Disney World

We are home and had a fantastic time!! There are so many stories to tell, I don't think I can write them all on the blog. The kids were wonderful, they had a great time and there was very little fussing the whole trip. Blake loved the rides, he rode every single one with his hands in the air. His favorites were Tower of Terror, Expedition Everest and Splash Mountain. Hallie rode everything she was big enough to ride, she loved Splash Mountain, the Goofy roller coaster and meeting all of the characters.

The lines were not bad at all, we did not have to Fast Pass many rides and were able to walk on lots of them. Some of the highlights of the trip were many, many, many knock-knock jokes told by Hunter, Blake, Brantley and Hallie. Everytime were were still for a minute, more jokes were created. Very few made sense, but they had a great time.

Another highlight was the fabulous food we ate. We had a fancy dinner at a Steakhouse and all of the kids were fantastic. They behaved very well, ate all their dinner, and stayed up way past their bedtime and never complained. We also ate at the Whispering Canyon Cafe, it was so much fun! The kids got to be loud and silly and no one cared. They got to yell for ketchup and everyone is the resturant brought their ketchup to our table. Then they got to bring our ketchup to someone else's table when they called for it. We celebrate Hallie and Brantley's birthday on several different days, and on the last night both got birthday cakes.

Too many stories to tell, I'll post more of them later, but here are some of the pictures.

The girls at their birthday dinner...

The boys on a Star Wars speeder..

Hallie with Snow White..


Blake with Goofy...

All of us at dinner...



More pictures and stories to come!

Walt Disney Day 1

I'm not going to post much, we are all anxious to get back to the parks this morning. We are having a great time and all of the kids have been fantastic. Here are some of the highlights from day 1.

7 Minutes

When was the last time you got into an "yes it is"/"no it is not" argument with a kid? For me, it would be very recently. We were on the way home the other night, when Hallie asked how much longer until we get home? It was about seven minutes so I told her so. She then replied that seven minutes was a long time. My immediate response was "no it is not". She said, "Yes it is". I said "No it is not". You can see where this is going. Over and over we repeated our statement. I even tried the old Bugs Bunny sneak tactic by saying "yes it is", hoping that she would say "no it is not" so that the game could end, but Hallie was too smart for that. She thought that I had gotten confused and said the wrong thing, so she corrected me.

Seven minutes later, as we were pulling into the garage, I finally get the last word in with a resounding "no it is not", however Hallie had made her point, whether she knew it or not. The point that she made was that seven minutes IS a long time, especially when you are continually saying, "no it is not".

Our 5 Year Old Soccer Coach

Hallie has started playing soccer this year. She has had a couple games and is doing really well and enjoying it. After each game, she always asks if we won. The league that she plays in does not officially keep score, but knowing that she wants to know if we win, I keep score. After the first game, she asked and I explained to her that we had lost. She was a little upset, but said that we would win the next one. A couple days later, on the way to school, she asked me if they would win their next soccer game. I told her that I hoped so. Then, in a very strong coach voice, she asked, "Do you want us to lose?" I said no. Then she said, "You want us to win, Right?" I said yes and then it began. She launched into an inspirational coach locker room speech that would rival the greatest coaches ever. "Well, then we need to run fast. We have to run fast and kick the ball hard. We have to kick it so hard that no one can stop it and we have to kick it in the net. If the other team gets the ball, we have to chase them down, kick it away from them and kick it into the net. We can't let them score. We will score all of the goals and they won't score any. We are going to win this week because we are the best." After that, I was fired up. I wanted to go an play some ball right then. Unfortunately, we lost the next game too, but Hallie played even better the second week and tried really hard. She even kicked the ball out of the pile of kids a couple of times and started to kick it toward the goal. We will get that win sometime.

Here are a couple of pictures of the little soccer dynamo in action.

Andrew

I know I have a lot to catch up on after Hallie's birthday week, but I have to share this story while it is still fresh on my mind.

Last night about 3 am, we woke up to Andrew screaming. He usually cries out about once a night and we just let him go back to sleep, but last night he kept crying and crying. So I went upstairs to try and calm him down. When I got up there, he had taken both his shorts and his diapers off. I found the diaper and it was dry, so I thought we were okay. I took him downstairs to get another diaper and when I turned on the light, I found that he had dried poop all over him. It was in his hair, on his face, all over his legs and pajamas and all over his bear he sleeps with. So while Chad goes to change the sheets and put the dirty ones in the wash, I have to run bath water and bathe him at 3 am. In the middle of this, Blake comes down and says he can't sleep because of all the noise. We finally get Andrew bathed and dried off and back in bed (where he screams for another 15 minutes until he falls asleep). Amazingly Daniel stayed asleep through all of this. After Chad and I trying to go back to sleep for about 45 minutes, we finally fall back asleep, and Blake comes back downstairs and says he is not tired anymore. I convince him to go back to sleep and when I wake up this morning, he is asleep on the floor next to my bed, with only one little pillow and no blanket! He is lucky I looked down before I stepped out of bed, because that would have been a big surprise for both of us!

Happy Monday!!!!

Happy Birthday Hallie!

Today is Hallie's 5th birthday. I know I have a lot of blogging to catch up with, and hopefully in the next couple of days I can catch up, but since today is Hallie's birthday, I want to write about the day she was born.

Hallie...

When Daddy and I found out we were having another baby, we were so excited.. Mommy was hoping for a baby girl, so the day we went to find out if you were a boy or girl, Blake came with us and when the told us you were going to be a girl I started crying. I was so happy. Daddy and I decorated your whole room in pink and white. Daddy even painted pink and white flowers on the walls of your room, so when it was time for you to be born, you could come home to your own beautiful room.

Mommy had been to the Doctor several times the week before you were born, and even spent the night in the hospital one night, because we knew you were coming. The night before you were born, I cleaned the whole house and then Daddy and I walked and walked and walked around the mall, hoping it would make you come sooner. The next morning I went to the Doctor and he said, "Are you ready to have your baby today?" And I said "Yes!". I called Daddy and he headed to the hospital to meet me. I called Grandma and Grandpa and they got on a plane from Charlotte so they could be here when you were born. Daddy called Poppa and Bidee and they went and got Blake from school to bring him to the hospital so he could be there too.

We waited all day and then about 5 o'clock at night, the Doctor told me it was time for you to be born. Then at 5:30 you were here. Daddy and I were so excited. You were beautiful. Daddy went to the waiting room and told everyone you were here. He went and got Blake and Blake was the 1st one to see you. He was very proud of you. Everyone else came into the room and they could not wait to hold you. Grandma and Grandpa were there, Poppa and Bidee were there, so were Uncle Brian and Aunt Dawn and Aunt Julie and Uncle Jeremy. (Sorry Jeremy for leaving you out! ) That very night, you started talking to us. You were making the cutest noises as we held you.

Daddy and I love you so much Hallie. You are a very special girl. You love everything you do and have so much excitement about everything. You want to learn and grow so fast and you are doing that everyday. We hope you have a wonderful 5th birthday.

Here is a picture of you this morning with the big vase of flowers Daddy wanted us to give you on your birthday.

Gymnastics

Yesterday Hallie and her friend Brantley started gymnastics. They had a fantastic time last night. There were about 50 girls in the gym at the same time on all of the different equipment, so it sometimes was hard for Hallie to focus but she did a really good job. They did 15 minutes on the floor, bar, beam and vault. Hallie was one of the smallest in the class, but she held her own. I think the girls are really going to enjoy it. They were busy the whole time and got to use all of the equipment. Hallie's favorite yesterday was the beam, I imagine that her favorite will be different every week. Here are some pictures of Hallie on the beam.