Disney in Retrospect

Yesterday was my 25th birthday.



Wow. When I was 18 and in college, I was in a Trig study group with a guy named Richard. He told me that it all goes downhill at 25.



He was right, apparently. My back is killing me. I still haven't gotten over my cough from two weeks ago and now when I cough, my back has stabbing pains. It's great.



Anyway. We went to Disney's Magic Kingdom yesterday because I got in free for my birthday. My husband did too because he's military and they have a promotion going on for free military admission.

We went with my brother-in-law and his family and my and an old highschool friend of my husband's.

My husband had to be escorted to a locker to deposit his pocket knife. He was probably trying to take down Micky- gotta watch out for terrorists like that these days.

Our day was fun overall. Lorelei had a great nap and Xander loved the dancing in the parades. That's my boy. He loves musicals.

:)

Leaving for Florida

Tomorrow we're leaving for our Christmas in Florida.

Does anyone have suggestions on what to do in the Magic Kingdom at Disney?

I'm going on my birthday, so it's free for me. And for my active duty military husband too. So that leaves us paying for one three year old boy.

Not too bad.

I have a double batch of persimmon bread in the oven. We'll see how it turns out.

Now I have to call Margie (our neighbor) and see if she can keep an eye on our cat Paisley while we're gone.

Life With Two Kids

Life with two kids is....

way easier than I thought one year ago!

This time last year we were in major kid adjustment mode. We'd never been parents and had lots to learn.

After this year of mostly having three kids (although there was a week or so when there were four), having two kids again is a walk in the park.

Only two car seats. There's half the "I gotta pee's", "I'm hungry's", and "but I don't wanna's". There has been a dramatic reduction in the "he hit me's" and "he took my toy's".

I wonder if Xander is behaving much better or if there's just no one to tell me about the things he's doing when my back's turned!

E moved out the day after Thanksgiving and life got much quieter.

He sounds happy there (with his brother) and we're happy for him.

Now we prepare for the road trip to south Florida on Saturday.

This really has to be the last one.

Update on Donation Request

I blogged about a family raising funds to adopt....

Well, the little guy was born!

They're still raising funds, but they're more than a quarter of the way there.

http://adoptionbutton.blogspot.com/2009/11/update.html

There's a lovely family picture there too.

Kid-Aversary

Yesterday was the one year anniversary of having children.

It seems like a lifetime has passed since then!

I put together a little collage of photos of our 5 kids that we've had and it's a picture of our year.

Not that I can share it with you, of course!

Sorry.

We're getting ready to go to Florida for our Christmas vacation. We're spending it with my hubby's family. While we're there, we want to try this restaurant. It sounds awesome!

http://foodandthought.com/

I'm knitting a little soap bag from this blog. I've finally figured out how to knit things that aren't flat. It's a big deal for me. I'm asking the family for a set of Denise circular needles for Christmas.

My Husband Cooks Turkey

What does your husband do?

Mine is pretty awesome. The turkey has a butter, rosemary, and garlic rub on it. If I made it, no such thing would happen and it would probably be cooked with the little plastic bag still in it...

I don't do a whole lot of touching raw poultry....

So yay for helpful husbands!

Now, I made pie crusts with lard this year and I don't know how it turned out. I'm kind of worried that maybe the lard should be reserved for savory pies. I don't want the sweet ones tasting like bacon! We haven't tried them yet though, so I"ll hold my judgment.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Fund an Adoption

I came across this couple from the Above Rubies Yahoo group.

They need to fund a private adoption that was dropped in their lap- out of the blue.

http://adoptionbutton.blogspot.com/

The birth mom is actually past her due date, so a baby is happening any day now!

I guess we could all give a little in the spirit of this Thanks-giving season.

Did you know that's what Americans used to do on Thanksgiving? They would feed all the poor children in their neighborhoods.

But then football came along and it was fashionable to sit on one's rear and watch it instead.

Thoughts to think on as you're eating your turkey.