November 16, 2019

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• I had told the kids that they could sleep in this morning. However, by 9:45 I figured that they had had enough of sleeping in, so I decided that it was time to clean the house. As you can imagine, there were a few folks that weren't too happy with this decision.
• Soon everyonew as on board with our cleaning, and things went smoothly. We were able to clean upstairs along with most of downstairs. We didn't get to straightening the kids drawers or sweeping the kitchen floor. We can do that tomorrow...or maybe another day.
• By 11, the house was clean and everyone was ready. We picked up Grannymom and Grandpa and headed to the Wheel of Fortune event. They were trying out people to be on the show-none of us made it. That is fine though because I wasn't sure that I wanted to be on the stage-at all!
• We eased our Wheel of Fortune disappointment with pizza at Grannymom's house. Robby worked on some pictures while I took a quick run to the grocery store. I took the girls with me so the grocery store run was not quick nor was it cheap! 
• Back at home this afternoon, the big boys went to Brett's house to ride on his 4 Wheeler for a little bit. I was productive for about half of the time that they were gone. The other half I wasn't productive at all-I had a nap!
• The Wilsons came over for supper. We had ourselves a Chinese smorgasboard-chicken and pork dumplings, general tso chicken, orange chicken and veggie fried rice. Thanks Trader Joes! 
• Our meal was so yummy that after supper, the grownups headed to Trader Jors to check everythin out. The Wilsons had not been so we showed them around-though they were out of one thing that I wanted for Christmas nor could I find cookie butter! 
• We all bought a snack, but also stopped at Kroger to buy ice cream for the kids. We ended up eating ice cream so we didn't even get to our snacks. I bought chocolate hummas-I'm not sure what I will eat it with, but I know that I will find something! 
• While we were out shopping, the kids played hide and seek tag in the dark. I am not sure what that entails, but they kept tellimg me all about it tonight. When we did arrive back, they were anxious to eat a bowl or two of ice cream. The Wilson's stayed until almost the end of the ballgame. When they left, it was soon bedtime for the crew.

November 15, 2019

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• Winter mornings are not my favorite. I know that it isn't officially winter, but we are running our heat and that makes it winter. I love the lights, the dreariness and even the chill of winter, but I do not love the heat. In the morning, the heat blows right on me-I wake up sweating every morning. It is just dreadful. I could normally stay in bed longer, but in the winter I have to get out of bed because I feel like I am about to burn up. Ok, enough complaining!
• School went well-ish today. We skipped our first bit of working together. This usually lasts about an hour, but we were leaving at 10:30 so I needed everyone to have time to finish. Skipping our work together did help, but still not everyone was done.
• We went to the Nothing Bundt Cakes store because they were giving away free mini bundt cakes this morning. That was fun! We ate our cakes as soon as we sat down in the car. Then we continued the fun with a trip to Trader Joes. Today we bought orange chicken, fried rice, and dumplings. I can not wait to try to dumplings.
• We came home for about 10 minutes before Campbell, Keaton and I left again. We met up with Nonna and Pops and they drove us to Des Arc for the Christmas sale. Now, last year I did buy a few things-even my blanket ladder. This year I didn't find anything that I couldn't live without. Honestly, things just seemed to be very expensive-and what wasn't expensive I just didn't need.
• We still had fun though so it was still worth our time. When we arrived back, we met up with the others at Third Realm for a little bit of jumping time. The kids enjoyed dodgeball and weren't ready to leave.
• We had to leave though because the boys had basketball tonight. It has been a few weeks since they have had the opportunity to go so I think that they were excited about going. I worked on school work and a bit of Christmas work. 
• When the boys came home, I had supper ready for everyone. I kept making chicken roll ups until I ran out of chicken so we will even have a few extra for tomorrow. Robby worked on the tires for the cars-they all seem to need more air. 
• Our evening was fairly uneventful-pouring medicine for Anderson (who does seem to be on the mend-though I think some of his medicine is making him a bit wild...or maybe he is just starting to feel better.)

November 14. 2019

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• This was our first day back in a normal routine, and it went surprisingly well. Whitman did run through our room at 7:10. There are only two reasons that he now comes into our room in the morning time-his brothers aren't awake and he isn't sure if he is allowed to be up, so he comes into our bed or his pants are wet. Well, his tummy was a bit upset last night, so his pants were indeed wet (but not with just pee.) Bless. This caused for a shower and a sheet change/mattress scrub fairly early in the morning.
• We started on our school work and everything went well. I have a huge pile of books that I really would love to finish by Christmas. Plus there are at least 25 at the library waiting on me. I know that I can't possibly finish them all...or can I? My schedule will have to slow down a wee bit to finish everything.
• At noonish, we ate our lunch and even did some more reading. The highlight of the day was drawing names for the kids Christmas gifts. They were all so excited to pick their names. They have been sending me ideas for what they want. It is just making me a bit stressed-my friend says that she buys in October, wraps in November and enjoys December-man, I want to do that...but it is already too late. Part of me is afraid to do shopping for them now in case they change their minds. 
• This afternoon I spent running around working on clearing out some of my piles from the trip. I finished a few of them, but even ended up in the attic going through bins. I should have gotten on the treadmill, but there just wasn't time. 
• This evening I left for Refresh at church. As always, I had a good time there. Robby made supper for the kids (Disney leftovers). I made it home just in time for bedtime so it was a pretty quick evening for me.

November 13, 2019

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• I woke right up at 5:30 this morning-would that be 6:30 in Florida? I think that it would be which is when we had been waking up each morning. Now, I should have done the right thing and gotten on up, However, I did what made the most sense and went right back to sleep.
• Though I probably shouldn't have slept for another 2 hours. That made my morning a bit rushed to say the least. We still managed to get out the door for Bible study with a minimum amount of yelling. I didn't get the laundry folded before we left, but Robby had finished it just as we came home this afternoon.
• Bible study was fine. All of the teachers had missed the kids, and I am kind of glad to be back in some type of routine. At least I think that I am.
• After Bible study, went to Third Realm for about an hour. The kids enjoyed jumping though I think they have lost some of their stamina-they were tired pretty quick.
• We had a fairly good amount of time this afternoon. I was able to mark a few things off of my never ending list. 
• At 3, Robby took Anderson to the doctor. We had debated wheather to take him or not. He has complained of his ear, but said it didn't hurt. He hasn't had fever, but continues with a cough for about 2-3 weeks now. Overall, he says that he feels fine....
• However, I guess that he has been sick for so long that he has forgotten what feeling good and breathing well feels like. The doctor said that he is wheezing, has one ear infection, has one ear drum that is retracted, gave him oxygen and a breathing treatment, along with 300 bucks worth of medicine! 
• After Robby and he picked up his medicine, they stopped at Sonic for a drink before coming to church. Anderson seemed perky and was a bit proud that he was sicker than he thought. After church was over, I came straight home and gave the boy all of his medicine. Hopefully, he will feel better quickly.
• Robby ran to pick up Grannymom and Grandpa from the airport tonight so he was gone during bedtime. When he is gone, bedtime is a bit later than usual. I was able to get everyone in bed before he came home and even had time to request some library books (one of my favorite things to do!)

Disney Trip 2019-By The Numbers

Total Days: 15

Total Nights: 14

Nights in a cabin: 2

Refills on Popcorn Bucket: 12

Nights in a camper: 8

Nights in a hotel: 4

Lunchables Bought: 25

Days at Disney: 9

Skyliner Rides: 2

Dole Whips: 5

Times the Time Changed: 3

People Soaked from the Rain: 2 (Robby and Graham)

Total in our Group: 23

Mickey Pretzel: 1

Toilet Paper Rolls Bought: 4

Pins Traded: 23,000 (at least)

November 12, 2019-Disney Trip Day 15

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I do think that this was the best hotel bed yet-or maybe we were just tired. Whitman laid his head own last night and was asleep in just seconds. He was one tired little boy. Anderson continues to cough, but thankfully he didn’t really cough any last night so maybe he is on the mend.

Our alarm went off around 6:45, and soon everyone was stirring around-well, most everyone. Campbell was moving pretty slowly; she must still be quite tired! As soon as we were ready, we went down to load the car. I was behind everyone else and wondered why they were all still standing in the hotel hallway. 

As soon as I went out to help Robby, I quickly found out-it was freezing! Graham was trying to help but was shivering to much, and Reagan was digging in the laundry bag to find her only pair of pants. When the cart was empty, I couldn’t even touch the poles because they were icy cold!

We warmed up inside eating our breakfast. This hotel was the winner-a bagel and flavored cream cheese! My favorite breakfast yet. I actually would have eaten anything that was warm because I was still chilly from loading the car. 

In the car, we turned on a movie and headed on our way. Robby said that it was so cold, that he was just going back to Florida. Unfortunately, we did have to head back towards home and fought the wind much of the morning. 

I drove a bit of the way, and the wind was definitely something. It was a two hands on the steering wheel drive. When I wasn’t driving, I was trying to work on the kids’ Christmas lists. That is coming up all too soon. 

We stopped a few times for the bathroom and a stop at McDonalds for lunch. There wasn’t much exciting happening in the car-just lots of movie watching. Just as we always do on a trip-we didn’t take any pictures on our journey home. 

We made it home by 3ish and went right to work. Before too long, we were fairly settled with most clothes in the wash (though I didn’t realize that the kids had a load and a half upstairs waiting to surprise me.) It was a shock to our systems having to unload the car in the cold temps. However, the warm house that we came home to was sure nice.

Shannon had supper for us plus she had a big bag of clothes for the boys, so it was a nice end to our vacation getting to hang out with our framily before we journey back in the real world tomorrow.

November 11, 2019-Disney Trip Day 14

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This morning started like any other morning lately-I had to get up and go to the bathroom! My bladder isn’t what it used to be. I am not too sure if Robby was gone already to take his shower, so I decided that I should get up to take mine as well. 

Unlike Robby, I wasn’t walking down to the showers to take my shower, I was going to use the drippy, tiny camper shower. It wasn’t too bad, and I might just have been getting used to it. As soon as I stepped out of the shower, we started zipping up bags and throwing them out the door of the camper.

We cleaned that place up in a hurry and were soon on the boat. Well, the kids and I were on the boat to Magic Kingdom. Robby took the car to park in the parking lot. We rode the boat because the security line is nutzo at the parking lot, but when you get off of the boat the line is very short. 

It didn’t take long for us to find our spot to head to Peter Pan. Robby barely made it to us before the park opened. Today, they did have a bit of pre show with Mickey and the princess’ before the park opened. That made things extra special on our last day.

We hurried to Peter Pan and pretty much walked right on. By the time that we left, the line was 40 minutes. What in the world? I mean, it is something that you have to see, but a 40 minute line just after the park opened-gracious. 

After Peter, we walked right the Small World. The kids wanted to so of course we did. I love that they appreciate some of the nostalgia of Disney. After Peter, we headed towards Dumbo-not for the ride but just for the playground. This ended up being the second time that we stood in line and then left. Today the playground wasn’t open yet. Whitman took it well, and I promised that we would come and play again on that playground.

We did stop and get some popcorn. We have been using the mess out of the popcorn bucket. It is just 2 dollars a refill so those popcorn bucket refills have been flowing pretty freely. The other day, Robby didn’t even had to pay for his refill-that was our first bit of Disney magic.

Next up, the kids rode the Barnstormer. Whtman doesn’t like it though because he says that it is too short. My 6 year old is a thrill seeker! We then went to meet some characters-Minnie, Daisy, Pluto, and Donald where all in one section. As we left there, Anderson found himself a cookie that he wanted. It was a giant Mickey head-so he had one and so did the rest of us.

Our first FastPass of the day was Seven Dwarfs. That is always a fun ride. Then we spent the last of Keaton’s money-she bought herself an autograph book. It has a picture spot on each page so I am not wishing that I had bought Campbell one like that instead of the one that I just gave to her.

We then headed over to Space Mountain to ride it one last time. It is always fun, but I am always a bit worried that our car is going to come right off of the tracks during the ride. I am sure that couldn’t happen, but it sure sounds like it could.

I did forget to mention that the other day when we were standing in line for Pirates, the man behind us started saying “Whitman” over and over again. I smiled at Whitman, and we just assumed he was talking to someone else. Finally, Reagan told me that he had our Whitman’s magic band in his hand. He had found it, read the name off of the back and was trying to find the owner. After we thanked him, Whitman told him that he thought he was calling a family member.

We stopped at Pinochio’s restaurant this morning for a little snack. I pulled everything out of my bag while Reagan got waters and Keaton and Campbell saw the Fairy Godmother. We rested there until it was time for our last Disney FastPass-Winnie the Pooh. It is a fun little ride. When it was over, we sadly walked down Main Street back to the car. 

There is nothing worse than the end of a vacation. The only thing that makes it a little bit better is planning the next trip, which we did on our long drive to our hotel. Robby drove for a little bit in the beginning. Then I drove most of the rest of the way until supper. 

We ate at Arby’s in Tifton. The worker was so nice that I came to the car and emailed the company. We did have a few bathroom stops but eventually made it to our stopping point for the night. It did seem like it took forever tonight to get to the hotel. The rain that came didn’t help things either. I think that most everyone except for Whitman and Anderson took a nap. We were fortunate that time changed to give us a few more minutes tonight-however, that will make tomorrow morning come early.