Happy Birthday Logan!

My baby is 18 years old today. How can that be? I am not old enough to have an 18 year old kid.

We Made Some New Friends

We're Back!

We had a WONDERFUL time and are already planning our next trip! I won't bore you with all of my 172 pictures, but here are some highlights:

Can you tell how excited they were about the drive we had ahead of us?

Finally, we are in Florida!

Jill and Katie super excited to see the castle!

Logan is excited about his birthday button

Mike hangs out in Adventure Land during our Adults Night Out at Magic Kingdom

(Thanks, Logan)

Amanda loves to ride

Logan celebrates his birthday at the Sci-Fi Dine In

A good way to keep the kids under control for a few minutes

Madeline drives her magic carpet

We're Going To Disney World

Today's the day! What? What's that? The countdown said 2 days left yesterday. In a surprise twist, the Riddle and Onofry Families have decided to leave a day early. We just couldn't wait to get headed for The Happiest Place On Earth!

Little Pet Shop Party

So, Mike called me into our bathroom last night and said, "Look at this." The Gals had taken a shower earlier that night, and I guess they decided to bring some friends along.

Earache Shmearache

Well, I had been feeling so bad this week and couldn't figure out why. I mean, I am getting ready to leave for the Happiest Place On Earth. I should have been more hyper - more excited. Last night, I decided to go to the doctor and found out I have an ear infection. But, it is not going to hamper my enthusiasm or ruin my trip!

Countdown

2 Days Left!

Packing For Our Trip

Ahh! If you saw my house right now you would think a tornado had hit it. I have been doing laundry for 3 days trying to get everything clean for the 4 of us. Thank God Logan is in North Carolina so he is doing his own. I have turned his room into my "staging area". I went out last night and got the kids a bunch of stuff to do on the drive, and I made up my own Car Ride Scavenger Hunt for them. I am not too concerned about the ride down. It is the ride back that will probably kill us. I am sure after a week of fun The Gals will look at a 12 hour car ride as torture. Needless to say, on top of all the clothes and shoes and toiletries, I am also packing the Benadryl. And some Valium.

Countdown

3 More Days!

Countdown

4 More Days!

Countdown

Only 5 more days!

Everything But The Squeal

So, one of the things we did when we were in North Carolina was to go to the local Pork Center. I call it the Pig Store, but the sign says "Pork Center", so I guess that is the official name for it. The Gals, Ma, and I drove up to this long, white building. As we got out of the car, we heard pigs crying in the distance. I felt sorry for them, but not sorry enough to turn around and go home. We grabbed a cart and went inside. There were big freezers full of every part of a pig you can think of ("We Sell Everything But The Squeal"). The Gals were not too happy when they saw the heads neatly wrapped in cellophane sitting on a table ready to be put in the freezer, but other than that they thought it was neat. I don't think they quite understood what they were looking at. I tried not to dwell on it for too long. I mean, I like pigs, but I like bacon a lot better.

The Countdown Begins!

6 Days Until Disney World!

Mom's Birthday Weekend

The Gals and I went to North Carolina this weekend to visit Logan and to celebrate my ma's birthday. We went to see Wall-E which The Gals loved and Ma and I could have lived without. My sister, Jenny, came up on Saturday and joined us. We spent a lot of time in the pool and even more time stuffing our faces.

Logan chillin' by the pool

Jenny and Amanda

Grammy and Madeline

Out to lunch before the movie

Pajama Day

Have you ever had a Pajama Day? You get up and start doing whatever you want and when you decide to look at the clock it is like 4:00 and everyone is still in their pajamas. We had one of those days today. The girls and I used to do them quite often, but as they have gotten older we haven't had much of a chance. Logan will do his own Pajama Days, but since he gets up late, we are normally dressed by the time we realize what he is doing.

The weather really cooperated, too. It was rainy and cloudy and just overall yucky. You can't really do a Pajama Day with sunny weather. I mean, maybe you can, but I can't.

All good things must come to an end, though, so about 5:00 I got into the shower and then threw some clothes on. But, I am still in a Pajama Day state of mind.

The Secret's Out

We FINALLY told the girls tonight that we are heading to Disney in a couple of weeks. Logan, Mike and I have been dying with this secret for months. They didn't seem to believe it at first, but I think it is slowly starting to sink in. And when they found out that we were going with our dear Onofry Family they couldn't have been happier. I am so excited!!

The Shooter

Logan and his Papa went shooting this past week. Like the cool look. Hope his aim was as sharp!

American Girls

Last night, the Gals and I and a group of friends and their dolls went out to dinner and then went to see the new American Girl doll movie - Kit Kittredge. I cannot tell you how wonderful that was. I just really enjoyed watching all the little girls at the movie theater walk in with their dolls and purses. It was just lovely. And it was so nice to do something fun without a video game or computer being involved. The night was just a real joy to me.

Madeline, Elizabeth, Emily and Amanda all on their way to dinner
Beautiful girls with their beautiful dolls

All set and ready to watch!

Fun Team

Madeline and Amanda have been doing the Fun Team at the pool this week. For 45 minutes a day for 2 weeks they get to learn how to do different swim strokes. They are absolutely exhausted when they are finished. They are doing really well and should be set to join the Swim Team next year.

Madeline practices her backstroke

Amanda makes her way down the lane