Gideon

When I think of the things that my family has been through in the last year I can see how easy it would have been to just give up.  How easy it would have been to turn my back on the Lord.  To just stop trying. 

I am not going to lie and say there were not hours, days and even weeks that I thought that I would just give up.  There were days I could not get out of bed as I was paralyzed with sadness.  I remember one particular day I was laying on my couch sobbing.  I began to breath really heavy and fast.  The next thing I know I was waking up.  I had been sleeping for over 2 hours.  I believe I passed out from the intense crying. I was emotionally and physically drained.  I decided early on in my trials that I would give my self a deadline to grieve.  On that day I turned my trials and pain over to God.  People who know my in real life often ask me how I am handling myself so well and I can honestly say if not for the Lord I would not be doing as well as I am.  

The last 4 weeks I have been going to a Bible study with two of my dearest friends Julie and Sarah.  Between the 3 of us we have 12 children, we all homeschool and we are all stay at home moms.  When Julie mentioned the Bible study was on Gideon I was not sure.  I like bible studies that are girlie.  Bible studies by great women like Beth Moore and Lysa Terkeurst.  This study on Gideon by Priscilla Shirer did not seem like my cup of tea.  But, I wanted to go with my girls.  So, I  bought the book and showed up.  This Bible study is AMAZING! I can not even begin to tell you everything I have learned from Priscilla.  I LOVE doing the homework.  I love pulling out my Bible and my Ipad and searching the scripture.  It is so filling.  Please click the links above and listen to some of the video clips.  Even they will bless you. 

There are a few things I have been praying on and trying to apply to my life this week is...

There is beauty in the "normal".  I often times get caught up in the "normal" of my life.  The mundane things like laundry, dishes, cleaning, driving kids all around, homeschooling etc...  I get bored and I just mechanically go through the paces everyday.  Like clock work, I get up and make breakfast, get the girls to school, start the boys on their school, start a load of laundry, clean the breakfast dishes....  I do it because I have to, because these things need done.  There is no joy, no thankfulness.  What does that teach my children?  The last few weeks I have been taking joy in these everyday tasks.  I often text Julie or Lisa or Sarah as I am washing dishes or homeschooling something like "I am so blessed I CAN homeschool" or "I am so thankful I CAN wash dishes today".  As I go about these mundane tasks, the normal things I do everyday, day in and day out, I thank God, I "get to do" them.  I am thankful I can turn on my sink and water comes out so we can drink or clean.  I am thankful I have a washing machine a few feet from my kitchen where I can wash my clothes.  I am thankful I can go to the store and buy the groceries I need to cook meals for my family.  I am finally seeing the beauty in the normal.

God doesn't call us to do hard things.  He calls us to impossible things.  I know this so well in my current situation.  I never thought I would be a single mom.  I never thought I would be divorced.  I didn't think I could do many of the things I am doing now.  BUT I AM! He is not calling me to do hard things.  He is calling me to do things that in my previous life I thought were impossible.  Thankfully he is not calling me to do them alone.  He has surrounded me with the most amazing support system of friends and family.  Not only has he surrounded me with friends and family he has made his presence known.  ">I am not alone!  He is with me.  He is patient.  He is my comfort.  For that I am most thankful.  I am so excited to see what this week has in store for me.

October Unprocessed

My bloggy friend Lori is taking the October Unprocessed challenge.  It should not be too hard for her since she makes amazing healthy meals for her family all the time.  I have also decided to take this challenge.  For me it will be a little harder. 

I tend to go in waves of cooking.  I will be super into cooking and making healthy meals.  Then I get bored, errr.... busy and start hitting the Golden Arches a little to often.  Let's be real here.  It is much easier to run through the drive through and grab a $.99 burger between piano, gymnastics, cheer, tutoring, homeschool classes, school drop off and pick ups, than it is to cook an entire meal.  However I am spending way too much money on food.  I still grocery shop and while the food I bought at the store is wasting in the refrigerator, I am spending even more money on fast food.  And can I ask when fast food got so expensive?  I took Leanne and Cameron to Chip*otle and it was $30 for the three of us to eat.  Seriously!?  So, I am taking this as a challenge to not only eat better, but to save money as well.

How am I going to do it?  I was talking to Lisa (my BFF) and I told her about October Unprocessed.  I may have called it "Whole Food October" because I am pretty sure I have adult ADD and could not remember the name 30 minutes after I read it.  Anyway....  I decided when talking to her and after reading the comments on the official sites post, I am not going to be rigid or I will fail.  While I plan to make as may unprocessed foods as possible I can and will use foods I have readily available and I will not be able to go totally organic.  While I think there is a huge benefit to eating all organic food and used to mostly buy organic.  I can no longer do that.  I had to let go of that guilt months ago and just be blessed I can feed my children.  Since there are so many families who go to bed worrying about where their next meal comes from, I choose to be thankful I do not have that worry.  So my October Unprocessed will really be the "We are not eating fast food, mom is cooking everything from scratch, with the best ingredients she can afford" challenge.  I am pretty happy with that!

I made a weekly menu and I plan to share that here as often as I can.

October 1st

Breakfast: Scrambled eggs with spinach and fetta cheese on toast.  One kid loved it, one kid ate it, but suffered through it the entire time, one kid picked it apart pretending to eat it and stuffed it in the trash and the last kid refused to eat it and sneaked to the school cafeteria to eat sugar cereal or pancakes cooked in a bag with a friend.  That child has decided not to do that again because she was tardy to class by 3 minutes and owed that time to her teacher on recess.  Have to love natural consequences. 

Lunch: Was a mash up of things.  Two kids took sack lunches to homeschool co-op.  One kid bought a school lunch which was yogurt and a muffin and sadly I had Wend*ys with one child between appointments.  Yeap!  Day 1 and we had fast food.  The kid was starving and her mom of the year forgot to pack her a lunch to take to school after her appointment.  Epic lunch fail!

Dinner- Sesame (grilled) chicken with broccoli over steamed rice.  Two children loved it, one child liked everything but the sauce so she had plain chicken, broccoli and rice and the last child threw a fit over the broccoli making gagging noises and faces that looked like I was feeding him fried insects at the table, causing one frustrated momma to pick the broccoli out of the bowl, throw  toss it into the kitchen sink, completely miss the sink and splatter sesame chicken all over the kitchen wall, blender and side of the cabinet.  That she then had to clean up.  Joy!

All in all I call day 1 half a success.  Thankful for 31 days in October to get it together. 

No More F*cebook

I love FB.  I love keeping up with friends and family I do not see often as well as reconnecting with friends I have not seen in many years.  It is fun to get a glimpse into others lives. 

The dark side of social media is what I believe it is doing to our children.  I have seen it with my very own child.  My oldest daughter is my only child who has had access to any social media so far.  She and her friends are not active on FB.  They have Instigr*m, Tw*tter, V*ine, and Sn*p Chat.  All of which took over most of my daughters day.  She had her I*phone attached to her 24 hours a day.  She even slept with it right beside her.  I would often sneak in after she was asleep and take it.  I do not feel like she needs to be "plugged in" and accessible 24 hours a day.   I also found that is gave her and her friends a sense of anonymity making them feel safe to say and post things that are not a direct reflection of who they really are.  They were (and many still are) posting videos, pictures and words that would never say or do in "real life". 

I pulled the plug on social media this summer.  I took the I*phone, all of the passwords and then deleted the accounts on all of her social media accounts.  I have banned all social media in my home.  I tell my kids in our home:

We talk to each other.  Face to face!

It has not been easy.  There were arguments, tears, accusations of being unfair, arguing, sneaking to get on social media, more tears, more arguing....

But it was worth it!  We no longer fight about the phone.  Sure, she wants it back.  But, she is surviving.  She still gets the information she needs, she still has friends, she still got asked to homecoming, she still knows where her friends will be and I have yet to forget to pick her up.  All of these were her arguments for keeping the phone and the access to her social media accounts.  Funny how we all lived without these things and made it into adulthood.  lol!

Since I took all of these things away from my daughter I have decided that I will also give up social media.  I am saving the last of my facebook photos and I will be closing my account as well.  I think it is only fair.  I am sure I will have much more time to get things done.  Since I am deleting my f*cebook (the only social media I used) I have decided to try blogging again.  We will see if I can stick to it. 

Are you still homeschooling?

I have been getting this question a lot lately.

I think it's because of my confusing Facebook posts.

As well as the back to school pictures.

We are still homeschooling.

However, we are only homeschooling the boys.

Leanne started her freshman year at the local high school

and 

Princess started 2nd grade at the local elementary school.

Both girls are LOVING school.

 So what are the boys doing?
(Besides wrestling with each other.
Seriously.  Why must boys always 
touch each other or wrestle.
It's can't be that fun.  Can it?)

We are in our second year of Classical Conversations.  

And we love it!

It was a God send for us.

Literally!

Cameron is in the Challenge A program.

While Justin is in the Foundations and Essentials program.

CC has been a amazing addition to our homeschool.

Justin will tell you "CC changed his life!"

And he is serious.

Our campus meets on Tuesday morning from 9-3:30.

The kids participate in daily presentations as well as academic "classes".
We work on memory work and assignments
throughout the next week.

This is a new style of learning for me.  

The classical method did not fit well in my text book style.

I am learning to let go.
Kind of.

I addition to CC we are using some amazing curriculum this year.

A few of our favorites are...

Teaching Text Books

 image source

Both boys are using this wonderful math program.

Anything I can use that adds computer time is a plus for my boys.

Are using grades 5,6 and 7 this year.  

Analytical Grammar

image source

We are using the Junior version.

Even with CC Justin needs a little more help in the grammar dept.

He is doing the Junior version again this year for review.

I had it, so why not?

Since Cam never had a chance to do essentials, he needs this

We use the DVD's. 

I love them! 

Anything I can find that someone else teaches is priceless to me.

Plus it only takes 21 weeks to get through the entire program.

Gotta love that!

All About Spelling

image source

I bought this curriculum several years ago at a homeschool convenetion.
I never opened the box. 
Actually, I did open it. 
I even cut out all the magnets and created the spelling boxes.
(That's the stuff I love to do. The hands on.  It's fun for me. Everything else.  Not so much!)
That's as far as it went. 
(I'm not the only one who buys gobs of curriculum I never use? Am I?)

The kids were doing ok with spelling.
Not to mention I already had so many other things to do.
Spelling seemed so over-rated.
I mean everyone uses spell check not.
Right!?

Apparently spelling is not a lost art. 
I decided this year that we needed to do a formal spelling program.
Thankfully I was able to just dust off the several levels of
All about spelling I already owned.
Bonus!

We actually really like it.
It works really well for both boys.
It is great for my son who has dyslexia.

I guess am going to have to do a 2 part post.
I guess I didn't realize how much stuff we actually use.
(Well, at-least what I buy and intend to use.)

 

Unconditional Love

Can anything be sweeter than a boy and his dog?

I love this picture of Cameron and Flower 

and just had to share. 

I can feel the love in this picture.

My boy loves his dog and his dog loves him!

My super sweet and extremely talented friend 

Charity at Eden Photography

Took these amazing photos of my kids.

If you are local and need a wonderful, patient, affordable

photographer, please click the link above and give her a call.

Hire her.  You won't be sorry.

Justin

It was finally your day Jus.

6th Grade!

I can't believe it.

You were so excited to start your first day at 

Classical Conversations.

You missed your friends and they missed you.

It is going to be a great year for you Jus.

You are going to learn amazing things.

Justin, I pray all of your dreams come true.

You are not afraid to do hard things. 

That is how I know you will succeed in life.

I can not wait to see what the future hols for you Justin.

We are so proud of you!

Love, Mom and Dad

Is it hard to do her hair?

This is probably the most asked question I hear about Katie's adoption.

We hear it almost daily.  

It usually goes like this: "She is so cute!  Do you do her hair yourself?"

Haircare in the African American community is huge.

In fact during our adoption finalization the judge 

(a beautiful African American woman)

asked us how we planned on caring for her hair.

I told her I would "learn as I go."

Apparently that worked for her because she approved the adoption.

Over the years Katie's hair has changed texture a few times.

When she was a baby she has straight super soft hair.

As she got older it started to curl loosely.

By the time she was 3 it was thick and full of 

the sweetest and perfectly curled ringlets.

During the last 7 years our hair style of choice has been...

The Poofs!

Because I am so talented we could switch it up and do...

One Poof!

As she got a bit older I started feeling pressure to do more.

I knew it was hard and I thought the right thing to do 

was take her to a salon.

I knew I wanted to keep her hair natural, so I looked

for a place that specialized in natural hair care.

So they said!

Our trips to the salon were long and painful.

It broke my heart.  But it's what I was told was right.

"She will get used to it." 

"She's just tender headed!"

"If you started younger it wouldn't bother her."

"All kids cry when they get their hair done."

So I did it!

It broke my heart. 

And Katie's!

It looked so cute when we were finished.

So I kept doing it.

(Check out that length.  Wow!)

Until a friend introduced me to Chocolate Hair Vanilla Care.

This blog is written by an transracial adoptive mother

of a sweet little girl named Boo.

Since reading this blog I have realized...

I can do her hair myself.

It doesn't have to be painful.

There is no one perfect way.

Since we have started a new hair regimen we have tried:

Free hair

Two Strand Twists

 And Fancy Hair 

(actually a veil style into puffs)

(I know I need to work on parting.  lol!)

Katie loves our new routine.

She loves that it is almost pain free.

She loves that we can take our time.  

Our routine is simple...

Wash with a conditioner wash aka. co-wash

De-tangle while the conditioner is in.

 Hot oil treatment with organic coconut oil.

Comb out with Kinky Curly Knot Today. 

Style! 

We love to style with the Kinky Curly Curling Custard 

and the Gloss Pomade.

We get our products at Target.

Thank you Rori at Chocolate hair/Vanilla Care.

No more salon for us!

This makes my baby girl happy.

Happy baby girl = Happy momma.

 

 (ETA:  This is how we do Katie's hair.  It works for us.  It may not work for everyone. Her hair is healthy and moisturized.  We are happy with this for now.  We will continue to learn as we go. As her hair grows and changes so will our routine.

Leanne

High School!  

My first baby girl.

My first love! 

It was very hard watching you walk out the door as a 

FRESHMAN.

 

This will be the fastest 4 years of your life.

Friday night football games.

Dances.

Cheerleading.

 

These 4 years are going to be AMAZING.

As sad as I am that your childhood is coming to an end...

I am so excited to be part of and watch you grow into a beautiful young woman.

You have whole world at your fingertips. 

You have a lifetime of experiences and memories to be made.

Take the world by storm Leanne.

You are going to do amazing things.

I'm so glad your dad and I get to be part of it.

We love you more than you know.

Cameron

7th Grade!

Cameron, you can not be starting middle school.

It just isn't possible.

How did my sweet, loves everything little boy become

a young man?

Cam, this year you are going to go great things.

You are going to do hard things. 

You are going to grow and learn

You are going to teach.

You are going to be a student of many new and great things.

This year you will learn to play drums.

Join the Civil Air patrol.

Learn Latin.

Read amazing literature.

Make new friends.

And so much more...

 

I can not wait to watch you become the man God has planned.

We love you Cameron.

 

 

Katie

Baby girl..... when did you grow up?

I know it was just yesterday I was picking up a sweet bundle of joy 

wrapped head to toe in pink.

You have spent every year wanting to be by my side.

This year was different.

You started 2nd grade!

You are "going to real school."

There were no tears.

In fact you didn't even want me to take you.

You rode the bus with your best friend Abby.

You are growing up so fast Katie.

I miss my baby girl.

But, I do love watching you grow.

Have a wonderful year baby girl.  

We love you...

through the stars, around the moon and sitting on a cloud.

Back again? This time for good?

I started this blog with the intentions of having an online diary of sorts.  I planned on chronicling all of our families happenings throughout the year.  As usual I started strong and slowly stopped blogging as life became busier and I didn't have the time I thought I needed to make my blog perfect.  Having to be perfect is something that I struggle with daily.  I want everything to be just right and if it's not... well, I'm not happy and I quit.  In a quest to face my issues and fix the things I need to work on I have decided to start blogging again.  I plan to pick up the day to day family stuff as well as add some of the personal struggles I am trying to face.

 

The wheels on the bus.....

One day last week we were in the car driving and we were singing songs with Katie. She was singing The Wheels on the Bus. She started adding cute little verses when she got to the end of the song. Of course the big kids wanted in on the fun too. So we all started singing a new song. I thought I would share it:

The Katie on the Bus. To tune of The Wheels on the Bus.

The Katie on the bus says I go first, I go First, I go first.
The Katie on the bus says I go first, all through the town...

The Katie on the bus says that's my always seat, that's my always seat, that's my always seat.
The Katie on the bus says that's my always seat, all through the town...

The Katie on the bus says you can't sit there, you can't sit there, you can't sit there.
The Katie on the bus says you can't sit there, all through the town...

The Katie on the bus says I don't want to watch that, I don't want to watch that, I don't want to watch that.
The Katie on the bus say I don't want to watch that, all through the town...

The Katie on the bus says It's not fair, It's not fair, It's not fair.
The Katie on the bus says It's not fair, all through the town...

The Katie on the bus screams "You're hurting my feelings and I'm about to cry!!!!"

Poor Katie. She thought it was so funny at first. The longer we sang the more upset she got. We had to stop, but I must admit it was pretty funny and it was all true.

The tale of a lose tooth....

Lisa and I had a yard sale last weekend. Truth be told it was really Lisa's yard sale and I threw some of my junk in. I had one in the fall and had forgotten that I donated all the left overs to the Salvation Army. Anyway-

While I was driving Leanne to cheer after a long day of selling our junk Katie said to me:

"Momma, my tooth is loose!?"

Which in Katie talk sounded more like: "Momma my toofh is woose!?"

That girls is adorable!

Back to the story-

I told her not to wiggle it and I would check it when we got to the gym. By that time she had wiggled it and there was a little blood. Katie was starting to get frantic and kept saying "It's all my fault, my tooth is loose..." while sobbing. She could not remember what had happened to her mouth to make her tooth loose. I called the dentist and of course they said just bring her in on Monday. I googled loose teeth and discovered that as long as there was not nerve damage a tooth can tighten back up in the gums. I instructed her to leave it alone and not wiggle it and that just maybe it would tighten back up and be fine. I assured her I would take her to the dentist on Monday and it would all be better. We were both very upset.

I called Lisa to see how puppy hunting was going as well as to tell her of the mysterious mouth injury that produced a loose tooth in baby girls mouth. Lisa my kind friend who overlooks my fear raw milk, my hatred for the word chub and many other things the average person would possibly think makes me crazy, very kindly laughed at me. "Friend" she said "Her tooth is not going to tighten back up there is a big tooth under there pushing it out to make room for her adult teeth to come in." I gasped! Then teared up. There is no way my baby girl is big enough for her teeth to fall out. I now admit I think Lisa was right. After she stopped laughing at the fact that A.) I did really call the dentist and B.) No, it never crossed my mind that it could just be falling out, gave me some sound advise. This is normal. She is growing up and it's going to be okay.

I of course had to tell my princess that it was okay to wiggle her tooth. It is okay if it falls out. I also had to tell her that the Tooth Fairy will bring her a treat for losing her tooth. There may have been a warning about wiggling teeth before it's time and how it results in no Tooth Fairy gifts. Yet another shameful parenting moment for me. I can't help it. I love those tiny teeth and wanted to keep them in as long as possible. As of Monday the tooth is still in it's spot. It wiggles a little which makes Katie happy. I am still holding onto the sliver of hope that it will tighten back up and she will have those tiny baby teeth just a little while longer. Sad, I know!

Kindergarten

It seems like just yesterday I was picking up a beautiful tiny bundle of joy from the hospital. I was wrapping her in pink blankets and clipping tiny pink bows in her soft curls. I was rocking her to sleep and wearing her in a baby wrap. Today however I took that beautiful baby girl of mine and *gulp* signed her up for kindergarten. It was so hard. I had to choke back tears more than once. As we sat in tiny chairs in the school library I imagined my baby in kindergarten playing and having a great time without me. Then I took it a step further and imagined for the first time in her life (I repressed those thoughts) Katie all grown up. Not. My. Baby. Girl. Then the tears were really ready to fall. All the while Katie talked with other kids and looked at books. She asked questions about her class, lunch and riding the bus. She is not riding the bus! Let's not take crazy here. So while I was mourning the loss of my baby she was thrilled about her future. I can not hold her back. I can not keep her from growing up. Maybe if I write it I will accept it!?

So that's it. She is enrolled in school. This doesn't mean she will be going. I am on the fence about homeschooling her. The older kids are going to school and she really wants to go too. Silly pre-school brain washed her. LOL! I am keeping my options open at this point. She may change her mind too. This is the child who only likes pre-school once a week. If that. Those who know me best (Chad, mom, Lisa) think she will be staying home. We shall see. There are several months to figure it out. In the mean time we will get ready for the next chapter in our lives.

7 years together

I can not believe that today is our 7th Gotcha Day with Leanne, Cameron and Justin. It seems like just yesterday I got the phone call that changed my life forever. It seems like just yesterday we walked into that dirty office building and looked into the tear stained faces of the three most beautiful children I had ever seen. It seems like just yesterday we were sitting across from a judge vowing to be the best parents possible. Promising to love and care for them for the rest of their lives. It really does seem like it was "just yesterday". Where has the time gone?

My precious little boys are growing bigger everyday. They are eating me out of house and home. They are playing sports and climbing trees. They are building snow forts in the front yard. They are telling me silly jokes and laughing at mine. Cameron is looking me in the eye now when he kisses me good night or gives me a hug. Justin keeps me hopping and I never know what he is going to say next.

My precious little girl is almost a teenager. She no longer lets me put her hair in piggy tails or braid it everyday. She wants Hollist*er instead of Gymbor*ee. She wants to go to the skating rink with friends instead of holding my hand while she skates around the rink. She like her younger brother is looking me eye to eye when we are standing together.

I do not understand how it can feel like yesterday yet at the same time I can not remember my life without them? I can not imagine a life without goodnight kisses, silly laughing, practical jokes, sibling fights, mountains on laundry, hearing them call me mommy, watching the succeed and drying their tears when they don't.

I do remember a time when I cried myself to sleep longing for a baby to hold, a toddler to dress and a preschooler to sing with and read books too. I mourned the thought of not having children to take on trips to the zoo, to see children's movies, to take on vacations to Disney World... I cried thinking I would never have a baby to rock to sleep or a someone to tuck in and kiss goodnight. It was a sad time in my life. I wish I knew then that the Lord was perfectly orchestrating our lives and weaving our paths to become a family. We had to experience the pain and sadness to become the family we are today. Hanging over my couch is a collage of pictures of the kids and the words "Family: A journey to forever". It completely sums up how I feel. My journey lead me to these 4 precious children. I can not wait to spend 7 more year with them on our journey to forever, as a family.

Happy Birthday Princess

My sweet baby girl is 5. Oh, my baby girl is 5. I can not believe she is 5! Is it obvious this is a bit difficult for me? You may remember from her 4th birthday how well I do when one of my kids get a year older. I take it hard. Like 2 cookies and a cupcake hard! Yep! I ate all three. I am happy to report I dried the tears and I'm back on the wagon today.

Back to Princess.... Katie turned 5 and boy was she excited. Since July I have been teasing her and asking her to please turn 4 one more time. To which she always replied "But that is bad for the law.". I don't know where she comes up with half the things she says. Chad and I went in a kissed her good night right after midnight. I whispered Happy Birthday to her and quietly sang her the song I made up for her when I used to rock her as a baby. It goes like this:

Katie, you are my baby. Your daddy's love and mommies heart.

Kind of goofy and makes no sense especially without knowing the tune. But, she loves it when I sing her "my song" and I love singing it to her.

Our day started out with a trip to the pediatrician for her check up. She needed to have her preschool form filled out, so she could go back on Monday and it was the only day they could get her in. She is now 33 lbs and 39 inches tall. She is finally on the charts and is hanging out near the bottom in the 10 percentile. We followed the very traumatic doctor visit (she got 2 shots and I delayed 2 more) with a happy meal at McDonald's with a play land. Katie played for a while and then it was off to preschool. At preschool they were learning about transportation this week and yesterday was train day. Katie got to be the engineer and she loved it. We brought cookies in for her treat since we took cupcakes in for her cheer team the night before. The class sang to her and she loved that as well. At home she had a Dora cake and opened presents from our family. It was a very low key night. The kids even ate left over pizza for dinner since it is what Katie wanted. We will be having a birthday party in a few weeks. Cheerleading is in full swing and the girls compete the next two weekends. She is so excited to celebrate again.

Happy birthday Katie! I love you sweet princess.

M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E

Mickey Mouse, Mickey Mouse....

In October Katie and I went to see Mickey, Minnie and all their friends. We left Daddy and the big kids home and took on "The World" together. We were not totally alone. We traveled with my friend Sarah and her son Adam, who is Katie's buddy. We had THE BEST TIME!!!!

Katie and I missed our family at home, but we really enjoyed the time we spent together. It was all about Katie. She was treated like (and called) Princess from the moment we arrived. Let me tell you that is just the way she likes to be treated. Like the princess she is!

We stayed at the Port Orleans Riverside resort. It was beautiful and the rooms were so nice. The resort had a great pool and many wonderful amenities. We were able to go during the free dining promotion, and enjoyed many wonderful Disney restaurants like the Coral Reef at Epcot and Tusker House at the Animal Kingdom. We also had breakfast with the princesses at Cinderella's Castle and lunched with them at Epcot. We ate with the cast of play house Disney at Hollywood and Vine at Hollywood Studios , which was definitely the most fun character meal we had. We were able to get hopper passes and enjoyed all of the parks at least once. We spent most of our time at the Magic Kingdom of course! We had a ball at Mickeys not so scary Halloween party where Katie arrived as Tinkerbelle and changed into a Princess Tiana gown. She had so much fun dancing with Donald and Daisy at the dance party. She was showing them all of her best moves. Her moves were so great that Cinderella's wicked step sisters came from across the park to watch her and have their pictures taken with Katie in her "horseless carriage" aka her stroller. Katie's favorite thing to do was to see the characters and get their autographs. She loved it!

The car ride was long, the temperature was hot and we missed daddy and "the kids".... But, it was a magical trip. I loved spending that time with my girl. I feel so blessed that we were able to afford such a wonderful trip for the two of us. These are memories that will last a life time for me. I can not wait to take her back. Next time we will all go as a family. Katie never wants to go back without her Daddy, Leanne, her boys and her Grandma Tina. We will make her wish come true.....

Here are some of my favorite pictures from our trip. I made Katie an outfit to wear each day. She had a Snow White, Cinderella and Aurora dress, an Animal Kingdom animal print set and a Minnie Dot set to wear. She also had matching bows for each outfit of course! She got so much attention in her Disney customs. She loved the Snow White dress and wore it twice. We had to save Aurora for our next trip. Get ready for too many Katie's:


We litterally dropped our car and bags off at the resort and hit the Magic Kingdom.


We stood in line to see Minnie twice. The fist night we waited in line for 30 minutes and when we got to Minnie... Katie lost her mind, threw a fit and refused to get close to her decided she wanted to see something else.


Katie loved Donald Duck. She even sang him a song about how much she loved ducks. He was so sweet and spent a lot of time with her. Most of the characters did. She loved interacting with them.


Katie loved the Pooh at Animal Kingdom. She ran to him and gave him the biggest hug. It was so sweet.


We both loved Eyore.


Snow White loved Katie's dress. She asked Katie if her "woodland friends" made her dress too. Katie said "No, my mommy made my dress." It was so sweet.



Katie loved Buzz and Woody the most of all of the characters. I must admit... I love them too! They hold a special place in my heart because my boys loved them so much when they were little. Katie dragged her big Woody doll all over the place while we were there. When Woody saw Katie with his doll he immediately took it from her and showed it to everyone. He then put it in his holster which made Katie laugh and laugh. Buzz got in on the action and the two of them were "fighting" over Katie and who she like the best. She loved every second of it! She kissed Woody on the cheek and then Buzz needed a kiss too. It was sweet. They spent about 10 minutes playing with Katie and having a good time with her. I am sure the people in line behind us were not too happy about the wait. But, they made some precious memories for my sweet girl.





Well, I think that is enough pictures for tonight. I will add some more later. There are so many cute ones I just can't stop.

Three months with no blogging....

I have been a BAD blogger. I am sure I have no readers left. I know I drop blogs I love when they do not update. Sorry!!! I have started a few posts and vow to get them up tonight. The kids are keeping me so busy.

Since blogs are no fun without pictures I will leave you with one from Leanne and Katie's photo shot a month ago. They are some of my favorite pictures of the girls.