Thursday, January 21, 2010

Happy Birthday Poppa!


For Ron's 60th Birthday, we took the whole family to Disney World! All 14 1/2 of us, 8 adults, 6 kids and baby yet to be born! I just realized that you can't see Phoenix in that picture!
I have been saving up for this for quite a while. I am very proud of the fact that half of the trip was paid for with reward dollars, meaning it was free! I bought some new Christmas ornaments with my reward dollars and they were free!
We had the deluxe dinning plan, if you ever go to Disney, this a really a good bargin, you have three meals a day and a snack, and it doesn't matter if you order a cheeseburger or a prime rib dinner! We all loved that.
Seeing the characters and the rides through the eyes of our grandchildren was so exciting! I like the rides and think the characters are fun, but seeing the kids enjoy that was priceless!
The fireworks, parades, shows, I don't know what was best. We watched Beauty and The Beast, The Lion King, Nemo, a Bird Show! I loved the playgrounds, Honey I Shrunk the Kids, Pooh's playground and Minnies House. At Epcot we saw Talk Time with Crush!, had German food, sang a poolka! I bought German Christmas ornaments!
It was fun despite the crying, the blisters, the sprained ankle, the stomach virus, getting up early, the aching joints of the old people! We spent too much money, they babies were too young, but when I look at the pictures, it was all worth it!
I have already starting saving for the next trip!

Violet

Violet pretty much did not like those Disney characters! We watched the Animal Kingdom parade and she finally slapped the hand of one of the craziest scariest characters of all!

We don't have a picture, but Veronika is afraid of dark places and dark rides, speed is OK, but not dark and loud, like Voyage of the Little Mermaid, Usula was pretty scary. By the last night, she road Pirates of the Carribean! and wasn't afraid!

Jackson, Tucker and the Brazillian Beauties

Ron and I took Jackson and Tucker on the Toy Story Mania ride, while Tucker was shopping for his Baby Woody, this woman asked me if her girls could have their picture taken with Woody and Buzz, they thought they were SO CUTE!
Well, I thought about making sure that was OK with Brad and Paula, but decided they would love it, and they did, Brad was so PROUD!
The woman said they were cheerleaders from Brazil! The picture doesn't do justice to how cute they were, the girls and the boys.

Evie and Pluto

Evie kissing Pluto!

Buzz and Woody Meeting Buzz and Woody

Jackson and Tucker were in full costume for meeting Buzz and Woody, I think the workers really enjoyed setting up their meeting, especially since Tucker had his baby Woody. Jackson decided on the baby Buzz later in the trip! The girls bringing the kids into the room made a big production of Jackson an Tucker surprising Buzz and Woody with their costumes.

Grumpy



Ron and I have very few "good" photos together! Why does he say he loves to go to Disney World and then have a grumpy smile?
Just for the record, he had a great time, he rocked babies to sleep, fed babies and toddlers, carried them, rode the rides with them and pushed the strollers too!

Babes in Toyland "DisneyWorld"

Phoenix aka "Little Steve"

Evie aka "Little Josh"
Three babies in Disney World is crazy, there was a lot of crying, diapers and napping. But the trip was still wonderful.

Disney 2010

Tucker and Slinky
Mickey kissing Phoenix

Violet on the Bug at the "Honey I Shrunk the Kids" playground!


Josh, Amanda and Evie at Hollywood



Jackson taking care of Evie at the airport at the beginning of the trip.




Friday, January 01, 2010

New Year


A new year brings so many possibilities! A new beginning for so many goals, whatever our goals may be. And so many possibilities for new experiences.

I am so excited about the New Year! Like celebrating Ron's 60th birthday. We will be taking a family trip to celebrate!

I plan to have a portrait taken of us. This age is it, we will record this age for the future. Like the driver's license photo, I always think it's such a bad picture, until I have to get a new photo 4 years later! Uhgg. So I think it is time to record this age before we get any older.

I am excited about new gardening opportunities. I love gardening so much that I included the garden picture! And it is not even mine, I borrowed the picture from Ann's picture file. Thanks Sister! I really enjoy my gardening and bird watching. What can I say, it was the first day of the year and rather than put up my Christmas decorations, I worked on my bird feeders.

I am exited about the opportunities to share the love of Jesus with children. I was showing Jackson the kids Nativitiy scene and he started asking questions about what I was telling him. That reminded me of how important my responbilities as a Christian, a teacher at church and as a grandmother are. What a blessing to be able to share the love of Jesus!

After Christmas Fun




After opening presents and eating breakfast we went outside to play for a little while. The tire swing is the same tire swing we hung up when Brad was little.



Trimming the Tree





I didn't actually have the kids help me decorate the tree, I just staged these pictures. But I do think next year I want to get a better camera and actually let the grandkids help me decorate the tree. It makes for some pretty pictures!

Ron's Christmas Gift


I bought Ron a train set for Christmas. Ron doesn't get excited about much, but he went right to work putting the train together to have it ready for the grandkids! He says we have Brad's train set up in the attic, but I don't remember seeing it for years! I hope we don't pack this one away and forget about it.

Merry Christmas 2009


For the last few years I have bought the grandkids Christmas pajamas and taken a picture of them all together. It is really hard to get 6 kids smiling all at the same time. Next year we get to try to get 7 kids smiling all at the same time.
I did realize it doesn't matter if they all smile or look at the camera, the beauty of it all is just that they are so CUTE!

Thanksgiving in Baton Rouge





Movie night for the kids and grandmothers! And Radio Flyers from Wal Mart!

Thanksgiving in Baton Rouge




Ann and family hosted my family for a Thanksgiving weekend in Baton Rouge. We enjoyed the best food and the best company. Fried turkey, pumpkin bread, corn casserole, shrimp boil, boudan, and more! After feasting for three days, most of the young adults went to the LA/AR football game. I know they had a great time. Ann and I, with the help of Ron, Daniel, Chad and Stacy took care of 7 children, my 6 grandchildren and 1 of Ann's.
We played games, visited, did some crafts, mostly just had a great time.
Thank you Ann and Daniel for hosting our Thanksgiving!