Happy Birthday Girls!

A week ago this past Sunday found us at Magic Kingdom to celebrate the girls' birthdays.  I mentioned previously that instead of birthday parties for the kids this year, we opted to just go to the Disney parks (the kids' decision).  Since we hadn't been in three years and since I would much rather NOT have a party, it worked out well.  I must say that the whole day wildly exceeded my expectations.  Of course, I've always chuckled when I see companies ask "Did we exceed your expectations?" as to indicate whether they provided you with good service.  I always think "What if my expectations were really, really low?  You could still do a crummy job but have exceeded my expectations."  In this case, yes and yes.  My expectations were low and they were exceeded.  But exceeded by a lot.

We got there when the park opened and as luck would have it, ran into the Isidros, who were to be our companions for the day, in the parking lot.  I stopped at customer service to get the girls their birthday buttons.  Calleigh's birthday was that very day (17th) whereas Aubree's was Tuesday (19th). She so wanted a button and wasn't sure if she would be able to get one since it wasn't her actual birthday but we got one, no problem, and she was quite pleased.  From there, we went on our three fast pass rides and that's pretty much how the day went.  Go on a ride, get a new fast pass. Repeat.  But let me tell you...about 80% of the park seems not to get this concept.  The longest we probably waited in a line was like 10 minutes but yet, we still saw people waiting in 50 and 60 minute lines.  Why?  WHY???!  I don't get it.  All you have to do is go to the Fast Pass kiosk and get a Fast Pass and then you have no line.  The Fast Passes were available starting like 10 minutes from when we got it so it's not like we had wait several hours to use it.  At any rate, I guess we should just be grateful that so many people haven't caught on to how it works.

Brady looks like he's in a trance...

It's amazing how nice Disney can be when you don't wait in long lines.  Sure, it was still stifling hot but since we weren't waiting long to get on stuff, the heat was broken up as we got on rides.  It seems the pretty unanimous favorite of the girls and me was Splash Mountain.  The boys were too short to go on it and Duncan graciously offered to stay with them since I wanted to go.  Allen and Braelyn took Brady and Duncan's fast pass for it so the five of us went together.  It'a a pretty long ride so you definitely get your "money's worth."  I did have a little incident though.  The best part of the ride, of course, is when you go down the "mountain" which makes a big splash.  For some idiotic reason, I thought it would be a good idea to take my visor AND sunglasses off as we went down (I've lost several visors on rides recently).  Well, you can guess what happened.  The water splashed right up into my eyes and instantly I remembered, "My LASIK!  AHHHHHH!"  Yup, did it again.  Fortunately I can still see so hopefully that means it was okay!  But seriously, I appear to have no foresight with these things whatsoever.

Splash Mountain before I took my glasses off.

We laughed because Aubree is perfectly calm while the rest of us are making faces.

Since lines were so short, we went on pretty much all of the rides we wanted to do. We stopped for lunch which we had brought with us and then later in the afternoon, we treated the remaining Isidros (Braelyn and Tangie left for a school program) to some Dole Whips to celebrate the occasion.  Mmm, those are good.  Colby lasted a bit longer than Epcot and didn't fall asleep until about 12:45 but he did sleep for at least two hours which caused me to miss a few rides but it was all good.  I told Duncan ahead of time that we would stay as long as the kids wanted to stay since it was their birthday after all and we agreed that's what we would do.  The place was open until midnight and we teased them about whether they could make it that long.  But at around 6:00 pm, I got the sense that they were wrapping up and sure enough, Calleigh said she wanted to go (I'm pretty sure she knew she was getting a Lego set as her one gift to open on her birthday and she wanted to get to it).  Aubree wanted to stay but we were able to convince her to go.  It worked out perfectly because then we could eat supper at home.

Tea cups

Allen takes a nap in the Bear Jamboree

Aubs and the twins

Even Colby was just tall enough to go on the Speedway.

The new Dumbo ride has a play area while you wait.  Of course, we didn't even have to wait so we did this before using our Fast Passes.

Dole Whips. 

Brady was having such a problem with the sun in his eyes that I begrudgingly gave him my visor.  

The whole crew except for Duncan taking the picture.

Our newly minted eight year old.

Parting shot. Calleigh had a blister, Brady was too tired to walk, Colby obviously got the stroller...which left Aubree the only one walking much to her chagrin.

After supper, both girls opened a gift which was indeed Legos.  I told them not to stay up half the night working on it.  "We won't," they said.  At that point, I was so tired I fell into bed and was asleep by a little after 9:30.  The next morning, the girls called me upstairs because they wanted to show me their Legos they had built.  I said, "You guys finished this last night?" Calleigh says "Yes, I was up until 11:00 finishing it."  Where do these kids get the energy and stamina?!  I could barely keep my eyes open after walking around Disney all day.

Oh, one other thing from Disney that I thought was a bit....strange.  At this one store, you could have a lady sprinkle pixie dust on your head and make a wish.  That wasn't the strange part.  The girls both did it and then Brady did it too since Kohlden did.  Afterwards we asked them what they wished for and they wouldn't tell us because they didn't want it to not come true.  But then Calleigh said she would tell Duncan so she whispered it in his ear.  I was a little affronted but then Aubree said "It's about you" so I decided that was pretty cool and special.  I was imaging all kinds of neat things. Later that night I asked Duncan what it was and he said "She said she wished that you would stop blowing your nose."  Oh-kay.....

I wonder what he wished for?

Tuesday, Aubree's birthday, we made plans to celebrate with Ron and Elaine and Aunt Wanda since they had "missed out" on Disney.  Elaine came over after lunch to take the girls shopping for some gifts and then on to their house to swim and later we would join them for supper.  But she said when she came in the front door and saw Brady's face, she knew she couldn't leave him behind so she took all three.  That worked out lovely for me because Colby took a nice long nap and I had a very quiet afternoon.  Colby and I picked up Aunt Wanda at 5:30 and then drove over to Ron and Elaine's.  Elaine made some homemade pizza (girls had requested pizza for their birthday) which was really, really good and we had a nice quiet evening with the family.  The girls got more Legos, among other things, and were very pleased.

The newly minted six year old.

A new bike helmet and gloves.

Since they love playing with Calleigh's pilgrim costume she got for Christmas, we got Aubree her own.

Calleigh has wanted this Lego boat for months.  When she opened it up and found it had FIVE bags to it, she was very excited. The biggest project she's done yet.

The finished yacht.

No Jennifer cake this year since we didn't have a big party.

Our other big activity this past week was the homeschool convention which I had been looking forward to for months.  The convention has two really great things about it.  First, there are tons of booths which have various curriculum, books, kids activities, gadgets, etc.  Second, there are a bunch of sessions with speakers speaking on various topics whether it be homeschooling, parenting, marriage, you name it.  It takes place at the Gaylord Palm Resort in Kissimmee (this is the same hotel we went to right before Christmas to see all the ice sculptures and do the reindeer scavenger hunt). Yes, the resort is less than a 30 minute drive from our house but we decided to splurge this year and stay there for Thursday and Friday nights so I didn't have to drive back and forth.  Duncan took Friday off so he was on kid duty while I immersed myself in it.  The kids and I checked in at about 4:30 on Thursday afternoon. The hotel is very lovely but when we got into our room, which was just that, one room, Aubree couldn't believe it.  "This is it? Where are the rest of the rooms??"  I guess when you just stayed in a 3-bedroom condo at Hammock Beach, staying in just a single hotel room is a big downgrade.  I thought it was pretty cozy, actually.

Saw this character while waiting to check in.  Not sure why there was a random Lego character at the hotel but fun nonetheless!

Friday morning I left the kids in Duncan's capable hands and joined Jennifer, baby London, Vasti, and David (Vasti's 9-year old son) for the day.  We went to a lot of the same sessions.  But the big thing was the lunch.  There is a Mediterranean restaurant there that does a lunch buffet.  But this just isn't any lunch buffet.  It's $26.50, for one person (!), but it is SO good.  Since it is just me, I don't feel THAT bad about spending that much money on one meal.  The icing on the cake is that they also have Mountain Dew which is included in the price so it can't get much better than that.  We are already looking forward to meeting there again next year.

As they day wore on, I started to get a little panicky.  There are many, many booths in the convention hall and I was making such slow progress going to them since I'm actually looking for stuff to buy.  Even though I already know the main curriculum for Calleigh for next year, I still have to add math, English, and spelling.  Plus, I now have Aubree and although I have Calleigh's old first grade curriculum I wasn't sure I wanted to repeat it (I need some variety...since I've already done it, I didn't feel like doing it again).  The convention lasted through Saturday at 6 pm but obviously I wasn't going to be shopping and buying stuff on Sabbath so I had to make all purchases by the time it closed on Friday.  I got pretty rushed at the end but I mostly got it done in the end.  But I need to use my time better next year.  This is what I ended up with for those that homeschool and may care to see:

Calleigh - Grade 3
Bible, History, Reading, Art, Music - My Father's World (Exploring Countries & Cultures) - I didn't actually get to buy this because MFW didn't come to the convention.  I was SO disappointed even though I knew it ahead of time.  I'll have to go online.
Math - Teaching Textbooks - - I didn't buy this either but Calleigh tried it out and I think I may go with this since she didn't last the whole year on Math-U-See.
Spelling - A Reason for Spelling (same as this year)- Again, didn't buy this because it wasn't there but confirmed this is what we were doing.  Checked out Spelling-U-See like friends are doing but Calleigh took one look and said "No!"  Looks like a lot of writing.
Handwriting - Handwriting Without Tears, Cursive - For some odd reason she wants to learn cursive even though she doesn't like to write.
English - Language Lessons for the Very Young (same as this year)
Science - Apologia, Swimming Creatures of the Fifth Day - MFW comes with Science but I haven't been too excited about it so I'm adding my own.

Aubree - Grade 1
Bible, History, Art, Music - Will join Calleigh in MFW
Reading - Explode the Code - Thinking of doing this but they were out of some of the books at the convention so I didn't buy it.
Math - Math-U-See, Alpha
Handwriting - Handwriting Without Tears
English & Spelling: - Not sure if I will add these since Calleigh didn't do them in first grade (wasn't part of the MFW) and I don't want to overload her.  We will see how things go.
Science - Apologia (same program as Calleigh)

So there you have it.  The previous two years I was still a little overwhelmed at the convention but this year I felt much more comfortable.  Ron and Elaine came down mid-afternoon on Friday to look around and then we went to supper at Sweet Tomatoes nearby.  A very nice day.

This is just wrong on so many levels.

There was a pool party Thursday night.  The kids are watching some other kids dancing.

Trying out some equipment at one of the booths.

Fishing for some candy at another.

The hotel has a small water slide park (including four water slides) and they had a ton of fun Friday morning.

Duncan took them to Cracker Barrel for lunch.  Calleigh spotted this and was all excited!

Incidentally, I was curious to see how Colby would do with the sleeping after the great experience at Hammock Beach.  As soon as I put him in the pack-n-play at bedtime on Thursday night, he started crying.  Here we go again, I thought.  I brought him into bed with me and he didn't fall asleep until 10 stinking 30.  Everyone else including Duncan was long asleep by the time he conked out.  Then I moved him and he slept the whole night in the pack-n-play so that was good at least.  The same pattern repeated Friday night but although he fell asleep much faster that time.  I'm still not sure if he did well at Hammock Beach because he recognized it or because he was alone in the room and this time he clearly wasn't.

For Sabbath, I spent the time just going to the sessions.  The convention is so great in that so much of it is faith based.  The keynote on Friday morning was about a pilot from Maine who flies for American Airlines and had penciled himself in the day before to be the pilot on Flight 11 that crashed into the tower on 9/11.  But something happened and a senior pilot ended up taking the flight and obviously this pilot, Steve, was miraculously saved.  He and his homeschooled son (one of eight kids!) made a short documentary on it comparing it to how Jesus took our place on the cross.  It was very, very moving.  It anyone wants to go to YouTube it's called "In His Seat." The keynote on Sabbath was a married couple with seven homeschooled children and they talked about the importance of a strong marriage and how the devil is trying to destroy it so that he can get to the kids.  It was also really good and so were the rest of the sessions that followed including several on parenting and the importance of character.  All the sessions were really inspiring and I've already made some changes in my daily routines and attitudes.   Highly recommend this weekend event even if you don't homeschool.  That part is really secondary.

I left mid-afternoon because we had company!  Kelly, Steve, and Caleb came down on Thursday evening for the long weekend as a last hurrah before baby Katelyn comes in July.  I felt bad they had to stay at our place without us but I guess it was a little quieter!  Also on Saturday evening, Devin, Leigh, Mia, and Bode came in to stay just that night.  They had won a trip to Sanibel for the week but they paid us a visit at the end.  They had never been to our house before (now it's just Shannon as the only cousin who hasn't visited, ironically the one who lived with us for a bit in our old house!) so it was due time.  Bode is a few months younger than Brady and they were like two peas in a pod running around the house.  We were sad to see them go the next morning but at least Nova Scotia is less than two months away.  The Conrads went to Disney on Sunday for the whole day (Kelly is 32 weeks pregnant but that detail doesn't stop a Disney freak.  I say that kindly, of course!) but I visited with her a little on Sunday night and Monday morning before they had to take off.  Steve even found time to fix our back door which had been hard to open since the SuperBowl.  We were VERY grateful for that.

My cousins and I.  

Bode and Brady.  Aren't they cute?! They were even randomly dressed similarly.

Mia doing Calleigh's hair.

Horseplay with Steve

Now that we're caught up, a few quotes from the kids.

Calleigh (completely deadpan): "Aubree, remember when we were younger, like four and six, and we thought it was funny to just say the word 'poop'"?
Aubree (also completely deadpan): "Yup."

They're growing up!  Not that I believe them...

Aubree was so excited about turning six because she thought that meant she was going to start first grade.
Aubree: "Now that I'm six and not five any more, I can do first grade math."
Calleigh (exasperated): "Aubree, you are only ONE day older than you were yesterday.  That doesn't mean you can now do first grade math."

The day before the convention I went to a parenting seminar at the church.
Me (to the kids): "I'm going to a seminar tonight to learn about being a better parent."
Aubree (coming up and giving me a hug): "You are the very best mommy."
Me (silently smiling to myself, feeling really good)
Aubree: "But you're the only one I've ever had."

Some more pictures before closing...

Okay, so clearly we need to work on our "d's" and "b's." I swear this homeschool thing is working. I swear!!

Brady was happy to discover this hat in a bag of clothes from Camden.  Now he doesn't have to borrow my visor!

Random art project he did all on his own.

Why Colby??

We do races upstairs and Brady likes to get in the crouching position to start off and now Colby does the same thing.

Colby finally gets a haircut.  Just a little one though.

The four red bookcases are a new addition from Ikea.  I ran out of bookshelf space since I buy so many books at yard sales. Duncan and the kids spent part of their Memorial Day putting them together for me.  Very happy with the result.

Have a great week!