Daytona

Well we made it!!!!  We left the hotel in Florence a little after 8am.  Jamie was a little cranky once we were on the road for a while so we had to stop quite a bit.  We made an extended stop at a rest area in Georgia.  It was sooooo warm and the sun felt so good.  Jamie and I ran around and he was able to burn off some energy.  He was able to stay in the car the rest of the way to Florida.  We got to Daytona around 2:30 and waited for the Wilsons to arrive.  Jamie and Anabelle went insane when they saw each other and ran around the hotel lobby like crazy people.  I don't feel too compelled to contain my child when he runs wild in public.  He wasn't in the way of anyone and he was having a super good time with his Anabelle.  We had to wait until 5pm for our room to be ready so we headed over to Bubba Gump Shrimp to eat.  It was supper duper yummy.  I had the shrimp and veggie skewer over rice and a large drink with southern comfort.  Good times.  Then the babies got baths and so did the grown ups.  (The grown ups bathed separately however.)  It was nice to see the ocean and feel the sand between my toes, but I am ready for the Mouse!!!! We want to leave by 7:00 or 7:30.  We made reservation tonight to eat breakfast at Kat Kora's restaurant at 10:15.  It will take us about an hour and a half to get to Disney from here.  Its kinda like the night before Christmas when you are a kid, except better!

First Leg

Well the first leg of our trip is complete and it went really well.  Jamie slept for the first 3 hours and was quite happy when he woke up.  He wanted to watch a movie and eat peanut butter crackers.  Of course he had to go pee so we stopped for a potty break and to get gas.  Then we headed to the hotel.  However 5 minutes after we stopped and peed the 2nd time and said he had to poop so we stopped at a South Carolina rest stop right on 95.  Timmy took him in with his potty seat and I waited in the car to be murdered by a rest stop killer.  However I made it out alive and we got to Florence SC around 9:30.  We ordered a pizza and I took a shower.  Jamie was an absolute maniac.  This kid loves himself a hotel room.  I think most kids do.  So exciting to be away from home!!!!  We finally got him calmed down and in bed and we were all asleep before the new year rang in.  Now we are off to Daytona where the forecast is in the high 70's and sunny!  We hope to be there by 2pm.
Happy New Year!!!!

"Whatever!"

So Jamie has a new phrase.. "whatever!"  Now I do take complete and full blame for this.  I don't cuss or take the Lord's Name in vein, but I do say "fine, whatever!" when I'm ticked and so now of course this is what my almost 3 year old baby boy says.  I mean it could be worse and actually he did say "Oh my G*d" the other day and I got really upset with him.  I'm not sure where he picked that up.  That is not a phrase that is ok with me, especially in our home.  But I explained that it hurts Jesus' feelings when we talk like that and Jamie understood.  Although he did test me just for fun to see what would happen.  We were out when he said it and I drove right back home and put him in his room.  That was the end of that.

Okay, back to "whatever" Now it is super hard not to laugh when this comes out of his mouth because it is really funny, but at the same time disrespectful.  So at breakfast yesterday he said "whatever" in response to something we said to him and of course the whole family chuckled which led him of course to say it again and again.  Finally Timmy removed him to the kitchen and this is the conversation that ensued...

Timmy...Jamie you have to listen to me about saying "whatever"  Mommy and daddy don't like that you say whatever all the time.  Its ok that you said it once, everybody laughed...
Jamie (with hands out)...but I
Timmy...please listen to me
Jamie...but I
Then Jamie grabbed Timmy's face with both hands...
Jamie...its my turn to talk now, i just want to say whatever i want to say and I just want to eat my eggies and i just want to eat my crackers and i just want to make good choices and laugh and thats all i want.
Timmy...thats all i want for you too buddy
Jamie...and I just want to laugh.
Timmy...just make good choices buddy.
Jamie...ok

This little boy cracks me up and NEVER ceases to amaze me.
God is good.

Getting Ready!!!

Well we are about packed.  We are leaving from my Aunt Kelly's house tomorrow afternoon around 1pm.  We are headed over there to celebrate Christmas with my dad's side of the family and celebrate my grandmother's birthday.  We have been packing for 2 days. Timmy has the van all nice and clean and packed up well.  We have lots of snacks and I am making sandwiches for the cooler in the morning.  I still have to clean the house tonight, but besides that we are ready.  Bekah is staying here so between her and Timmy's mom we don't have to pay for a dog sitter this time.  I am soooo grateful for that!  And Timmy won his fantasy football league and it paid off super super super good!  I kind of feel like we won the lottery!  We are so excited and so is Jamie!!!!  He keeps saying "I want to go to Disney now!"  I have all kinds of books and toys I've been saving for the road trip. He saw one of them today by mistake. "Mommy can I try this?  But I want to try it now!"  So cute.  Some people think driving all the way to Florida is nuts, but I find it totally fun!  (Seeing has I HATE flying!) We are planning to drive to Florence South Carolina tomorrow.  We hope to get there by 10 or 11pm.  I booked us a descent hotel with free breakfast!  Hopefully we will be back on the road between 8:30am and 9am and arriving to Daytona Beach around 3pm.  It will be 75 and sunny there on Saturday!  I am ALL about spending new year's day on the beach!!!!!!!  Thanks to Aunt Gail we will be staying in style with Mattie and Eric in the same resort we stayed in this time last year.  We'll be arriving at Disney the morning of the 2nd.  I hope I can continue blogging each day of vacation.
Thank you God for these blessings we don't deserve!

A Social Network Christmas

Pre School Update

Well it is super hard to believe that we only have one more day of Pre School left before Christmas.  We won't be meeting again until February.  We have had lots of sickness of mommies and kiddos so attendance and instruction has been a bit spotty.  However we did wrap up our non fiction unit and had a very small "Publishing Party" to celebrate everyone's hard work.  And I couldn't find the camera so I didn't take any pictures.  It was really cute though.  The mommies helped the kids "fancy" up their work and then everyone got a turn in the author chair to share their writing.  Most of the kids wrote about the farm because that was the experience we based our non-fiction unit on.  Below is Jamie's book, of course, about the farm.  He told me exactly what  to write in full sentence form.  He put the periods at the end of each sentence (which are hard to see in the pictures.)  He also spelled the sight words for me that he knows and told me the beginning sound for most of the words. We also worked on labeling his illustrations like authors do in some non-fiction books.  He obviously did the illustrations on his own.  He went back to "fancy" his illustrations up for publishing. 

yes that says "He was pooping"  and the pig at farm was doing just that.

I continue to be absolutely blown away but what these children can do. 
We have also been making Christmas crafts and reading Christmas stories.

This is the first story we read in Pre School.  It talks about all the things we see at this time of year like Christmas trees, Santa and presents and then explains that "that stuff is nice" but its really all about the birth of Jesus.  I LOVE homeschooling so much.  One of the many reasons I want to homeschool is to keep Christ at the center of everything, especially Christmas.  It is such a blessing to be connected with other families that want the same thing for their kids.  Praise Jesus!

 Jill and Lauren have seriously "knocked it outta the park" with teaching the Christmas story.  They spend hours making props and preparing.  The children really understand the story and it is such a beautiful blessing to hear them retell the true meaning of Christmas.  In fact tomorrow they are dressing up in costume (thanks to Jill's sweet mommy) and acting the entire thing out.  It is going to be precious!


I will miss our group while we are on break!  The length of the break is totally my fault... Disney calls and so do my two little frozen babies waiting to warm up and grow in Mama!  Its all about hanging out in my pj's and relaxing while enjoying my miracle man and growing babies for the month of January!  (That is after we go insane in Disney for a while!... and thanks to Timmy's Christmas gift, which Jamie kindly spoiled the surprise about, I will be blogging daily from Disney on the new 15" Mac Book Pro! If I can figure out how to turn it on!!!)

Weaning Party...

Or as my sweet baby calls it "All Finished Nummy Party"  Yes, he's all finished and he deserved a celebration.  I had a VERY small party for Jamie.  I wanted people who love him very much to show him how proud they are of him for being such a big boy.  It is pretty common in the world of attachment parenting and extended breastfeeding to have weaning parties.  Poor Anabelle (Jamie's cousin who is still loving her Na Na) was very concerned that Jamie was having an "All Finished Nummy Party" and made it clear to her mommy (Jamie's Aunt Mattie) that she would just like to have a birthday party.  So sweet! 

Timmy and Jamie made homemade strawberry cupcakes from scratch with fresh strawberries.  They even made the icing from scratch!  I ordered pizza and everyone had a great time.  When it was time for the cupcakes we sang "Happy all finished nummy" and Jamie blew out a candle. 

Then he opened some small gifts.



and mommy even got some gifts too!!!

 

Thanks Jill, now my toes will look lovely for Mickey!!!!

 The kids played and had a great time. 

Have I mentioned how my husband rocks?

Jamie practicing is awesome big brother skills!

"Handy Granny" at it again!

Mattie found Jamie and Anabelle in the playroom by themselves, Anabelled wrapped in tape with her arms down by her sides and Jamie wrapping the tape around her.  When Mattie said "Oh MY!"  Anabelle simply replied "He's fixing me"

Of course my cousins stayed later then everyone else, that is always my favorite part!  We ordered Mexican for dinner and just had a good time being family.  It is a true blessing to have people in your life that not only support us but really understand and agree with the way we do things in our home. 


Jamie and I are doing good with the no more nummy issue.  He does ask for it still everyday, but its more out of habit then really really wanting it.  Although I am quite sure if I said okay he would jump right on.  There are many times when I just want to sit in our chair and spend quite time nursing him and loving on him, but at least we snuggle together all night in bed.  When his new babies come he knows he is welcomed to have nummy again.  I don't know if he will.  I kind of hope he will, but its his choice not mine.

The whole weaning experience went really well.  And if someone told me a year ago or even 6 months ago that he would be completely weaned right now I would have found it hard to believe.  I'll say it again that I don't recommend weaning and I don't ever plan on doing it again.  The next babies will nurse as long as they like, the longer the better.  They're only small once and I want to cherish every moment.
God is good.