Carefree Childhood

I'm really tired of a couple of things....it was so hard keeping the house spotless for two months while the house was for sale. I constantly was screaming, "DON'T MAKE A MESS! STOP GATHERING STUFF AND BRINGING IT INTO ANOTHER ROOM! STAY OUT OF THE WATER! DON'T BRING SNACKS OUT OF THE KITCHEN! WIPE YOUR FEET! DON'T COME IN AND OUT AND IN AND OUT. SHUT THE DOOR!!!!!" It was really nice to have a clean house, but I really need to reevaluate things. I want my kids to have fun, fun like I had when I was a kid. Fun like when you leave the house after breakfast and go exploring, rock hunting, creek splashing, muddy, dirty, carefree fun and don't come home until lunch.

My girls are computer illiterate. They watch very little TV. The only movies they watch are in the car on long drives. I used to wish my kids would sit and watch a show so I could have a break, but they just wouldn't. I had to adjust and now I'm grateful for it.

They track in dirt and grass. At any moment in my house you will find at least one sink full of mud and rocks, usually with Dave's hairbrush that they use to scrub them. They bring their toys outside and I find legos in the bushes and in cups sitting on the grass (don't ask me why). Yesterday they discovered a bird nest with tiny baby birds in there. They watched from a distance as the mom brought her babies dinner. They run from yard to yard and gather friends and PLAY.
I get caught up in dance lessons, gymnastics, cheerleading, spending a small fortune at Limited Too, etc., etc. but that is not what makes either one of them happy. I just want them to be kids. With this move, I am going to limit structured activity in their lives. Since they wear uniforms to school, I am going to let them wear whatever they want after school and on weekends and not say a word about it...even if it's stained and doesn't match and is worn four days in a row.

I am rambling, but when the Girl Scout leaders sent these photos and I saw them come home dirty, exhausted and HAPPY, it reminded me of what is most important.

When we were in Disney World, my kids were so happy. I even had to call my dad and just thank him for all the fun times we had in Disney Land when I was young. It's a huge sacrifice. It's expensive. It's hot. It's crowded, but it's magical. Watching your kids' eyes light up after they've ridden Thunder Mountain Railroad or after they've run into their favorite character is one of the most beautiful experiences I've had as a mom. I think that magic can be brought into our every day lives...because it wasn't so much the roller coaster or seeing Stitch...it was having a mom who was relaxed. It's easy to be relaxed when you don't worry about meals or cleaning the house or paying bills...and realistically these things have to be done, but just not the focus.

The happier I am, the happier my kids are. We still have a few weeks of summer left. I know moving is crazy, but I am going to focus my energy on my kids and on myself and slow down and enjoy a little more, and love a little more.

And when that grass and mud gets tracked in on my new beautiful floors, I'm going to brush it aside and make room for whatever discovery they just made outside....I promise.

On another note...my eye is okay. My cornea is scratched but there was no ulcer. I have to wear glasses and have steroids and antibiotic drops, but it already feels so much better. I'm grateful that in all the craziness that I did stop and go to the doctor. They told me that if I would have waited, I would have lost my eye...and that's scary. Maybe that's another reason why I have reevaluated the craziness in my life. I have to wear glasses and because of my extreme light sensitivity right now, I have to wear the most hideous wrap-around sunglasses that fit over my glasses (kind of like a grandma) and trying to be cute while wearing them is impossible, so I can at least be fun...and happy!

Bad Things Come in...THREES???

So, I have to interrupt my happy Disney posts and vent a little: They say bad things come in threes, but I'm looking at a few more than that, so was that in multiples of threes? Or, will it stop now?

The day before we left for Disney, the garbage disposal broke. Our friend came over to fix it, but unfortunately, it can't be fixed, so it needs to be replaced...a couple of weeks before we move.

The night I got home from Disney, I had to hurry and get all the laundry done because I had to drive to Charlotte the next day for our walk through and also pack the kids to stay at my friends'. WELL...in the middle of a load, the dryer BROKE. I mean, could it not just hold on for one more week until the movers come and then I could still do laundry and just get a new one when we are there? I had to run over to my friends' house until midnight getting that %#$%^ laundry dry.

You can't see the damage from this angle, but I couldn't go outside because of my eye issue....

Then I get a phone call from my friend this morning asking me if I saw my tree. Well, I'm having a hard time seeing anything right now (more on that later) but I had noticed some leaves on the grass this morning when I was taking out the mail. It turns out that it was hit by lightning...the tree that is just a few yards from the front door.

And the third incident to round out this "bad things come in threes but apparently multiples of threes" is:

We had a major catastrophe with closing and not all the paperwork got in on time and it was pretty much a disaster. We are supposed to close tomorrow, and now it turns out that we will, but it was a MESS yesterday...and to top it off, I was trying to get home from Charlotte so I couldn't even access the documents that they wanted faxed. Thank goodness for a friend and her fax machine...

I have no idea why I'm smiling...seriously my eye hurts so bad that I've been crying a lot. You can't even tell how bad it is from the photo, but it's the color of the curtains in the background. Oh, and these are the $270 glasses that got me home.

Okay, so that should be the end, right? But now there is the horrible fact that there is a possibility I might lose my eye. Yep, that's right, my EYE. I knew it was bad, just not this bad. It's too long of a story for this, but it just became noticeable on Tuesday. I was at the doctor today because of the pain. They wouldn't let me leave the office with contacts in, but I am legally blind in one eye and had LEFT MY GLASSES ON THE BEDSIDE TABLE AT DISNEYWORLD. Seriously, are you kidding me? So, I had to go to a place at the hospital where she made me glasses (at the small cost of $270) so I could get home. They aren't even the right prescription, but are as strong as they could get in an hour. So, I have to see a corneal specialist in the morning and then drive up to Charlotte to close by 4:00. Are you kidding me?

And there was so much more than that...the eye doctor was yelling at me, really, yelling. He was yelling, "IF YOU PUT YOUR CONTACT IN YOUR EYE, EVEN FOR FIVE MINUTES TO GET HOME, YOU WILL LOSE YOUR EYE. YOU HAVE SERIOUS DAMAGE"...and on and on. I'm just sitting there calmly replying, "Doctor, I understand that and you don't have to scare me anymore....I am scared, but I am legally blind and have no glasses and to top it off, do you see the two sweet little darlings that have been ramsacking your office during all this time? Well, they are precious cargo, and I would like them to get home safely." So, that's when he wrote up a prescription for emergency glasses.

So, let's home this bad wave in the last few days is over. I'll leave on a positive note...

At least we had fun at Disney! This is the picture of when we just happened to run into Stitch at Animal Kingdom. This is the only character that we saw outside of character dining...and it couldln't have been a better one. Notice who Mikayla is holding in the photo and has carried around every day since our first day there!

Disney Part Uno: Downtown Disney

Oh, so much to write...and too much craziness around here to do this fabulous-five-day getaway justice. We had the greatest family vacation ever...every trip to Disney is just better and better. I thought along with the fun, I would share some tips of things that we have learned the hard way... Tip One: Go to Downtown Disney the FIRST night you arrive. Mainly because it's pretty lame for kids after being at one of the parks, but also because it's the best place to go to get names on their ears. I had ears with my name when I was a kid, so I wanted my girls to too, but sometimes the turn-around is a couple of days (they will send it to your hotel). If you go to Downtown Disney to the Christmas store, it's much shorter time (we only waited 45 minutes) but if you had to wait overnight, at least you ordered them on the first day!


Tip Two: Absolutely get the Dining Plan, but maybe not the Deluxe one. (We had 8 left over meals, but had fun buying people breakfast on our last day there.) Book your character meals 4-6 months in advance if you really care... This year we had to match up the night that Magic Kingdom had the light parade to our lunch at Cinderella's castle and dinner with Mickey, Minnie, Goofy and friends. Also, we had to match up our breakfast with Little Einsteins and Jo Jo to our dinner at the Italian Place that got us preferred seating (no wait) to Fantasmic at Hollywood Studios (formerly MGM). Make reservations at Cap'n Jacks at Downtown Disney the first night you are there...so yummy.

Tip Three: Put all the change you collect in a piggy bank starting now. Then whenever you go, cash it all in and that is how much your kids can spend on whatever they want while you're there. This year they had $60 each, but that was the least amount they've had on our trips there.

By the way, it was hilarious to me that Mik loved Goofy, Stitch and Donald Duck...all the trouble makers! She was kind of over the whole princess thing, which actually made me a little sad.

Tip Four: If your kids are into Legos, they have every color and size at the Lego store at Downtown Disney. My girls LOVE Legos!!! And now they have pink and purple ones!!!!

Tip Five: Don't worry about staying at a deluxe hotel on property. We do stay on property, but at Pop Century or All Star Sports. We don't spend any time in our room anyway. We did pay a little more to get a "preferred room" but only so we didn't have to walk so far to the bus and to the pool. Don't forget to ask for AAA discounts...I actually book through AAA travel...it's free and they do it all for you. If you want my agent, she can book for anyone (not just Georgia friends), and she's awesome.

Tip Six: Don't let your kids run through fountains, ride Splash Mountain or whatever the river ride is at Animal Kingdom until the END of the day, because it's no fun to walk around wet.

I just realized I might sound like a know-it-all, but we just had such an amazing time, and I want to share the love.... so much more to come!

Happy Birthday Amelia!

Amelia had her 7th Birthday Party on Friday night. She told me exactly what she wanted to do about three months ago. This is a little girl who knows exactly what she wants, even if it's totally different from her mom! :)

After I learned of her plans, I told her she could only invite a couple of girls. She invited her two best friends, Bailey and Kaitlyn and her babysitter (who is like another daughter to me), Hillary and she also included Mikayla in the list, so I didn't tell her that she could have invited a couple more! Hillary did their nails and I did their hair. After getting beautiful, we went to Ninja (like Benihana) for dinner. The chef was so fun and so sweet to Amelia. The girls ate so much I thought they were going to explode!

I have no idea why this picture is so small, but oh well.

We came home and our best neighbor friends came over to open gifts and have cake and ice cream. Amelia made out her birthday list months ago and was so excited with all of her gifts.She told me later that she was really shy when everyone sang "Happy Birthday." I forget how awkward that can be, but she was so cute!

We played games like "Pin the Purse on Hannah Montana" and of course had a sing and dance party!

Finally at 11:00 the kids got all organized upstairs and watched "Cheaper by the Dozen."

At 1:00 AM I came upstairs and Hillary was sound asleep and the little girls were staring blankly at the credits of the movie, so I layed them down and they were sound asleep in about thirty seconds.

Their dolls had a sleepover too.




I love Amelia so much. She is such a good girl. She is a wonderful big sister and a friend to everyone. Her teachers tell me that she has an old soul...and she does. She is kind, thoughtful and such a good helper. We have some trouble when she tries to organize things. She will take everything off the shelves at her friends' houses, and I'm not sure her help is always appreciated! ;) She also packs things around like you would not believe. She even carried her new pajamas from Dave's mom to run errands the next day. Nana bought her the backpack that she has wanted since Christmas, so it does make carrying things around even more fun!

Anyway, we are off to Disney World on Thursday. The girls are at Girl Scout Camp for the next three days for eight hours. We just got an offer on the house (thank you for your prayers). We close on the 25th on our new house. I will post pictures eventually, but I'm excited and I know things will work out!