Busy, Busy, Busy Part III-Disney Trip

Two weeks ago we took our first ever family of four family trip. Oh, don't get me wrong, we have traveled quite a bit with the children, but this is the first time that it was ever just the four of us; no extended family and no family friends, just us. Of course, if you are going to do something as a family for the first time you might as well jump in head first so we decided to take a 6 day/5 night trip to Disney World, the place where all your dreams come true and if you make it home still married and all children still alive the odds that you will stay married and not kill your children along the way increase dramatically:) All joking aside, we had the most marvelous trip ever!!! Even when we had a bump in the road it seemed to be perfect.

Wednesday morning we headed out as fast as we could get out of the house. Everyone was so excited, but Shelby was by far the most excited out of all of us. Before we even hit I-95 she had already asked a million questions that came one right after another. She didn't even give us 5 secs to answer the first question before she was on to the next and then the next and then the next....continue on for 5 hours!!! As endearing as it was and at times very hilarious, it was a little much. I mean, nothing could stop the questions, not even a movie.

JP on the other hand just enjoyed the ride and was content to listen to his sister's rapid fire questions. In fact, he was so relaxed that he passed out on the way down.



He loves his monkey and blanky and pillow.

Because we left so early, we were able to check-in, go grocery shopping and still have plenty of time to spare to hit Downtown Disney. Now really, this first tast of Disney World was either going to make or break the trip. Think about it, we traveled all day and jumped right into action with two children who were a little tired, but running on so much adrenaline that it kept them going. Turns out, we had a very nice first night. We walked around Downtown Disney a bit, rode the carousel, ate at Rainforest Cafe, had ice cream, and went back to the place we were staying.

This picture is pretty significant to me because I have a picture of Shelby and I in front of that same fountain when she was 8 weeks old. That was back before digital cameras so I don't have it on my computer, but it is just so crazy that she turned 6 years old while we were on our trip!!!



No one slept much that first night. We were in a new place, the children were sleeping in bunkbeds for the first time and we were all excited about going to Magic Kingdom the next day. I think that I was up every hour with the children.

Magic Kingdom was definitely magical. It was amazing to see how much Shelby had changed from when we went to Disneyland a few years ago. When we went to Disneyland we literally had to drag her into the park kicking and screaming because she was so terrified of seeing the characters and the princesses, but this time she was so excited to get to see the princesses. She still avoided all the characters, but completely got into getting as many autographs from as many princesses as possible. It was too cute.

JP wasn't all that much into the princesses (whew!!!), but he did have his mind set on seeing Mickey Mouse and getting his autograph. When we finally found him, we had to wait in line for a little bit and at one point Mickey went inside for a little break and JP completely lost it. I mean he cried and cried and cried until Mickey came back out. I just prayed after that that we would make it up there before another break becuase I don't think he or I could have handled that again.



We had such a wonderful time at Magic Kingdom. We rode Dumbo, Peter Pan, the Tea Cups, Small World, the People Mover, Buzz Lightyear, the Jungle Boat, Aladin's Magic Carpet Ride, and Thunder Mountain. JP was just tall enough to get on Thunder Mountain and I really think that if it weren't for his thick hair that would not have allowed him on. It was so funny to watch him on that ride. He sat behind Shelby and I with Pratt and put his little hands in the air and shouted "woooo, woooo!" the whole time. When we got off he wanted to ride again, but Shelby said that it gave her a stomach ache and headache (could have been the yummy park food we had just eaten for dinner that got her all in a mess). I addition to all the fun rides, Shelby got to see Fairy Godmother, Princess Aurora, Belle, Cinderella, and Ariel and Prince Eric. I got such a kick out of watching her go up to each princess, talking with them, and getting her picture with them. She has come such a long way!!!!

Originally we had planned to not spend the whole day at Magic Kingdom, but as the day went on and the children did so well we decided to stay. At 7:00 they had an electrical parade, at 8:00 they had a slide show of different people's pictures from that day projected up on Cinderella's castle with music and then at 9:00 they had the most amazing fireworks show. We fell into bed exhausted that night and the children didn't make a peep until 7:15 the next morning.

Friday morning was a very exciting morning as this was the day that we celebrated Shelby's 6th birthday...yes, you read that right, I said 6!!!!! We had three main objectives that day...

1.-Donuts for breakfast. There was a Dunkin Donuts shop within walking distance so we laced up, hit the pavement and came out with six donuts.
2.-Get Tinker Bell's autograph. Of all the princesses we saw, the one Shelby kept saying she wanted to see the most was Tinker Bell and since it was her birthday what better day to see her.
3.-Pizza for dinner. Thankfully there was an Uno's Pizza place down the street from where we were staying so we enjoyed a very yummy Chicago style pizza for dinner.

The birthday girl ready for action.....



Objective #2-check:) Shelby, Tink, and Terrence



The crash was inevitable. We knew it would come, but we didn't expect it to be relatively quiet without any tantrums...JP finally gave in to his exhaustion on the bus back to our car after our day at Epcot. None of his usual "try to stay awake at all cost" antics; he just quietly gave into sleep.



Later that afternoon we played putt-putt. Of course, we had to make a competition out of it and I am pleased to announce that the girls stomped the boys and were victorious!!!

I am going to bring this to an abrupt end. Saturday we did Disney's Animal Kingdom which was crazy crowded!!! We only visited Africa and went on two rides. The children were pretty exhausted and the mommy and daddy were pretty exhausted. But, if you ever find yourself in Animal Kingdom and you can only do one thing; you have to go on the Safari Ride in Africa. It Was Amazing!

We finished up our trip to Disney World with a visit to Hollywood Studios. Again, it was crazy crowded. It must have been because it was the weekend. There is one thing for certain, Disney does not disappoint. The shows that we saw were so fun and amazing.

This last picture is Shelby at Hollywood Studios. It is one of my favorite from the trip....oh, I can't believe how much she has grown!!!!



Our trip was fun and we loved every minute of it. Hopefully we will get to go again one day, but this time we will leave on a Sunday, visit the parks during the week, and come home Friday or Saturday....

Busy, Busy, Busy Part II

If you ever have an opportunity, you have to participate in a marathon relay!!! It was so much fun and if you find that you want to run in a marathon relay, then you have to run in The National Marathon to Finish Breast Caner.

Last year our neighbor ran in the marathon and Leslie, his wife, noticed that there were teams of people running the race and thought that it would be so much fun to do and boy was she right!! This was a year in planning and I am so excited for next year.

We had ten girls running so there was enough to field two teams which meant that we would all have someone to run our 5 mile leg with. We also had a wonderful group of girls who came with us to support us, watch our babies (no, not mine) and take us to our handoff spots. The Saturday before the race we carpooled down to Jacksonville, picked up our race packets, did a little shopping (what girls trip is complete without that?), then we went to Leslie's parents for a pre race dinner of spaghetti and my favorite; wait for it.......COOKIE CAKE!!!!



Leslie and I ran the third leg together and we had a blast....we laughed and cried and survived. I am so proud of her and how far she came over the last month of training and can't wait to see what kind of speed she pulls next year.



All along the race route there were people cheering you on. Some held posters that expressed deep gratitude for running as they had lost loved ones to the cancer and those were the points that we cried.

Here is Austin, Allison and I just chillin at the end...


I don't know of anyone who doesn't know someone whose life has been touched by breast cancer and it was really neat to see all the different names on the racers of bids of who they were running for. I ran for a very dear lady in my life named Barb Turner. She is a remarkable woman with a great love for the Lord and a huge desire to impart wisdom to children and young adults. Her teaching has meant the world to me and Pratt and I really can't say enough how thankful and grateful I am to have her as a mentor, friend and teacher.



We all had such a great time and I think that most everyone is in for another round next year. Can't wait to see how we do next year!



Oh, and if you are wondering, we finished 93rd out of 213 relay teams....not that bad for a bunch of weekend road warriors.

Busy, Busy, Busy Part 1

I can't believe that we are at the end of February!!! We had such an amazingly fun month filled with so many activities so I am going to break down the month in at least two, probably three different blogs to give you a taste of what we have been up to.

We started off the month celebrating birthdays with friends. I love birthday party days because they give us something to look forward to over the weekend and it helps Saturdays go by a little more quickly. It is even better, although a bit exhausting, to have two in one day and we had just that scenario at the beginning of February. The first birthday was for sweet Sebastian. It is hard to believe that he is already 2!! Shelby and JP still refer to him as baby Sebastian and we are working on that....I don't think he will like that too much when he is 15. The second party was a ballet party at a local dance studio for Campbell. I really was shocked at how much Shelby got into it and this may be the only glimpse I will ever have into what a life of ballet would be like. Shelby was so excited to wear her friends leotard and tights, but she was very certain that she didn't want her hair in a ponytail or bun or anything. When the party was over she was supper excited and told me that she wanted to do ballet. I didn't want to discourage her by any means, but before we shell out hundreds of dollars I wanted to make sure that she understood that she would most definitely have to either wear her hair up or get it cut and when that point was understood she went back to her original plan of wanting to take up tennis.

This is a picture of the girls at the bar. My camera battery was on its last leg so most of my pictures turned out blurry...but Shelby's face was priceless the whole time.


JP is really enjoying his new train track. He got it for Christmas and has gotten some add on pieces to go with it. He will go in his room and play on it for hours which is soooooo nice! I have several pictures of the track, but I just really like this one up close so you don't get the full effect of how much this train track has taken over his room, but you get to see his sweet face.



Since that picture I have convinced him to take down the track for about 20 minutes so that I could vacuum his room. Normally I go in there, vacuum what I can and then move the track around to vacuum some more and it just takes so long.

Shelby and Pratt had a wonderful daddy/daughter date night this month. The school had a sweetheart daddy/daughter dance for Valentines Day and it was fabulous!!! All the little girls got dressed up and the daddies put on their suits for a fun night of dancing.

Another school in the area also had a family dance that night so we all got together at our neighbors house to fix up the girls. It was so cute!!! They all got their fingernails and toenails painted and then Leslie and Emily did the girls' hair. I can't believe that Shelby played along, but she ended up really enjoying getting her hair curled and asked me if we could curl her hair everyday (yikes!!! I don't have the skill set for that; better start learning).

This is Shelby and Pratt before they left....


Here is Pratt putting on her corsage....


And since I totally forgot to give Pratt the camera on his way out the door this is the only picture I have from the actual dance. These are the three amigos...Shelby, Kendall and Lauren.



Shelby had so much fun at this dance and I loved laying in bed with her after they got home hearing her tell stories of what they did and seeing her eyes light up. I hope that this is the first of many memorable nights with her daddy.

More on Being Four

On Friday we had the dreaded 4 year old well visit-dun, dun, dun.....For those of you who have had the priviledge of experiencing, you know what I mean. It is a tough one; and for those of you who haven't been through it yet, brace yourself!!!

I am so thankful that Pratt got to go with me on this one. When Shelby had her four year well visit it was just me and the girl. It proved to be tough, but in the end we both survived. JP is growing like a crazy and I might not have believe how much he has grown if it weren't in the numbers....here are my little; well, I guess big boy's numbers:

height: 41 1/2 in (75%)-up 3 inches from last year
weight: 40 lbs (75%)-up 6 pounds from last year

This is JP and Pratt hanging together before the nurse came in and started poking him and everything.....


He was all smiles, then came the finger prick, followed by blood pressure, temperature, and peeing in a cup. JP was resistant to the peeing in a cup thing at first, but once Pratt finally got him started he really thought it was cool. We rounded out the appointment with four shots (yes, you read that right, four) and a clean bill of health. Yay for my sweet boy for being such a trooper and surviving all that and I mean that for Pratt too.

On Saturday we had JP's birthday party and I have to say I think that it is one of the most fun parties we have ever had. After I realized how little JP gets boy time I immediately decided that this party was going to be all about boys and boy things. Pratt and I put our heads together and came up with the idea to have to party at the Outpost. We had a fire, a boat ride, roasted marshmellows and hot dogs, the boys tromped through the woods, and some of them ended up in the lake, but just up to their knees or so.

This is before we had anyone in the lake. The boys were all looking at the water and throwing sticks, rocks and anything else they could find into the water...





JP enjoying the fruits of his labor. I think this is the first smore that he has ever had. We have had smores before, but he never tried it...always got too excited and would eat the marshmellow before he could get any further.



JP and Colin enjoying their smores while debating whether it tastes better to put the chocolate on the bottom or the top....

Happy Birthday JP!!!



Another January birthday to celebrate....yes, January birthdays are the best! Grammie's birthday was last night and so we had a little celebration at their new house. It was so much fun and the children really had a blast.

Happy Birthday Grammie!!!

What JP's Been Fakin'

What a week!!! I love birthdays in our house as we usually end up taking a whole week to celebrate the person who is having a birthday and it just so happens that last week was my turn:) It was a super fabulous week that started with an overnight date with my husband last Saturday night and ended with a super fun girls night out having a Wii dance off at Hampton Lake. I mean really, what more could a girl ask for!!!!

Aren't my children the cutest!?!?!?!? Even though they can drive me crazy and they certainly know how to test my patience and any other virtue that a good parent should have, I can't help but love them more and more everyday!!!



Now on to address the title....There is something definitely different between Shelby and JP and I am not sure if it is a boy vs girl thing or a first child vs second child thing. When ever Shelby learns how to do something she is so proud and will show me over and over. For example; at school they teach the children the "flip trick" which is a way that they can put on their jackets by themselves. When Shelby learned the flip trick one would have thought that was the coolest thing ever. She did it over and over again and was so excited to show people her new trick. JP on the other hand....well, lets just say until a week and a half ago I had no idea that he knew how to put on his jacket. I have to admit that I was wondering why he hadn't learned it yet and figured since he has a different teacher than Shelby had that maybe he would learn it later. So along comes a week and a half ago; I went to his school for his little birthday celebration and at the end they children all got ready to go outside. Every single one of them put on their coats and JP walks up to me and asks me to help him. I froze and really didn't know what to do. Montessori is huge on having the children do things themselves, but I really still had a little bit of doubt that maybe, just maybe he couldn't put on his shirt. Then, in the blink of an eye, one of his teachers came over laid his jacket out for him and said, "JP, you know how to put on your jacker." And just like that...the flip trick!!!

Now, fast forward to last Friday....we have a beautiful swing set in our yard and JP is always asking myself and anyone else to push him and I have been trying and trying to teach him how to pump; and now, his secret is out....it is hard to tell in this photo, but he is swinging on his own. I had to sneak the picture because I was afraid if he saw me how would immediately play dumb and act like he didn't know how to swing. That little stinker!!!! Now as far as I know, all of his secrets are out...maybe....hummmm, I wonder what else he can do that he is hiding for me????



As I said earlier in my post, we celebrate birthdays the whole week in this family and it is sooo much fun. Friday night was a great time and I really hope that we get the chance to do it again soon. A couple of girls took me out to Backwater Bills for dinner and then we played Wii dance for a few hours. Angelique said that she thinks that there is a High School Musical Wii dance game and if there is....oh boy, you better watch out!!!! Anyway, I have to post atleast two pictures from the evening...this is myself, Erin, Leslie, and Katie gettin down to Thriller.



Sorry girls, I just had to include this picture...I can still hear Angelique, Dana, and Amy giggling after they snapped it.



And I finish the post with JP in jail....he had went to a friends birthday party at a putt putt place and they had so much fun!! Definitley have to put that idea in the idea box for future parties.

4 Years Old

It is hard to imagine that 4 years can go this fast. Just yesterday I was working on 2-3 hours of sleep a night (at best) and thinking that I would never make it; and now today I am amazed at how much I miss those sleepless nights. Two days ago was our sweet baby boy's 4th birthday!!! WOW!!!! Just saying that, it seems so unreal and nearly impossible; nonetheless, it is true.

This is what JP looked like four years ago today when we left the hospital. There really aren't words to describe what it is like to bring home you baby and it was so wonderful. One particular memory I have about that day is visiting a friend of mine in the hospital before we left. She had come in to be induced with their second child. It was just kind of neat to share that special time in life with a friend.

Anyway, here is JP in his little car seat four years ago.....



And here is JP two days ago on his actual birthday......part of him turning 4 was that we decided to move him up to a booster seat. Really, how exciting and how sad at the same time. I don't have any car seats in my car anymore-so incredibly sad! But how exciting that I have two booster seats and children who are growing and thriving despite all that I do inadvertently and on purpose to thwart that:)



Thursday was a fun day. We started out the morning with cinnamon rolls and eggs. JP got to have a little party at school with is friends. It was so cute. After the children sang happy birthday to him and he passed out his birthday snack they went around the room and said nice things about him. Each child said one of three things...JP is a good friend, I want him to come to my house to sleepover, or JP doesn't bother me when I am doing my work. One little boy even said that he wanted to invite JP to come over to his house for 3 nights! I can't wait to call his mother and ask her when a good time for me to drop him of would be (hint: Dana Rowe).



Part of the birthday tradition that we do in our house is that birthday person gets to pick out what kind of cake they want, what we eat for breakfast, and what/where we go for dinner. It is something fun we do as a family and I hope that one day the children will look back on these special days with fond memories which will override anything detrimental that happens along the way-jk, well, no not really, maybe just a little.

This year JP wanted to have cinnamon rolls and hard boiled eggs for breakfast; since he is only in school for half day, he enjoyed a special daddy/son lunch at Hampton Lake; for his cake he wanted a cupcake cake....WHAT!?!?!?!?, how in the world am I going to figure this one out???....and since he never really said what he wanted for dinner we kind of convinced him that Cheeburger Cheeburger would be a good choice. After a yummy dinner of cheeseburgers and french fries we came home for some cake.

JP as we are singing happy birthday. This isn't the best shot, but check out that cake...a cupcake cake in the shape of a 4 (very creative, I know).



Shelby and JP enjoying their cupcakes



Sebastian poised for attack



Uncle Patricio and Tito enjoying a sugar high



Neely diving in




JP, you are a precious gift from the Lord and every day we are so thankful that God choose us to be your parents and trusted us with your sweet little life. We love you more than you will ever know. Happy Birthday!!!

Thankful Thoughts

Wow! I can't believe we are in the year 2011 already. When I was growing up I couldn't even conceive what life would be like in the 2000s...aren't we supposed to be living high in the sky, flying around, and have robots for house cleaners by now??? Well, whatever. I have to say I am very glad for where we are in life.

The last two days have been funky for me and in an effort to get out of it, I decided to make this a thankful thoughts/favorite things post....the power of positive thinking...right?!?!?!

1.-I am thankful for my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The hope that I have because of Him is what keeps me ticking and gets me through the tough times.
2.-I am thankful for my husband who loves me when I am unlovable and even when he might not "feel" love, he chooses to love and remains committed to his vows to me.
3.-I love playing cards with Shelby....Go Fish, Old Maid, Crazy Eights...and I can't wait to teach her more games to play.
4.-I love that JP still twirls his hair and feels things with it. I have no idea why he ever started that when he was so little, but I just love that he still carries that habit with him.
5.-I am thankful for the best group of girlfriends that any girl could ever ask for. They encourage me, challenge me to be better, pray for me, and put up with my craziness.
6.-I am thankful for Praise and Worship music. When I listen to great praise and worship music I can really feel the presence of the Lord all around me and I feel an overwhelming sense of peace.
7.-I am thankful for my totally normal, well, okay totally whacked out family. You never know what kind of silliness you will encounter when my mom, dad, sister and brother are all together and I love that we can be serious together and also goofy together.
8.-I love listening to Shelby read. She has just started and I love sitting with her on the couch while she reads and seeing the pride in her face when she finishes a book.
9.-I love to hear my children laughing and playing together.
10.-I love looking at my children while they sleep. Every time I peek in on them my heart explodes with love over those cute, precious gifts that God gave me...oh how blessed I am!!!

Well, I have so many more things and will probably do this again, but as for now I have to go pick my sweet Shelby up from school.