Well, we will start back in October.....we have had some changes in our life, which would have lead to the extremely long periods of time without posts, so I apologize. Back in August I had the opportunity to go back full time at work to help out covering a maternity leave, (I remember how I cherished that time off with my little ones). As I was working full time an opportunity presented itself very unexpectedly, I was approached by a friend about an opportunity working at the hospital as a liaison between the physicians and the hospital. I interviewed for the position and was offered the position. After much thought and consideration..... and more thought and consideration, I knew it would be a great opportunity, the only difference now was this career was FULL-time. So, as you can imagine the hardest part of this is being away from my peanuts 5 days in a row. I believe we are in a good place now, it did take time to adjust......mommy guilt, JD saying, "Mom, when are you going to get a part time job so you can be home with us?" I kept reminding him that he is going to be in school next year, and what would I do all day when he is at school and Ella's at preschool? (I think I probably could have figured that one out:) I also remind him that I've been extremely fortunate to be home with him the last 5 years,... he tries to understand. My parents have been key in helping Rick and I through this transition, when I started back full time in August with Merck, my mom and Dan agreed to take the kiddos once every 2 weeks for a sleepover, this broke up the week and gave them something to look forward to, they love spending time with Mimi and Papa. Mom was wonderful and would send me lots of pix's while they were having fun, enjoying their end of summer days. After school started they continued to take the kiddo's through September, JD and Ella truly look forward to seeing them. Having them with Mimi and Papa and having Jessi, who has had them since they were 6 mo's, has made the transition back to full time much more manageable. Thank you, MOm!
The change in career has been reinvigorating, I am really enjoying the challenge, the ability to assess and make decisions based my experience; I'm constantly learning, there isn't 1 day that is the same and not 1 day that I'm not meeting TRULEY caring, wonderful people, I feel blessed to have this opportunity! So, there's the background on why I am so far behind on keeping up with our blog.
As we now fast forward to fall.........So, this year was our year to be at mom's for Thanksgiving, we had a wonderful feast and enjoyed cousins and of course a wonderful dinner. Mom and I made our annual after Thanksgiving Christmas shopping which is alway sooo fun! We also decided not to do holiday baking due to little time on our hands,....that won't happen again, it is something we look very forward to and after the holidays passed we both realized how much we missed it.
Three short weeks later here we were already for Christmas?? This was our year to travel over the holiday and prior to taking my new position, I had planned on leaving a week earlier to head to FL, so to be gone for 2 weeks for holiday. So the day before the kids and I left to go to FL, we enjoyed a wonderful evening with the Holtz cousins, Aunt Katie & Uncle Andy, Mimi and Papa. We enjoyed the afternoon visiting and snacking, opening gifts and then in the evening we headed to Claire's on the river for dinner.
The next day, we went to church, celebrated Christmas at our house. Two nights prior we had heard Santa was stopping downtown Middlebury for a quick visit, JD promptly told him that we would be in FL for Christmas and if he could stop by our house before we left, it would make him "real happy."
So, when the kids woke up Sunday morning, just as JD had requested, Santa had come to our house:)
So, excited for some makeup for around the house:)
she even knows how to put it on
a remote for Dad's dust collector............ hey, I need one of those for my house, forget the woodworking shop:)
So, later that evening the kids and I along with the Webster's left for our big adventure. This was the first that either of us had traveled through the night with 3 kiddo's. When preparing for this trip we had decided we would stop in Mobile, to see our friend Liz and her boyfriend Zachery. Liz started to build a house and we were able to see the foundation going up, how very exciting, it is supposed to be complete mid March, pending no weather delays:) The trip down to Liz's went very smooth, we rolled into town about 10am Monday morning and then had the day and the next to hang with Liz and Zachery....... who needs sleep???
Here is Miss Sass, and more Miss Sass, oh we soo enjoyed getting to know Miss Calleigh Kaye more.
JD had a new found friend
That night we then headed to FL, but before we left Liz had given JD, Ella and Calleigh a U. South Alabama stuffed animal to take with them........ Jackie the Jaguar goes everywhere with JD.
JD playing his DS,....... he wanted me to take a pix to send to Mimi and Papa to let them know how much he liked his Christmas present:)
We then spent a few days with Mimi LouAnn before we headed to Disney, the weather was perfect.
So, that was week 1 of our vacation. Part II, we picked up Dad and the rest of the Rupp's and Teitsma's in Orlando on Fri and then headed to Disney on Saturday. This year our family was joined by who we all feel are an extension of our family, Rita's brother Mike and his 3 girls, Kaitlyn, Jaden and Chloe along with Rita's mom Marge joined us. For the past several years, (as long as I've been apart of this family, 8 yrs) Rita's parents, Paul and Marge, have been joining our family for holidays and other gatherings, my kiddo's even call them Mimi Marge and Pop Pop. Paul died just after Thanksgiving and we then asked Marge if she would join us in FL, she agreed, so our 16 people went to 21 people and the fun we had grew and grew:)
The 1st day at Disney we visited Animal Kingdom, one of the favorite things was the "safari ride" through the Africa, we were able to see lions, elephants, giraffes, zebras, hippos, and gators.
then we saw a cute little girl named Sierra
Just before we went into, "A Bug's Life" in 3D, would not recommend for kids under 5!
The Teitsma's
Goofy hat for my goofy kid.
everything princess
so fitting for Zoe
Finding Nemo, my favorite live show, Dori was incredible!
The next day (Sunday) was Christmas and we decided we needed a little break from Disney....... I know?? We had also seen the weather and it looked as if it would be a great day for some tennis, a run and relaxation at the pool, and that's what we did.
Nap time, pool side:)
Monday we headed for "Hollywood Studios," this was a favorite park among the majority of us, rides, shows's the ambiance around you makes you feel as if you are in other parts of the country.
Waiting in line for toy story ride
Waiting for "Beauty and the Beast"
MAGICAL!!
All the little people wanted their faces painted, I was amazed face paintings for 10 kids in less than 30 min's
after face painting time for lunch, if anyone goes to Disney you have to try the "smoked turkey legs"
Caught a few more shows, "Indiana Jones," then caught the lights of NYC....
and San Francisco
The next day we headed to Epcot, we enjoyed rides, sights, many more adult attractions.
Finally we waited over an hour @ about 8:30 pm to meet some characters. The only character Ella really was excited about was Pluto, she fell asleep in the stroller and when I finally got up in line, I looked to find Rick with Ella and they had left, I finally saw them outside and was able to wake her up to meet some of the characters. She was a little reluctant about Goofy.
We were informed from a few people we ran along the way, past Disney ee's that when doing the trip, save the best for last, they were referring to "Magic Kingdom." We were also told that we were visiting Disney at the busiest time of the year and the lines would be incredibly long if we visited Magic Kingdom on the day before Christmas, or Christmas day itself. I don't think it would have mattered which day we were there that week Magic Kingdom was by far the busiest park, but very magical as well.
JD got very brave by the last day and was tall enough to do all the major big kid rides, so for a good portion of the day, he went with Aunt Rita and Uncle Phillip and did the big kid stuff while Rick, Aunt Mena, Mike and myself took all the little girls and did more shows and of course waited to see princess's and get autographs.
Rapunzel was Ella's favorite character, she was wonderful, she made all of the girls feel so comfortable and they loved her!
Cousins
Sweet Julia
The "Stepmother and stepsisters" from Cinderella were a different story, by all means they were wonderful and in character, just a little scary for E, however the older girls loved them.
Next we headed for Swiss Family Robinson Tree house, JD says, "dad thats the kind of tree house I want in my back yard," I then told Rick I would like to just vacation in the tree:)
As we wind down the day and head into evening the castle was all lit up, just as enchanting and magical as little girls and boys would ever imagine.
The last adventure we needed to endure was to find the rest of the princess's, so we found Sleeping Beauty, Belle, and Cinderella for a character signing. We waiting from about 9:00-10:30pm to meet these lovely ladies..........but before we met them, this is what our lovely ladies looked like while they were waiting.
I had pix's of most of the girls sleeping while we were in line, but this one of CC is all I could find.
Mike and his girls after they got up from their cat-nap
Ella and Belle
Sleeping Beauty, Ella and mommy
Ella and Cinderella
Kaitlyn, Chloe & Jaden
After leaving about 10:30 at night we were able to catch the spectacular fireworks. What a day, we were there around 8am and left around 11:00pm and this is what my 3 1/2 yr old looked like.....:)........ So tired, priceless and sooooo worth it.
I would like to thank Mimi for getting us all together and making this time together possible, we all had such a great time and are blessed to have such a wonderful Mimi and mother-in-law.
