Disney Diva...Not

Okay, Disney Diva I am not. I do not claim to be, nor do am I really even a Disney fan. I would choose Universal or Sea World hands down, every time, and twice on Sunday over the Disney parks. However, it is required by the parenting gods that be that we visit the Magic Kingdom. I mean, how can you not if you have little ones, especially little princess ones who love nothing more than to dance around and sing at the top of their lungs “Let It Go”, “Part of Your World”, “Be Our Guest”, and countless other Disney movie tunes. 

So this weekend we embarked on our 3rd Disney adventure with children. I have personally been to Disney over 20 times in my life. (I am lucky enough to have a dear aunt and uncle that have lived in Orlando my entire life.) But being the cheap, thrifty people that we are, we always try to visit The Magic Kingdom right before they turn 3. This way they are old enough to appreciate it but can still get in of FREE! So this year we went on May 3rd, the day before my youngest daughter’s 3rd birthday. 

Now I am an extremely organized person. I mean, I have planning notebooks for birthday parties (man do I do up some birthday parties. Check it out here). So needless to say I spent the last couple of weeks, exploring what time to be where, where to eat, how to avoid the crowds, and basically visited every “Pin” ever “pinned” about visiting Disney World. Check out my board! 

Anywho! (Yes I meant any who and not any how.) On previous trips (keep in mind this is prior to new Fantasyland and the transfer to Fastpass +), I followed the tips from Birnbaum’s Walt Disney World. 

1. Get to the park when it opens. 

2. Go straight to Fantasyland. 

3. Do everything in Fantasyland first, making sure to use a Fast Pass for Peter Pan            because the line is usually 30-60 minutes long for a 2 minute ride. 

We usually go in this order:

Meet Ariel

Carousel

Winnie the Pooh

Dumbo

Get Fast Pass for Peter Pan

Its a Small World

Mickey’s Philarmagic

Go back to Peter Pan

4. Then we head to Liberty Square, Frontier Land, Adventure Land, take the train to Toon Town (now new Fantasy Land), Toon Town (now circus), then Tomorrow Land and then we go back for a night time ride on The Jungle Cruise. Someone goes ahead in different lands to  grab Fast Passes while we are at other attractions.  

Using this method, we never waited for more than 20-30 minutes for any ride. That being said, the only characters that we waited a long time to see were Ariel (45 minutes) and Mickey and Minnie (60 minutes). We also always make reservations at The Crystal Palace for lunch in the late afternoon. That we we can sit back and relax, including coffee, while we enjoy an all you can eat buffet and the girls get to meet Winnie the Pooh, Piglet, Eeyore, and Tigger, too!

This time we did not follow this plan…don’t ask me why. I was confused by the new Fastpass + system and overwhelmed with the new Fantasyland and the significant increase of character Meet and Greets. Plus, I discovered all of these blogs and websites by these self proclaimed Disney lovers, divas, experts, and I figured that since they spent 10 days at a time (how in the hell do you afford that with a family of 4, let alone 5, 6, 7…) at the Disney parks every year that they new what they were talking about. 

Rookie mistake! Stick with what you know!!! Here’s what happened:

The Love Dare

We watched Fireproof for the first time last night. It was so powerful on many levels. While watching it I realized many things:
1. I am not the kind of Christian I should be.
2. I am not the kind of wife I should be.
3. We are not the kind of family I want to be.

As I watched God worked in my heart. He showed me how satisfied you can become if you drink from Him and fill yourself up with him.

I was saved long ago, and I have recommitted my life ....long ago. But it has been a while since I have given everything to the Lord and learned from Him and through Him. I don't study his word like I should. We don't attend church like we should. We are not being the kind of parents, mates, or family we should.

So I recommitted my life last night. I don't want to feel lonely when I am surrounded by tons of people again. I am going to drink of Him freely and change my marriage, my children, my family...my life.

1. I am starting my strengthening myself every day by reading my Bible in the morning and doing a Bible study at night.
2. I am going to do The Love Dare. We need something. It is not that we have a bad marriage or that we are on the verge of divorce. It is just that I want more than what we have, and I know that we can be AMAZING. It is a 40 Day Dare. Here is the first 8:

You can find the rest here.

3. Finally, we need to be the kind of family we should be. We are working on this in several ways. We are working on memorizing a Bible verse a week.

John 12:35-36

New International Version (NIV)

³⁵ Then Jesus told them, “You are going to have the light just a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, before darkness overtakes you. Whoever walks in the dark does not know where they are going. ³⁶ Believe in the light while you have the light, so that you may become children of light.”

I am going to help my children learn to walk in the light. By immersing them in the Word. We are ABC bible verses.  

We are also learning to pray with


Finally, I vow to join a church by the end of September, we have been in our new town long enough that is no longer new and it is time that we joined a church! We will be members some where by the end of September. Now the question is where??????????

See other ways I plan on Living a Better Life by following my Pinterest board.

Our Olympic Opening

I love the Olympics. I mean, I freakin' LOVE the Olympics! I don't really know why...maybe it is the sports, maybe the camaraderie, maybe its the tradition, maybe it represents our hopes of peace for our world. Whatever it is, we are glued to it for the next 17 days. 

So we decided to make it a big deal at our house and have our own opening ceremonies: complete with decorations, events, medals, and international cuisine. We started by creating our decorations.  

We made a border of flags that I drew and the girls colored, and then created an Olympic flag. 

Next we had to plan the events. We left this up to my 8 year old. She likes to plan and is extremely organized, so she fit the bill of our Olympic Games captain! 

We started with the trampoline jump which included a high jump and trick section! Check out my toe touch!! Yeah, I still got it!

Then we moved to the track and field events, where we had one of the youngest Olympian ever participating!

Finally, before we were driven inside by the heat, the gnats (welcome to South Georgia!), and the mosquitoes we had the soccer shoot out.

When we got inside, there was gymnastics, a scavenger hunt, and Wii Fit events! Then we had a medal ceremony, where we used every medal and trophy we have ever received from Honor Rolls, gymnastic competitions, dance, and honors days! Check out who was the Winner, Winner Chicken Dinner!!! 

Speaking of dinner: we had the traditional English Fish and Chips and then I prepared an English trifle.

For the fish and chips:

5 white potatoes

3 flounder or other firm white fish fillets

Flour

Salt

Pepper

Garlic Salt

Seasoning Salt

Butter

Milk

Olive Oil

Canola Oil

Peel the potatoes and slice into thin strips. Place on baking sheet. Drizzle olive oil and toss. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, seasoning salt, and garlic salt and bake at 400 for 20-25 minutes. 

For the fish, cut the fillets into 1-2 inch strips. Drag through a butter and milk mixture. Coat in a flour mixture of flour, garlic salt, salt, and pepper. "Fry" in a skillet with about 2 tablespoons (just enough to coat the bottom) of canola oil. Cook until brown on both sides.

For the Traditional English Trifle:

2 pints of strawberries

1 pint of blueberries

4 bananas

1 cup of sugar

1 angel food cake (just buy it out of the bakery)

Vanilla pudding, prepared as instructed on the box

Cool Whip

Slice strawberries and toss with half of the sugar. Toss blueberries with the other half of sugar. Slice bananas. Prepare pudding. Get everything ready to layer.

Cube angel food cake and layer half of it on the bottom of a deep bowl. Then layer strawberries, blueberries, and then bananas. Next spread half of pudding on top of fruit. Repeat layers and then top with cool whip. It was light and delicious!

Lessons that Stick

In the news lately, there have been countless parents that have been publicized for their disciplining tactics.

There was the father in Texas whose daughter was stupid enough to post things on Facebook about how horrible her family was:

Then there was the mother who posted on her daughter's Facebook page:



And tonight on Facebook I saw this one:



We discipline our children in a pretty simple ways. We talk and explain. We then place in time out. If that doesn't work, we take things away. And if by some reason they continue the same offense or if there is an offense that is so bad and/or dangerous, we will (gasp) spank.

However, recently I found that none of my tactics were working, and I had to get creative. My oldest daughter has recently been having trouble remembering to flush the toilet. It has gotten so bad that my maid has complained, my mother, and even our occasional guest. I put her in timeout, made her write letters of apologies, took her Nintendo DS away, and, once because she repeatedly lied about it, I spanked her.

I came to my wits end, when after I found a present in the toilet left for me by my precious 8 year old, she lied to me again about it. This came after the day before we had been at my parents' house and the same thing happened. So I got extremely creative....creative and probably a little cruel according to some people and a lot cruel according to my daughter.

After making her flush, I made her clean the toilet. I gave her Clorox wipes, a scrub brush, and some toilet cleaner and made her clean from the top all the way into the bowl. She cried and cried and I almost gave in, but then I thought about her going to third grade in August and being made fun of for not flushing the toilet and I stuck to my guns (no pun intended).

She was mad at me for a while, but my job as a parent is to teach my children lessons to help them be better people: better, responsible, and considerate people. But my job is not only to help her learn lessons but also to make sure she remembers these lessons. Not just the little lessons about flushing the toilet but also the lessons about not doing drugs and being kind to others and waiting for true love before having sex.

So yes, I made my kid clean our toilet, but hopefully that lesson, along with all of the other lessons, will be a Lesson that Sticks.

Talk Early, Talk Often

Ever since I became an adult (even before I had my own kids), I have been a proponent of talking to your kids about alcohol, sex, drugs....whatever might affect them and cause them to make choices they will have to live with for the rest of their lives.

Today I watched "She's Too Young" on Lifetime that brought it all back to me. It was fiction but like many lifetime movies was based on a true story. It made me want to get back up on my soap box for a little while, so here it goes.

Parents are the biggest influence on their children, their lives, their choices today and in the future. If you start early, it opens the lines of communication for you to tell your child the truth about what is out there and instill in them your beliefs and why you believe them.


It was not that long ago when I was in middle school and high school. I mean it was 20 years ago, but I still wouldn't want to think of my children in some of the same places I was in....parties in the middle of fields with all kinds of things going on, places I ended up because that was where my friends went but I was so uncomfortable all I wanted to do was to go home, situations that could have ended up so much worse if just one little thing had changed.

And it is so much worse to day. Did you know that according to USA Today half of 15 year olds engage in oral sex on a regular basis and that they consider it to be the equivalent of kissing? 90% of teenagers will get drunk to the point of getting physically ill before they graduate from high school and many of those will happen before they even get to high school. 53% of the teenage population have tried illegal drugs and most of them tried something much worse than pot. Want to know something even more astonishing? 15% of children (and I say children because that is what they are) age 12 have engaged in one of the 3 types of sexual intercourse! 


Kids are going to make bad choices. They are going to live their lives. They are going to rebel. But what we teach them now before they get to the point of hating us and ignoring us is what might make all the difference in the future.

I remember when I was newly married, I went to a bachelorette party at someone's house. It was completely innocent, but we played this game where everyone told how old they were when they lost their virginity. I was the only one who was out of high school. In fact, I was 21 years old and almost through with college, and my future husband was my partner. Everyone else was in high school and in some cases middle school when they had their first time. I wondered why, so I asked them how old they were when their mothers talked to them about sex. Of the 12 women sitting around the table that night, I was the only one whose mother had ever actually had a conversation with me about sex.



Could talking have affected my choice to abstain? I don't know. And I don't fool myself into believing that talking to my girls about sex or drugs or alcohol or whatever else will cause them to abstain from it. I pray it will, but I am trying to be realistic. 

What I hope is that through my conversations with them they will come to trust me. They will know that I am there for them, and they will learn that even though I am "ancient" I did actually go through many of the same things they will. I hope they will see that actions have consequences and that we control our actions by the positions. friendships, and situations we put ourselves in. I hope that they know how special and precious they are and that every time they give part of themselves to a boy in any way sexually that they loose a little bit of that preciousness.

I am sure I will make plenty of mistakes, and I know they will. But the most important thing I can do is to start talking to them early and to talk to them often because I love them more than I could ever imagine and it is my responsibility to give them all the tools they need to live a safe, healthy, and happy life.

Birthday Fairy

I had to share this....

A friend of mine just posted this picture on Facebook:


The birthday fairy visited her birthday girl during the night! What a great idea!! I am a firm believer that birthdays should be super special days. We have signs, special breakfasts, elaborate feasts, parties done all out, and all kinds of other activities. But I have never thought of the birthday fairy.

She hid 4 single dollar bills inside 4 balloons and left pixie sticks, some "homework" books, and other gifts around her room all courtesy of the birthday fairy. I know it made the day super special!


I am definitely doing this on the next birthday!!!

Thank Goodness for Google

A couple of months ago, we came across a major milestone in my seven year old's life. She decided that she was ready to get her ears pierced. I am one of those people who think that piercing should be one of those special "coming of age" things in a child's life, so I waited until she asked about getting her ears pierced.

"What had happened though" was this...
She is part of a competition dance company, and  not only do they have a certain kind of costume, tights, shoes, and makeup to wear, but they also have a certain king of earrings. For the last year, she has worn clipons and has complained the whole time. Almost to the point of causing me to go into complete insanity! After an all day competition and all day complaining, we decided it was time.


 So with much trepidation we enter a Claire's store somewhere in Jacksonville, FL. She was so brave and did not cry at all. The same cannot be said for her mother, who was not at all ready for the cost of getting one's ears pierced to be close to $60!

She has been so responsible about cleaning her ears. Much more responsible than I ever was. I had to get my ears pieced 3 times because they always got infected and I would just let them grow up.

I thought that we were out of the woods when we reached the 6 week period. We bought a set of 4 sterling silver earrings, and my extremely organized daughter even set up a "rotation schedule" for wearing her earrings. However, the smooth sailing sunk last weekend.

She woke up Monday morning and told me that her earring had fallen out during the night. Upon closer inspection,  I shockingly found out that it was in fact still in but had been pushed back into the hole! Needless to say, a traumatic event incurred with much screaming and crying and pain and holding down.

As with everything, I immediately Googled to find out what to do. We tried everything but the only thing that truly worked was soaking her ear in a solution of 8 oz of warm water and 1 tablespoon of Sea Salt. It is supposed to draw out the infection, and with only one 5 minute soaking, her ear was amazingly better.

We repeated this everyday, twice a day for 3 days. We also cleaned her ear and earrings with Hydrogen Peroxide 3 times a day, and slathered it with Neosporin at night when we left the earrings out and then again before putting the earring back in each morning.

Five days out and it is oh so much better. Thank goodness for Google!

I Have a Favorite

I once saw an interview on the Rachael Ray show that really hit home with me. Not only was it extremely entertaining because it was with one of my favorite celebrities but it was also so very TRUE. 

She was interviewing Kelly Rippa and Marc Consuelos. She was talking to them about jobs, marriages, food, and of course their 3 beautiful children. They bantered about disagreements and annoying quirks and cooking disasters. It was too funny!

Then Rachael really got into it when she asked them if they had a favorite kid. At this point, I stopped all of my ADHDness and really tuned in. It was a question all parents have thought of at some point in time, but it is never something we same out loud except for "I love you all the same!"

Kelly laughed and said, "You know we've never really talked about it but I know we do. At any given time, one of them is your favorite. At this point in time, there is no doubt we like one better than the others."

"You may say 'I love all my kids the same' but you know in the event of emergency, there's one kid you'd reach for first," Kelly tells Ray.
Mark then said, "Yeah, there is definitely one I would rather be around. The truth is...he is just nicer to us. The other 2 are at that point where they are smart aleck  and don't ever want to do what we tell them. In fact they know it!"

Kelly interjects, "Yeah they know it! If they ever want something, they know to send him in to ask because we are less likely to say no to him."

Rachael asked, "Him? Who is it?"

Kelly replies, "I don't think we have ever said it out loud. But it is definitely..." Then both of them together declared, "Joaquin!"

You could hear the collective gasps of judgmental people all around the world. Judgmental and dishonest. Every parent knows that you have a favorite. Now for me, it is not the same favorite all the time. In fact on any given day, my favorite might change twenty times.

In the morning, my favorite usually rotates between my oldest and youngest child. My oldest is my favorite at that point in time because she can get herself ready to go completely by herself and always wakes up quite chipper. She comes into my bathroom fully dressed with her hair brushed and gathers me into a bear hug. My youngest is my favorite because there is nothing cuter than walking into the nursery to find her grinning at you from behind the bars of the cribs. Then you pick her up and she lays her head on your chest in her version of a hug. She is so giddy and loving.

However later in the day, my middle child will become my favorite. She will dance and sing and entertain us like we are on Broadway. She will crack us up with her antics and drama. She will then grab each of us by the face with one hand on each of our cheeks and not allow us to move until she plants a precious kiss on our lips.

So I would have to agree with Kelly and Mark, I do have a favorite. At any given point in time, I have a favorite. It changes from minute to minute. But I will admit, I do have a favorite. It is munchkin #1. Well now its # 3. *smooch* #2 just took the lead!

Failing as a Parent

There are times where I really feel like I am failing as a parent. One of those times would be right now, at this exact moment, as I sit on the couch typing this blog and surfing Pinterest while my girls play Wii instead of being in Sunday School.

We are really not consistent about going to church. Part of the reason is that we have a baby who is in daycare all day long and the thought of leaving her in the nursery for a couple of hours every Sunday instead of spending time with her breaks my heart. Another reason is that it totally messes up her schedule for the day because she doesn't take a morning nap when we go to church.

Another reason is that in the 7 years we have lived here we have yet to find a church home. We have kind of hopped around from church to church trying each one on to see if it fits. Yet, we seem to find fault with each one.

The truth is...perhaps the fault is with us. In fact, there is no PERHAPS to it. The fault definitely is with us. All of our reasons above are just excuses. Excuses for not doing something that should be as natural as breathing. But because it takes a little effort we make excuses for why we shouldn't go to church.

This week's excuse...we lost an hour and got up late. Well, truth be told no one got up late but me. I slept until the new 9 which was the old 8. Even with the sleeping, though, we could have totally made it to church on time.

This is definitely something we must work on! I want my children to love God. I want them to turn to Him in there times of strife and to trust Him. Most importantly I want Him to live in their hearts and to bless them and keep them safe.

Amazingly, despite our failures as parents, they love Him so much. Their prayers are so precious. And they are constantly talking about God living in their hearts. He is GREAT despite our failures as parents.

Even though we fail to go to church on a consistent basis, I do try to help my children grow in Him. We pray every night before bed and on the way to school. When discussing problems we talk about what Jesus would do, and I try to help integrate Bible verses into our daily lives.

I have been wanting for a long time to do a bible verse a week, and help them to memorize it and apply it to their daily lives. Alas, work, home, babies, laundry...basically excuses have gotten in the way. I have not made it a priority. But today when I was Pinning things instead of being at church I came across ABC bible verses.

This mother did what I have been wanting to do for sometime but have not made a priority. She created one memory verse for each week. She also incorporated into the letters of the alphabet. They are free, so go download them at www.icanteachmychild.com These cards can help fill in the gaps where I fail getting my kids to church and Sunday School.

I promise we are going to get better about going to church. Even though there are many things I am Failing as a Parent, going to church should not be one of them. It is our duty to raise Godly children, and it feels OH SO GOOD! Next week for sure....

The Red Elephant Must Be a Daddy!

On Saturday night, I got to go somewhere I have wanted to go for a long time...The Red Elephant. Don't ask me why we have never gone before. It is such a kid friendly place and you can't beat the pizza with a stick. It is delicious!

We were there for my niece's birthday party. Four seven year olds, 2 four year olds, and an 8 month old made it pretty interesting. I am not going to lie...I was a little apprehensive. Especially, since it was our first time out to eat with the smallest munchkin and you just never know. There could be unhappiness. There could be sleepiness. There could be screaming. There could be explosive poopies!

There was no need to worry! First there was a game room, a.k.a Kid Occupying Money Pit, which occupied the girls and my sister-in-law's wallet while we waited. There was a small bar that didn't feel like a bar where we could sit and wait without the fear of someone quoting Reese Witherspoon in Sweet Home Alabama, "You have a baby...in a bar!" And it was loud, which any parent of small kids knows is a life saver because you don't have to worry about people shooting dirty looks at you because your children are disturbing their meal and that means you can enjoy your time without constantly shhhhing them as your blood pressure begins to sky rocket and you just snatch them up without ordering and hit a drive thru on the way home. (Hey! It happens!)

But the most amazing thing of all was the high chair! I know you are like...what? (Well, I did say I don't get out much!) Seriously, it was amazing. Right after we asked the waiter for a high chair, we realized our rookie mistake. We forgot the highchair cover and had no Clorox wipes with which to vigorously sanitize everything she may touch.

No need to fear..Terrance is here!! He was our waiter who rolled out the most awesome thing ever: a highchair completely wrapped in plastic. And I was not the only one amazed. As he sat there unwrapping the high chair like a fragile piece of art, all around us people were staring in amazement. Not only was it wrapped in plastic, but it came equipped with a container of Cheerios and a plastic place mat that adhered to the table. I am still flabbergasted at this!

I mean...I have never seen such! We were thrilled. And he catered to her as much as he did us and the big girls. Not to mention that he brought the girls free tiny appetizers. Now maybe this is not standard. Maybe Terrance was just the man. But either way, The Red Elephant Must Be A Daddy because he knows just how to make a mama happy!

"I hate this #$@#%@! place!"

We are old pros at going to the Emergency Room. I mean seriously we should have had frequent flier miles with our oldest. During her first 4 years of life, we went to the ER for several ear infections, the flu, a nurse's elbow, pneumonia...you get my point. We should really be at the point where the next visit is FREE.

So we were only waiting on the day when it was time for #3's ER coronation. Apparently January 12th was that day.

When my husband got home with her at about 4 in the afternoon, she was really fussy and fell asleep while she was drinking her bottle. This is highly unusual seeing as she had just woken up from an afternoon nap about an hour before and never takes late afternoon naps any more. At about 6 he woke her up (I, in the mean time, was running the other two munchkins to dance and gymnastics and then back to dance).

She was burning up. Her fever was 102.3 and she wouldn't drink or eat. SHe just laid there on his chest. So he gave her some Tylenol, but an hour later the fever had actually gone up. On my way home, I stopped and got some ibuprofen. After having that, the fever still didn't seem to be going down and she was lethargic, which is something that is terrifying for even us old pros! So we called his sister to keep the other 2 and headed to the ER: our least favorite place. In fact that might be an understatement! My husband's exact words were, "I hate this #$@#%@! place!"

Now why oh why such strong words for a place that is supposed to offer nurturing and solace to those who are sick and in need. Well...

1. The random people you encounter-We are by no means snobs, but come on!!! Why is it that every

time we go to the emergency room we meet these people. You know the ones. First there is the one who is moaning and writhing in the chair from pain yet when her phone rings she is able to answer it. Then there are those with no teeth who loudly discuss Billy Bob and Norma Jean's latest falling out. Then there is the person who clearly has the flu but decides to sit beside you even though there are about 20 other empty seats. And how about those girls sitting there waiting on ...whoever...and can not talk below a 100 decibel level. Or how about the people who say...well..just stupid stuff, like "Man, I need a breathing treatment and a cigarette!" (Our roommate last night actually made this statement even though she sounded as if she needed 10 breathing treatments and had smoked a carton of cigarettes every day for the last 20 years!)

2. The wait-There were 2 other patients there last night when we got there and we still waited for over 30 minutes just to get back in a room. Then once we were back there with our sick and tired and irritable 8 month old, we waited for an hour and a half before we could ever see

anyone. It made worse that we had to wait with Smokey McSmokey and her husband named Bubba as they got into a fight and she told him he could walk home and if he looked at her again like that she was going to knock his teeth out! (Seriously...I can't make this stuff up!) And what are they doing any way to make you wait for so long. They weren't busy...not by a long shot.In fact, every time Smokey commanded Bubba to look out the window the only thing they were doing according to him was "not sh_t!". They were eating or talking or ...who knows what else, but what they weren't doing was taking care of patients.

And after all of that waiting...double ear infections and a sinus infection. Some saline drops, 2 shots, and a suppository later, we finally leave...at 11 p.m., 2 and a half hours after we arrived. I have to agree with my husband, "I hate this #$@#%@! place!"

30 Day Mom Challenge

Some days I am lazy. Granted given my recovery those days have been quite frequent lately. In fact, yesterday I realized I had not tucked my children into their beds in over a week. That is AWFUL! I know I just had 2 organs removed, but there is no excuse for this! How long will it be before I am crying because they don't want me to love on them or because their bed is no longer in my house but off at college some where. Needless to say, I went to bed feeling very guilty and did not miss the opportunity and privilege of tucking my darlings into their beds tonight.

So as I was perusing my latest addiction of Pinterest today, I found the 30 Day Mom Challenge from imom.com Not sure when they posted it but it was definitely pinned today for ME!The way it works is whatever day of the month it is you start on that day and just continue on until you have completed all 30 challenges. What I question now is...why is it considered a challenge? Is it because it is hard to love our kids? Is it because it is hard to focus on our munchkins with all of the craziness in our lives? More likely, I think, it is a challenge because it is just hard to remember to each thing on each day. I am going to print it out and put it on my fridge. I will get back to you in 30 days to let you know how it went!

So Long Farewell...

The Sound of Music is one of my all time favorite movies, and now it is one of my girls' all time favorites. In fact, it is one that they have become obsessed with as of late. It is the movie of choice when we travel lately, and boy has there been some traveling lately.

We have visited our parents who live about an hour away from us several times this holiday season. In fact you could say that we have burned the road up between here and there because in a 2 week period we made the trip 3 times. Therefore we are frequently singing one of our favorite songs from The Sound of Music...So Long Farewell...During these travels we have celebrated four different Christmases. Luckily both of our parents are stilled married otherwise it could have been a lot worse.

Then we added to our travels with a cruise. Just us, no kids. And it was wonderful. To be able to get on a boat and not have to think about what we were going to do or where we were going to go or what we were going to eat was absolutely wonderful. Plus, I am a little fancy, so I really enjoyed being able to get dressed up every night.

We had a great time, but I was ready to get home. I missed my munchkins immensely. 5 nights was a little much. All I wanted to do was to get home and snuggle in my bed with the 3 of them and not sing that famous song again for a very long time.

Where Did My Angel Go!

For the last 6 months my husband and I have counted ourselves lucky. We relished in the peacefulness of having a perfectly content baby. Now, I am not saying she never fusses or cries. She does. However, she only cries when she is hungry or when that dirty diaper has gone unnoticed. Whenever she starts to fuss, it is because she is tired of the bouncy seat or tired of the exer-saucer or tired of rolling around on the floor or just plain tired.

Now granted, she is by far not a perfect baby. She still does not sleep through the night. We haven't fed her at night since she was 10 weeks old but she still wakes up at least once wanting her pacifier. In fact, I would only need one hand and for that matter only a couple of fingers to count the number of times she has slept completely through the night.

My other 2 girls both slept through the night at 6 weeks. Of course the second one took forever to get on a schedule and whereas she slept through the night it took forever for her to actually go to sleep, and we finally had to "Ferberize" her, which was absolutely miserable but worked. Once it was done she was the happiest baby. That is until 1. My first child slept perfectly but was colicky and had a witching hour that lasted from 4-8 for the first 12 weeks. The only thing that made her happy was for me to dance around with her (needless, to say I lost a little weight). I guess you take the good with the bad. The oldest child has turned into the most easy going kid while the second one is all me: dramatic, dynamic, and drumming for attention.

But now this perfectly content baby has morphed into a perfectly pissed off baby. She does fine at the sitter's but when we get home nothing satisfies her: not the exer-saucer, not the bouncy seat, not the floor, not her bed, not even her pacifier! I have to carry her around the whole time. I feel as if I am going back in time to that witching hour with my first child. I thought we were past all of this. I thought the first eight weeks were the worst.

Now granted, she does have a runny nose. So I am sure she does not feel good. Bless her heart. She also is at that point where she is ready to give up the late afternoon nap but can't quite make it yet. Again, bless her heart. All of this makes her very, very, very unhappy. BLESS MY HEART!

So we are humidifying and suctioning and vapor rubbing on feet and feeding earlier and bathing earlier and going to bed earlier, but the transition is about to kill me. My husband received the following text from me while he was on the football field today, "I can't take much more of this...I MEAN IT!"

All I have to say is: Thank the Lord for older children who can bathe themselves.. Thank the Lord for a husband who leaves his job and comes home early. Thank the Lord for a sister-in-law who is watching all three children along with her own so that I can have a break tomorrow afternoon, even if it is at the doctor's office. And thank the Lord for Zoloft, because without that "sweet nectar of life" the question of Where did my angel go? would have sent me over the edge!

My How Times Have Changed

Tonight it is just me and the girls. My husband had an away football game, so I thought we would have a movie night. We had a pizza picnic in the middle of the living room and watched one of my favorite Halloween movies, Hocus Pocus. I found it in the Red Box rental thingy at Wal-Mart. I had not seen it anywhere in so long and I knew the girls would like it and they are enjoying it completely. They are thoroughly enamored with it.

What I had forgotten is how many curse words are in it. Bette Middler's "Damn, damn, double damn!" certainly through me for a loop. Not to mention Sarah Jessica Parker's endless sexual innuendos. And the countless discussions about the virgin who lit the black flame candle. I am just waiting for one of them to ask, "Mama, what is a virgin?" Now I am quite open with my children but that is one I am not quite ready for. I also was not quite prepared for how scared they were. When it was done they both just looked at me. I asked them if they didn't like it? They said it was so scary. Of course 2 minutes later, my youngest asked "Can we watch it again?"

You know this is like all of the great movies I enjoyed during my childhood. One of my favorite movies ever was The Goonies. I loved Mikey and Mouth and Chunk and Andy and the whole gang. I mean what a great adventure movie. My sister and I rented it almost every weekend from the only video store in town and took it home in a blue vinyl box (blue for PG). However, have you watched it lately? I mean, Chunk yells out "S--t" in the first 2 minutes of the movie and it is repeated many times a longs with many damns and a few hells thrown in for good measure. Then there is the dead body that keeps `popping up everywhere and the fact that escaped convicts are constantly trying to kill them.

And then there is my most favorite movie of all time, GREASE! It is so awesome and has the most amazing music. My sister and I had numerous musical numbers that we performed in our living room choreographed to the almost exact sequence of Sandy, Danny, the Pink Ladies and the T-Birds. But seriously, have you watched it since you crossed into adulthood. OMG! What was my mother thinking? First there's the whole sex thing, what with the Kenickie's "$0.75 insurance policy" aka condom that breaks. Rizzo possibly knocked up the whole time, and the constant making out.

Then there are the songs...the wonderful songs...the wonderful and, now I realize, dirty, dirty songs:

"You know that ain't shit when we'll be gettin' lots of tit in greased lightnin'"

"You know that I ain't braggin', she's a real p---y wagon - greased lightnin"
"As for you Troy Donahue, I know what you wanna do. You got your crust I'm no object of lust I'm just plain Sandra Dee"
"She swam by me, she got a cramp. He ran by me, got my suit damp"
" He got friendly, holding my hand. While she got friendly down in the sand."

I don't know if my mom didn't watch these movies with us, or if she just knew it all would go over our heads like it did. I know that if you don't make a big deal of things kids, normally, won't pick up on it. But it is so funny how now I will defintely think twice about watching some of my favorite childhood memories with my children. My how times have changed!