Disney World..........For a Day!!!

So we woke the kids up at 3:45 am one morning.  Put them in the car.  Told them not to talk and go back to sleep.  (Carly was the only one that asked where we were going, I just told her to go to bed)  Around 7:00 am people were waking up.  We stopped at a gas station, I pulled out a bag of clothes, and a loaf of banana bread.  I then told them we were taking them to ......DISNEY WORLD!!  Oh yeah, we were all so excited!  We actually only had to stop one more time for lunch and then we were there by 1:00 - just in time for nap time.  So the big kids hit the pool while the little ones napped with me. 

 

 So excited and packed in super tight!

 Finley quickly got in the spirit of things!  I gave her a Mini headband and a Mini Mouse and she quickly read up on all that Disney had to offer :)

 After the pool, we took them to Downtown Disney to see if they could make it through the Rainforest Cafe dinner experience.  (Last time they screamed their heads off and we had to leave because the animals were so loud)  They did it!!  We ate our entire meal :)

 Finley wasn't thrilled with the restaurant, but she put her brave face on and made it through.  When the elephants first started making their noises, she quickly put her head down and started coloring and then watched them through the corner of her eye.  It was absolutely hilarious!!! 

 Channing was nice and entertained with all the animals :)

 The girls thought they were hot stuff being so brave!

 Downtown Disney picture spots!

 Always have to have a picture with the dogs!

 We made it to the castle!

 They were all so excited

 Harper had to see Pooh Bear and Tiger.  We found them but Finley was terrified.....

 Tea Cups anyone??  Channing surely wasn't afraid!

 The kids finally got to ride on their first roller coaster.  They liked it but had some mixed emotions.  Chloe was all by herself because I was with Channing getting Fast Passes and Matt was sitting with Finley.  She said she kept sliding all over the place, but she wasn't scared away.  I was so proud of them getting over their fears!

 Finley was pretty scared and said she would not be riding it again.

 The proud riders of the roller coaster!

 Poor Channing was so hot - we all were so hot!  August was not the ideal month to go to Florida, but Matt got a week off unexpectedly so we decided to get out of town!!

 Peter Pan's Flight was fun - the kids were a little hesitant :)

 "Dad, what's this?"

 Ariel!!!!  This is their favorite princess.  They were more than thrilled to meet her.

 Channing got into a great conversation with Ariel.  She was so cute sitting there listening to her talk.  She was so funny!

 Rosetta

 Tinker Bell

 Finley was so excited to meet Tinker Bell since she was going to be having a Tinker Bell birthday party.

 Channing would just pass out when she could.  She did so good getting dragged around that hot park.  She would get squirmy, but she hung on!

Minnie and Mickey!  Finley was scared again with these stuffed ones, but Minnie Mouse won her over when I showed her Minnie's high heels! 

 Hold me Daddy!!!  She got tired a couple of times, so we would have to take a break and cool down!

 Rapunzel!  Look at all my little princesses!  Harper wasn't about to take a picture with them this year.  He did go up and kiss their hands and said "Nice to meet you!"  He is so tolerant with all these girls!  We even saw Buzz Light Year and I asked if he wanted to get in line to meet him.  He said, "No, I see him!"  What a great kid!

 Belle!

 Cinderella

 Buzz Light Year Ride - Yes, our car was packed with some female power!

 Daddy with most of his girls

 It ended up raining at night, unfortunately, so we got stuck in Tomorrow Land waiting out the rain.  We weren't able to see the night time parade or the fireworks, but the kids didn't mind one bit.  They were exhausted and were ready to go!

Good bye Princess Castle!  We had a blast, lots of memories, and pictures.  You can see it glowing in the background!

CrAzY tImE

We are constantly busy.  Not busy running around, just busy being home!  Our days fly by and are filled with lots of laughter, crying, screaming, yelling, whispers (only at nap time) and just all around being a house filled with 5 kids!  Channing is my little lightning bolt.  She is quick and silent and can cause alot of damage.  Finley is the thunder.  She is loud and you always see and hear her before the little lightning bolt behind her.  I love these kids that God gave us and we are so thankful for each of them!  I only wish we could slow down time and the days could be longer so we could fit more in each day :)  Here are some silly pics of some randomness!

 

 Channing spends quite a bit of time in her saucer.....it is the only way we can contain this busy body.  I went up a couple of weeks ago to see her like this.  I guess the shirt was a little constricting :)  And the sheet of hair is pretty much what she always looks like.  The hair bows never stay in!

These guys are so funny.  They came running downstairs all dressed in our clothes.....silly willies!!

Harper's Room

 

I got a little excited when I saw headboards made out of pallets on pinterest!  I have been needing to do Harper's room and I was just too inspired by these things to not try it out.  So after scoping out the neighborhood for someone doing a home improvement project, we finally found our friends with a stack of pallets. 

 

 

Matt loaded them up in his car and we were so excited to get our "free" project underway! 

The worst part was taking off each of the pieces of wood with a crow bar and being careful not to crack them.  Matt got help from his sideckick :) 

 We felt so accomplished at this point.  In one day, he removed the wood, cut it to the right size, and I had arranged them into the pattern I wanted. 

 We flipped it over and added back braces to keep the wood together.  Again we were on cloud 9, thinking this project would be over soon.

 We flipped it over and then I decided it needed to have a frame around it.  Project over for the night (we worked several nights until 11) and would resume the next night with cutting out the frame. 

 Then we realized it had to be sanded.....this project is getting long.....but Harper had a part in the construction and he was super cute too!

 I was constantly measure, comparing, and laying out wood.  (Like all the lights??  I told you we worked late)

 Our cheer squad was quite wiggly and loud!

 

 Then we had to make a stand to stick it on so that it could attach to the bed.....again this project is getting longer and longer.

Then we had to put polyurthane on it (I just deleted that picture) but you get the jist that there were way more steps than I originally planned here.

 Attaching it to the bed!

 Ahhhhh....complete.......oh wait.......before this back wall was blue, we brought the headboard up the stairs and realized it didn't "pop" like I had wanted it to, so I had to buy a gallon of navy paint and paint a wall.  longer and longer.......

 

The final product came out great and we love it!  It was a fun family project!

I also had my friend Dana sew the navy on the bottom of the white curtains, we made the cornice boards and then I made a frame out of the pallets for a nautical map.  I painted the nautical flags too.  The room was a total DIY project and I had a blast doing it.  (And thanks to Elizabeth for this nice wide angle picture :)

OOpsie!

I am all snuggled on the hammock right now.  Harper is laying next to me.  It isn't so hot out anymore as it was a few weeks ago.  The wind is blowing and I couldn't be more relaxed.  I brought my lap top out so that I could sit down and catch up on this blog (which by the way is on my list of priorities to make a priority).  And guess what?  No pictures!!!  I watched Matt burn all the pictures from the camera card onto cd's last night and get them all stored up, so now I can't do any blogging, because what is a good blog post without pictures of the cuties to back them up!!!  So, I could just continue to lay here and relax or I guess I will get up, make a grocery list, and then go get things ready to start SCHOOL tomorrow!!  Time to saddle up and getting ready for a new year :)

Post Its

I love how children pick up on things.  Anything!  Matt writes me notes sometimes on post-its and leaves them around the house for me to find.  He will leave notes to the kids too at their seats for breakfast.  Today I go downstairs and they are all busy working away at something on the island.  They were writing Dad notes for when he gets home from work.  They are the sweetest things.  They left them on the door, near his toothbrush, under his pillow, in the hallway, on the stairs...pretty much everywhere and they all say how much they love him, how sweet he is, how he is their big strong man, etc.  Thanks Matt for showing your kids how to love others......they are picking up on it ;)