Father-Daughter Dance

I love this tradition of the girls being able to get dressed up and be Daddy's little Princess for the evening.  The Spouses Club here on Base did a great job this year putting the Dance together with the theme of Lights Camera Action!

I took the girls to get their nails painted with their bestie earlier in the day.  Something's not right with this picture though...why am I not getting the back rub?

Then off to the Ball they went! Bonus...Uncle Tommy came to visit and party with them!

Thanks Aunt KK for doing their hair!!

They had a blast dancing all night!

Definitely a night full of memories that these little girls will cherish forever!

Embrace

So it's been a year and a half since I last updated this blog. I don't have a good excuse as to why other than...LIFE!  I don't really do New Years Resolutions but starting this year I decided to choose a word that would help me through these crazy days.  A very good friend and Military Spouse Mentor to me, Teresa, recently sent me a bracelet that really made me think.  The word I chose for 2019 was

 EMBRACE

When you hear "Mom" 53 times a day, EMBRACE it.  When your spouse is gone on a work trip and everything in your house breaks, EMBRACE it.  When your children are sick and all they want is to snuggle with you and watch TV, EMBRACE it.  When you get that hour break in the car without any kids arguing, EMBRACE it.  When your dinner is interrupted to take a kid to the bathroom, EMBRACE it.  When your Roomba runs over dog poop and leaves skid marks all over your house, EMBRACE it.  When you and your husband pass each other at the front door, shuttling the kids around to different activities, EMBRACE it.  As hard as some or many days may be, EMBRACE them!

I say to EMBRACE these moments simply because you WILL miss them one day.  I think back to when I was sleep deprived with three newborns and covered in spit up, smelling like sour milk.  I used to say "I can't wait to be past this stage in life."  Today, I miss that stage of life.  I miss it because with it came the baby coos, the first steps, the toothless smiles and the year of firsts! 

One day, when the kids have grown up and started their own lives somewhere you may only hear "Mom" once a day over the phone.  You may be too far to snuggle with them on the couch when they're sick.  Your car will ALWAYS be quiet.  Those dogs will cross the Rainbow bridge one day.  Your kids will outgrow those activities and you won't be spending more time in your car than home.  You will miss those stages in life but you will enter a new one with new memories to make whether it be with your spouse, friends or grandchildren and make sure to EMBRACE it.

The Military life is especially crazy.  We never know what might be thrown our way whether it's a move to an unknown place, having to find new friends every 2-3 years or having your spouse deploy for months at a time and you find yourself being a single parent during that time.  You can either complain about it and life will be even harder or EMBRACE it, make the most if it, leave your house to find friends and good places to eat and create some great memories!  So to go along with my goal this year of using this word, I thought what better way to EMBRACE the moments than by blogging again and recording those memories on paper!

I hope that I can show you our crazy life, give you a laugh here and there and help you during those hard days through my words and pictures! So here goes...

The kids enjoyed another Valentine's Day this year handing out Valentines to their friends.  I have a couple more years with Emma but I know the years of sharing Valentines for the trio is coming to an end and it makes me tear up a bit.  Joe and I don't do anything for Valentines but I think it's such a sweet holiday for the kids. 

                                               

                                               

And why not add to our already chaotic house and adopt a new puppy!!  The past year and a half was hard for us as we lost both of our first born; Brody and Sadie.  They were litter mates and the most perfect dogs anyone could want.  Sadie passed unexpectedly of a tumor on her heart and Brody's health had been declining for a while when he eventually passed of unexplained edema that most likely caused a blood clot.  As most of you know, we treat our fur babies like real babies and they are everything to us so this really took a toll on us.  A friend recently shared this quote with me and it's a perfect fit during this moment in our life:

In saying that, we worked with the New England Boxer Rescue and were able to rescue a handsome boy from Puerto Rico named Rufus.  We've nicknamed him Rufus "the Dufus" because he's such a goofy yet loving pup that is so grateful that we took him out of a bad place where he had been tied up in someone's backyard for the first 10 months of his life!  He has brought so much joy to our home as well as reminded us to pick up after ourselves!  On Day 3 of having him we found ourselves in the ER after swallowing a shearling lined sock.  $2,000 later it was removed via Scope! I've recently subscribed to Super Chewer Bark Box to hopefully help replenish our toys as most of them have been eaten!

Murphy's Law hits our house regularly when Joe isn't here so I was bracing myself last week.  It did not disappoint when my worst nightmare came true! Have you ever seen that picture that floats around Facebook of the person's Roomba that ran over dog poop and destroyed their home? Yup, that happened to me! After Rufus left some poop for me by the back door as I was trying to make dinner, Ava decided to turn on the Roomba thinking it would help me clean the house.  As soon as I noticed the top of the poop was flat I just knew what had happened.  And there I was cleaning skid marks off my carpet and figuring out how to take apart the Roomba via YouTube!

Who can get mad at this squishy face though?!

Disneyworld 2017!!!

Even during the brutal summer (August) when it's 103-105 degrees each day among crowds of people, I can still say it's the Happiest Place on Earth! The excitement and magic that you witness among kids, especially at this age, is just incredible!

(Oh and by the way, I figured it's been a year since my last blog so it's probably time to start back up considering everything that has gone on during those 12 months!)

First of all, I have to HIGHLY recommend my friend and Army spouse, Adele Snook with 101 Dream Vacations by Adele.
https://www.facebook.com/101dreamvacationsbyadele/
Adele was faced with so many challenges while planning our crazy families trip but she was always so positive and understanding.  She booked our hotel room and meal plan, applied our Military discount, scheduled our Fast passes and Character meals and explained how everything worked to these Disney novices! You ask how much for her services? FREE!!! Yup, you don't have to pay her anything! She does all your planning for free on your end! You just tell her everything you really want to do and she calls and books everything for you.  And like in our situation, will rebook everything an entire week earlier than originally booked, well because, it's the Army and they like to change things around on you!

Joe and I have been saving up and planning this trip for over a year now and wanted to wait until the day we were leaving to tell the kids.  We had originally planned the trip thinking we would be living in Virginia but then got the Massachusetts assignment after planning so the road trip took an extra day!

So to start, the Resort...The Art of Animation!  It's considered a value resort and it's perfect for families with younger kids.  It has a great pool (3 of them actually), provides shuttle services to the parks and has good food covered under the meal plan.  And the top priority for us of course was that it has rooms that accommodate larger families.  We stayed in the Lion King Suite, which sleeps 6!

Day 1: Magic Kingdom
Adele scheduled makeovers for the girls at the Bippity Boppity Boutique. 
https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/shops/magic-kingdom/bibbidi-bobbidi-boutique-park/
They got their hair, nails and makeup done by the Fairy Godmothers and then received a sash, bag and plenty of other goodies along with a photoshoot.  There are different packages but we opted for the cheaper package since I had my very talented friend, Jane Coley with Maeflower Market  make these gorgeous dresses for the girls to wear.  They were also much cooler to wear around the park.

The boys were also scheduled for makeovers at the Pirates League
https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/shops/magic-kingdom/pirates-league/
I would totally recommend this for boys.  They did an awesome job and gave them so many goodies to take away with them (sword, bandana, earring, eye patch, sack with coins, certificate).

Since they were already dressed up with their makeovers we scheduled a lunch in Cinderella's Castle, which I have to add, has AWESOME food! It was a great opportunity for the kids to meet a lot of the princesses and get pictures and autographs.  Instead of buying autograph books, I picked up empty photo albums at Michaels and printed off these autograph pages through Pinterest.  That allowed a space to put the picture that coincides with the autograph above it!

Of course we had to ride Seven Dwarfs Mine Train and Splash Mountain as the kids first "rollercoasters"!

Day 2: Animal Kingdom
It's funny how experiences are different as the kids get older.  The last time we were in Disney, I was pregnant with Emma and the trio were only 18 months old.  So Animal Kingdom and SeaWorld were the best parks for them.  This time around, I had that in mind but found that there wasn't as much for the kids at this age to do at those two places.  It was still a blast though and we enjoyed a great Lion King show and delicious dinner at The Tusker House.

Day 3: SeaWorld
We got up bright and early for our breakfast reservations at Ohanas at The Polynesian Resort.  A delicious meal with Lilo and Stitch.  Our plan is to go back to Disney in a few years and this is probably the hotel I would stay at since the kids will be a little older.  It has that tropical, vacation feel to it, a delicious restaurant and access to the monorail!

We took a break from Disney and went to SeaWorld for the day.  In case you didn't know...active duty Military gets into either SeaWorld or Bush Gardens for FREE once a year (this includes the member and 3 of their direct dependents).  Then you can get an additional 4 50% off tickets.  So we took advantage of that.  The kids enjoyed a lot of shows and of course feeding the stingrays!

Day 4: Hollywood Studios
It was another early morning to get to this park by 8am so that we could be one of the first in line to sign up for Jedi training.  Though it's a lot of waiting you MUST do this if you have Star Wars fans amongst your little ones!  It was amazing to see their little eyes light up when they had the opportunity to stand on stage and fight against Darth Vader!!! If you want to pick which show to be a part of though you have to get their at 8am to get a slot or they fill up fast!

The last time we went to Disney, the kids didn't enjoy Hollywood Studios but I think this time around, it was probably one of our favorites.  They loved the Toy Story area and rides, Frozen sing a long show and a fun lunch at the 50's Prime Time Diner!

We came back to the pool for a little while and then decided to check out Epcot at night time and see the fireworks/light extravaganza on the water.  There's a great simulator ride at Epcot called Soar, that you MUST go on! Another great area is the Nemo section. If you do stay for the fireworks make sure you get a seat next to the water or you won't be able to see the show since it's on the water.

Day 5: Magic Kingdom (again)
There's so much at Magic Kingdom for this age so we decided to do a second day there! We had breakfast reservations at Be Our Guest in Belle's Castle.  Next time, I would like to try dinner here so we could possibly meet Belle and the Beast.  It's gorgeous inside though.  We did get to participate in Story Time with Belle to include Joe, who was chosen as the Knight! Of course, there's always so many rides in MK.

You must stay for the 3:00 parade down Main St.  But make sure you get a good spot on the curb so you can really see the characters!

We had the most perfect ending to our trip with our best meal all week at 1900 Park Fare at The Grand Floridian Resort.  The sisters were hilarious and the kids were mesmerized by Cinderella and Prince Charming. I can see why so many people get married at this resort! It's gorgeous and the food is delicious!

We definitely felt the Disney Blues when driving back on Saturday. It was such a great trip for all of us and we're already wanting to plan another one!  Thank you so much Adele for all the hard work you put into making this vacation truly magical (and easy).  Also, I recommend purchasing the photo pass Memory Maker. Military gets a discount on it so it's only $85!

Some of you have asked where I got a lot of the outfits so here's a list:

Princess Dresses and Lion King Swing Shirts
https://www.facebook.com/MaeFlowerMarket/
Boys Lion T's and Pirate T's
https://www.etsy.com/shop/Giascraftycreations?ref=l2-shopheader-name
Girls BB8 Tanks and boys Darth Vader T's
https://www.etsy.com/shop/Cutiecakesstudio?ref=l2-shopheader-name
Girls Shorts and monogrammed shirts and boys Beast Mode T's
https://hsboutique.myshopify.com/
Girls 99% Sure I'm a Princess tank
https://www.facebook.com/MustardSeedStudios/
*The other personalized T's that I had made were done by a Military spouse
here but Tiffany from Mustard Seed Studios can definitely do them for you.

**The day we arrived home, I got a call from my Mom that my Dad had, had a stroke, which has impacted his speech.  The doctors have recently diagnosed him with AFIB, which is the reason for the stroke.  I flew down to VA the day we arrived home to be with him and Mom and Joe held down the fort here with the kids incredibly! I'm so lucky to have such a supportive hubby and blessed that God is watching over my Mom and Dad as they face the road to recovery.  Please keep praying for their strength to get through this.