Me and my great ideas

That title is meant to be read with great sarcasm in my voice. :) When we went to Disney World last week, an aquaintance (a former co-worker of Kevin's sister) who works at Disney got us in for free (without us asking by the way). We were talking about it and Kevin said, "We need to make sure that we write her a really nice thank-you card!" I said, "Well, I just got all of that Disney scrapbooking stuff so maybe I should make a Disney card". Never mind I've never made a card. Rachel got me into scrapbooking about a year and a half ago (though sometimes I feel like an 8 year old who likes to cut and glue things because that's what my pages look like). And never mind the card was for someone I don't even really know so she can't be like, "Bless her heart, Becky tries and it was a cute idea but she just never has had an ounce of creativity!" and then just overlook it. So... here I am with this great idea but no creativity or experience to go along with it. I bought a pack of 8 blank cards at Wal-mart for just under $2 so I thought, "Well, at least I can mess up seven times before it has to look decent". It didn't take me long at all to mess up the first card, which came as no surprise. The second card looked okay except for this patch of ink (where it was not meant to be) which I tried to cover over with a white paint pen which made it look like, "Hey, I messed up but I colored over it with a white pen so now it's faded ink and white marker that doesn't blend in with the card!" (also to be read in a sarcastic tone). I already had my stickers and stuff on it and I didn't want to have to peel them off again and try to get them to re-stick on a different card. So I did the classic "glue something over it" which actually fixed it enough to be acceptable (to me). The results of my creative efforts are shown below. But if any of you ever hear me talking about making a card again, just kindly hand me 3 bucks and suggest that it might be easier if I just run to the store this time! :)

Long day at Disney!

After being at the Magic Kingdom for 14 hours, we were quite ready to get back to the motel and get some sleep. We walked so much that I could hardly stand on my legs the next morning!


Kevin and Kaelyn outside of Mickey's house.


Worn out from the day!!!




Kaelyn ready for bed

More Disney

Here are a few more pictures of Disney stuff.



One more roller coaster picture.


More hugs for Minnie (the second time around)


She was not interested in looking at the camera at all!

Kaelyn's first roller coaster ride!

We took Kaelyn on her first roller coaster ride. It was called "Goofy's barnstormer" and it went pretty fast for a kid's roller coaster! You had to be 35" and she was just barely over the line. Kevin sat ahead of us and took pictures. You can see the look of terror on her face in one of the pictures (when we were just getting back) but she didn't cry. I think it was the same kind of terror like we adults have when we are terrified but then we get off a roller coaster and go get back in line because it's just so much fun.



Kay and I watching the parade!


Kay-Kay eating her Mickey ice cream sandwhich after
the parade. (It poured a couple of times for a little bit
which kind of helped things cool off a bit but there were
a couple of hours where it was just extremely hot! -
especially standing in the sun watching the parade)


Hey, if you paid $2.50 for a mickey shaped ice cream
bar you would take a picture of it too! :)


Getting back from the [1 1/2 minute] roller coaster ride!


Roller coaster ride.

Disney World - meeting Mickey and Minnie!

We decided to skip the 45 minute line to see Donald, Pluto, & Goofy or the princesses. We really didn't expect for Kaelyn to get to see Minnie or Mickey up close. We were walking behind them when we first got through the gates in the park. They were going in to the "character breakfast". We thought Kay just wanted to climb the steps (that they had gone up) but she got up them and went running after them and tried pulling on the door that they had walked into. (It was actually a little sad from a mommy's perspective). Anyway, we walked through Mickey's house and got in this line that we thought went to see Mickey. Kevin said, "I don't think it's actually going to be them in person. I think it's going to be a movie or something because the line is moving too fast." But the more I heard people around us talking, the more I thought she would get to see them. Come to find out there are actually several rooms with Mickey & Minnie. (I don't know how many). They were taking 6 family groups at a time into the room where they were at. Well, we happened to be the last ones in line for our group of people. Once we got in the room and Kay could see Mickey and Minnie she was having fits that we wouldn't let her go. She did not understand the "wait your turn" concept at all! As soon as it was our turn, we put her down and she went running up to them. She hugged Minnie great big. We couldn't believe it given the fact that she's not normally that outgoing. They take pics. that you can buy later but they also let you video or take pics. and they will take pictures on your camera for you. We actually went back later because she was begging - "May I please go to disney world and see Mickey Mouse?" (even though we were already at Disney World). I think that made our whole day that she got to see them, hug them and get her picture taken with them!



Kay hugging Minnie


Giving Minnie a hug and kiss


The three of us with Minnie and Mickey (we
could hardly get her to look away from them
long enough to get a good picture!)


After a few hours of doing stuff for her, we got
on the train that goes around the park. She laid
down on my lap and was out in no time. She
slept for a couple of hours despite being moved
around into and out of her stroller and on and off
other rides. (She had only gotten about 6 hours of
sleep the night before!)


We had already eaten lunch while she slept so a
little while before the 3:00 parade we got her some
lunch and woke her up. Here she is eating her lunch
while we waited for the parade.

Disney World!!! - 2

Because we got to DW so early the first couple of hours in the park were not busy at all. We were able to go back and walk right on to pretty much all of the "small rides" like Snow White, Peter Pan, Small World, Mickey's philharmagic, etc. Kay seemed to enjoy those. She wanted to ride the carousel although that's not what she calls it. Rewind to Spring Break when we spent a day at Lion Country Safari where they had a little carousel. On their carousel, there was a manatee that Kay rode and Kevin said, "Look Kaelyn! It's Barbara Manatee" (Barbara Manatee is one of the silly songs in Veggie Tales). Well, she rode the carousel 2 or 3 times in a row and loved it. Now, back to Disney. We get off the Snow White ride and Kaelyn starts hollering "Barbara Manatee! May I please have Barbara Manatee!" We were looking all over trying to figure out what in the world she was seeing to make her think of the Barbara Manatee silly song. As we walked by the carousel (we weren't going to ride it) she started becoming more distressed about Barbara Manatee. Then it dawned on me. We ended up going on it a couple of different times that day. Every times she sees the pictures she says, "Is that Barbara Manatee?" Yeah, we don't know if she's normal either! :) She was so cute with Pluto. Right after we walked into the gate we saw Pluto. We got over there just in time before the line got terribly long. She hugged him and kissed him several times. It was so cute!



The three of us at the front of the
Magic Kingdom.


Kay kissing the minnie statute on the
Walt Disney with Minnie bench.


Kay on "Barbara Manatee" :)


Kay in Winnie the Pooh's little tree house.


Sitting on the counter of Minnie's house.

Disney World!!!

Okay. You are going to have to bear with me here because I have pics. from our trip this weekend to post - lots of pics. Ideally, I'm going to go through and choose a few good ones but... how do I choose just a few? I will send them in several different posts. We left Thursday eve. after work and school. We got a [very] flat tire when we stopped at a burger king 45 minutes up the road. Long story summarized, the local Wal-mart car center was closing about that time (7:00). They said they would wait on us but when we got there 15 or 20 minutes later, the guy had left (which we figured out after much trouble). The manager felt bad and gave us a couple of tire repair kits for free and $20. (The $20 didn't exactly put smiles back on our faces but it was a nice gesture.) Kevin told her that it would have been fine had they just said they were closed but by the time we put some air in the tire, crippled the car there and tried for 30 min. to find this guy all the other local tire places were closing. Well, Kevin patched the tire (a first for him) but he didn't think to leave the car running while he used our little air pump so then we had to find someone to come back in the dark parking lot by the garage at Wal-mart to jump our car. The patch worked and we made it to Orlando very late (it was 11:30 before we got checked in and into our room). Kay-Kay hadn't slept the whole trip so she was pretty tired but when we got up to the room she got all hyper and wanted to jump on the beds. We had to get up around 6 the next morning so we all (including K) got just a few hours of sleep. (Wouldn't you all hate to hear the long version?) :) Disney World was awesome though - more about that later!




We got there way before the park opened so we
got to see all the characters ride up on the train
and welcome everyone to the park.



Kay-Kay giving Goofy a kiss.



She actually kept hugging Pluto and she gave him
a couple of kisses.



"Petting" Pluto.



Kay-Kay with Pluto. (There are also some really
good pictures on Disney's photo pass website of this).

What's up with Becky?

I recently posted pics. of Kevin's office and a little bit about what he's doing (as far as work). Here's what I am up to. I have been teaching 4'th grade again this year. I have a smaller class this year with only 16 students. We just recently went on a SeaWorld sleepover field trip to Orlando. We slept in the building where the penguins are. It was quite an experience with little sleep involved. By the time we left for home the next day I was ready for the "over" part of the sleepover! (it was a lot of fun though). Here are a few pics. of me doing what I do. :)





Me teaching.



Me and my class (you have to promise them they
can do a "silly shot" to get them to cooperate for
a regular shot).



My kids

Kaelyn builds a birthday monkey

Gay needed to get a graduation present for the girl that rents from her, a b.day present for a friend from school, and she wanted to get something for Kay-Kay so we went to the mall last night. Our mall has a [cheaper] (I should say more reasonable!) version of Build-A-Bear so Gay decided to do that for her. Kaelyn got a small monkey. She didn't like it too much when we stuffed it because 1.) we took it away from her and 2.) she didn't like the noise the machine made but it was all good once that part was done. We chose a little cheer-leading outfit for it that is as cute as can be. Kaelyn spent the next little bit sitting the monkey up on the stroller behind her head and then making it "swing/slide" down the stroller - yeah she's a unique one that daughter of mine! :)



I've decided the pony-tail
makes her look too old. I'm
going to have to not do her hair
like that for a while. :{


Giving her monkey a hug and
kiss.


Making her monkey slide
down the stroller.


This has absolutely nothing to do with K's
birthday. She took her shoes off (we actually
lost one and had to hunt it down).She was
playing with them and kept putting one on top
of her head. She would sit it up there and then
just sing and talk away while we walked along
like it was perfectly normal to be strolling
through the mall with a shoe on her head.

Happy birthday Kay-Kay!

I sent cupcakes, Mickey mouse plates & napkins, and party hats with Kaelyn today when she went to the babysitter's. She has only been with this babysitter (a lady from the church) for a couple of weeks since Jessica Rauschenberger moved so I really don't even know any of the other kids except for Meagan. We are going to do a cook-out/party for her with a few people in a couple of weeks but I figured this would be the only "party" where there would actually be kids her age. I was going to make cupcakes but it was getting late last night so I ended up buying them instead. I was paranoid it might sound silly but I had Kevin take my camera so the baby-sitter could get some pictures. I was also worried she would think it was a lot of bother to mess with party hats and I didn't even think she would get one on Kaelyn but she did. I was so happy to have the pictures and I thought they were cute so... here is the first "installment" of birthday pictures. I think K partly understands the b.day thing but this morning I said, "Happy birthday Kay-Kay" and she said, "Happy birthday Mommy". :)




K's little friends (She always
comes home and says, "It was
fun play with kids!")


Kay-Kay





That's Meagan (Brown) right
beside Kaelyn.


I can't believe she actually wore
the hat! I thought this pic. was
so cute!

What's up with Kevin?

I realize this title could be misleading. Kevin has NOT dyed his hair purple or started acting strange (stranger than normal anyway). :) I just wanted to show some pictures of the office (insurance agency) that Kevin & Rod own and tell you what is going on with his work. They just opened a full insurance agency (car, home, health, life, worker's comp. etc.) last fall (late summer). They have since hired 3 other part time people. God has blessed the business incredibly! There have been some start-up and growing pains but they have done WAY more business than a first year agency should and normally does. Kevin loves what he's doing (most days) and he is doing well with it. He always has new challenges and exciting things going on and I know a lot more about his work and day-to-day life than I did when he worked for MUNIS. We are ALL 3 loving the fact that he's home every night - even when he has to put in long hours! I am going to try to include some pictures of the office right after they finished it.

Kevin & Kay walking into the

front door of the office.

Kevin's personal office.

This is the front desk when you first walk in
the door.

I am going to try to post some pictures and info. to tell everyone what we are doing now (as if there are so many people wanting to know that). Anyway... all [4] of you reading this will know what is happening in our lives right now. :)

Here are a few recent pictures of Kaelyn. I know - I know! I've become a typical mom but I just thought you all might enjoy them since we only see each other a couple of times a year.

This was one spring day at the park in Hobe Sound.

We went over there to fly Kaelyn's kite.

Kay-Kay in her Easter outfit - March '08

She will hate this picture some day

but you gotta' love it right now!

Kay-Kay eating happy birthday

cake (as she calls it). :)

Oh my goodness! I just innocently sat down to look at Leah's blog and respond to it (interesting story in itself). I was "tricked" into becoming a member just so I could post something. Then I was going to e-mail her because I was so proud of myself for figuring out how to write a comment. So I checked my e-mail, google kindly let me know via e-mail that I was part of "the club" as I call it, and offfered me (with the click of a button) to become a blogger myself rather than just shyly hang around on the outskirts of "blogworld" and make little comments. So, that day that I kept saying would come some day (you know - the day I become cool and have my own blog) has arrived! I figure since I check my e-mail every 3 to 4 days you all should hear from me - oh about 4 times a year.