Thank Goodness!!!

School is out for the summer!!! Unfortunately for me...work is not:(. We are fortunate that we have been able to find summer companions for our girls. It works out great because they are able to take them to and from activities during the day. Since we live outside of Bloomington we can't register for summer activities until a week after Bloomington residents. When you have the flexibility to sign your children up for day classes you still have a good chance at getting into the classes you want, even if you have to wait a week to register.

They are able to spend their days going to parks, pools, the library or even just hanging out at home if the choose.

The last two summers we were fortunate to have a friend's daughter, but alas after her first year of college she is busy, busy this summer with classes, her other job, etc and it wasn't going to work out. Enter stress mode:). We were lucky because my cousin Danielle stepped up and was ready for action:). Alas she too will go to college at the end of summer. Hopefully it will work out for her to come home and hang out with us next summer, but there is a chance it may not, and yes I already stress at the thought of what we will do next year (it's a lifelong flaw I've had, I can never just be happy in the now, always worrying about what's around the corner.).

We are so fortunate during the school year to have our parents here. They are always willing to fill in on school breaks and split up the time with Brad and I. While I would love to have a job that followed the same schedule as the girls school, I don't. Knowing that our parents are there to help is a huge relief. One I don't have to stress over.

I hope to one day be able to do the same for my grandchildren. I tell Brad, often, that I will need to retire earlier then he because I will need to be able to watch my grandkids:). I know one day my girls will realize how truly lucky they are to have such awesome grandparents! They will know how blessed they have been to form relationships with them and truly know them for who they are.

I know how blessed we are to have that in our life. There are so many who don't for various reasons. I thank goodness, each day, that we are blessed with this.

Busy, Busy May.....whew!

May is always, and will always be a busy month. We have a lot of family birthdays, there's Mother's Day, end of the school year activities, and other randomness. It's busy, tiring, exhausting, expensive, but always fun!

Kicking off the May madness is Ainsley's bday.

Be prepared to be dazzled by her new magic tricks.

With May here it means summer is right around the corner, which means we need to get the boat ready.

The girls had a joint friend birthday party. They were able to have it at the clubhouse where Brian and Sarah live. 

Ainsley and her friend Addison.

Kaylee's birthday.

The day after Kaylee's birthday was the Brownie and Daisy, Mother/Daughter, camp out. It was at Camp Peairs.

Some of the Daisy Troop.

Most of the Brownie Troop.

Kaylee and Ainsley's Family Birthday was an Owl theme this year.

Birthday girls.

May will wrap up this week. One last day of school, one last family birthday to celebrate and a dance recital! 

Happy Birthday Kaylee!

Happy Birthday, Kaylee!!! Today you are 8! Woah! You have almost completed 2nd grade. Seems like you were just born, making me a Mommy for the first time. I love being your Mom and watching you grow. You are so smart and excel so well at school. You love to dance and take your Hip Hop class. You love to sing, make up songs, dances and even write plays. You are an unique girl with a silliness about you that makes me laugh. You have a flare for the dramatics and although that can be exhausting at times it is only a reminder of your sensitive soul. You are so helpful to us around the house, always assisting in the kitchen and willing to do other chores around the house.

You have taught me a lot, as my first born, and I continue to learn each day. You are so much my mini-me:) I look so forward to all the great things that will come your way!! Love you so much and am oh so proud!

Love, Your Mommy

Disney 2013

For anyone who follows me on Facebook many of the below photos will be repeats. I have so many photos and only uploaded some, otherwise it would take forever to do all of them. 

We had such a great time in Disney!! It went so fast!! Everyone has been asking what my favorite part was. Honestly, it was seeing the fun everyone had. Seeing my girls in awe all week of the things they saw and experienced and getting to have my Mom and Brad's parents with us to experience it too. I love that my girls got to make these memories with their grandparents. So important to me for them to have the opportunity to do things like this. I love that my Mom and Brad's parents feel it's important to do too! They truly love my girls and it's the big things, like going on a Disney vacation, and the little things like calling Ainsley on her birthday and stopping by just to drop off a little something to see how excited she is to be 6, that show me how important my girls are to them and how committed they are to continuing to build a strong relationship with them.

We got to our Disney hotel Sunday afternoon. We stayed at Art of Animation. We had a Lion King Family Suite and a Little Mermaid room. The girls were so excited when we got there. It was a really neat hotel, fairly new as it just opened last summer. Lots of drawings and sketches to go with the animation theme. They also had a large pool, and a few smaller ones. It had an on site food court too and an arcade. Pretty much anything you needed. They had daily activities for kids too.

The girls in the lobby of the hotel.

Chandelier in the hotel lobby full of Disney artist sketches. 

More artwork in the lobby.

I think the girls were just as excited to be able to swim.

Disney's Magic Kingdom

Getting Peter Pan's autograph and asking him to fly for them.

Fairy Rosalinda

Tinker Bell, one of Ainsley's favorite. Tink talks really fast:)

Some of our Toy Story friends.

We caught some parades.

We went to Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique where the girls got to be made into Princesses.

Princess Kaylee

Pop Princess Ainsley

Day 2 was Animal Kingdom. Mee-Maw and her girls.

 Ainsley's hair even stayed in overnight. That "jellyfish jelly" Ariel brings them really works well:)

Safari time. We saw a lot of neat animals.

This was a baby elephant. He was so cute!

We went back to Magic Kingdom that night for the Electric Parade and fireworks.

Day 3-Hollywood Studios. The girls thought all the Duffy the Bear stuff we found was pretty cool.

We hung out with some Muppets.

Got shrunk on Honey I Shrunk the Kids set.

The hotel staff liked to decorate the room with the girls stuffed animals each day.

Day 4-Epcot.

They had the dolphin pose for a photo. Lots of cool marine life in Under the Sea.

They had the garden festival going on and had lots of cool exhibits.

All in all it was such a great trip. I would love to go back and do it all again! Couldn't of asked for a better time!!