First Day of School 2011

Due to Labor Day and my crazy work schedule we didn't start school until a Wednesday

Gracen started in her little preschool co-op that meets 2x/week with some little girls from church

Jack didn't technically start kindergarten this year because of when our school system has the cut off but we are doing some kindy work at home

Raelyn is in 1st grade

and Morgan in 4th

Don't the big kids have the cutest shirts ever? My friend made them :)

And for the rest of the summer.......

We spent some time at horse shows......

......swam in the pool......

.....celebrated Jack turning 5........

.....and Everett turning 2........

Pretty much like Heaven.......

For our Anniversary this year Josh and I went the Grand Cayman Islands.....

.......alone with no children.........

......except our little rice grain sized child (I told Josh I was pregnant on the trip!).......

.....I didn't even have to get off my stomach to take this picture......

.......Josh spent plenty of time snorkeling and I read 5 books in 5 days......

.....it was pretty much like Heaven.

The Last few Months

Raelyn rode in another Charity Fun Horse Show to benefit an Orphanage in Ghana. She got 1st Place!

Cash Lovell Stables (where Raelyn rides) hosted a 'Mom's Morning Out' with pony rides, etc for the kids. Here is jack on a horse (with Ms. Parker)

Our friends, the Bells, met us there.

Morgan and Raelyn played field hockey at Wake Forest University this year. WF's field hockey team hosts an awesome (FREE) program every year for girls ages 4-11 to play.

Well behaved women rarely make history.

-Laurel Thatcher Ulrich

Disneyworld: Day 7- Friday, January 14th

Since we were leaving on Saturday morning, Friday was our last day to enjoy the parks. Gracen (and everyone else!) was feeling great and so since only a few of us enjoyed Animal Kingdom the day before AND if was only for a few hours we decided to head back.

Josh kept saying this was going to be the best day of our vacation. I don't know if he was trying to psych himself or what, but it was!

It was the second coldest day (next to Thursday) in the morning but by afternoon it was GORGEOUS! Here is the clan walking in to the park.

Expedition Everest Roller Coaster- Morgan, Raelyn and Josh went on this- Josh has some sweet video of the girls on this ride

All Rae wanted was to have her face painted

This Triceratop Spin ride is just like Dumbo- only on Triceratops

In addition to the rides and GREAT shows at Animal Kingdom they also had a 'zoo' you could walk through- just more natural type habitats

After the 'best day ever' at the park ;) we headed back to the house and went up to the closer of the two playgrounds (2 houses up)

This picture is kind of like 'Where's Waldo?' except with the five kids.

Seriously the best trip ever.....

Disneyworld: Day 6- Thursday, January 13th

We had 8:30am reservations at Tusker House in Animal Kingdom this morning so we got everyone up early. Gracen seemed to be feeling much better so Josh fixed her toast with PB & J to make sure she was ok.

Just as we were pulling in the Animal Kingdom parking spot she threw up all over herself. Double UGH! Josh offered to take her back to the house to change and then return later to pick us up. So the other four kids and I headed into the park.

Donald Duck greeted us at the entrance. Note my purse that Morgan is carrying. This thing was a lifesaver on the trip. We left the backpack on the stroller with all the diapers, wipes, extra clothes, waterbottles, etc but I wore this with my wallet, camera, etc. It was small enough to not get in the way but big enough to hold my stuff.

This picture is a drastic change from some of the pictures of Everett with Winnie the Pooh! He had just given Mickey a straw here.

One word of advice- make sure to take cups for your kids to AK. They don't have regular cups with straws- just coffee cup type cups and the straws are paper- they are protecting the animals.

Note that Everett wouldn't let go of Mickey's hand for the picture.

I love this picture- Everett wanted Goofy before he even got to the table.

This day was the coldest day of our trip so we didn't stay very long. We did a couple rides, watched a show and went on a safari. Look at Everett's face- you can see how cold and windy it really was.

Pretty sweet how close the animals are. (this photo wasn't taken with zoom)

Josh picked us up around lunchtime and we went back to the house for a relaxing evening.

Disneyworld: Day 5- Wednesday, January 12th

This day was an 'off' day for our family. We hung out around the house and went to Downtown Disney in the afternoon. We watched 'Tangled' in 3D and walked around a little bit. I would probably only go back to DTD if it was summertime and we were bored- not much exciting there.

Later that evening we took Josh's grandmother, Peggy, to dinner. She chose Longhorn Steakhouse. We picked her up and headed to the restaurant. Right after we ordered Gracen threw up all over herself. UGH! So I took Gracen and Everett to the car while everyone else ate their food. I didn't have a change of clothes for Gracen, but did have an extra pair of Jack's jeans and one of Everett's fleece pullovers. (Hence what she is wearing in the below pictures)

After dinner we took Peggy home and the girls loved looking around her home at all the girly things (her house is mainly white and pink- that's it)

We went home and went to bed hoping Gracen wouldn't get sick anymore- hoped it was just a fluke. We had reservations to eat with Mickey at Animal Kingdom the next morning!!