Healthy Food

Mat and I have gone through a food transformation. We don't eat out often, and we are into healthy stuff. However, while on vacation, we hopped over to Mat's choice of restaurant...a burger joint with burgers so big you can't open your mouth wide enough to bite into them.

When we got there, Andrew panicked. He was very upset that we were eating unhealthy food. I don't think I can possibly find words to describe the panic he had when we placed our orders and heard that we were ordering a quadruple bypass burger. He seriously thought we were going to have heart attacks and die b/c of our unhealthy food choice. Nor can I describe the sheer terror he experienced when his burger came loaded with cheese and no veggies in site. In fact, he immediately asked the waitress for lettuce and tomatoes for his burger. He also told me that he was going to have yogurt when he got back to the hotel b/c yogurt has probiotics and is extra healthy. He also dumped out his Sprite and got healthy water instead.

I gotta say it was funny, but I'm proud that when faced with a food choice, I think he might actually choose something healthy instead of just satisfying his taste buds. That's way more I can say for myself. I'm impressed that he's already thinking about taking care of his body!

Treasure Island

We are enjoying a few days at the beach. I wanted to jot down a few of the highlights of the day to remember for later:

1. We dug a giant hole in the sand at the beach a few feet away from the ocean. It later filled in with water (after we dug a giant trench for the water to flow into the pool from the ocean). Then we sat back and relaxed in the "hot tub." It rocked!

2. This is a great beach for collecting shells. We've found a huge collection already after 2 days. The problem with that is OUCH those shells can really hurt the bottoms of your feet! It's not bad in the sand...but it's painful to get in the ocean as shells hit you hard.

3. Lizzy LOVES being IN the ocean. She and Mat have enjoyed hours of jumping waves while Andrew and I have dug holes and written in the sand. How fun that we each have a child to enjoy what we enjoy!

4. Lizzy and I were watching the waves. I said, "Lizzy look at those giant waves." Her reaction was to just stand there waving back at the waves. She was so adorable!

5. Andrew wrote AMGEH in the sand. I thought that was very clever. We ended up naming our "hot tub" Fort GAME.

6. We enjoyed a sunset cruise last night. It was nearly 2 hours long. There was free beer...too bad we don't drink beer.

I'll post pics later. I left the cable at home to download the pics. Such a wonderful great relaxing week!

Field Trips and Judgement Day

One of the goals I've had as a first year home school mom to a kindergartner is to instill a passion for learning in my son. I can't make him love school, but I can make school as much fun as possible. I can encourage him daily. I can guide him through the process. I can also create fun activities that are school related, and finally, we can go on lots of fun learning field trips with other home school friends.

Today, we took the opportunity to go on a field trip with some other friends from Andrew's home school school to the Rainforest Cafe at Downtown Disney. There we were taking on a very in depth tour of the rain forest, and we learned SO much that I never would have thought about. We learned about different animals found in the rain forest, the layers and reasons for the layers of the tropical rain forest, where the rain forest is located, we learned all about salt water tanks including how to care for a salt water tank, we got to meet 4 parrots, and the best part was that my child along with about 10 other children got to ask every question that they could think of about animals or anything having to do with the rain forest. I learned that I have a very inquisitive son who was very interested in learning all he could on the field trip even without my prompting. We also got a meal out of it as we ate bugs and such...well, not really bugs.

Also, Andrew has been learning how to count money. He's had a savings going for a while now, and he got a coupon for $5 off a Lego set. Since we were already at D-town Disney close to the Lego store, we decided to take his savings with us and detour after the field trip to buy the hard earned Lego set Andrew has been wanting.

While we were there, a Lego store worker asked Andrew why he wasn't in school. He tried to tell her that he had a field trip at Rainforest Cafe, but she wouldn't believe him. She then asked me "so they just let him wander around D-town Disney after the field trip." I explained that he was telling the truth, and she didn't believe me at all. In fact, she was extra inquisitive, and I just kept saying that the field trip just ended so he was using his savings to get something he worked hard for. It was after 1pm by this time, and children of all ages were pretty much all over the store (at least 20 other school aged children). I NEVER said I was a home school mom, but this lady was intensely judgmental that I had Andrew at the Lego store during a school day.

It got me all frazzled, but I had a precious friend with me there that kept telling me to shrug it off. She encouraged me that Andrew was clearly intelligent, and I was doing well with him at home which was clear to everyone but the clerk at the Lego store. I gotta say...makes me think twice about taking him out during the day anywhere...and I'm totally getting insurance! People are really freaky about homeschooling!

Rejoice

This is the day that the Lord has made
Let us rejoice and be glad in it!

That's how I feel as I start this beautiful Tuesday. I woke up early to start my day. I'm already drinking my coffee. I have several things to look forward to today and this week:

1. Andrew had a fantastic school day yesterday. Again, I'm amazed at how well "school" is going. That strong willed boy is turning into a brilliant young man. A common compliment you would hear at my house (yep, even from or directed at the baby) is, "you're a genius." I'm very thankful for my group of home school friends who encourage me daily.

2. Today is a busy day. I am dying to go to Target, but we'll see if that happens. I have a limited time to be out and about before nap time, and things just seems far away around here. Target is our closest store so it is much more attainable. I sadly never get to JC Penney's or Kohl's anymore - too far away!

3. I don't have to fix dinner again until Thursday. We are still munching on our favorite leftovers from the weekend, and tomorrow is church dinner night - and friend chicken at that - yum!

4. One of my bestest friends in the whole world is coming to visit me tomorrow!!!

5. We are going on a school field trip to Rainforest Cafe at Disney to learn about the tropical rain forest and have a family style buffet!

6. Andrew has his first flag football game on Saturday!

7. I am going to another one of my bestest friends homes tonight!

8. Mat has a conference he has to attend at the beach so we are all heading to Treasure Island for a relaxing vaca...and friends are coming too!

Life is so good... and not because of all the awesome things we get to DO but because of who God is. God is so amazing! I am daily thankful that Christ is a part of my daily life. I couldn't get through a day without HIS amazing peace, guidance and comfort.

Again, this is the day that the Lord has made
Let us rejoice and be glad in it!

Ups & Downs

This weeks has been a roller coaster ride...one that I'm not sure if I wanna stay on or jump off of.

Monday started off ROUGH. Andrew was a complete pill. Lizzy was her normal daredevil self, & I was a mess. By the end of the day, Mat called a babysitter and took me to Disney. He said I needed a little magic in my life...and boy did I! We had a blast for about 2 hours.

Some people have mentioned that they are envious of our life or have said we have the life. In response to those comments, I have this to say...Our life is not one to be envious of. It's simply our life. We have bad days - yep, even living right outside the Disney gates. We may have the privilege of going to Disney anytime we want, but our life is still real. We have hearts that get hurt. We have problems, and we also have a lot of joy. And when you have full access to Disney, real life happens both inside and outside of the park. Also, when we make a status update of FB, it's not intended to make others envious. We truthfully spend a TON of time on Disney property. It's only 5 minutes away, Mat works there, it's FREE entertainment (which is a huge deal since we have 2 house payments etc monthly), and it's the central location for all our friends to hang out since most our peeps are Disney people.

With that being said, I'll just go ahead and tell you that the magic of Disney must have made our week better b/c Andrew was an angel the rest of the week. He is now NEARLY fluently reading, counting money, and adding and subtracting small numbers from memory. Or maybe it's just a bit of renewed perspective after spending a night with an awesome husband who CARES about me and encourages me in the ways of the Lord.

It's been a blessing to watch Andrew grow through our home school experience. I am so excited that God has called me to home school, and I feel tremendously lucky to get to see the light bulb go off as both of my children learn and experience new things...like last night when we saw a show on the Boardwalk where a man swallowed a 2 foot long sword (yes, it was a real sword).

Things we have to look forward to this coming week:
1. Tomorrow is Animal Kingdom day with a bunch of friends. I have been wanting to go there for months!
2. A precious friend is coming to visit next week. She is one of those one of a kind kind of people that you find few and far between, and she is gonna be all mine for a few days!!!
3. We are going to do our first school field trip at the Rainforest Cafe of all places.

All About Lizzy

Isn't that true...a baby turns two and the temper comes a flaring. Well, she perfected the art of the true temper tantrum long before her actual birthday. However, she's still sweet and wonderful, and I couldn't imagine life without without waking up to her beautiful smile.

A little about Lizzy and the past couple weeks we spent in celebration of her:

1. She is a momma's girl through and through. She sometimes needs me just to hug her.

2. She loves the color pink, all things princess, Minnie Mouse, make-up, changing clothes, socializing, swimming, bothering or copying her brother/super hero, crazy expressions, and her daddy.

3. She's not a fan of sweets - just like her momma. Now she will eat them, but she doesn't choose them or eat the whole thing.

4. My family came down to celebrate her 2nd birthday. We lavished her with lots of gifts, and we took her to chef Mickey's for her party. She loved Minnie, but she was completely terrified of all the other characters. Guess it didn't help that the first costume character she met was that giant blue monster in Monsters Inc.

5. She's a daredevil. She often tries to kill herself by doing very dangerous things with a giggle.

6. She loves to play with the big girls, and she is often found in the center of a crowd of elementary, middle or even high school girls.

7. She loves to make people smile.

8. She speaks clearly and enunciates each word very clearly. I can understand her, but the rest of the world can too!

9. She says "mmm" before she says anything else. Ex...Lizzy do you want to go swimming? mmmm yes. So adorable. I think that has something to do with her wanting to say things so clearly. It gives her time to think.

10. A precious family here in Florida invited us over to their house. When we got there, they told us they invited us with an agneda. The agenda was to celebrate Lizzy's birthday. They bought her a special birthday plate, had her own birthday cake made, and gave her a new outfit. Their child dressed Lizzy in the outfit, and Lizzy hasn't wanted me to take it off of her so she's worn it 3 days straight.

I've posted pics of my adorable baby girl. She's a doll, and we are enjoying watching her grow...but please could we freeze her just like she is now!!!

My Tummy Hurts

My children eat all the time. Andrew is a bottomless pit, and he has been known to eat until he was "sick." He runs around all the time and manages to stay skinny, but he can put down some food. He always says "my tummy hurts" b/c he really eats until he's sick.

So Lizzy caught on. Today she at a ton of food for lunch. And when she was done, she said "my tummy hurts." Mat asked her to point to her tummy, and she quickly pointed to her left elbow. She then told us that it was so full it hurt. Poor thing. She's a little confused :)

Friendship

I place high value on friendship. Some friends have come and gone, and some have stuck around forever. I have a few friends I still keep in touch with that I've known my entire life. I guess that's what happens when you grow up going to the same church and private school for forever.

I've got friends that I've met since I've gone to college that I don't get to talk to much, but I love them none the less. And then I've got the besties, the people that just get me, and they love me in spite of my many flaws. I'm super excited that one of those friends is coming to see me in a couple of weeks. I love that girl, and while we don't talk often, we just go right back to the deep stuff like we never skipped a beat even when years have gone by.

Since moving to Florida, Mat and I have been so blessed to find several new friends that just get us on that deep level. They are the kind of people who run across a bread store and call to see what kind of bread they can pick up for me. They are the kind of people who come pick up my children to take them to various events so I don't have to. They are the kind of people who love me when I'm "boring" or "weird" or "crazy." They also tell me when I'm doing something wrong, and encourage me to be better than I want to be.

Friendships give me warm fuzzies. They sometimes require a lot of work too, but it's not the bad kind of work. It's the kind of work that's worth it b/c you really truly and genuinely want to keep the relationship. I wish I had pics to post of some of our new friends. This makes me realize that I need to take my camera with me more often!