This guy..

This guy stole my heart 8 years ago! Jaxson Wheat, I love you so! You are just the coolest, sweetest, loving and admirable dude. In 8 more years instead of a scooter you will be asking for a car! Wha?!?

Baby Carter.

McKenzie

Birthday round -1

Disney dayz!

Wow...happiest place on earth indeed. First trip to Disney and it was been a blast!!

First, I want to see a show of hands for people who are cray-cray and are going to waste 6 plus hours of their life waiting on a princess?? I have heard of WAY too many people doing this. WTH?! Anna and Elsa-I mean yeah I teared up a little at the pure joy of my daughter meeting them and have felt very accomplished when other characters and attendants see we do have the autograph of them..and we only waited a short time. But come on y'all... More than a 30 minutes wait ain't worth it. That's just me maybe.. I'll move on.

Day One at Magic Kingdom we got there 30 minutes before opening and went straight to Anna and Elsa. No fast pass we waited 20 minutes-success!! Then we moved on through our 3 fast passes. We picked Space Mountain-awesome! Pirates of the Caribbean-closed=not awesome and Monsters Inc laugh-very mediocre... Then we fit a few rides here and there and lunchtime we were ready to go home.."hangey" we were and hotter than hates we decided to take a break. This is where everything didn't go so well ...we came home and ate made all the kids take a nap and then it started raining..not the 2 hour fast moving Florida rain.. More like a typhoon..it never let up and actually intensified though the night.. So magic was short lived that day. We went out to eat and then I pretended I was going to "read" and never actually opened my book and it was only 10pm. You should try that trick... Works every time. :-)

Day two-we understood the whole fast pass thing and the lunch/snack/heat thing. We went to Animal kingdom. Many people told me this wasn't a good choice but for us it was one of the best days! Animal kingdom is very shaded, the Lion King show it amazing, we rode all the rides and also saw the Nemo show which was pretty cute too. It was a good day!

Day 3 we headed to Sugarmill where you get to make your own pancakes. Besides the fact it was hot, hot, hot in there with all the skillets on, it was delish and a very fun experience. It's located on a state park that has a really cool natural spring pool that the kids had a blast in. After all you can eat pancakes it was only appropriate to go to the beach and be beached whales for the day. 

This night Corey and I got a date. We went to Downtown Disney. We ate appetizers and had a beer at Ragland Road Irish Pub. This place was great, food was delish, beer was cold and there was constant entertainment-band, dancers and music. Fun time! Thanks Boo, Pops, Chad for keeping the kiddos!

Day 4 was back to Magic Kingdom where we walked and walked and walked and made up for our short day on Monday. We walked 12 miles that day..aye yai yai! Kids held up fairly well and it is truely a magical place! 

                                          Jaxson in his element- The Pirate Life for him..

                        And Annabelle in her element-The Princess Mermaid Life for her.

Day 5 we went to blizzard beach for a few water slides and a more low key day and then afternoon by the pool. 

Day 6 downtown Disney followed by a loooong wait at the airport for a flight that keeps getting delayed-boo! 

It was a fabulous, magical and awesome trip. It was all I dreamed of and more. Thank you Boo and Pops for a fantastic trip!

 

 

We still do!

14 years ago (one of our first dates) before cell phone cameras existed...

heck, we might have still only had beepers here.

July 17th, 2004- I married THE best guy, whom I want to laugh with, 

dance with and smile too hard with all the days of my life. 

You gave me 2 of the most precious people, life sucking and all, we are perfect for us.

You follow me and support me and push me to places I never thought possible.  

We do BIG things and I am so proud to be on your team!

Corey- I love you for all that you are, all you have been and what you are yet to be.  

Happy 10 years, LoveBoat! 

Happy 4th, y'all!

                                   Happy 4th, from Bethany Beach, DE.

               My Hannah Bear- loves the water. 

                                My super heroes.

First time eating crabs...he was quite the fan.  He dug right in.

Water logged with tan lines...

Life's a beach.

Mark has never been to the beach, he has never even seen a big body of water so you can imagine his excitement this week on our trip to Bethany Beach. Lots of firsts and lots of fun. Gasping at the sight of the bay bridge and squalling at the excitement of the first wave -he has not taken the smile off his face.

 

Mark- Day 2, 3, 4 plus...

Opps, just realized I should probably give an update in case you have not heard or seen us.  Corey does an outstanding job at his blog- so follow him too..I get side tracked easy and leave you hanging if you haven't noticed... www.crayonsandkeyboards.BlogSpot.com

So Friday morning Mark woke up a totally different kid.  He was rested and a ready to take on this adventure.  I hesitated to take him to the last day of Summer Camp at our church for fear of overwhelming him...but did it anyways.  I was so glad I did because he did awesome!  He joined right in with the crafts, clapped to the music and played with all the kids.  It was a great day.  He requested PIZZA after camp so we obliged and afterwards we took him on a shopping spree.  Then that night we had a church picnic.  All of which he had a blast. 

The weekend was full of more fun, food, family and friends.  Jaxson and Annabelle are getting along great with Mark.  They all play together and it makes my heart sing!  They play legos, they draw, they read stories, they watch TV, the play outside ALOT, and they really just enjoy each others company.  Mark is so sweet with AB, he includes her and is so sweet with her.  Him and Jax are total boys together - you can imagine.  Aye yai yai.  Mark is a trouper when it come to food.  He eats anything...such a blessing because who the heck knows what Russian food is like?! 

Kids amaze me...everyone has taken to Mark really well...with the language barrier I thought it would be more of a challenge but it just works for kids.  Mark is already saying more and more English words and he is understanding more and more.  I am working on speaking slower...if you know me- you know that is no small task...I run at a million words a minute. 

The last couple days I have had to worked and Papi has graciously watched the kids.  They have had a blast, riding on the tractor, eating more cookies that I ever really want to know and running up a $40 tab on Papi's phone on apps.  Really Dad?  Very grateful for him and even more grateful that he pulls more than his fair share of the weight on Fun Bus because that working mom business is for the birds!  Shout out to you Dad for splitting the load so I can do what I really enjoy doing- just being a mommy! :) 

We have a few more activities this week...including a dentist appointment for Mark.  Pray his teeth are healthy.  Then we are beach bound for a while....HOLLA!!!  Belarus is land locked so this will be the first time Mark has ever been to the beach- lots of "firsts" and fun to be had. 

K...that's it for now.  Peace out.