Magic Memories

I might have mentioned before that we have annual passes to Disney.  Well, our passes are going to expire later this month and we aren't going to renew them this year so we are trying to get every last use out of them possible. 
Today we went to the Magic Kingdom and had such a great time.  The Christmas decorations were still up and the poinsettia trees and the landscapes were just beautiful. 

I love that Prince and Princess have such wonderful imaginations.  They are at the perfect age to enjoy the characters, sights, sounds, and smells.

Our first stop was Thunder Mountain.  My children have decided that they love roller coasters.  While I am not a roller coaster person, I can stomach Big Thunder. 

I sat next to Princess on this ride.  She is a "Woo!" girl.  Do you know what a "Woo!" girl is?  It's a girl who is the life of the party and loves to squeal "Woo!" at the top of her lungs.  Princess rides most of Thunder Mountain with her hands raised above her head going, "Woo!" in her high pitched little girl voice.  I'm not sure how it is that my daughter is a "Woo!" girl.  I wasn't a "Woo!" girl, I was a band geek.  Hubby didn't hang out with "Woo!" girls in school, he hung out with me and he was the editor of the school paper, need I say more?  Anyway, my little Princess is cooler at age 6 than I ever dreamed of being and she brings the party with her.  We had a blast on this ride while Hubby sat this one out.  He had to pace himself, after all.



I think I'm getting too old to ride the teacups.  Prince and Princess had me spinning so hard that I thought I was going to toss my cookies.  Hubby graciously volunteered to not ride this one so he could video us from off the ride.  Actually, he's never been able to do the teacups, it really will make him sick, so it's always a given that I ride this with the kids, but they seriously have some arm strength and can get us spinning pretty fast.

Prince said the funniest thing as we were getting on one of the rides today. I think it was the Winnie the Pooh ride. He said, "Dad, I thought Disney was the most magical place on Earth, but it's not."
To which Hubby replied, "Why do you say that?"
Prince said, "I thought it was all magic but they have to push buttons to make the rides go."
I love that kid! He's got it all figured out in that little head of his.

This picture is blurry, but I had to include it. You see, Hubby's LEAST favorite ride at Magic Kingdom is It's a Small World, yet he took one for the team and rode it.  Way to go Hubby ~ you're so awesome!  Do you know how I know he's awesome?  He has a shirt that says so!

Remember this picture?  This is how I know my Hubby is awesome.

Anywho, we did Small World, we did most of Fantasy Land, we did Tomorrow Land, we rode Pirates, we did a lot of stuff today.  We saved the best for last.  We rode Splash Mountain, hoping that we wouldn't get too wet.  It all depends on where you sit and where your boat is when as to how wet you get.  We've been pretty lucky not to get soaked in quite a while.  Guess what...

We got soaked!

Of course "Woo!" girl loved it and said "Woo!" the entire time, with her hands in the air.

I hope my Prince and Princess never lose their imagination and enthusiasm for life.  It's days like today that I realize how blessed I am to be a mommy ~ their mommy.  Woo!

Summer's Last Hurrah

This has been a very busy summer. I thought I would have all of this time to think and write and reflect and it has not happened. School starts in two weeks and I don't feel ready. We had the twins' six-year-old pictures taken last week. Here are a few of them...

Isn't Prince so handsome? He looks a lot like Hubby did as a child. I love this little GQ look.

Little Miss Princess loves to get dressed up! She looks like a big kid in this picture, not like my sweet baby.
This picture is worth a thousand words. It shows the relationship between the two of them and the mischief they can get into and all of the fun they have together.

Last weekend we took the kiddos to Disney for one last hurrah before school starts.

This was taken right before they made me sick on the Teacups. (Insert vomit sound now) Not really, but they are finally to the age where they can make the cups spin by themselves and they think it is such great fun. I'm always the sucker that goes on with them because Hubby has great difficulty with anything that spins and would be sick for the rest of the day. So I take one for the team and let them spin me right round, baby.

It was a great time and surprisingly, there were not a lot of people there. We went to three of the four parks and did not wait in a line any longer than 10 minutes. That Friday night as we tucked the kids into bed, Prince went to sleep pretty quickly, but Princess was so excited to be in the hotel that she just couldn't sleep. She talked non-stop (which is nothing new really) and she just couldn't be still. Then she did the most precious thing...she climbed over her brother and got out of the bed, then she got on her knees and prayed over her brother. She thanked God for giving her Prince for a brother and then prayed for his that he would have a good night's sleep with good dreams and that he would have a great time at Disney. How is it that God gave me such precious children? Their hearts for God at such a young age amaze me and make my heart warm.

Yesterday I took the twins to buy their kindergarten school supplies. We have had a tough time deciding what to do about our childrens' schooling for this next year. We were trying to send them to a school other than the one we are zoned for, due to personal reasons. This has been a complicated process and we've been on hold with this since mid-May. I have called the private schools in our area and even considered homeschooling them. The thing is, we live in one of the top 50 school districts in the nation, so we felt it was a shame not to send them to public school. Monday evening we got the news that we had finally been approved to go to the school we requested. Thank goodness! I am excited about the kindergarten team at their new school, but I am already feeling emotional about all of this. I told Hubby to clear his calendar for the first day of school, because I'm gonna need his help to get through the day.

Today I read an uplifting blog post that most mommies need. Click here to read Ostriches Look Funny and Other Observations. I know I really needed to see that other moms have the same struggles as me.