ANDREW IS THE MAN!!!

We just got home from Andrew's first wrestling tournament this year. He had to wrestle 3 other boys, and he won against ALL of them!! He pinned his first opponent, and won by points with the other two!!! OH, YEA, THAT's MY BOY!! He worked so hard! I told him I am so proud of him for working SO hard!!

Sorry I haven't been around much...I'm a bit under the weather. There is so much "yuck" going around, and I think a preschooler or two(hundred) coughed on me this week...and gave me a yucky cough, sinus headache, etc. Feeling icky, but keeping on keeping on. Too much to do to slow down for long!

And, now we are off! Gotta pick both girls up from birthday parties and then we need to run to "little big city" to do a little shopping and go to a concert. One of our church college kids and her college choir have traveled all the way to Kansas from South Dakota...so we are going to go listen to the beautiful music!

um....here I am!

Sorry to all my faithful blog readers...I will try very hard to get back to updating my blog at least a few times a week. Getting back into "real" life after Disney has been hard to do. The term "Disney Hangover" really applies. This week was very crazy, on top of normal vacation make-up work...my husband was out of town. My co-teacher has had the stomach flu. I've been able to get a sub to help me out in the mornings, but the afternoon classes I've been on my own. After school, I've been on my own with my kids. It has been crazy...I think I cornered one of the dads at preschool drop-off just to talk to another adult!! But, Hubby is now home...my co-teacher came back to school yesterday afternoon. I am not the only grown-up anymore!!
I have a mountain of laundry, and a kitchen full of dirty dishes to catch up on. We don't use our dish washer very often because it just doesn't do a very good job. But yesterday, I decided I was going to use it to help with all the dishes...I opened it up and GROSS!! There was MOLD in the dish washer!! ICK! I put some detergent and bleach in the dishwasher to run it empty and see if it could clean it out. Well...the dishwasher ran for a bout 10 minutes and quit. Water sitting in the tub, won't start...nothing. We've been talking about getting a new dishwasher, but I guess this makes it a bit more urgent...no, I don't use the dishwasher very often, but I don't want a completely broken appliance sitting in my kitchen taking up room!

With the new year (after vacation!) come new resolves. I want to get back to the treadmill...back to eating better...back to cooking! Along with those resolves, I have walked over 4 miles on my treadmill this week. I'm back to doing the slim-fast more often. I think I've lost around 5 pounds since we've been back from WDW...so that's a little step in the right direction.

Hubby and I are getting ready for this Pastoral Leadership Institute. We have both written our letters of recommendation for each-other and are only waiting for one more letter from a colleague. We are planning for a trip in April to Texas. But, Andrew is not very excited about this prospect. He has started having dreams that I (his mom) is flying in an airplane, and jump out...but I forget my parachute! I have tried to assure him that I will not be leaving ANY airplanes until they have come to a full and complete stop, ON THE GROUND!!!! But he has dreamed it 3 times and wakes me up and he is just SHAKING like a leaf. He dreamed that the "yeti" was getting me one night. One thing that makes him happy about the trip is that my parents will be coming here to stay with the kiddos during the week we are away. He has 3 months to get used to the idea of us being gone for a week....which means I have 3 months as well. I've never been away from my kids except the once-yearly pastor's wives retreat I try to go to. But I didn't even get to go to that last year because the kids were sick. My brother and his wife go on trips (usually business related) quite often and our parents and my sis-in-law's mom play grandparent tag team to take care of the girls. Sometimes (ok, quite often) I envy that they have baby-sitters at the ready. They can go out to dinner, shopping, or just have some time alone nearly any time they want/need to. I am SO thankful that my parents are able and willing to come spend the week at our home with our kids so our children don't have to miss any more school...

Ok....Marilyn, you asked me to come back...I'm back, but I don't think I am making any sense! My mind is kind-of all over the place today. I guess I just emptied a bunch of my mind here...enjoy! :o)

And, since I can't go without remembering WDW...here are a few pictures!
These were some beautiful little flowers growing on a bush right outside our resort room.

Trying to pull the sword from the stone (or anvil) to become the new rulers of England!

And, our day at Animal Kingdom...

Funny story...there is a ride called "Test Track" where you are in an 'experimental' vehicle and they are taking you through road tests (breaking, cornering, bumps, acceleration, etc.). This was one of our FAVORITE rides. We rode it many times! Now, I can't accelerate in my MINIVAN without the kids yelling "TEST TRACK!!!" It is so funny! Sure to bring a smile to my face!

Disney Pics...

I have added a TON of Disney pictures to my Facebook account. If you would like to see them, JOIN FACEBOOK!!! :o) Let me know and I will add you as a friend so you can see them. It's EASY, really!!! Mom & Dad...Aaron is on FB, so he can help you out if you need it!

I'm sorry I haven't been as faithful with this blog as I used to be...but I have become rather addicted to FB!! I have reunited with old friends from high school that I haven't talked to since graduation!! Seminary friends, and current day friends. SO fun!

We're home!!

What a WONDERFUL, MAGICAL week!! We had a wonderful time with eachother, and having fun at Disney World. We are now home, and back to "real" life. Laundry is waiting, refirgerator is empty, school is calling...Hubby is even back to work already! I will write more and post more pictures when I can keep my eyes open!! Love to you all!
A

We are at DISNEY!!!

(Our Internet connection is through our cell phones, and very slow...so I will wait to post most of the pics when we get home, sorry).

We are having TONS of fun at WDW!!! We arrived Monday before noon. Spent the afternoon resting and getting ourselves settled. Then we ate dinner at Chef Mickey's, and spent the evening at Hollywood Studios. Tuesday morning we were up early for breakfast with the Princesses at EPCOT. We had planned on returning to the resort by noon for a swim, bite of lunch, and a rest. But we kept finding things to do at EPCOT...and there were nearly NO lines, so we didn't want to stop!! We had a 15 minute wait for Test Track, and most of that was just walking through the cue. We walked onto Space Ship Earth. We walked onto Living Seas with Nemo and Friends. Sat in the front row for Turtle Talk with Crush, where Andrew became the "MiniMan" of the hour...talking with Crush and asking/answering questions! Such fun! Finally around 3, we did get back to the resort for a quick swim. When we got into our room we found a fun surprise!! Our "Mousekeeper" (housekeeping in Disney) had made us a fun scene on one of the beds using the kids' stuffed animals and towls. One crocodile towel was trying to eat one of Andrew's frogs, and Abbie's cat and panda were taking a ride in a canoe! Fun!

After a rest we went back to EPCOT, where we used our only Fast Pass to ride Soarin'. We enjoyed it, but my fear of heights kept me from really getting into it. When Abbie leaned forward to see what was below her, I nearly came unglued!!! No fear in that one!! We were able to catch the firework show "Illumi-Nations" but didn't have a very good viewing place, so we are going to try again on Friday so we can SEE and hear all that is involved in that firework show!

Today was a fun day at Animal Kingdom (I'm not even going to try any more pics tonight...they take FOREVER, and I want to go to bed!). We saw the Lion Kin Festival and Nemo the Musical...both were AWESOME! Expedition Everest was a fun ride! We also got to go on a safari and see all sorts of animals. It only rained for a bit, while we were waiting for the safari, and that was covered, lucky us!

Tomorrow we are off to see the Magic Kingdom and have breakfast with Pooh and his buddies.

Hope all is well with all of you!

Today we slept in a bit and got to the Animal Kingdom around 10:30. We got a Fast Past for Expedition Everest, and headed out across the park toward the Safari ride. We were able to "walk-on" the Safari. When I was putting the stroller into "stroller parking" it started raining, so I put the rain-flap on it, as well as a poncho cover the rest. Unfortunately Warren's jacket was hanging out one side and I didn't realize, it got a BIT dampish. Sorry babe! When we were about to board the ride, something went wrong and they kept sending the vehicles to the other stop, don't know what was going on there, but we ended up waiting about 15-20 minutes...I know, NOTHING compared to what MOST people wait, but it was frustrating to be so close, and not be able to get on. Turned out ok, because by the time we got on and rode, the rain had nearly stopped. Just the occasional drizzle for the rest of the day. We went back across the park, grabbed some lunch and headed to Expedition Everest to use our fast passes. Bethany was too little, so Warren took Andrew and I waited with the girls. When they came out, I took Abbie and Warren waited with Andrew and Bethany. It was a lot of fun! After EE, we were able to catch Nemo, and then hit the perfect time for a trip across to another part of the park to see Festival of the Lion King. I have to say that the two musicals were my favorite part of the trip so far!!

After the Animal Kingdom, we went to Whispering Canyon which was fun. The servers are just plain silly. It is in the beautiful Wilderness Lodge, which I have wanted to see FOREVER! Unfortunately, I had a bit of a tummy ache and didn't take any pictures...something I already regret. Now we are resting in our hotel, kids are bathed, and ready for bed! Night all!!

Tomorrow...MAGIC KINGDOM! We are having brunch with Winnie the Pooh and all his friends at the Crystal Palace.

Merry Christmas!! Happy New Year!!!

Christmas eve was here, and is gone. Christmas day was here, and is gone. New year's eve was here, and is gone. It is now New Year's Day and I'm finally making myself blog!! I'm sorry I have been away from the blog for so long. Busy with church, family, and getting ready for our BIG trip!!
We went to Wichita to be with my BIG family from Christmas day to Saturday. We had nearly 50 people crammed into my brother and sis-in-law's home to celebrate with all my cousins (spouses and kids), aunts/uncles, Grandma and Grandpa. It was so wonderful to see everyone!!! I promise to get pictures on here someday. Right now they are still on my camera.
Since we've been home I've been working hard on getting all the supplies and things for my sub and co-teacher to handle things at preschool for the next week and a half while me and the fam go to meet Mickey (and the princesses!). When I'm not getting things ready for preschool, I've been packing! I've never packed for a trip like this before. We've always driven to our destinations, which have always been to visit family. We don't have to take bedding, but EVERYTHING else, and the kitchen sink...at least that's how it seems! I'm up to three large suitcases and two small carry-on type suitcases. Plus each of the kids will have a back-pack of "stuff" to keep them busy on the plane. How to pack for Florida in January...your entire wardrobe would be about right. It can be as warm as mid-to-upper 80's for highs, and as low as 20's for lows...so yea, pretty much everything! I'm planning t-shirts, jeans, & sweatshirts for mornings, loose the sweatshirts as it warms up, and possibly change to shorts if it gets that warm. We'll have to see. I did weigh my big suitcases this evening and was very excited to find out that they only weigh 30-35 pounds each!! I do have a FEW things to add, but I have a 15-20 pound cushion right now! I could cram more into them and loose one of the small suit-cases, but this way I will have room to bring home a souvenir or two. :o)
For now, I'm off to bed. Merry Christmas all!!!