Forever

So it has been forever since I have thought much about my blog...  Needless to say, we have moved twice in the last year.  It has made things very very crazy around here.  Who knows when I will be caught up enough in life to catch up my blog...
But, here are a few cute things the kids have said recently, if case anyone still checks this blog. :)

The other night Katie and Ollie were fighting over a chair.  After a few minutes Ollie proposed a compromise.  He said, "See Katie, that is a compromise. ".  Katie responded with, "No, that is not a compromise.  It is a chair. ". We all started laughing so she knew she was funny.

Lily is our little ham and it is carrying over to her school....  Her teacher told the class that in their journals they needed to write a sentence and demonstrated by saying, "blah, blah, blah."  So Lily wrote in her journal 'blah, blah, blah, blah, etc...' for her three sentences.  She also has decided that it is a good idea to write 'Mystery' for her name instead of her real name on her school work.  I am not too sure how much her strict teacher will think it is funny to get all this work from a 'Mystery' child but I think it is rather funny.

Never a dull moment!

Hair this morning

Every morning I ask my girls how they want me to do their hair.  Their answers today:
Katie "Bow".  That is her normal response.
Claire "angel hair".  Angel hair is a French braid around her head to make a 'halo'.
Lily "Mary Lenox hair".  Just a simple pulled back braid.

It's fun to see how different they want their hair...  (Especially since I am a ponytail girl)
Have a happy hair day!

Claire's Photo Book

Click here to view this photo book larger

The new way to make a photo album: photo books by Shutterfly.

Last blog about vacation...

Thank you all to bearing with me in my month long journey to document our vacation from two months ago... :) While in Florida we went to Univeral Studios Island of Adventure. We went to see the Harry Potter world. We LOVED it. But before I go into that I must tell about our drive to get there.

On the way there (about a 30 minute drive total) Claire threw up. She was sick and we didn't know, until it was way too late! Then Ollie, who was sitting next to her, threw up because he couldn't stand the smell or sight. I told him to just breath deep and look away from the vomit. I was hoping to stop it... It didn't work. Ollie leaned right over and threw up all over Lily. So yes, we had all three kids in the back of the van covered in breakfast. The three adults were just shocked at first and then we all laughed (after we rolled down the windows). We were almost to the park at this point so we made a slight detour for some clean up. All three kids and their car seats needed cleaning. Have you ever tried to clean up lots and lots and lots of vomit, in a random parking lot, with only baby wipes??? I would not recommend it. So, my wonderful husband volunteered to take Claire back to the condo and stay with her while we went to the park. Huge shout out to him for doing that!!! So we got dropped off at the park and the day began with two very stinky children and a baby. We did go into the bathroom and cleaned them up at best we could but you know how that smell just seems to linger...well linger it did. :)

When the park opened we headed right for the Harry Potter part. It was incredible! The whole thing is so realistic and true to the books. We started out with the ride that is in the castle. I must say if you have ever wanted to wait in a line, it would be that one. We didn't really have a wait so Grandma and Ollie went back after just to look around. The ride was awesome! My Mom and I both loved it! Ollie thought it was too scary but he did go on it. Lily and Katie were too short. On a funny side note... I was feeling queezy from the smells in the car and was a little worried about the ride. The lady in front of me had strong (and nice) smelling perfume so I stood nice and close (no personal space for this lady) and inhaled her nice smell until I felt better. :) Then we hit up the rest of Hogsmeade. We loved every minute of it. We spent half our day just in that part of the park. Ollie got a new wand in Ollivander's. The worker was really cute in helping him find the "right" wand. We tried butterbeer. YUMMY! YUMMY! YUMMY! We had lots of fun seeing all the things in Honeydukes and the joke shop. We bought Papa an extendable ear as a thank you for staying home... He loved it and took it to work to keep on display. Then we went to the rest of the park.

 The kids really liked the Dr. Seuss land and had lots of fun there. They had a Merry-Go-Round that Katie really liked. The park also had several play areas for the kids which was nice because most rides had height restrictions. We did go on a few adult rides and our favorite was the water ride. We got nice and wet. :) When the park closed Papa came and picked us up. Claire was all better the next day. :) Thankfully it started and ended (for the most part) with Claire. :)

 Here's a few more funny things about the day:
At one point we were standing in line and a lady close to us said very quietly to someone with her, "Man, someone really stinks."
Another time I had bent down to help one of the kids (either Katie or Lily, I don't remember which). I was hit with the smell again. I stood up and said quietly (because who wants to admit that their kids stink) to my Mom, "I can hardly stand to be around these kids." Smells really get to me! My Mom told me later that I got a really funny look from a lady by us in line when I said that. :)

 Good times and great (if smelly) memories.

Jedi Training

One of our favorite things at the parks was the Jedi Training at Hollywood Studios. Ollie and Lily both did it and absolutely LOVED it. First they give all the kids a brown robe and light sabers. They teach them how to open the light saber (hard for Lily) and then they learn a little routine to do to defend themselves. Then Darth Vader comes out... The kids all take turns fighting him. It was super fun to watch! Ollie really got into it. After he defeated Darth Vader the storm troopers started to advance on him and he had to use the force to push them back. He really got into it. :) Lily was not at all scared (some kids were) to face Darth Vader. She just walked right up to him and got ready to hit him. There was one part of the routine where they were supposed to duck down to be under Darth Vader's light saber. The padowan (sp???) who was teaching them told her to duck down and then said, "Probably not necessary." It made us all laugh. :) I think the kids will remember this for a long time. I totally recommend this to anyone going...

Here's Ollie telling about his experience:
it was fun,it was so good defeating darth vader!

More Disney...

I guess I got lost after my last posts, or I just like to be two months behind on my blog, or I'm a busy mother with four darling children... take your pick, but here's some more cute pictures from our vacation. These are pictures from Hollywood Studios, Magic Kingdom (2nd day), and animal kingdom. We had tons of fun at all of them! They all have such different feels and things to see/do that it made each day awesome! Enjoy!

Thoughts:  Ollie and Lily, "Okay this fun but please hurry and take the picture."  Claire, "A princess!  She is so beautiful!"  Katie:  "Help!  A scary person is holding me!"

 

 

Teacup rides are awesome!

Watch out, Lily is driving!

Traditional castle shot...  can't really see the people but it's us  :)

Oh No!  Something is eating Ollie!

The kids love Phineas and Ferb so they were very happy to get to talk to them and get  a picture with them.

Brushing the goats in the petting area at Animal Kingdom.

Watch out, there is a rhino behind you!

Half looking at the camera... I guess that's good enough.  :)

Several more people looking...

Epcot- Day 3

Katie was such a trooper for the trip.  In this picture she was enjoying being out of the stroller and being able to practice walking.

Lily enjoying watching the fountains.  She was really excited about it until Papa held her up and she got sprayed (below).  :)

We loved seeing Mickey and friends!

Katie was okay with Mickey...

but she did NOT like Goofy.  I think it's funny we are all looking at Katie instead of the camera.

Minnie mouse was okay too.

Silly girls pretending to be asleep.

Future firefighters???

They had this little piggy bank game that you played (about saving money) and Claire just LOVED the little pig.  She wasn't happy when we had to give it back at the end of the game.  :)

Meeting a princess.  Notice how I just always call them princess.  I can't ever keep them all straight.  :)

The traditional picture with the big globe.

Ollie really wanted his picture with this guy.  I think we were in Norway.

Nothing like a giant troll to climb on or bubbles to pop (below).

Playing with the music toys in the imagination station.

We really enjoyed Epcot. It's very different than the Magic Kingdom. There is not as many rides but there is more to see and explore. The countries are really fun to walk around and see all the different things. We didn't explore the countries too much. Little hands in stores and small crowded places... I'll just leave that to your imagination. :)