Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Silly Tree...

Getting a Christmas tree this year fell to the end of our to do list. I had great plans of us going as a family to cut one down but alas, on a few Sunday's ago after church we realized we STILL didn't have one nor did we have time to go get one. We stopped by the tree stand where we have gotten them every year and got one of their last. At least we got the "Coach's" discount since two coach's run this stand. Mick got to talking (surprise surprise) to the two coach's so I had a limited photoshoot. Micah even took the last picture since Mick was too busy to take part. To my Mom's thankfulness the tree is now up and decorated and I love it. Lesson learned...you can't have Christmas without a tree, even though I tried to convince my family otherwise. At least you can't go without a tree if you have the Griswald's front yard:) It just doesn't make sense.

Long overdue...

Devon, Kyle and Destiny

This isn't just a photodumping post. This one has been in the making since we got back from Disney, I had great plans on writing lengthy thank you notes...but instead I am typing a public one because I think it shows that there are indeed still younger people out their seeking what God wants for their lives and not just thinking about themselves all the time. We went to Disney with one of our old softball girls who has become like family, Dessy! She has an older sister and a younger brother. Devon, her older sister is engaged to Will. Destiny (has been featured on the blog on numerous occassions) has found a "serious" boo (more on that another post), and then Kyle has been dating Heather for a long time as well. These six twentysomethings went on a trip with their parents (Cindy and Doug) and us...the wild foursome. These six young adults have to be the most rarest finds in people of their age. They constantly offered to tote babies, carry bags, fold strollers (even if they had to break it to fold it), and ride rides they wouldn't neccesarily ride for themselves. I told Cindy I don't know what she has done to create such thoughtful and kind children but I am so glad that we get to be around them, and hopefully have it rub off on my children. What is so encouraging and refreshing about them is that it isn't only their children with this incredible love and kindness they have chosen "significant others" that are just as great as they are!! With all the yuck and poor choices that are all over the place I just was so encouraged that they aren't all like that. We of course knew our Dessy was the exception to the rule, but to find FIVE other people that also are just makes my heart happy. It was so fun to watch them try to translate, SayJ's slow talking, to see them get in the pool even though it was freezing, to see the boys push empty strollers and carry pink backpacks, their constant convincing SayJ to be carried by someone other than me and their simple love for our children. They also made it their personal mission to explain every detail of every ride to Micah to ensure he wouldn't be scared or to help him have more fun. It was just amazing to a Momma that they would take the time to do this. They also staked out sidewalks to make sure my kiddos (and they, so it wasn't totally unselfish:)) had the best seats at every parade and show. There were so many little things that they did to help make our trip smoother, that I didn't even realize until we got home. I am sure Kyle, Tyler, Will, Devon, Heather, and Destiny aren't perfect, and they I am sure went back to their rooms and discussed our kiddos and/or our parenting skills...but they showed us and our children Jesus by their sacrificing actions and it was a testimony to me of what kind of parents they will one day be. I can't wait to one day go back to Disney with those six "kids" and their children and show them the same compassion that they showed me:)!

Breakfast with Santa.

I guess now I understand why some people (wink, wink) have to update lots of stuff at once on their blog. Way back before my two job plus stay at home mom stint, I always found time to update the dear old blog...you know in September, when people were reading this thing. But now I get it. I am about to unload my whole last month and a half, because I have to have it to finish out my blogbook. But as of January, I just don't know what to do. If I should just give it up, resolve to be better about bloggin, or just do a monthly dump of events. Unless I can resolve to do better it will exist as a scrapbook alone since I can't put the time and energy into pouring my thoughts onto the keyboard. This makes me sad. OR if I resolved to not get onto facebook unless my blog was current...that might do the trick. We shall see, I miss being able to not only update our pictures but to pour out what is going on in our lives and to use my blog for therapy. I still need lots of it, just having to pray about it and leave it at that lately. Maybe I'll get to those posts while Mick is home for a bit.

For now, here are my children at Breakfast with Santa, sometime in November:) I am working at the mall chicken apartment and I really do love it. God definitely knew what He was doing in moving me. It is a more challenging position but also more encouraging and fulfilling. I had to work the Breakfast event and had fun. I do still miss out on taking my kiddos to things. But Mick was able to bring them at the end and of course get our token picture with the jolly, or notsojolly ole' St. Nick. Ugh. I wanted their picture with Santa Cow, but he headed to the barn before my two got there. Double Ugh. Micah also helped me work, which was really fun since he has technically been working for the chicken people his whole little life.

What a Character!

We saw ALOT of characters while in Disney World. The characters were by far SadieJane's favorite part. She loved to talk to them, hug them and kiss them. Since she was too little to ride the "big kid" rides, we would go find characters while Mick, Micah and the rest of the big kid crew went to ride scary things. Which is why SayJ is pretty much the star of our character show. Plus, Micah did not like them at all. He wasn't scared of them, he just really didn't care about having his picture made with them. Jake, was the only one that he was excited about, and he allllmost backed out of that one. Micah did take part in the group shots and at Chef Mickey's he agreed to have pictures taken because he was in turn getting them to sign his baseball. The characters were everywhere and way more accessible than I remember. Most had lines but didn't take more than 10-20 minutes. Except good ole' princesses and tinkerbell. Disney is definitely capitalizing on that market...and SayJ is definitely getting sucked in. BUT, SayJ refused to really talk to the "real" characters that could really speak. She instead chatted it up with anyone whose mouth was cemented into a plastic smile. When it came to the Princesses and tinklebell she froze and would just stare and stare as they tried their darndest to get her to say something. I even jumped in to translate what her stares meant often and to try to get her warmed up, but stare and smile, smile and stare was all the girls were getting out of her. In turn I will have to admit the characters were actually my favorite part too. The way they interacted with us was so special and I just enjoyed watching SayJ experience such joy from their small acts and gestures. Since SadieJane and I were relegated to spending lots of time alone together it was a special treat to be the one to introduce her to all her friends and Mick was so kind most of the time to take the pictures for us if he was around. A small bit of info that Mick and I weren't expecting is that everyone there offers to take a picture with your camera for you. The disney employee will just step right up and snap away so that everyone can get in a picture. With all my picture love this was obviously something I was so thankful for...

These are a few of my favorite things...people...things!!

These are just a few of the over 200 pictures we took in the happiest place on earth...Disney World! We went for the week of thanksgiving, spent one day as a family of four then tripled our numbers by Tuesday:) We spent the week in a big ole' house with our Destiny's family of 8! Destiny played ball for Mick and quickly became a part of our family. She graduates this year from college, and somehow we have blended into a pretty special extended family with theirs. They (Cindy, Des' mom) had been coming every other year since Des was 2! To say they knew the ropes would be an understatement. There are so many things I want to remember for our trip but no real neat and tidy way to record them...so I will just bullet list them. Beware the next few posts will consist of more pictures, but don't worry, facebook world was subjected to all of them, but my blogbook would not appreciate 200 here.
So here are some things I learned in the place where dreams really do come true:
~Going with 6 twentysomethings and 2 children is a really good idea.
~Doing so inevitably will remind you that you in turn are NOT twentysomething anymore:(
~While it is nice to stay in a nice place, the amount of sleeping and staying put you do, a rat motel would be just fine, you'll be too tired to notice.
~OR you could just go for EIGHT days, then you could enjoy the big house AND Cinderella's Castle.
~Napping at a park in the middle of thousands of people, IS possible, if you have blankie.
~My two year old is not afraid of characters. In fact, she is obsessed. The way she interacted with them was so amazing.
~My four year old could care less about characters. Unless you bribe him with a roller coaster, he ain't even gonna smile.
~If you spike your shorter four year olds hair into a mohawk he is indeed tall enough to ride those coasters you promised him.
~If your child is obsessed with the Mouse and his friends a character breakfast is so worth it. Although, the characters are way more accessible than I expected.
~You can go days without saying anything to your spouse other than "You got that one?"
~You shouldn't go days, but you can.
~Wishes there was a way I could magically guarantee that my kiddos will be as kind and compassionate when they are twentysomething as the ones that we traveled with.
~I am indeed too old to ride Mt. Everest or any other roller coaster. I am unfortunately not too old to puke in the middle of the road as lots of tourists pass by.
~Mick and I enjoyed Disney just as much as the kiddos and they enjoyed it alot.
~Epcot and Animal Kingdom could be combined to one day so as to spend way more time at Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios. (totally a personal preference but there was just so much more to do for us at those places)
~Disney gets the whole good and evil thing in EVERY ride. And while biblical, my two year old would appreciate a few more bright spots and a few less dark ones.
~To see any parade or event you must get there way ahead of time and then fight for your space until the time of event.
~People from anywhere other than the south do NOT get the personal space thing.
~In my opinion, we will leave disney everytime wanting to go back soon!
~Ok, there are way more pictures and a few more stories to come.