At least the power is back on!

We've been iced/snowed in for a few days now. We've baked cookies, played games, watched TV, played in the ice/snow... we even lost power for several hours, but thankfully it came back on! We're now on our third snow day, and finally the girls have had a little too much "togetherness." I think we did pretty good to make it this long! So when Nana called yesterday afternoon to see if Ellie wanted to come over to their house today, I thought that might just be perfect timing. Ellie was thrilled at the idea! So this morning Daddy dropped her off on his way to work.

I called to check in a few minutes ago, and make sure everything was going well. Papa answered the phone, and after we chatted for a few minutes, I asked him how Ellie was. I figured she was doing good, she loves their house. Especially when she goes by herself, and therefore, gets all the attention. :) But apparently she's had enough TV watching the last few days. I've tried not to rely on it too much, but when you've been snowed in for three days, well, it happens! Anyway, I guess she was watching TV with Papa and Nana when she said...

"Are we just gonna sit here all day?"

I guess the Princess wanted to be entertained!

This is where the difference between Home, and Papa and Nana's house, becomes apparent. At Home, I would have said...Well NO, actually, I have some CHORES for you to do! But at Papa and Nana's things work differently, of course. So I hear that they played hide and seek after that, and are now onto Domino's, and I know that she is just loving her time there.

And I am home, with Annie and Austin. Annie's played by herself a lot today. I think she was ready to be her own boss again. :) Austin is just about ready for a nap, and I'm off to clean the disaster of a playroom. Three snow days have done quite the number on our house!

I wanted to end with some pictures of the ice and snow. I took them with my phone, so they're a little blurry at times. Still no news on my camera. :( I panicked yesterday when I thought I wasn't going to be able to take pictures of my cute little bundled up kids! Thanks honey, for reminding me of my phone camera! It's definitely better than nothing!

Ice/Snow Storm 2009!

I am always amazed at how beautiful everything looks when covered in snow. Honestly, ice is even prettier. The trees are like frozen sculptures, and shine brilliantly in the sun. They are beginning to drip today, and over the weekend, I'm sure things will start to return to normal. I'll miss the beauty, but it will be nice to drive again!

Thanks Papa and Nana, for having Ellie over today! It was a much needed break for her, Annie, and especially me!

My plea...

Sleep.

Oh why do you elude me?

I miss you, please come back.

Please come back to my son, who seems to think he doesn't need you at 2 am. He doesn't mean to shun you. He needs you more than he knows. Believe me. When he's rested, he's quite the handful, when he's tired, he's INSANE. He even got kicked out of the YMCA's children's room this morning for being too wild. It took me 10 minutes just to buckle him into his carseat. He screamed his way through Target...and then he finally found you on the drive home.

So tonight, when he tries to send you away in the middle of the night, Don't Go!

Please. For my own sanity, stick around. Because he needs you.

I need you!

Picture Tag!

I love this idea. Mainly because my brain is very tired right now, and this is a great way to blog without having to think too much. :)

Jamie, Alana, Jennifer, Teresa, and Janelle, (I really hope I'm not forgetting someone!) have all done this, and I've loved seeing their pictures. So here we go!

THE RULES:

The object of the picture tag is to:

1) Choose the 4th folder where you store your pictures on your computer

2) Select the 4th picture in the folder

3) Explain the picture

4) Tag 4 people to do the same. NO CHEATING! (cropping, editing, etc!)

But of course, I'm not a rule follower, so I am skipping the last one. :)

My picture...


Ellie age 4, Elaina age (almost) 4, Annie age (almost) 2, and Olivia age 6.

July 4th, 2006

We had The Cousins come over for some fun and family friendly fireworks at our house that year. Thinking back, I was 7 months pregnant with Austin at this time too. I think Michelle and Chris were out of town for their Anniversary, and Papa and Nana let us have the girls for one night. My memory's pretty bad, but I think that's right! What I definitely remember, was the matching pony tails. Two blue, and two white. I remember Elaina wanting to wear something red, white, and blue, like the other girls, so we found her an outfit from Ellie's drawer. I remember how cute they all were! And I remember trying to get them all to lay still for this picture...an impossible task! :) It was the first time Olivia and Elaina ever spent the night with us, and Jason and I were thrilled to have them! Four sweet girls...Ahh, memories!

The Good, the Bad, and the Horrible...Our Vacation to Disney World!

WARNING: This is kind of long. I wrote it for my own memories, as well as to share with you. So feel free to skim, or skip ahead, or whatever, I won't be offended. :) Also if you're wondering where the pictures are, see the note at the end.

Two days into our vacation, Alana texted me something like...How are you?

My response was something like...We're...Okay. So far it's been good, bad, and horrible.

And now, post-trip, my feelings are much the same.

It was good!

There are lots of wonderful memories that I will treasure. I want to share them all with you, but I also know that this would get reaaaly long if I did that, so I will share just a few.

-The flights. The kids did Awesome! Thank you Benadryl! :)

-The Character meals. They were wonderful. Two favorite memories are...Ellie leading the the "parade" of characters through the Crystal Palace restaurant at Magic Kingdom; and Annie, looking up at Ariel at the Akershus Royal Banquet Hall, and saying...You awe my FAVOWIT pwincess Awiel. Too too cute.

-The girls and daddy playing at the Honey I Shrunk the Kids playground, while Austin slept in my lap.

-Watching The Little Mermaid after dark from the VERY warm pool at our resort.

-The Kilimanjaro Safari at Animal Kingdom. It was Awesome. Lions and Hippos, Giraffes and Ostriches, just roaming free in a native environment. The jeeps you are in keep moving for your safety, but slow down enough for you to take quick pictures. I've never been on a real safari, so I don't know how close to "real" it is, but it was pretty cool.

-Riding Test Track with Annie. Tiny Annie, who loves all things FAST!

-The Finding Nemo experience at Epcot. You ride in a seashell through a real/virtual aquarium tank. You alternately see Marlin and Dory and Nemo, with real fish. So realistic and cool! Then you walk through and see tons of aquariums filled with the real fish from the movie. Eels, Clown fish, Tangs...Then you can climb into Bruce's mouth and take your picture! So fun! We loved this, and so did our kids. I think we spent over an hour in that place.

-And the last night we were there, in Epcot. Just before the Illuminations show, we spent some time at a Kidcot stop in a store in Norway. Ellie and Annie colored Norwegian masks, and just talked and talked to this sweet Norwegian girl named Mette. Mette was very attentive to everything they had to say, as they worked diligently on the masks that she gave them. Ellie thought it was so neat that she was really from Norway!

It was bad.

-Or maybe I should say, it was Hard. It is HARD to be outnumbered at Disney World. It's hard at home, so of course that is just compounded on vacation. Juggling all the stuff, strollers, kids, luggage...Not an easy task. Some of our most difficult times were...

-Getting on and off the planes.

-All. The. Walking. Not just IN the parks, but too and from the Disney Transportation Shuttles. Also anytime we saw a show, or ate at a restaurant, or even in many buildings, we had to leave our stroller outside, and then walk next to FOREVER to get to whatever it was. This is hard with 3 young kids!

-Navigating the Florida Highways. Lets just say that their road signs aren't all that clear, and Jason and I had a few...disagreements.

It was horrible.

We had a few major issues and explosions from our Ellie. We know she has some issues that set her off...change of environment, being tired, being rushed, being in new situations...all of which were thrown at her the very first day. I knew we would have some problems. That is just life with Ellie. But it got a little more extreme at times than I anticipated. We're working on some help for her. I'd just ask that you keep her in your prayers.

Annnd, it was CRAZY!

You know the crazy is going to follow us somehow, someway. And this trip was no exception! We cut it a little too close for comfort on catching our flight to Florida. It took longer than anticipated to get us and all our stuff through check-in and security in Springfield. We got to the gate about 30 seconds before the first boarding call for our flight. Whew! But no worries, we did okay. So, for the flight back, we allowed a little extra time, you know, having learned our lesson. We left our Hotel for the airport at 5:35 am. After several missed exits, and turn-arounds, we got on the right track, and made it to the airport. Everything was going smoothly, and even though we'd wasted some time with all the turning around, we were still there an hour and 15 minutes before our flight left.

And then we saw the line.

I have never, in my life, seen a line that long to check in at an airline. Not in Chicago, or LA, or St. Louis. Never. We knew immediately that we were in some trouble. We were flying Allegiant Air, which was great, except for this! They had 8 flights leaving all within one hour of each other, with only 2 employees checking people in. They finally opened a direct line for the flight to Springfield, but didn't make an announcement they had done that. By the time we realized we could switch lines, it was 20 minutes to flight time. As soon as we got our boarding passes, we raced to security. We moved fast, but with 3 kids, several bags, the double stroller...well, it takes some time! I have to say, the security guard at Orland0-Sanford airport was very helpful though! We had just loaded everything back on the stroller when we heard the final boarding call for our flight. We started running. I'm sure we were quite the sight! Me, with the double stroller with Ellie and Austin in it, and stuff piled on top of it, Annie running along side me, Jason with 4 suitcases stacked on top of each other...all racing through the airport. Then we heard...Flight 733 to Springfield...FINAL BOARDING CALL! K**** Party of 5, You're flight is LEAVING.

Yes they did. They called our names. That is NOT good!

We made it. I got within view of the gate just after that last announcement and shouted...THAT'S US!!! The gate attendants smiled, sweet, "Oh my you poor things" smiles, and helped us get on board. Oh my. Just typing it still makes my heart race!

30 minutes into the flight home, everyone of my family members were fast asleep. I think God knew I needed a break. :)

So there you have it. The good, the bad, the horrible, and the Crazy. That is us. That is my family. On vacation, and in normal life.

I'm glad we went, I'm glad to be home, and I know we'll go back someday. After all, it really is a magical place!

One final note. I can't find my camera. I'm afraid it may have fallen out of my purse on the plane. So if you'd say a little prayer, that would be wonderful. I've left a message with the airline. Otherwise I'll be paying some big bucks for the 25 pictures the Disney photographer took for us. And buying a new camera. Not good. We made it through that whole trip, and didn't lose anything...until the end. And of all things...Arrgghh. Anyway, just pray!

We're as ready as we get!

Six Suitcases, 5 already in the car, one on the dining room table, waiting for the last minute items. It can only mean one thing....

Disney World Here We Come!!!

And let me tell you, that kinda scares me to death!

This is the first "big" vacation we've taken in over 5 years, and it's the first time we've flown with more than one child.

I think my fears, and I have many, are rational. I know this won't be a relaxing vacation, but I hope it's one we remember fondly. I have ZERO expectations. Go with the flow...that's what I keep telling myself. I hope they sleep well and don't get too tired, too fast. I hope they enjoy themselves, and take in the magic that is Disney World.

Disney World. It really is quite the place. I've been 3 times. When I was 9, once in college, and on my Honeymoon. I didn't get to go as a young girl though. A young girl who believes in princesses. I am so excited to take my girls! I know they will be awed, and that is so special. It's why I wanted to go now. Ellie won't be awed much longer.

So off we go! One double stroller, one single stroller, the "leash" for Austin :), snacks but no drinks for the plane, 2 empty sippy cups that we will fill after we go through security, diapers, wipes, clothes, PJ's, swimsuits, jackets....the list is quite long! Hopefully I've thought of everything, and if I haven't, that's what Wal*Mart is for.

So wish us luck, and say a little prayer that Jason and I keep our sanity. Our flight leaves at 10am! And I'm sure when I get back, I will have many bloggable memories to share! :)

Oh, and the Benadryl worked like a charm for nap today! Thank you Jesus!

Hmmm...

I'm not quite sure what to think right now.

Austin has a nasty ear infection. I took him to the doctor 2 days ago, after a night of screaming and very little sleep. We all have little colds...and we fly to Disney World on Sunday morning.

Hmmm...

The doctor was fairly sure that by Sunday Austin would be okay to fly. He gave us some advice, and a prescription for Tylenol with Codeine, otherwise known as "the drug to put him out."

Or not.

I gave him a dose the first day, and it didn't seem to settle well. He cried for awhile, finally fell asleep, but then woke up after just 2 hours. I wasn't sure if that was because of the medicine, or if the pain was just too much that day. Today I tried again, wanting to see what it would do on a "normal" day. I gave it to him an hour and a half ago. Since then he's alternated between resting briefly, smacking me, and throwing things. He's thrown chairs, tried to turn over the coffee table, and just been down right wild.

Okay. So, I'm thinking it's not the thing to give him just before take-off.

Tomorrow I'm going to see how he reacts to Benadryl.

Hopefully the house will still be standing.