I Have Returned from the Bubble

Yes, the time came for me to come home and leave the most magical place on Earth. 

2 things...
1.  If you have been you know the above to be true...it is a bubble and a magical bubble at that!
2.  If you have not been, the two things above are true.
(Even though I ran into a lady I know today who has been and she didn't not like it!  So, I guess it is not for everyone...but it IS for me!)

Yesterday we returned from our 8 day trip to Disney.  Last year, around this same time, was our first time there.  While nothing can compare to the first trip, this one was AWESOME!  I could go on for days about all that we did and all the fun we had, but I will some it up with some pictures...

This kid made me laugh so much this past week.  He was so much fun to be with!

 

We may have seen the next American Idol star...seriously!

 



I met my favorite princess again.  (Ricki, do you see what I told you?)

She was so sweet and when she found out Broderick knew all there is to know about sharks, she had him sitting right next to her rattling off shark facts.  It was great!

 



We met some knew characters!

 



We got up close and personal with some animals!

 

We tried on hats, and laughed a lot!

 



We met some more new characters.

 



We slowed down and took it all in.

 



We (by we I mean Carys) dressed like a princess.

 

We rode our favorite rides!

 



We played in the gift shops.

 



We wore matching t-shirts for Rob's 40th birthday!

It was awesome!

 



We made new inside jokes and laughed some more!

"Where's Fabio!?"

 



We got rained on but did not let that ruin our fun!

 



We danced in the streets and were carefree!

 



We had a WONDERFUL time!

Can you tell?

Happy Birthday to my Hubby

 

Tomorrow my amazing husband turns

40!

I am so excited to celebrate this special day with him!

(We have all kinds of things planned.)

In honor of him I am going to give you 40 random facts about him.

 

1. He was born in Pennsylvania

2. He has a brother.

3. He has a sister.

4. He was raised in a christian home.

5. His family actually started a church in a chicken coop.

6.  They were known in the town as the Chicken Coop Church.

7. He grew up on a farm.

8.  He once had a bat attack his face.

9.  He used to chase tires down a hill for fun.

10. He worked on a strawberry farm...or was it a tomato farm?

11.  He built houses.

12.  He has blue prints for a house that he wanted to build someday.

13.  When he was in high school he was girl crazy.

(He's going to love me for that!)

14.  His youth leader was very instrumental in his walk with the Lord.

15.  He has been to Spain.

16.  He followed a girl (shocker) to the college he went to.

(Good thing or I would have never met him.)

17.  He paid for college himself.

18.  When he was in college he made some great friends.

19.  Him and those friends did crazy things.

20.  After college he was a youth leader.

(halfway there.)

21.  He was also a worship leader.

22.  He played the guitar.

23. He stole my heart with that guitar.

24.  His first job after college was with Lipton.

25.  His second job was with Store Door Merchandising.

26.  He is still with the same company.  (They have a new name)

27.  He is now a Vice President there.

28.  He asked me to marry him Valentines Day weekend.

29.  He wrote me a song.

30.  He is a very organized person.

31.  He does a lot of our Christmas shopping.

32.  He has taken a mud bath at a spa!

33.  He is a good cook.

34.  One year he spent a whole day with me baking cookies.

35. He used to collect Coke things.

36.  He also collected a TON of GI Joe things for Broderick.

37. He hates playing board games.

38.  His favorite drink is Sweet Tea.

39. He is the funnest person. (that is what Carys said!)

40.  He is great at decorating.

 

Wowza!  I can't believe I did that!

 

Babe, have a great birthday!

B - Boy



(newborn)

 (1 year)

 

 (2 years)

 

 (3 years)

 

 (4 years)

 

 (5 years)

 

 (6 years)

 

 (7 years)

 

 (8 years)

 

(9 years)

 

 

Today is your birthday!

You are 9!

(In 9 more years you will be 18!  18!)

As I look back at all these pictures, I am reminded of so many memories.

The fear and excitement I felt as I laid in the hospital bed thinking, "I am a mom!"

The tears I cried the first year of you life as I tried to figure out how to care for you.

The joy you brought to me with each milestone.

How much fun it was to watch you explore your surroundings.

The challenges that came with having you and a baby.

The happiness I had watching you play and love your sister.

Seeing you change into this boy...not a toddler or preschooler anymore, but a boy.

Watching you learn to read and write.

The fears of becoming a mom to an adolescent.  A child that was in school all day.

Out of my care for the majority of the day.

Developing into your own person.  (As if you weren't that from day one!)

Seeing you experience all the wonderful things of Disney World.

And now...9.

You made me a mother.

You gave me this name that I love so dearly.

I had no clue what it truly meant that day you entered the world, and I am still learning so much.

You have taught me so much!

Happy Birthday Sweet Boy!

I am so excited for the next 9 years!

 



Family Traditions

 We busted out the Christmas decorations this weekend. It really is one of my favorite times of year and I love giving the house a little holiday cheer.

 

We always get our tree the week of Thanksgiving (last year I gave in and got it before Thanksgivng), and we always get it from the same place.  They have the most perfect tree!

 

When we get home, we decorate it.  When Rob was little his parents got him and ornament each year to represent something "big" from the year.  We have continued the tradition with our kids.  We have a potty seat, ballet shoes, Boy Scout, Disney and many others.  The kids love going through them and asking when they got it and why.  Rob loves to go through his too!

 

 

The finished product is always so beautiful.

Look at that tree...perfection!  And those two kids aren't to shabby either.

 

We also normally and go see lights and Santa the same weekend, but Broderick has been sick with pneumonia so we had to pass on that.  We will get there.  We always go see the same Santa. 

 (Can you tell I like tradition?)

 

Pinterest is adding to my addiction to tradition.  Which is great since I usually pick a craft for the kids to do so we can decorate the playroom.  This year Carys and I made snowflakes.  She seriously worked on them all day Saturday.  It was so much fun.


 

We also have many other traditions...zoo lights, making cookie, plenty of Christmas themed movie nights (thanks to Pinterest, again, I have lots of fun new ideas for this), every Christmas Eve they get to open their ornament and new Christmas jammies, and Disney. 

Oh wait, that is technically a tradition.  We went last year and we are going again this year...we will see about next year!

 

What are some of your favorite Christmas traditions?

My Black Friday Experience

 

We had a fabulous Thanksgiving!  We went to my sister and brother-in law's for lunch and my mom and step dad's for dinner.  I know what you are thinking...That is a lot of food.  Yes, yes it was!  It was all good food too!

 

 

After dinner Rob and I headed out shopping.  I know, crazy.  I have not been shopping on black Friday (in this case Thursday) since Broderick was a baby. 

There wasn't anything special I was looking for, I just wanted to go for the experience.

And that is exactly what I got.

 

We got to Toys R Us right as it was opening.  The line was wrapped around the building.  There were people there that had been camping out since Tuesday.

What!?

What could you possible want that is worth camping out at a store for?

Not sure.

Needless to say we did not go in Toys R Us this time.  We went back 2 other times.  The second time the line o check out was insane, so we went back about 2:00 am and there was no line and they still had what we were looking for.

After our first visit to Toys R Us we left and met up with some friends at Target.

We met some lovely people in line and had a great time.

Target wasn't too bad.  We got in, got what we wanted and got out!

Then we headed to the mall.

This place was CRAZY!

Mostly because there were a lot of teenagers out.  You know the ones, they were leggings, boots and sweatshirts.  Everywhere.  Everyday. 

(I love leggings as much as the next girl, but I don't get the leggings and sweatshirt combo!  I thought leggings were so you could look cute, classy and fashionable while being comfy too!)

They were going to Victoria Secret for something.  Probably more leggings and sweatshirts.

Anyway...we got coffee and food before the stores opened.

At this point Ricki and I were tired and getting slap happy which made for a lot of laughs!

We got home about 3:30am.  We had what gotten what we wanted and saved some dough.

All in all, it was a super fun night!

Kicking off Christmas

We started Christmas activities a little early this year, and I am sure glad we did!

We went to see Trans-Siberian Orchestra!

Rob and I had seen them a few years ago, but this year we took the kids.

They absolutely loved it!

If you like TSO, I would encourage you to go see them!

 

 

We had great seats, right by the aisle.  A few times the guys would run right in front of us, so Broderick got a high five from one of them!

(This picture is terrible because my flash was off, but it is documentation that it happened!)

Soon after that happened some guy walks up and gives each of the kids an autographed book and a t-shirt.  Turns out it was Paul O'Neil, the creator and original member of TSO!
Pretty cool!
 

The kids sitting in awe of all the lights and music!

 

Then after the show we took the kids on a carriage ride!

 

All in all, it was a GREAT night!

Thankful Thursday

Today I am having mixed emotions.  You see, The Twilight Saga movie series will come to and end for me this evening.  I have hours and years invested in this series.  I am excited to see the movie, and fankly, kind of excited for it all to be over.  But I am a little bummed because well...it will be over. 

I can remember the first moment I told my mom I would never read the books no matter how good she said they were.

I can remember seeing the first movie for the first time.

I can remember Carrie telling me she started reading the books and I thought she was nuts.

I can remember going with Carrie to see New Moon in the theatre.

And I can remember the moment at the end of New Moon when I decided I had to read the books!

I remember staying up for hours to finish just one more chapter.

I remember going to see Eclipse.

And who can forget this...

When Ricki, Carrie, Maria and I went at midnight to see Breaking Dawn!  (A night I will never forget!)

So tonight, I will put on my "Team Edward" shirt, sit in a theatre for hours before the movie starts, and watch the Breaking Dawn part 2.  (tear) 

Today I am thankful for great books and good movies and goofy friends!

It's a Party!

I posted a few weeks ago about the Operation Christmas Child boxes and how our house church would be packing some.  We had our "Packing Party" last week and it was awesome!  This is truly one of my favorite nights of the year at house church.

This is what a "Packing Party" looks like.

 

Everyone has a role to play...

 



 

 

 

 

Thank you all so much for your donations, prayers and help.  It was a great night!  Keep praying for the little hands that will receive these boxes.

Oh...and by the way...

WE PACKED 125 BOXES!!!!!

Girly things

When I was little my mom curled my hair a lot.

I loved it!

She would use rag curlers.  Did you ever do this?  You rip up old fabric, wrap your hair around it, knot it and sleep in it.  When you wake up you have beautiful flowing locks a frizzy mess!  It was awesome!  I really wish I had a picture to show you.

I am so glad that my sweet little girl loves for me to curl her hair. 

She is such a girl.  She loves make up, curly hair, dresses, painted nails and shopping.  Wait, she does NOT love shopping.  The good news is, I love making these memories with her.

Here is to girly things!