Alyssa is hilarious

Well, this morning was packed with laughs!

I had to share this Alyssa-ism from this morning! Some of you may know we've called poop a 'butt nugget' since Alyssa was born. (Sorry, TMI). So Alyssa has taken a deep liking to her stuffed lion. She sleeps with him, carries him around. This morning she is sitting on the couch with her lion and she starts sniffing. I asked her if she was ok and she says ...

"smell nugget"

and I said "did you poop?"

and she says "no, lion poop. has butt nugget"

so i'm holding back the laughter and I said "well then we should go change him, right?" and she nods yes

reaches over and pretends to shove her DONNIE up the lion's butt.

she looks at me and says "fixed nugget momma. all fresh"

so I guess from now on I should do a butt plug rather than a clean up job!

Spring Break is over :-(

so here i sit, counting down the minutes until the girls get home. you see, today was the first day back to school from spring break. we were lucky, the girls got an extra week home (so 3 weeks total). we had such a good time! i am constantly amazed at how well the kids play together. not that they don't get pissed or irritated at times but overall, they play great and actually like to spend time together. cool!

the girls have asked me several times in the last 3 weeks if i would homeschool them. i guess i always remembered homeschooled kids as the weird ones...the hermits...the ones with weird parents that didn't let them do anything with the outside world. plus, shane has always teased me and said "what will you do when it comes time to teach them algebra?" since algebra was not my strong subject he loves to bring it up. i hear now that homeschooling is not what it used to be, it is better. there is a huge part of me that would love to do it but would i give them everything they need? would i help them be successful? i don't know if it's something they really want to do or they were so overwhelmed with going back to school they just blurted it out. i guess it's something to think about and research a little.

other than that, we've gotten a weather break. we were in the 80's and hit 90 a couple of days last week. yesterday was super windy and today it's only 70. soooooo nice! we have been outside to enjoy!

other than that, it's back to the routine until summer break (may 27th i believe is our last day). i have some good activities planned for summer! of course plans are always subject to change but right now they look great on paper!

Easter Decorations

buffet table~not completed yet, i have new stuff to put in the big glass jars! those rabbits are so old, they were my grandma's and i remember then from when i was little!

my boyds' lambs and the kids' easter tree

my bunnies and glass easter basket w/ pastel lights. this is in the guest bathroom. i tried to take it in the dark :-)

this is in the formal dining room, lots of wood painted decorations like a family of eggs, old ceramic duck w/ baby ducks, etc.

Gymboree stuff!

Alyssa's Gymboree order came in today. I am really pleased with what we picked! I think she is going to look super cute in these. Well, maybe I am biased just a lil bit. I would do a fashion show but most of you know that Miss Alyssa will not stand still for pics these days!

Happy St. Patrick's Day! Random Update

alyssa wakes up daddy from his sofa siesta!

snuggle buddies!

a clean toyroom! griffin's new bins

ahhhhhhhh clean and organized! for 5 min anyway!

cassandra enjoying her clean toyroom!

alyssa is playing waitress

griffin :-)

angry alyssa in her disneyland outfit!

alyssa's new skechers! so cute and they light up!

side view! i wish they came in my size :-)

fudgesicle, i think i love you!

mmmmmmm so good! forget the brain freeze.

Cassandra's first goat show

Cassandra and Holly

The judge asking Cassandra a few questions about her goat in the showmanship class

Cassandra in her lightweight meat goat class

Cassandra and Holly in the Showmanship Class

In the lineup!

well cassandra had her first goat show for 4-H the day before we left for disneyland. she did pretty well for her first time. she showed in 2 divisions. one was lightweight meat goat and the second was showmanship.

holly did ok in the lightweight division, she came in 8th (which was not last place) and for showmanship they only pick 1 winner, they do not place the rest. holly has a lot to learn, she kept jumping up on cassandra, wouldn't brace properly for the judge but cassandra held it together well and did a good job! everytime holly did something right cassandra would bend over and kiss her nose. that got cassandra a lot of attention after the show. she had at least 3 people come up to her and tell her how well she did and how much the loved that she loved her goat so much.

the big show is in april...i hope we're ready! holly got a tune up while she stayed with my friend/cassandra's 4H leader. she doesn't jump up anymore ;-)

disneyland pics

cassandra and darth maul

he kids and tinkerbell and silverleaf

disneyland....and more disneyland

one of the bronze fairy statues in the new "pixie hollow" section in disneyland

in front of the "celebrate with us" banner

shane and goofy and kids on main street!

goofing around

griffin and savannah and stitch

Disneyland pics galore!

griffin and savannah with minnie in california adventure

dee, griffin, cassandra and savannah on the monsters inc. ride

the big kids and lightning mcqueen and mater!

alyssa was mesmerized by this waterfall near the grizzly mtn river run ride!

life is good!

Disneyland Pics

Disneyland Pics

Cassandra at the Princess Breakfast

Griffin at the princess bfast

dee, me and the kids our first day together at disneyland

the kids after waiting 45 min for dad to buy the tickets to get in

Disneyland day 5

well! we made it to day 5!!!!!!!

we had a great day! the weather was gorgeous! a lil chilly but gorgeous! the girls got to ride splash mtn 3 times :-) i rode it once and loved it as usual! we shopped, we rode rides, we enjoyed every last minute of it! i can't wait to download our pictures to share!

and yes, upon leaving the park for the last time i was the one who cried. crazy i know, it was just a great vacation! i can't wait to go back at christmas!!!!!!!

xo
susan

disneyland day 4

what a day!

we had some chilly weather and some rain! but we made it. it was mostly light misty rain with a few brief moderate rains. overall, fine! but it was chilly! 

we rode POTC, haunted mansion, winnie the pooh, astro blasters, autopia, splash mtn, watched the jedi training session, shopped a lot ( to be out of the rain ) and had a great time! 

we had lunch inside POTC at the blue bayou. alyssa slept through the entire meal. she had a great day because SHE got to meet pooh, tigger and eeyore! she wasn't the least bit afraid, she ran right up to them giving kisses, hugs and squeeling " HIGH FIVE, HIGH FIVE" we got some great pictures of her. we also saw goofy who she liked but didn't want to get in a picture with :-) we met darth vader, darth maul, jedi's and storm troopers. she didn't mind them but she wanted nothing to do w/ darth maul! one of the storm troopers didn't like cassandra's singing hannah montana pen so he threw it when she went to get a pic with him. it was pretty funny. 

everyone had fun shopping, i have to admit that nobody picked anything outrageous so that was funny (and nice). more shopping tomorrow and trying to get in the last bits of what we haven't gotten done thus far. savannah wants to ride the monorail. we need to get back over to calif adventure and do the toy story ride. cassandra wants to do tower of terror. it's supposed to be partly sunny and warmer tomorrow so i'm going on splash mtn with the girls.

other than that....still a magical vacation!

xo

susan

Disneyland day three!

well day three was full of great surprises!

we started out with an AWESOME breakfast with the princesses at ariel's grotto in california adventure! it was really cool because unlike the other character bfasts, this one you just sit down and they bring everything to YOU! so you don't miss a thing by getting up and down to get your buffet style food. the kids loved it. griffin was a big charmer with the princesses. we saw ariel, cinderella, aurora, belle, and jasmine. everyone had a great time and we got an awesome pic of me and all the kids with ariel. alyssa was adorable, she kept blowing kisses to all the princesses and waving to them.

we rode grizzly mtn river run and it was awesome! we also did soaring over california which still puts me in tears with how amazing it is. we did the muppets 3D theater experience, monsters inc, shane took cassandra on the big roller coaster called california screaming. she loved it! we went to see the stage show of playhouse disney. alyssa loved it and it is all the shows she loves to watch. truthfully, all the kids stood up and sang and danced to it. cassandra tried to say she was too big to go to the "little kid" show but she was right there with everyone else singing along!

we saw the pixar parade which had the cars characters, bugs life, toy story, nemo, the incredibles. it was amazing! the kids loved it. we also got pics of the kids with the lightning mcqueen and mater cars earlier in the day. i can't wait to see how they came out!

i got a really bad headache and sorta sick at my stomach so we eneded up having dinner and coming back to the room. disneyland was only open another hour so i don't think we missed out on toooo much LOL.

oh and i wanted to share a great story. i was in calif adventure with savannah and i was looking at stuff and she kept coming over with hannah montana gear on (hats, purses, etc) and i'd say "very cute savannah now go put it back" because we try not to buy everything in the first two days KWIM? but there was this couple....grandparents age....standing there watching her do this and laughing. i looked at them and said "i can't blame her for trying, it is really cute stuff!" and they agreed. so we're browsing and savannah comes running over with $20 and her hannah montana hat. she said "that man gave me this money and said tell your mom this is for you" and i am looking all over for this guy in shock. he popped his head around a corner and said "it's for her..." and i told him she couldn't accept his generous offer and he said "why not? is she a criminal (lol) ? i have 20 grandkids and i happen to have an extra $20 so i want her to have it if that's ok" so we thanked him profusely and she walked out of there with her hannah montana purse and a little bit of disney magic to go with it.

so thank you so much to the generous, sweet grandpa with 20 grandkids and the extra $20 to share. that meant a lot!

roll on day four! we have lunch today inside pirates of the caribbean!

xo
susan

disneyland day two!

well disneyland day two was awesome!

our weather was gorgeous, 70 and cloudy all day. very pleasent! we even had some light rain in the afternoon but it didn't stop us (or anyone else) from having fun. we rode a lot of rides, some we had never ridden before!

we did astro blasters, nemo's submarines (awesome!), pinocchio, haunted mansion ,splash mtn, small world, indiana jones, POTC, carousel, mr. toad's wild ride, storybook cruise, rode the train all the way around disneyland! we got a lot done for 4 kids and no breaks really. we got back to the room around 7:00 had baths and everyone was in bed by 8.

today is exciting, we have our princess breakfast at 9:50. we are staying over in california adventure today so we will get a lot of great rides over there too.

susan

Disneyland Day One!

Well what a great day! We started out last night very unsure since savannah had a fever yesterday. she stayed fever free all night and felt awesome this morning so off we went on our disneyland trip!

alyssa, however, had dirrhea the first part of the trip! ewwwwwww. it subsided about 3 hours from disneyland and she's been good ever since!

the kids did pretty well in the car considering the length of the drive. our start here wasn't as smooth as we are used to. we had to wait on our room to be ready. we didn't prepurchase our tickets and waited in line over 20 min at the disney ticket booth! oy vey. next time we'll pre pay like we always did before!

other than that, we are staying at a new hotel..the carousel inn and suites. very nice! we have the kid suite which has a seperate bedroom for the kids w/ mickey furniture and bedding and mickey tv. very nice! very spacious. and the walk to disneyland is shorter than staying at the grand californian.

we rode POTC, haunted mansion, had dinner, rode pooh 3X and shane took cassandra on splash mtn since there was no wait! we also rode the newly redone small world which was awesome. alyssa did great on the rides!

ok, i am off to bed. will write more tomorrow! we have reservations for princess breakfast on tuesday and lunch at the blue bayou on wednesday!

xo