We Made It!

Here we all are on our last night in Disney. The picture doesn't lie.... we were TIRED!! We had a fabulous time and I promise to share pictures, stories, and more soon.

Disney or Bust!

If we had stuck with our original vacation plans, Scott and I would be on a big boat in the middle of the Caribbean right now celebrating 10 years of marriage. Instead, we just arrived home from a fabulous date night Willie Nelson concert and are looking forward to 5 days in Disney World celebrating four beautiful little people with whom God has so richly blessed us! Look out Mickey here we come...

Where Have These Little Girls Gone?

I am so behind on my blogging that I don't know where to even begin! I thought I would start with this old photo. It was taken a year ago... does anyone know how to make time slow down a little??

My excuses for not blogging include a trip in an airplane with Maggie, Kate, & Sarah to visit aunt Kari, many fun play dates, and of course our big upcoming trip! I will catch up with full posts about all our fun activities since, oh, Columbus Day sometime, but for now there is still Disney World packing to be done!

A Quick Prayer

The girls are having a pretend picnic in the living room now as I clean up the kitchen, and I just overheard the sweetest little blessing.

Ella asked Kate to say the prayer over their pretend food, and they all bowed their heads. Kate then said, "De-uh Lood, I hope God has a good day!" .... and they all said Amen.

While the Cat's Away...

While the Cat's Away the Mice Will Play... (in her closet)

Maggie, Kate, and Sarah are all completely capable of dressing themselves these days. I have maintained control of this chaos new desire to constantly change outfits by putting locks high up on their closet doors. However, this morning they found the loophole in my system.... Ella's closet. Ella spent the night at a friends' house last night so she wasn't here this morning to stop them from going through her closet and dresser for their attire. When they were reunited this afternoon Ella's first comment to each of her little sisters was, "Just where did you get that outfit?!?"

I hate to be the one to tell her that she has years and years of repeating those same sentiments to her three adoring siblings! Sisters, sisters... and as you can see in the pictures they each have their own ideas about "style".

Busy, Busy

I'm still way too busy to write a proper update, but here are a few pictures from our afternoon of playing in the rain. Enjoy!

Without Caution

We have been zooming through the days and weeks lately, and even though the signs have all indicated that we should do otherwise, we've proceeded completely without caution!

Last Sunday night we rolled up slightly late to church for the ground breaking for the new Family Life Center. We were late because all four of the girls napped during the afternoon, and that phenomenon hasn't happened again since. In fact, no one has taken a nap here all week.... unless you count the short one Scott took on one of the few days he was home, hence the out of control feeling we've been operating under.

On Wednesday evening we helped KayKay celebrate her birthday with a cookout. We had hotdogs and burgers on the grill followed by cake and ice cream. All the sugar and celebrating and a very late evening following no naps made for grouchy girls and tired parents..... and more of the out of control feelings!

On Thursday we went hiking nearby with some cousins who were visiting from out of town. The trip was great fun. Six kids age 4 and under, and we still managed to hike the entire trail without incident (even though there were plenty of warning signs.... as pictured above)! The only trouble we had was completely miscalculating the time we would spend there and except for light snacks, skipping out on food for way too many hours. So to recap the day: complete joy over spending time with family we don't see often enough, exhaustion from hiking and play ground playing, and little to no food for many, many hours. By the time we got home there was much more of that out of control thing going on, but we could hardly blame our tired, hungry children!!

Friday Ms. Faye stayed with the girls all day long while Scott worked and I delivered BBQ plates for the church fundraiser. Then the girls stayed up way too late again last night playing with friends who are here for the weekend.

Today we got together again with Heather and her crew for lunch and pumpkin painting. All of the kiddos played very hard, but I was sure to bring my gals home for an early bedtime tonight.

There is no end in sight to the fun fall busy-ness.... tomorrow we'll celebrate Nanny C's birthday, and we've got a trip to the pumpkin patch with Miss Emily planned for Monday (wonder who Sarah will pretend to be when Emily, the very person she pretends to be most days, is actually with us) .

Things aren't slowing down here anytime soon because perhaps craziest of all today we made our reservations to take the girls to Walt Disney World for the first time early next month! We haven't told them yet. I'm so excited.... but now there is all the planning and packing to think about. So here we go.... proceeding without caution!