Made my day!

As a mom of four boys, I don’t always get nice compliments when we’re out in public.  People seem to feel sorry for me because I have four boys.  I try not to let it bother me too much, but it is somewhat troublesome—depending on my day.

Today a little old man paid me the best compliment I think I’ve ever gotten as a mom of four boys.

We were at Sam’s Club and as I was looking at the chicken selection, he slowly waddled over to me and said, “Mom of four boys, eh?”

“Yes,” I said hesitantly, preparing to hear some rude remark, yet again.

Instead I hear, “Well, it’s no wonder you’re so skinny!  You’re busy!”

What?!  Really?!  I almost hugged him!!!!!  Afraid I might knock him over (literally), I gave him a big smile and said, “THANK YOU!”

Never underestimate the power of your words.

Battle at Kruger

Check out this video. It is incredible! Be sure to watch all the way until the end though.

We watched a special on it last night and it's amazing. While we were watching it though and it came to the part where all the lions are trying to take a bite out of the lil' calf, Logan says, "Mom, that's just like baby Jesus."
Hmmmm........I think, trying to rack my brain as to how baby Jesus is anything like these lions attacking this little buffalo. (Also trying not to laugh because Logan is very serious about it.)
Then he explained. "It's just like all the animals that came to see baby Jesus when he was born and baby Jesus was just laying there, just like that baby buffalo is just laying there."

Kids, they can always make you smile. :)

Confession

My new favorite snack item is Blue Diamond Almond Nut Thin crackers.  These things are simple, yet addicting.  I will sit and easily polish off an entire box by myself!  No lie.

If you haven’t tried them, go buy yourself a box.  And as an added bonus, they’re gluten-free (but not dairy-free).

We’re ready!

 

 

GO PACKERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The townhouse

Here are some pictures of our townhouse:

This is the outside view.  We were an end unit which was nice with having four rowdy boys.  It also left space in between for playing football.  :)

Living room

View from living room looking into kitchen area.

View from kitchen looking into living room and the outside pool area.

 

This was the one bedroom downstairs and it was Isaac’s room. 

This was the master bedroom.  We set up the pack n play in our room, but Camden ended up sleeping in the room with Eli and Logan—in a big boy bed!

Master bathroom.  Ignore the mess—these were taken at the end of the week.

The kids room/Mickey Mouse room!  Again,ignore the mess.  These were taken after almost a week of being there.  Logan, Eli, and  Camden slept in this room.  They loved it!  They had their own  TV, DVD, game system and bathroom.

See the bed set up over in the closet?  That was Camden’s bed.  We discovered this fold-up bed in the closet after we set up the  pack n play.  Camden loved that he was able to sleep with Eli and Logan in this room, like a big boy! 

Another view of same room.  That door is their bathroom door.

And lastly, this was our pool.  We LOVED having our very own pool.  It was 3 feet deep near the steps and then went to 6 feet at the other end.

It was all screened in too.

Enough room for my big boys to be able to jump in!

 

And these  pictures are the rest of the resort area:

The boys going on a walk.

Basketball courts.

The big pool area which also had a hot tub and kiddie pool.

Bike rental.  Camden was quite impressed with the bikes.

 

The clubhouse was decorated beautifully for Christmas.

The game area.

Movie theatre

 

The playground area.

They also had tennis courts, an exercise room and a Wii play room.

Day seven—Downtown Disney

Downtown Disney and then vacation over, heading home.  :(

I left my camera in the car—oops—so these are pics I just snapped with my phone.  I love the one of Camden and Logan with their hats on.  They love these hats.  They also each got Mickey ear hats, but those aren’t a hit like the Pluto and Goofy ones are.

We woke up Friday morning with the intent to start driving home that evening.  We slept in and we were just real lazy.  Slowly starting to pack things up. 

We ate lunch at the townhouse and then packed up the car before heading out to Downtown Disney for the rest of the day.  What a beautiful last day it was!  The temps had warmed up, the wind was gone and it was just wonderful soaking in the sun.  We even contemplated staying longer.  :)

Unfortunately, I had woken up with a headache that started the night before and I just couldn’t shake it.  Overall, I just wasn’t feeling very well at all.  Then the stomach cramping set in that afternoon. Ugh! 

We left Orlando about 5 p.m., drove for an hour or so and then stopped for dinner.  It was then that Eli told us he wasn’t feeling well either and would not be eating.  Camden and Logan didn’t eat a whole lot either, but we didn’t think much of that because they were definitely acting fine.

Sometime around 11 p.m. Logan started crying in his sleep and then complaining that his tummy hurt.  He kept crying and crying so we finally stopped.  Well, actually, this process continued for a couple hours.  And then Camden started too.  I think he started around midnight.  Tummies  hurting. 

It was a long drive home. 

It didn’t really take any longer than it did on the way down, but it sure seemed like we were constantly stopping every 2-3 hours. 

Thankfully, we made it home around 3 p.m. Saturday.  The boys are so happy to be back home.  So am I actually.  It’s so much fun to go on vacation, but it’s also so wonderful to come back home. 

And we were even home in time for the Packers game.  And they won!  Of course, I know I didn’t stay up for the game. 

Day six—Hollywood Studios

Another cold day in Florida.  They said it was supposed to be 57 degrees, but I do not think it got up to that.  Camden and Logan wore their winter jackets the majority of the day.  Thankfully, the sun was shining brightly.

 

This was in Honey, I Shrunk the Kids!  We became the size of ants.

This was Eli’s Goofy hat that he bought.

This was Logan’s Goofy hat that he bought.

This was Camden at the end of every day.  He’d usually fall asleep on the way home and there was no waking him at all—he even missed dinner two nights in a row!  Poor guy.  :(  Exhausted.

That concludes our theme parks.  We’re exhausted, but we had a blast.  Today we relaxing, maybe swimming if it warms up enough and then packing up and heading home.  Please pray for safe travels, especially through the ice-covered states. 

I have close to 300 pictures taken on this  trip.  I’ve only picked out some of my favorites to share, but some day when I get home I will upload the whole album.

All right, I’m going to relax now….

Day five—Epcot

Woke up to freezing temps here in Florida!  Brrr! 30 degrees!  We waited until 11 a.m. to hit Epcot and left when it started to get cold, around 5:30 ish.  We were pretty much done anyways. 

Don’t ask.  :)

Dad was dancing in Italy and the older boys were trying to stop him.

Here we are in Japan!

Logan after we let him have some eclair in France.

Camden got one bite of eclair.  He thoroughly enjoyed his one bite!

Logan is conducting musical melodies!

Camden was in a daze half the day.  He’s so tired from missing all his naps this week.  He fell asleep at 5:30 last night and didn’t wake up until 7:30 this morning.

Camden was in heaven with all the fishies!

 

Logan didn’t want to be too close to Chip and Dale.

Playing a game in the future of Epcot.

And yes, we all have matching 2011 Disney shirts!  :)

Another fun day.  It was cold, but the sun was shining brightly—thank goodness!  We went to all the countries and rode almost all the rides. 

Today is Hollywood Studios.  We may be heading out of Florida earlier than we planned due to weather concerns and the Packer/Falcons game on Saturday in Atlanta.  Our main concern is the weather, all the ice everywhere.  Please pray for safe travels home.