Cruisin' with Disney: the big news

We could not believe the day was finally here. After so long talking about this, planning for it... and the whole time the kids did not know. When we went to get passports months before we told them they needed passports for their next trip to Kansas or Louisiana. Poor sheltered children.... So we woke the kids up Friday morning about 6:15 am, had them get ready to walk out the door and then finally told them the big news. You will see Peyton doesn't have much reaction. He told us later he thought we were kidding. That is why he is just making weird faces.

Trying Again

OK - I try to keep a family journal to help me remember what happens around here. I hadn't written in it in months. I'm wondering if I post for the world to see if I'll do better. Let's give it a go! Don't expect pictures. Those are collecting dust on the camera!

Here was the "funny" this week:
One night I was coming down with a cold. I had no patience left at bed time and K wasn't doing well either. I lost my temper with her and told her she needed to just go to bed.
The next morning I apologized for getting grumpy with her and told her that sometimes she need to find her "tough girl". She then informed me that the problem is her tough girl is way down in her pinky toe... she pointed at it and she can't get it out. Oh, my. What do I say to that??????????

Big Day Out

So, we were trying to think of something fun to do with the kiddos on a sort of rainy Memorial Day weekend. We decided to take them to Hammond's Candies to watch candy being made. That was interesting for a little while and of course gave P and K a nice sugar high. Then we went to the Bass Pro Shops store. We hadn't been there before and man, the kids had the best time. They loved sitting in the boats, watching the fish, trying the shooting range, etc, etc. Who knew a store could be so fun!!! And no, we didn't buy a thing. Well, we did eat dinner at their restaurant which had a huge aquarium. How cool is that!Here are the pics of our big day out:

Disney on Ice

We surprised the kids a few weeks ago with a trip to Disney on Ice. Of course they had a fantastic time. It is so funny - when P was almost 3 we would never take him to something like this because he couldn't sit still. K sat and watched the entire thing and loved it.

The Basement

Unless you really know me well, you will not understand why there are pictures of our empty basement on this blog.

We have been in our house for almost two years now. In all of this time I have never been able to get in the basement to finish unpacking and organize it. For some folks that isn't a big deal. For me, it makes me weary. I hated going down there to look for anything and we surely didn't go down there to play. So, for Christmas all I really wanted was someone to help me get the place organized. My parents gave me that present and a few weeks ago we finally organized the basement. I found all sorts of things that I thought were lost forever. And now we can actually play down there. In fact, Peyton created a great game of Jumping Gymnastics during the snow this week.

So, here is my now lovely basement. Lovely in my eyes because I can find what I'm looking for!

P's birthday

We had a bowling party for P's birthday this year. I thought about doing the party at the house this year, but the idea of a bunch of 6 year olds in this house was stressing me out. So we decided to go bowling. P and everyone seemed to have a good time. Here are just a few pictures of the day. I can't put many of the party pics up since I don't like to post other kids on this site.

The picture of P holding something over his head is a huge paper airplane that his cousin W made for him.

Valentine's Day

We had a fairly quiet Valentine's day, but the kids still had a good time. We had heart shape pancakes for our traditional Saturday pancake breakfast. Then we got K her own copy of her favorite library book and P a new game. This is a funny picture of him.

Who is coming?

I can't even recall who we were waiting to comefor a visit, but before anyone does come over, this is where the kids are. It is so cute seeing them perched on the chairs waiting.

Dress like Dad day

In case you don't know this, the Dad on this blog wears the same type of clothes every day. His "work uniform" is khakis and a striped golf shirt. Everyone he works with knows this as well so the entire English department got together and dressed like him one dayand even kept their keys tucked behind their belt, just like him.

Christmas

P was so excited about Christmas. So excited, that I actually think it was a little bit of a let down for him. He was up early (as always) and quickly opened his presents, but not crazy fast.


K was different. She first opened her Dora tent, got her Bunka (blankie) and laid down in the tent. That is a picture of her here. We had to talk her into opening the other presents and I think she was done by 11 am.


Later in the day we went to Aunt V's. The kids had fun over there and even ended the day with a chocolate fountain. They both slept well that night, in spite of all of the junk food they ate that day.

Getting Ready

I was afraid Christmas Eve was going to be one of the longest days of the year. P was asking to go back to bed at 8:30 AM. I tried to explain to him that would not make Santa come any faster. We ended up filling the day with putting up our nativity scene (a good reminder about the real meaning of Christmas for the 5 year old), making a Thank You sign for Santa, exchanging gifts from our sibling and baking cookies for Santa. That night after going to church we went to dinner with the grandparents, aunt, uncle and cousins. It was a Japanese restaurant where they cook the food at the table. K liked it. P loved it. He even tried new food!

Early Christmas

Mere and Pere are going to be gone for Christmas this year. So we spent the day with them and exchanged presents a little early. Mere made K a fancy skirt or tutu and you can tell she loves it. P's favorite was the magic set. He loves to make things disappear these days or 'just-appear' as he says.

Lost a tooth!

P recently lost his first tooth. It has been loose for a while, but he was playing basketball in his room and the ball hit him in the phase, knocking his tooth out. He was of course very excited.

Care Bear

The Care Bear has been trying to avoid naps these days and I think it caught up with her on Halloween. She had a fun day at times, but was just tired for much of it. She and I went to a party at P's school. She trick-or-treated at some houses and then was quite happy in the stroller with her sucker. (why get more candy when I have a sucker here?)

Fighter Pilot

The Fighter Pilot in our house had a fantastic Haloween. He started the day with pumpkin shaped pancakes (hooray for Mom's rare moment of creativity!), then had two parties at school and then trick-or-treated with his cousin for long enough to fill his bucket with candy. Here are some pics of his Halloween.

Crazy K

K is so funny these days. She is very social and loves being the center of attention. I love the pic of her in the white hat. The collage are all pics from Daddy's bday. It really is a good representation of all of her varied personalities. (Thanks to Daddy's uncle for putting it to gether)

P is off track

For those of you not familiar with year round schools, that probably sounds bad. It just means he is out of school for 3 weeks. The break was needed - full day Kindergarten is tiring for all of us! He spent the first week with Mere and Pere and is with Bo-Bo and Pa-Paw this week.

Here are a few pics from his trip to the North Pole. He called me after he drove the car and exclaimed that he can drive a car now. "For real!" (we won't burst his bubble yet)

He wasn't too sure about Santa, as you can tell.

K's backpack

K goes to a Mom's Day Out program now. At the beginning of the year, I let her pick out her backpack. Of course she picks out the My Little Pony one with hair you can brush. (She is very much a girl.) The funny thing is the backpack is as big as her!!!!

Children's museum

K and I went to the Children's Museum last week. It is fun being able to spend time with just one of the kiddos at a time. It is nice going places and not negotiating between the two of them on where to go next!

Plane Trip!

P and I went to LA a few weeks ago to go to my cousin's wedding. We had a great time and since P's latest love is airplanes he really enjoyed the plane ride. The water pics are from the Mississippi River.