Welcome to our World

Being home meant back to school and work and special celebrations.  We got the Christmas decorations up, unpacked (in that order), loved this advent candle we were given by the H. family, attended K's 4th grade choir concert with a Western theme -- so fun! My dad came to help our Girl Scouts earn their Home Scientist badge and the favorite activity was definitely making raisins dance in soda. K has her Miranda Sings impersonation down pat! And the sunrises have been beautiful! M's class got to participate in St. Lucia day on December 13th.  It was such a lovely thing to witness.  I am grateful to all the moms who put such care into the preparations while I was literally out of the country.   I went straight from that to N's preschool celebration, which was much more lively.  N has been asking to start going to M's school but I registered for half day kindergarten at the public school anyway.  That is where al...

Thursday wa s our last at sea day.  We ate b reakfast at Enchanted Garden (our favorite spot for that meal), met characters, and had all 4 children go to the kids club while Hubby and I exercised and signed us up for our next cruise!   Watching M dance her heart out and getting chosen to dance with Mickey Mouse was pure joy.   We all went to the m agic show, where the children were very impressed even though Hubby and I were not and M chose story time with Mrs. Claus while the others went swimming with Hubby.  As a surprise, more characters came at the end for photos and M was thrilled to get a picture of Minnie Mouse in her winter outfit. The show Believe  was my favorite and made me laugh and cry. The message was so powerful: childhood doesn’t last long so prioritize your time. One thing I have loved about spending a week on a boat is a full disconnect from phone, emails, and texts. Really makes me think I should ditch the phone when I get home! I als...

When the beach excursion we had originally wanted was sold out, we signed up for the Rum Point Beach Adventure and were so happy we got our 2nd choice instead!  We took a catamaran to a little island off Grand Cayman and enjoyed a pristine, shallow beach and my favorite meal of the entire trip.  This is where our daughters got their hair braided as a little break from playing in the gorgeous water or jumping off the pier.  It was perfection and the boat ride back was amazing.  Guests got to take turns sitting on the end of the boat.  That kind of transportation is an adventure in and of itself.  Back on the cruise ship, we watched the show Wi shes and the kids liked it but Hubby and I felt like we were watching an hour long commercial for Disneyland. We love Jamaica!  The no problem attitude is perfect for people being somewhere new and trying new things.   Swimming with a dolphin named Ziggy was such a surreal experience.  N decided th...

If you're flying to Orlando, why not enjoy a little Disney magic without paying park entrance fees?  Our new favorite campground is Fort Wilderness Resort & Campground, right on Bay Lake.  You get all the perks of being on Disney property and you stay at the best campground imaginable.  You can even rent a tent and cots from them and they have it all set up for you when you arrive I'm pretty sure this place is Disney World's best kept secret.  So Hubby packed all 6 sleeping bags in one suitcase and we went camping for Thanksgiving and Black Friday.  The lowest the temperature ever got was 55* and we loved waking up to the fog from the lake in the mornings. We flew out Thanksgiving morning and even got to park in the garage for economy prices since the economy lots were full.  I knew it was going to be a good vacation just from that!  The children did great on the flight and K, D, and I even got some of K's 4th grade homework done by watchi...

"I hate lice!" became N's catch phrase this month.  Our school district no longer notifies parents when a student in your child's classroom has lice and there is definitely a lot of lice going around my kids' school right now!  1/3 of N's classmates have had it now and boy, are they a pain.  Days of doing laundry, creating mountains and my carpets have never been vacuumed this much before.  The first two lice treatments I gave this pretty patient preschooler didn't actually kill the lice so her best friend's mom brought us a different brand to try and it worked -- after 2 treatments.  N was even kind enough to snuggle me in the middle of the night so I Hubby could have the joy of combing eggs out of his wife.  Luckily that was caught early and only one treatment was necessary.  I am grateful N and I were the only ones that had to have it, but mad as heck that the school district changed their policy! N was overjoyed to have Hubby not only fix th...