SAUCER SCHNANIGANS

Cub Scout Popcorn for SALE!!

2011-08-31T18:00:00.000-06:00

Wow double fundraiser this week!! The Cub Scout pack has started the Popcorn sales!! I LOVE LOVE LOVE the microwave kettle corn :) They don't offer online ordering for our pack :( I will describe the items and prices for anyone interested in ordering you can call, email, or just leave a comment. They assure us this is the ONLY fundraiser for the Pack for the year!! The Great Southwest Council will receive 70% of all the proceeds from our popcorn sales!!

Item A: 5 Way Chocolatey Treasures Tin $50 includes: chocolatey caramel corn, chocolately pretzels, white frosted pretzels, white frosted caramel corn and delicious morsels of chocolately covered peanut brittle 88oz

Item B: 3 Way Premium Tin $40 includes: supreme caramel with whole and crushed almonds, peacans & cashews, chocolately carmel popcorn, and rich butter toffee caramel corn 40 oz

Item C: 24 Pack Movie Theater Extra Butter Microwave Popcorn $25

Item D: 24 Pack Variety Microwave Popcorn $25 includes 6 movie theater extra butter, 6 94% fat free butter, sweet & salty kettle corn, and 6 white cheddar cheese

Item E: Supreme Caramel Crunch with Almonds, Pecans, and Cashews $20 22oz

Item F: Chocolately Caramel Corn $20 22oz

Item G: 15 Pack Extra Butter Roasted Summer Corn MW Popcorn $15

Item J: 14 Pack Sweet & Salty Kettle Corn Microwave Popcorn $15

Item L: Caramel Corn $10 9oz

Item O: 2lb Gourmet Popping Tin $10 Original gourmet popping corn, ready to pop and sprinkle with your favorite flavorings!!

Item P: 3 Way Cheesy Cheese Tin $20 includes white and yellow cheddar cheese and zesty cheesy salsa 18oz

Item T: $10 Magazine Voucher for new or renewal subscriptions

Item U: $20 Magazine Voucher for new or renewal subscriptions

Item Z: $25 Military Donation Choose Item Z and Camp Masters will send $25 worth of popcorn to our military personal!!

Thank you sooooooo much for your support!!

Magazine Fundraiser for the Boys' School

2011-08-30T16:56:00.001-06:00

Alan and Eddie are selling Magazines for their school fundraiser. The cool part is you can order online and they can still get credit. Simply go to www.aphearst.com and click on "SHOP NOW"

Then enter their school code: TAFIREBIRDS and click "SHOP NOW" Next you fill in either Alan or Eddiefor the first name and Saucer for the last name. Just click on SAVE and start shopping!! The orders much be placed by Sunday, September 11th for them to get credit.

You can renew existing subscriptions as well as shop for other fun gifts!!

Thanks for your support!!

Surprise Packages!!

2011-08-09T20:52:00.000-06:00

When we got home from a month of travel we had 2 surprise packages with ALL the mail!! The first one I kind of expected. We were visiting my friend, Julie Henning. She is the coordinator for blog reviews for Motherlove Herbal Company and Dandelion Earth-Friendly Goods. Joey (age3) had a big scrape on his forehead and lots of swollen mosquito bites. Julie grabbed her Green Salve and we got him all rubbed down with it. The next morning the scrape was more than 50% healed and the bug bites where shrunk to almost nothing!! Thank you Julie for hooking us up with some fun stuff to review!!

The first package was some Green Salve from Motherlove Herbal Company This all natural versatile salve quickly and effectively takes the itch out of insect bites, bee stings and poison ivy. It soothes and eases the discomforts of rashes, chapped and irritated skin. A must for every home! Motherlove’s green salve has a zero rating (zero toxins) on EWG’s skin deep database and is made with 100% certified organic ingredients.

Green Salve from Motherlove Herbal Company is the most amazing thing for bug bites. We were in Iowa and Wisconsin where the mosquitoes are as big as birds and so are their bites!! My kiddos really swell up and this salve not only took out the sting and itch, it brought down the swelling as well. I highly recommend it. Thank you for the awesome surprise package Motherlove!!!

The second package was from Dandelion Earth-Friendly Goods We received two sets of the organic all natural table wares. The plates and silverware are made from corn. They are perfect size for our little people and a nice bright yellow color. The kids love them. My big complaint on them would be that they are NOT dishwasher or microwave safe. So we are careful about what gets served on them so I don't have to scrub too much!! Thanks Dandelion for the great surprise package!!

Happy 4th Birthday Joey!! Blog by DADDY

2011-08-07T14:26:00.000-06:00

It's Joey's Birthday weekend (he is turning 4). So I thought the boys (and Mommy (who stayed at home) would enjoy a day at the ABQ Sci-Fi convention and to top it off it was free for them and me to attend (Mil ID). Parking was a surprising $10 bucks (normally free on weekends). So after two+ hours of looking at toys Daddy and sibling once played with; we made our way to the signing booths. We hit a Star Trek original (“Chekov” or Walter Koenig) right as he came back from his break with no line. Trying to explain who he was to the boys was challenging; so I finally said this is the show Uncle Tim and Aunt Augusta like (not Star Wars). “Oh, I get it” Alan Said. We did get a signed autograph but skipped the picture (you can tell three boys asking Star Wars questions was starting to bother him.) So we got in line for Darth Maul (Ray Park)! Alan’s Birthday is later this month, I asked him if he wanted a signed autograph, of course being the fan he is, he made it simple. So I had them get out of line and we bought a Battle picture from Episode 1 fighting in the desert. I did not know he was also Snake Eyes (from GI Joe). Well the line took 45 plus minutes to get to the stage, and then when we got there the volunteer who was taken the money had to go to work (real job). Secondly a couple of VIPs had their collection signed (15 min wait), so the new person said we could have a “Free” autograph (since already paid for Alan’s with the last volunteer) good deal for Eddie (huge snake eyes fan). Well Joey starting flirting with the girl dressed in full Jedi costume and she let him turn on and off her $250+ fully fictional dual sword … so when it came our turn he could not care less about the meeting actor. The boy asked him about his “green Screen” and how much it hurt to be chopped in half … as he was signing Eddie’s when writing “go Joe” and Eddie said “I’m Eddie my brother is Joe” (with some attitude, very upset). Well Snake Eyes said, I have a brother too so I will have to get him his own and Joey got a free signed autograph too. He gave us a nice picture with all the boys. Then we were heading out the girls from “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” table was next and just returned from there break with no line and not all the way in their seats. Well the reach over to say hi and Joey plants a Kiss right on “Glory” lips and says “it’s my birthday I turned 4”. Fortunately she just laughed and he gave her a big squeeze hug; he just shook “Cordelia’s” hand. Well the quickly forming line behind us, made comments about Joey’s advancement and how do they get that treatment. Of course no pictures because this happened too fast and the boys thought it was “cool” they were Vampires compared to the “Moon guys”. I bought them a couple classic star wars/gi joe toys for being good and called it a day.

Here are some pictures from the day:

Teaching Young Children Spanish

2011-06-04T22:54:00.000-06:00

I just finished my first year back to teaching after having the boys!! I was soooo blessed to get a part time position teaching K-5 Spanish at Cross of Hope Elementary when we moved to New Mexico. I had a lot of freedom in developing the curriculum to keep it age appropriate and FUN!! I used several resources from my past teaching experiences. Things on the internet have changed extensively in my 7 year break from teaching and I stumbled upon some amazing blogs about Spanish. One of my favorites is Mommy Maestra. It's written by a "Latina Homeschooler". I really enjoy all the Children's Literature and culture in her blog!! Go on over and check her out when you get a chance. Right now she is having a giveaway for a children's book about Pablo Neruda. I'm already thinking about the lessons I could teach next year if I win!!

Zoo Time!!

2011-05-10T22:35:00.000-06:00

It's that time of year when students have lots of FUN on the school calendar!! Joey's class had preschool graduation on Saturday at the zoo. He had to sing while the 4yr olds dressed in their cap and gown. Here are the video clips from the event.

They had pizza and cake following the ceremony. We got to sit with our friends: Megan, Rick, Caiti, and Tori!! We also ended up exploring the zoo with them after lunch!! It was an wonderful day just Joey and Mommy!!

Then today Eddie's Kindergarten class went to the zoo for a field trip. There were so many parents my group was just Eddie and his new friend Taylor who just joined their class this week!! We had a BLAST!!

Pictures from both zoo trips can be found here in the 2011_May album on Picasa.

Eddie's 6th Birthday Weekend

2011-05-09T08:35:00.000-06:00

I finally got all the pictures sorted from Eddie's birthday weekend. We met up with lots of family to celebrate Eddie's 6th birthday AND cousin Thomas's 9th birthday!! We went camping near Carlsbad, NM and drove into Carlsbad Caverns National Park. If you haven't been to the caverns you are missing out on an AMAZING experience!! The pictures just can't do it justice. I could have spent days down there in AWE!!! I posted the pictures here
Here is a video of the birthday song.

We had a GREAT time with Grandpa Bear, Granny D, Aunt Kristine, Uncle James, Aunt Sherrie, Thomas, Lily, Aunt Nikky, Uncle Doug, and family friend, Mike!!

Mars

2011-05-04T12:16:00.000-06:00

Eddie had to give a presentation about Mars to his class today. Here is the video of the presentation.

Happy 6th Birthday Eddie!!

2011-04-22T11:04:00.002-06:00

Eddie has been excited about his BIG 6th Birthday for what seems like forever. Well it's FINALLY here!!

We went to dinner at Red Robin earlier this week to celebrate as a family. He was VERY excited to get the ice cream and even MORE excited to get the balloons!!

Then we had the presents waiting to be opened at the breakfast table this morning because we are doing a very special birthday weekend with lots of extended family and leaving straight from school. Here are the pics from this morning.

This picture was taken exactly 6 year ago today

This is Eddie's 1st Birthday

Eddie's 2nd Birthday

Eddie's 3rd Birthday

Eddie's 4th Birthday

Eddie's 5th Birthday

Validation

2011-02-04T10:18:00.000-06:00

Need some VALIDATION in your life??
This is a great video to put yourself in a more positive perspective.

Mama's Holiday Wish List Giveaway!!

2010-12-01T01:02:00.000-06:00

Mama’s Holiday Wish List Meme

TodaysMama and GameStop are giving away a sleighful of gifts this holiday season and to enter I’m sharing this meme with you.

1. What is your holiday wish for your family?
for safe travels for all the family members traveling to our house this year :)

2. What is your Christmas morning / Hanukkah Nightly tradition?
Trying to capture the moment the kids see the tree with all the presents on video then a late morning nap.

3. If you could ask Santa for one, completely decadent wish for yourself, what would it be?
Family Christmas at Disney World

4. How do you make the holidays special without spending any money?
Advent Calendar and Advent candles.

5. What games did you play with your family growing up?
Rummy and Sequence

6. What holiday tradition have you carried on from your own childhood?
having the children sing Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer on video

7. Where would you go for a Christmas/Hanukkah-away-from-home trip?
Disney World

8. Check out GameStop (link to: http://bit.ly/gamestop10) and tell us, what are the three top items on your GameStop Wish List this year?

X Box 360 Kinect
Red Wii bundle
WoW: Cataclysm

To enter, link to your Mama’s Holiday Wish List post using the Mister Linky box below.

BUT WAIT. Did you think we were done? Oh, you must not know us at all.

We have another stockpile of gifts from GameStop that you can enter to win with our extra entry options.

Runner Up #1 will receive a XBox 360 250 GB with Kinect and a $250 GameStop gift card.
Runner Up #2 will receive a Nintendo Red DSi XL Bundle and a $250 GameStop gift card.
Runner Up #3 will receive a Nintendo Red Wii Bundle and a $250 GameStop gift card.
Extra Entry Options include:

“Like” Gamestop on Facebook
Follow @gamestop on Twitter
Head back to the tippy-top of this post and hit that “Retweet” button.

The deadline to post your meme and comment is Friday, December 10th (same deadline applies for extra entry methods).

* For an example of a Mama’s Holiday Wish List entry post CLICK HERE.

Albuquerque Turkey

2010-11-24T23:32:00.000-06:00

Happy Thanksgiving!! There are soooo many things to be thankful for this year. We are thankful the most for our family and friends. We wish you all the best Thanksgiving. Alan, Eddie, and Joey are very excited about Thanksgiving this year. We are celebrating just the 5 of us while we get some projects done around the house in preparation for all the visitors we are expecting for Christmas. Hope you enjoy these 2 video clips of Eddie getting ready for the big day.

Catching up on Video Clips

2010-11-11T20:53:00.001-06:00

Here are a couple fun clips of the boys playing Dominoes with Gramps.

These are clips from Joey's 3rd Birthday Party at Aunt Kristine's.

Alan's Solo

2010-11-09T22:36:00.000-06:00

Now that I have you up to speed with our Children's Choir. Alan was selected to sing the solo verse of the Alleluia part for this past weekend's mass!! He was sooo excited to get to sing into the microphone :)

Here are the video clips from this past weekend.

Children's Choir

2010-11-08T22:36:00.000-06:00

The boys have been part of our church's Children's Choir since June. I meant to post these video clips from this summer a long time ago. They are really improving each week.

Halloween 2010

2010-11-06T21:38:00.000-06:00

I just posted the pictures from Halloween in the October_2010 folder on Picasa. You can click here to see them.
Here are a couple video clips from Trick or Treating.

Balloon Season

2010-10-15T19:19:00.000-06:00

We all know the 4 seasons: Winter, Spring, Summer, and Fall. Well Albuquerque has a 5th season, Balloon Season. The Balloon Fiesta is the first week and a half of October and a very exciting time!! There are hundreds of Hot Air Balloons in the sky every morning for 10 days. The weeks leading into and following the Balloon Fiesta have LOTS of balloons in the sky as well.

This year Kristine and her friend, Talya, came to visit us and go to the Balloon Fiesta with us. We got up at 4am to fight the traffic near the Balloon Fiesta Park and got to the Park around 6:30am in time for the 6:30am Morning Glo and the 7am Mass Ascension.

Here is one of the Morning Glo balloons. The boys really enjoy the FIRE!!
Some of the first balloons off the ground the day we went were twin pink balloons to honor survivors and victims of breast cancer. The balloons each had an American flag and the Star Spangled Banner was sung to start the ascension.

I was pretty trigger happy with the camera and posted a whole album on Picasa. Click HERE to see the rest of the pictures. Click HERE to see the pictures from my school's mini balloon fiesta where we launched 5 hot air balloons before school one morning.

Here are a couple video clips from that morning.

Happy 7th Birthday Alan!!

2010-08-29T08:36:00.000-06:00

1 Day old

1 year old

2 years old

3 years old

4 years old

5 years old

6 years old

7 years old

Game Face

2010-08-24T13:00:00.000-06:00

Alan pulled out his front tooth after school on Friday and insisted I take his picture with my phone so I could send it to Grandma. I couldn't resist sharing it with you all. It looks like he lost it in a hockey game :)

Joey's First Day of "School"

2010-08-23T20:38:00.000-06:00

It's finally here, Joey's first day of school!! He has been trying to go to school since Alan's first day on Wednesday. He even tried to get on the school bus with him!! He kept telling me "I go school, I go school too. Hmm." By the time I made a second trip to the classroom with his tricycle (they get to ride bikes every Monday) he was so into play he wouldn't even say good bye.

Joey and Lead Teacher Miss Isabella

After school today Joey was very excited to tell me he got to ride his bike, ate all his lunch, took a nap, sang songs, and had a snack!! He was also very happy to see me :)

First Day of Kindergarten

2010-08-23T20:28:00.000-06:00

Eddie started kindergarten on Friday!! He was so excited and they got a teacher hired for his class. She wasn't there first thing in the morning because she had new hire paperwork at the district office downtown. They had a "Kiss and Cry" breakfast for parents in the library. I wasn't so excited about this until I found out it was for parents only and the kids were to stay in class. Thankfully we let Eddie eat breakfast at home. The principal spoke briefly about the school, the nurse reminded us of the health center rules, and the PTA president filled us in on the fun we could have in PTA. Joey was happy to get some mini muffins and juice and was then promptly ready to leave!! I am very happy to report that both Alan and Eddie were on the bus when it pulled up to the stop on the afternoon.

Eddie on the playground before class started

Eddie's comment as he got off the bus was "Today was the BEST day ever. It was AWESOME!!" He is very happy to be back at school and Joey can't wait to start too!

First Day of School Panic Attack

2010-08-18T23:15:00.000-06:00

Okay so most of you know I'm not the emotional mom on the first day of school. Alan started First Grade today and today was DIFFERENT!! I don't know why it was so hard to hold back the tears as the school bus pulled away. I suspect it had something to do with the fact he was riding the bus and I wasn't leaving him in a classroom with a smiling teacher and lots of new friends. Another part of it was knowing he was going to a bare walled classroom with a SUBSTITUTE teacher until they hire a full time teacher for his class.
It's a good thing we were early to get to the bus stop. The bus came a full 10 minutes early!!

Waiting for the school bus

Waiting on the correct side of the street

The bus is here!!

Joey ran right for the doors trying to get on the bus and was quite upset he didn't get to ride. He kept saying "I go school, I go school"

This is a picture of the school taken from our driveway!

A picture of the school close up

Our school only goes half day on EVERY Wednesday so the morning went incredibly fast. I had to take Eddie to Kindergarten for academic assessments which he did very well on according to his newly hired teacher. They hired her yesterday afternoon. This will be her first year teaching, but she is amazing prepared and has an AMAZING teacher assistant in the class!! We LOVE her already.

Eddie and Mrs. Martinez

When we finished at the school Eddie, Joey and I ran 2 errands and it was time to go home and walk to the bus stop to pick up Alan. When the bus stopped the driver opened the door and told me she didn't know where is was and he didn't get on the bus. (Pause here for stopped breathing) I grabbed Joey's hand and told Eddie to Come on as we power walked toward the house. I grabbed my cell phone and called the school to see if he was waiting in the office. They couldn't find him. I told them I was on my way to the school. Got the boys loaded in the van and as we were leaving the neighborhood the bus driver was coming back (she had a couple kids she had to drop off) to see if she could find him in case he got off at the wrong stop. Then my cell phone rings and it was a very friendly neighbor explaining to me that Alan got off the bus with her children down the street and she was walking him to our house. Praise the Lord I was prepared and had a note card with Alan's name, classroom number, bus number and correct bus stop, our address and phone numbers!! I turned around and they were a block away from our house. Alan got in the van explaining he knew the name of the street he lives on and got off on that stop knowing he could get himself home from there. He didn't remember there was a bus stop much closer to our house on a different street and didn't realize he shouldn't get off the bus if I wasn't at the stop. It's crystal clear that Mommy or Daddy will ALWAYS be at the stop and if there isn't a grown up he knows at the bus stop he is to stay on the bus and ride back to school!!! I called the school to let them know he got off at the wrong stop and was safe at home. The principal now totally knows my name between BOTH kids being in classes without hired teachers on meet the teacher day last week, Alan's class going from a 1st/2nd grade combo back to a regular 1st grade without a hired teacher yet, and a lost child on the first day of school we have talked SEVERAL times in the last couple days!!

Daniel made it home from a TDY in Salt Lake City this afternoon and after the day I had we decided we should go out for dinner to celebrate the first day of school!! We took the kids to their new favorite, Red Robin because Wednesday is KIDS night!! They have the Red Robbin mascot there, face painting, balloon animals, and FREE ice cream with every kids meal. They were even kind enough to substitute apple crisp for Eddie's ice cream because of his dairy allergy :) It was very nice to be able to end the day on a very relaxing and HAPPY note!!

Happy Birthday Joey!!

2010-08-07T09:22:00.000-06:00

Happy 3rd Birthday Joey!! You had the world's LONGEST children's birthday party ever!! Started at 10:30am and went on until the wee hours of the next morning :)

A Great Visit from Uncle James and the Kiddos!!

2010-08-03T17:27:00.000-06:00

I am way behind in blogging about the summer, but wanted to get this video clip of my niece up so you'll have to read about our summer endeavors another time. James, Thomas, and Lilly Bug arrived late last night. We have been chillin' out around the house and the kids have been playing all day!! Here is a fun video of Lilly playing peek a boo with Alan and Joey. Sorry about the streak of light down the middle. I so need to find a good solution to the sliding glass patio doors!

Jungle Room

2010-07-04T13:26:00.000-06:00

The boys' new bedroom furniture arrived!! While it was a nightmare waiting for it as it was supposed to be a morning delivery and we got word at 9:30pm the night before we were moved to the 5-8pm delivery slot. They called at 8:40pm to see if we would wait 'til this morning to get it. The boys were waiting up and we had to change our church plans once so I said nope they need to come last night. They got here around 9pm and didn't finish assembly until 11:15pm!! There were broken and missing pieces to Alan's bed so they will have to get new parts and come back to finish that.

Eddie and Joey will be sharing a room so they got full size bunk beds that according to Eddie look like they are in the Jungle!! He helped me paint the room sky blue for the jungle background last week.

He keeps asking when are we going to paint the jungle and trees and stuff. Not sure how soon that will happen. Putting the sheets and blankets on these beds is one tough job!! I think Daddy will have to be involved in putting on clean sheets as the delivery guys were nice enough to help me lift the top mattress for the fitted sheets. The boys have been playing in the "Jungle Room" all morning!! Here is a clip of their first "Jungle Room Show"

Toy Story 3

2010-06-22T15:37:00.000-06:00

We took the boys to see Toy Story 3 this weekend and we LOVED it!!! There is an article on Yahoo HERE that tells some really great tid bits about the movie as well as a sneak peek clip below.

New House Pictures

2010-05-25T20:42:00.000-06:00

I posted pictures of the new house on Picasa today. You can click HERE to see them. We unloaded 12,000lbs and returned the truck today. Daniel reports to work at 6:30am and the boys and I will be cleaning, unpacking and sorting. They are scheduled to deliver the appliances and install the security system as well.

Last Day on the Road

2010-05-24T21:42:00.000-06:00

I'm sooo glad today was the last driving day. We hit the road around 6:45am and drove 610 miles from San Angelo, TX to Albuquerque, NM. We stopped in Amarillo for lunch at Subway because that's what the boys wanted. Alan was under the impression he would get to make his own sandwich so we had a mini melt down, but he snapped out of it thanks to Backugone (I know this is TOTALLY spelled wrong. We just learned about these toys from our Houston friends and I haven't done my research on them yet) I promised the boys if they were good for the WHOLE trip they could get one when we arrived.

We got here around 4:30pm so it took us a bit longer than we expected. When we got here we promptly hit TRAFFIC!!! The boys were really frustrated telling me to just go as traffic was stopped at a stand still due to a crash on I 40. This was a perfect opportunity to explain car crashes and how important it is to be very QUIET when Mommy is driving in the city. They are in awe and amazement at the big city!! They especially like it when we drive on the high roads :) Alan can't get over all the fast food places and how close together they are. When traffic started moving we got a call from Dan saying he was done closing on the house. We ended up getting to the new house 10-15 minutes before him. The boys went CRAZY exploring, fighting over the bedrooms, and Eddie even got his head slammed in the door that goes out to the garage because it has some safety feature that makes it close automatically. Safety feature my ASS!! I get the concept, but not so safe with little kids. I do think they all learned the lesson though.

We met the next door neighbors and they have 2 little boys, Aidan is 3.5 years and Austin is an infant. The cluster of mail boxes just happens to be right outside our front door and we met another neighbor with 3 kids all close to the same ages as our with a couple girls in the mix. I hope to get pictures of our house and the neighborhood tomorrow and will post them soon.

Eddie and Joey have passed out and Alan has half open eyes watching the movie Over the Hedge on the fold out bed in the hotel and I'm gonna hit the hay now too!!

When a Saucer becomes a Bible

2010-05-23T06:35:00.001-06:00

My youngest Sister in Law got married yesterday!! We welcome Doug Bible to the family and our Aunt Nikky Saucer has now become a Bible :) Click here to see pictures from her big day.

On the Road AGAIN!!

2010-05-19T21:52:00.000-06:00

Last night we went to Jenn and Ryan's house. I could do a whole blog entry on how we met and how they introduced Daniel and I. Stay tuned for that entry soon. The boys had a great time playing with Jeffrey, Alyssa and Jacob. That is except maybe Joey. He came down stairs and we all thought he had to use the potty and then it happened. . . He threw up all over the living room carpet!! I was so embarrassed, but we got it cleaned up and he curled up on my lap. No fever so it was probably from eating Waffle House for dinner combined with all the time in the van. We left around 10pm (I sure hope Jeffrey and Alyssa did all right in school today being up so late)

We had the continental breakfast this morning and headed back to their house around 8:30 this morning. Jenn and Jacob took us to play at the park and run around before a big day of 440miles in the van to make it to San Angelo. When I checked my Facebook I had a comment from my friend and Stampin' Up downline, Brenda Bromen. She lives in San Antonio and is in the process of moving to Florida. She noticed we would be driving through San Antonio and asked if we wanted to meet up on our way through!! I left her a note and called her after our play date. She was nice enough to locate a McDonald's with a play zone not too far off I 10 to meet at. The boys played for an hour and a half while we caught up!! It was perfect timing as San Antonio was exactly half way through our travel day :)

Once we got through the traffic of San Antonio it was a very relaxing drive the rest of the way. We arrived in San Angelo around 7:30pm. I set my odometer to zero when we left Panama City and it had 1,200 miles on it when we arrived. The boys were amazing travelers the whole trip!! It was when we were visiting with Granny D all hell broke loose. They went crazy climbing on each other, fighting and hitting. It took a little bit and a phone call to Daddy, but they finally got to sleep and allowed me to catch up with Mae Dell. Then Nikky and my brother in law to be, Doug arrived at midnight. We chatted until Joey came to tell me he needed to go potty at 3:45am!! We said good byes and see ya tomorrows and after Joey was done we went to bed.

On the Road

2010-05-18T18:46:00.000-06:00

We got on the road around 6:45am this morning to start our 540 mile journey to Houston, TX. Joey REFUSED to wear the pull I wanted him to wear, but I decided not to fight it out with him since I need to stop for a bathroom as often or more so than he would need to go. Alan got excited when we crossed the Alabama state line wanting to go see our old house and his friend, Madison. He was a bit disappointed to find out she lived on the other side of the state so we wouldn't be visiting today. The boys LOVED the very, very, very, LONG bridge in Mobile!!

Before we knew it we were crossing the Mississippi state line. I would spell it M-I-SS-I-SS-I-PP-I and Joey would echo I-P-I? and we would all laugh! We set the pit stop schedule to stop every 100 miles or so and it stuck most of the trip. The first stop Alan was gonna test my patience and I informed him it wasn't a good idea to start our trip that way. Then Joey piped up saying "me good, me good mom? Eddie good too." He continued to inform me he was being good each time we stopped. We made great time and were checking into the hotel in Houston around 4:30 this afternoon and had time to hit the pool, shower, and walk across the parking lot to Waffle House with a 15% discount for a breakfast for dinner night before American Idol started. We hope to go over to my friend, Jenn's (She introduced Daniel and I) for a bedtime visit to meet her 3 kiddos. We haven't seen each other since Daniel and I got married 10 years ago. She's had 3 kids and I've had 3 kids so we will have a LOT of catching up to do!! We also plan to have a play date with her and her youngest in the morning. I hope tomorrow's travel goes as smoothly as todays!!

New Pictures Posted

2010-05-17T20:37:00.000-06:00

I just updated the 2010_May folder on my Picasa pictures. Click on the picture to see the whole album or click on the Saucer Family Picture link to the left of the blog.

Starfish Photography Family Portraits

2010-05-16T14:51:00.001-06:00

I'm sooo excited we got the disc with our family pictures from Starfish Photography today!! Our neighbor in Panama City is staring her own photography business, Starfish Photography. She was patient enough to make 2 trips to the beach because the first one was a cold day and the kids were not very cooperative. These are the pictures from the 2nd trip when they were a little more cooperative. The wind was a bit strong for my hair, but they still turned out GREAT!! Click on the picture to see the whole album on Picasa.

Mr. Independent

2010-05-13T06:31:00.000-06:00

We woke up this morning to a running shower. Daniel rolled over and said, "When are you gonna get in the shower?" I replied, "I thought you were getting in the shower. Who turned the shower on??" I hollered turn to turn off the shower and come here and we discovered it was Joey. He demanded that he needed a shower this morning. I informed him he was WRONG and told him to go get dressed hoping for just 5 more minutes. He actually went to his room and got himself completely dressed then came back. So I pressed my luck and told him to wake up Alan and Eddie for school. Oh how I wish I had a hidden camera in their room. He went in and woke them up and told them to get up and get dressed right now!! Oh the doors that open with potty training!!

Bye Bye Beach Baby

2010-05-12T22:24:00.002-06:00

Last weekend was our last free weekend before the big move. It was time to say good bye to the sugar white sandy beaches of Panama City. Our good friends, The Tuckers, came down from Alabama for one last visit. The most difficult part of moving is knowing you won't get to see your friends on a regular basis. When we moved from Alabama to Florida we still manages to see the Tuckers on an almost monthly basis for the first 2 years!! This will be harder as we are moving from Florida to New Mexico on the other side of the country.

The kids had a BLAST at the beach!! The afternoon was spent with kids napping and the Daddy's got to go to the shooting range. It was about time as they have been talking about it for nearly 7 years!!! Then everyone met up at our house for smoked ribs and chicken.

Eddie thought he was hot stuff "surfing" the waves. I think he drank half the ocean.

It wasn't until bedtime we realized how sunburned everyone got at the beach.

We will really miss living close enough to the Tuckers to drive for a weekend visit without a lot of planning ahead. Thank God for the internet and cell phones. We can at least watch the kids grow through pictures like these.

Madison and Alan May 2010

Madison and Alan October 2004

Alex and Eddie

May 2010

Alex and Eddie

January 2007

It's not good bye, but until we see you again.
For more pictures click here.

Potty Training Update

2010-05-05T08:13:00.000-06:00

I am so happy to report potty training is going well. Joey has had only 3 accidents in the last 2 weeks and all were understandable due to playing with friends and not wanting to take the time. We have had some funny stories along the way. Joey has always preferred to wear his underwear backwards so he can see the big picture of whatever character is on them in the front, but on this particular day he decided his head would be a better place to wear them!!

One afternoon he was playing outside and actually came inside to ask if he could go pee in the grass!! My first reaction was no, but then I got to thinking about teaching him how to stand up and pee for our upcoming road trip so I told him he could. About 15 min later Alan comes running in to tell me Joey pooped on the patio!!! That led to quite a discussion. We are working on a new way to teach him how to pee standing up as a result :P

Our best friend, Emily, is also potty training so we took our potty to her house for a Potty Party!! This really seemed to seal the deal for Joey as we haven't had many accidents since then.

The final story for today is the fact that Joey thinks he is ready to wear underwear to bed at night. Mommy and Daddy, however know better and will not let him. One night was a particular struggle with Daddy. Daniel put his diaper on and tucked him in after what seemed like 15 times of coming out of his room to go potty to prolong bedtime. Then at 2am he comes into our room soaking wet!! I went to change the sheets while Daniel gave him a quick shower. When I picked up the diaper on the floor by his bed it was completely DRY?!? He must have removed it after Daddy left and then went to bed. He has been much better about wearing the diaper at bedtime, but has continued to come out of his room several times at bedtime to use the potty. Mommy is pretty smart though and has bumped bedtime up 30min.

I'm a BAD Aunt

2010-04-30T17:31:00.003-06:00

Sorry I haven't posted this sooner. Tim and April welcomed our newest nephew, Simon Christopher into their wonderful family on Monday!! Simon weighed 7lbs 11oz and was 20.5 inches long.

Proud Daddy

Family of Four

Big Brother Ian holding Simon

We can't wait to see Uncle Tim and Cousin Ian in just a few weeks!!! This is a very busy time of year for Ian as he has a big birthday coming soon too. Happy 3rd Birthday Ian!!

Happy Birthday Eddie!!

2010-04-22T15:39:00.001-06:00

Today is Eddie's 5th Birthday!! We shared a big birthday party at Pump It Up with one of Eddie's classmate friends, Gavin. There were kids everywhere and everyone had a BLAST!! Click HERE to see pictures from the party and from opening presents at home tonight for his actual birthday.

Here is Eddie's reaction to the Sponge Bob cake he asked me to make.

Here is the birthday song.

One of the presents Eddie received is a DRex Pet Dinosaur that you train. It was a big hit with all 3 boys!!

Diaper Free?!?

2010-04-19T21:31:00.000-06:00

Could we really be on our way to the end of diapers?? The Easter Bunny brought Joey a package of Spider Man underwear and he was thrilled!! We told him that he could wear big boy underwear when we got back from our Disney Vacation.

When we got home he went right to his room and brought me the underwear. We started on Saturday and it went as you would expect. Lots of laundry and no pee in the potty chair. Sunday was an open house for selling our house so we had him in pull ups for the afternoon and still no success getting pee in the potty. Then when it was just Mommy and Joey for the better part of the day on Monday there were a couple successes!! Once he figured out he got candy every time he used the potty he was tired of changing clothes and taking his pee pants to the washer himself. In the last 4 days we have only had 2 accidents and one doesn't count because we had a backyard full of kids playing and he just didn't want to come inside and miss anything fun. The other was a poopy pants today and that usually takes longer to master.

We still put him in diapers at naptime and bedtime, but he has started coming to me to let me know he has to go!! The next big challenge will be the cross country road trip coming up!! Then we will have to see how he adjusts to the move. Could we really be diaper free by summer time?? One can only hope and keep a big supply of potty treats around :)

Cayla's Video: Diabetes Doesn't Stop Me!

2010-04-14T17:16:00.000-06:00

Please take the time to support Cayla in this great kids Diabetes Awareness video contest!! If you have a You Tube Account simply log in, view the video, and click on the Like button with the thumbs up.

Thanks,

Amy

Day 5 Downtown Disney

2010-04-13T11:31:00.000-06:00

The boys wanted a toy at every gift shop we passed from the minute we arrived at Disney!! We told them they could do all the looking they wanted and on Friday we would take them to Downtown Disney, an outdoor mall with every piece of Disney merchandise you can imagine!!! Mommy got a bunch of supplies at the scrapbooking store to put our pictures together in a book. The boys had a BLAST at the Once Upon a Toy store.

Alan got a Buzz Lightyear Space Ship Lego kit, Daddy got a cool safari hat, and Joey was happy with some foil cover chocolates that had the characters printed on them!! Then it was a 6hr ride in the van back to Panama City.

Day 4 Epcot

2010-04-08T18:11:00.000-06:00

Epcot doesn’t open until 9am so we slept in a little. Our plan of attack was to go right for the ride Soarin’ inside the building called The Land.

Joey was an inch too short to go on this amazing ride L Daniel took the parent swap ticket and waited in the café while Mommy, Alan and Eddie got in the 30 min line. We also got fast pass tickets to ride again later in the day. This is a ride where you buckle into your “hand glider” and take off into a curved movie screen. The wind blows and all of a sudden you are Soarin’ over all kinds of country side. My favorite part is the scents they pump in so when you fly over the pine trees you smell pine and over the orange tree groves you smell oranges and the ocen smells awesome!!!

We went to find daddy and Alan decided to wait with Mommy and Joey while Daddy and Eddie took a turn on Soarin’. We met up in front of the Living With the Land ride. It is a boat ride through the history of agriculture. We ride through the green houses and fish farms that provide lots of the produce for the restaurants at Epcot. They also feature the newest methods of growing plants and fish including hydroponics and something where the fish water fertilizes the plants above while the plants help clean the water for the fish to grow bigger as well.

When our boat landed we stopped by the stroller for a drink and then headed to The Seas with Nemo & Friends.

You ride in a clam shell through parts of the movie in search of Nemo.

After the ride we went to the Innovations building to get a ticket for a Kim Possible Mission later in the day. Then it was off to get Fast Pass tickets for Mission:SPACE. While we waited for the Fast Pass time slot we decided to ride Spaceship Earth. It was about a 35-40 min wait, but they really kept the line moving.

Then Eddie and Daddy took their turn on Mission:SPACE. They took the more dangerous Orange astronaut training course. I took Alan’s picture outside the ride while we waited.

When it was Alan’t turn to go with Mommy he decided it was too scary so he let Eddie go with Mommy. If Eddie could handle the orange level and want to go right back on it couldn’t be that bad, or could it?? This is an amazing ride!! You really feel the G Force as your space shuttle simulator launches and you go into space. I was glad we didn’t have lunch before this ride because I really thought I was gonna throw up during take off. They had a really cool jungle gym play area and video arcade where you get off the ride and we found Daniel, Alan, and Joey there. I had to sit down for a few minutes to rest. The boys could have spent all day in this play area. Then we finally talked Alan into trying the Green (less scary level of training) level of Mission: SPACE. While Daddy, Alan, and Eddie were on the ride Mommy and Joey headed to the World Showcase in search of a place for lunch. The first country we came to was Mexico. We went into the pyramid to check out the menu for their restaurant. It looked good so we went ahead and reserved a table. Daniel called to see where we were and just as he found us inside the pager for our table went off. Talk about perfect timing!! Inside the pyramid it was very tranquil and felt like evening. There was a cool pyramind and volcano in the back drop of the restaruant and the boat ride went right by. We relaxed and had Tamales and Steak Tacos while the boys shared some pollo y arroz. Mommy had a great time practicing her Spanish and the waitress brought the boys each their own included dessert!! Alan didn’t want his churro and Mommy was more than happy to eat it for him J The boys were getting restless so we decided to go on the Gran Fiesta Tour Starring the Three Caballeros.

Donald Duck, Panchito, and Jose Carrioca take you on a musical boat ride. Daniel wanted to relax and finish his beer so it was just Mommy and the boys for this ride. When we finished the boat ride it was time to go to Norway to pick up our Kim Possible spy communicator (a Verizon cell phone programmed with your mission)

When Daddy figured out the communicator and it was time to start the mission Joey threw a HUGE fit because there was only one communicator and he wanted to be the one to hold it, but no one could hear it over his screaming so I strapped him into the stroller and off we went to wait for Daniel, Alan, and Eddie to finish their mission. This year the mission took them to China.

Joey's Temper Tantrum

The tantrum took us all the way to the American Adventure!! By then Daniel was calling to let me know the mission was complete. We met up and the boys wanted to sit in this beautiful green grass!!

Daniel and Alan got out the map to make a game plan and Eddie was making a plan of his own. Joey had finally calmed down and was HAPPY to be out of the stroller where there was DIRT to dig in and eat!!!

We ended up taking the ferry boat back to the Future World side of the park to go back to the dinosaur era with Ellen DeGeneres in Ellen’s Energy Adventure. When the show was over Alan and Eddie wanted to do Mission: SPACE one more time. The wait time for the Green level was very short compared to the Orange level. Eddie really really wanted an astronaut helmet from the gift shop at the exit to the ride and we had promised he could get it at the end of the day before we went back to the hotel.

While they were doing that Joey and Mommy got in line at the Epcot Character Spot. We befriended the family in front of us while we waited. They were from Saline, MI where Daniel’s Aunt Denise lives. Daniel called just as we were getting close to the front of the line. He and the boys cut in line to join us so they could meet Mickey, Pluto, Minnie, Donald and Goofy. While he was getting to know our new friends we discovered the dad went to school with Daniel’s 2^nd cousin Brad!! It really IS a small world after all J

By the time we finished meeting all our favorite Disney Friends it was time for that Fast Pass we got at the beginning of the day for Test Track. We got the ticket around 11am and it was to ride the ride between 7 and 8 pm. That’s how popular this ride is. It takes you through all kinds of testing conditions for GM cars including some very FAST runs!! Joey wasn’t tall enough so Mommy and Eddie went on the ride first. Then we talked Alan into going with Daniel when we got off the ride.

By the time Daddy and Alan were getting in line it was time to find a spot for the fireworks so Eddie, Joey, and Mommy headed back to the World Showcase to find us a good place. Alan and Daddy found us with only 10 minutes til showtime and they brought popcorn and soft pretzels!!

The Laser, Light, and Fireworks show was AMAZING as always!! My older camera doesn’t have all the wonderful night and fireworks settings so there aren’t any pictures to share L Check out the pictures from last year though as it was the same show we saw then. Joey fell asleep shortly after the show began.

The park had late hours so we took our time and stopped to get a funnel cake in the America part of the showcase and got more dinner type food in Morroco. It seemed like a very LONG walk out of the park to the bus stop and we all agreed our dogs were really BARKING!!

Day 3 Magic Kingdom

2010-04-07T19:49:00.001-06:00

We started today at oh dark thirty as my dad would say. I took these pictures of our hotel while it was still dark this morning before we headed to catch the 6:30am shuttle to the park.

Unfortunately the next time I got my camera out it wouldn’t work and hasn’t worked all morning L

We got to the park just minutes after the gates open and headed to Tomorrowland to catch the Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin. There was no wait so we rode it 2 times in a row!!! Then we headed over to Space Mountain to do our Parent Swap trick so Eddie and Daniel could ride without waiting. The thing is that you can’t use those fast tickets before 9am so they had to go in the stand by line anyway. The good news is that it was a short line so Alan, Joey and I only had time to walk back to Buzz Lightyear and ride 2 more times and they were getting off the Mountain. I kept fussing with my camera all morning and it is really heartbreaking to be in one of your favorite places on earth and not have a working camera. The lens is doing something very similar to problems my Dad and Kristine have both had with their Sony cameras. I tried very hard not to get overly frustrated and to have a great time without pictures. At least I do have a camera on my cell phone, but it doesn’t do the pictures justice so I didn’t take very many with it.

Eddie absolutely LOVED Space Mountain and we still have the Parent Swap no wait ticket to use this afternoon with him!!

Picture Unavailable L

We decided to head to Adventureland and check out the wait time for the Pirates of the Carribean. On the way we encountered a trick trash can that spit bubbles out at the people walking by. The boys were mesmerized by it. There was no line for the Magic Carpets of Aladdin ride on the way so we jumped on and took it for a spin.

Picture Unavailable L

Then it was off to voyage with Captain Jack Sparrow on the Pirages of the Caribbean!!

We had noticed that there was no waiting at the Jungle Cruise so we back tracked and hopped right on the boat they were already loading to take our tour through the jungle!!

Picture Unavailable L

Then it was off to Fantasyland and the Peter Pan’s Flight ride. Daniel parked the stroller and I went to get the Fast Pass tickets. Our luck was changing and we not only got Fast Pass Tickets for Peter Pan’s Flight but for the Mickey’s PhilharMagic 3D show!! We had some time before the tickets were good so we went on It’s a Small World and then hit the show. After the show we had a few minutes before we could use our FP tickets on Peter Pan and there was no waiting on Cinderella’s Golden Carrousel so we took the boys on that. Alan didn’t get the biggest horse that he wanted and he was extremely upset about it so we took advantage of no wait time and rode a second time. Then it was off to Never Never Land and Peter Pan’s Flight!! We were starting to get cranky and grumpy already and it was still very early in the day. We decided to to to Liberty Square and check out the updated Hall of Presidents. On the way we noticed there was a very short wait for the Haunted Mansion and since we’d never gone we got in line there. When they closed us in the Foyer of the mansion Eddie and Alan decided to get scared so we barely made it through the closing doors to the exit. Then we all had a melt down including Mommy!! There was only a 7 min wait for the Hall of Presidents so we decided to take an air conditioned break for the show (now includes Barack Obama) and then head back to the hotel for PBJ lunches and much neaded NAPS!!! When we got to the hotel I ran down to the van to get out my old digital camera, battery and charger. We had lunch got the battery charging for the Cannon and the boys are now just waking up from their naps so we will be headed back to the Magic Kingdom and hopefully we can handle staying until the fireworks J

Daniel was feeling bad for me and the camera situation so it wasn’t as difficult to talk him into a family pic on Main Street in front of Cinderella’s Castle.

Then it was off to our favorite part of the Magic Kingdom, Tommorrow Land. We headed to Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin to get Fast Pass tickets. Then we headed to the Tomorrow Land Speedway for a 30 min wait to drive the race cars.

Then we decided to go investigate Frontier Land. Daniel ran to get Fast Pass tickets for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and then we met up and headed on the ferry to Tom Sawyer’s Island to explore. The boys were very excited for a Tom Sawyer adventure without even knowing who Tom Sawyer was. They went right for the map to make a plan with Daddy.

In fact they were upset when we said it was time to catch the ferry back to Frontier Land. We decided it was time to eat so we went to Pecos Bill Tall Tale Inn and Café for dinner. The boys had a great time playing with giant plastic horse shoes while Daddy went to order our food!!

Mommy and Eddie left dinner early to go ride Big Thunder Mountain Railroad roller coaster.

On the way to meet Daddy, Alan and Joey we stopped by the Hall of Presidents to take a picture from the show ealier in the day when Mommy’s camera wasn’t working.

The closer we got to Main Street the more crowed it got so I threw Eddie on my shoulders to navigate our way through the crowd. There was a summer party parade going on making it difficult to get through. We found Daddy, Alan, and Joey and it was time for our Fast Pass tickets to Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin.

Then Eddie, Mommy, and Alan took off to Space Mountain to use our Parent Swap ticket from earlier in the day.

When we got off the ride we found Daddy and Joey at Cosmic Ray’s Starlight Café with a huge Turkey Leg and slushies!

We all agreed Joey had spent way too much time waiting for his taller brothers to go on all the exciting rides so we headed to Mickey’s Toon Fair where there were rides that he was tall enough to ride.

Then we headed to the Judge’s Tent to meet Mickey and Minnie. It was a long wait, but well worth it as the boys were all very excited to meet “Mouse”!!

Mommy ran to check out the wait time to meet the other classic charaters like Donald, Daisy, Goofy and Pluto. She discovered they had replaced that character meet and greet location with fairies!! So you could go meet the Princesses and Fairies there. Like the girls need one more meet and greet. I swear they are overloaded with girl activities for the little people age group!!

Anyway we decided it was off to the Barnstormer at Goofy’s Wiseacre Farm so Joey could ride a roller coaster too.

We had time to hit Buzz Lightyear one more time before the fireworks.

Then we found a spot for the Fireworks Show in a Tomorrow Land café. Daniel took some pics of the boys with me and the illuminated castle in the background. Then he and Alan left in search of popcorn. When they returned I asked someone to take a family picture. Joey sure didn’t want to cooperate. Then the fireworks started, turns out the seats weren’t so great cuz the fireworks were so high you couldn’t see them because of the awning. So we packed up the stroller and headed outside to get a better view.

Joey fell asleep half way throught the show so when the fireworks were finished Daniel took him back to the room. Mommy, Alan, and Eddie had to hit Buzz just one last time. Then Alan wanted to go on Tomorrow Land Transit Authority. On our way out of the park we got to see the night time SpectroMagic parade!!

Then we made the long walk back to the bus stop to catch the shuttle bus back to the hotel. I taught the boys about the old saying “my dogs are barking” meaning my feet hurt while we waited for the bus. Alan was pretty excited when the clock changed to midnight and I told him it was now tomorrow!!

Day 2 Disney Animal Kingdom

2010-04-06T18:20:00.001-06:00

Daniel is still feeling horrible and even tried to get a referral to see a doctor today. We decided to sleep in a little and do a shorter day at Animal Kingdom today. We read in the special times schedule that the Fast Pass wasn’t working for the It’s Tough to be a Bug! Show and the Primeval Whirl. We decided to see what the wait time was for It’s Tough to be a Bug and were pleasantly surprised to find only a 5 min wait. We parked the stroller and make our way into the Tree of Life for the show.

When the show was over we took a couple pictures with the Tree of Life and then Daddy headed to Kilimanjaro Safaris to get us Fast Pass tickets. The boys and I headed to Camp Minnie-Mickey to catch the Festival of the Lion King Show. Daniel was even able to make it to the show and find a seat with us just in time!!

The show was really great. The monkey were my favorite. They did all kinds of crazy choreographed gymnastics with the rings and elevated bars and a trampoline. I think Alan and Eddie like the Fire Eating Baton Twirler best!!

The show was over just in time for us to head to Africa to use our Fast Pass on Kilimanjaro Safari. You take a 2 week Safari ride through an African style savannah reserve and see all kinds of animals. It gets cut short unexpectedly due to poachers of course!!

When the Safari ended we were ready for lunch!! It was off to DinoLand U.S.A. to get something to eat!!

When Daniel finished eating he headed to the Dinosaur ride to get Fast Pass tickets and let the boys and I enjoy the air conditioning of Restaurantosaurus Dinning Hall. When he came back we all headed out for a “pitt stop” and then decided to try the Parent Swap tickets on the Dinosaur ride. The old lady working the Parent Swap Tickets was on to us and totally rude!! She wouldn’t let us use the fast part of the ticket until she was sure we had taken a kid and waited 45min in the regular line. This is the one and only time in our 3 trips to Disney we have been unsuccessful in getting the ticket and just using the part where you skip to the front of the line when one of the kids isn’t tall enough to go on the ride.

We headed to Dino Rama to entertain the kids until our actual Fast Pass tickets were good. Mommy, Eddie, and Joey got in line to ride the TriceraTop Spin ride and Alan (Eddie was an inch too short) and Daddy went on to the 30 min wait for Primeval Whirl.

Obviously Eddie, Joey, and I finished the ride with time to kill. We went back to the stroller and reapplied sun block. Then we found a shady spot near the exit for the Primeval Whirl ride to watch for Daddy and Alan.

Daddy, Alan, and Joey went to wait for the TriceraTop Spin and Eddie and Mommy headed to use the Fast Pass on the Dinosaur Ride.

We traveled back in time over 65 million years to save the last dinosaur on earth and barely escaped the meteor that created the Ice Age and killed all the Dinosaurs!! It was exciting and the Fast Pass was so fast the Daddy, Alan, and Joey were at the front of the line and I boosted Eddie over the fence so they could all ride TriceraTop Spin together!!

I handed Daddy the other 2 Fast Pass tickets and took Alan and Joey to get Fast Past tickets for the new rollercoaster, Expedition Everest. The Fast Pass time wasn’t until 6:20pm!!! Joey was asleep in the stroller and Alan asked for ice cream so we got a treat and headed back to DinoLand to find Daddy and Eddie. We got out the map and discussed our options with 4 hours until the Fast Pass was good. The wait time to the ride was 45min. We decided to check out the wait time and Fast Pass situation on Kali River Rapids. Bad news there the wait time was an hour!! We laid it all out for Alan and Eddie and they decided they really just wanted to go to the hotel and swim.

Alan wanted me to take this picture by the Rain Forest Café on the way out.

When we got back to the hotel Daddy and Joey showered and headed into town to find more Thera Flu, sunscreen, milk, bread and cheaper fast food for dinner. Mommy, Alan and Eddie headed to the Baseball Diamond pool right outside our room!!

We got back to the room just in time for the call from Daddy to decide between McDonald’s and Wendy’s. That was enough time to shower and get our PJs on before they got back with dinner. I’m writing this after dinner while Daddy snoozes and the boys are watching Disney XD and entertaining themselves with their travel backpacks. Bedtime is right around the corner to prepare for a busy day 3 of vacation!!

Day 1 Hollywood Studios

2010-04-05T20:21:00.000-06:00

We arrived at the Disney All Star Sports Resort right around bedtime last night.

We finally got the boys settled down and in bed around 10pm. Then it was up bright and early this morning. We decided to hit Disney Hollywood Studios first because those staying at the resort got to enter the park an hour early!!

We RAN right for the Toy Story Midway Mania ride because last year we totally missed the ride. They ran out of Fast Pass tickets and the wait time was showing 120-140 minutes so we skipped it. We had to wait 5-10min to get on the ride. It is a 4D adventure where you sit in pairs in cars the spin and you shoot at targets that are in 3D.

We hit the Fast Pass station right after the ride so we could go again!!

Then it was off to Star Tours, a Star Wars flight simulator. Joey was less than half an inch too short to go on this ride L. Mommy, Alan, and Eddie, left him screaming with Daddy. There was NO WAIT for the ride and they boys had a blast.

With NO WAIT, Mommy took screaming Joey and Alan (he didn’t want to go again for some reason) to the bathroom while Eddie and Daddy rode the ride again!!

Then Daddy took the boys to the Muppets in 3D.

Mommy was off to audition for the American Idol cast. The auditions are ran just like for the real show. They tell you to come up with your own 30 seconds of a song you know and hand you an approved song list in case you make it to the next stages. Then you go in a very small room with one casting crew member and sing. They give you feedback and either give you an audition number to go on to the next phase of the audition or in my case give a bit of encouragement with “a little too pitchy” and send you on your way.

I found the boys at the Muppet Show exit and we were off to see Lightning McQueen and Mater for a few pictures.

Then it was off to the Studio Backlot Tour. They showed us some cool special effects and we got on a tram to ride around the “Backlot” then we watch a semi truck in a canyon catch fire and get flooded.

When we were waiting for the gates to the park to open they gave us a FREE Fast Pass to the first Lights, Motors, Action! Extreme Stunt Show. We finished the Backlot Tour just in time to get to our seats for the show. With all that running Joey was wiped out!

The show ended within the time for our Toy Story Midway Mania Fast Pass tickets so we were off once again.

After the ride the boys flew to the gift shop. They had been asking to get a toy all morning. We drug 2 of them out kicking and screaming and decided it was time to catch the shuttle bus back to the hotel and have PBJ lunch and NAP before thinking about going back to the park!!!

While I was in the lobby writing and discovering that they no longer offer FREE Wi-Fi in the lobby the boys were terrorizing their sick daddy!! Alan did crash, but Eddie and Joey were bouncing off the walls. I took Joey out and made Eddie lay down. I had Joey run down the football field to try and wear him out for awhile.

When we got back to the room Alan was awake and I don’t think Eddie ever did sleep. We gave up and decided to head back to Disney Hollywood Studios. Eddie and Daniel decided to go on the Tower of Terror (Alan said he didn’t want to go so Alan, Joey and I waited at the end of the ride in the gift shop)

Eddie had a BLAST!!!

Then we went to check out Aerosmith’s Rockin’ Rollercoaster. Eddie was an inch under the height requirement and totally bummed out. We got a parent swap ticket and sent Daniel and Alan on their way.

Then it was off to Rosie’s for real food dinner.

After dinner it was off to the Animation Courtyard to meet some characters. Joey was in awe when he saw Mr. Incredible!!!

They closed the line to meet the characters from UP and the line for Sorcerer Mickey was WAY TOO LONG!!!

The boys decided they wanted to go to American Idol. We made it in time for the Finale Show of the day.

By the end of the show Daniel was feeling very sick and everyone else was cranky and over tired so we headed for the shuttle bus back to the hotel.

When asked “What was your favorite thing today?” on the way to the bus stop Alan and Eddie both answered American Idol and Toy Story!!

Hoppy Easter!!

2010-04-03T19:02:00.000-06:00

Eddie's Preschool Teacher sent me these pictures of him in the classroom and I just had to share!! Thanks Mrs. Hardy you ROCK!!

We wish you all a Very Blessed and Happy Easter!

March Pack Meeting

2010-03-31T15:54:00.000-06:00

Last night was the March Pack Meeting for Alan's cub scouts. It was a BIG night for Alan. Because I didn't do something right on the computer system he hasn't gotten any of the belt loops he has earned. He got them ALL in one night and had no idea how many he was getting. Here is the video clip from the meeting.

When we got home he could hardly wait to count them all and put them on his belt!!

Catching Up Through Video Clips

2010-03-30T15:35:00.001-06:00

Wow I can't believe how much time has passed since I wrote. I apologize for keeping you out of the loop. We are in the process of buying a house as well as selling a house. We do have one under contract to buy, but the details will be for another blog entry. Please pray that we are able to sell the house we live in very soon. I did just update the 2010_March folder of pictures on Picasa (see the link to Saucer Family Pictures on the left).

I thought the best way to catch you up would be to post all the video clips from my "blog" folder so here we go.

This is taking longer than I thought. It's been soooo long since I posted blogger has removed the video button I am used to using for posting my video clips. I just finished uploading them to my YouTube account and will post the links here.

Joey Telling His First Knock Knock Joke

Alan's Cub Scout Den went to the local TV station for a tour. The weather man was a favorite because every scout got a turn to play in front of the green screen.

Decorating our Christmas Tree

Joey saying Grandma and Grandpa

Cracking Eggs With Daddy

It's a Girl!!!

2010-02-02T08:21:00.001-06:00

The first girl for this generation of the Saucer Family!!! Proud Parents James and Sherrie Saucer and Big Brother Thomas welcomed Lillian Kay Saucer last night at 11:35pm Mountain Time. She weighed 6 lbs 1.5 oz and was 19.75 inches long. Aunt Kristine got there around 2am and we can't wait to see pictures!!! Here is the one she sent to our phones.

Christmas Pictures

2009-12-29T20:53:00.000-06:00

Sorry I haven't been blogging lately. Life has been pretty busy. I did post a 2009_December on the Picasa site. We hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and have a Happy New Year!

All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth

2009-12-07T21:42:00.000-06:00

Alan lost his first tooth this afternoon!! We were doing homework at his friend, Aidan's. He complained about it so I took a look and he wouldn't let me pull it. I told him to have Missy take a look at it and he let her pull it out. He can hardly wait for the tooth fairy to come tonight!!

Gypsy Giveaway!!

2009-11-30T19:30:00.000-06:00

the-gypsyspot.blogspot.com blog is giving away a FREE gypsy!! Click herefor all the details.

My Digital Studio/Pumpkin Patch Project

2009-10-21T18:56:00.003-06:00

Stampin'Up just release the most AMAZING new computer program. It's called My Digital Studio and it is NOT just digital scrapbooking!! You can create personalized photo books in several sizes, handmade cards, and personalized calendars that can all be printed with lots of options. Then you can take these projects and make fun slide shows, interactive books, and movies as well as incorporate your home videos and personal audio recordings into the project. Here is a book I created with our Pumpkin Patch pictures then found a fun song and had the boys help me record some audio tracks.

Pumpkin Patch 2009

2009-10-18T15:22:00.011-06:00

I'm finally recovered from our big trip last weekend. Missy and I took 2 mini vans and 8 kids 300 miles north to do our fmaily pumpkin patch tradition since Daniel was gone. Since we were staying farther north than usual at Grandma Joan's (Joan is Missy's mom) we decided to try a Pumpkin Patch in Hayden, AL that was closer to her house. They had all the same great fun as our usual on a little smaller scale. We had a blast despite the damp weather. We went to Missy's Aunt Patty's house for a birthday party on Saturday night. They live in the middle of beautiful nowhere and we even got to roast hotdogs and marshmellows on a bon fire outside!!! On Sunday we headed into Birmingham to watch the Toy Story double feature in 3-D. I got the tickets for my crew then took Aidan and my boys in to the bathroom while Missy got tickets for her crew. Then we got in line for popcorn. I had explained to Alan, Eddie, and Joey we would get one big popcorn to share and if there was any complaining or whining they wouldn't get any. Well, when I got to the counter to order the man told me the lady in front of us pre paid for 4 kids popcorn trays!!! She was already gone to which ever movie she was there to see. It about made me cry to experience something like that first hand. We took up almost a whole row with our group being 4 adults and 10 kids at least 5 of them under the age of 6!! I can't believe how well the little ones did sitting through not just one movie, but TWO!! After the movie my crew headed south to Alabaster, AL to have dinner and spend the night with Alan's best buddy from Alabama, Madison and her family. It was great to catch up with them. We had Monday off from school. Thank you Christopher Columbus!! So even though it was raining we decided to stop in Clanton, AL at The Grand Ole Pumpkin Patch on the way home. The boys missed jumping in the hay. The hay mound was covered so they spent almost an hour jumping and chasing in the hay while it rained!! We stopped in Prattville, AL to visit Deanna. They will be moving soon for a job promotion and for those of you who haven't heard we are headed WEST to Albuquerque, NM once school is out. We had lunch with her at Chic Fil A and let the boys run around in the play land. I got pictures sorted and posted here The Pumpkin Patch has been a Saucer Family tradition since Alan was only a year old and this was our last year for The Grand Ole Pumpkin Patch in Clanton. We will definitely be looking for a Pumpkin Patch in New Mexico and probably adding the Hot Air Balloon festival to our Fall traditions. I must say I really love Fall best and this is the time of year I think of the good ole midwest most!! Happy Belated Birthday Grandma!! Here are some video clips from our trip:

Jumping in the Jack O Latern Inflatables in Hayden, AL

The Inflatable Slide. Joey climbed and slid down this at least 50 times by himself!!

Joey thinks he's hot stuff pulling the wagon with Eddie and the big pumpkin!!

Playing inside the Indian TeePees at Clanton, AL

The last 4 clips of jumping in the hay in Clanton, AL

New Pics Posted

2009-10-08T20:49:00.002-06:00

I posted new pictures at the end of the 2009_September folder. Click here to view. I also started the 2009_October folder with pictures of Alan earning his Bobcat badge. Click here to view those.

Raingutter Regatta

2009-09-27T15:58:00.007-06:00

This year Alan is a Tiger Cub in scouts!! Yesterday we had our first big scouting event, the Raingutter Regatta. The boys sand and paint their own boats and race them down a raingutter filled with water. They blow behind their sails through a straw to make the boats go. Eddie is having a rough time feeling left out because you have to be in first grade to be a scout. We got him a kit to build the boat with Alan to be a pretend scout.

Here Eddie and Alan are doing the sanding.

Alan is doing more sanding here.

Next comes the painting. Alan chose to use 3 colors which requires a lot of time waiting for paint to dry!!

While we waited for the paint to dry Alan decorated his sail with some retired scouting stamps in Mommy's office.

Here is Alan with his completed boat. He named it "The Promise" because we were learning the Cub Scout Promise on the way to the race preparing for next week's meeting.

Alan and Daddy registering for the race.

They let Eddie have is own private race to test out the gutters while registration was going on.

Daniel helps Eddie and Joey test the gutters.

Alan at the starting line

During the race

The Finish Line The race was double elimination so the still pictures were from Alan's first race. Here is a video of Alan's second race.

Unfortunately he lost both races. Eddie sat on the bleachers and behaved like an angel despite all the chaos of kids (especially Joey) running around like hooligans. To celebrate Eddie's good behavior he got to pick the place for lunch. The scouts had 3 times as many Tiger Cubs show up to race as expected so Daniel ended up staying to help run the rest of the event and I took the kids to Burger King for lunch.

My Digital Studio

2009-09-25T20:25:00.002-06:00

Video Clips of Joey

2009-09-23T12:00:00.001-06:00

Here are some video clips of Joey. The first is Joey figuring out how to use Mommy's scrapbooking tools.
Joey was sooo excited about the Cookie Monster shirt Daddy got for his birthday!! Daniel barely had it opened before Joey snatched it up and had it on. He ended up sleeping in Daddy's new shirt!!
Joey was sooo excited to get his big brothers' character PJs when I sorted clothes a few weeks ago. The Wiggles are a favorite :)

Universal Studios

2009-09-21T20:21:00.013-06:00

This weekend we took the boys to Universal Studios in Orlando.

We got to the park right before it opened at 9am.

We decided to start the day at the Islands of Adventure part of the park. We made a beeline for the Spiderman ride. I went with Alan and Eddie while Daniel and Joey waited in the parent swap. This is a really amazing ride. You ride in a car along the track with a 3-D movie screen in front of you. You help Spidey get the bad guys and it actually feels like you are swinging from webs and flying/falling!!! When we got off the ride Alan decided not to go a second time, but Eddie sure got excited when he just had to wait for Daddy to trade places with mommy to ride again!!

The rest of the rides in the super hero section were for taller and older kids so we headed over to Seuss Landing. This turned out to be Alan's favorite.

The first ride at Seuss Landing is of course The Cat in The Hat. This ride takes you through the house and shows you the chaos when the Cat arrives with Thing 1 and Thing 2. Then we headed to One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish.

You fly in a fish labeled either red, blue, one or two then the speaker gives directions for certain fish to go up or down and you are supposed to make your fish go in the right direction with a joy stick. While you are flying your fish there are characters around the outside at different heights that spit water at you. You WILL get wet at some point on this ride!!

To dry off we rode The High in the Sky Seuss Trolley Train Ride. Which is just that a train that is way up high and you can look down on all of Seuss Landing. Then it was time for the Caro-Seuss-el, your standard carousel mechanism only the horses are Seuss type creatures instead.

After Seuss Landing we walked through The Lost Continent. The rides here all had height requirements taller than the boys so we continued on to Jurassic Park where Daddy took Alan and Eddie on the Jurassic Park River Adventure.

This must have been quite a ride because Alan became scared of EVERYTHING after this ride. (Later Daniel explained there was a really scary part where you thought a T-Rex was going to eat you and then the raft went straight down) They weren't nearly as wet as the other people in the raft so if you're going to ride and don't want to be SOAKED sit in the front. We decided to try the Pteranodon Flyers ride next where you had to ride with someone UNDER a certain height. Alan ended up having to ride by himself and let me tell you it took quite a bit on convincing after the raft ride!! This ride is a 2 seat swing like ride where you sit one person in front of the other and you fly over the whole park. Joey had a BLAST!! Alan ended up thinking the ride was ok in the end. When we got off the ride there was a man with his "pet" dinosaur. She moved and tried to grab Eddie's hat in her mouth. She was soooo life like it was a bit creepy.

The next section of the park was Toon Lagoon. Not a lot to see there so we just walked through and headed back to Marvel Super Hero Island to meet Spiderman in real life!!!

Then we exited the Islands of Adventure park and walked over to the Universal Studios park. Where we met Dora right off the bat.

The first ride we went on was more like a show. Shrek 4-D was a cool 3-D move with the 4th D being the actual movement of the seats. It was an adventure to save the kidnapped princess from the ghost of King Farquat. After the show it was time to eat!!! Then we went on Jimmy Neutron's Nicktoon Blast where you ride in a rocket with Jimmy Neutron and friends and you go through all kinds of shows from Nickelodeon. This was a favorite for the boys. I would have enjoyed it a lot more if I hadn't eaten right before!! Next we were going to do Men in Black, but the wait was 45 minutes and the boys were kinda restless so we Met Curious George and Ted, the Man in the Yellow Hat in Woody Wookpecker's Kidzone. Joey had passed out asleep in the stroller and missed this as well as Mommy, Alan and Eddie going on the E.T. Adventure. Where you ride a bike (no peddling required) and help E.T. save his dying planet. Then it was time for Diego to do a meet and greet. Dora showed up and we asked where Diego was. He wasn't in the park that day!! What an incredible disappointment for Eddie :( We told him that Diego wasn't in the park that day because he was out rescuing animals. He seemed to accept that, but was mad we couldn't go back to see him "tomorrow".

The wait for Men in Black was still super long so we went to the Disaster show where they create a movie about disasters. There were "stunt" people selected from our group and we were the crowd for some scenes. At the end we boarded a subway train and it of course crashed with a gasoline truck from above crashing toward us and exploding with real flames and the other side of us the train station was flooded like a monsoon soaking anyone (Alan) sitting on that side. Alan asked Daniel if we could buy that movie when it comes out on DVD in case we were in it!!

The wait was STILL long for Men in Black and we had been hearing about Spiderman and The Cat in The Hat all day so we decided to head back to the other park and hit those rides again. We did Woody Woodpecker's Nuthouse Coaster and Curious George Goes to Town on the way out of Universal Studios park. The Woody Woodpecker's Nuthouse Coaster was a ride requiring short people to be accompanied by tall people so Alan rode with one of the park employees.

When we got to The Islands of Adventure park Daniel and Eddie headed to Spiderman while I took Alan and Joey on The Cat in The Hat ride. Daniel called as we were in line waiting to tell us that someone had give him their Express passes (these are like the Disney Fast Pass, but you have to purchase them) I told him to use it with Eddie on Spiderman and meet us at the end of The Cat in The Hat ride. The arrived at the gift shop just after we got off the ride. We used the express pass to ride it again because it was Alan's favorite then we rode the The High in the Sky Seuss Trolley Train Ride with the express pass. I sent Daniel with an express pass to The Incredible Hulk Coaster and took the boys on the Caro-Seuss-el and One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish. By then it was almost time for the park to close and we had dinner reservations to eat at Emeril's restaurant. That will be a topic for another blog. For all the pictures from the trip go here

My Digital Studio Software from Stampin' Up

2009-09-17T15:36:00.002-06:00

Just testing out the new My Digital Studio software from Stampin' Up. I'm using a friends computer so you can look forward to more projects when I get my copy of the software!! It's super easy to use. It only took about 15 min for me to figure out how to create this page, convert the file to jpeg and post it here on the blog!!

ARRRRR!! Ahoy Matey!

2009-09-09T11:30:00.010-06:00

I am long over due in this post as it's been 2 weeks ago already!! We took Alan's best buddy Aidan and his family on the Sea Dragon Pirate Cruise to celebrate all our August birthdays this year.

The cruise was a BLAST!! It's family oriented and jam packed with activities for the kids. They start off in the red circle on the main deck for a safety talk about running and all the normal safety stuff. Then they give them all squirt guns and anyone on the main deck is fair game for the water gun fight.

Then they have the kids swab the deck with child size mops.

Then they take them into the dungeon to tell them a story about a treasure buried at sea. When they come up from the dungeon we all have to look for the "X" bouy. Then one of the pirate crew gets them all lined up with a rope and they have to pull the chest up out of the water. Everyone gets some of the treasure to take home. One of the last activities was getting pirate tatoos. Here is Alan aka Captain Bones showing his off.

We were even lucky enough to see dolphins while on the cruise. Here is the birthday cake made by yours truly and the cupcakes for Alan's classmates.

Here are some birthday video clips and there are lots more pictures posted on my picasa page in the 2009 August folder

Happy Birthday Alan!!

2009-08-29T06:58:00.000-06:00

Happy Birthday Alan!! Today Alan turns 6 :)

Catching Up

2009-08-28T09:14:00.000-06:00

I have another large collection of video clips on my blog folder. So here they are!! The first one is the kids feeding carrots to Grandma's horses this summer.

Here the boys are checking out the baby chicks in Papa Joe's store.

Joey is gving Papa Joe a makeover here.

Eddie Cracking Peanuts at Texas Roadhouse with Great Great Aunt Jo
A puppy Joey's size
The last 2 videos are of the ice cream truck coming by while visiting family in Iowa.

Happy Birthday Daddy!!

2009-08-27T06:57:00.002-06:00

Happy Birthday to Daddy!! He turns 35 today :) We love you!!

Here is a picture of the card I made for him.

It was inspired by this week's Color Challenge from Color Dare. The colors to be used in this challenge are More Mustard, Bashful Blue, Chocolat Chip, and Kraft. The designer series paper (DSP) is retired Stampin' Up paper from Juntos and Summer Pinic. The bear stamp is from the Stampin' Up set, "Cheers to You". I used crystal effects and white dimensional fabric paint on the beer.

First Day of School

2009-08-26T08:56:00.004-06:00

Monday was the first day of school!! Yipee!! Both Alan and Eddie are going to the same school this year. Alan is in First grade already and Eddie is in the full time PreK program with Alan's PreK teaching team.

It is our school year resolution to walk to school in the mornings. Here is a picture as we are arriving at the school on the first day. I was happy to have walked because the parking lot was a mess!!!

Here is a picture of Eddie with Ms. Hardy (she was Ms. Young with Alan and got married in May!! Congratulations Ms. Hardy. We will try to get your name right) and Ms. Powell.

Here is Alan outside his classroom. They are Templemen's Tornado's this year!!

Alan with Ms. Templemen

Had to include this great picture of Joey and Alan playing Wii on one of the last nights of staying up late while Daddy was TDY.

SIP Stampin' Up Challenge

2009-08-03T11:42:00.003-06:00

The Stampin' Up Blog Challenge for August is a SIP (Stamps, Ink, and Paper)challenge!!! This is my speciality using ONLY stamps, ink and paper. That means NO extra bling like ribbon, brads, buttons. . . . .

I am really missing the Zoofari stampset that retired in June. I am really into tearing paper and had this pop in my head so I made an exception and decided to use it anyway. Most people that know me know I am obsessed with Red, Black and White and I always seem to be short on Thank You notes so here is my card. I used Basic Black, Whisper White, and Real Red.

Video Clips

2009-07-09T06:07:00.002-06:00

Just cleaning up my blog topics folder and wanted to share some random video clips with you.

Eddie made a bumble bee braclet in preschool and was sooo excited about it.

Joey had a blast at Aidan's birthday party at Pump It Up

Alan is teaching Eddie to use the computer this summer

The Tucker/Saucer Road show from a fun visit with our Alabama friends the Tucker family.

Eddie and Joey with a show of their own.

Soccer Season

2009-07-08T08:52:00.000-06:00

The soccer season has been done for awhile now. I had intended on writing this post a long time ago and apologize for not getting it posted sooner. I'm not sure where the time goes!!! Here are some pictures and video clips from Alan's first season of soccer.

New Picasa Pictures Posted

2009-07-07T08:44:00.003-06:00

I finally got the summer pictures sorted/edited and posted on the Picasa site. The new album is called 2009_Summer. Click here to see the new pictures.

SA Blog Contest – Win A Big Shot Die Pack

2009-07-03T20:58:00.000-06:00

Stampin’ Up! just released the 2009-2010 Idea Book & Catalog and it’s loaded with new products that every stamper must have. As part of the summer celebration Stampin Addicts is holding a blog contest during the month of July giving away a Big Shot die pack made up of 5 new exclusive Stampin’ Up! dies.

■Stampin’ Up! Thanks (Embosslits)
■Stampin’ Up! Final Press (Embossing Folders)
■Stampin’ Up! Perfect Details (Textured Plates)
■Stampin’ Up! Two Tags (Bigz Dies)
■Stampin’ Up! Fancy Favor (Bigz XL Dies)

To enter the Big Shot Die Pack contest click here “Stampin’ Up! Big Shot”

Picture Project

2009-07-02T09:45:00.002-06:00

Hey everybody!
Sorry I haven't been blogging like I should. I have been working on a HUGE picture project. My mom gave me all the photo albums from when I was growing up and I have finally finished scanning all the pictures into jpeg files on the computer. Then I greated a picasa account to post them all for family and friends. The albums are numbered in as close to chronological order as possible. There were 2,502 pictures in all!!! Here is the link if you want to see the pictures click here

Alan Kindergarten Memory Book

2009-05-29T22:12:00.001-06:00

Click here to view this photo book larger

Catching Up On Video Clips

2009-05-27T15:35:00.001-06:00

Tale of Two Mini Vans

2009-05-26T15:03:00.003-06:00

So just over a week ago I was sitting in the living room recovering from surgery and Daniel hollers from the computer asking me the local news website address. I give it to him and don't hear back from him for quite awhile. I finally get up and go check on what he is up to and he is looking at Chrylser vehicles online. I ask him what's up and he informs me that our local Chrysler dealer is one that was selected to close.

We have been discussing a newer vehicle in the next 6 months or so for various reasons. We've had Daniel's Neon for 8 years and it has 107K miles on it and my Dodge Grand Caravan after only 4.5 years is already at 87K miles. We are scheduled to pay the van off in December and would like to replace the small Neon with a slightly larger vehicle to accomodate 3 carseats (Florida and several other states are trying to pass laws requiring carseats/booster seats until age 8 or 80 lbs!!) as well as with low milage.

Well the next day after taking Eddie to Preschool (I STILL can't drive) Daniel and Joey went to look at Chrysler Town and Country Mini Vans in person. He came home from picking kids up from school and said he found one to buy and he made a 3pm appointment to take me to the dealership to look at it.

This wasn't just your run of the mill mini van. It's top of the line!! The 25th anniversary edition fully loaded. I could never dream of having a van like this. I LOVE my blue Dodge, but this is super deluxe in comparison!!! It's dark red with white/super light grey leather interior. Alan is completely in heaven and I think could live in the new van with Satellite radio, 3 dvd screens, MP3 player jack, rear video camera and I scared him when I pushed the button the keys that actually started the engine. He thinks the thing is MAGIC!! Not only can you adjust the seats electronically in the front, you can adjust the height of the foot pedals!

So we ended up getting the new van for me, Daniel will take over the blue Dodge van and he sold the Neon to his little sister who recently totaled her truck. She happened to have the whole week off work and was able to ride a Grey Hound for 24 hrs to get her to pick it up. Daniel got all the license plates switched to the proper vehicles and she got a temporary insurance card and was back on the road. I am happy report she made it home safely. Oh yeah forgot to mention how entertainded Daniel is that I can't drive for 2 weeks with that shiny new van in the driveway. I decided not to put the carseats in until I can drive so he can get used to the blue van :)

Here are some pictures.

Surgery

2009-05-19T19:30:00.002-06:00

As some of you know I have been having some problems since I quit breastfeeding Joey in August 2008. This spring they started affecting my diabetes in a very negative way. I simply wasn't responding to any treatments so they decided to do a hysterectomy to solve the problem. This wouldn't normally happen for someone age 32, but we have had so many endochronologists and OB doctors tell us we need to be done having kids and it was a sure fire solution to my issues.

I had the surgery on Thursday and everything went extremely well. I just can't drive for 2 weeks and no lifting for 6 weeks which will be tough. Daniel got 2 weeks off to take care of me and the boys and things are going well. Feel free to call if you want more details. I'm just not sure the whole world needs to read about things here. Some of you will be relieved to learn that unlike Daniel's apendectomy there were no pictures taken :)

Kindergarden Slideshow

2009-05-12T17:37:00.004-06:00

I just updated pictures on Picasa with a 2009_May album. There are some older pictures in that folder that I just received from Alan's teacher in order to make the Kindergarden slideshow. I LOVE the pictures from field day!! I will try to upload the slideshow here.

Paper Parade

2009-05-08T07:18:00.002-06:00

For all my scrapbooking friends there is an awesome Paper Parade blog hop going on right now. Just visit http://burninrubber-anotherstampblog.blogspot.com/2009/05/parade-of-papers-stop-4-and-blog-candy.html and follow the directions for lots of chances to win great scrapbooking supplies!!!

Day 5 Magic Kingdom and Goodbye Disney

2009-04-09T18:39:00.000-06:00

Friday, April 4th
Magic Kingdom Part 2

The boys must have had some wild dreams last night to wake like this.

Grandma, Mommy, Alan and Eddie headed downstairs for breakfast around 8:30am. The boys stopped by Herbie for a little play time.

While we were eating breakfast the sky opened up and it POURED!!! We took our time with breakfast thinking the rain would pass, but it just kept coming so we got ponchos in the gift shop $30 allowing Grandma to purchase a nice canvas bag for an additional $10. Then it was outside to catch the bus. We got to Magic Kingdom not long after it opened and headed straight for Tomorrow Land to ride Buzz Lightyear. We got a Fast Pass Ticket for later. The man working the Fast Pass machines was from Pella, IA. He told us the line was only 10 minutes so we also rode right away. The first time Eddie and Grandma rode together and Alan and Mommy rode together.

When we got off the ride we had some time before our Fast Pass tickets would work so we rode the Carousel of Progress. The seats move around a circular stage and watch a family pass from the turn of the century through the 90’s.

Then it was back to Buzz Lightyear. This time Alan rode with Grandma and Eddie rode with Mommy.

Then I asked Alan if he wanted to take Grandma on Space Mountain. He said yes so I led the group right up to the lady working the Fast Pass machines. I walked past all the people waiting to get tickets and asked her for a parent swap ticket. She said oh you need a child swap ticket. I said yes please and we were off. The child swap ticket is for families that have kids who don’t meet the height requirement. The first parent stands in the long line with anyone who is tall enough to ride. Then when they finish the ride the parent that waited with the short folk get to take the swap ticket and go straight to the front of the line without waiting at all. Well I don’t care about Space Mountain so I handed the ticket to Grandma, grabbed their hats and the tote bag and shoved them into the fast line telling Grandma to meet us at the Tea Cups. She was very confused and said she didn’t know where they were. I told her to grab a map and to have fun on Space Mountain. Her face lit up and they were off.

Mommy and Eddie then headed to Peter Pan’s Flight to get Fast Passes for the group. There wasn’t a line for Cinderella’s Golden Carousel so we rode the hoursed and finished just as Grandma called to say they were at the Tea Cups so we headed over to meet them.

Grandma took the boys on the Mad Tea Cups since Mommy’s tummy couldn’t handle it a second time.

We still had time before we could go on the Peter Pan ride so we caught the Mickey Philharmagic 3D show. The movie takes you through all kinds of Disney movies: The Little Mermaid, Lion King, Aladdin, Peter Pan, and I’m sure I missed a few.

There was just enough time to catch It’s a Small World before Peter Pan’s Flight.

Then it was off to Never Never Land and the Peter Pan’s Flight ride.

When the ride finished it was almost 2pm so we decided to get our laser shooter guns at the Buzz Light year ride for the vacation souvenir and catch the bus back to the hotel for a nap. On the way back to tomorrow land we saw Cinderella’s step mother and step sisters and it looked like a street show was about to start. They told us to come up the ramp so we did. It was just a photo op, but they were quite the characters to meet.

Then we continued on our way to Tomorrow Land. The cashier offered to get the packaging off the guns. I sent Grandma and the boys to press pennies with Buzz images while she did this. Then I looked up and noticed the opportunity to meet Buzz himself so we got in line to meet him.

On our way out of the park we noticed there was no wait for the Monsters Inc show so we decided to go. Then it was off to the bus stop to wait for a ride back to the resort.

When we got back to the room we made some sandwiches and had a birthday party for Eddie. He got to open some presents that Grandma brought and we sang and ate a huge chocolate cupcake.

After a nap we took the boys down to the pool where they even got Grandma to swim with them!!

Daddy grabbed a pizza on the way back to the room and we left the kids with Grandma. Then we grabbed the bus to Downtown Disney to shop and grab some dinner. We ate at Bongos a great Cuban dinner with live music and headed back to the room.

In the morning we got all the bags packed up and Grandma, Mommy, Alan, Eddie, and Joey explored the Toy Story section of the hotel while Daddy loaded the van.

Then it was off to the Sanford Orlando Airport to take Grandma to her plane. Then we went back into Orlando to the Ikea store and had a Swedish lunch at their café. They have this play area you sign in your potty trained kids that are between 37 and 54 inches tall to play for an hour while you shop. The big boys had a great time while Mommy, Daddy, and Joey walked through the store. Then it was off to a 6 hour drive back to Panama City. We got home around 8:15pm. Daddy unloaded the van and mommy helped the boys with a bath. Then Alan and Eddie helped get everything unpacked and Mommy got a few loads of laundry done. My head hit the pillow around 10:30pm and Daniel let me sleep in almost ‘til noon today. The laundry is still running and I hope to get pictures sorted and start posting on the blog.

SAUCER SCHNANIGANS

Cub Scout Popcorn for SALE!!

Magazine Fundraiser for the Boys' School

Surprise Packages!!

Happy 4th Birthday Joey!! Blog by DADDY

Teaching Young Children Spanish

Zoo Time!!

Eddie's 6th Birthday Weekend

Mars

Happy 6th Birthday Eddie!!

Validation

Mama's Holiday Wish List Giveaway!!

Albuquerque Turkey

Catching up on Video Clips

Alan's Solo

Children's Choir

Halloween 2010

Balloon Season

Happy 7th Birthday Alan!!

Game Face

Joey's First Day of "School"

First Day of Kindergarten

First Day of School Panic Attack

Happy Birthday Joey!!

A Great Visit from Uncle James and the Kiddos!!

Jungle Room

Toy Story 3

New House Pictures

Last Day on the Road

When a Saucer becomes a Bible

On the Road AGAIN!!

On the Road

New Pictures Posted

Starfish Photography Family Portraits

Mr. Independent

Bye Bye Beach Baby

Potty Training Update

I'm a BAD Aunt

Happy Birthday Eddie!!

Diaper Free?!?

Cayla's Video: Diabetes Doesn't Stop Me!

Day 5 Downtown Disney

Day 4 Epcot

Day 3 Magic Kingdom

Day 2 Disney Animal Kingdom

Day 1 Hollywood Studios

Hoppy Easter!!

March Pack Meeting

Catching Up Through Video Clips

It's a Girl!!!

Christmas Pictures

All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth

Gypsy Giveaway!!

My Digital Studio/Pumpkin Patch Project

Pumpkin Patch 2009

New Pics Posted

Raingutter Regatta

My Digital Studio

Video Clips of Joey

Universal Studios

My Digital Studio Software from Stampin' Up

ARRRRR!! Ahoy Matey!

Happy Birthday Alan!!

Catching Up

Happy Birthday Daddy!!

First Day of School

SIP Stampin' Up Challenge

More Video Clips

Video Clips

Soccer Season

New Picasa Pictures Posted

SA Blog Contest – Win A Big Shot Die Pack

Picture Project

More Video Clips

Alan Kindergarten Memory Book

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