First Flight

After surprising the kids, we hopped into the car and headed to the airport. Here are the kids looking out the window at our tiny plane - there were only 3 seats total in each row on that plane, meaning there were 2 seats together, the aisle, and then one seat all by itself. I had to duck my head so as not to hit the emergency exit sign as I walked down the aisle.

Emily has been on a plane once before, but she doesn't remember it because she was only 18 months old. None of the other kids have ever flown on an airplane, so they were excited and a little nervous too.

The window seat was the coveted one amongst the kids. 

Personally I prefer an aisle seat so that I can stretch my legs out.

Our seats were the very last 6 on the plane, so when everyone else had disembarked the kids were able to hang out with the pilot in the cockpit.

For some reason the exposure on this picture was horrible, 

so I tried to fix it as best as I could.

We flew to Houston where we were met at the gate by my dad (on the right) and stepmom. Then my brother, his wife, and son arrived (they're the ones, to the right of Julie, bending down to greet baby April whom they had never met before). My sister and her hubbie and baby were the next to show up (they live right there in Houston). 

And of course, the fact that we were all there was NOT a surprise to Julie! I need to teach my brother-in-law how to keep secrets - my kids didn't know anything about the trip until I told them 15 minutes before we left! I think the only surprise was Julie's friend and old college roommate showing up. That's Liz - the one on the left holding the cup in her hand.

We all got to fly together to Orlando. Our seats were all together, except for Chris's seat. He got bumped up to first class - poor soul! Of course then he got to take the baby with him, which worked out great.  (Though I guess I'll have to stop calling her "the baby" soon; she's 14 months old already.)

Surprise!!!

We had kept our trip to Orlando for my sister's birthday a secret from our kids. We woke them up around 5:00 a.m. Thursday morning and told them to come downstairs. Then we revealed the surprise. 

Did you notice that Peter and Laura were about to cry about the idea of going on a plane? It wasn't until we told them where the plane would be taking us that they decided a trip would be fun.

We're going to Disney World!

Well, actually, we already went -- yesterday! My sister's 30th birthday was yesterday. Her husband wanted to surprise her (since his surprise of us coming with them to Paris wasn't a surprise at all) so he invited all of our family to come to Orlando for 3 days of fun. Julie is a Disney fanatic, and this year, Walt Disney World is celebrating everyone's birthday by letting you in free on your birthday! We flew down to Houston where we met up with my dad and step-mom, my brother, his wife and son, and Julie and her husband and daughter, and Julie's old roommate Liz. Then all 15 of us flew together to Orlando.

Friday we went to the Kennedy Space Center and Saturday we hit Disney World. Unfortunately only 14 of us made it to Disney World. My poor step-mom ended up in the hospital! They're still not sure exactly what is wrong - possibly pancreatitis - she's still there now and won't be able to fly home as originally scheduled. Nancy is so sweet - she knew how much my dad was looking forward to going to Disney World and so she insisted that he go anyways. We're glad she has good nurses taking care of her and pray she'll be well soon!

On the Jungle Cruise at Disney World, our boat driver told us a cute joke that the kids are still repeating --

Why does Tigger never walk?


Because he doesn't want to step on Pooh!

I was just doing my hair, and Laura walked into our room (we're staying at a time share resort and we have a double deluxe room - 2 full bedrooms and baths with kitchen and living room). She told me that we (Shad and I) are lucky because we get our own private room. I told her it wasn't really private because we have to share it with each other. She said "Yeah, but when we're not here you get to smooch and that makes it private." I guess she's got us figured out!

A new color?

The other day Laura was coloring with markers. I started to pick the ones up that had fallen on the floor. She told me to not take a certain brown marker because, she said, "It's as close to the color of rocks as I could get. It's a Beijing color."

I had to giggle, because, of course, she meant beige - not Beijing. I guess the Summer Olympics left quite an impression on her!

Joke

My friend Leah had this joke posted on her blog and I just love it.

If you are a democrat who can't take a joke, don't bother reading any further.

A republican and a democrat walk past a beggar. The beggar asks for some money. The Republican gives the man his business card and tells him to go to his office and he will give him a job so he can earn money. The Democrat then reaches into the Republican's pocket and gives the beggar $20.

Remember that old commercial?

The other day I was talking to a friend on the phone. It had been a rough morning and I made the comment "All I want is for Calgon to take me away!" 

Laura was in the room and she asked me, "Who is Calgon?" 

The Return of Choo-Choo Charlie!

Shad and I love watching The Amazing Race. We wish we could let the kids watch it, but the only way I could see doing that would be if we previewed the show first. Some of the contestants can get pretty nasty. 

Well, I just happened to discover that Season 14 is premiering Sunday night at 7:00 p.m.  I really don't have time to follow another TV show, but The Amazing Race is one of my favorites. Can't wait to see where they'll be going next!

One of my favorite parts about the last season of The Amazing Race was when we got to meet Phil's dad. I always thought Phil had some sort of accent, but I never would have guessed he was from New Zealand. (Ever since I saw the movie Babe - the one about the pig who was raised to be sheep-dog/pig - I've always thought New Zealand is breathtakingly beautiful! And I love the 3 mice in that movie, especially the song they sing at the end. One day I'll have to see if they have it on iTunes. Random thoughts, I know!)

And for those of you who don't know why I put "Choo Choo Charlie" in my title - 

it was a nickname a couple of beauty queen contestants gave Phil, the host of the show, a few seasons back, because he's so cute. 

Impulse Shopper

I am NOT an impulse shopper. Even after having deliberated and researched for months before buying an item, the moment I walk out of the store with my new purchase I have HORRIBLE buyer's remorse. Last night, I bought something on an impulse, and I think I'm going to be happy that I did.

I was looking at Take Out Photo and read an interview the blogger did with a photographer for a new magazine called Seeing the Everyday. I was intrigued.

Here's a brief explanation of the magazine that I found on their website:

"Seeing the Everyday is a quarterly, advertisement-free magazine focusing on the daily interactions taking place at home. Although these exchanges are often seen as mundane or inconsequential, the sum of our daily exchanges is what shapes a family, for better or for worse. Building a strong family truly is a prosaic work." "Seeing the Everyday magazine documents the experiences and choices we remember from home . . . moments that shape us and really make a difference."

I struggle with seeing the value in regular days. To me, a normal day is one full of more things to do than time in which to do those things. I wake up in the morning and hit the ground running. I get so caught up in doing everything that needs to get done that I forget the importance of the people I'm doing all of those things for (ie the dear hubbie and darling children). This magazine's premise really speaks to me. I hope it can be another resource to help me refocus on how I interact with my family. So, I got a subscription. I'll let you know what I think when I get my first issue.

Shad's Birthday

Shad turned 39 last Sunday. The night before we went to Texas Land and Cattle Company for a birthday dinner. (Poor Shad had been craving steak and I don't think I've made steak in about 2 years.) We had originally planned to go Texas Roadhouse, but when we arrived at 5:00 p.m. the wait for our party was an hour and a half to two hours. We could NOT wait that long to eat! So we scooted across the freeway and quickly got seated at TXLC. It took a while to get our dinner, but we were fine with that as they kept giving us the most delicious bread and butter! 

Can anyone explain why Shad was the only one whose eyes I did NOT have to edit to remove that demon-looking red-eye glare?!

And I was a bad wife because I didn't take any pictures on Shad's actual birthday either. And, I didn't make a birthday cake for him because I was still sick from the heavenly brownie sundae from the night before. We'll be having birthday cake on Sunday to celebrate Shad turning 39 years and 1 week instead.

With friends like that...

In the kindergarden math group, Laura and her friend J. are working on building, and then writing, numbers on a sheet of paper wrapped around a "dog bone." J. was about 100 numbers ahead of Laura. 

J. has missed the past 2 days of school due to sickness.

Today Laura said to me, "It's a good thing J. is sick and is going to be sick for the rest of the week. Now I can catch up to him in dog bone!"  

Next Stop...Carnegie Hall!

Emily and Peter played in a piano recital Friday.

Before the recital began, Shad tried to get a nice picture of Emily and Peter together by the piano. Here you can see the process involved in finally getting that one great photo!

Emily was the first to perform and she told us that no matter how hard she tries, she just can't get nervous when she performs. 

Boy - that's such a tough problem to have. 

This video is of Emily's first piece "Theme from Swan Lake."

This next video is Emily playing "My Favorite Things" 

from The Sound of Music.

Peter played next. This video is of him playing

 "Theme from Symphony No. 5" by Beethoven.

Peter's second piece was "The Rainbow Connection" 

from The Muppet Movie.

Peter and Emily did a great job! 

Their teacher was pleased and so were we!

Guardian of the Remote.

Keeper of the Channel Changer.