how truly bad I am at skating.  And Nick can't skate well either, but was a trooper and went with the kiddos.  Thankfully Nick's mom, Grandma Peggy, likes to go skating with the kids, so she agreed to go too.  

 Here's our gang out on the ice...Nick's mom in the blue hat, Emma, Cal, and Nick.  Cal isn't very good with balance so ice skating is a definite challenge for him.  Emma isn't the best skater in the world but she has been in hockey, so she knows the basics of skating.

 I love these two.  I love Emma's heart.  She is always so quick to put aside what she's doing and help her brother.  God definitely knew what kind of big sis this little guy needed.

 Here she is trying to help him...again.  I think by this point he was beginning to get it.  I love these two with my whole big heart.

Look at that face!  He's so proud.  Skating with Grandma Peggy he did his best skating.  I'll have to remember that the next time they want to go skating.

Our local rink offers homeschool skating on Monday afternoons and while I haven't taken the kids to it, I am thinking I may in a week or two...provided the weather cooperates with us!  I think you all in the Midwest can relate with me!  Ha, this week we have rain and snow in the forecast together.  So funny to me, but so typical of this time of year.

Happy Ice Skating!!!  Is anyone else horrible at skating like I am???