A Princess gets a makeover.

We couldn't get breakfast with the Princesses for M girl (you have to reserve up to 180 days in advance!! OOPS!) So we decided that a princess makeover at the Bippity Boppity Boutique in Downtown Disney was the way to go. When I first got online to check it out, it too said about making reservations up to 180 days in advance, so I was quickly discouraged and decided to not even bother. I was sure they were booked solid. My mother in law is from New York and she was determined to try, so I said "Go ahead!" She called the night before and said "Hi, I would like to make reservations for tomorrow." I honestly chuckled to myself at how ridiculous we must have sounded but to me surprise she looked at me and said "10 am or 6 pm??" WHAT!?! So we took the 6 o'clock. When we arrived at the massive disney store we went straight to the back where a fairy God Mother booked M girl in, and gave her a Royal Invitation and a pager. She went on to tell her that she was on her way to give Lucifer (Cinderella's cat) a bath, and that it was the least favorite of all her jobs. M girl still talks about that, she enjoyed imagining what that would be like. We went on browsing the store until she was paged to begin her make over. 
She decided that she would be Ariel. Over the past couple months Ariel has become her favorite princess. She has never even seen the Little Mermaid, but she is into mermaids right now, so it makes sense I guess. They gave her the option of Ariel's wedding dress, or her mermaid outfit, and of course she chose the fin...the two piece I might add! I just knew D would be thrilled with her selection. :) (He actually didn't mind.) They got the dressing room all set up for us in advance, and then when we got to the door it was horrific to discover that it was LOCKED! Yep, locked! Good thing M girl knew the "magic words" and upon her "Bippity Boppity Boo!" her fairy god mother was able to open the door! *shew* She got dressed, and we were ready to begin. 

When her fairy god mother came back over she knelt down and said "my head fairy god mother has requested that you be brought to the Royal Window Seat! Is that ok with you Priness M girl?" M girl nodded her head yes, very excitedly. We had no idea what that meant but a disney photographer headed our way and started taking pictures of M girl as she was walking. She was snapping away, like the paparazzi! As we made our way through the store she walked the aisle way while her fairy god mother announced to the crowds, "Make way for the Princess!" "Princess coming through!" Oh my! It was absolutely magical. I cried, and M girl beamed from ear to ear. We then made it to the window seat. She was on display for all of downtown disney to see, in the display window!! How cool. We were overhearing people being turned away left and right, the god mothers were saying "I'm sorry we are booked full for the next month." We then began to realize just how cool it was that we were able to book a spot. Nothing short of a miracle. Call me super spiritual if you must, but Thank you Jesus for a wonderful experience. I asked the god mother how we were picked for the window seat and she responded, "we just select at random." Again, Thank you Jesus! Very cool! :) 
Over all, M girl LOVED this experience and it was well worth every penny. And it was A LOT of pennies. I'm confident that she won't ever forget it though. Here are a few pics...ok a lot of pictures. She is just too beautiful to only share a couple! 

Getting ready...

Add some make up...

and pink princess hair...

some serious beauty right here...

Princess sash on...

add "fairy dust" aka glitter (that we are still finding on us days later!) 

We had our own personal photographer through out the entire make over, and then headed over to guest services for a 15 minute photo shoot where we were then able to select 4 of our favorite poses! We ended the evening with dinner at T-Rex's a fabulous/fun place for kids...ok, adults too! It's very cool, and the food is delicious! 

"Mommy! Mommy! Watch me!"

Well "Family Vacation 2012" has begun! We are in Orlando, Florida having a blast! So far everything has gone exceptionally well. The 12 1/2 hour drive here was just supernatural. If anyone has ever doubted the existence of God I will be more then happy to tell them about our drive to Florida with 3 kids, ages 5, 2 and 5 months. It was nothing short of a miracle...we had not one melt down or tear. I'll give you a moment to let that sink in...
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Ok, we hit Sea World yesterday, and it was fabulous. The kids absolutely loved it, and they did so well! I'm so blown away by M girl this year, she has grown so much. She used to be my timid kid that wouldn't try anything but yesterday she hit every ride, even a roller coaster! GO M GIRL! :) She won't ride the rides with me though, only D. I remember when I was little and I always rode every ride with my dad, dad's just make you feel safer. That's a cool thing. I love watching the bond between M girl and D, it reminds how blessed I (and my kids) truly are. He's nothing less then amazing. Anyway, we made it to 3 o'clock yesterday in 92 degree Florida heat, without naps before we had a melt down. We went to see a show and Batman's slushy wasn't quite cooperating with him, that didn't end well. While he was laying on the ground screaming some Dad with older kids turned around and gave me a bad look. I wanted to back hand him in the face for his glare, but instead responded with, he's 2. It's hot. It's 3 o clock in the afternoon. He turned around without saying a word and I was glad he did. Why do people do that? It's parent code...don't ever look/stare at other people's kids melting down, especially in an amusement park. It happens. Over all I was very happy with the way we handled ourselves. D and I knew meltdowns would probably occur, so we determined before the day began to stay positive and happy. We did it. We didn't once snap at each other, and the way all the other spouses around us were going at it by 1 o clock, I realized we had really accomplished the almost impossible. 


The place we are staying is fabulous. We have a 4 bedroom home in Orlando. We are away from the hussle and bussle and it's nice and quiet. We have a pool and spa in the back yard, and I love it. Especially right now, the kids are inside sleeping and I am writing typing this pool side while working on my tan. Fabulous. I said when we got here that I would love to have a pool like this in my backyard. Then the kids got in and all I heard for 3 hours straight was "Mommy! Look at me!" "Mommy! Watch this!" Yeah, i'll pass on the pool. I had to watch M girl do 50 "different" kinds of jumps in the pool, ninja jumps, princess jumps, seal jumps, the list goes on. They ALL looked EXACTLY the same. Oh my. Now I know how my mom felt when my sister and I always made her "rate on a scale from 1-10" our handstands. (Mom, if you are reading this, I would like to apologize. It's so annoying, yet you were a great sport. I'm trying to be like you.) 


Tonight we are heading to get M girl a princess makeover at the Bippity Boppity Boutique. I can't wait. After that it's off to dinner with the dinosaurs...


Now to close my eyes and work on my tan...hopefully I will get some pictures uploaded tonight to share with everyone. :) 

Farts ARE funny.

Farts are funny. They just are. I mean seriously, what momma out there doesn't let out at least a little chuckle when their little one(s) "rip" a good one? I know I do. In fact just this morning, Batman let one loose on the bar stool at breakfast. He was pushing for it, and between his force and the wood of the stool, he made some magic. M girl's eyes looked as though they would pop out of her head, and Batman reaches out to high five her and says, "wow! Dat was a big one!!" I love the giggles and happiness that filled our kitchen at that moment. I leaned back against the counter, breathed in my fresh cup of coffee, took a sip, and for a moment escaped to some perfect world. Just for a moment though, the gas continued to come and as you can imagine eventually led to the first diaper change of the morning. Now, don't get all "mommy judgmental" on me. Yes, Batman is still in diapers! I've been trying! However, if you feel as though you could get the kid to go on the potty, I wouldn't stop you from trying, Good Luck. He goes when he wants to go, and if he doesn't want to go, forget about it! Who can blame him really? It's the one area of his life that he has complete control over at this stage in the game, and he knows it. Let's face it, I can make him sit on the potty for hours but, if he chooses to hold it, he wins! I know he enjoys it because he smiles, constantly. It's like dangling a doughnut in front of my face all day long. Every diaper change "mommy, dis is soo distusting. I should do dis on da potty." It would drive me insane if I let it, so I have resolved to ignore it all together. Bad parenting method?? Perhaps. If he's 10 and still in diapers, I will consider therapy. Anyway, back to farting, er...passing gas. My mom hates the word fart. I can feel her evil eyes, and disappointed face glaring at me every time I type it. A friend sent me a hilarious story this week. Long story short, her daughter thought she had peed her pants since she saw a little wet spot in her unders. (she's prego! Cut her some slack!) Her little one was moved to almost tears, saying "mommy, it's ok that you peed your pants a little. Next time let's just not wait so long. Ok, mommy?" Oh, how sweet! We laughed so hard over this little story, but noticed that other "well seasoned" ladies didn't really seem to laugh. That got us thinking...why do we as moms have such a twisted sense of humor? Well I guess i'm dragging the rest of you mommas down into the ditch with me. I know I have a weird sense of humor, but how could I not. If I didn't laugh about being pooped on, puked on, etc then I would probably end up in a padded room. It's life. Let's face it, we moms are pros at diaper explosions at the most in-oppurtune times, singing the itsy-bitsy spider and playing catch while we ourselves are trying to "eliminate waste", the list goes on. So my advice to you today...LAUGH. Just laugh about it, because as the saying goes...sh*t happens!

A Happy Day of Mothering

We celebrated our Mother's Day this year on Saturday. It was nice, the kids gave me cards and all kinds of homemade gifts, and D bought me a chicken coop and plants for my garden. Yes, that's what I wanted. Flowers are beautiful, and of course I love to receive them, but I am a realist when it comes to flowers...they are expensive, and they die. I'm not much of a jewelry person, and when it comes to handbags, a cute Target clearance will suffice. But, the thought of fresh eggs, chickens for my kids to play with, and a flourishing garden...now that gets me excited! We had a lovely cook out with the family, and I was able to spend part of the day with my mom since she was in town. It was great. All that being said, we woke up on Sunday morning and D was getting ready to head to church (it was his Sunday to lead worship). He was also leaving that day for some training for work and would not be back until Thursday, bummer! The kids still had a few chicken pox that weren't quite scabbed over so, we stayed behind, hanging out in our pj's. D needed some clothes washed so he could pack for his upcoming trip, so I started a load of laundry. For some reason as soon as I open the washing machine and start loading it, I enter "cleaning mode". By the time I sat down on the couch at 10:30 (am) to have a cup of coffee I had finished 4 loads of laundry, unloaded, reloaded, started, and unloaded the dishwasher, swept the floors, vacuumed AND straightened the kids rooms. I took a sip of my coffee, grabbed the iPad and logged onto Facebook. Big Mistake. I was immediately sent spiraling downward into a pit of self pity. Reading everyone's status' about how they were enjoying their day, all the gifts they were getting, oh and the best part, the pictures! The pictures of the mothers with their children all dressed up and looking nice. And there I sat. In my pajamas, a headband wrapped around my wild, greasy hair, and the buzzer on the dryer going off. I was arguing back and forth in my head with myself. "Oh stop! You celebrated yesterday, today is just another day." and "Yeah, but TODAY is mother's day, and look at me. I'm disgusting and i'm working my butt off!" The kids started fighting so I logged off, and broke up the fight. I then plopped back down on the couch and immediately started reflecting. I was faced with a choice. I can be bitter, impatient, upset, and ungrateful for the day we had yesterday. -OR- I can be happy that I am able to be at home with the very beings that gave me the title of "mom", mothering them and nursing them back to health in love. I pulled out my bible and started reading and journaling. God spoke to me in such a still, loving voice and I was flooded with love and peace. 

Proverbs 31:10-31:

10 "A wife (mom) of noble character who can find? 

    She is worth far more than rubies.

11 Her husband has full confidence in her

    and lacks nothing of value. 

12 She brings him good, not harm,

    all the days of her life.

13 She selects wool and flax

    and works with eager hands. 

14 She is like the merchant ships,

    bringing her food from afar.

15 She gets up while it is still night;

    she provides food for her family

    and portions for her female servants.

16 She considers a field and buys it;

    out of her earnings she plants a vineyard.

17 She sets about her work vigorously;

    her arms are strong for her tasks.

18 She sees that her trading is profitable,

    and her lamp does not go out at night.

19 In her hand she holds the distaff

    and grasps the spindle with her fingers.

20 She opens her arms to the poor

    and extends her hands to the needy. 

21 When it snows, she has no fear for her household;

    for all of them are clothed in scarlet.

22 She makes coverings for her bed;

    she is clothed in fine linen and purple.

23 Her husband is respected at the city gate,

    where he takes his seat among the elders of the land.

24 She makes linen garments and sells them,

    and supplies the merchants with sashes.

25 She is clothed with strength and dignity;

    she can laugh at the days to come.

26 She speaks with wisdom,

    and faithful instruction is on her tongue. 

27 She watches over the affairs of her household

    and does not eat the bread of idleness.

28 Her children arise and call her blessed;

    her husband also, and he praises her:

29 “Many women do noble things,

    but you surpass them all.”

30 Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting;

    but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.

31 Honor her for all that her hands have done,

    and let her works bring her praise at the city gate.

So, I decided to be thankful. Thankful that God has blessed me with these incredible little people I get to mother. Thankful that I am blessed with an incredible husband who honors me day in and day out, not just on special occasions. I realized that sacrificing for my children, and caring for them, shows them this love I have for them is unconditional. I also realized that stopping myself, and taking the time to sit down with God's word and my journal is the very thing that will allow them to one day "arise and call me blessed". So we cuddled. Me in my pj's, Batman and lil Pip in their diapers, and M girl in an oversized T shirt. We watched The Little Rascals for the 12,323543,4356436th time, and it was probably my best Mother's Day yet. :)  

Chicken Pox. (enough said)

I've been a mom now for almost 6 years. (That's just crazy when I think about it!) From the day M girl was born I've always had this fear in the back of my mind, you know, one of those fears that you think, "Oh my! If this were to happen, what. would. I. do?!" As i'm sure you have guessed from the title of this blog, that fear is WAS the chicken pox. The thought of itchy red bumps everywhere, fevers, and trying to convince little fingers to not scratch, it was very intimidating. However, I am a living testimony...there is still life after chicken pox!! :) And actually, it's a dang good life, knowing I will never have to deal with them again. (Well, at least in my older two kids.) So far lil Pip has seemed to dodge the dreadful disease, I was kinda hoping she would go ahead and get it over with but, so goes life. It all started a couple Sundays ago, I thought Batman was getting a couple pimples on his face from sweating so much. Then a few more showed up on his stomach, and it hit me what was happening. Then just a couple days later M girl started getting a little spotted as well. Is it sick of me to say they were actually quite cute with all their little polka dots. :) M girl had one right on the end of her nose, I claimed that one as my favorite. She wasn't amused. So basically it's been two solid weeks of literally waking up, not leaving the house, showering (every other day...or so) and getting right back into pajamas. I had asked M girl to take the dog out one evening and didn't realize Batman had escaped with her. Yeah, I look out the window to see them standing at the end of the driveway, (Batman only in a diaper) calling the neighbor kids over to play! I was horrified. I ran to the door to call them back inside since the kids next door were making their way over, and about that time I hear, "NO! GET BACK OVER HERE!" Oh my! My poor neighbor, she is such a good sport when it comes to all of our craziness over here, and i'm sure was having a mini heart attack at the sight of her kiddos almost making contact with my infectious kiddos. *shew* That was a close one. I herded my unclean children back into the house feeling ashamed I had let them "escape"! :) D did take me to Lowe's one evening to get some plants, I needed out of the house. As we were climbing in the car he said, "Wow babe! You look great!" I blushed and replied, "well thanks, it's just a t-shirt and jeans." And of course, you know i'm thinking...I guess I can make anything look good! Then he says "yeah, but I think it's the first I've seen you with a bra on all week!" I opened my mouth to argue, but what was my argument?? It was true! So we had a good laugh and set out for the store. While eating dinner, there was a couple with four kids sitting across from us. They kept looking over at us lovingly through out the evening and commenting to their kids "yes, they have a baby. Babies grow up so fast, and soon will be as big as you!" I knew they were thinking "How CUTE! Their first baby!" Every time we go out on dates lil Pip is in tow since she is nursing and refuses a bottle up to this point. Without fail at least one person asks, "Is she your first?" Guess we still look young, that's a good thing right?? Anyway...during the course of the meal, I nursed lil Pip and while she was eating she filled her diaper up! I knew it was bad, because my leg started feeling reallllly warm. Yep, sure enough, she exploded all up her back. No worries though! I have a change of clothes in my diaper bag, I am ALWAYS prepared. Off to the bathroom we go. Long story short, Batman likes to "unload" my diaper bag, and he apparently had worked his magic at some point during the day so I was left with a burp cloth and a bib. What's a mom to do?? I'll tell ya! Remove the poop filled onesie, tuck a burp cloth in the back of the poo stained pants, and slap a bib on her to at least cover the "girls"! Poor lil Pip! I wrapped a blanket around her and returned to the table. D is staring at me and inquires about her nakedness, while the other family still watches us with their "perfect family" smiles. We end up leaving together, and as we are loading up in D's mom's red sporty Toyota Matrix (that we borrowed for the evening to save on gas), we hear "aww. I remember those days." We smiled and continued on, all the while thinking in our heads: "Don't let us fool you. The truth is, the reason our daughter has no clothes on is because our 2 year old is into everything and unloads the diaper bag on a regular basis, we have a 5 year old too. They aren't with us tonight because they have the chicken pox. We haven't been out of the house in 5 days, and we drive a mini van that honestly smells kinda funny, actually really funny." SO anyway, about those pox...we survived. I knew we would. Some days were rough, but we pulled through. Now D is gone for training for his work, so I'm on my own for four days. I'm thinking we will survive that too, but, I'll let you know-hopefully. :)

Three kids, Me, and the Dog.

I wish I could have a night vision camera in my bedroom on nights that D is either working or away. My kids have this way of knowing when he is absent, even if he sneaks out at 1 am to go to work, they know. It must be some internal instinct, it wakes them from a dead sleep, "Daddy's Gone! Get. in. bed. with. mommy." I know why they do it though. When D is home, if they come get into our bed, he can only handle it for about 5 minutes, then he hauls them back to their bed, tucks them in, and even through their tears demands them to stay. I know it sounds terrible doesn't it?? It makes me feel terrible! I hate it when it's happening, my motherly instincts rage. Not enough of course to make me get out of bed, over ride D's decision, (which would result in a fight at 2 am) and put them back in my bed...but still, I don't like to hear my kids cry. Here's the thing: I am glad he does it most nights, otherwise I would get NO sleep at all, then we would allllll suffer the next day. Now grant it, if they are really afraid, or sick he has mercy and will make them a bed on our floor, or sleep on their floors, he really is a top notch daddy. He is the logical brains of our operation. Mommy instincts have a way of making "us momma's" flat out crazy sometimes. To me, every time they cry in the middle of the night it MUST be because they have had some horrific nightmare, are scared to death, and think they might die. D says "Babe, they are fine!" I say "If we don't go now they will be scarred for life!!" (kinda) This happened just a couple weeks ago, we got into quite the argument (at 2 am) because I was nursing the baby, Batman was screaming, and D was sleeping away! I was so angry thinking it was a nightmare and he had to be terrified. D wasn't convinced. He finally got up to go check and turns out Batman woke up, and didn't like his pillowcase. :-/ Oops. Anyway, all this to say, I am WAY to tired and out of it in the middle of the night to walk them each back to their respective beds, re-tuck them in, fetch a sip of water, re-tuck them in, then be "woman enough" to walk away ignoring their cries and begs to come back to my bed. I just can't make myself do it. So instead, I deal with flying arms, legs and massive heads all night long. Let me tell you something. I love my kids to the moon and back, but when I am laying half asleep on my pillow and they throw their massive heads backwards only to land right on my face, it takes every ounce of restraint I have to not knock them to the moon and back! There has been more than one black eye, in our house because of this. (Notice the size of batman's dome, then add in a healthy dose of 2 year old little boy energy and you'll understand.) The way my nose has cracked on some occasions, I come up for air swearing that it's broken, but so far the Lord has spared me a crooked nose. He knows what we can handle. Having extra baby weight, and always wearing a pony tail is good enough, a crooked nose would probably throw me over the edge. Bottom line, I love having my babies close, as annoying and potentially dangerous as it may be I like having them next to me. I'm thinking the search for a california king starts now...

Momma said there would be days like this...

Today was definitely one of those "days" that my momma warned me about. As I am sitting here reflecting on all of the events that took place i'm not sure if I want to laugh or if I should cry. What mental picture do you have right now?? You know, of me "reflecting". I imagine myself freshly showered, cuddled on the couch with my favorite blanket, a cup of hot tea, and the lap top just typing away. *sigh* Ok, reality...I haven't showered since yesterday, i'm in sweatpants with a hole in the crotch, I have a headband wrapped around my head that makes me look like I stepped directly out of 1985, i'm on a broken office chair that has flipped me backwards and onto my back TWICE just today(!!), and I have Lil Pip going after my boob like she may never see it again in her life. So here I sit doing a one finger peck "reflecting" on my day. 

It all began this morning when Batman decided to wake up earlier then usual. I heard the bam! bam! bam! BOOM! and then a very loud "Hi Mommy!" around 6:30am. What are those bams and booms representing you ask?? That's him busting out of the baby gate I continue to put up in his doorway. I know you are wondering "why put it up, if he can just knock it down?" and honestly I am thinking the same thing right now, but in my defense...it slows him down. This kid truly is Batman, he has crazy super human strength, and by the level of his voice in the mornings, he may be a deaf Batman. I don't know. He's just loud. Really loud. So then it started, "Mommy, I wants breftast. Mommy, Mommy. I wants breftast. Otay Mommy? Mommy?" "Ok, Batman. I hear you...*yawn* lets go." I had reason to get up after all, there were Frosted Mini Wheats in my pantry. :) We had a really small amount of milk left in the fridge, so I thought "Score! Just enough!" That is until my children who eat waffles EVERY MORNING decided that they wanted cereal too. Remembering that we had some milk in the freezer (please don't even ask me why.) I gave them the last of our milk, and decided to wait for the milk to thaw. I still haven't had my bowl of mini wheats. We have a very, very cold freezer, obviously. 

Next up, homeschooling. You would think that having Mini Wheats for breakfast would make for a killer day of schooling for M girl, but, if you did think that...you were wrong. It was killer, but only in the aspect of me almost killing myself. Ok, that's an exaggeration, however, I come from a long line of exaggerators, bear with me. We managed to make it through most of our lessons for the day and then daddy came home. Things have been a bit crazy around here since D is on a crazy schedule at work right now. It's not cool...at all. He's super stressed, but handling it well, so I am trying to spoil him by keeping the kids out of his hair so he can rest. With this being said I decided to take the kids to church with me tonight and let him stay home and get some rest and quiet. (I hear those two things are very nice??) So off we go, all 4 of us in the pouring down rain. Half way to church I realize, i'm braless. No need to go back and read that last line again, you read it right. Braless. 

When we returned home D was very rested and refreshed, so what else was he supposed to do but pick on the kids of course! I was trying to have a very serious conversation with D about the fact that I was a little behind on M girls school work, and was stressed about it. All the while M girl is crying thinking her brains are going to ooze out from a tick bite she received earlier in the week and Batman is screaming that he "REALLY NEEDS TO GO POTTY!" The noise level was unbearable. All I could do was laugh. Then I quietly explained to M girl that her brains were in fact not going to ooze from her head like her father said they were, and then told Batman, that I was not taking him potty. Oh yeah, we played that game all day today. As far as I am concerned he can say his wedding vows in a diaper. No more potty songs, and pointless toilet flushings. When D and I continued our conversation about schooling, M girl chimed in and said "yeah mommy, you totally lost it today." Then began mimicking me slamming her pencil off the table. "Except you did this with the spoon!!" I know! I know! It sounds terrible, and really, it was. I had enough. I was slamming the spoon on the table just about every other syllable. Of course you know what I was saying, the usual homeschooling mom stuff. "I'm not doing school like this everyday. I will put you on the school bus with all those other kids, and you will go to school for 8 hours every. single. day!" (insert a creepy voice so they can understand how truly terrible that would actually be.) Yep, i'm not proud of it, but, I did it. At this point D and I are in tears from laughing at the impersonation and he asks "are you ok? You sure you can handle this homeschooling stuff?" Oh yes, I'm ok. Not every day is like this one, and let's face it...i'm not fit to work any other job. That is of course unless they hire braless women in sweatpants. 

Here's hoping for thawed milk by morning...xo.


*Note to self: This is what a good homeschooling mom looks like. I need to go vest shopping.