Doubly Blessed

Zipline

2009-10-11T14:37:00.007-04:00

As promised, here's a couple pics of us at the zipline for our anniversary. You can see from this first picture, that it was a rather glamorous thing to do for our anniversary. Actually, you can't totally tell that because you aren't getting the full shot with the harness tightly around the lower regions, or the enormous work gloves I had to wear. And for me, I had to wear tennis shoes with capris (we weren't allowed to wear anything that came above our knees due to the harnesses I guess.) I have this thing about wearing tennis shoes.

My hubby, you can hardly tell since he is so far away. I thought we would be going on a zip line, hike for a while get to another zip line...... but actually we were attached to a zip line the whole time.(Me and a stranger, this man said this was on his bucket list. He was unsure pretty much the whole time, but was proud of himself at the end that he had accomplished it) After going over one zip line we would then "hike" over things like this:

(This is one of the guides showing the lady behind him that it didn't matter if she did fell because we were attached to the line, it was kind of strange to walk across it)

We had a little training class at the beginning because we had to know how to hook ourselves on, make sure that when unhooking we would right away attach ourselves to a safety line.... this at first seemed silly until we got to a couple places where the area we were standing on was like standing on a 2x4 hugging a tree for your life, way up above the ground. We also had to learn how to stop ourselves -- hence the ugly work gloves because we had to use our hands to brake. You can barely see me in this last picture, but I am there. This was the very last zip and it was so long. I shouted the whole way and the guide at the end was using the slow down signal and had the rope out to stop me, but I figured why not have fun, it was the last one, they couldn't ask me to leave now. Found out my husband pretty much did the same thing. It was so much fun and I'm looking forward to doing that again. Isabella is looking forward to when she is 10 and she can go along with us. :)

A month?? Really?

2009-10-07T16:35:00.008-04:00

I can't believe it has been a month since I last posted. I don't know how some of you can update every couple days, I want to, I just don't get around to it I guess. Ugh! I'm so disorganized, any of you organization freaks out there want to give me some pointers. Anyway, so where HAVE I been.....

Well, this past month has been busy. Right before my last post my husband and I went to this adorable place to celebrate our 13th anniversary. And if you read this before there are zip line pictures, come back and look tomorrow. I was downloading the pictures today (yes, I'm that behind) and I realized that the zip line pictures weren't on my camera. Like I would actually take my big camera down a zip line, not nearly as compact as my husband's point and shoot. So, I have to find his camera and cord and I can download those.
We had such a fun weekend. And this place was one of those "we definitely will have to come back to this place." Then the next weekend was labor day and we went to the beach with my parents And don't let this above picture fool you, I realize this would look normal for the average sisters that are 26 months apart, but Amelia is actually down in the hole and Isabella is on the side. Amelia is maybe an inch shorter than Isabella. I'm hoping that and the fact that I dress them alike alot is the reason people continue to ask me if they are twins..... honestly, I've been asked this so many times this summer its been comical.

We actually were at the beach twice, the first time with my parents, and then a week and a half ago we went camping at the beach. Isabella had a couple of days off from school, so we had planned to go away for a last little hoorah before fall truly arrived. The water was nice and warm so I had fun playing in the water with my girls, we rode bikes, visited with friends, and got rained on in the loudest, strongest thunder storm I've ever camped in. It was a great trip, minus the thunderstorm that pretty much kept us up all night. Oh and the raccoons that got into some of our food -- this was the big talk the next morning around the campground because I believe the 'coons were a problem this year, everyone had them "stop by" and were amazed at how smart they were getting into things. Thankfully, most of our stuff was in the car. I didn't take many pictures.... I know that's awful. But instead I just really enjoyed my time. I'm trying to learn how to balance my need,.... I mean want, to take so many pictures and just spending time enjoying what's going on. Its great having a thousand pictures, but if I haven't been truly enjoying my family, what good are the pictures, right? There's a balance, I'm sure, I'm just finding it.

And my Amelia was so, so cute on her little scooter. We took our bikes, but Amelia is still getting used to her bike, can't quite get the whole pedaling forward without constantly going backward into her brakes, so she wanted her scooter. And boy did she become the scooter queen. I wish I could have a video of her to post, she had the most determined little look and would just ride this thing back and forth between "#63 and the stop sign" (those were mommy's rules) and she even rode it around the campground with daddy. The cutest thing ever!

At home, we've been busy with Isabella going to school, searching for a new church, I've gotten back to being more organized with my meal plans now that the summer vacation is over, and we have also been having some fun family time. The girls were racing by pushing apples with the noses down the halls.

Kenny and I raced the girls as well, but who really wants to see our butts up in the air?! This was part of family devotions --- can anyone guess what we were learning about? Hmm, wonder what kind of prize I could give if you guessed right.

Then this past weekend, we went to a "reunion"/get together for my old high school.

And in case you are wondering if that's my whole graduating class, no, here is my class:

Ok, to be fair, this is 44% of my class -- there were 9 of us. :) I went to a very small Christian school. But don't feel bad for me, I actually loved it. And I think pretty much everyone that showed up for this get together agreed. We had great times, great friends, great teachers and great memories. I wouldn't change it.

So, that has been my life in a nutshell for the past month. Give or take a few things in between of course. We have been gone 4 out of the past 5 weekends, and still have several things planned for this month. The nice thing is that even though the months from September to December seem like the busiest for us, at least it is fall. I love fall!!! Its my happy spot, once I get jeans and long sleeve shirts out, I'm so content. Hope everyone has been having a good fall as well!

13 years (and 4 days) ago

2009-09-04T15:12:00.004-04:00

I married my best friend! And today........ I love him even more. I am not going to use the cliche "it feels like just yesterday...", because actually, it doesn't. I will admit 13 years has flown by, but when I think back about what we have done, what we have enjoyed, what we have gone through, how we have been blessed over the last 13 years, it definitely doesn't seem like just yesterday. When I realize how old I am to be married for 13 years, sometimes I wish it was yesterday. :) The picture above was taken by Isabella while we were at the beach in May. I think she did a pretty good job. No, she did not change the coloring in photoshop and burn the edges, but she'll get there. :) I put this picture in a frame for our bedroom it says "Love with no regret." A few weeks ago when visiting a church (haven't told some of ya'll about that yet, but we'll talk later) they were talking about: Are there things you would go back and do differently? do you have any regrets? are there trials you wouldn't change because of what you learned? etc. So Kenny and I have been talking about this off and on lately. I really don't have real regrets, at least not in the sense that I would go back and change things - well, maybe I would change gaining 20 pounds, but I'm talking serious things people! NOW, if you would have asked me in the middle of a trial, say infertility, yeah, I would have said you could have it. But then that would mean not having my 2 girls, not seeing God work, having a different life than I have now - nope wouldn't change it. And if I would like to go back to say high school or college and be the person I am now, rather than that person back then, sure every now and then I would love to change that. But again, if I was the person I am now, but my husband was not the person he is (or vice versa)...... you get my drift, my life might not be my life now. So I thought the frame was appropriate when I saw it. I am so thankful that God has given me an amazing husband, who is an amazing father to our girls. There isn't anyone else I can imagine spending the last 13 years or the next many, many more with.

I'll have to post picture later because I'm in the midst of packing and cleaning for a long Labor day weekend at the beach, but to celebrate we went away this past weekend. The place we stayed at was marvelous! It was like a little mediteranean village and was Rustic Chic (as their sign said.) It had a spa, which was oh so wonderful when my hubby booked me a massage. We also went on a zip line tour and had so much fun. Just another thing I love about our marriage, we love spending time together, truly enjoy being with each other and trying new things together. (And yeah the zip line pictures will be attractive, we have helmets, harnesses, oversized gloves.... yes the perfect picture of romance.)

To my hubby: I love you Babe! With no regrets! Well, I kind of regret that my wedding dress had a big bow on my butt, but other than that, no regrets. :)

I survived.... ur I mean SHE survived her first day of school

2009-08-24T19:59:00.004-04:00

Well today was it, the first day of Kindergarten for Isabella. Of course, she loved it! And if you had placed a bet on my crying, well you would have lost. I was honestly too excited for her to cry. I'm sad that she's growing up so fast, but I couldn't help but be excited with her. We already knew that she would love her teacher and she's been talking about things she's said or stuff they've done all evening. She already learned the concept of raising her hand to talk because she was doing that tonight in family devotions. :) She met friends, but has no idea any of their names. This too is no surprise. She wanted to carry her backpack today, although since its just half day K5, her teacher said there is really no need for her to bring one. I let her for today.... what's a good first day of school picture without a backpack. And I had to have a picture of both of my girlies. Amelia missed her sissy today. When we were leaving she asked "Are we leavin' Sissy?" after I said yes she said "I so sad." And when we went to pick her up, boy, you would have thought Isabella had been gone longer than a 1/2 day. Amelia was so excited to see sissy. She said "Did you have fun? What you learn?" :)

I just dropped her off by myself this morning so that Daddy could in turn meet us after she was done to go out for some fun. I told Isabella not to expect that every day, that was just a celebration of her first day of school. All together, it was a great first day of school. Here's hoping that tomorrow goes as smoothly!

10, 9, 8, 7, 6,....

2009-08-19T16:46:00.014-04:00

...5! In 5 days, my 5 year old will be starting K5.
Can you believe it? I'm feeling pretty strong today, I think I'll be fine and won't cry.... anyone want to place some bets? She's so excited, she has been asking me every day, "how many days until I start kindergarten?" and she has been finding it quite hysterical how her Daddy pronounces kindergarten, I'm sure her teacher will hear about that. This past Saturday, we went out and had a little "going to school" photoshoot. It was just going to be us, but then I decided I could use Daddy's help (no one can make her laugh like him, and he's great at carrying desks. Love you Babe!) We had a mommy/daughter date day afterwards though so its all good. She could so easily be my retro girl, so I had to have some retro looking shots and then some school shots as well. Just so you know, the red high tops were too small on her.

She has told me everyday since Saturday that they hurt her feet. I'm a bad mommy, but they were too cute not to stuff her feet in them for this photo shoot. :) I told her to just wait, she was at least in high tops, try wearing a pair of heels with toes so pointy its unnatural, then tell me about suffering for beauty. I'm only posting a few of the pics, if you're friends with me on Facebook, I have several of them on there. Here she is, the cutest kindergartener:

One of the many....

2009-08-05T16:23:00.005-04:00

....MANY things, I love about my husband. This past weekend was my birthday and this was my first birthday present:
I was at a Bible study with friends a couple days before and Kenny helped the girls make me flowers. It's just the sweetest thing. I love that he is helping our girls do special things for me. I love that he loves me enough to take the time to do this with our girls. And this isn't the first time, he does this kind of stuff alot. I love that they see him, loving me. I love that he is a good example to them. And quite honestly, I love being spoiled every now and then too. He just didn't realize until our girls that I would be easy enough spoil with paper flowers.

Little smart aleck

2009-07-13T16:01:00.006-04:00

Amelia must be a baby genius, I think she read my last post about Isabella being so funny and decided she needed to step up her game. She has been such a crack up lately. She doesn't talk as clearly as Isabella did at her age, but with a chatterbox for a big sister, who really gets a chance to talk? So some of the things she says are more about HOW she says them rather than what she says. For instance, we were up in Michigan for the 4th and went into a Joann's Fabric store.... we walked into the scrapbook area and Amelia said "Howee cow! HO WEE Cow!" (Holy cow if you need interpretation) It took me a while to stop laughing. Then today the girls were watching a show on Noggin and Amelia said "No way, NO Way! No he didn't!" And really how did I end up with such a little smart aleck? (No comments from some of you! :) I really thought we wouldn't have to work on that until she was like 9, but 3?!? Today we went to lunch with a friend and I could tell by the way the girls were playing at the restaurant that when we went into the next store they could easily get out of control. My husband is probably nodding his head right now because he knows, the girls can get silly, which is cute until it turns to "Let's be as loud as we can, let see how many times we can make mommy say sit down, touch everything in sight....." and when they are with a friend, which means audience, it can be worse. (And now I'm sure Andrea is nodding :) So as I was buckling the girls in the car to go to the next store, I gave them the whole speech "While we are at the store I don't want you to........ I want you to........ if you don't......... if I need to call Daddy......" The nice long speech that I thought had just the right amount of firmness and motherly love, :) and then as I'm finishing up Amelia says "Sooo.... we need to be good." Uh, yeah, that's what I meant. Little smart aleck.

As I opened up blogger today, I noticed that it has been exactly 1 month since I have posted. Sorry. This summer has been flying by, at the start of the summer, I sat down with my calendar and filled in all the things that I wanted to do: playgroups, free movies, library programs, etc. We have not gotten to everything I wrote down. Some due to better options -- getting together with friends rather than just sitting at a library story time for 1/2 hour (pfft, I can read a book just as dramatic as them :), some we've missed due to rain -- can't have outdoor movie or music programs in the rain, and some just because we are hanging on by our teeth trying not to get over run with things to do. All in all we've had a fun summer so far. In the last month we've gone camping for Father's Day, went to Michigan for a week, spent the past weekend celebrating Kenny's birthday doing fun family stuff, and just little fun things here and there. I feel like this summer is flying by, normally I wouldn't care because when it flies by, it just gets to my favorite season quicker, but this summer, oh I just wanted it to stand still. I'm not ready for my baby to go to kindergarten, I'm not ready for counting down to holiday breaks and summertime to spend all day with her. And I'm not too sure that my little smart aleck above is either. She adores her sister and I think she's going to miss her during the day. Sniff, sniff..... why do they have to grow up?

2009-06-13T09:12:00.001-04:00

This girl can crack me up like no one else. The things she comes up with. For instance, a couple weeks ago, she was putting on her crocs and she has this little jibbit that is a pink breast cancer ribbon - she said "I know this is to remember Nunu." I said "Yes, that's so anytime you see it we can remember Nunu." She let out a sigh and said "I wish I could get a tattoo on my foot that says I love my Nunu." I honestly wasn't sure whether to laugh, cry because it was so sweet, or start worrying now that she is thinking about tattoos.

Then their are things that are so sweet that make me thank the Lord for her tenderheart and pray that He continues that work in her. For instance, one night praying she was going through all the normal, thank you for Daddy, Mommy..... and then she said "And God, help everyone have food. If they don't have food, please give them some, we have enough." :) Again, laughing, crying....

And I know that God has used her to be an encouragment to a lady in our church. This lady's brother has Lou Gehrigs/ALS, Isabella obviously doesn't know what this sickness is, but she knows that she needs to pray for him. Mostly she just remembers his name and that's really all that matters anyway because God knows exactly who he is and what he needs. She will remind us to pray for him at home and the last couple weeks she's made sure that if anyone forgets to mention his name in church that she will do it. Such a sweetie -- the prayers and childlike faith.

She is growing up so fast. She just brought me roses in from outside, yes its 9:15 at night and she was outside with her daddy and had him cut some roses for me and came up the porch saying "Oh, you're going to LOVE what I got for you mommy...." And I do, I love the little giver much more than her gift!

Sisters

2009-06-09T19:43:00.003-04:00

"Its their beauty that captures your attention

Its their personality that captures your heart"

I'm not sure if I've used that little phrase on my blog before, but yesterday I dropped the girls off at dance camp and then headed to my hubby's work (Lunch date - yay!) I used this phrase on a calendar I made for him and when I read it, I automatically thought of this picture. And I also thought how true it is of my girls. Granted, I'm a little biased, but I think they are beautiful and yet its their sweet, silly, fun, tenderhearted personalities that I love about them the most. Its fun to watch them play with friends, but when its just them either at home or on trips like Disney, I just love watching them having fun together and being so close as sisters. I'm hope that God will continue to build this sweet relationship!

Kindergarten here she comes!

2009-06-03T20:02:00.009-04:00

I'm not sure how it happened, but in a blink of an eye, my first baby is getting ready for Kindergarten. Today we had a busy day; we had to run by the drs to get her immunization record, then we needed to be at the school for me to pay registration, then we met with Isabella's teacher and Isabella had to take an oral readiness test. We left early because you just never know about doctor's offices, thankfully I was thinking ahead (for once) and brought my camera with me because the drs office had the paper already out for us and we had time to kill. We went to a little park area and took a couple pics of the girls. I was thinking that I would take pictures of her before her test, you know, kind of documenting this first big step for kindergarten. This next picture is the exact reason I told Kenny we are going to have to watch this one like a hawk as she gets older. I told her to pose on the bench and that's what she did. :) We got to go to lunch with Papa and then the girls got chauffered around at the school. Papa works there, so he drove them around in the golf cart.... I can already see Isabella trying to use that for some kind of popularity points at school. :)

We love her teacher, I think either of the kindergarten teachers would have been great, but I was hoping for this one after we had gone to the open house. Isabella's test lasted almost an hour -- I wasn't allowed in there, I guess they didn't want any hints from mommy. She passed with flying colors. She was at her age and higher on everything. A couple things cracked me up: 1. The teacher kind of laughed and said "well, I couldn't really give her credit for writing her name because she wrote it with a lowercase i at the beginning..." I laughed because I know my daughter, and I looked down and saw this cute little i with a heart at the top --- she doesn't normally do that, but lately she has talked about "fancy writing" and I can just see her little mind thinking "the teacher is going to LOVE this" 2. She didn't get credit for knowing her address because..... well I've never taught it to her, I know bad mommy. (Not to worry the teacher said they would be memorizing it in class, phew) 3. one of the areas where she was just right at her age was "Body Image" --- and no this doesn't mean she doesn't find herself attractive because she would have scored high on the not so humble points. But the teacher said one of the things it was talking about was knowing things like "where your neck is, where your elbow is....." Isabella has what some would call "brain farts" when it comes to certain things, she is like her daddy in that you have to say a name like a thousand times before she will remember it. She constantly tells me "look I'm walking on my hips" when she means heels and she is always calling her elbow her ankle. I didn't ask. 4. She scored very high on the "language" area. Wow, what a shock, she so rarely talks around here. :)

Now I have 2 1/2 months to try and mentally prepare myself for her actually starting Kindergarten. The only supply she needs to take to school (since the teacher said everything else would be provided) was a big box of tissues.... how fitting, I might use those all up the first day.

And in case you thought I forgot about my other girly, I currently have a new favorite picture. I am going to print this as big as I can.

This is SOO Amelia, Sassy thing trying to be Miss Big Girl with her teddy on her hip.

My girls

2009-05-29T21:46:00.005-04:00

So as not to confuse anyone I won't title this post as Mother's Day, but these pictures were taken on Mothers Day. Instead, I've decide to use the title My girls, which is very original and I'm sure I've never used on a post before.

My husband is always so sweet about planning something for me on Mothers Day and really hype it up to the girls. I think I pretty much got cards/drawings or atleast a Happy Mother's Day from them every day the week leading up to Mother's Day. They really get into holidays, even if it doesn't consist of them getting a present. Although Isabella normally tries to "do something special for us" by saying "Since its Mother's Day, I'm going to sleep with you tonight" or "Since its YOUR day, I'm going to play the Wii with you." Sneaky little booger.

Hey little girl...... who's baby are you? Oh, mine, well aren't I just a lucky mama!

And what about you sweet thing? Mine again! Yes, I am blessed indeed. And I love you even with strawberry seeds in your teeth and your desire to eat that nasty pork just to frustrate me on Mother's Day. :)

I have to say, I feel very blessed to have a wonderful husband, who was always so sweet to me during those "difficult" Mother's Days and who now makes so much special for me, and for my 2 beautiful girls that God has allowed me to be mommy too. But as an extra little reminder of how blessed I am, I can't even tell you how many people came by and complimented us on our girls. That's always kind of fun.... no one made mention of me looking good, but I'll take all the compliments on how cute and sweet my girls are. Besides, if they don't notice me, they won't notice how many desserts I had that day either.

On our way home late that afternoon, we pulled over next to a field of poppies for some great pictures of my girls.

Prettier than the flowers they are in and I didn't have to bribe them to hold hands --- I will have to bribe them to give me better smiles. There's my girl with the dimples so big, you can't help but smile. And what mommy wouldn't love this picture? So sweet, so innocent, but we can't forget....So sassy! Oh I love these girls!!

More of my newest nephew

2009-05-21T14:54:00.004-04:00

I wish I could tell you we have been at the beach since Sunday, building sandcastles, enjoying the sand between our toes, basking in the sun, ...... BUT we have pretty much had rain all week. Kind of odd weather for here or so I've been told, and we've never been here when it rained every day. At least my hubby is with me, rather than at work, but not quite the nice warm vacation we were expecting. :) We have still had a good time, just had to improvise and search out for other things to do rather than swimming/lounging by the pools or going to the beach -- granted, that is actually why you come to the beach, but we have been able to find a few new things to do that we haven't done before. And thankfully, we have had a few evenings where we could walk down to the shops, swam at the indoor pool, and did some biking yesterday when it wasn't raining, but too windy to sit on the beach. All that to say, I don't have beach pictures to share ...YET, I'm still praying maybe God will give us a few hours tomorrow. :) So I thought I would go ahead and post a few more pictures of my nephew Ian. He will be a week old tomorrow, but obviously these pictures were taken on Friday and Saturday in the hospital. Don't you want to just kiss those cheeks? I think I can smell that new baby smell right through my computer.

Today

2009-05-15T23:47:00.003-04:00

I had totally planned today to be a busy day. We're leaving for the beach on Saturday, so I was planning on finishing up packing, giving the girls baths, cleaning the house (I hate coming home to a dirty house, plus our neighbors will be coming in to feed the animals :) and I then I figured I would be ahead of schedule so I had actually planned on uploading a couple pictures and telling you about my wonderful Mother's Day that I had on Sunday.

But instead, this is what I got to do.......

I guess that's a pretty good trade off. This is my newest nephew, Ian Michael. His due date was June 3rd. His biggest brother's birthday is today 5/15, his big brother's birthday is tomorrow 5/16 and he surely did not want to miss out on that fun. His 13 year old brother was most likely not hoping to share his birthday today, but we figure he'll have to take that up with God, because He thought it would be a great idea. :)

He was 7 pounds 5 ounces, 18 1/2 inches long, cute little nose, sweet tiny lips, precious baby smell.... oh wait, I don't think they actually wrote that down.

And he looks just like his Auntie.

Ok, maybe not, but he does have dark hair....... at least for now.

(I'm taking my laptop, so I will upload some more pics of him and the couple from Mothers Day, I try to do everything way behind and out of sequence around here)

A hiking we will go

2009-05-03T16:29:00.003-04:00

We promised the girls that if the weather was nice we would go hiking on Saturday. We weren't able to head out until later in the afternoon, but it still looked like a pretty day so off we went. Kenny and I love hiking, we used to hike while we were dating, loved hiking before the girls were born, most of our vacations were centered around something outside... camping, hiking, etc. When Isabella was born, we would still throw her in a backpack and be able to go hiking some, then she was old enough to walk while hiking and Amelia was born. Our hiking changed from "Wow, what a great workout" to "How can we get rid of these sticks without her noticing?" I remember when Amelia was a baby and we took them out hiking, Isabella stopped every couple feet to pick up a rock, a stick, examine a leaf, hang from a limb, climb a rock.... then Amelia got hungry so we stopped to feed her, not a whole lot of hiking, but some fun in nature. When we were done, not making it anywhere near our destination, we turned around and headed out. A couple met up with us and said "How far was it in to the waterfall?" Kenny and I both just laughed and said "We don't know, we've been in there for over an hour and maybe made it 1/2 a mile." But we had a great leaf and rock collection.

So yesterday, although we knew we had to go somewhere local, I thought maybe we could have a nice little hike. We went to a state park not far from our house and if any of you live near us you know where I'm talking about, and you'll know that this rock we are sitting on is only about 15 feet into the hike. Somehow it is new everytime to Isabella and she just has to defeat it. We had just climbed off the rocks and were on our way when a huge crash of thunder and lightning happened -- Isabella screamed so loud you would have thought she had been struck by lightening. Honestly, I'm surprised no one came running into the woods to see what was wrong with this poor child. Obviously, we went back to the car. Kenny and I weren't ready to give up yet so we drove up the mountain a little and within a few minutes the rain had stopped and the clouds were gone. Oh good, the drama has passed, now we can have a nice hike. Not so much... The rain did stop, but as we were slowly collecting rocks, ..... ur, I mean hiking, Amelia decides to take off running. She trips, falls and of course is crying like crazy saying that she is bleeding. I took out my magnifying glass and saw a slight drop of blood. Finally, she's consoled and happy and we meet up with some guy and his 2 dogs. Our girls are animal freaks so anytime they see a dog they want to pet it, but thankfully have learned to ask first. This guy said, "He's friendly"...... he should have added "He's a crazy spazzed out dog who I just hyped up on drugs", the dog comes running at us and runs right passed us and back. We could tell it was just hyper and didn't want to hurt us. Well, at least 2 of us could tell that. We walk away from the man and the dog decides to have yet another turn at running at us, Isabella freaks out and starts running, the dog runs passed her, runs into her and totally knocks her legs out from under her. Airborne then landing hard on her hiney. This was literally about 2 minutes after Amelia fell. So now we have another one that is hurt and inconsolable, Amelia wants to get back in on some of the love action trying to convince me there really is blood........ and I realized then, this hike was not going to be at all what I had imagined. :) Oh well, its all good. We hiked to our typical, never make it any farther spot and sat down by the water, throwing rocks and eating snacks. It decided to start thundering again and we decided it was definitely time to go home. We opted for a family movie night...... inside..... no lightning.... no dogs..... ok so there were some dogs, but they were in the movie. This picture is for Auntie Becky. My girls didn't understand why we had to look up at the tree, but I told them not to worry, Auntie Becky would understand. :)

New Friends

2009-04-28T16:38:00.003-04:00

Today we got together with some "new" friends. Julia used to work with my mom a few years ago, then over the last several months we've been talking through e-mail about adoption, a few months ago they adopted their second daughter Hannah... and today we were finally able to get our four curly girls together. Hopefully she doesn't mind but I am going to post a couple pictures up here -- she took them, I totally forgot my camera today, which is actually no surprise for how scatterbrained I have been. The girls had such a good time getting to play with a new friend and getting to hold another. This was Amelia's first time holding a baby -- although she really just wanted her to lay on her lap, so I don't know if that counts as holding. :)

When we first saw them, Amelia said "She got same color as me!" Amelia has been noticing her skin color more lately, or at least I think so. Last week, she picked up one of the brown baby dolls the girls have, brought it to me, pressed it against her cheek and said "she look like me" and I said "Yes, she has beautiful brown skin, just like you. " Then she said "She look like Daddy too"..... hmmm, maybe its the brown eyes. :)

For my cousin who asked....

2009-04-18T22:37:00.002-04:00

.... Amelia's birthday pictures will still be coming. So, here's the problem. We had a really girly party, all pink and tulle, Amelia had a fru fru pettiskirt that mommy made her, real tea in real china cups, fancy little finger foods, the princess castle, you know - the frills...... so I told my hubby (and the other men like my dad and brother) "There's really no need for you to stay, we'll just make it all girls" (and Garrett, don't make fun of him, he's going to be a very secure manly man) I didn't think that one all the way through...... With no hubby there to help me, it was harder for me to serve tea, make sure Amelia wasn't burning herself on the candles, stop the kids from breaking the cups as Isabella screams out "Let's do Cheers!" --- yeah, we're having an Irish Pub party for her. So I didn't get alot of pictures, but thankfully my mom got some, so as soon as I get some from her, I will post them.

Amelia's cursing problem

2009-04-17T14:14:00.003-04:00

Amelia isn't the clearest talker and has a few words that end up sounding like a particular cuss word. It first started when she was singing this little kids song..... "Before I split, split, split I chill....... I say Father have your will." But then last night we had fish for dinner and she asked me "Mommy is that ______?" a couple times and finally I could get around to answering "Yes honey, its FISH" Then Isabella would say "Yum, this is good chicken mommy" and Amelia would correct her and tell her that it wasn't chicken and what it was.

And what is it about parents like us that find this absolutely hysterical. I mean if she really said one, I'd be mortified. Do you remember 3 years ago when Isabella kept saying "Oh crap!" and I was to blame..... This is different, Amelia has no idea what she is saying. She has no idea why mommy and daddy can't stop laughing. She thinks its her silly faces.She has no idea why mommy makes her call daddy and leave a message screaming "I love fish" or why she has to call Auntie Becky and tell her. Oh no, I think she might have just figured it out. And now that she knows what she's saying she wasn't too pleased that we ate that for dinner.

I'm just glad she didn't scream it out at the acquarium a couple weeks ago.

(Sorry if I've offended anyone, I have a very strange sense of humor. :)

Easter

2009-04-15T19:12:00.004-04:00

(Yes, Isabella was climbing the tree in her Easter dress)

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter. Ours was very nice. It seemed like our Easter worship actually started on Wednesday, Kenny and I were able to go to a concert with Christ Tomlin and Israel Houghton/New Breed. Wonderful, nothing like having a date night with your husband and then you go and get refreshed spiritually as well. :) Easter morning on the other hand was not so worshipful as we somehow, even though I had gotten things ready the night before, still ended up feeling a little frustrated and rushed. Is it just me, or do a lot of Sundays seem like you are getting attacked? Ok, maybe just me. Thankfully, we have a few minutes on our way to church to recover and pray. :)

And how great it is when you come truly wanting to worship God to know that God is wanting that too. This song was my favorite in the service and is a favorite of mine in general.

How Deep the Father's Love for Us

How deep the Father's love for us

How vast beyond all measure

That He should give His only Son

And make a wretch His treasure

How great the pain of searing loss

The Father turns His face away

As wounds which mar the Chosen One

Bring many sons to glory

Behold the man upon the cross

My sin upon His shoulder

Ashamed I hear my mocking voice

Call out among the scoffers

It was my sin that held Him there

Until it was accomplished

His dying breath has brought me life

I know that it is finished

I will not boast in anything

No gifts, no power, no wisdom

But I will boast in Jesus Christ

His death and resurrection

Why should I gain from His reward

I cannot give an answer

But this I know with all my heart

His wounds have paid my ransom

If you've never heard this song, go listen to it. I've heard a few different version of it, but they are all pretty close. If nothing else, go listen to Nicole Nordeman or Sarah Sadler sing it, those are 2 of my favorites. Beautiful! What a perfect reminder of just what Christ's death and resurrection means for us.

Quick overdue ending to Disney pics

2009-04-10T23:06:00.007-04:00

Who cares that its been almost 2 months since Disney..... I still wanted you guys to see more of the pictures, but I didn't feel like uploading them all on here so I'm attaching a Flickr slide show so you can see them if you want, and ignore them if you just don't care. I won't care either way, I am still living in the post Disney days, still "riding" the rides every day and wishing we were still there. And by riding the rides, I mean the girls like to pretend we are riding the rides..... very cute at first..... two months later its a little depressing. And every day is not an exaggeration at all, literally, .....ask my husband, ......or my mom (Amelia would ask me to "pretend we're at Disney" in the car, or the lazy river at the beach) Just last night we were riding several rides as we were swinging on the swings. She misses it as much as I do. She also asked if we could go back, and then provided me with 2 pennies out of "Sissy's" purse to help with the cost.

Wednesday at Disney, my parents came and joined us for a couple days. The girls had no idea and we just told them we needed to go meet some friends at the front of the park. They were pretty excited when they saw it was Papa and Noni. Papa then had to carry both of them around and Amelia quickly cuddled in and took her first nap of the week. :) That afternoon we did Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique for Isabella and she loved this. Really, what girl doesn't like getting pampered? Amelia was too young, but we brought her a princess dress, put her hair up and Isabella helped put some makeup on her and she was just thrilled that mommy let her wear a dress up dress in public. The next morning we went to breakfast with characters at the Animal Kingdom, and no, I don't normally let my girls eat cupcakes for breakfast. We were celebrating Isabella's Gotcha Day while we were there and the lady at the Animal Kingdom was the only one that noticed that and made a big deal about it. If you have your birthday, anniversary, etc there they bring you cupcakes or something, but no one really thought much of the Gotcha Day, but the lady at the Tusker House had adopted, so she knew what a special time it is to celebrate. In the pictures, Isabella was very concerned that Goofy blew out her candle .... she's still bitter. Oh and another funny thing at Animal Kingdom, my girls don't know ALL of the Disney characters, actually alot of them they didn't, but still got their picture with. Jimminy Cricket was one of these, when Isabella saw him she asked Kenny "Is that Cricket on the Hearth?" I am laughing as I type this, because I'm sure most of you have no idea who that is, but it was a horrible Christmas cartoon we watched this year that Isabella for some reason loved. (Actually a story by Charles Dickens, but hopefully better than the cartoon) I think she would have been happier if Daddy had told her yes. :) I am going to post one picture here that makes me laugh so hard. We went to Hollywood Studios, not our favorite park, but loved the Sci Fi Theatre. Outside the restaurant there was a "Scary" billboard --- trying to convince onlookers that the movies inside are scary. I told my girls to give me a scary face and this is what Amelia did:

Everyone around us was cracking up.

Isabella did get to march around with the High School Musical show, but for some reason I haven't uploaded those pictures, hmmm, I will have to look for them. She wasn't overly impressed because it wasn't the characters of HSM. When she saw them singing she said "Where's high school musical?" I said "This is it" She said "No its not......... Oh, I think its the Jonas Brothers." WHAT? How does she even know who the Jonas Brothers are? Do I already have to start searching her bedroom for music she's hiding from me? HA :) The very best part of Hollywood Studios was Fantasmic -- amazing! I'd go back to the park just for that. And for my girls, half the fun was doing the wave with the crowd waiting for the show to start. I guess we've really sheltered them, this was their first time doing the wave.... their excitement in the pictures speaks for themselves. Saturday was Valentine's Day and our last day at a park, sniff, sniff. We just enjoyed every last minute of it, went to dinner with Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, Eeyore and Piglet -- but not Rabbit, which Isabella was slightly disappointed about; then ended the night and our time there with the Spectro Magic Parade. Just perfect!

Menu Plan.....

2009-04-07T15:11:00.004-04:00

.... can't say Monday and I'm almost too late for Tuesday. Again this is mainly for my sake because if I make up my menu plan it really helps me for the entire week. So here it goes:

Monday: Breakfast was different for each of us, I didn't eat anything.

Lunch: Salmon Melts (HERE is the recipe) And can I just say YUUUUUMMMY. I ate mine stuffed in a half a red pepper and the girls I put on top of a piece of whole wheat/flax bread and we all loved it.

Dinner: Baked Chicken Taquitos, corn and homemade refried beans

Tuesday: Breakfast: Brown Rice Farina Lunch: Chicken salad sandwiches (Sorry if I am bragging, but I make some pretty darn good chicken salad) on fresh out of the oven bread and a salad.... we had company for lunch. :)

Dinner: Chickpea and Sweet Potato Curry soup - a vegetarian recipe (If its good, how could it not be with 3 of my favorite things in the title, I'll post the recipe)

Wednesday: Pancakes for the girls, probably just a green/fruit smoothie for me Lunch: leftovers

Dinner: DATE NIGHT AND CONCERT!!!! Can you tell I'm excited? Depending on the time we might go to a Vietnamese restaurant and I will get Vegetarian General's Tofu (had this with Alyssa while she was here and it was SOOO good) if not enough time, we'll grab a salad somewhere and then off to see Chris Tomlin in concert

Thursday: Gymnastic day, something quick for breakfast

Lunch: AB & J sandwiches

Dinner: Tilapia, small salad, carrots with coconut, ginger and chili -- we'll see how Isabella likes these, she doesn't like coconut :) Another new recipe that I might post.

Friday: Breakfast: Egg in a hole

Lunch & Dinner: Kenny has the day off, so I don't know if we will be packing a picnic or going somewhere, we have to look at the weather to see what we're doing.

Saturday: Breakfast: Whole Grain Pancakes or waffle
Lunch: Turkey sandwiches, salad for me

Dinner: Homemade pizza

Sunday: Easter...... I'm assuming lunch with my parents??? Guess I should call my mom and tell her we're expecting that. :)

Have a great day, I'm getting ready to upload some pics today.

Where have I been?

2009-04-04T15:25:00.003-04:00

Wow, I know I'm not the best blogger, but a whole month?! I still hadn't even shown you more Disney pictures, now I'm so far behind I don't know how I will catch up. :) The weekend after we had our "blizzard" here it was actually warm and beautiful, so for probably the next week I spent most of my time outside with the girls. I commented to Kenny that week that I felt bad he was slaving away at work while I was forgoing my household duties to enjoy the beautiful weather. The girls and I would play outside, have our lunch as a picnic outside and then they would continue to play as I worked on my ankle and farmers tan sitting and reading a book.... awww, spring! Then the next week it hit me that Amelia's birthday was the 21st and I hadn't really started planning. I knew we were going to do a T party, Teddy Bears, Tiaras, and Tea.... or as we also called it a Teddy Bear Dress Up Tea Party, 3 things that my 3 year old loves! So I kicked it into high gear to sew her an outfit, make the invitations, plan out the decorations and menu, make little bags for tea sets to give away....... I now realize why so many people opt for a party away from home, Isabella's ice skating party was much easier on me. :) We had a blast though and I will DEFINITELY be posting pictures in the next couple days. Then right after the party, I had 2 days to somewhat clean up and prepare for my cousin Alyssa to come in. She came down a few days early and then on the weekend we went to a ladies conference, which was SO good. THEN she left on Sunday and Monday I spent the day doing laundry and packing to go to the beach with my girls and my mom.... and we just got back last night at 10:30. So I really have been pretty much gone from my computer for a month. I have been slacking on m blogging, on facebook and if I had any emails to return I would have been slacking on them. I would be uploading pictures right now, but once again we've spent some time outside working on the yard -- ok, so Kenny is doing the work and I'm mostly supervising. :) And in just a little bit we are going to go downtown and enjoy the rest of the day as a family. I will be back though, I promise, April won't be nearly as busy for me..... or so I think. :)

Snow Day

2009-03-02T16:12:00.017-05:00

Hmmmm, what will she do with this snow ball....

Oh, this seems like a fun idea...

Now its on -- Snowball fight!!!

Well, some snow stuck! We got 3 inches last night and first thing this morning it was still here. Our girls were so excited, they skipped breakfast to get ready and go play for a little while. Daddy stayed home until lunch time to play with the girls. We aren't prepared for any kind of snow, the girls had 2 pair of socks on, but all we have is rain boots and they had tights and jeans on ... so needless to say they would play for a litle while and then come back in to warm up, go back out, back in..... They had lots of fun though. Last night was better snow for making snowballs or a snowman, today it was little bit icier -- great for sledding though. We have a small hill in our front yard and Kenny and my dad ended up making a small little jump for the sled. I don't know if my girls realize just how lucky they are to have a Daddy who will stay home and play out in the snow with them.

I love Isabella's face as she goes off a jump.

Amelia squealed with her mouth wide open pretty much every time they slid down the hill.

Daddy even got in on some of the action. :)

The girls had fun with the neighbor girls too.

You can see in the pictures how the snow quickly was melting away.

It doesn't last long, but it sure is fun for a little while.

I just broke out my sandals....

2009-03-01T18:02:00.002-05:00

.... and it decided to snow tonight. Snow does crazy things around this house. Isabella was told last night that we might be getting snow today and she has been waiting and praying for it since then. At lunch she prayed "Thank you for the rain, I hope it turns to snow." :) It finally started snowing here about 10 minutes ago. It was kind of like waiting on the cable guy or phone guy -- you end up being the last house that it comes too. Everyone close to us was getting it, but not us. Isabella looked out the window and screamed "ITS SNOWING!" She took off out the back door ..... wearing only her shirt and panties. I guess southern girls don't realize you should at least wear pants and shoes in the snow. I said, "Honey, you need to run and get milk and bread before the blizzard comes." He reminded me that we got that yesterday so I sent him out for dessert. :) Isabella is already begging to make a snow angel and she is convinced that she is going skiing tomorrow. Who knows, maybe some of this will actually stick. I won't be putting my flip flops up though, I'm convinced spring weather will be here soon!

Disney 2

2009-02-25T15:34:00.007-05:00

(Can you believe Amelia went and sat in his lap?)

Tuesday, we went to the Animal Kingdom. I both liked it because it was like a zoo and disliked it because it was like a zoo. We're zoo people and with being "Friends of the Zoo" members we have gone to lots of zoo for free. I think I was expecting it to be the best zoo ever, but we have been to the San Diego zoo, so I guess that is one of the best zoos ever. The animal part of it was pretty much just a regular zoo (unless you don't go to zoos much and then it would be exceptional :) Don't get me wrong, I still liked the park and Isabella especially loves animals, so she loved it. Trust me, she'd go to our local zoo a couple times a week and still not get bored. Kenny did get to ride the Expedition Everest ride and said that was good, I didn't get to ride it (sniff, sniff), but I'm not into riding rides by myself -- Isabella wanted to ride it, but was too little. She probably would have liked it too, she loves roller coasters. I won't post pictures of the safari ride, but it was alot of fun. I'm surprised I actually got some pictures of the animals because you are really bouncing around in the jeep. The first time we rode it the guy was great, really fitting the part of the safari driver, the next time (which was on Thurs with my parents) the guy was monotone and boring, which actually made it entertaining in its own right. We were watching some video last night from that Thursday and laughing at how the guy sounds on video. We, of course, saw more characters, my girls really were into seeing the characters. If you don't want to see them, don't point them out. My girls wanted to see Eeyore, which also meant seeing Tigger and Pooh again. Of course, this time we only waited a few minutes to see them. :) Eeyore had horrible penmanship and when we saw him later in the week Isabella said "Oh no, Mommy, Eeyore can't write very good."

We saw Minnie again, her line wasn't long so I agreed the girls could go see her again. We also saw Pocahontas, a very white Pocahontas, which much have confused everyone because we had no one in front of us to see her. :) The parade was great, as are all of Disney parades. Isabella loved trying to get the characters to give her five. We got to talk to a nice older couple that I could tell were enjoying watching the girls have fun. I thought it was kind of cute that an older couple would be there by themselves. I can see that being Kenny and I -- in another 40 years. :) Even if you are not into animals, or you don't feel like going on a safari ride, go to the Animal Kingdom for at least the shows. Oh my, were they spectacular. The Lion King show was full of all kinds of fun things, I'll only post a few pics. Isabella loved the acrobatics. Amelia liked it, but was a little unsure of some of it because we were up front and the show isn't done on a stage its done right in the middle of the floor with bleachers sitting around it.

I asked my girls what their favorite part of Animal Kingdom was and Amelia said "Newo show" and Isabella also said "The Finding Nemo Show." I would have to agree, that was my favorite part as well. Isabella said the Lion King show was next - so if kids are telling you the shows are better than the animals, you know they're good. We all just absolutely loved "Finding Nemo: The Musical" -- the other stuff was good, but this was great. It was like a Broadway show (nothing at all like the shows they put on at Hollywood Studios) and just really amazing. These pictures aren't great, but we were in the second section up -- so using a zoom lens and not being allowed to use a flash gives a little bit of blurry results, but I still wanted to post some.

Honestly, I personally would pick the shows over anything else at that park. So make sure if you're going, don't miss them. Well, unless you just really hate shows in general, then just disregard my recommendation. :) We actually didn't do everything at Animal Kingdom that day, on the off season it closes at 5, so its a short day already. Then we decided to take some time to go eat at Rainforest Cafe, which the girls loved (after they got used to the noises.) I also had promised to take them swimming that night so we saved a couple things to do for when Papa and Noni were going to be with us. Lots of fun though --- now Isabella is walking around singing "big, blue world...."

DISNEY!!!

2009-02-24T13:05:00.014-05:00

Many of you have already seen some of our pics on Facebook, but I haven't had a chance to update my blog. Really, how in the world am I supposed to post a couple hundred pictures??? And since I really can't, how am I supposed to choose my favorites? Right now, my girls are eating lunch and since I have parts of the stomach bug lingering, I've eaten my daily piece of toast (the only thing that seems to stay in) so I decided I should take some time to at least start on our trip to Disney.

We had a WONDERFUL time. I wish we were still there. :) Isabella said she wanted to stay 20 days and today they were pretending that they were doing just that. Everything was just perfect. I know you may think I'm crazy when I say this, but we really had a blessed time while we were there. Before we left and I was in the midst of the craziness of planning, organizing, sewing, packing... a little bit of stress, I had prayed that while we were there we would have a great time as a family and that we would have a Christ filled week. I just knew that Disney is a busy place, that there are also shops at every corner for the girls to get the "I want" syndrome, and for Kenny and I to get the "Its their only time at Disney...." syndrome in return. And we really didn't need to go down there just to go crazy spending money on stuff. I also know that it is DISNEY and it was our FIRST time there so I am the kind of person that wants everything to be perfect, I don't want to miss anything, which could mean not taking time to just enjoy ourselves, to take time to miss things just to have fun as a family. I don't even know if I can explain it, I just wanted our focus to still be right even at Disney.

And let me tell you, God answered my prayers in so many ways. First off, we decided to leave Saturday so we could have the whole day on Sunday at the park, rather than having to get up early, stressing everyone out by driving 8 hours and then going to the park. We were staying at a Disney resort starting on Sunday, but Saturday we decided to make reservations at a cheap hotel. I was pretty excited, I booked a room for $49 at Comfort Inn and it included a breakfast -- yay, an answer to prayer that we would be able to do this and inexpensively. Well, when we got to our hotel, rather late, Kenny went and checked in and came out and told me "The guy said they don't have a room for us here, they overbooked........ BUT he told me that they did have a room for us over at a nicer hotel, and they would pay for it." Woo hoo! Free is even better than inexpensive. :) Kenny said that the hotel clerk told him that the person before us cussed up a storm at him that this had happened. I felt bad for the hotel clerk, he had probably been stewing the last few hours worried about having to get screamed and cussed at again. Obviously, Kenny was nice to him and told us "Are you kidding, we're all about free, this is a blessing." Great way to start off our vacation.

We got to our resort Sunday morning, checked in and then went to the Magic Kingdom. Honestly, it really is magical -- we walk in and see lines to see some of the characters, we start walking down Main Street and a show off the trolly car started, then of course you get the first glimpse of the castle- which is fun for the girls. Amelia said the first thing she wanted to do was "see 'Cin-ce lala's' castle" and Isabella's was to ride the tea cup ride, so naturally we pass through the castle and head back to the tea cups. After the tea cups, the girls were ready to start filling out their autograph books so they wanted to wait in line for Pooh and Tigger. We saw lots, LOTS of characters during the week, for some reason this was the only line that took a while, at least 30 minutes, but the girls were bound and determined to get that first autograph. :) We then were able to see the afternoon show at the castle, which was great. Amelia loved seeing her favorite princess, Snow White. There were alot of characters in the show, but I won't upload all the pictures. :)

After spending time there until dinner time, we decided to go back to our resort, ate dinner and then gave the girls a late nap. We found out that Sunday night from 9-midnight was open only for resort guests so we thought maybe we could get in a couple late hours if we put the girls down late for a nap. Worked like a charm. The girls did great, they're much more of night owls than morning people anyway, but we went back, rode almost every ride, and stayed out til midnight. If you ever go, take advantage of the extra morning or night hours, it was perfect. The only bad thing about that day, I left our video camera on the bus in the midst of getting our stuff off. So, not the best thing to do to start off the vacation, .... thankfully, there are honest people left in the world and it was returned and we got it from lost and found on Tuesday night. (I say WE, but actually Kenny had to hassle with trying to contact and find lost and found while I took the girls swimming Tuesday night :) Praise the Lord for that, not the fanciest video camera, but it still would cost us to replace it and it did have my girls screaming like crazy about being at Disney World. :)

Monday, we got a later start (obviously after being out until midnight) and we spent a few hours over at the Magic Kingdom again going to the one area we missed, seeing some more characters. The next thing on Isabella's list of things she HAD to do was go to Pixie Hollow and shrink down like a fairy. So we headed back to Toon Town, we first saw the princesses (line was shorter, so I went with the girls and daddy waited in line for the fairies - such a good daddy.) Isabella bought the whole shrinking down like a fairy just perfectly. They had given me a really tiny photo pass card and when we got into Pixie Hollow I showed it to her and she couldn't believe my card shrunk so much. Then when we got out, I showed her the original one - she loved that. She didn't understand why Tinkerbell was taller than her though, we tried to explain that Tinkerbell was older than her.... I think that worked for now.

That afternoon we headed over to Epcot and found out that we like that park, although so many people said there wasn't much there for toddlers -- they were wrong, our girls liked it and so did we. A few weeks before we left, I had made reservations for us to have dinner with the Princesses. When I called there were only a couple different times left that we could do this. For the one we chose they said Alice in Wonderland, Sleeping Beauty, Belle, Pocahontas & Jasmine were going to be there. Sleeping Beauty and Belle my girls like, Pocahontas they had never seen, Jasmine wasn't a favorite... but Alice, that is Isabella's favorite. I was so excited about that. The lady did tell me that the "princesses could change without any notice..." I was disappointed that they didn't mention Snow White. Although Amelia had only seen Snow White once, she constantly talked about seeing her. When I told them we would be eating with the princesses she immediately said "We see Snow White?!" I had actually prayed about it, no not fasting type of prayers, but just "it would be so nice if Snow White could be there too for Amelia to be excited." I know, go ahead and call me corny or tell me that it is ridiculus to pray about a Disney character. I realize that, but God already knows my heart, so He knew what I was thinking, so why not tell Him and just in the every day talking to Him, it came up. :) When we saw the couple princesses earlier in the day the lady was talking about the girls dresses and I mentioned that I let them pick out what princess they wanted mommy to sew on their dress and that Isabella was supposedly going to be eating with Alice tonight. The lady said "I don't know, I don't think Alice is supposed to be there, she's ...." I don't remember where she said, but I thought "Oh no, Isabella is sure she's meeting Alice tonight, stupid, stupid mommy for mentioning that. Oh I hope she's still going to be there." Then I realized how silly I was being and just thought that my girls would have fun no matter who showed up, it was dinner with Disney princesses for goodness sake. :) And they did they had a great time. The first princess they saw was Belle, which I laughed at how well they "stay in character" - she was obviously not the Belle from earlier in the day, but Isabella didn't realize that. She went up to her and hugged her and said "I remember you, I saw you today." and Belle said "I remember you too!" Then they saw Sleeping Beauty, and then:
YAY! Alice was there! Isabella was beyond excited, she couldn't wait for her to get to our table. I LOVE this picture! Isabella was just talking today about how Alice kissed her cheek and told her to look out for the rabbit. The girls barely nibbled on their food watching the princesses come in, Amelia then said "Snow White" and I thought she was asking if she was going to see her and then she said "Snow White!" and there she was.... can I just tell you how foolish I felt as my eyes welled up with tears. I mean, come on people, its a fictional character. :) But I still got all choked up, to think that God is concerned about even the silly things in life. To realize that He likes us to Joy in Him even through the Joy of our children. I really can't explain it because it still seems so simple and silly. Would we have had a good time if Snow White wasn't there? Yes. Would Amelia have been disappointed? Probably, but we probably could have found Snow White later. Was it made obvious to me that God loves even simple joys of my children? Yes! We were even told by "Sleeping Beauty" -- "Oh I see you girls love Alice and Snow White, you're lucky girls they are both here tonight, they're never here together." :) I'll have to add more pictures later and talk about some of our other days, but I have to tell you the biggest blessing and Christ filled event of the week. Thursday we had spent the day at Animal Kingdom and then Hollywood Studios with my parents. We decided to come back to the resort to eat, then maybe go over to Epcot or somewhere later. We never made it to another park. We ate at the resort, walked around some and then went to the resort store. While we were there, Kenny got a call on his phone. I thought maybe it was his family or something, but then I got bits and pieces of what he was saying. One of our teen boys, (he's probably been in our teen group for less than a year, he's the boyfriend of one of our teen girls) had called him because he had questions about getting saved. I don't know what exactly Jake said maybe like he said he could talk to him later, but Kenny said "Man, I'm in Florida, but I sure don't want to wait until I get home..." So right there in the store, Kenny was able to share Bible verses and lead Jake to the Lord. What a HUGE blessing!!! Obviously, this is nothing of ourselves, this is all of God. It was just a blessing to us that God would even use Kenny to talk to Jake. I told Kenny that God knew even where we needed to be, what if we had been in a loud part of the park and Kenny didn't hear the phone or couldn't answer it, what if we were getting on a ride and he thought he could call him later.... God had him exactly where He wanted him to be. Praise the Lord! It was such a shot in the arm for me. Our church is going through some crazy stuff and I don't know what God is going to do, but my husband has just been faithful to serve the Lord and work with the teens and its been worth it for this. I'm so thankful that God would use my husband and that my husband is always willing to be used. What a great thing to happen on vacation, right? See, I told you Christ filled! Oh, but Satan tried to have his minuscule hand in it, on the last day we were there we had our $14 (because mommy forgot it and we had to buy some at Disney) bottle of sunscreen stolen. But we were too happy to let that bother us, laugh that someone would actually steal that but have our video camera returned, yes, but get us down... no way.

I'll post more pictures with less stories tomorrow. Its taken me longer to get this actually accomplished between lunch, clean up, nap times....... but I wanted to make sure I got something put up.