Goodbye, Veritas!

Oh, how we love our school!!! We love the classical curriculum, the half-day schedule, the Christian worldview, and the loving teachers. This has been such a treasured place for us over the last two and a half years and we will miss it. We will sorely miss it. Today we enjoyed treats and games in the park on the last day of school.

Sam's sweet class:

Sam on a relay race. Even the teachers had to join in on the fun!

Sam and a couple of his best pals. This is why moving gets harder the older the kids get.

Adeline in the grass (did I really need to caption that one?)

Now a few from Ella Rose's party. Kind and patient, Mrs. D took a screaming Ella in her arms many a morning.

Some friends

As sad as we are to be leaving, we're celebrating summer tonight by letting the kids stay up, play games, and watch Wipe Out on NBC. Hopefully, they'll also celebrate summer by sleeping in!

Happy 3rd Birthday, Si!

Josiah Thomas

Kansas born

Georgia raised

Little Brother

Big Brother

Lefty

troublemaker

tons of fun
afraid of water

but not dirt

early riser

ready to go with the flow--used to getting toted around

a little rough

but always quick to offer kind words

nature lover

good eater

really good eater

book lover, puzzle whiz, tantrum thrower, and sweet SWEET BOY!!!!

HAPPY 3rd BIRTHDAY, sweet Si!!! We love you!

Disney World-wrapping in up

On Wednesday, we cleaned out our hotel room, packed our car, and hopped on the bus for Epcot. (And by hopped on the bus, I mean lugged our four children, a cooler, a sling, a backpack, and a bag full of dry clothes in our stroller, took it all out of the stroller, folded the stroller, and hoped everyone made it on the bus). We actually started to see some blue sky! The kids enjoyed the bush sculptures, or fairytale topiary, or whatever you want to call them.

We spent a few hours riding Nemo, Turtle Talk, and "the Land" ride. Of course, Si was scared of Nemo, but he survived OK. As we walked around the countries, the skies began to darken. Is that thunder, or a big jet? A few minutes later we knew. A storm was blowing in. We jumped into the Moroccan restaurant and found a place to sit for lunch. Moroccan! We all tried some new things! We stayed there as long as we could, and then escaped just around the corner to the Moroccan stores. Here we spent most of our day, it seemed! The storms were just too much to brave this time. The kids made a mask, and we listened to fun music and sat on some couches until we were sure Josiah would break something expensive. But we were thankful for a dry place to rest.

Addie just crawled away from Jess, and he's wondering why I'm still taking the picture. I'll tell you why--he's hot.

Finally, we decided to walk on, and walk fast. Since Morocco was pretty close to half way, we sped past the 2nd half of the countries and rushed into the big "character meet" building. I put my foot down (for my poor babies, of course) and refused to go back into the rain. So Si, Addie and I hung out in a back hall, eating cookies and giving hugs to Chip and Dale, while Jess and the big kids headed back out to find another ride. It was a nice little break. We finished the day with a ride in the space ball? What is that thing called? The kids LOVED it. I think it was their favorite of the day.
When we got back to the hotel, we had to buy 17 snacks for the ride home. See, we were on the Disney Quick Service Dining Plan. I think it worked really well for our family. We only got meals for the adults and big kids, but all 6 of us ate our fill for three days. The only problem was that, because of the weather, we didn't snack as much--(who wants to stop in the rain to get ice cream?) so at the end, we had 17 snack credits. We loaded up on muffins, pb&j, juice, yogurt, etc and didn't have to stop for food on the way home. After a little locking-our-keys-in-the-car incident, we were finally on our way home at about 6pm. The kids were asleep pretty quick (OK, so was I) and Jess got us home quickly and safely.

Overall, it was a fun trip, and we had a great time together! Treats like these will not come around often for our family (especially when we have to start paying for four children!) Si was a little nervous, but he wasn't quite as scared as last time. Addie, who had been throwing tantrums when tired, did fine, thanks to my new ERGO baby carrier. I LOVE it. It looks like this, and can be worn on the front, back or hip. Adeline could even nurse and no one ever knew. Of course, she's become quite the acrobatic nurser, and we ARE weaning now, I promise. I came away thinking, "My children and my husband are awesome." And I think the kids have come away thinking, "Disney? Yeah, it's fun. It rains a lot so no one ever goes there."

Disney World-#3

After being rained out of Sea World, we were well prepared for Magic Kingdom with ponchos and changes of clothes. We were ready to brave the weather! The day started at a light drizzle, and we started with rides we thought Josiah could handle (last time we started with Buzz Lightyear and that was a mistake!) What could be nicer than Winnie the Pooh? Josiah did not agree. We didn't understand it, but he screamed until we took him out of the line. We moved on to Dumbo---the whole family enjoyed this ride. It was starting to rain harder. We actually did get Josiah to go on Peter Pan (no idea why this one wasn't as scary) and then my favorite, It's a Small World. Really, I do love it! and so did the whole gang.

Another terrifying thing for Si, and fun for the rest of us, was Mickey's Philharmonic Show. Poor Si. It's the loud sounds and dark places that do it. We arrived at lunch (I forgot the place--they served fried fish and chicken) just in time to get out of some heavy rain. We took our time there until the rain let up a bit, and then continued on in Frontierland. Sam and Jess decided they were wet enough to go on Splash Mountain, while the little ones and I watched, getting just as wet in the rain!

We all enjoyed the Swiss Family Robinson tree house I am looking forward to renting the movie. We took turns taking Sam on Pirates of the Caribbean. That one scared me to death as a kid! Then we parked ourselves under an awning and waited for the parade. I have to give it to Disney, even a "cancelled" parade becomes a fun event. The "rainy day" parade featured raincoat clad castmemebers splashing their hearts out to songs about rainy weather. As I huddled under the awning and sipped my coffee, I admired their enthusiasm. And my kids'.

Adeline and Josiah both slept through the parade. Addie on Jess's chest (you can imagine the admiring looks my husband got from every woman around!), and Si in the stroller. They continued to rest with Jess while the big kids and I went to Sam's favorite, Buzz Lightyear. We switched so Jess could take the big kids in the pouring rain on the soaring planet ride, and then we all laughed through the Monsters Inc Laugh Factory. I loved that one!

Jess and Sam ran off to do go carts while the rest of us got really muddy on the playground. I'm starting to think I won't last much longer. There are fewer dry spots on our bodies. But Ella and I had one more "must do." It was the Barnyard Roller Coaster, her favorite from last time. This was the highlight of my day! Watching her scream and laugh through the twists and turns was so much fun! So I agreed to ride it one more time. . . as the rain changed from a drizzle to a deluge. . . . We rode that roller coaster in the pouring rain and she laughed and squealed just the same!

Unfortunately, we left our ponchos at the stroller. Jess and I, by this time, are getting tired and cranky, but the kids are truckin' on with chattering teeth. We meet Mickey and Minnie:

This is one thing that does not scare Si. In fact, he LOVED meeting the characters!

It was supper time, and we stepped in the nearest restaurant feeling the icy cold air conditioning on our wet bodies. We all decided eating pizza in a warm hotel room while dry and cozy sounded way better, and we said goodbye to the Magic Kingdom. Jess and I saw a lot of tantrums that day, but none from our kids. We were so thankful for our time together!

Disney World #2

We woke up Monday morning at slathered up with sunscreen, grabbed our hats, and headed to Sea World! I was excited about this park. Jess and I have great memories of a trip here just before we had kids. And I love roller coasters. I really really really love them. I grew up riding the Zippen Pippen, the 1920's wooden roller coaster (Elvis's favorite, so I read) at Libertyland.

I remember my first "upside down coaster" and how it boxed my ears. And I remember riding the one with my mom at a small theme park in Oklahoma. And I remember riding the Kraken at Sea World over and over with Jess during that visit 7 years ago. So I was ecstatic to learn that this was up and running at Sea World:

Well, I'll just tell you now, I didn't get to ride. And that was maybe the only disappointment of my trip. And I tried very hard not to pout and whine too much.

My kids, however, had a wonderful morning. Although I'm sure they were a bit disappointed they didn't get to see their mama ride a coaster that you actually SPLASH into the water during a descent. Can you tell I'm not giving this up easily?

We saw the dolphins:


And just about every other creature of the sea. And around the sea:

We laughed at the clyde and seymore sea lion show and ooohed and ahhed at the shamu show. Then we ran for cover as the skies opened up and we were drenched! We had enjoyed a fun morning, so Jess and I made the decision to leave the park and have a nice lunch somewhere. I think it helped that the park was free to military and family, so we didn't feel like we were wasting money.

Josiah kept requesting the dinosaur restaurant. The one he HATED when we went in February. We had to drag him in then, terrified, and hold him tight every time the animated dinosaurs acted up. But hey, he's almost 3 now, he says he can do it, let's give it a try.

I bet you think he cried anyway.

You'd be wrong. He loved it. (The Winnie the Pooh ride tomorrow, though, now that's a different story!)

The big kids loved it too.

Except every once in a while, when the restaurant went dark and the animals start moving and roaring. This is Ella about 30 seconds after the picture above:

all better (and beautiful!)

They were excited to hear there's a T-Rex restaurant a few minutes away from our new home in KC, KS. They better start saving their birthday money now!

The ONLY picture this week of the four kids together.

More Legos!

Now, a word from our sponsors.

I am sitting down to write about Disney, i promise, but I just have to recommend a recipe really quick because I'm laughing at how fast my children scarfed it up. My children who will try to pick out every sliver of basil from the pizza sauce, or whine about generic, non-controversial food like sweet potatoes, chicken casserole, and pasta salad. They can't get enough of kale:

Seriously folks, I brought a bunch home from the coop today, prepared half so we could have something green with our pb&j, and it was gone before I could snap a picture. So I made the other half while they watched a movie. They're picking up the crumbs from the pan as we speak.

There are recipes all over the Internet, and I remember trying "flash fried spinach" with my brother and sister in law once. This is just as addicting, and a little healthier. So here's how I did it: Tear a bunch of kale into bite sized pieces--don't use the stems. Place in one layer on a large baking sheet.
drizzle with olive oil, salt, and, if you want, Parmesan cheese.
bake at 375 until crispy, i think it took about 15 minutes. Get a plate for yourself before the pan looks like this: