In the books.....

So I held my first official PTO meeting last night. I felt organized going into it, and now I feel like there is a list of disorganized things that I'll never get accomplished before the October 10th Fall Carnival. That is our biggest and most attended event.....but I've already started making list, organizing volunteer sign ups, and pricing food. So I think things will get better soon. I was thinking this would be a breeze, but I can see now, it may not be that easy. I'm good friends with the Booster Club President here in Newkirk, she has held the position for 3 years, honestly I don't know how she does it, I'm worn out after a month! So there's a quick update on my life....besides the fact that in case you missed it this summer, I am expecting our 4th child, we find out he or she on Tuesday! So exciting!!

Not ashamed....

The rumor mill worked overtime last week and it didn't disappoint. Not going to lie I had a pretty hard time not jumping up and down during these guys performance last night on the Video Music Awards, and sitting through ALL the horrible and embarrassing performances before they took the stage was totally worth it. I love *NSYNC, have since they came out, always will. I have all their albums on my Ipod and listen to them regularly. I'm not ashamed that I have spent a lot of money and travel time going to see them in concert because I made some amazing memories with some great friends along the way. Which is probably why I like them so much, sure they probably aren't the best musicians (although you could argue Justin does pretty well for himself!) they have brought me in some strange way closer to my friends!

First Day of School 2013!

We had a week delay for school to start here in Newkirk. They built a new high school and were running behind on inspections, phone lines, networking, the parking lot. So they thought if they pushed it back a week it would all be ready. Well, everything is ready except the parking lot, but I bet if it doesn't rain it'll be done by next week. So instead, they added 10 more minutes to every school day. Which isn't horrible. What I thought would be horrible was traffic this morning. The Elementary, Middle, and High School are now all in about the same place, so without the parking lot to the high school I was dreading taking Cooper this am. But it wasn't bad, we got in, settled, and out in about 15 minutes. Cooper could've done without the pictures I tried to take of him, he's over it, and even though it's his first day of Kindergarten it isn't that big of deal; he's got a year of school under his belt. I didn't even cry, to be real honest, I was ready for school to start weeks ago. I'd send Maddie in a heart beat if I could. I'm pretty sure it is hardest on her. So there was only excitement about going to school this year, and a horrible clothes decision on my son's part, he was very adamant that his red shirt matched his red shorts.....it doesn't, but it does to him so I left it alone!
Really the best part about this first day of school was I'm not on crutches this year, so double yea for that!

Beach or Bust!

So after a magical time at Disney we headed to Destin to meet up with the North clan. I'd say this year was way better then last year because I had two feet planted safely in the sand the entire time! So we did our daily family devos and just played, played, and played on the beach with our cousins. The waves were extremely rough this year so we all invested in some life jackets for the kids. They were very brave and loved playing in the waves. One day Jeni Warrior and I were out there with our kids (minus Kellyn) and Mama Jo came out to fish. Cooper, Maddie, Lydia, Levi, and Isaac were so intrigued by her bating her line and what she was going to catch. I ran up and got my camera cause we really wanted to capture that moment for them. Then she took Maddie out to do a little fishing, it was possibly the sweetest thing! I am so glad that my kids will really know Mama Jo and Papa Staff, they are some hard working, amazing, God fearing people. We are so blessed to get to have so much time with them! The last day we had on the beach the water was super calm, it was almost eerie after having so many rough days. So we were all out in the water and my mom goes, "Oh I think I saw a dolphin!" She always is looking for those, cause she loves them. To our surprise my Dad and I turned around and there is a group of dolphins, seriously a stones throw away from us. We saw 3 go by us. It was so exciting. All the kids were in the water, then a little later we saw 2 more, and then a couple of different kinds of dolphins later. We have always looked and hoped to see them in the ocean, this was our first time we have without being on a dolphin cruise! So it was a very exciting day. The week went by too fast and I'm looking forward to our time there next summer. Although I'm sure it won't be quit as relaxing cause I'll have another that can't walk yet!

Disney Hollywood Studios

We spent our 4th park day at Hollywood Studios. The sole purpose for going there was to see the Disney Junior characters and that's where you can meet Woody. Although I'm told sometimes he's at Frontier Land at the Magic Kingdom. But you're guaranteed to meet him here. Oh and Lightening McQueen and Mater are here too, although as Cooper says, they don't talk. I guess you could throw in Star Tours for my brother and my Dad. Unfortunately as we were walking in to the park, our stroller broke, yep the front wheel just came off. We tried to fix it, but couldn't get it to stay on. So a new front wheel is on the way for our little double jogger that has logged many miles since we got it! Anyhow, the main attraction at Hollywood Studios for little kids is the Toy Story Mania game, our fast pass wasn't good til 3:30 pm and the wait in line was 2 hours! So we just hung out until then. My mom volunteered to be in the little special effects show at the back stage tour, I never knew she was quit the actress. Maddie enjoyed the Little Mermaid show and the Beauty and Beast Live show. So it was a fun day, but we cut out early cause it looked like it was going to pour. And it did pour and pour as we were leaving. Daniel headed to the car as we checked the strollers in. Then while we were on the tram he called my Dad, said he couldn't find the tram, and that he didn't know where the car was. That was awesome cause he had the car keys! Of course by this time it is pouring down rain, very badly. Not to mention somehow my mom got butted out of the tram so she was stuck waiting for the next one. Luckily Daniel found the car just as the tram pulled up, we all ran to the car, and were able to pick my mom up at the tram stop. So it was a crazy end to our Disney Park adventures.

The picture I missed was the one after Cooper and Maddie had eaten their Mickey Mouse bars for a while..it wasn't pretty at all!

Epcot

The third day of our trip at Disney we went to Epcot. I thought about getting our picture in front of the ball when we got there, but we never did, the entire day. Fail on my part, but like my Dad says I'm sure this isn't the only trip to Disney we'll make. I wasn't real sure if the kids would like Epcot too much, there wasn't a lot of rides, and Cooper was tall enough to do the simulators, but the girls weren't and they don't allow pregnant woman on them. So mostly we just walked around and saw the countries and met different characters. Epcot is the place where Mickey and Minnie, and Pluto are all in there original costumes. So that made it worth the trip. My parents bought Cooper and Maddie these passports to get stamped at every country. Each place someone writes something about the country in it, or their name in the native language. One fun fact about Epcot, is in the countries, only people that are from that country work at the stores and restaurants. They come for a year to live and work at Disney. Which is pretty cool! They do have a Nemo ride there and a large aquarium that the kids loved. All in all it was a good day, and it didn't rain that much, so a big plus for that!

Animal Kingdom

Cooper was very excited about Animal Kingdom. He loves animals. We thought this park would be great the 2nd day cause it's not open as late, and we didn't think there'd be that much walking. At least not as much as the day before. Our plan was to do the Safari first, then see the shows that they offered, and walk around to see the animals. Mostly it's a glorified, Disney zoo. But it was still very cool. Until it was sad that the parade was canceled due to another huge downpour, pretty much everything shuts down there when it rains, so we left that park very early, or maybe like 4 or 5, but compared to the day before it was early. The shows they have there were great, the Nemo one was very cool. There is a Bug's Life film in the tree of life that Cooper went to with my parent and Dan, apparently it was 3D with effects. He was not a fan, screamed the whole time, and said that he wanted to go home..so be warned, might not be a movie for kids....