Disney World....finally!

Emma and Cinderella

Paige and dad waiting in line for the dinosaur ride at Epcot

Rachele and the kids on the ride in DinoLand

After all day at Disney World, the kids still weren't done with rides! This little train was a big hit!

Zachary, Brent and Emma on the Magic Kingdom train

Ok, so finally I have updated my blog and put some Disney pictures up. We had so much fun. After thinking March would never come, it did....and it was so much fun! How can you not have fun in a group of 24 people....13 kids and 11 adults!! And you want to know the crazy part....it wasn't crazy! The kids got along super well, the adults still love (and like) each other even after 8 days of togetherness! It was the most fabulous trip ever!

Zachary's favorite ride was the barnstormer in toon town--this was a stretch for him. He's not huge on the rides. Paige's favorite ride was Splash Mountain and Thunder Mountain Railroad. NOT The Tower of Terror. She wanted to go on that one because the big kids were talking about it so much. She is a thrill-seeker, but apparently that one was too much! Emma's favorite ride is Snow White's Scary Adventure. If you ask her, she will tell you she is not scared of the witch when she turns around, but the first time she went on this ride she cried the entire time!

This truly was a trip of a lifetime, and our kids still talk about it every day! Thank you so much Cami and Jeff!! It was the best time, and coming home was so sad. We are still sad that we can't live at DisneyWorld everyday!! We love you!

I scream, you scream, we all scream for KRISPY KREME!!

Olivia, Navy, and Paige striking a pose

Will, Emma, Navy, and Paige

Olivia, Annikka, and Paige

Always ready with a smile! Who wouldn't???......It's Krispy Kreme!

So, Paige had a field trip to Krispy Kreme last week. It was so much fun and the kids loved it! I had never seen the doughnut conveyer belt, so it was pretty cool to check it all out. The doughnuts they got were nice and warm, gooey with the frosting...yum! But, I refrained and didn't have one. If we had gone to Dunkin Doughnuts it probably would have been more tempting for me.

Paige, of course, didn't like the doughnut she was given, so I had to buy her another one. Emma ate her's and the one Paige didn't want. She just likes to lick the stuff off anyway! It was a good day, and I think the mom's had just as much fun as the kids just hanging out and talking to each other. It was a fun day!

Happy (Late) Birthday, Emma

Christmas day, 2005

Happy First Birthday, Christmas Eve, 2006

How she looks when she applies her own (make that her sister's) make-up

I feel badly that I haven't gotten to Emma's birthday post, and I am still missing some pictures, but I thought I'd better get it on here before I'm even more behind! Can anyone tell by the number of posts lately that I'm done with my last book and don't have a current knitting project??

Emma was our surprise baby, and she hasn't done anything to change her status! She is always surprising me with things she says and just by being so different than her sister. I didn't know that 2 and 3 year olds could have so many opinions about their hair and clothes. Paige never gave me and problems with those things. I put Emma in one of the outfits that got handed down from Paige a month or so ago. I think it is cute....it's from Gap, just a pant outfit and is super comfy. Well, she proceeded to tell me she didn't look cute in it, she looked ugly. I tried to tell her how cute it was, to no avail. So, in she comes a couple of minutes later with a princess dress over her outfit, saying, "now I look beautiful!" What a stinker! Emma is her own person and nobody will ever tell her differently. I love her for it, though, and I know that she will be a strong person when she gets bigger. Here are some other things that she loves!

*puzzles...she has been able to do 24 piece puzzles since she turned 2

*dora the explorer

*pottytraining....just kidding....I only wish she loved it...or would even attempt it! Oh well, I've been buying diapers for almost 7 years. Why stop now?

*singing songs

*swinging by herself (something she also has done since she was 2)

*painting

*bugging her big sister

*making up her own rules

*taking Paige's toys

*snuggling with mom

*pretending to be my baby, sometimes

*crying when you even look at her the wrong way

We love you , Emma. You are the best Christmas present we have ever gotten, and we can't imagine our lives without you! I can't believe how big you have gotten and how I can't keep you my baby forever, but I will try!

Move over, Karate Kid!!

Zachary had his Karate awards ceremony a couple of weeks ago, and he levelled up from a white belt to a green belt! He was so excited and surprised to skip yellow and go straight to green! Now, before you think I'm too biased, a lot of other kids skipped yellow also. I'm so proud that he finished something he set out to do!

You would think that a kid who just did great at something would want to continue doing it....maybe even for the rest of the year......but not Zachary. We had to bribe him to keep going through the rest of this school year. I'm not ashamed of it, either! Anyone who knows Zachary knows that he loves to be home and in his element.

Whatever struggles we have next school year getting him to sign up for some other sport, just know that we are so proud of you now and hope you keep wanting to try new things! We love you!

Zoo Days

You couldn't get Charly off the slide!

Karsyn and Kennedy sitting in the back of the truck

Emma testing out her hanging skills

Who's the biggest monkey....Will or Paige?

Jen, Jodi, Brook and I all decided to start going to the zoo more often.....while the weather is nice! It was a great day. The cousins all had a great time playing together and we even got some exercise in with all of those hills! I totally counted it...and had that second coke! It all evens out, right?

Thanks, girls, for a fun day. We hope to do it again soon!

Paige lost her first tooth!

Paige has had a wiggly tooth for weeks! She didn't want to pull it, or let me do it either. Well, I wasn't really thinking when I gave her chicken and carrot sticks for lunch! Lo and behold, her tooth came out. The bad news....she must have swallowed it along with her lunch! We couldn't find it anywhere!

She was worried that the tooth fairy wouldn't come because she didn't have a tooth to put under her pillow. We wrote the tooth fairy a note instead, and she was very understanding! The next day she was so excited about her dollar that she had to spend it at Target. What she didn't understand was just how little a dollar can really get you! We had fun at the $ bins anyway!! Congratulations, Paige....you're growing up too fast!

Who's the worst slacker in the blogging world???

Ok--so I know I'm behind on laundry, picking up toys, dishes, dusting, washing windows, cleaning out my car, cleaning bathrooms, playing with my kids, etc. The list could go on and on...but blogging? Shouldn't that be more fun than cleaning bathrooms? Couldn't I spare 5 minutes to get on and upload some photos and write a little blurb?? Apparently not. Because, as far as I'm concerned, the blogging world is just another way for me to be inadequate!!

DON'T get me wrong, I have plenty of excuses why I'm not updating, just like I have excuses for why I can't scrub the toilet! My kids have been sick, we were out playing too much, my computer crashed (true story). Now I have no pictures on my computer because they are on an external drive that Brent has to load back onto the computer. He has been working so many hours, that who knows when he'll get to it. And, there's no way I can figure it out...I can't even find where my pictures go without pulling them up on Windows Photo Gallery...and then I can't figure out how to upload them. I'm a mess!

So, I just wanted to post that we are still here, if anyone even checks my blog. They've probably just given up and moved on to someone who actually posts! But I love you all and will post some pics soon, as we have been doing some fun things lately!