8 Years at the Zoo

April 4th we celebrated our 8th anniversary. I can honestly say that I am more in love with my husband than I was the day I married him. But 8 years ago I didn't think it was possible to love him more than I did as I stood barefooted in the sand as we exchanged vows.

2012 has been a heck of a year so far.  It's been rough and honestly, I think that is why most of my endurance is gone. I'm zapped. I'm emotionally exhausted. I'm tired.

Brandon knows this. He feels it too. Except he admits he also doesn't have the side effects of weekly 17P shots to deal with or the exhaustion of pregnancy.

But he also knew that if he really did nothing for our anniversary as I originally asked, that there was a chance we'd look back and feel disappointed.

So he did what he thought was best. He thoughtfully made plans and quietly did the logistical work in the background.

We went to the National Zoo in Washington, DC. We've never travelled to DC for the day, we've only driven through on the way to New Jersey.

We had a fabulous time.  The zoo is kept up very well and it appeared that the animals were well cared for.

They had a ton of picnic areas and it was so easy to have a picnic which made any anxiety we had about Xander's food allergies disappear.  It appeared that there were more people eating packed lunches than ordering lunch, so it didn't stand out.

The one downside is that strollers are only allowed in one one of the buildings.  All the other buildings you have to leave your stroller outside.  There were long lines to go inside, so we skipped quite a few of them. 

Inside one of the buildings, I realized that a former teacher of mine was standing about 5 feet away from me.  She was my business teacher and taught me how to type in middle school.  Believe it or not, that was not an easy A and I didn't truly excel at typing until 9th grade. 

She recognized me after Brandon said something to her and we chatted for a bit.  How funny that I run into someone I know from back home in Washington, DC?

When we left, we googled DC Cupcakes and found the address for Georgetown Cupcakes.  I sat in the van with the sleeping children and Brandon got in line and then called me when he got a menu.  Thankfully the line went quickly because Xander was not happy that he was in the van and it wasn't moving when he woke up. 

My favorite cupcake was the Cookies and Cream one.  Delish!

We came home and fed the children Chick Fil A and as I put them to bed, Brandon went to go get takeout for us to have a meal on our own.  We ate, watched Survivor and then went to sleep. 

It was a lovely day!

Bran, 8 years ago, I never imagined we'd be expecting baby #5 or that we'd be living right outside of Richmond, Virginia.  I never imagined we'd be homeschoolers.  I never imagined any of this.  But God has blessed our willingness to go where we are called and do what He calls us too.  I can't wait to see what the future holds. You are still my Prince Charming and I can't imagine my life without you.  Love you to the moon and back, times infinity.  ~Babycakes

PS: Sorry readers, I have no pictures because my cell phone won't transmit them anywhere!  It is super frustrating and I hope to find a solution soon!  This post has been in the works since the 4th and I'm just getting around to posting it because I was waiting on the pictures! :(

Disney Trip Day 2: Magic Kingdom

Sorry, this is taking me longer than I thought it would-- I should have taken better notes when we were there! Lesson learned for next time!

In the middle of the night, Brandon and I woke up star-ving! We polished off a cup of fruit that we had in the fridge in mere seconds and washed it down with the drinks in our mugs. Oink, Oink...

The next morning, we got up and got everyone dressed. Then we went down to the Intermission cafeteria. I sat at the table with the children as they ate their fruit cups and nursed Solomon while Brandon got our breakfast. We had the All Star Breakfast.

Then we quickly boarded a bus to the Magic Kingdom-- our system was working! Brandon and the girls were in awe when we went through the Main Gates. I don't think he believed me when I tried to explain how Disney does everything up. It was chilly but we made the best of it we could. I'd rather be cold in Disney than cold in Virginia! We got some pictures taken on Main Street by the Photopass folks and made our way to the Hall of Presidents.

On the way, we saw Cinderella's Castle and my girls were just IN LOVE with it. Julianne (4) is in love with all things Tinkerbell and thought Tink should have her own castle. So she kept asking us where Tinkerbell lived. When we arrived at the Hall of Presidents we were in between showings but I was just happy to be in from the wind. We were going to watch a show, but Solomon got fussy.. so I nursed him and then he settled in so we decided to head back out. My husband didn't seem super thrilled about seeing the Hall of Presidents so we moved on.

We went to Country Bear Jamboree and everyone enjoyed it. Then we tried to go see Aladdin and Jasmine. DeLainey thought it was funny that Jasmine's tummy was all covered up (like I said, it was cold.) We weren't there in time to get in line, so I told the girls we would come back another time.

They saw the Magic Carpet Ride and really wanted to ride, so we did. All of us rode since another castmember told my husband that babies ride all the time. (I knew there was no height restriction but wanted to make sure.) The castmember kept telling me to hold on tight to Solomon... But I, of course, all ready knew that. She kept acting kind of shocked that we were going to take him on, but it was fine. I held onto him tightly and he seemed to like the motion. Now my daughter on the other hand kept pushing the buttons to go uppppppppppppppppp and dooooooooooooooooooown and upppppppppppppppp and downnnnnnnnnnnn... I started to feel a little sick, but the ride finished just in the nick of time. Teaching this one to drive, is her Daddy's job.. I can't imagine doing it!

By this time, the tribe was starting to get antsy for some food, so we headed to Pecos Bills. We say Davy Donald Duck and since Donald is my husband's favorite character we got in line for pictures. Xander wasn't too sure about the big Duck but he seemed to go along with it. When we got to Pecos Bill's it was packed. I found a kiosk but it was broken, so we found another one and I entered the food order in. Brandon and I both ordered the Deluxe 1/3 lb Angus Cheeseburger and we ordered hamburgers for the girls. I handed the ticket to Brandon and went with the children to get a seat. We had to sit wayyyy in the back in a diningroom to the side. By the time my husband got though the line to pick up food they had set our food trays in the cooler and everything was cold. Brandon told the castmember that our food was cold to the touch and it was unacceptable so they remade our food. In all honesty, our food wasn't exactly piping hot when we ate it so I see how it got cold so quickly. This wasn't anywhere near the best food we had on our trip. The bun on my burger was hard and dry, the meat was dry and my onion rings that came on my burger were very brown. We added a good bit of condiments to our sandwiches and it was barely tolerable. I picked at my burger but ate my fries. Brandon said that his food was "alright." He liked the nacho cheese being on the bar and he dipped his fries in it. We were sitting by a very stinky trashcan and that was a bummer. Overall, I don't think we'd be eager to return to that restaurant.

When we left Pecos Bill's we rode the Walt Disney World Railroad. Xander fell asleep in Brandon's arms and Solomon fell asleep in my arms. So we rode the complete trip and then got off on the ToonTown Fair stop.

(The best I could do on a moving train with a sleeping child on my chest. Forgive my horrible photography!)

We went into the Judge's Tent then the Toontown Hall of Fame Tent. I have such special memories of these two places. As we walked through the Judge's Tent I explained the Hidden Mickeys to Lainey. She thought that was just so neat! Then, Minnie and Mickey were great with our kiddos. Lainey asked Mickey "Do you remember me from yesterday?" And Mickey shook his head up and down signaling yes. That made her day! We got a family picture.

Next up was the ToonTown Hall of Fame Tent. We chose to do the Princess side instead of the Fairies because the sign said that Fairies had a wait twice as long as Princesses. We assured Julianne we would try to get back to see the Fairies.

The princesses... oh my.. where do I start? They were WONDERFUL with the girls. At first Julianne was very shy... it was almost as if she couldn't believe her eyes.Daddy had to help talk to the princesses for Julianne. Lainey took right to them and had something to tell each one. She talked about the airplane ride with Cinderella. Cindy said she'd never been on an airplane. Lainey was almost racing to get through all the stations to get to Belle. She wanted to tell Belle that she reads books too! (Reading was a real struggle for Lainey last year but she has taken off.) *sniff, sniff* She even told Belle that she reads the Beauty and the Beast Storybook sometimes. Belle said she couldn't really imagine books about herself but said that she thought it was really neat that Lainey was reading so well. The girls continued to talk about meeting the princesses for days and days after their meet and greet.. in fact they still do!

(Most of my pictures are blurry so I'll wait and put up our Photopass pictures of this part.)

We saw Mickey's Country House. And then we walked over to Donald's Boat. There was no water but Brandon asked me to take a picture by the door.

The girls thought that the Alice topiary (?) was so neat and asked for us to take a picture.

We headed to Sleepy Hollow so we could sit down for a bit and get a snack. We used two snack credits and got two funnel cakes. We found a nice little place to the side with tables and benches and enjoyed the quiet. Then we went to the Main Street Bakery and picked up cinnamon buns to take back to our room. They were HUGE.
We took the bus back to the resort and lightened our load considerably. We put Solomon in a warm sleeper and headed back out. We got back on the bus and rode back to Magic Kingdom. Then we got on the bus to Coronado Springs so we could eat at Peppermarket.

Peppermarket was a wonderful meal. I went and picked meals for the girls. They both had asked for pizza. While I was up getting their food, I looked around and decided I wanted fajitas. When I got back to the table, I told Brandon and he went to pick up our meals while I got the children settled. Here are my fajitas.

He ended up getting a burrito and a side of black beans.

Then when I got done I went to pick my dessert and he went to pick his. I'm not a big sweets eater so my dessert was split between the girls. I had Chocolate Layered Cake. But Brandon enjoyed every bite of his Oreo Cake.

We almost felt like we were "cheating" on the quick service dining plan since a server refilled our drinks and we had real silverware instead of plasticware.

Then we took the bus back to the Magic Kingdom and rode the monorail to the Grand Floridian so we could see the Gingerbread House.Then we headed back to the resort for the night

~Steph

We are different and I love it!

I had a lot of time to think and observe this past week. I love to people watch and Disney is people watching extreme.

I started to notice a trend. Children at Disney that had no idea how to occupy their every waking moment without electronics. Seriously. We stood in line for hours and hours by the time you added it all up. And as I looked around I saw children watching movies on phones, portable DVD players and playing all kinds of electronic games. Literally, children were rushing through the rides and attractions to get back to their electronics!

I noticed families on vacation that weren't even speaking to each other. I noticed families with a pained look on their face as they were "forced" to spend time together. I overheard a mother tell her child "I can't wait until we are home and I can drop you off at daycare!"

And I started thinking about what makes our family different...

1. Brandon and I see children as blessings. I can't say this enough. Children aren't burdens. They are glorious gifts from above. They come complete with their own little quirks and personalities. Children are FUN. It was amazing to watch my children as their eyes lit up in amazement at the sights and sounds. Complete amazement.

2. We spend a lot of time together. My children don't see their siblings as annoyances or rivals. They rarely argue and if they do, they quickly make up because they don't like to be on the outs. We eat three meals together with everyone in attendance-- including Daddy! And we crave MORE time together than what we already get. The girls share a bedroom and recently begged me to never make them sleep in separate rooms.

3. We don't rely on electronics to keep our children entertained. Our children watch less than 2 hours a week of television. And we only hit the two hour mark if we watch a movie.. together! Lainey received a gameboy (refurbished!) with a few games (used!) for her 7th birthday that she plays every so often. But she really would rather play with her siblings. We play board games and read. We are creative. It was amazing how our children really started playing when we limited TV!

4. We control the messages that our children hear and challenge the ones that slip by. One message we are constantly told is "You can't give your children everything if you have a large family." We challenge that. Why would I want to give a child everything? How do you define everything? Does giving your child everything help or hurt them in the long run? What happened to delayed gratification? Hard work? Counting the blessings you do have? Earning something yourself? If I give my children everything, what is their motivation? Sorry, I don't want to raise my children expecting to be entitled to everything, at least not everything as the world defines it.

Long story short, I fell in love with my family all over again this last week. I love each and every member of our family for who they are and I'm excited to see who each child becomes. Each addition to our family has added another layer to our family make up. We are by no means perfect but I couldn't be more pleased with the direction our family is heading.

~Steph

Apple of my Eye

I just got around to downloading some pictures from our adventures.

And I realized that I never blogged about our apple picking adventure.

To be honest, there wasn't too much adventure. We went to Carter Mountain and well... when folks around here say the word mountain, I should understand that they REALLY mean mountain.

I prayed as we drove up the mountain... it was scary and our girls kept saying "Daddy, do you know how close you are to the edge? And how far down I can see?" Girlies, now is not the best time to point that out.

Once we got to the top we saw many beautiful views. I love how beautifully God has created this earth for us. What a creative God we have!

We attempted to pick apples but the drop offs were pretty steep and it was next to impossible to get our stroller down it (and then back up!)

What we could get to was already thoroughly picked. (See the flat path that Julianne is standing on? See the steep drop off in the left of that picture? YIKES!)

So we bought pre-picked apples. Look at that big one Lainey found! We bought some Jonagold, Gala and Fuji apples. We paid by the pound.

Brandon ordered a snack while I found a picnic table on the back side of the food building with a beautiful view! We were overlooking the valley and saw a hot air balloon!

Brandon and the children had apple cider donuts and I had a small BBQ sandwich. I was starving! (If I don't eat enough protein these days, I get very shaky!)

Xander is looking at the remaining donut... He REALLY liked them! Solomon is oblivous that we are on top of a mountain or that the older children ate apple cider donuts. He just cares that he has his fingers. He thinks fingers taste the best!

Then we prayed while Brandon drove down the mountain. PHEW!

~Steph