Super Bowl 44 and Space Shuttle Launch

(Super Bowl 44)
Of course the team Bear was rooting for (Saints) Won :D
I’ll have to tell that story later….

(Space Shuttle Endeavor)
This was so awesome to watch…
A huge fire ball ascending into the heavens.
Wow!
I totally didn’t take either of these pictures, both are google images, but it sure would have been cool to watch in real life. As it was we watched both on TV only a few hours from their actual locations. :(
Its okay I did get to see the shuttles fireball from nearly 60 miles away, I could even hear it, it was pretty cool, though I know it would have been a whole lot cooler to see it up close.
Perhaps someday we will get another chance to see both events in real life.
Its possible…
@–>–Rose

Disney’s Hollywood Studio’s

Today we got rained out at Disney’s Hollywood Studio’s

(Before we ran for cover I just had to get a picture of Phil and the kids there they are standing there with the two strollers)

We had just enough time to

See the Indiana Jones show at Disney’s Hollywood Studio’s

Go on Disney’s Hollywood Studio’s Star Tours Twice, well Bear did anyway.

And see Disney’s Hollywood Studio’s Playhouse Disney show, which the kids loved!

I must say that was quite enough for today.

For the weekend we will take a break from Disney World.

We will go to two more parks on Monday and Tuesday.

I’m sure one of them will be Disney’s Hollywood Studio’s

:D

@–>–Rose

Disney's Epcot Center


(Phil, Me)

(Lyon, Bear, Fenix at Disney’s Epcot Center)

Today we visited Disney’s Epcot Center.

Can I just tell you that I really liked it.

I enjoyed walking through out the Epcot Center to all of the different mini-lands, like England, France, Japan (where we bought each of us our own set of chop sticks).

It really was cool.  I loved the way they had the “towns” set up to look like each of the different countries.  And I loved that at each different country the “cast members” were actually native to the countries they were working at.  My favorite was this young lady in Disney’s Epcot Center Norway,(I forgot to really pay attention to her name, although I was surprised that it was something like Carol maybe, I was expecting Ulga, I don’t know why) she was so cute with Lyon and showed him some sword tricks with some toy swords she was holding.  Then she let him try to do some of the tricks she had showed him with the little toy sword, after he tried she told him how well he did and that he could grow up to be a great, and this is the best part, “wiking”.  Her  ”v” sound pronounced as a “w” sound.  So cute loved the accent.  I wish I had gotten a picture.

One of the things that has most impressed me here at Disney World though is this:

Today at Disney’s Epcot Center, Lyon, Fenix, and I sat and waited while Phil and Bear went for a ride.  I sat there with two strollers and two kids, and I was nursing Fenix.  Lyon chose this moment to run off.  I had no time to gather our strewn about items because I had to catchup to Lyon fast or possibly loose him forever.  So I hustled after him, slightly worried about my open bag and strewn about items, but more worried about losing Lyon.  I finally caught him brought him all the way back to our strollers and our stuff when he got away from me and ran off again.Well let me tell you, I had my camera sitting in an open pocket of my back pack, sitting in plain sight for the whole Disney Epcot Center world to see.  It sat out like that for a good ten fifteen maybe even twenty minutes, and nobody stole it!!!  I was impressed and awwed.  Its pretty sad that I felt that way (what has this world come to) but I couldn’t help but worry.  Afterall it wasn’t that long ago that I had my last camera stolen form my purse when it was NOT in plain sight, and it was at a family party!!!

So yes, I was very impressed by the people at Disney’s Epcot Center for not stealing my stuff.

:D

@–>–Rose

Disney's Magic Kingdom

I just rocked my baby to sleep with her head on my shoulder and I could hear her ever so softly snoring. :) It sounds like very gentle purring. I could have held her all night like that, but it wasn’t to be. Lyon got out of bed searching for the sippy cup he dropped out of his bed and when he couldn’t find it he asked me to. I couldn’t find it either, so I told him we would look for it in the morning. I told him to lay his head on his pillow and close his eyes and go to sleep. He told me he needed me to help him close his eyes. So I went and lay down next to him and put my hand over his eyes, when that didn’t get him to sleep I just pretended I was asleep and stopped replying to his queries. Soon he started snoring, but not because he was asleep, no, he was pretending because Bear was snoring loudly next to him. It was hilarious listening to Lyon trying to mimic the sound. There is no way to type it accurately :D

Its been a long day, a very long day!  My feet hurt, my back hurts, I have a varicose vein that feels like it is going to explode.  But now that all the kids are sleeping soundly, it was totally worth it.

Even though we were at Disney’s Magic Kingdom and we only met Pinocchio, and not Mickey Mouse.

Even though I really wanted an ice cream cone from the ice cream parlor at Disney’s Magic kingdom and I didn’t get one.

Even though I was practically falling asleep riding on the bus to our hotel from Disney’s Magic Kingdom.

Even though we didn’t get to go on Splash Mountain at Disney’s Magic Kingdom!

Even though we missed the final show at Cinderella’s castle and all the parades at Disney’s Magic Kingdom.

And even though we didn’t get a single picture of our family standing in front of Cinderella’s castle at Disney’s Magic Kingdom.

We had a really MAGICAL time ;D

@–>–Rose

Disney's animal kingdom

(Bear Lyon Fenix and me)
Today we went to Disney’s animal kingdom it was a learning experience.
I didn’t bring enough snacks and I brought to much extra clothes.
Tomorrow I’ll know better.
We slept in this morning, having had such a late night last night, and it was pouring rain outside. Luckily I had packed ponchos that I bought for 50cents a piece. We didn’t leave our hotel to go to Disney’s animal kingdom until around eleven AM. We got all packed up and bundled in our ponchos and were on our way on the Disney’s animal kingdom bus, awesome. When we got there a lot of people were leaving the park which surprised me until I realized it was nearly lunch time so people were probably going out for lunch or heading to another park. (I noticed that most of the people leaving were soaking wet)
We ended up being very blessed because by the time we got inside Disney’s animal kingdom and decided on where to go first it stopped raining and the sun came out just long enough for our ponchos to dry. (or at least get as dry as they can get amid the humidity)
So our day was cool rather than scorching, and the park was nearly empty so we were able to just walk on to every single ride we went on. No waiting!!!
One of the things I noticed about Disney’s animal kingdom were the birds. They were everywhere and they were not afraid of people at all! When we took a break to eat lunch they sat there and stared at us, they had very menacing looking faces.

When we got up to leave the birds took over our lunch spot. Seriously we had hardly stood up before they were upon our crumbs! It was a bit creepy. Fortunately the boys weren’t scared, Lyon even tried to chase after them and Bear wanted to feed them the crust of his bread (I wouldn’t let him though because I figured they would take it as an invitation to take our food right out of our hands.

We went and saw the 3D Bugs life movie which not only woke Sissy up from her slumber, it terrified Lyon. Poor kid was bawling before the end. :( Phil wouldn’t take him out when I told him to because he knew it was almost over, it turned out better that way because Lyon saw the scary guys get taken care of. So he wasn’t traumatized, phew.
The best part of the day was going to see the Lion King show. It was fun and interactive, I enjoyed it just as much as the kids. Sissy sat mesmerized by the colors, songs, and dancing.
:D
I wish we had gone to see the Nemo show. And I wish we had gotten Bear and Lyon the Mickey mouse jungle hats that Bear begged for the entire time. (Practical hats and Mickey ears are the only kind of souvenir we plan to buy for them) Fortunately Bear and Lyon were unbelievably well behaved when we told them no to buying everything. They didn’t even throw a fit when we ate hotel made PB and honey sandwiches instead of going to one of the parks restaurants.

(Fenix (Sissy) and Me.  Look at all of those white birds in the trees behind us)
I think today was a success.
Tomorrow will be even better, we just need to decide which park to go to.
;D
@–>–Rose

Flight to Orlando Florida

I’ll tell you this much,
at one point I thought it would be so easy to shoot myself and put myself out of my misery.
Don’t give me that shocked gasp, you know its gone through your head at least once when your child is throwing a tantrum.
Okay, but seriously.
The flight to Orlando Florida wasn’t all that bad.
I would never do something so completely irrational and permanent, so don’t work yourself up and get all intervention on me ;D
Lol!
I am just so grateful to be here and that we didn’t loose anyone. As difficult as kids can be sometimes, I would never give them up, or wish them away. I just love them way too much.

That being said, I will tell you that having a duffle bag full of activities and snacks was the best idea I could have had.  It was a definite sanity saver.  I just think that next time I won’t bring quite as many snacks and I will pack the activities so they are easier to access.

The majority of the activities I had came from the dollar store.  I had learning books, a couple of science books, some colorful note pads, stickers.  The stickers kept Lyon busy for close to an hour!  Bear liked them too but I never got to help him with the foam letter and number stickers which I just know he would have loved.

The hardest part of the whole trip was tending to Lyon when he was so tired and couldn’t get comfortable enough to take a nap.  Poor little guy.

The important thing is that we made it and we have many days to play before we have to go on another airplane. :D

Preparation, preparation, preparation.

This week and part of next is going to be a little different.

I am taking you all on a trip to Florida.

So get ready, we are packed, lets go.


(Yep those are all the bags we are taking with us, for five people!)

Today we fly on an airplane with three kids.

We are outnumbered my husband and I.

We’ve got to keep these children calm and happy for the next 12 hours of travel.

How will we do it?

Right now i feel pretty confident that we will be able to survive.

How?

Preparation, preparation, preparation.

I have gone to great lengths to prepare for this. (this first part of traveling anyway)

I have gathered together multiple activities to keep them calm and happy.

Fenix may be another story.

She is only 8 months old she just wants to crawl around and explore so she may or may not pose more of a challenge than my two boys.

I have packed, in a duffle bag, my carry on with:

flash cards

“guys”

science books

baby books

coloring books

face cards

snacks

etc…

we will survive unscathed I am sure of it.

I may be telling a different story in 12 hours though, so be sure to check back tonight ;D

@–>–Rose

Bananas for Beauty

 While on the subject of bananas,

Did you know that bananas can really help with dry skin?

Oh yeah, you can make your own banana facial.

Want to know how?

Well besides the obvious, mash the banana and put it on your face, HERE is a link to a great site that will show you just exactly what you can do with a banana :D

Enjoy!

@–>–Rose

Eat your fruits: Bananas

 

I like bananas.

My sons like bananas.

My daughter likes bananas.

But.

My husband hates bananas.

I don’t understand why.

According to him, he had too many when he was younger and so he just got sick of them.

I get sick of things sometimes when I eat them too much too often, but after I stop eating them it doesn’t take long for me to want to eat whatever it was again.

 So I always think that he will start liking bananas again each time I offer him one.  But that has yet to happen.

Bananas are a good source of Vitamn B6, Potassium, and Vitamin C.  They are loaded with carbohydrates and have no fat whatsoever :D

I like to eat them just before they start to turn brown, when they still have just a hint of green at the stem. 

They are sunshine yellow and curve into a smile.

No wonder bananas make me feel happy :D

google image

@–>–Rose

Chores: keep it clean

I don’t know about you, but I have a really hard time keeping up with the chores there are to do around my house.

I have finally devised a plan that works for me, and maybe it will work for you too.

I made myself a chore chart.

Simple as that.

Each day has a specific room that I can “deep clean”.

For example:

Monday: Kitchen

Tuesday: Bathrooms

Wednesday: Living room

Thursday: Bedrooms

Friday: Kitchen again

Saturday is just a quick tidy of all rooms and

Sunday is a day of rest so I try not to clean unless absolutely necessary.

In addition to each room, I have other things that are necessary to do almost daily and those include:

Laundry

Dishes

Sweeping

Wiping down kitchen counters

and general tidying up other things such as toys, papers, shoes, and coats.

This chore chart keeps things organized in a way that keeps me from getting overwhelmed.

Nothing makes Monday harder than waking up in the morning and feeling completely and totally overwhelmed at the huge amount of chores that lay ahead of you.  Knowing that I have a plan and that it will only be necessary to ”deep clean” one room each day makes it just that much easier to get it done.

How do you make doing chores easier at your house?

Do you find yourself so overwhelmed at times you throw up your hands in defeat and not get anything done?

@–>–Rose