Mahwidge, Mahwidge is what bwings us twogetha twoday!

 My kids are obsessed with getting married.  They like to get dressed up and come into the room and tell me they are going to go get married now.  Um... what?!??  I know, they are kids and these two are so imaginative that it is all part of the fun and explorative play, but I always have to remind them that God has someone special for them to marry and that they are not going to marry their brother/sister or even their mommy/daddy.  They go back to playing and I am satisfied that they know where marriage comes from.  Yes, we have had deeper conversations about this in the past, so now each time it is more of a refresher for them.

Mommy! We are going to get married today!

A prince always kisses a princess.

Those adoring eyes of her big brother.

Playing a wedding song.

LOVE HIM!!

Adorable little girl!

And the wedding dance.

A Stirring in my soul

I feel in my heart that God is doing something big.  I don't know what it all means, but all around me, people are standing up for their faith.  They are standing up and saying, "Yes, God! I will obey!" or "Send me! I will follow you to the ends of the earth." And yet, what do I do? I sit in my comfortable home with heat and clean water (though horribly chlorinated these days) and shed many tears as my heart aches to be one of those. And yet I still sit. I'm still and I don't use my voice.

God?  What are you leading me to do? Am I to be taken from the comforts of home and friends whom I have come to love so much to do your work elsewhere?  What does this all mean for our family?  Is there something here that I can do?  Oh how I hate to move my children again and uproot them.  And then... I read this post by Amy.  I worked at camp with her husband.  They are moving to Africa to be missionaries there. Her words in this post and many previous ones touch my heart so deeply, I cannot even begin to understand it all.  But when she says, "So I'm praying that God will help my mommy-heart to remember that it's ok if my kids aren't happy all the time. It's ok for them to dislike the food. It won't scar them for life if they have a tough time in school or if they miss their friends. God will take care of their hearts the same way he's taking care of mine, and they will ultimately be in His hands every moment, just like they are now. "  I am blown away.  It really IS okay for our kids to be out of their comfort zone and really? Their lives and hearts are in God's mighty hands, I just get to hold them for awhile.

God, my heart aches for you. To do YOUR will, not mine. I don't know where this is all leading, but I am excited! I am frightened and I am in awe of how you work in our hearts to follow you.

As the tears fall, Lord, please keep my heart open to you.

Disneyworld Vacation 2011 - Part 2

Friday, January 28, 2011

Happy Birthday Joan!!!  It's my mom's friend's birthday today!

We made our way across the Florida State Line and into Disneyworld today!  Oh the excitement of the kids!  We stayed at one of the value resorts - Pop Century!  It was fabulous!  Tip #1: If going for a value resort, stay at Pop Century!  While the other value resorts seem nice and even more fun, Pop has it's own bus system, so it makes it easier to get to and from places and not worry about other buses being filled up. It also has been refurbished more recently than the others. Tip #2: If you're trying to pinch pennies, get one of the standard rooms and then spring for the fridge.  A preferred room isn't always better located, but an in-room fridge is so helpful!  It's one of the small box fridges - not an upright rectangular, but it still has enough space for what you'll need it for.

Yay!  We're here!!!

Unless you have unlimited time and tickets, Tip #3 is to not waste a park ticket for the first day you get there.  Instead, attend one of the character meals. For the little ones, big stuffed characters can be scary!  So, to acclimate Monkey into seeing them a little more, we chose to do Chef Mickey the evening we got there.  So fun!  We took the bus from the hotel to Magic Kingdom and then hopped on the monorail to the Contemporary Resort.  They LOVED the monorail!

Chef Mickey's for Dinner

Monkey not so sure about the big Pluto, but she slowly got into the characters

Sweet Pea loving each new "friend"

Getting into the swing of the characters.  Maybe she just likes the female ones.

Nope! No excitement here!!!  ha ha!

The dinner at Chef Mickey's was really good.  Since I have a gluten allergy (no wheat, rye or barley), one of the chef's came to our table and brought me through my options at the buffet line.  I was pleased that there was quite a bit I could choose from.  They even had chicken without breading on it.  It was a little dry, but delicious!  The mashed potatoes were to die for! Normally, I like chunky potatoes, but with all the butter and cheese and 1000 calories per bite, it was so good!  Other fruit and salad options were good and The Hubster enjoyed some carved meats.

The dessert section looked heavenly, but of course I couldn't have any of it.  All of these bite sized treats of key lime tart, brownies, cheesecakes, cookies.  Oh, yum!!

One gripe is that most places we went, the kids had to choose from the kids menu, which mostly consisted of mac n cheese, pizza, chicken nuggets or something else equally fried and not so good for them.  Don't they know my kids like to eat salads and veggies???

As we were finishing up, we heard the fireworks from "Wishes" at the Magic Kingdom.  We could barely see them, but the kids liked what they could see, all the same!

Disneyworld Vacation 2011 - Part 1 (of many)

Thursday, January 27, 2011

We have been wanting to go on a family vacation, just the 4 of us, for quite some time.  Since we don't live near any family, all of our vacation time has been used to go to one side of the family or the other, both of which take a day of travel to get there and back.  This time, we decided it was time to go to Disneyworld!  The kids were ecstatic!  The Hubster, Sweet Pea & Monkey had no idea really what to expect.  I had some sort of idea since I grew up going to Disneyland, but it was all still new to me!

We booked our tickets in November and were excited to get the Free Dining Plan. Yay for free meals!  Little did we know those meals would be as interesting as they were.  More on that throughout my updates, later!

The kids didn't ask EVERY day when we were going to go, but they knew it was sometime soon.  So, I found some Disney paper on clearance and made a paper chain countdown.  Monkey had the blue Cinderella paper and Sweet Pea had the orange Tigger paper. The Hubster & I had the black Mickey paper.  Such an easy way for them to count down their trip!  They loved it!

Don't mind the ugly curtain on our back door. We think it's been there for 34 years (since the house was built)

We decided that since it was a long drive, we would break it up into two days of travel.  We were set to leave on Thursday after school got out. Pick up the kids and GO!  But, lo and behold the weather kept the kids out of school, so I ran around town with them trying to do final prep.  It all worked out though!!  Even though they were out of school, we still didn't find our way out of the garage until 2:12pm that day since The Hubster had to work in the morning and I just wasn't ready!

So excited!

Doing her arm pumping dance in the car.

Dreaming of warmer weather

And a trip in the car wouldn't be complete (no matter how far), without Monkey taking off her socks.

The love these two have for each other just keeps growing. So glad they are best friends!!

We made our way out and to Macon, GA for a quick night's rest.  Whenever we go to a hotel, the kids LOVE playing on the luggage carts!

Bedtime!!!

Little girl, not so little anymore!

My little Monkey seems to be growing up before my eyes! A few weeks ago, she attended her first mock slumber party. Her first birthday party without her brother and her first party with just girls.  Seeing her sitting there eating her popcorn and watching the movie, I fast forwarded to her being 13 and being at a party without me.  Wow! How fast time flew in my thoughts!  She's still my baby though!

Seriously, is this girl just 3???

3 going on 13

My little Pirate

Love this kid!

Put a little love in it

Since I started Crossfit, last February, I have found a "get up and move" song.  Lindsey had it on her play list and every time I heard it during a class, it made me want to move. Move harder, sweat more, and know that I worked for it.  The song is "Love Addict" by Family Force 5.  Seriously, you just want to move with the song.

Well, I decided to buy the song on itunes and when it is time to seriously clean or even just have fun, we put it on and go to town! My kids love it!!  What they love the most is the few moments of robot type music (around 1:38).  They love to pretend they are robots and it just fit the bill. Reminds me of the street performers downtown San Francisco.

Here's my little happy robots....  and seriously, go find the song, listen and enjoy!!

PS. Speaking of San Francisco.  Watch out for the Bushman.  He really exists and he freaked my mom and I out one day when we went downtown. We were wondering why people were gathered across the street and what they were looking at. Ha! Waiting for him to strike again! At us!  Of course we had to watch after our scare!

Christmas Pictures!!

Have I told you recently how much I love receiving Christmas Cards?  Not just the cards, but a personal message in them?  And really, I love getting Christmas Cards with a picture in it, with the kids and the parents and the dogs and even the dust mites!

I have found a fantastic resource to print such Christmas Card Photos in Shutterfly!  Not only can I print the Cards, but Shutterfly will address, stamp and mail the cards for you!  There are so many beautiful, fun backgrounds that boast the holiday spirit, it is hard to choose just one!

Another thing I love about Shutterfly is the storage capabilities.  I have a problem... I love taking pictures!  I'm always afraid that I will lose my favorite pictures due to a computer crash, but Shutterfly handles the storage for you!

You are not just bound to storage or Christmas Cards.  With Shutterfly, you can share your albums with family and friends, you can make photo calendars for yourself or family members, can make photo gifts like mouse pads, mugs and shirts.

And the best part to all of this?  The low cost! I know that I am getting quality photos made, but at a fraction of the cost somewhere else!  The sign-on promotions are also amazing!  You can receive 50 free 4x6 photos, just for signing up right now.  But why stop there? Why not actually use the site and share those photos with family and friends who don't live near you?

I can't wait to choose my pictures for this year's Christmas Card.  Yes, I may be running a little behind, but knowing that I will have some great pictures coming my way, it's worth it!  I may just choose some Christmas Cards to hold my photos this year!

Oh! And if you want to make sure you are on the list for receiving a fabulous Christmas Photo Card this year, make sure you let me know in the comments and that I have your current address!  Can't wait to show off which one we choose! :)

First Snow Day!!

Well, we had just about 1-2 inches of snow fall over the weekend.  Here? Schools close.  Which means, no school no MOPS, but LOTS OF FUN!!!  In Minnesota where my brother lives, they got 23 inches. I'm sure their kids went to school.

The kids and I have already tackled some crafts, played board games, built forts with the couch cushions and gone outside in the 3 degree weather. Okay, it was really 17 degrees, but with the windchill, they said it was 3. Same thing.

The kids loved making snow angels, something Monkey has been wanting to do for weeks!  She talks about when we go to FL, she wants to make sand angels. Not sure where the fascination came from, but she's enjoying it!  She even tried to make rug angels, but it doesn't really work out! :)

So glad I took them out for a bit in the snow! They would have been so upset if it had melted away before they got the chance.  Doubt it will happen soon as it is supposed to be a low of 9 tonight, but I still loved seeing their happy faces!  Even happier when they came back inside and drank their hot chocolate and relished in their fun times outside!

Not liking the layering effect. I think it's kinda cute!

So ready to go out!  When did this kid get so old and handsome?

My fun and adorable munchkin!!

I told them before we left the house that there would be photo ops and they must obey and smile for them.
So glad they were listening!! :)

Ready to make snow angels!

So excited!!!

 

And add-in the customary snot running down the nose shot.  I had a pocketful of tissue to ward off such pictures (yes, I am a little OCD), but alas I missed one.  Guess I can't be perfect!