LIFE is What You Make it

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-25T19:49:00.000-06:00

We had a pretty low key Christmas since we did the whole Disney thing this year. On Christmas Eve we went to Dave and Pam's with the rest of the family and had a yummy Christmas dinner of Rudolph roast, I mean, deer roast :) and tamales, and all kinds of goodies! David had parking work at church, and Riley was not feeling well, so we just had an easy day. I did however, decide to go on a baking-palooza, and made Paula Deen's toffee butter bars, mint chocolate chip cookies, gingerbread rice crispy treats, pumpkin spice rice crispy treats, mint Oreo cookie fudge, chocolate chip marshmallow pillow cookies, and cranberry nut bars. Makes me tired again just thinking about it all! But, I wrapped most of them up and sent them to all our friends in the neighborhood, and still had plenty to bring to Christmas dinner!

So on Christmas morning, the kids each had a gift from Santa, and one from Monty and Princess, and one from each other. Not much, but it ended up being a really nice day. They liked what they got, and there wasn't a huge mess. We had put the tree upstairs before we left since we had to have the downstairs empty, but we didn't have time to decorate it until the night before when the kids realized Santa wouldn't want to see a naked tree! They didn't even put all the ornaments up, just enough to look okay, so at least taking it down should be easy this year!

House Update

2011-12-19T15:04:00.001-06:00

So here are some before/after pics of the house with the wood floors! Some of them have spots since I used my flash. But you get the idea :)

Of course, the floors look so nice, we can't put any furniture back in until we paint, so we're working on that now! The last picture is the new paint color. New house by New Year's!

Today is a Very Sad Day

2011-12-18T14:34:00.001-06:00

Caribbean Beach Hotel

Last day at Disney, we are all sad. But, I think we are all wiped out also. Even the kids asked if we could skip Hollywood Studios and sleep in and take our time heading out. Sounded like a good idea to me!

The kids slept most of the morning while I packed all our stuff. David brought our bags to the lobby and got us checked in for our flight, and they take care of the bags (awesome). Then we loaded up our backpacks and went to the food court for lunch. We still had 2 quick service meals each, and about 13 snack credits left! My plan was to use our snack credits around the World Showcase in Epcot, but that didn't work out so well.

So, we had lunch, then took our leftover fries to the sea gulls outside by the lake and fed them. They were funny, and Riley would put a fry on his hat and the birds would swoop down and grab it! After we ran out of fries, and any other food the kids could find that birds would eat, we hit up the gift shop, getting all our last minute gifts and letting Riley spend the last of his souvenir money. Then we went to the bakery and got brownies and cookies for the trip home with our leftover snack credits! I was NOT going to leave money on the table!!

Then we headed to the front to wait for our Magical Express bus to take us to the airport. Somehow it seemed much faster going back than coming in. We had a direct flight, with a quick stop in Houston, so that seemed to take forever. We finally got home around 9PM, and picked up Princess and Monty from Mimi and Papa and headed home to our new wood floors! It was so nice to come home to!

Overall, it was a great trip. I'm glad we could go while they are young enough to appreciate the "magic" of a Disney vacation, but tall enough to ride everything! It might be a while before we get a chance to go back, but we certainly had a great time, created a lot of memories and it's something the kids will remember for the rest of their lives.

Hollywood Studios

2011-12-17T14:11:00.001-06:00

Hollywood Studios

This was the day the kids had been looking forward to for the entire trip! Riley remembered the Tower of Terror from our last trip, and he was SO looking forward to riding it again.

But what we didn't plan on were the crowds! Holy Moley that park was crazy! I guess because it was a Saturday and Christmas break had officially begun, it was a madhouse. We got there early (not quite rope drop, but still pretty early) and had done what our planner recommended, ran straight to Toy Story Midway Mania to get our Fast Passes, and it's a good thing we did, they were time stamped for 8:30 that night!

We had an early lunch planned at the Sci Fi Diner, we ate there last time and the kids enjoyed it, so we decided to give it another try. You sit in these "cars" that are all inside, facing a giant movie screen, and it looks like a big drive in theater. They play old alien movies and cartoons on the big screen too, mostly black and white. It's a lot of fun.

And this was where we had our first melt down of the trip. We had done really well up till this point, but I guess the long days finally caught up with us, and the kids were getting into it. It took a little while to sit and talk things out, but then we were finally ready to get about our day. First we got some FP's for Star Tours, the new and improved ride, then we went to the Lights! Camera! Action! Stunt Show. I thought at first it was a "Cars" themed thing only, and it was a little bit, but they had cars doing stunts, giant explosions, people catching on fire, it was really neat and the kids liked it a lot.

After that we tried to do the Honey I Shrunk the Kids playground, but it had a long line, so we skipped it and headed to the Muppet Show. Now, I *love* the Muppets, but Riley is indifferent and Regan HATES them with a passion. I have no idea why and it's my mission in life to sway her to my side. This was step one. It's a cute movie, and I think she liked it. Success!

We tried to finish up everything on one side of the park because I knew once we got to the Tower of Terror and Rockin' Roller Coaster, there would be no going back to the rest of the park! And sure enough, we finally headed that way and it was so crowded, still. There were 90-110 minute waits for each ride. Well, David and I told the kids to go ahead and line up for Tower of Terror, we would just sit and wait, we got FP's for it, well, the kids got in line, and someone handed them 2 FP's so they were able to ride it right away, they were so thrilled! Then they got in the single rider line for Rockin' Roller Coaster, and were able to ride that one pretty quick too, so we all decided to do the single rider line for that, and when we were done with that, our FP's for Tower of Terror were up, so we got to walk on to that one also. Do we know how to work it or what?!

By then it was dinner time, so we booked it back to the 50's Prime Time Cafe. I had heard a lot about this place and was really excited to try it out. It is like stepping back in time to the Leave it to Beaver Show or something. Everything looks like it came from the 50's, old black and white TV's at each table, the decor is all 50's, it's hilarious. The waitresses are supposed to like "mom" and fuss at you for putting your elbows on the table, tell you to take your hat off, etc. but our waitress didn't seem to be in on the game. The waitress at the table next to us though, she was a hoot and those people were loving her. The food was decent, but it was taking forever and by that point, I just wanted to get out of there.

We still had our Toy Story passes, so we headed there, via the Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights! That was really cool, there are lights on EVERYTHING and they dance to music and it was really neat to see. We were kind of in a hurry, and it was again, super crowded, so we didn't linger, just made our way down the street, and over to Toy Story.

And surprisingly, Toy Story (unlike Soarin') lived up to its hype! It was a great ride! You get to shoot things along the way and try to get a higher score than the other people in your car. It was like being IN Andy's room, everything is huge so you feel like a little toy. It was really cute, and the lines were LONG, i was so glad we got our FP early!

And then we headed back. By this time the park was closing anyway, so we just made our way back to the hotel. The plan was to come back the next morning since we had a late flight home. We got back to our hotel and decided since it was our last night, we hit up the pool and hot tub one last time. But, there were a million high school kids swarming around so we didn't stay long (we're getting old).

Epcot Part Two

2011-12-16T18:10:00.001-06:00

The plan for today was simple. Downtown Disney first, playing at Disney Quest, with lunch at T-Rex Cafe, and then back to Epcot for the World Showcase, and dinner in England.

So we got to Downtown Disney, had about an hour or so at Disney Quest, we played some old school games, I showed Regan Frogger, Q-Bert, and Pac-Man, and they have these cool bumper cars, they are two person, Buzz Lightyear bumper cars, one drives while the other one loads rubber balls in a canon and shoots the other cars. If you hit them in certain spots, their cars spin around and light up. They have a lot of virtual reality games, like one where we went on a virtual raft ride, a virtual magic carpet ride with Aladdin, and a Pirates of the Caribbean ride where we shoot other pirate ships and steal their booty!

Then we walked down to T-Rex for lunch, it was really cool. The same concept as Rainforest Cafe, but with dinosaurs. We sat under a giant glowing jelly fish, right next to the ice room, where a meteor shower would hit every 15 minutes, lighting the place up! There were all kinds of dinosaurs all around that would stomp and look around every once in a while. It was a neat place, and the food was pretty good too.

Then we went back to Disney Quest, while the rest of them played, I found a quite booth upstairs (this place was 5 floors of gaming goodness) and I put my feet up and took a little rest! By this time my feet had blisters on top of blisters, and there was no end to the walking! I was more interested in resting my feet than playing the games, so I just waited patiently for everyone to finish up and then we headed over to Epcot for the evening.

We grabbed some Fast Passes for Mission: Space, hit up Club Cool again, and then got Regan a Kim Possible mission. This was pretty neat, they give you a "cell phone" device that tells you all about your "mission". Her mission was to go to France and look around for clues for an evil mastermind that was trying to take over the world. There would be shop windows you would have to look in, and press the button on the phone and then a hologram looking thing would show up in the window with your next instructions. It was neat, and Regan really enjoyed it, and we all got a really good tour of France!

Then we headed back to England and checked in for our dinner at Rose and Crown Pub. We asked for a patio seat so we were prepared to wait a little while. While we waited, we browsed the Twinings Tea Shoppe, and let Regan practice her "British". Finally, our table was ready, on the patio like we wanted, and we had a great waiter from Windsor, England, who we enjoyed talking to. We had a great meal, and the sticky toffee pudding for dessert was one of our favorites! Also, our waiter told us that to get a great spot for the fireworks show, to just go down to the edge of the patio, where we were sitting, and we would have a great view.

While I settled the tab, David went down to secure our spot, but then was told we couldn't be there by a worker. So our waiter went over and told her we COULD be there! It was awesome. We had like, the BEST view of the whole park. We were right on the water, the only people there, front and center! The fireworks shows there are just epic. It was definitely one of the best fireworks shows I have ever seen.

By this time, we were all pretty wiped out, and it was Extra Magic Hours at Epcot so it was swarming with people. I had never seen a park that crowded, and we just weren't up to dealing with the crowds anymore, so David ran to Norway to get School Bread (something I had read about online and knew we had to try, and I was right, it was awesome!) and we headed back to our hotel room, and back to the pool and hot tub!

Downtown Disney

Epcot Part One

2011-12-15T17:46:00.001-06:00

Epcot Day One

We actually slept in a bit, had a leisurely morning. Our plan for the day was to do the front half of Epcot (Future World), and then head to Downtown Disney, maybe Disney Quest for a while. We got to Epcot, got our Fast Passes for Soarin', the ride we had been hearing SO much about, and the line was short so we went ahead and got in line to ride, only to find out we all thought it was the most boring ride known to man. Seriously, I don't know who thinks this is a great ride. I guess if you want to take a short snooze or something, but I don't know why you would waste valuable time, and a Fast Pass on it! As we were leaving, we found a family of four and gladly handed off our Fast Passes! They seemed happy, maybe they hadn't ridden it yet either.

Then we made our way over the Mission:Space, which still makes me sick to my stomach and dizzy as all get out. The kids liked it though, especially making fun of me for being so dizzy. Then we got Fast Passes for Test Track and decided to hit up Morocco for lunch. They have a pretty good quick service restaurant, we each got the chicken plate, with grilled chicken, tzadziki, tabouleh, hummus, and cous cous, pita bread and baklava for dessert. They actually gave us an extra plate, so David was VERY happy we made the trip to Morocco. It was decent food too. And while we ate, the kitchen staff gave us a musical treat while banging drums and singing some traditional Moroccan songs while they worked. It was very entertaining. That's one thing I love about the World Showcase of Epcot, learning about other cultures and meeting all the people!

After lunch, we took the boat back to Future World, and finished up the rides and pavilions we wanted to do there. One of our favorites last time and this time was Club Cool, a place where you can get samples of sodas from around the world. The worst is called Beverly, from Italy. I don't even know how to describe it, but it's nasty! There's aqua fresca from Mexico which is good, a Ginger-Ale from Germany I think, that's pretty good, the Israeli one isn't bad, a honey, lemon type, and there's a watermelon one from China, but I didn't try that. It was fun watching the kids try all of them and then hit the Beverly!

One of the neatest things of the day was The Seas pavilion. This is a Finding Nemo themed area, where you can see very large, intricate salt water aquariums. But they have a show called "Turtle Talk with Crush" and it was very cute. Crush, the sea turtle from Finding Nemo, comes on screen and talks to you, answers questions, and even plays with the little kids in the audience. It was a lot of fun, and Regan really enjoyed looking around the aquariums.

We finally left, early for the day, and Regan and I decided we had enough for the day and went back to the hotel where we changed into our swimsuits, had dinner at the hotel food court, and then swam and sat in a hot tub that we found kind of hidden out of the way, behind the water slides. I really loved our hotel, the Caribbean Beach. Even though it was huge, I would stay there again in a heartbeat. The pool was awesome, the rooms were nice, and the walk over the bridge each day to the food court and pool was very pretty. They had a playground along the way, with hammocks, and several beach areas where you could swim when it was warm enough.

David and Riley headed to Downtown Disney again and hit up Disney Quest. It was the one thing David really wanted to do on our last trip and we never got around to it. He and Riley were there for HOURS! They loved it, as I figured it would be right up their alley. Then as they left when Disney Quest closed, what so happened to be right across from them but another Wolfgang Puck, so that's where they ate again!

By the time they got back to the hotel, Regan and I were in bed, cuddled up and watching Finding Nemo! (which was cool because we were staying in a Nemo themed room!)

Universal Studios Islands of Adventure (Hogwart's!)

2011-12-14T17:17:00.004-06:00

Universal Studios

Truth be told, this was the day I was most looking forward to. I'm a huge Mickey fan and all, but to actually walk inside the pages of a Harry Potter book, well, it was my dream come true! I'm a HUGE Harry Potter fan, have read all the books multiple times, seen all the movies (multiple times) and just could NOT wait to walk through Hogsmeade, and let me tell you, it did NOT disappoint!

First of all, we called a taxi, the kids were probably equally excited to be riding in a taxi as going to Universal! We ate a small breakfast of Pop Tarts and GO energy drinks in our hotel before getting the cab, and headed on our way. Once in the park, I knew from my research, to head straight to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter in order to ride The Forbidden Journey without a long wait.

We got to Hogsmeade and there was already a crowd starting, but I saw the Hogwart's Express train, and all the shops, and then, off in the distance, rising up into the clouds, there it was, Hogwart's Castle! I couldn't wait to go inside, to see every room, every detail. First, some muggle told me I had to get a locker for my backpack, so I did that while David waited with the kids. Then, in my haste to see the castle, we walked off, unknowingly leaving Riley behind while he was looking at his cell phone and not paying attention to his parents who had other things on their mind at the time! We got all the way down the line (said to be a 20 minute wait at this point) and turned around and realized Riley was no where to be found!) I started to panic a little bit, but figured he would be right behind us, and we tried to call him but the reception was bad, my phone was in my locker, David was mad that Riley didn't keep up, it really took the enjoyment out of the tour for me.

But, we got a call from Riley, he was waiting for us in the gift shop, so we finished the tour of the castle and rode the Forbidden Journey, and let me just say, it was AWESOME! The castle looks just like in the movies, there are pictures that have people talking to you, and moving around, at one point you see Ron, Hermione and Harry talking about ditching class, Ron tries a spell and it makes snow fall on you in line! You go through the greenhouse where they grew plants for potions, through Dumbledore's office, and the Sorting Hat is there talking to you also. And the ride, I have never ridden anything like that, ever! You are in a row of 4 seats, and it takes you on a trip with Harry, just like you are on a broomstick. You play Quidditch, dodge the Whomping Willow, face to face with giant spiders that spray acid on you, and fly with dragons! It was so cool. Each time I rode the ride I had my mouth open the whole time, in awe that I just flew around with Harry Potter!

I know, I'm a kid. Anyway...after we rode the Forbidden Journey, we rode the Dragon Challenge, and the kids rode the Flight of the Hypogriff, and then we had lunch at the Three Broomsticks. We had the feast, which was grilled meat and corn on the cob and salad, and of course, Butter Beer!! It was SO good too.

Afterward we just walked around the shops, Honeyduke's where they had chocolate frogs and Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, Zonko's Magic Shop where they had all kinds of tricks, even an Extendo-Ear! They had a Hogsmeade post office where you can send mail with a real Hogsmeade post stamp, a cauldron shop, Ollivander's Wand Shop, it was really like walking through the pages of the book.

As we left Hogsmeade, there was a magic show going on that Riley really wanted to see, so we sat in on that. Riley hadn't spent any of his spending money yet so of course, at the end of the sales pitch, I mean, magic show, he was ready to buy all of the kits! We told him to hold off, think about it, and we would make our way back to that store before we left if he really couldn't live without something.

We finally made our way out to the rest of the park, through the Dr. Seuss kiddie section, onto the Superhero section where we rode the Hulk coaster and Regan and Riley enjoyed it so much that they rode it many, many times while David and I sat and relaxed a bit. Then we went to Dudley Do Right's Buzz Saw Falls or something like that, and we saw how wet the people were getting off the ride, but the kids wanted to ride so bad, so David and I got out our panchos and decided to ride with the kids. We did pretty good, basically got my face and feet wet, but the kids did not fare so well, they were drenched solid!

Then we went to the Jurassic Park area, and that was fun, they had a great ride like you were going through the movie. Regan got scared at the end when the T-Rex jumped out at us just before you go down a big drop, but they rode it again anyway. It was another pancho ride for me and David so we stayed pretty dry, except for the face full of water I got when David bent over at the last second!

By this point, we were magically back at Hogsmeade, where we rode the Forbidden Journey a couple more times, Regan bought another stuffed animal (a unicorn she named Lightning) and had one last glorious drink of Butter Beer (in a souvenir cup this time). We stopped back by the magic shop and got Riley these red lights that he can play tricks with. Then we headed back towards the front to ride any rides we missed, or that the kids wanted to ride again. The crowds were perfect that day, we really only had to wait for a few minutes for the Forbidden Journey but the rest was walk on, all day long! As we walked back through Seuss-ville, we met Cindy Lou Who and a few other Who's, they seemed to take a liking to Riley and he was a little freaked out by their dog-looking faces!

Then we grabbed a taxi and headed to Downtown Disney again, for another yummy dinner at Wolfgang Puck's, and then back to the hotel (after a short walk back to WP where Riley left his gift bag) where we headed down to the pool so the kids could swim in the heated pool while David and I sat in the hot tub soaking our aching feet for a bit!

Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party

2011-12-13T12:39:00.001-06:00

MVMCP

I was so excited about the Christmas Party! I didn't know what to expect, but I had heard that if you want autographs from some of the rarer characters, this was the place to get them. Thank God my kids aren't into autographs, cause the line for the Seven Dwarves was HOURS long!!

We got in early (after a worker told us our party passes were for the day before, uh, buddy, I have my vacation planned down to the minute on my excel spreadsheet, don't make me whip it out here!) He was wrong, we got in...and headed for the rides. Splash Mountain HAD to be ridden again. I tried to find a souvenir from the ride for Regan but they don't make anything anymore. Which was sad because Regan would just LOVE a Brer Rabbit doll!

Then we headed back around through some of the rides we missed the day before, most of them were too "kiddie" for our kids, but they enjoyed them. The spinning tea cups, the Peter Pan, Snow White and It's a Small World rides (Regan declared Small World "creepy"). We ended up back by Space Mountain where the kids rode it again, and again, and again. There were no lines since people were busy watching the early parade, but we decided to stay and see the late parade. David and I found an arcade where they had a game that you lay down in, so we just laid there for a while waiting on the kids.

Then we headed back to the castle in time for the Castle lighting show, and it was super cool. They had these laser lights (I'm not even gonna pretend to know how they did it) but it would make the castle look like a giant gingerbread house, or a big Lego house, or have people's pictures on it, it was really neat. Then they did a massive fireworks show right over the castle. They had this long zip line from the top of the castle, where Tinker Bell in a light up costume, got on the zip line and rode it all the way down, it was so neat! Riley just kept telling me I was the best mom in the world for bringing them, and they loved the fireworks show!!

The best part of the evening was free cookies and cocoa, and they were good, not some cheap nasty stuff! So each time we saw a stand, we would stop and get a cookie and a cup of cocoa. We were wearing shorts and short sleeves, so it wasn't exactly cocoa weather, but it had cooled off some, so it was nice. Then we made our way to Main Street to get a spot for the late parade. We found a great spot and had a seat on the curb and just people watched, and castle watched! The castle Christmas lights are AMAZING and so nice to see it all lit up with dripping icicle lights and it would change colors and it was just so neat to sit and watch.

Then the parade started and it was AWESOME! My family is not into parades (and I love them!) so I had to do a bit of arm twisting to get them to agree to let me see this one. It was so neat though, and I know they all loved it. They had really cool toy soldiers, and gingerbread men, and all the Princesses on this HUGE float, and it was just so great. After the parade, we made our way down Main Street, with the fake snow falling on us, and slowly made our way to our bus. It was a magical Christmas party and we enjoyed it so much! It was another late night, but again, the kids sat in bed filling out their journals and talking about all the great rides we rode that day.

Animal Kingdom

2011-12-13T12:18:00.002-06:00

Animal Kingdom

Today was Animal Kingdom day! We had a late breakfast with Donald Duck, so we weren't in a huge hurry to get up and at 'em. But, it was WAY more crowded than I had expected. I guess the free dining plan brings out a LOT of people!

We got to the park around 10:30, and our breakfast was for 10:55, but I had heard that the Expedition Everest ride would run out of Fast Passes, so while I hustled the kids to Africa to get checked in for breakfast, David ran to the opposite side of the park to get Fast Passes for the ride. We met up again at Tusker House, while the kids had their picture made with Donald Duck in full safari gear!

The breakfast was a buffet and it was awesome! Another one of our favorite meals of the week. The buffet was huge and Riley comes to the table with a plate of three donuts! They had ham that was some of the best ham I've ever had! The juice was a delicious orange-guava, and they had biscuits and gravy, bacon and eggs, fritattas, pastries, potatoes, all kinds of yummy breakfasty things. And while we ate, Mickey, Daisy, and Goofy all came to our table and signed autographs, and Goofy passed out noisemakers and had the kids dancing around the room! It was cute, but my kids were being party poopers and wouldn't get up and dance with me and Goofy!

After breakfast, we decided to get Fast Passes for the safari, and we headed to Rafiki's Planet Watch. It's like a conservation area and petting zoo, but you have to take a short train ride there. Regan got her first souvenir of the trip there (I gave each of the kids $50 for the week to buy what they wanted) and Regan picked out a baby Simba wrapped in a giant leaf blanket, it's cute, but she wouldn't hear of us having him sent to our hotel, she carried him around ALL DAY. The petting zoo was lame, not too many animals out yet, so we headed back to go on our safari.

The safari is always cool, especially when it's not too hot to see any animals. We got to see a lot of really cool animals, a baby elephant, an Okapi, which looks like a cow wearing zebra pajamas, some monkeys, an ostrich, a cheetah, rhinos and hippos, and some really cute giraffes. It was a bumpy ride and at one point, Regan was convinced that she was almost tossed out of the truck! It was funny, but she held on tight after that.

Then we made our way over to Everest, only to find out the ride was being worked on, so it was closed down. We waited a bit, then thought we would head back and let the kids ride one of the water rides, but before we could get there we saw that Everest was running again. So we headed back to Everest and they said it was almost about to open, but you could only ride if you had a Fast Pass. Well, we had ours and we were about 5th in line, so we were on the first ride once they opened it, we only had to wait about 5 minutes. Then, as soon as we got off, we noticed the single rider line was empty so we got in that and rode again right away. Regan got sat next to a British guy who talked to her some, and she loves the British accent, and apparently he asked her "Is it scary up there?" so all day she kept saying to us "Is it SCAR-EY up THAR?" in her best British accent! This was one of the kids favorite rides and they wanted to ride it again and again, but by then the line was super long.

So we headed over to the Dinosaur ride. It was great, it was one of my favorites last time and I knew Regan would love it. It did scare her, and the pictures they take of you during the ride, hers were hilarious! David always tried to look like he was sleeping, but Regan's were so funny. She was really freaked out on the Dinosaur ride, but she loved it.

By then it was almost time to head to the Christmas Party, but we had one last thing to do, the "It's Tough to be a Bug" 3D movie inside the giant tree of life. This was another favorite of mine on our last trip, and sure enough, it did not disappoint! At the end, when it's over, they tell you to wait and not leave the theater until all the cockroaches and ants leave first, and then you feel this rumble under your seat, like the cockroaches are running right under your butt, I swear, I never saw Regan move so fast, she FLEW out of her seat and across the aisle! I was laughing so hard and she was freaking out! It was the funniest thing I've ever seen.

Then we loaded up on the bus again and headed back to Magic Kingdom for Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party!!

Magic Kingdom

2011-12-12T23:47:00.003-06:00

Magic Kingdom

Cinderella's Royal Table

It was another rainy day, but again, we were blessed. We wore our panchos that I brought from home for maybe 10 minutes throughout the day. We got up, got dressed, headed out early, we had a date in the Castle!

We got to Magic Kingdom for "rope drop" which is when they officially open the park each morning. We saw Mickey waving at everyone and we headed straight to Tomorrowland, where we knew the kids would want to spend most of their time. We were early and there weren't many people in the parks yet, so we walked right on to the Buzz Lightyear ride, and grabbed Fast Passes for Space Mountain for later and were able to walk right on then also. Then it was time for breakfast so we headed up to the castle and checked in.

Now, I had heard about the "Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique" for a while, it's a salon where girls can go and get their hair done in an up-do, with pixie dust sprinkled on them, and even get a Princess gown and slippers. I had tried asking Regan without giving away too much before we left, if she was interested in dressing up like the Princesses anymore and I got a huge thumbs down. She's not a girlie girl, she's not into that Princess stuff anymore, but let me tell you, after seeing all those little girls in Princess costumes with their hair all up and sparkly, even Regan the tom boy changed her tune! I felt bad, I should have seen that one coming and booked her a spot in the boutique anyway, but I didn't. As a result, I think we were the only ones having breakfast that weren't sparkling and glittering.

But, they called our name, we got in line, first up is a picture with Cinderella inside the castle. I don't know if it was being in the castle, or seeing Cinderella up close, or seeing MY daughter hugging Cinderella, but I teared up. This was the moment that made the trip worth it all. Regan had the biggest smile on her face and they took her picture and sent us on up to breakfast, I felt like a kid again. Breakfast wasn't anything remarkable, juice, eggs, bacon, sausage, etc. But they called David and I, Lord and Lady, and Riley and Regan were the Prince and Princess. They would announce each Princess and we were the first table she would come too, sign our autograph books (Riley's too) and then stand with both kids so we could get pictures. I was in heaven! First we met Snow White, and then Aurora (Sleeping Beauty), then Ariel and Belle. They gave the Princesses a magic wand, and the Princes got swords, and they all got a little star that said "Wishing Star" and at the end of the meal there was a "wishing ceremony" where you waved your wand or sword in the air and made a wish, it was too cute!

So after breakfast, we headed back to Tomorrowland to ride Space Mountain again. Then we did one of my favorite things, the Laugh Floor with Mike and Sully from Monster's, Inc. It was the funniest interactive show, and they used people from the audience, and it was hilarious. The kids weren't too interested in seeing a show, but they enjoyed it. We spent some time knocking out the Tomorrowland rides, and then started heading off to see some of the other areas of the park.

The other favorite ride of the day was Splash Mountain. Regan had never heard of Brer Bear and Brer Fox and Brer Rabbit, but she loved it. I think that was her favorite ride the whole week. We rode it several times, and I mean several! Thankfully you didn't get too wet, I just got a face full of water a couple of times, but we stayed mostly dry. Then we back tracked and did the Haunted Mansion and a few other rides.

We had dinner reservations at Crystal Palace, where we had eaten before, with Winnie the Pooh and friends, but I had heard about a place called Whispering Canyon Cafe that was supposed to be a lot of fun, and inside the Wilderness Lodge and we've always wanted to see the Wilderness Lodge so I called and luckily was able to change our reservations! And around this time, we had some time to kill and sore feet so we rode the old steam train a few times around the park to give ourselves a break!

Then we took the water taxi over to the Wilderness Lodge. It was about a 10 minute ride and we all kind of decided that's where we want to stay next time we go to Disney! It looked like the inside of a great lodge in Oregon or something. HUGE totem poles inside and this massive Christmas tree. That was one thing, seeing all the holiday decorations was so neat. Everything was done in the same theme as the park or hotel, and it was very festive. We sat for a bit in front of the HUGE fireplace, they have a stream that starts INSIDE the lobby, that was cool. Then we got checked in for our dinner.

Dinner was awesome! Probably our best meal the whole week. On the dining plan you can have a bottomless milk shake as your drink, and or course, we could only drink one, but Riley was so sure he was going to have one of every flavor! We each got the skillet meal, all you can eat of grilled chicken, pulled pork, brisket and ribs, with corn, mashed potatoes and beans. Very yummy! And bread pudding for dessert (that we took back to our room because we were so full at that point!) But the restaurant would do stick horse races, and if you asked for ketchup, they would bring you about 15 bottles of ketchup, then when the next family asked for ketchup, you had to bring it to them! It was a fun place, and one that we will definitely eat at again!

By this time, we had high hopes of heading back to the park for Extra Magic Hours (the park was open till midnight) but we just couldn't do it. It was around 9:30 and we were wiped out. And we had another early morning/long day ahead of us the next day. The kids didn't even mind, that's how tired they were. We took the boat back to Magic Kingdom and then our bus back to our hotel.

I got each of the kids a journal and every night they enjoyed sitting in our hotel bed and filling out the journal with what rides they rode, what hidden Mickey's they found, and what we ate and where. It was a nice wind down time and time for us to all share our favorite things of the day with each other. We also enjoyed getting back to the room and seeing what little surprises Mousekeeping left for us in our room! The first night was a momma and baby bunny made out of hand towels! So cute. Regan left them a thank you note for the next day.

We're Here!!

2011-12-12T06:22:00.001-06:00

We did it, we surprised the kids yesterday and got on the plane. They were so funny, they didn't really believe it till we got here. We got checked in to our hotel, the Caribbean Beach, and then went to Downtown Disney and ate dinner at Wolfgang Puck. It was really good. Then we walked around and looked at all the neat shops and played with some toys. Today is Magic Kingdom! And breakfast with Cinderella! I can't wait, I mean, the kids can't wait!

Sent from my Sprint EVO

The Big Reveal!

2011-12-11T23:09:00.001-06:00

Here is the video of the big surprise to the kids! The story was...we were having wood floors put in while we were gone, so we needed to pack everything up and take the dog and cat, and go stay with Mimi and Papa for a few days while the floors were being put in. The kids were very excited about that, already declaring who would get what room. Riley said he was going to be sleeping on the couch in front of the TV, and we told him no, he would not be sleeping there. He was adamant, and made a bet that he would be sleeping there, or he would be David's maid until Christmas! Well, we knew that we were leaving town in a matter of hours, so we agreed to that bet!

We sat them down at the table and said we had some "house rules" to go over with Mimi and Papa, and I gave them an envelope that had the words, "We are going to D I S N E Y W O R L D right now" inside, scrambled up. They had to unscramble them. Regan started spelling out R I LE Y, and Riley got the Disney part pretty quick. He was so funny when they got to the "right now" part, he didn't believe us until I showed him plane tickets with the date on them! And Regan, realizing we are leaving RIGHT NOW, declares, "But I have to go pee!"

So, we load up back in the car, and Mimi and Papa took us to the airport. We had a direct flight which was nice, and got in around 5:30, went to our "Magical Express" bus and had a tour of a few of the Disney hotels before they got us to ours. We checked in, found our room, luckily it was exactly the room I requested, just a short walk over the lake to the food court and swimming pool.

We wouldn't be getting our bags for another couple of hours, so we just put our stuff down and headed right back out to Downtown Disney. I had been hearing wonderful things about Wolfgang Puck's restaurant there, so that was the plan for dinner. It was raining when we got in, but it was perfect, it rained while we were on the bus, and while we ate dinner, but not at all while we were walking around!

We ate at Wolfgang Puck, Riley is considered an "adult" by Disney standards, so he got to order off the adult menu all week, and Regan got to order off the adult menu at any quick service meals, but not at table meals, which worked out just fine. Wolfgang Puck was as yummy as I had heard about, the Creme Brulee to die for (we all got dessert with every meal, for free since we got a free dining plan!)

Then we walked around Downtown Disney. We went to the World of Disney which is one of the largest toy stores or something, and then to the Lego store where they had Lego races going on, we found T-Rex which is where we would have lunch in a few days, and then we headed back to our hotel to get a good nights sleep, we had an early breakfast with Cinderella the next morning!

The Trip

Christmas Cookies

2011-12-05T15:05:00.001-06:00

Just showing off some Christmas cookies I made for Regan's Girl Scout Troop's Christmas party. I thought they turned out pretty cute! They are melted snowman cookies!

Christmas Picture

2011-12-04T17:03:00.001-06:00

I always like to take pictures of the kids with the church's decorations cause they decorate so much nicer than we do! But of course, the kids don't exactly cooperate!

Gingerbread Houses

2011-12-03T17:08:00.001-06:00

It has become a yearly tradition that we go with our Girl Scout troop to our co-leaders church and build Gingerbread Houses. It's a lot of fun, they feed us and provide the houses already assembled, and if you ask me, that's the hard part! We split the house right down the middle, one kid gets the front and a side, one kid gets the back and a side. Riley decided to pay homage to Eminem and so his side is a lot of MM and "legit" stuff (whatever). Both kids were pretty minimalist this year, we normally have so much stuff on the house you can barely carry it out of there! But, it's a fun tradition, and one we look forward to every year. This was the church's 16th year of hosting this event, so who knows, maybe one day we will be like a lot of the people we see there, and be assembling houses with our own grandkids!

Regan's Surgery

2011-11-04T17:13:00.000-05:00

Regan finally had her surgery, tonsils and adenoids out, and tubes in. We had to be at the hospital by 7:30, so I took her while dad got Riley to school, and I was surprised that we were in and out pretty quick. We did sit in the room for a bit, but they took her back around 9:30, and she was out by 10:15, and we waited in recovery for a while and then were home around 1. She had a fair amount of pain, but even the night after surgery she ate 2 bowls of rice with coconut milk, and on day 3 she ate a couple of bean and cheese burritos from Taco Cabana. She was never too content with just the ice cream. So, we were able to find her some soft foods that she was okay with.

Here are a few pictures of the patient while she recovered. She got bored after a couple of days, I had gotten her a cute book from Costco that we colored in, and she wanted to make a cake, a rainbow cake, and I let her mix the colors herself, and we ended up with a Mardi Gras cake! She wants to go to Louisiana so bad, so she was so happy to have that cake!

Happy Halloween

2011-10-31T23:08:00.000-05:00

Halloween

Our neighbors put on an awesome little Halloween party every year, the Saturday before Halloween, and I missed it last year since I was in Romania, but this year I got to go and it was so much fun. They totally transform their backyard into a Halloween carnival. They had a "haunted jump" and scary trail behind their shed, complete with fog machine, bobbing for apples, face paint, ring toss, and a ton of cute foods to munch on. All of Regan's neighborhood pals were there and it was a lot of fun for the grown ups sitting around the deck talking (and freezing) late into the night!

Then on Halloween we all went out with the neighbors and trick or treated together. Riley wasn't as into it this year, he didn't even want to wear a costume, but I told him no costume, no candy, so he settled on a scary clown mask. About halfway through, he and I went back to the house to give out candy (he really just wanted to scare some little kids). Regan had fun with her friends though, she was a Monster High Egyptian Princess and I guess we got our moneys worth out of the costume, she wore it plenty of times! Oh, and I decided to be a Zombie, so that was fun too!

School Halloween

2011-10-28T17:06:00.000-05:00

Regan's school had a Halloween party and I brought cupcakes for the kids and they painted pumpkins and ate a bunch of cookies and cupcakes and left on a big time sugar rush. It was cute though.

Neighborhood Fall Fest

2011-10-22T23:20:00.000-05:00

One thing I like a lot about our neighborhood (and it's not the ridiculously priced water that we're trying to fight) but our neighborhood often puts on parties for the kids. Back to school party, movie at the pool, Fall Fest, etc.

Tonight was Fall Fest, and the kids had a great time. They had sandwiches, chips and drinks and cupcakes for the kids to decorate, pumpkins to paint or carve, scary rings to decorate and a cake walk where both kids won candy!!

Then at the end of the night, they gave out awards. Regan won for "Scariest Pumpkin" (hers is the big one on the left) and Riley won for "Grossest Pumpkin" (his is the small one that is puking his guts out). And then they had 4 pumpkins lined up for "Best Overall Pumpkin" and the one that Regan painted was in line to win that prize also. They did an applause-o-meter and sure enough, she won (she said it was because I was so loud) but since the runner up hadn't gotten any candy, she gladly gave her prize to him. So, she technically won, but was sweet about giving it up. I think they did a great job, and I now have a cute collection of pumpkins by my front door, and I didn't have to mess up my kitchen to get them!

Longhorn Cavern

2011-10-21T17:14:00.000-05:00

Regan's class went on a field trip to Longhorn Cavern. She was very excited about it, we packed a lunch and I met them out there. We had never been, and I'm of the opinion that "if you've seen one cave, you've seen them all." And well, I'm still of that opinion. But, it was fun getting to know her new friends and their parents.

And this cave does have a lot of history. It was supposed to be the hide out for LBJ when he was President if anything (like bombs) broke out while he was in Texas. The man who owned the cave in the early 1900's ran a Speak-Easy out of it, where they had food, drinks, and gambling (I can't imagine walking around that rocky cave floor in high heels. I could barely do it in tennis shoes!) And before that, it was the hide out for the notorious Sam Bass gang and even a place for the Indians to hold their council meetings.

So, all in all, it was a good field trip. I took Regan with me afterward since we wouldn't make it back to school in time to do anything, we stopped for lunch at a little place in Burnet, and then killed some time "antiquing". It was a fun afternoon, and then we had to get back to the school to get Riley. The last picture is Regan showing off her new wolf necklace we got in the gift shop. She told me sometimes she wishes she could be a wolf.

Gateway Fall Fest

2011-10-14T17:09:00.001-05:00

Well, it was nice to attend a Fall Fest where I wasn't running myself crazy working at booths and setting/cleaning up! I did volunteer for Book Fair though, can't seem to escape the Book Fair! I don't mind though, I get the good books before they're sold out. But, it was the first annual Gateway Fall Fest, I turned the kids lose with wristbands and tickets and they came back hyped up on cotton candy, kettle corn and snow cones. They had a good time, although it hardly felt like a fall fest since we all ended up nearly sunburned afterward. It was HOT! But the kids had a great time, and here are pictures of them doing the "eat the donut on the string" game and Regan bobbing for apples, and let me just say, she would NOT have done this if we hadn't JSUT finished a round of antibiotics! That water was nasty.

A Month Later...

2011-10-11T13:24:00.003-05:00

Can't believe it's been a month since I posted. I think it's because there's not much going on, but then when I look back at it, I have had a lot going on. I'll try to do better!!

So, the past month or so...I started a Bible Study at church, Lisa Bevere's Lioness Arising, and so far, I highly recommend it. It's been a little difficult to read at times (for me personally) but as usual with her studies, exactly what I need, when I need it. David and I joined 24 Hour Fitness. I go most mornings with a friend of mine. Monday and Friday is Zumba, Tuesday and Saturday is Aqua Zumba or Water Aerobics and Wednesday is the worst, Kickboxing. One day they had a substitute teacher and that was Nightclub Cardio and it made me realize just how long it's been since I've been in a nightclub. It was fun though, but I'm glad no one was video taping. Or maybe they should...I KNOW I could win that grand prize on America's Funniest Home Videos!!

I've been having a lot of hormone imbalance issues lately, and I went to my doctor, and she wanted me to go to an endocrinologist but there was a 6 month wait, and I finally told David one night, you know who I would *love* to go see, but he probably has an even longer wait list, is Dr. Glenn from church. He says, oh, yeah, I have coffee with him every Sunday. Uh, WHAT?! He sees him at Starbucks before church every Sunday and they talk. So he asked Dr. Glenn about me and he said sure, for me to come on in, he would see me before hours in 2 weeks. Talk about favor!!

So, I went to see Dr. Glenn and that was the most interesting, eye opening appointment I've had in my life! This guy is a medical genius. But, he put me on some supplements, and told me to try a low glycemic diet and started some preventative things since I have a pretty high cancer risk in my family. He even wants me to start Regan on it, to get her hormones off on the right foot.

In the midst of all of this, Regan has had strep again, and a stomach virus that she passed to Riley who passed it to David. I'm not going near anyone till it's gone, I absolutely hate to be sick.

I also had a consultation with Regan's teacher and principal and we decided it would be best for Regan to move her back to 3rd grade. She was pretty upset about it at first, but I can already see a big difference in her. She had pretty much shut down before and was getting so confused and upset that she couldn't keep up. But now, she's learning, she's involved, she's writing chapter books! She has made friends, another girl in her class also came from 4th grade, so they don't feel so alone now. She was a very young 4th grader, so age wise she fits right in, and her teacher is really nice. I like her a lot and she seems very loving, which Regan responds well to.

And then this morning, I took Regan in for a consultation to see about having her tonsils removed. With this last bout of strep, I had them check her records and she's had it 5 times in the past 12 months, so we got the referral and went in this morning. Before the doctor would even look at her throat though, he had some serious issues with her ears and sent us to audiology to do a hearing test. We had one done last year, so it was nice to have a baseline, and they could see that she's having some hearing loss. Her ear drums are retracting, from a negative pressure that is building up behind her ears. He said the ear drums are supposed to be taut, and hers are caving in and causing her bones to be misshapen. So, he wants her tonsils and adenoids out and tubes put in ASAP. The next available surgery, no waiting until a school holiday which is what I was hoping for.

So, on Friday November 4th, we will be having that done. He's hoping by removing the adenoids, that will reduce the pressure and she won't need tubes for long, the tubes he's putting in will last about 8-12 months and hopefully that will be all. But, I'm glad that I pushed for an ENT consult, and I'm glad we're getting this done now! We did all the pre-addmissions and they gave her a blanket from the Linus Project, a charity that makes blankets for kids who have surgery and it's adorable and she loves it!

And Riley, he's loving school, but he didn't get a great first report card. He's still having some issues with everything being on the tablet and so he's forgotten to log in and do some work, so we're working on that. He broke the screen on his tablet and the screen on his phone, and I can't believe he'll be 13 in just a few weeks. A bonafide teenager. God help us! Not really, he's a good kid, but man, I always thought it was an expression, beat the girls off with a stick, but not so in his case. He has girls lining up already. I'm scared!! He's too cute for his own good!!

Well, I guess that's about it. Next time I won't wait a month and then the update won't be as long. Hopefully!

My Birthday Miracle!

2011-09-07T11:54:00.000-05:00

Around the weekend July 4th, Monte got out of the house. He had done this quite a bit, he would go out for a bit, explore the backyard, but wouldn't venture out too far cause he's a big scaredy cat. Well, for whatever reason, when he got out over the holiday weekend, he never came home. We have a big deck in our backyard and sometimes he would go under it, but we could never see him under there. We also live next to a greenbelt where there are racoons, rabbits, coyotes, and even a mountain lion has been spotted. So, we prayed about it, the kids prayed for him to come home, but honestly, as the days wore on, I gave him up as eaten by a coyote.

Then about a week or two ago, David and I were watching TV late one night, and heard a cat fight. Hissing, scratching, screaming, so we grabbed a flashlight and ran outside in time to see our little Monte run up under the deck. We called, we stomped on the deck, we set out food and water, but we could never get him to come in. David did almost grab a possum thinking it was Monte though, that was pretty funny, and gross, those things are really ugly!!

Then again, a night or two later, heard the cat fight, and saw Monte run across the yard. I don't know why he wouldn't come to us or come meow at the back door like he used to. But, we prayed for him to be safe and have food and water, and come home soon.

Then, on my 40th birthday (or, the 1st anniversary of my 39th birthday, as I prefer to think of it) David let Princess out, and when I opened the back door to let her in, who is standing there but Mr. Monte?! He was meowing and I gently walked up and grabbed him and got him inside ASAP, got him some food and water and sure enough, he walked right over to the dog food and started chowing down. He always did prefer dog food (he's a little special).

So, wow, after over 2 months living on the street, he's skinny, he's scrawny, he's dirty, and roughed up around the edges, but he's SUPER lovey, doesn't want us to put him down, he just sits on our lap all day if we let him. The kids are SO happy to have their Mont-ster home!!

Labor Day Weekend

2011-09-05T11:40:00.001-05:00

Labor Day Weekend

My cousin Christina and her 2 youngest kids, Jeremiah and Joy, came to visit us for Labor Day weekend! We were so excited. They came in Friday night, and so Saturday morning we got up and hit the road. We went to Chuy's for lunch (a must for any visiting guests) and especially during Hatch Green Chili Festival! I feel like a drug dealer, I got another one hooked on the Creamy Jalepeno (mwah ha ha!)

Then we went to the Capitol Building and took a ton of pictures. There were about 10 different Quinceneras there for photos also, so the girls loved checking out all the frilly dresses. Then we went to Big Top Candy Shop and got some good old fashioned candy, and an Italian Creme Soda (yum).

Then we went home, where David had been smoking a brisket all day, and had that for dinner. Sunday we went to church, and I had a Groupon for Texas Jumping Beans, so we took them there for a while to blow off some steam. And Kenzie and Eli joined us there so Tina could meet her newest baby cousin!

Then Tina's oldest son Josh, who is in the Air Force and stationed in San Antonio, came up for the afternoon. We went to Mighty Fine since we took Jeremiah there when he came to visit and couldn't stop talking about the "automatic hand washers" and the two-way mirror in the boy's bathroom! So we sat on the patio so the kids could play on the playground and eat their burgers and we ate Cajun food from Razzoo's!

It was over too quick, as Monday morning they had to get back to Houston. Especially with half of Texas on fire, they ended up in a lot of traffic and smoke was everywhere by this point. It was a good trip though, our kids love getting together, and I'm so glad they have cousins close by to play with.

Updates

2011-09-02T10:06:00.002-05:00

I know, I know, it's been a while since I've updated this thing, again. I will just post some updates and hopefully be able to keep up better now that the kids are in school.

First, that's the big thing, the kids started back to school at a college prep school in Georgetown. So far so good. Riley came home with a girlfriend, and several more girls that want to be girlfriends. That boy is a player already. I'm scared for the teenage years that are just-around-the-corner!! He is liking his new school, not sure if it's because of the girls, but I'm just glad he's liking it right now! He has a block schedule, starting with PE (they take a bus to the Georgetown Rec Center for PE) and he has to wear a PE uniform and all, it's cute. Then he has Science, Spanish and English, and the next day he has a Leadership class, History, Music Ensemble (he plays piano) and Math. He has a couple of teachers he's not thrilled with, but overall, he's enjoying it. He has a Galaxy Tablet that all the kids use for school, so that's kind of nice, no heavy backpacks and all their work is done on their tablet.

Regan on the other hand...well, it's been a bit more of a transition for her. But, being that it's a brand new elementary, they do have some growing pains right now. They hired 2 teachers, but really needed 3, so until they could hire another teacher, they crammed all the 4th graders into 2 classes, so they are huge right now. She got shuffled to another teacher and was sad because she really liked the teacher she started off with originally. But, we had a meeting with the elementary principal and counselor about Regan's learning issues and we had a very good meeting. We will have an ARD meeting soon and get a plan together for her to begin speech therapy at school for the stutter and they will pull her out to work on reading and writing and they also will start some math tutoring. Since she's been diagnosed with dyslexia, dysgraphia and discalculia, she qualifies to have a "504" plan, which basically means she will get some extra, much needed help! I am very happy about that, she's a very smart girl, she just lacks some confidence after struggling with her reading and writing for so long.

Next week their school will start their after school clubs, and basically, they have a bunch of clubs that the kids can choose to go to after school. I'm torn since I don't work, there's no reason for the kids to stay at school till 4:30 or 5:00, but 2 days of the week is dance practice and Regan decided she wants to join dance. I'm all for it, I hope she enjoys it, and I think she will be great at it! Then one day they have Zumba, which she isn't thrilled about, but I told her to try it out, she may really love it. And one day is Girl Start, which I'm very excited about, it's "empowering girls in science, math and technology"! I think it will be great for my future vet! Riley will be in Robotics and not sure what else yet, they haven't given us the middle school club options yet.

And now...the good stuff! My kids don't ever check this blog, and I'm no good at keeping secrets, but we decided this year to surprise the kids for Christmas and take them to...DISNEY WORLD!! I'm so excited. I was thinking about Christmas, and how I am so tired of buying stuff they don't need, or things that end up laying around on the floor for ME to pick up, and really, my kids do NOT need one more electronic item! So, a friend recommended a Disney planner, which I was hesitant to use since I've planned our trips myself and did just fine thankyouverymuch. But, I thought, we will see what she can do for us.

And wow, I'm sold! She was awesome. There's a free dining plan during when we want to go, so all our food will be free (with the exception of one meal since we are having breakfast with the Princesses and that counts as 2 meals. It better be worth it!) The planner took our dates, booked our hotel (and since food is free, we could get a nicer hotel!) and booked all our dinner and lunch reservations! And, she got us tickets for Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party, where we get to have cookies and cocoa and watch it snow on Main Street!

So, we will be taking the kids out of school for a week, and we are going to surprise them. Not sure how yet. David wants to just show up at the airport and not say a word about where we are going, but I say that's bo-ring. I want to have presents wrapped with little hints, or do a scavenger hunt around the house and they have to guess. Something anyway. We still have some time to work on that part.

As you can tell, I'm excited. I can't wait. I'm counting down the days!! But if you see the kids...don't say anything!!

I guess that's it around here. Not much going on outside of school and work and laundry. Now you know why I haven't posted more often!

Cousin Camp

2011-08-07T09:57:00.000-05:00

After Regan's big Girl Scout weekend in Houston, I traded kids with my cousin Christina. Regan stayed in Houston for the week and Jeremiah came to Austin with me. We had a good time with him. He and Riley get along so well, and they played Xbox and computer games most of the week. When they weren't killing something, I took them to Jump Street (a new indoor trampoline place) where Jeremiah got to ride the mechanical bull! They spent one whole day at Austin's Park and Pizza (and I mean, the WHOLE day! Open to close, they were exhausted after that). We saw Cowboys & Aliens at the new dinner theater in Round Rock, and went swimming to beat the heat.

Then we went to Houston to switch back and spent the night down there. I sure missed Regan, the house was much quieter with her gone! But she had a great time too, and she wasn't even really ready to come home. I hope we can continue Cousin Camp every summer, the kids had such a great time. I know some of my fondest memories growing up were summers spent with my cousins!!

Girl Scout Trip

2011-08-01T18:06:00.000-05:00

Time for our end of year, cookie reward trip! We had a nice, big trip planned since our troop was the highest cookie seller in our service unit! Riley had gone to church camp at the beginning of the week, and then on Wednesday, Rgan switched and went to church camp, so on Friday morning, I had to drive out to Burnet to pick her up from church camp and meet at our Girl Scout Leaders house by 10am! It was a busy morning!

We loaded up the cars and headed to Brenham, for a picnic lunch and a tour of the Blue Bell Ice Cream Factory. The girls loved it, and we got some good group pictures and all got a free scoop of yummy ice cream!

Then we loaded back up for the rest of the way to Houston. We checked into our hotel, and then went down the street to Prince's Hamburgers for dinner. They had the best root beer, which of course, when you have 12 nine year old girls, root beer is a must! Then we headed back to the hotel for a swim at the pool.

The girls all wanted to sleep in the same bed, so they looked so cute laying longways with their little blankets!!

Then we got up, had breakfast in the hotel lobby, and then headed out to the Children's Museum. We split into our groups of one adult/three kids to make life more manageable and had a great day exploring the museum. I had Regan, Hailey and Azure, and we had a great time. We played in the Kidtropolis, played on the giant indoor playscape, and then braved the outdoors to play in the water area a little while.

Children's Museum

Then after the museum, we loaded up and headed to NASA. We got there and unloaded our bags, and went to dinner, and then after dinner, we spent the next 4 hours or so doing badgework for the girls to earn a cool badge for their new Junior vest! They were so tired but we were up till after midnight working on badges. Then we got our assigned sleeping area and it was in the spaceship gallery. It was very cool, we got to sleep right underneath models of the spaceships and an astronaut walking in space, but they don't turn all the lights off, so it was very hard sleeping in the super bright room, and it got VERY cold overnight there!

So the next morning, we got up (no showers, grumble) and loaded our vehicles, had breakfast, and then took the tram tour to see mission control and an Apollo rocket. Then we spent some time back at the space center, letting the girls play on the giant playscape and then touching an actual moon rock. Then it was time to make the long, traffic filled drive back to Austin!

NASA

But first, I met up with my cousin Christina and traded kids. Regan stayed in Houston for the week with her cousin Joy, and Jeremiah got to come home with me in a truck filled with Girl Scouts. I don't think he appreciated being the only boy on the ride home, the girls were really giving him a run for his money! It was cute though.

So, the trip was a success, no typical girl fights, or frumpy moods, even with so little sleep! But, I vote for next years trip to be somewhere where we have a shower every morning, at least!

Jump Street

2011-07-19T23:56:00.000-05:00

A new indoor fun place just opened up here. And of course, with our record heat that we've been having lately, indoors is the only place to be. So we took the kids to Jump Street to enjoy the wall to wall trampolines. There was also a mechanical bull, a foam pit, a giant slide (boring) and a giant maze. The kids loved it, except that it's only 2 hours. They could have stayed there all day. But here are some videos of the kids on the mechanical bull. Regan was hesitant at first but the guy promised her he would go slow, so she finally decided to try it. I think she did it maybe 3 times and fell on her face once and that was it, no more bull riding for her!

Vitality

2011-07-16T12:37:00.001-05:00

Again, it's been a while since I've posted, but it's been a whirlwind!! I heard about this new company, ViSalus Sciences, they have a 90 Day Challenge weight loss program, and when I heard about it, I was on board. I signed up to start the 90 Day Challenge, and then flew to Orlando for a long weekend with some friends to go to the company's annual meeting. It was a blast and I was only feeling partly guilty as we danced till 3am, or had dinner at Margaritaville, and thought of David back home with the kids. Oh well...they lived! And I had a GREAT time, and just fell in love with this company and all it stands for. Right now I'm starting my 3rd week on the challenge (but not 3 full weeks since I've had other trips that have gotten in the way, more on that later!) Anyway, I've lost around 3 pounds, but the energy I have is amazing! I can't believe how much of a difference I felt just on day one. Anyway, here's a link if you want more information on it, watch the videos and let me know what you think!
www.visalus.crappell.net

(The picture is me, in the penthouse suite of the hotel, the founder of the company, Nick Sarnicola, invited our team up for a champagne toast before the Black and White Party! It was nice, and a nice view as a storm rolled into Orlando)

Got Feathers?

2011-07-12T23:45:00.000-05:00

So I guess these feathers are all the rage right now, I've been seeing them all over the place. And of course, Regan wanted her own feathers. So we had a "girls day" which was really just a "return things to various stores around town" day, but she was okay with that. I took her to get her feathers at the spa, and then we went to the Domain and had a ladies tea. She loved it, even though she's not a fan of tea, she got some tart lemonade, and she had a sandwich with the crusts cut off, a pine nut plum scone with jam, fruit and a tea cookie. I had a bacon, arugula and tomato sandwich that she tried to steal (it was yummy) and a cashew salad. It was nice to be "girlie" and sit and enjoy our tea time.

Then we went to Macy's and tried on clothes and then she got to play in the fountains on the way back to the car. It is just so hot here right now, and I was pretty tempted to run through that fountain myself!

Updates

2011-07-11T11:20:00.000-05:00

I know I haven't blogged much lately. I guess we've been pretty busy.

We heard about a new charter school in Georgetown, Gateway College Prep, and we went to an information meeting about it, and David really liked the sound of it. So, I think we may be done with homeschooling. Maybe not for good, maybe just for now, but my goal was to always take it one year at a time and do what seemed right for that year. Well, Riley has such high ambitions of going to a military academy and I want to help him realize that dream, so I think in order to acheive it, he really needs to be challenged a lot more at school. He's VERY smart and sometimes VERY lazy, so I think having a teacher push him for a while might be better than having mom push him.

Regan is still working with a tutor, working on the dyslexia and dysgraphia, so we thought she might need some time in a regular school setting again to kind of put those skills to the test. Neither one of them are terribly excited about not homeschooling anymore, but Gateway did a summer bridge program, kind of like a summer camp, where they got to meet all the teachers, meet the kids that will be in their classes, and play games and go do fun things together. They both really enjoyed that, and that way no one shows up to school the first day a complete stranger and not knowing anyone.

Swim team is over, and we are all happy about that. It was getting to be quite the chore to be up and at the pool every morning by 7am. And swim meets on Saturday morning at 5:30 should be outlawed! But Regan had a good time, and maybe by this time next year she will have forgotten the early morning practices and want to sign up again.

And to top it all off, I've been watching Baby Eli for the last 3 weeks until Kenzie could get her first check and pay for day care. He's the cutest little monkey, but man, having a newborn again after all these years just wore me out! He doesn't like riding in the car and half of my life is on the go, so it made things interesting to say the least.

And then there's just the regular, dentist visit for each kid, Riley had to go back 2 more times to have 3 teeth pulled and 1 tooth filled, doctors and chiropractors and all that fun stuff. And when Riley is at work, Regan wants to have "girl day" and go shopping and go to lunch and all that fun stuff that costs a ton of money.

So, I guess we have been busy!

Where's Riley

2011-06-28T16:33:00.000-05:00

I have posted a ton about Regan, and not much about Riley. Well, that's because Riley is now gainfully employed! He has a summer job with his Mimi and Papa and so he's not with us much during our daily adventures (and swim meets are just way too early for normal people). But, here's some pictures of Riley at work. Sounds funny to say. He's really enjoying his job though, and I think it's teaching him some good life skills.

Camp Texlake

2011-06-24T12:36:00.001-05:00

Regan got to spend another week at Camp Texlake this year. I'm bad, I didn't think to take a picture before she left. She is about to be a junior, and for God only knows what reason, the Juniors at Camp Texlake stay in "unclimatized" cabins. Meaning, no a/c. I was a little worried for her, she gets hot when she sleeps anyway, but we got several fans, squirt bottles, shorty pajamas, and hoped for the best. This year we didn't get to go to their cabins and set up like last year, you just drop them off after the check in process and leave them with their counselors and wave goodbye. Very grown up. Most of her troop went, the cabins were "tree house" cabins, with screens and high up in the trees. She had a good time and spent most of the week in the pool. The lake is super low so they did kayak, but they didn't do any other lake activities, other than fishing, which is always her favorite thing to do at camp!

But on Friday when I picked her up, she was in the infirmary, running a fever and with a sore throat. They thought she was just dehydrated (she also had sunburn blisters all over her face, poor thing) but I got her in to the doctor first thing the next morning and sure enough, she had strep. They said if she gets strep one more time this year we will talk about getting her tonsils removed. Anyway, other than getting sick the last day, she had a great time, and I didn't even send her with a disposable camera! But, some of her friends had one, so I'm hoping one of them got a good picture or two of her and will be willing to share!

Regan's Birthday Part 4

2011-06-14T14:12:00.000-05:00

We've had to spread out the birthday celebrations, since we have had so much going on this summer. Regan has swim team every morning from 7am-8am, and then swim meets on Saturdays that start at 6am. So, we're either at the pool, or recuperating from being at the pool! But since this was her actual birthday, and we had to go to the pet store to get dead mice for the snake, she wanted to hold some animals, and I let her. She would LOVE a pet ferret, but they sure did stink! Someone there was getting a chinchilla and she would have loved one of those also, but I'm not sure I'm ready for a giant rodent for a pet. Maybe for her 10th birthday?

Regan's Birthday Part 3

2011-06-12T14:10:00.000-05:00

Regan wanted to go to Chuy's for her birthday lunch after church, so here we are, the waiters came out and sang to her, she was very embarrassed, but I think she decided it was worth it for the free ice cream!

Swim Meet

2011-06-11T14:15:00.000-05:00

This was at Regan's swim meet, the Pflugerville Piranhas vs Balcones Sharks. Regan had a good time, and swam great. She is getting MUCH faster!

Regan's Birthday Part 2

2011-06-08T14:08:00.000-05:00

With some of her birthday money, Regan wanted to go to Build A Bear to get a new "pet". She got a black and white dog, named it Alyssa, and then got a cute outfit, and a "puppy" that she named Bailey.

Regan's Birthday Party

2011-06-04T23:04:00.000-05:00

Regan's Birthday Party

Regan wanted a pool party for her birthday this year. Easier said than done, but after a few phone calls, emails, and arguments with our HOA, we were finally able to have her party at our neighborhood pool. She wanted a simple party where they swam the whole time, so that's what she got!

It was a long, hot, sweaty day since we started off at 5:30 am at a swim meet, then when it was over, at 2 in the afternoon, we had to rush home and make 50 hot dogs, and rush to the pool. The kids swam almost the entire time, took a quick hot dog break, and then swam some more. We took the presents home to open them at home so we didn't have more trash at the pool, and so the kids could swim even longer!

She was happy, it was just what she wanted. Oh, and the night before, we colored her hair bright red! She wanted her hair to be the color of "vampire eyes" and we got it pretty close. But with her being in swim team and in the pool all the time, the red will not last, I'm sure.

Summer Smash!

2011-06-01T23:03:00.000-05:00

Tonight was the big summer smash kick off at church. There were inflatables for the youth, ice cream and popsicles for the kids, and we all had a great time. Riley brought Cody and they ran the obstacle course inflatable a hundred times I bet, and Regan had fun with her friend Caitlyn:

Then we prayed over the 5th graders and on Sunday they will officially be "Middle Schoolers!" And then prayed over Pastors Shawn and Amanda who are leaving as kids pastors and going to be the head pastors at our new South Austin campus. So, it was a bittersweet night. But, the kids had a blast with all that ice cream!

Regan's First Swim Meet

2011-05-28T13:39:00.002-05:00

It was Regan's very first swim meet and she was excited! She has really enjoyed swim team, and I'm SO happy she's found her "thing"! But, neither one of us was very excited about the 6am start time! Yikes. Riley spent the night with a friend, so Regan and I were up BEFORE the crack of dawn, and headed to the pool. Since it was the first one, I had no idea what to expect, but I tell you, I had no idea there were that many people involved in swimming, and at 6am. We got checked in, and got her races written down on her arm, and she got to sit in the "pit" with her friends and her lunch and wait for her races. When it was her first race, freestyle, I couldn't tell which one was her! All the girls wear the same suit, with the same swim cap, and it seems ALL the girls have pink googles!! So I didn't start my camera until she was done swimming. Anyway, I did get her on the backstroke, which is not her favorite stroke, but she did pretty good. I was just so proud of her for getting out there and giving it her all! I am so happy that she is loving this! So, here's the video of her doing backstroke:

Last Day of School

2011-05-25T13:32:00.003-05:00

For Regan's last day of school, she had a recital in each class. She was not real happy with this school, and was so anxious for it to be over. This was in music class, the kids played a few songs on the recorder that they learned this year.

Piano Recital

2011-05-22T23:28:00.000-05:00

It's that time again! Piano recital. This one was L O N G, but there were some really good performances. Here's Regan playing Russian Sailor Dance:

And here's Riley playing The Theme Song from The Office (he loves this show, and has wanted to play the song for a while now, he got it about 2 weeks before the recital):

And my favorite song that he did, Riding the Wind:

After the recital, we went to East Side Cafe for the best dinner ever (seriously). After the kids at, they went out back to the gardens to play with the chickens and see the huge sunflowers.

Austin Symphony

2011-05-17T23:34:00.000-05:00

Austin Symphony Day

Regan's music teacher always organizes these music field trips for her class and her piano students. It sounded like fun, so I made Riley come too, and it was fun. The Symphony had cameras set up so you could see each instrument as it was being played, and they had an announcer come out at the beginning and introduce each instrument and have them play a little bit so you could hear what it sounded like.

That was the fun part, the timpani played a bit from Star Wars, and the bassoon played Katy Perry's "Firework". Anyway, the kids liked seeing all the instruments and hearing the individual sounds.

Then we had some time to kill before we headed to tutoring, so I thought I would share my obsession with Torchy's Tacos. They have some of the best tacos in town, sold out of a trailer, of course. Our tacos were super yummy, and we even had birds come to share our lunch with us. And just as we finished up, Holy Cacao was opening their trailer, so we got some yummy cake balls for dessert!

Then we went to the Barton Creek run off area, (the free part) and the kids got to play in the water. Regan had a change of clothes in the car, but Riley didn't, so he rolled up his jeans, and I think he tried not to get wet at first, but then slipped and fell flat on his butt, so that didn't last long. There are a lot of dogs there playing fetch and swimming around, so the kids loved that, they found an extra tennis ball and played fetch with this one cute older dog that would come right by them to shake, it was cute.

But, short lived, as we had to get to the other side of town for tutoring, but it was a nice break from school, and a fun packed day. My favorite kind.

Chuck

2011-05-17T16:03:00.000-05:00

I got to watch Eli for a bit, I'm calling him Chuck :) He's so cute. This is just a picture update.

Girl Scouts End of Year Party

2011-05-16T23:37:00.000-05:00

Can't believe it's been another year. Most of these girls have been together since Kindergarten and now they're heading off to 4th grade! We had our annual end of year pool party at our co-leaders house and they gave me the coolest watch as a present for being a cookie mom this year! Our reward for selling so many cookies this year is a sleepover at NASA Space Center in Houston this summer, so we're looking forward to that!

Home School Small Group

2011-05-13T15:56:00.001-05:00

One more thing I would miss if we don't home school again...our home school small group! We have the best group! We met at our neighborhood pool for this week's outing, and the kids had a great time, they played, we talked, it was a lot of fun. We've been having some unusually cool weather lately, so it was a nice day to sit and talk, and we weren't dying of heat stroke for a change. But that water is still pretty cold! The kids didn't seem to mind though.

Pure Energy

2011-05-11T15:51:00.001-05:00

Sadly, this was Riley's last day of school. He really loves Pure Energy and will miss it a lot. We are looking at putting the kids back into a charter school for next year and we haven't decided yet, so this may have been his last day forever, and I'm sad about that. He really fits in well there, and learned a lot this year. The last day was at the Sprinkler Park, it was a picnic and they had a good time with water balloon wars and water gun wars. Regan even had a sibling to play with also, (I let her skip her school for the day) and we ended the day at McDonald's with a couple of the other mom's so the kids could spend even more time together. They have a really great group of boys there, and I know Riley will really miss them. The last picture is Riley with his 3 BFF's, Tristan, Parker and Peyton.

Swim Team

2011-05-09T21:58:00.000-05:00

We are always on the hunt for something for Regan to do that she will like and enjoy doing. We've tried just about everything. It seems she is up for trying anything, but not up for finishing much. But, she loves to swim, BEGS us to go to the pool all the time, so we thought we would give swim team a try.

The first day of practice, she came over and said that was it, she was never coming back, her heart wouldn't stop BEATING!! But, by the next morning, she said she was willing to give it another try. I'm so glad she stuck with it because now she loves it and anxiously counts down the hours till it's 5:30 every day for practice!! She has a cute new shark swim cap, and some stylin' goggles, and she's doing a lot better in her strokes. Her first meet will be at the end of the month, and she's nervous, but I think she will do great.

Charles Elijah

2011-05-05T11:29:00.002-05:00

Charles Elijah

What a roller coaster the last few days have been! On Sunday, after church, I took the kids to the outlet mall to get some new shoes, and it was sweltering hot. We hurried, rushed home and met Kenzie and Joe at the pool, and wouldn't you know it, a cold front came in just as we got to the pool, it dropped 20 degrees! The kids still jumped in, but after swimming about an hour, we were all freezing and turning blue, so we left.

When we got home, Kenzie told me she thought she had been leaking amniotic fluid for a few days. I was concerned about that and told her to call the doctor immediately and see what they say about it. Well, they told her to go ahead and pack her bags just in case, and come on in, but no rush. So, she went home and packed her bags and came back here and I drove her to the hospital. Well, they got her checked out and sure enough, it was amniotic fluid so they decided to hook her up to a pitocin drip right away to get contractions started.

I went home and changed clothes (it was freezing in there and I will still in my "hot" clothes) so took Regan back up there with me where we sat and waited. And waited. And waited! She was around 1cm for hours. They got the pitocin up as high as they would go and left it there most of the night, and while she was having regular contractions, they just weren't productive.

So, on Monday afternoon, I went home, cleaned up, took a nap, and then headed back up there Monday evening. The doctor finally said they could increase the pitocin by double the amount, and so that started climbing, the contractions got worse, and much more painful, and finally, about 27 hours in, Kenzie asked for an epidural. It was horrible, I know she was so hungry, and tired and worn out, and in so much pain at that point, that even I, a staunch epidural-opponent, was like, get that needle in here STAT!!

Well, that made contractions stop completely, so they upped the pitocin again, but that made Eli's heart rate drop off the charts, so they would stop pitocin, then the contractions would stop, so they would start pitocin again, and then his heart would drop again, it was a long back and forth, back and forth. Finally, they realized, she was still just barely at 5cm, and this was not going anywhere, so they decided to do an emergency c-section. They said she could bring one person with her, she pointed at me, they gave me some lovely paper scrubs, and away we went. I was nervous, I don't handle blood well AT ALL. Mine is fine, anyone else's and I get light headed.

So, within minutes, I find myself at her head, desperately trying not to see anything, and just freaking out over the whole c-section process. They were very aggressive at that point, and it was just all so surreal. But in a matter of minutes, we see little Eli, and come to find out, the cord was wrapped tightly around his little neck, and it took him a while to breathe and start making noises. But finally he started making some little sounds, and they wrapped him up, showed him to Kenzie, then me and Eli left for the nursery while they put her back together.

He was perfect, so cute and a head full of black hair!! He was born at 12:58am on May 3rd. He weighed in at 7lbs 12 oz, and that's a pretty good size for being 3 weeks early! He was 20.5 inches long, head was 14.5 inches. He was in the nursery for a couple of hours for observation, but then they brought us back to Kenzie's room where she finally got to hold him. We stayed there for a couple of hours, getting our stuff together to move to a different room, and finally got moved over around 6am. It was a long, hard night!

So, here are some pictures of Charles Elijah, and some of his visitors. He's been really good, sleeping for 3 hours at a time, waking up to nurse, he's taken to breastfeeding almost immediately, and he's just so darn cute! Kenzie is finally up and around, and should be able to leave the hospital tomorrow.

The Oasis

2011-04-25T16:19:00.000-05:00

We went to The Oasis last summer when Regan was at camp, and she has never let us forget about it. She bugged us all the time to take her there. When I saw a Groupon for The Oasis, I snapped it up so we could finally take her. Then it was about to expire, and David had the day off, we thought it would be a good idea to go for lunch.

It started out nice and cloudy so it wasn't too hot, but it got hot while we were eating. She did like it, and wanted her picture taken with every single sculpture they had out there! We did need a bit of attitude adjustment with both kids when we got there, they thought we were going to Sea World or Six Flags or something, so were a little perturbed to just be going "to lunch." But, they got over it and we ended up having a nice lunch, even though it's been super windy.

Then we went to Zookeeper's to get food for Drake. It's so gross, they're called "pinkies" and only .95 cents each, and little tiny hairless dead mice babies. And they just grab them with their bare hands. Not a job for me, that's for sure. But they had some prairie dogs in and the kids got to hold and pet one, and they are the cutest things EVER! I tell you, if they weren't $135 bucks and probably require so much work, I wouldn't mind one myself. They are adorable!! Good thing David was there to keep me grounded.

Happy Easter!

2011-04-24T19:13:00.003-05:00

On Saturday, we spent the morning at home, relaxing, watching movies, sleeping in. Then we headed to church to serve at the 3:00 and 5:00 services. I got to co-ordinate the 2nd-5th grade class, so I got to take the kids out to the helicopter and watch the candy drop. It's so much fun! The kids have a blast. And thankfully, I had dinner in the crock pot for when we got home, cause we were worn out and ready to eat and go to bed!

Then we were back at church bright and early and served for the first two services today, then came home to tuna sandwiches, deviled eggs and a nap! It's been a pretty boring Easter. The "Easter Bunny" made a mistake and brought Regan the same stuffed animal he brought last year. I was hoping she wouldn't notice, but sure enough, first thing, "Hey! This is the same one he brought me last year, are you SURE the Easter Bunny is real?!" I think the jig is almost up!!

Easter Begins...

2011-04-22T23:03:00.000-05:00

Easter is HUGE at our church. We love it! But because we have so many people, David and I serve A LOT over holidays, which I don't mind at all, but it makes the logistics of family get togethers a little difficult. But, this year, it was gonna be pretty low key anyway, so David and I decided to attend the first Easter service at church, on Friday evening, and then serve the rest. Or most of the rest.

Which is how we ended up at the Domain at 11pm on Friday night! We went to church, brought a slew of neighborhood kids with us for the helicopter candy drop, and then brought them all home, and then headed out to eat. We had a coupon for Maggiano's, which was a little fancier than our kids were used to, but I think they really liked it. They got ice water in their "wine" glasses that were on the table, and they thought that was the coolest. They would take a sip, then clink glasses and say "cheers" and take another sip. I think they drank more water in that dinner than they do in a whole day! Have to get some wine glasses for the house!

Then they wanted to walk around the Domain. It was a nice night, so we took our time walking around, it's a new section so we hadn't been there before, and they had things for kids to play on along the way. One section was a little sunken area to kick a ball around, there was a giant turtle to climb, and then the favorite, the dancing water fountains.

The kids LOVED it. It's the simple things really. David at first was saying don't get wet cause he didn't want wet kids in his car, but I loosened him up before we left, and we went home with two soaking wet, very happy kids! Riley said this was the best night ever. All over a little water fountain! It was so cute to see them playing well together, dodging the water, and missing, and hearing them laugh about each other getting shot in the face with a stream of water. It was a nice, relaxing evening, to gear us up for our busy weekend to come!

Caritas

2011-04-21T14:19:00.000-05:00

Servolution continues with Caritas, the soup kitchen! I had always wanted to work in a soup kitchen, and David had the day off, so I left him home to get the kids to piano lessons, and I spent the morning at Caritas. First, it was one of the hardest days of my life! But, it was very rewarding. I got there around 9am, got my hairnet on, no looking nice in the kitchen! And proceeded to make 420 ham sandwiches. Then about 10 peanut butter and jelly for the (rare?) homeless vegetarian.

There were trays of lasagna already made, but our team chopped bell pepper, onion, garlic and cabbage for the ginormous pot of soup. Then we chopped a ton of tomatoes, cucumbers and carrots for the huge containers of salad. Then we set up our line, starting off with their choice of soup or lasagna, then I added a dessert (these are donated by grocery stores, there were sheet cakes, cheesecakes, brownies, anything that was about to expire) and I was also the "sporker" (I put a spork on each tray) and then each person got a ham sandwich, a portion of fruit salad, green salad, and a cup for juice or water.

From 11am till 12:30, we did not stop, it was constant scooping/slicing/sporking. After all was said and done, we fed over 330 people. We went out to the dining room to clean up, and there were some stragglers at the door, so we brought out leftovers to them also. And helped them bag some stuff up to take with them.

Then it was clean up time, and we left at 1, exhausted, sore in places I didn't know I had. But so many people stopped to thank us for taking the time to go down there and serve them, so it was all worth it. I am so glad I went, and it's hard to believe that someone does that every single day. Ms. Vera was in charge, and that woman runs a tight ship. Every once in a while we would hear her yell, "MORE FRUIT!" or "LESS LASAGNA!" She is IN control of that kitchen!

Here's one of the giant bowls of salad we served:

Here's the line, ham sandwich, fruit, salad:

And this was my section, spork and dessert.

Those ham sandwiches looked good. That's my favorite leftover after Thanksgiving, a ham sandwich on soft white bread. Yum. Even after 420 of them, they looked good!

Serving the Police Department

2011-04-19T17:43:00.003-05:00

Today's Serve Project is the City of Round Rock. We set up, cooked, and fed over 120 police, Firemen, SWAT, EMT and Animal Control officers today! We had grilled ribs, chicken, sausage, burgers, potato salad, chips and water. Riley was on potato salad scooping detail and Regan got to hand out bottles of ice cold water (thus the need to double up on the gloves).

They were SO appreciative. The assistant police chief goes to our church, as well as the fire chief, so I think they really enjoyed having their home church out there serving in such a big way. And it was nice to thank the ones who do so much for our community.

And as a thank you to US, the firemen gave the kids a tour of the truck, letting them sit on the seat, wear the headset, they showed them their tools, even the jaws of life, explaining how they all worked. The kids loved that part!

And here's a picture of Regan mad at me because I wouldn't let her have another piece of chicken :)

Girl Scouts Easter

2011-04-18T17:50:00.000-05:00

We had Regan's Girl Scout Easter party and what a mess! They all got 3 cascarones to bust open on someone, so they were all covered in confetti! It was fun though, and we got a good group shot. We never seem to have ALL the girls at one time, and sure enough, we're still one girl short in this picture! One day we'll get them all together.

Serving at the Lodge

2011-04-18T17:32:00.002-05:00

We spent this morning serving at an Alzheimer's Assisted Living center in Georgetown. First, it was much nicer than I was expecting. It looked like a home, a large home, with each person's room like a suite. We started off in the activity center and the kids played some games with the people, Riley played Yahtzee most of the morning with a group, and Regan did some arts and crafts and some puzzles with a couple of little ladies.

I went down the hall and met some of the residents who were still in their rooms. I met the cutest little man named Jim, he talked my ear off! He was so sweet, and a real lady-killer. He was a big time flirt and just cracked me up. I couldn't figure out why he was there until he asked Regan what her name was for about the 3rd time. And each time we said, "Regan" he would say, "Oh! Like Ronald Reagan?! Great guy, great guy." When Riley met him, he told Riley he was in the Air Force too (which is Riley's current obsession) and he told him about how he traveled the world and lived in China and India flying for the Air Force. He was the nicest man!

Then we visited a little man named Jim. Turns out Jim was 100 years old! The kids got a huge kick out of that. He was resting but he wanted to visit for a bit. I think at 100 years old, he deserved a rest! He had the world's largest harmonica next to him, so he played us a little song (Shoe Fly Shoe or whatever the name is) and the kids loved it.

Then we went back to the activity center, I looked at a photo album of a man named Bud who didn't recognize the pictures in his album, of his family and his dog, and he was getting agitated trying to remember who everyone was. We just spent time talking, and walking and just loving on these little precious people.

I think Riley was kind of freaked out at the beginning by some of them crying out, but it didn't seem to bother Regan, she loved talking to them, and was certainly loud enough for them to hear her! Riley on the other hand, had to repeat himself a lot. But they told me they really enjoyed going and want to go back to visit our new friends.

I did take a few pictures, but can't post them due to HIPPA laws or something, but this was one of our favorite serve projects so far! I do think we will have to go back soon.

Servolution

2011-04-16T20:13:00.001-05:00

It's my favorite time of year again! Servolution!! Our church organizes a ton of community service projects over the span of 2 weeks, and we all jump in and get our hands dirty. Today was the big kick off, with a rally with Pastor Joe and Jonathan Bowles kicking it off right. Then the Kids team headed back down to Adopt A Block and had a great time with the kids again. This time, I brought Riley with me and shattered his little wide-eyed innocence!

First we handed out juices and bags of chips and ice cream or popsicles. We brought a lot of stuff to leave for Ms. Maggie to have at her apartment, since she has kids coming to her for food all the time, we brought her a good stash to have on hand for that. She makes $10 a month in food stamps, and still manages to try to keep these kids fed.

Then we had a rousing game of kickball, then football, then kickball again, and the girls would hula hoop and play frisbee, and there was a long line of little girls getting their nails painted!

Then we all grabbed some trash bags and hit the complex picking up trash. It was at this point, Riley and I were over by the entrance to the complex, he found a cute puppy that he was petting, and this SUV rolls up, you could feel it, then hear it, then see it. The driver looks at me and says "Hey, Baby!" I just assumed he was talking to someone else and kept picking up trash, but Riley was starting to panic, "mom...mom...momMOMMOMMOM!" The driver had something in his hand, hanging out the window, passed by another car going real slow in the opposite direction, barely stopped, and then kept driving, turning right by us, hand still out the window, this time holding a wad of cash. Riley was like, real loud, "WHY IS HE HOLDING MONEY OUT OF HIS WINDOW?!" Anyway, we continued with our trash pick up and I explained a few things on the way home.

I was glad he went, he had a good time and I think he learned to appreciate the things he has. He told me he felt very sad for those kids and he wants to go back and help some more. I'm glad he's learning to serve at a young age. I took a ton of pictures again, but I'm only posting the ones I really liked. I can't wait to continue to Servolute this week!!

Camp Texlake

2011-04-11T20:03:00.001-05:00

Camp Texlake

We went to Camp Texlake for our service unit camp out. The girls were so excited and we had planned long and hard for this trip. This one, we had to plan, bring and cook all our own meals, use a mess kit and wash and hang it up after each meal. So, it was a stressful trip for us adults.

We loaded up the vehicles and headed out on Friday afternoon, stopped at Angel's for a burger along the way (to avoid Friday night's dinner dishes!) and then got checked in and went for songs and swaps at the singing trees. Then it was shower time and bunk time, which surprisingly was easier than I expected. We had a long hallway with 6 rooms, each with 4 beds, so I think that helped, having 3 girls and one adult in each room, cut out the flashlights, trips to the bathroom and general giggling that these 8 and 9 year olds are prone to.

Then first thing Saturday morning was a hearty breakfast of bacon and eggs and biscuits cooked in the box oven over charcoal. Worked well, if a little slow at first. The girls were running late to their first event, kayaking, so Krista and I stayed behind to wash up and get lunch organized.

We met up with them at the screen printing, they all got to print a clown design on a canvas bag and do some crafts. Then we headed back to the bunks for lunch, grilled hot dogs and fruit, and pudding with dirt and worms!

Then it was balloon animals, which was very frustrating for the girls, they must have been cheap balloons or something because they just kept popping right when they got close to being done with their shape. Regan was getting to the end of her rope and was NOT having a good day at that point! It was so hot already and every activity was at the opposite end of the camp!

Then it was fishing time. We were excited about it, but dreading the walk all the same. But, we got down to the dock, the grown ups stuck our feet in the coooold water and it felt SO good!! I was surprised but our troop caught something like 17 or 18 fish among the girls. Regan caught 2 herself! She would have made her Papa Leo proud! She was so happy when she reeled those babies in. We released them all, but they really enjoyed it.

Then, it was back to camp for dinner time, we had the girls make their own pizzas on English muffins with sauce, and an assortment of toppings, and then cooked them in the box oven. Dessert was a banana boat, a foil packet with half a banana, topped with marshmallows and chocolate chips. Then we had a talent show, complete with a clown from the Shriner's Circus, who was pretty good!

Then it was showers and bedtime again and then in the morning we packed up and went to the closing flag ceremony, loaded our vehicles and then got to work cleaning the bunks. Each girl got a job and they did pretty well. We got home so tired, dirty and exhausted! But, they had a good time, and I realized I really am getting to old for this camp business. The things we do for our kids!!

Kenzie's Baby Shower

2011-04-02T21:25:00.001-05:00

It's getting close!! We had Kenzie's baby shower at her new house with her roommate, Fonda. It was a really nice day. We had a lot of old friends show up (not OLD friends, just friends we hadn't seen in a while!) and it was a lot of fun. I got the cutest cake from a friend of one of my Girl Scout mom's and it was delish. Tammy made a cute diaper cake with the jungle theme too. And we played a few low key games, I'm not one for shower games, but these weren't bad. One game, you have a huge bowl full of baby socks and you have 30 seconds to make as many matches as you can. It was fun. Regan was my little "helper" and boy did she! Afterward, we sat around and talked for several hours, and then Tammy and I dropped Regan off at home and went for a pedicure and dinner! And Kenzie got a good haul, I think she's pretty set, and now we just sit back and wait for Elijah to make his appearance.

Vio, Estera, and Dani!

2011-04-01T21:08:00.000-05:00

One of the highlights from my trip to Romania, was meeting Vio and Estera and their son Dani. This is an amazing couple. I absolutely love the Kids Church where I serve at church, it's a lot of fun, the kids learn a lot about Jesus, but we are so blessed that we have a building, and the kids come TO US. Vio and Estera make kids church happen in Romania, by bringing the church TO THE KIDS. They travel to different villages, sometimes hitch-hiking so they can split up and reach more. The villages, I can tell you from experience, are not that close, the roads are horrible, gas is over $8.00 a gallon, and they usually have a lot of car repairs on a very regular basis because of the road conditions. But they pack up their crafts and lessons every day and head out to teach the kids about Jesus.

On top of all that, they run a camp in the mountains of Romania. It costs about $70 to send a kid to camp for a week. They have no commercial dishwasher so they have to wash each cup, plate and fork by hand, for every meal. They reach hundreds of kids every summer at camp, but they could reach more if they could afford more.

Anyway, they came here on vacation, so it was nice to get to spend some time with them away from the camp. I know they needed the time to relax and regroup, this was their first vacation in 3 years! And it was a miracle that they got a visa for Dani since they are in the process of adopting him. Anyway, we had some good times with them at our friend Scott's house. Dani doesn't speak English, but he really loved Riley, Regan too, but Dani and Riley really hit it off! He's 5 years old and they played tag, and he could tell Riley "stop!" but that's it! At one point he was walking around clapping and singing in Romanian and having Riley repeat after him, follow the leader style, it was so cute.

I will miss them when they leave, but David and I are planning to go back this year, and spend some time with them at the camp. You can email me if you would be interested in sponsoring a kid to camp. You can also click HERE to see my post on the first day when I was in Campulung and there is a video of Estera teaching the village kids about Zachias.

NASA Day at the Capitol

2011-03-31T19:40:00.002-05:00

NASA Day

Riley's school was signed up to do NASA Space Day at the Capitol, and they asked no siblings under 5th grade, but Regan has been bugging me to go INSIDE the Capitol building, so we planned to do that while Riley was with his school.

So we decided to make a day of it, and first went to Home Slice Pizza, and YUM that was the best pizza ever. Regan had been with one of her friends before, so she ordered the sausage and garlic pizza (?) and Riley just wanted cheese, and I got the Margherita, and then we all took bites of each others, and I wished I had gotten Regan's, Riley wished he had gotten mine, and Regan was very happy with hers. We'll just have to go back!

Then we headed over to register and noticed that the Capitol was packed. I mean, PACKED. There were people holding protest signs and people riding horses around the Capitol steps, combined with NASA being set up on the lawn, it was crazy. Regan and I had to wait about 30 minutes just to get through security.

So while Riley was off doing his thing, we toured the inside. Regan was very impressed with the building, the fancy decor, the statues of Stephen F Austin, and Sam Houston (she wanted to take a picture with him to send to her cousin Joy, who lives in Houston!) Then we went to the gallery area of the House of Representatives, who were in session, and saw a ton of people wearing signs about some bill, and two people in horse costumes, so of course we had to find out what was going on. Regan thought they were trying to make horses illegal in Texas! But, they are trying to get horse racing/horse betting legal in Texas. Not sure all the gory details, but there were a ton of people there to show their support for it.

Then we checked out the basement, or "the extension" and there was an astronaut signing autographs and a huge NASA exhibit and she wasn't interested, so we headed back to the lawn and found the free Amy's ice cream truck! Also, that's where we found Riley, on his 5th cup of free ice cream. He ended up going home with a friend so we booked it out of there to avoid traffic (kind of).

Next time, I'll register Regan for the space day, I think she would have enjoyed it, it looked like they did some fun things. And maybe I'll steal David's security clearance so we can skip the long lines to get in :)

Dinner for Drake!

2011-03-28T09:15:00.001-05:00

It was dinner time for Drake, and Riley had Cody over to watch, and we all stood around with our cameras/phones taking pictures! Poor snake, he's going to be camera shy if we aren't careful! But after Riley got his tiny little frozen mouse out of the freezer, thawed it in one of my glasses (ick) and then laid the thawed mouse on one of my dish rags, and then used some tongs to wiggle it for the snake, Drake snatched it up and then spent the next 5 or 6 minutes trying to consume the whole thing. As tiny as the mouse was, it was still so large for his itty bitty snake mouth.

So, I only included the first video where he snatches the snake, and the last video, where he finally got it all the way in. I was surprised, that little thing can eat! And then it was disinfect the kitchen time!

Outdoor Skills Day

2011-03-26T12:31:00.000-05:00

Outdoor Skills Day is a Girl Scout camp training. Regan wasn't too thrilled with it, but I think she had fun at some of the stations. First we made "edible fire" which is the way they teach them how to make a campfire. Start with pretzel logs, make a fire ring out of marshmallows and M&M's, "light" the fire with red hots, etc. Then the best part, you get to eat it all! Then we had fire safety, learned how to wash their new mess kits, how to pack and roll up your sleeping bag, how to start and use a propane stove, and how to set up a tent. And then, we got to put our fire safety to good use and roast hot dogs and make s'mores! This is to prepare them for our big campout next weekend, we will have to cook our own food and everything! And somehow, I got signed up to help with this trip, so yay me!

Castle Park

2011-03-25T22:00:00.000-05:00

We had our home school small group meeting in Georgetown at the "Castle Park" and had a really good turn out. We have a lot of kids all around the same ages, so it works out perfectly. The weather has been getting hot already, but it was still pretty nice, and the parents had a great time talking about curriculum, selling houses, kids, etc. It's just nice to be able to have an adult conversation sometimes! The kids had fun, Riley likes to use this park for Parkour, and Regan and one of her friends, Tyler, found a ladybug and examined it VERY closely. They made their own little science class around the ladybug. It was cute watching them with it.

And my friend Sandy brought her new puppy, and Australian Shepherd named Ralph, and he's adorable! He looks like a fluffy teddy bear, he was so cute, and soft and cuddly, the kids loved playing with him.

Meet Drake the Snake

2011-03-24T21:55:00.001-05:00

Yep, we did it. We went back to Zookeepers and they had sold our little orange corn snake that we were looking at, but they had this cute little guy, a California Kingsnake. He has very unusual markings and he's still a baby, so Riley was happy. He wants to watch it grow to be a man-snake. Anyway, he's happy, he will sit at the computer playing his game while the snake lays underneath the keyboard. We were looking for names, and I really liked RumpleSnakeSkin, but Riley finally settled on Drake the Snake. In a while, we'll be looking to get a female and breed them, what a lesson that will be!

Snakes

2011-03-22T11:36:00.001-05:00

The kids have been going to the Austin Nature and Science Center for 2 years now for science class. Every time we go, Riley complains that he doesn't like the class and doesn't want to go again. Until we leave and then he talks my ear off all the way to the truck about how much fun it was and how much he learned about whatever it was they learned that day. Well, this week, they got to pet snakes and learn about different kinds of snakes. He begged all the way home to get his very own pet snake. I told him I'm open to the idea, I always knew this day would come, probably around this time...

BUT...I wanted him to do the research. I wanted him to find out what they eat, what kind of cage they would need, what kind of snake would be best for a pet, and for kids, etc. Basically, I wanted him to become a Herpetologist.

He made good on it, Googling everything he could find on snakes, so I took him to the exotic pet store (Zookeepers) and talked to the guy there and told him, we're just here to do some research, Riley has some questions to ask you about getting a pet snake. Turned out he was the owner (Daniel) and he spent almost an hour with us, he got the cutest, tiniest little cornsnake out and let Riley hold it the whole time, while he let Riley ask him a ton of questions about snakes. He was very impressed with Riley's questions and said we were most definitely going about it the right way, he wished more people would do what we were doing, research and ask questions first. He thought Riley would make a responsible pet snake owner, and showed us the bedding, explained feeding (of frozen pre-killed mice, ick) and he was very patient and thorough. He even showed us how to tell if it's a boy or girl (it was a boy) and told us it would make a great project to get a boy AND girl, and let it lay eggs. I think that would be AWESOME!! So, here's the little guy and more than likely a very near addition to our family!

Kawaii Ice AGAIN!

2011-03-19T23:50:00.001-05:00

We really love Kawaii Ice! Well, Colton was over spending the night, and he and David had never been to Kawaii Ice, so the kids were begging to take them. It was a nice treat. Colton had Tiger Blood so he could be like Charlie Sheen (ha) and David tried Blueberry. He ended up with very blue lips and teeth, (and wouldn't let me take his picture) but it was fun, and yummy. David was blown away at how busy they were. They're THAT good!

Adopt A Block

2011-03-19T21:38:00.003-05:00

Outreach

I know I say it every time I post about our church, but I love our church. We've been doing community outreaches for a while, and now we're doing "Adopt A Block." We go to an "inner city" apartment complex and just get to know the people, and hang with the kids. I was excited, it was like a mini-missions trip!

We had a group of about 15 people from the church, we got there around 11am, unloaded a giant speaker and started pumping some loud tunes to get everyone's attention. The guys got the grill going, and started making the hot dogs, I'm not sure how many they made, but it was A LOT! We gave out bags of chips, water bottles and a lot of candy too. We ran around the playground with the kids, talked to them, got to know them a little bit. Asked about school, what's up in their lives, etc. They live in a high drug area, and the main drug supplier even came by for a while. It was pretty wild. I know my kids live a very sheltered life, and I'm thankful for that, but it was eye opening to think that kids live in this environment just a short ride from my own house.

But, the kids. They were so precious. So full of hope. One boy is in 9th grade, big as a linebacker already and in all AP classes, making all A's and one B. It is my sincere hope that as we keep going down there and really getting to know these kids, we can pour life into them, get them into a good church, and just get them off on the right foot in life. I talked to a lady, Brenda, while we walked around giving hot dogs to some of the older people that don't leave their apartment much, and she told me she's lived there for over 30 years and at this point doesn't think she'll "ever get out."

I can't wait to go again, and I'll be taking the kids next time. This is something I think they need to be a part of and a way for them to learn early on how to give back, and how to help others. It's very easy to get complacent and comfortable in our day to day lives, and not think about these kids who seem to have nothing and no one who cares for them. But we do! And we're here now.

Kawaii Ice and Round Rock Park

2011-03-17T21:34:00.000-05:00

For another fun, cheap treat, I took the kids to Kawaii Ice, which is the world's BEST snow cone place, and we got our cotton candy/banana colada snow cones and headed over to the Round Rock park to enjoy. Since the flood that happened a few months ago, you can really still see a lot of damage, lots of trees uprooted and the walking bridge is closed, but that didn't stop the kids from getting in the nasty water and playing around. Last time we went, they had to swim out in chest deep water to get to the "Round Rock" but this time you could walk out on the rocks, since we're still in a drought. They had fun puddle jumping and it seems like we went from winter to summer overnight. It has been HOT in the afternoons around here. So, even though the water was ice cold, it didn't bother them much.

Carnival

2011-03-15T16:54:00.000-05:00

It's Spring Break and that means RODEO CARNIVAL!! My kids really think that a rodeo is just rides and food. I surprised them and when we pulled into the parking lot, they were like, YAY, the rodeo!! I said, no, the carnival. Yeah, the rodeo! Either way, they had a good time, and so did I. We all got a little sun burned, but it was worth it. They actually had fun together and acted like they liked each other. Regan ran up to the first ride we saw, the Spin Out and wanted on. She's just at 52" but the guy let her on, and it was a crazy ride. She was so scared, Riley told me after she was saying, "make it stop Bubba!" Poor thing. But, she's brave, she rode everything there, right along side her big brother. And where did they have the most fun? The Dell tent, playing Street Fighter, and Regan kicking her brother's butt. Like father, like son (and daughter). Then we got to pet the animals and then headed home, exhausted and red. Can't wait till next year!

Lipizzaner Stallions

2011-03-13T23:04:00.000-05:00

I surprised Regan with tickets to the Lipizzaner Stallions! This was a reward for all her hard work selling all those Girl Scout cookies (and mine too!) I didn't tell her where we were going (after having lunch at Chuy's with the family) and she kept saying it was the circus since it was at the Frank Erwin Center, and the last time she was there was to see the circus! She kept saying, "I KNOW it's the circus!" But she was very surprised. We got really good seats, 2nd row (and of course, the tallest man in the arena comes and sits RIGHT in front of ME). But, we were close enough to almost touch them. They had a tack and grooming Q&A before the show so we got to do that first. Then being the sucker I am, got her the t-shirt! The horses are cool, they can do some really cool moves, and I think now Regan would like to ride Lipizzaner's when she grows up.

Springwoods Park

2011-03-11T23:01:00.000-06:00

It's been a while since we've been out and about, and the weather has been wonderful. So we hit up one of our favorite parks and had some fun. We walked the path and climbed trees, Riley calls them "hobo trees" because the way the branches hang low, he says a hobo could sleep in them and be comfortable!

Finally!

2011-03-02T18:14:00.002-06:00

I have been having some major technological issues! My camera would not hook up to my computer, so I tried to upload pictures to David's, but then I couldn't resize them, and I can't upload my pictures in full size. It's been a battle for the last couple of months, but I finally got it to work. I say that like I did something special, and I didn't, Riley just tried it again yesterday and it worked! Yay! So, prepare for a major onslaught of updates and pictures! I know I haven't posted much in the last couple of months, but it's certainly not because we haven't been doing anything!

Going BEYOND!

2011-02-21T19:00:00.001-06:00

Our church is getting ready to move up on the hill, and we're in the middle of a series from Pastor Joe called "Beyond". There's a prayer walk up the hill, and each family gets a flag to plant at the top of the hill. If you have read my blog at all, you know how involved we are, and how much we *adore* our church, so we are so happy to be a part of this! We took Regan (Riley was at a friend's and the youth group made their own trip up the hill) and we made our prayer walk and planted our flag at the top of the hill! We are so anxious to see what great and wonderful things God has in store for us as a family, and for our church family, in the next 2 years!

Main Event

2011-02-18T18:20:00.002-06:00

It was a busy, busy day. Kenzie came over and we ran to Target and registered for the baby shower. That was too much fun! It's been a long time since I got to ooh and aww over little baby stuff! We got a little trigger happy, but it was a good time.

Then Riley had a boys club event for his school at Main Event. We had lunch at Double Dave's while he had his "boy time" but went back a little early so Regan could play some. She apparently didn't appreciate it like I thought she would.

Community Service

2011-02-16T23:49:00.002-06:00

Riley's school always does a lot of community service projects. The project for this semester was to help out at the Capital Area Food Bank. Riley helped load frozen pizza into boxes to give out, and he got a thank you note from them saying they processed 8,424 pounds of food, which equals 6,793 meals! Way to go Pure Energy!

The Blizzard of '11

2011-02-04T23:39:00.002-06:00

I know, I know, it's not that much snow, but for around here, it was awesome! The kids got a snow day. It fell overnight, so we woke up to a winter wonderland! It was so soft and powdery too. Riley took his skateboard with no wheels to a ditch to "snowboard" and they had snowball fights and made snow angels. It was cute. My kids always look like ragamuffins in snow pics cause we don't have warm enough clothes so they put on a bunch of warm things and end up looking like they got dressed in the dark!

Donnie!

2011-01-13T18:55:00.000-06:00

Haven't seen Donnie in ages, then got a phone call that he was in Austin and blew a tire on his rig. Or something like that. He had to take it to a machine shop and get something fixed, but basically he and his girlfriend Melissa were stranded in town overnight, so they came and spent the night. Met Melissa and Regan took my camera and made herself honorary photographer of the night. She loves her Uncle Donnie! (Uncle Boogly-Woogly).

Chuck E's

2011-01-13T18:17:00.002-06:00

We met an old friend at Chuck E Cheese's with the kids. Now, I don't mean WE are old, just that we've known each other a LONG time!! I actually used to babysit the big brother and big sister, Justin who just graduated from high school, and Christina who is now married and in college. So yes, maybe I am old. But now they have a little brother that's almost 5 and a little sister that's 2. Regan had fun playing little mama. And it was fun to catch up, we hadn't seen each other in a long time!

UPWARD

2011-01-08T18:35:00.000-06:00

Regan decided to try Basketball at church this year, with the Upward league. Let's just say we can now cross this off the list of things Regan will ever do again. She hasn't exactly enjoyed her season of basketball! But she looks cute in her uniform!

Girl Scout Cookies!

2011-01-07T18:24:00.001-06:00

This is only fun because I'm posting this after cookies are done! But, between me and Amie, we had to haul 300 cases of cookies and unload them in my garage! We bribed half the neighborhood kids to help and paid them in cookies (well worth it). Regan's goal was to sell at least 1000 boxes of cookies (She did) but let me tell you, it's been a busy cookie season!

The Farm

2011-01-01T18:11:00.002-06:00

Regan spent a few nights with her BFF over New Year's and I took Riley, Kenzie and Colton to pick her up and spend some time at the farm (that's what Regan calls it!) Tammy has goats, chickens, rabbits, dogs, cats, etc. So, it really is like a farm! BTW, that's a really fluffy chicken that Regan is holding!!

Family Breakfast

2011-01-01T16:52:00.000-06:00

Got a call from my cousin Dana that my cousins Buster and Cathy were in from Houston, last minute trip. So we met them at Denny's for breakfast. I ran and got Daniel too, we hadn't all seen each other in I don't even know how long! It was good to catch up. I can't believe we used to all be little kids, running around painting each others faces with clown make-up, hanging out at the skating rink, and pestering our older brothers and sisters together!

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-25T23:34:00.000-06:00

We had Kenzie staying with us for a bit, and we just spent a lazy day at home opening presents and playing around. Riley got a new camera, Regan got a Pillow Pet and Fazoodles, they both got new PJ's and socks and undies, the fun stuff. Kenzie got baby clothes for Eli!

Christmas Eve

2010-12-24T23:19:00.000-06:00

We had Christmas Eve dinner at Pam and Dave's, with Walt and Linda and Uncle James and Tia Lola and all the kids. It's hard for me to remember that far back now, but I know we had a lot of good food and desserts, and David and I had served at church so we came late and just enjoyed a quiet(ish) evening with the whole family.

Regan and Riley got iPads from Mimi and Papa, and it was funny, they took the iPads out and replaced them with good old Christian books on blood covenant and the power of healing. Riley seemed bothered that his gift wasn't what he thought it was, but it was just funny to watch their expressions as they tried so hard to be grateful!

Tia Lola got the kids Brazilian jewelry and she gave David and I a wooden carved saint, St. Francis of Assisi that has birds on him, he's adorable! And then Walt and Linda gave us the most awesome hand carved wooden cutting board that he made himself! We love it and have used it TONS! He signed the back of it for us, and I just love seeing that in my kitchen everyday and know that it was made just for me.

Grandma and Grandpa!

2010-12-23T19:35:00.001-06:00

Walt and Linda came down from Ohio, and the kids got to swim in their indoor hotel pool! They were excited about that, and super excited to see Grandma and Grandpa after so long! They really enjoyed the short time they got to spend with them. Can't wait to see them again soon.

Piano Recital

2010-12-19T19:21:00.000-06:00

Here are some pictures and videos of the Christmas Piano recital! They are getting much better.

Christmas at Church

2010-12-19T17:27:00.000-06:00

We had the living nativity, which Regan loves! There was a "mini" camel, although he didn't look too mini to me! And of course, pics by the church's big tree, and they actually (upon threat of death) will act like they can stand each other long enough for a photo!

Our Christmas Card

2010-12-15T16:32:00.001-06:00

I'm taking the easy way out this year. I always love to send out Christmas cards, but it's just not gonna happen this year! My camera has not been working, and I finally got the part to get it to work, but now I'm having computer issues, so I just decided to do this instead. Next year I will be back on top of my game. I hope! Until then, Merry Christmas everyone, and I hope you enjoy:

Personalize a scrapbook design

Bowling and Phil's

2010-12-14T23:14:00.000-06:00

There is a home school bowling group that we try to meet up with once a month, but it's been a few months since we've gone. This time, there were kids wearing the same Upward Basketball shirt that Regan just got (she's playing basketball for church in the new year) and come to find out, they go to our church, same service, and they home school, small world! My friend Tammy just started to home school, so she met us to bowl with Angie and Abby, and then we met David for lunch after at our favorite burger place, Phil's. It turned out to be a nice day, so the kids had fun playing on the playground too.

Skating

2010-12-10T23:06:00.002-06:00

There's a new skating rink in Round Rock, and they have a home school day where the kids get to play sports for an hour on the sport court, then skate for 2 hours, then another hour of sports. The only problem is, it's on Wednesday which is when Riley and Regan are at their one day schools. But then I heard that the skate program was going so well, they decided to open it up to another day, Friday, so we were excited to go try it out. We set up our home school small group to go, and we were the only ones that showed up! We had a pretty good sized group though, and it was fun to have the whole rink to ourselves. Regan tried out rollerblades for the first time ever and Santa may have to bring her some this year!! The owner came out and played dodge ball with the kids, then gave the boys hockey sticks and pucks and let them play roller hockey on half the court while the girls skated on the other half. It was a lot of fun. The kids were worn out by the time we left!!

Gingerbread House

2010-12-04T23:02:00.001-06:00

A favorite family tradition! One of our Girl Scout leaders organizes this at her church every year, and this was our 3rd year to go. It's so much fun too, the kids love it! The church provides dinner and a pre-built Gingerbread House, and a bag of icing. We bring 2 bags of candy to share, and spend the evening decorating our very own house. It's so fun to see other people's houses, you can tell the families where mom and dad get a little too into it, and the ones (like us) that just sit back and let the kids take over. Our house won't win any beauty awards, because we split it down the center so each kid gets to decorate half a house. But it's fun, and a good way to kick off the holiday season!

Homecoming

2010-12-01T11:10:00.001-06:00

Riley's homecoming game was the day before I left for Romania, and I didn't get to see him play or take any pictures, but they took one of each player at half time with their "escort" and I felt bad that I missed it. But dad was there, and here's the picture, finally!

My Cold Little Princess

2010-11-27T13:46:00.001-06:00

Think she's spoiled? Nah!

Sent from my G1 phone

Happy Thanksgiving!

2010-11-25T13:37:00.001-06:00

I haven't posted in a while since I've updated my blog from my trip. But not much to update on this end. I got home and got right back into the groove of things. We had a small group the night I got home, Single Mom's Oil Change the day after that, and then back into daily lessons, tutoring, piano, school, church, etc.

And to top it off, my camera is still broken, so I have no pictures to report anyway! But, we had a good thanksgiving. I went to pick Kenzie up on Wednesday, so she spent the weekend with us, and it was good to have her here. We went to Pam and Dave's with David's whole family and had fried turkey, sweet potato casserole, sausage stuffed stuffing balls, pumpkin pies, toffee butter bars, mashed potatoes, brussell sprouts, ham, and prime rib. Yum. Then we just hung out around the house and watched movies and enjoyed being lazy. Exciting, I know.

I hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving!

Bran and Brasov

2010-11-03T18:42:00.000-05:00

Bran and Brasov

Our last full day in Romania was spent driving and sightseeing. We woke up early (too early for hot water, so no shower for me, yuck!) and packed up the cars and headed towards Brasov. We stopped a lot along the way to see the sights, it was one of the most beautiful drive's in Europe so I'm told. It was majestic. We drove over mountains and saw some of the most beautiful countryside. The houses built on the sides of hills, tall mountains with whole little towns nestled into the valleys, shepherds watching their flocks of sheep along the sides of the road, and occasionally having to swerve to miss a couple of cows making their way around town.

We stopped at a roadside stand (they are everywhere there) and the guy was so nice, he showed us around, he had deer and peacocks and other strange animals in his pen in the back of his house. He took us to his storage cellar and it was so nice, and organized! He had tons of cheeses lined up, and herbs hanging upside down, it was very rustic and very charming. He even let me use his toilet so I felt obligated to buy something from him. I bought something pink in a jar that he called "sherbet" but I knew it wasn't the same thing we call "sherbet" (we cracked it open to try it that night at Ana's and I left it there for her to enjoy! blech)

Then we stopped at another stand to get breakfast and this little old lady was happily giving us samples of what I thought was her beef jerky and sheep cheese. We bought several links of sausage and a chunk of cheese and ate on the road. It was actually BEAR sausage and BUFFALO cheese! That was so awesome! We were eating bear for breakfast. I can now actually say I was so hungry I ate the hind end of a running grizzly bear :)

After a few more scenery stops, and a quick run up a hill, we arrived in Bran. This is home of Dracula's castle. Or, Vlad Tepes, Vlad the Impaler. I hit the market and bought presents for the family. I got the kids a wooden carved flute, Regan a set of nesting dolls, a scarf for myself, and a cool coffee mug for Riley that's clear and has Vlad Tepes and the castle on it. We got this circle bread too that is roasted on this stick and rolled in nuts and caramel and just melts in your mouth it was so good.

We kept going to Brasov, which is a ski resort town, and so quaint, exactly what I pictured most of Europe to look like. Cobble stone streets, a plaza with pigeons and musicians. It was picturesque. We ate a quick lunch at McDonald's and then walked around the town. Kevin and I were competing for how many pictures we could take it seemed! We finally made it down to the end of the main road and took a tour of the Black Church, one of the more famous churches in Europe. It was beautiful inside. We weren't supposed to take pictures, but we took a couple secretly anyway. I couldn't help it, it was very nice inside!

Bought a few more gifts in Brasov, and then headed back to the car for the long ride back to Bucharest. We made it in just in time for a meeting with some local area pastors. They had a ton of questions about our church, and ministry, and it was a good several hours spent with them helping them with their questions. I slipped out for a bit and logged online to chat with David and the kids, a week without email access and cell service, we were missing each other big time!

We went back to Ana's for our last night, and it was a little like coming home. We had really fallen in love with Ana and it was so good to see her, and everyone at Campus Crusades! We had her give us her presentation and talked about what she needs to be in ministry full time now. I just love her and plan on supporting her in her ministry. She took very good care of us! She also gave us all presents for our kids, and made our last night in Bucharest the best.

We got up bright and early (well, not bright, it was still dark at 6am) and headed to the airport. It was much easier going home, we combined a lot of suitcases so I only had 2 to deal with instead of 4. But the flight home seemed so much longer. We were trying to stay awake so we would be on the right schedule when we got home, but it didn't work very well. David picked us up at the airport in Houston at 9pm and we still had to drive back to Austin, drop off the church van, and drive to Pam and Dave's to get the kids! It was a very late night, but I was up bright and early at 5am, ready to go!

Last Night in Bucharest

2010-11-03T13:57:00.002-05:00

That sounds like a movie title. I can't even begin to tell you how amazing this trip has been. I am already planning to come back next year, and hopefully David can come too! When I get home and get more time, I will upload pictures and tell you about every last detail (I know you can't wait!!) but we have over 60 gigs of video and pictures to sort through so it might be a little while!! My camera broke right before we got to the Romanian orphanage, I was so bummed, but then I became the official church photographer, and their camera is nicer than mine, so I got over it real quick! The food here is amazing, the people are the nicest I have ever met in my life and the scenery is simply breathtaking. Today we left Cumpalung and went through Bran to see Dracula's castle, then to Brasov to walk through the town where the buildings were built in the 1300's! Then back here to Bucharest for our last night of meetings and then we leave bright and early in the morning. I miss my kids and can't wait to see them, but I wouldn't trade this experience for the world! Thanks to all of you who helped get me here!

Gypsy Village

2010-11-02T17:03:00.000-05:00

Gypsy Village

I have to say it was one of the things I was most looking forward to on this trip, visiting a Gypsy village. We started our day spending some time with Estera and finding out how we could help her. This woman, I can't tell you how amazing I think she is. Just one week of her life wore us out, and it was a slow week. She has stamina like you wouldn't believe, and such dedication to her calling. She and her husband Vio often split up to go to villages, but they only have one car, so one of them will hitchhike to a village to do a Bible club. She goes to the Gypsy village every Tuesday night, alone, and walks. And let me tell you from experience, it is dark on the way home. I mean, can't see your hand in front of your face dark. I don't know how she does it but by the grace of God. She is forever in my daily prayers for the work that she does there.

So we started off by helping her with crafts. She sees over 600 kids a week in different schools and villages. For 250 of them, she has a craft. Some places she either can't or isn't allowed to do crafts. So Shawn, Amanda and I sat down with her lesson book and planned out the next 13 weeks of crafts for her. We then had the boys come and cut, count and sort hundreds of beads, cotton balls, paper bags, paper plates and pom pom balls! It took the better part of the day to get it all done, and we sorted her cabinets and got her all set up for the next few months. I wish I could go back and do it for her every few months to lighten her load, but one thing I am hoping for is a chance to go back next year and plan out the entire year for her. I hope it helps her have more time to spend with her amazing family. She gets up in the mornings around 4:30am just to read her Bible and pray while the house is quiet and then goes back to bed for a bit. See? Complete dedication! I could go on and on about her, she's my new hero.

A little while into the counting, Scott, Kevin and I took a mental health break and went for a walk down the main road. A photographers dream, this place. I took pictures of cows, haystacks, blades of grass, apple trees, everything there is so lush and beautiful. Then it was time to hit the crafts again before church.

Finally, we got ready and headed up the road to the Gypsy village. The kids were amazing. Some of the girls are married at 12, and have babies! They were so beautiful, and so friendly. Just walking up the road we were surrounded by a throng of kids, wanting me to take their picture, and then wanting me to show them on the screen. If they didn't like it, they would make me take it again. It was hard to just keep walking, but the others didn't want to leave me behind and so I kept headed to the church, and they kept following me. I just could not take enough pictures. The kids were gorgeous!

The church is experiencing massive growth too! They recently doubled in size, they had around 20 people regularly, and Gigi (Estera's neighbor) walks to the village every night to preach the Gospel to them. They now have 43 people and had to add on to the church building! I had a bag of candy in my hands so I was like a pied piper and the kids followed me everywhere I went.

So when it was time for the kids church to start, Estera sang some songs with them, and did her Bible lesson, and asked me to teach them the "Who's the King of the Jungle" song, which they loved, and then we played games with them. We played hand slapping games, balloon bouncing games, and we gave out more Silly Bands, and we gave out the candy as they left to walk home. It was all over too soon for me.

These kids were a lot like the kids at home, much more free than some of the kids we saw in the villages. They were outgoing, not too shy, jumped around and laughed a lot. It was like being at Celebration Kids, without the English! Then we walked home in the dark and went back to our crafting and packing up to head back to Bucharest. It was a nice, relaxing day, and the Gypsies were just so much fun. A great way to end the week in Campulung.

Tia's House

2010-11-01T13:46:00.001-05:00

Tia's House

After the day camp, Scott started pouring the kid's leftovers into a big pot. And by leftovers, I mean any leftover soup, potatoes, hot dogs, bread crumbs, it all went into a giant pot. I thought it would be for pigs or something, but he said no, we were going to bring it to Tia's house. I was somewhat disturbed by that, thinking poor old lady. She is 78 and her husband is 98. No one knows his name so we started calling him Mr. Tia. Tia is the strongest, toughest lady you would ever meet! One morning we saw her hauling buckets and 90 pound bags of apples up the hill to her house and sent Chad out to help her (Chad was the muscle on our trip) and he came in sweating buckets and said Tia laughed at him for sweating! That is one tough broad.

So we carried our big pot of nasty leftover soup to Tia. She was very excited to get the soup, and grabbed two buckets that had been sitting outside and looked very dirty. As Kevin said, it looked like she washed a boot in the bucket. She asked us to pour the soup in the dirty bucket. At this point I thought for sure the food would be for the pigs. She took us out back to see her pigs (they were cute) and then we noticed a bunch of kittens climbing into the soup bucket and eating their hearts out. I tried to shoo them away but Tia told Estera to let them be, the cats need to eat too. Then she carried the bucket inside so they could eat it for dinner. I almost gagged just thinking about it, until I saw the pot of food that they had been eating. It looked like it had been made with rain water. It was a soup of apple pieces and potato peels and muddy looking water. They have no teeth so they can only eat soup made with mushy things.

Then Tia took us inside to meet her husband and see her house (which was about the size of master closet, no joke). There was a twin sized bed for Mr. Tia, and at the foot of that, in an L shape was her twin size bed, and across from that was their "kitchen" which was a heater that they cook food on. The bathroom was out back. It was so tiny and musty. Mr. Tia asked us if we would shave him, his daughter normally does it, but she hadn't been around in a while, so he had a nice little beard going.

He got up and rummaged through a drawer to find his razor which was almost as old as he was, and very dull. Kevin was nominated for the job, and he went back to camp and grabbed his electric razor that he brought with him. He was afraid he would cut him with a regular razor. So he shaved him, and you could tell Mr. Tia was enjoying it! He was smiling ear to ear, and was so sweet. He was so happy and he gave me a big hug and a kiss on each cheek. Tia had been hitting the Tuica before we got there, so she was pretty happy to see us too, and Amanda got a full on slobber kiss, twice. Lucky.

Then Tia asked us if we could pick some of her harder to reach apples, so Estera, Amanda and Kevin climbed the apple tree and picked a basket full of apples and would toss them down to Scott while Tia talked my ear off (in Romanian, she didn't seem to care that I couldn't understand a word she said!) She showed Amanda and I some of her old pictures and I thought they were OLD pictures, they were black and white with scalloped edges, looked like some my grandma has of her as a kid, but then on the back of them, they say they were taken in 1988 and 1989!

Then we headed back down to camp, and had dinner (more leftover chicken soup) and then Kevin and Scott made Tiramisu and Estera made us the best hot tea ever, from plants around the area. It was so good and I wanted so bad to bring some home, but I was afraid it wouldn't make it through customs. But, it was a great day, very interesting, but watching Kevin shave Mr. Tia and his huge smile, it was one of my favorite memories of the trip.

Day Camp

2010-11-01T13:04:00.000-05:00

Day Camp

On Monday, Estera hosted a field trip at the camp. We had a "Bible Club" day camp. We spent a few hours on Sunday night decorating the upstairs room and laughing mostly, singing songs and goofing around. Scott has been leading trips to Romania for 20 years now, but I don't know if he's ever led a more fun one! We were always laughing and having so much fun.

So we got the "upper room" ready and planned out our activities and then on Monday morning, the bus pulled up and out came 21 kids (we were expecting 16) and their teachers, moms, grandmas and one grandpa. We had a station set up downstairs for the adults to make cards, get their nails done, and have some "grown-up" time, while the kids were upstairs having "kid time"!

We played a few games with them, took them outside to let them run around, and then we went back upstairs, Estera taught them a Bible story while we helped them with their butterfly craft. Then it was lunch time, and they ate the infamous chicken soup, and a side of hot dogs (that were like sausages) and mashed potatoes that were the best ones I had ever had. And they were just plain mashed potatoes. Yum. Anyway, while the kids were eating, the grandpa told Estera he was embarrassed about his granddaughter eating her food so fast, but this was the first time in her life she had ever had a second course, they were very poor and she had never eaten so much food before. Broke our hearts.

Right after the kids ate, we gave out the colored bead bracelets while Shawn told the "Wordless Book" story. The beads on each bracelet represent a scripture, the first is black (sin) red (the blood of Jesus) white (He washes us white as snow) gold (when we go to Heaven to be with Him) and green (grow in the knowledge of God).

The kids loved the bracelets and the teacher stood up and thanked us for coming, and told the moms and kids that you could tell that the love of Jesus was real by the way we served them that day. That if the country of Romania would embrace God and serve it's people like we had served them, their country would be a better country in no time. She went on, but by that time, we were all in tears. One of the mom's even gave Amanda and I a lace butterfly that she handmade and told Estera that she wanted to know more about God!

Then the kids loaded back up in the van and left and we were all on cloud nine!