Quick Catch up

So thing's have been pretty crazy around here just gettin back in the groove of things...let me tell you it was sooo hard coming back home to a 60 degree difference in temperature! So I am (I really am) still working on our vacation post, I am going day by day, because one of these day's I will turn my blog into a book....so kinda like a big scrapbook for the kid's. I want to make sure I get everything in there :) So for now, I'm just gonna give you a quick catch up on what's been going on in our house lately.

Since coming home our kid's have become someone else, Quaid is now OFFICIALLY a Jedi (he went on stage to do this Jedi traning and fought Darth Vader) He built 2 light saber's while we were there and couldn't put it down for DAYS maybe even a week. Either way he was totally convinced that he had to continue his Jedi training for when he get's bigger to go off to the real Jedi Training. It was soo funny, yet concerned me a bit (he was really into it...very serious) As you will see in this video ( sorry it's sideway's, I always forget about that...I do figure it out though)

(He probably would have gone longer if Bailey wasn't being ornary...he takes it very seriously)

Now, Bailey also has changed as well, although she is very girly as it is, well now she's a Princess...so she's extra girly now and is loving her new dress & glass slipper's she got at Disney. She wear's her glass slipper's wherever we go (actually I came in one morning and she was sitting in the living room trying to figure out which glass slipper's she should wear??) and one day she wanted to wear her crown...lol I let her...she's only a 3 yr old Princess once!!

We had a Great St. Patrick's Day, which was on a Tuesday this year...that's our Storytime @ Starbuck's & coffee with Grammy date's. So we had also invited Aunt Jewy (all Bailey's L's are W's) & Paige to come along. It was fun to see how much Paige had already grown, Bailey was anxious to read to Paige the book's we got her at Disney. I actually think Bailey just wanted to read them to herself...as you can see she's not really letting Paige see the pics..lol Either way, Paige was a little fussy but she would be happy one minute, then all of a sudden put her bottom lip out..it was soo cute ;)

Oh and it was in the 70's on St. Patty's Day too, hence the Summer clothes :)

Quaid has been doing very well in school and continue's thriving in reading. He also get's a 100% on all his Spelling tests (he get's that from Mommy), Math too is one of his favorite subjects because it's sooo easy he says ;) Speaking of he is becoming quite the "know it all" lately, he asked me the other day in the Dr.'s office what was my favorite reptile was?? Hmmm, I said frog, then he immediately starts laughing and say's, "No Mom, frogs are Amphibian's", I say "Oh right"!!! We are constantly quizzed on many thing's daily...it's so funny that he think's he can outsmart us ;) I also wanted to share his Extra Credit Project that he did, he got on the computer and researched Canadian Animals and put this together...he was soo PROUD and I was also very PROUD of him. He is a very eager learner and catches on quickly to new things, especially the computer.....it's crazy that he's researching things on the computer now...he's getting too big!!!

Bailey is of course a Princess now, and is such a happy girl!! (most of the time) She wakes up usually before anyone and come's in our room with a big smile and say's "Snuggle"...ahhh, I wish these day's lasted forever. Then she proceeds to ask for "Breafkast" (yes it's spelled wrong because that's how she say's it..and I love it) She is very busy during they day caring for her babies...usually they come to breakfast as well, bathing them, putting them to sleep, playing with them..it's soo cute to listen to her play :) When not taking care of her babies, we are playing her favorite "Cootie" game, playing Doctor, teacher, baker and of course dress up.

Everything else has been good around here, now only if Spring would come SOON!!! We have had quite the Winter and are definitely ready to play outside again :) I am hoping to finish the Disney post soon and hope to keep up better on here!!!

The Time of my Life...the BIG 30!!!

Well I can honestly say, it seemed as if 30 was an eternity away...looking from a child's eyes. I remember growing up and thinking that each significant year was just unbelievable, 13..teenager, 16...driving, 18...ADULT, 20...married my Prince Charming, 21...the LEGAL drinking age, 23..the birth of my first son, 25.. 1/4 of the way through my life (seeing if I grow to be 100, of course), 26...my first daughter was born, 26...accepting Christ as my Savior, 30...WOW...that just seems like a long time!! But wait...it get's better though I have determined...you still have 70 years left (100??)

So as I reminisce about my last 30 year's as me, I come to realize that really it doesn't matter what my age is, it matter's how I live my life.."You only get this one ride, one try, one life to love" -33 Miles (One Life to Love) Great, great song!!! I can look back and Praise God for His plan and the blessing's that I have. We go through life thinking "How am I going to survive in this world", we NEVER stop thinking about "The World". Kinda seems like so much is pushed upon us from day to day, the last thing we need to worry about is anything else. I've had many, many moment's of worry, we all do...again it goes back to the "World" which usually has something to do with why all the worry. For me...it took almost 30 year's for the Lord to bring me closer to Him. Closer mean's instead of praying a repetitive prayer at bedtime and dinner time, meant sitting down with my Bible and just talking to God, (there is sooo much to learn from His word, it's unexplainable and absolutely AMAZING) It's driving down the road, turning the radio off and just chatting to myself?? Nope, He is with me, He is listening to all my worries and just want's me to lean on Him. He is our God, but He loves us unconditionally and you know what...Everything's going to be O.K...just look around and appreciate and take in what God has given you. He gives us just this "One Life to Love", so why not make the most of it and enjoy what Jesus has done for us and Praise God for this One Life.

I could have never dreamed up of what the Lord has brought through this life of mine, however I can now look back and see His plan at work in EVERY situation. One way or another He was there helping right along. Sure I have had some down's of course... some situation's you almost think to yourself, "Why me", "Why this", "Why that"..."Why is that anyway?"...LOL God made us all Perfect in His own image, can you imagine living forever here on Earth? That's what God intended, He made this World for us all to enjoy...then Satan swooped in and decieved Eve bringing Sin into this Perfect World God had just made. We are all tricked up by Satan everday!!! Hard to believe that Satan really is all around us just as God is, but if you really listen...God is there. We all sin, we'll never be perfect, we'll never be completley satisfied with every single aspect of our lives, but we have to remember that there is this ONE life God has given us and loved us and wanted to save us that He gave his Son to die for us. WOW...can you even imagine?? FOR ME?? FOR YOU?? Life itself...all because He loves us so much He wants us to live with him for eternity. That in itself is far beyond my imagination..I actually like to simply sit back and imagine what eternity with Jesus is going to bring. BIG BIG THINGS!!! I'm so thankful for what the Lord has brought to my life in the last 30 yrs. Although I have had many trials, I can now see how Awesome our God is and He will never leave my side!

****My Birthday was definitely a DREAM come true...we woke up went to breakfast with Cinderella (all the other Princess' came around too ;) Spent the morning at the Magic Kingdom riding what Mommy wanted to ride..lol, spent the afternoon at the pool, then went back to the Magic Kingdom for the "SpectroMagic" Parade and the "Wishes" Fireworks (AMAZING), then finished off with an ice cream sundae :) It was sooo magical! (If you haven't had your birthday yet this year...I totally recommend going to Disney) Here's some pics from my Special Day :)

So in regards to my husband's awful shirt...LOL He got up early and went down to the food court to get coffee and look at the gift shop shirts, because he didn't have anything to go with his new shorts...THIS is what he came back with..it's much worse in person..believe me!!! We were already running behind though...so no time to find something else...he thought it would match and said it looked good folded up...sorry honey ;)

Waiting for the Parade..YES WAITING..she had to cover her ears at all times!!!

Still covered watching the parade ;)

Peter Pan stopped right in front of Bailey

The Firework's started...now she really doesn't like it!!

An end to a Great Day :)

****Still working on more Disney...thanks for your patience****

Updating

I've slowly been updating the blog, I'll try to have it all updated before we leave on Tuesday...5 days!!!

Valentine's Day

Our Valentine's Day was very special this year, I think it keeps getting better and better every year :) Quaid had given us an envelope with some coupon's in it good for: Cleaning his room, doing the dishes and writing for fun. Needless to say, they are all things he is to do on a daily basis...but it was cute to see what he came up with.

We had our Valentine's Dinner on Friday night because the kid's were going to a Birthday Party on Valentine's Day, so we had a family dinner on Friday and Mommy & Daddy got their own Valentine's Dinner together. After dinner both the kid's went back to Bailey's room to get our Valentine Presents ready for the next morning. It was very interesting to listen to them and trying to figure out what was for who??

We wake up on Valentine's Day and open our boxes we made, then read our Valentine's from our family, very sweet from Quaid, Bailey's were a little scribbly and sweet..lol Then the kid's wanted to open their present's, so Daddy got a Lion (lil toy), Quaid got a Bunny (Bailey's bunny by the way), I got a Bib, yes a Baby's Bib...the kid's said it was for my "BABY", hmmm...didn't know I had a Baby?? Then they proceeded to tell me it's for when I have a real baby. TOO FUNNY!!! Then Bailey got a Dragon Tale book (her's also)..lol That was fun and very cute of them!! Then they got to open their present from us a Kidi Art Studio that hook's up to the TV, they can take pic's of themselves and paint, dress up, all kind's of fun things. You can also hook it up to the computer and email pics too, we have yet to get that far...they are having way too much fun on TV.

That evening the kid's went to their friend Sophia's birthday party, thanks to her Wonderful parent's offering to have all our kid's over on Valentine's Day!!! :) Johnny and I headed down to the Mall to hit the Disney Store for our upcoming Vacation. We found lots of lil character's, they were B1G1!! Instead of buying them while we are at Disney, we thought we would buy them now and leave them for the housekeeper's each day, then when we return for the night...they have a new character to sleep with :) After the Mall, we headed back to pick up the kid's...with no real dinner plans and our main goal was Disney Store...we stopped at McDonald's for dinner!!! Can you believe it? Here we are on a Valentine's Date and we eat at McDonald's...we didn't even have the kids!!! I really just wanted some fries, Johnny wanted a Quarter Pounder...if you buy 1 you get 1 for whatever the temp was the day before. (they got him) We picked up the kid's and hung out with the Graham's and some other friends picking up their kid's...they made us all a Margarita and we sat around and chatted while the kid's were still running around like crazy..lol It was a fun Day all together and filled with LOVE :)

Icky, Sicky

Believe it or not, we haven't had to make a trip to the Dr. office yet this Winter for anything, until the other day when we had to take Quaid in for his foot. When he was going to bed one night he started screaming and crying that he stepped on something, he cried for a loooong time, but seemed to be a little better the next day (he also had a field trip too, so he was very eager to go) After about 4 day's he said it still hurt, so I looked at it and it was protruding out, which didn't look like it was healing right?? So I took him in to the Dr and she immediately said, Wart. Then she said, wait, let me look closer and was poking around it because it had some puss (sorry if it's TMI) coming out, then out popped this little thing. I was freaking out and wondering what the heck it was, while also trying to stay calm for Quaid, who has NO idea what is going on and what just popped out of his foot. Then she grabs some tweezer's and out came the......TOOTHPICK!!!!! OUCH!!! I felt so bad for the poor guy :( Thankfully he is doing much, much better now :)

Although we haven't made any Doctor visit's this year doesn't mean we haven't been through our round's :( Bailey was sick a few week's ago with a BAD stomach bug, thankfully though she much better a day later. Quaid just oddly enough had a fever one day, that's it...just a fever, nothing else!! Weird, huh? Now they both have a little cold, poor Bailey is just a snotty yucky mess :( We're praying this all leave's our house and we can all be healthy for Vacation!!

A Mommy's still gotta care for her baby even when she's sick..lol

Our friend, JOE

HA, I finally found out his name...our recycling friend anyway. Guess what he gave us now...2 BIG stuffed CHRISTMAS Bear's! I have a feeling I'm gonna have to start cutting back on my dumpster time or I might end up with a whole ZOO!!!

Oh well, it was very nice of him and of course the kid's LOVE them, just kind of odd...lol

Our Friend, "The Recycling Man"

Yes, I have a friend now at Recycling, he work's there!! It all started when he started to give me a bag of Coupon insert's, then I wanted to do something nice for all the guy's there (they are alway's so nice and helpful) For Chrismtas I gave them all Razor gift set's, you can't really bake for them...eating in a recycling center...YUCK! Anyway, as soon as I gave my "friend" his gift, he said, "now hold on a min, I have something for you too"...ok..(kinda wary) He hands me this little Christmas Tree pin that light's up, he say's, "You can wear it on your blouse when you get all dressed up to go out", "Oh THANK YOU" What a sweet Man, I thought, however thought it was odd. A few week's go by and he tell's the kid's one day that he has some Easter Bunnie's for them at home, he'll bring them next week. After this, my kid's won't forget these Easter Bunnie's till the following recycling day. We went back and our "friend" forgot them, the next week he wasn't there, then FINALLY I go in there and he say's, "Are you gonna be in on Saturday? I've got those Easter Bunnie's for those kid's". "Oh, Ok, sure I'll bring them in". Of course we walk in greeted by "The Recycling Man", who quickly walk's over to get the Easter Bunnie's, so he give's the kid's their bag with the Easter Bunnie's in it along with my bag of coupon's. After over a month of not knowing what these Easter Bunnie's were, here are the beloved Easter Bunnie's ;)

Proud Cousin's

Welcome Paige Annabelle

I'm an Auntie!!! Congrats to Jason & Julie, they welcomed their first daughter, Paige Annabelle on Sunday, Jan. 11 @ 7:44pm, weighing in at 7lbs, 5 oz, 19 1/2in. Let me tell you, she is the most adorable baby EVER...except for my own of course..lol We are all very excited she's FINALLY here...poor Bailey thought she would never get here.

A lil bit of what Bailey is all about

Going shopping with her Baby
Trying to wear these out to a playgroup...in the snow!!

She fixed her own hair

Just had to snap this one...lol

Performing a Ballerina Dance

The BEST Christmas EVER!!!

This Christmas was truly our BEST Christmas yet. Every year we all go out and buy or try to find gift's for everyone in our family, when in all actuality we really don't need anything. I admit it is fun shopping and trying to find those perfect gift's for everyone, however it does get very expensive and sometime's you really just end up grabbing a gift card or just anything because you can't find them anything. So really, how much thought was put into that gift??

This year my Mom and I thought we would try something different, homemade gifts! On Thanksgiving, we all drew names and kept them secret (although my Mom ended up knowing who everyone got...guess we all still need advice from Mom...lol) We had a month to figure out and make our gift's. I had drawn my brother Jake, Johnny had drawn my brother Jason, our kid's didn't draw names this year, we decided they would just get spoiled as it is and really wouldn't truly appreciate the homemade gift's yet. Christmas morning came, we were having everyone over for Christmas morning brunch, which was really nice to have our Christmas with the kid's, play with them for a bit, then fix breakfast together while listening to Christmas music :)

Present time....of course the kid's couldn't wait, I couldn't either because of the anticipation of seeing what everyone came up with as their gifts :) We alway's go youngest to oldest, so Haylee was first, my brother Jake got her and not being very creative he made up a little ryhym for her with $10 to get what she wanted...lol Then came Jake, I had made him a fleece tie blanket of his own, I guess he steals my Mom's all the time, so I got this idea from her..lol Then Julie got a scrapbooking kit from my Mom with some cute little cricut people, Jason got a handmade toolbox from Johnny, it was pretty cool :) I got from Jason (totally not expecting something so creative) 3 ornament's he had handmade from lightbulb's, 2 snowmen and a Santa...they were sooo cute and I was just blown away at his creativity...I loved them :) Then came Johnny's gift from my Dad, a framed sketched picture of our kid's...awwww, that one really blew me away and is sooo precious!!! My Dad is a very good artist, however hasn't really done much lately because he's always so busy, after seeing this I hope he does alot more...especially because Johnny has claimed the picture as his ( I know it was his gift) I wanted to hang it in the house, but he's taking it to his office :( My birthday is coming up in case you wanna give me a homemade gift Dad!!!! HINT, HINT Then it was my Mom's turn and Haylee had made her a new fleece tie blanket as well...very cute hot pink and green :) Then Dad got some homemade chocolate covered cherries from Julie...what a PERFECT gift for him. (every year Dad get's chocolate covered cherries..they are his favorite)

This is definitely a tradition worth carrying on from now on.

Christmas 2008