Disney World

We spent a fun short week in Disney World during my spring break at UNCW.  It was a welcome escape from the miserable cold here and also a welcome break from an almost overwhelming amout of work that I have taken on in mothering three children, running a household, and now teaching three sections of French at UNCW.  Help!  The park was a little more crowded than we like (we typically go in January with little to no crowds), so we were a little dismayed at actually having to wait in line to ride our favorite rides!  How do people handle that place in the high season (the week we went was still technically Disney's "low" season)?  I personally wouldn't go if the only option was the high season - no way - too many people, too much stress.  I had one brief moment of panic when I thought, "I would rather be anywhere but here right now!"  But it passed, and, honestly we had a really great time.  Perfect weather (low 70s to low 80s).  We did all the things the kids wanted to do, it just took a little bit longer.  The kids had a blast and created some great memories.  Our next trip to Disney, however, will DEFINITELY be in January!!!

Here are a few pictures.

Rockin' the Jungle Cruise!

The kids LOVED getting their faces painted!

We all rocked the dance floor to the polka band at the Biergarten Restaurant at Epcot.  So fun!

 

Merida was my favorite.  And she loved Sydney with her red hair. :)

Dumbo was Grant's favorite!  We rode it MULTIPLE times and he would say "more" and give the "more" sign every time.

Grant missed out on a few character meetings - but, hey, a boy's gotta nap!

 

It was a magical week for the kids. So lucky to be able to take them there.

Winter Days

Man, it's been cold!  Where do we live, anyway... NC or NJ?  As my mom would say, "Dang!"  Here's what we've been up to during these cold winter months...

Practicing violin:

Sydney's new school includes violin as their music program. We are so excited to have her learning this beautiful instrument.  She has come a long way in five months.

Jumping in the jump house.  This is the toy we set up in Brett's office just for Christmas Eve so the kids could jump that night.  A month later and it is still in the same spot.  But on a cold day, it might be the only real exercise they get, so we've kept it up there!  Ha!

Digging in the dirt and riding in the wagon when the temps get above 40 degrees.  Grant loves to dig in the dirt.  Scoop, dump, fill the bucket, dump the bucket.  Start over.  (And he requests the helmet even when we are not going on a bike ride!)

Climbing all over the place.  Grant is a monkey.  He climbs on everything, especially the table.

Snuggling up for a good movie.  Grant screams with excitement when I say we are going to watch a movie. He runs to the same chair every time.  He puts his hands on the armrests every time.  He grins, he yells, he watches intently for about three minutes, then his toddler attention span is exhausted and he is outta there!

Building and enjoying an awesome swing-set.  Thanks, Brett and Ron!!!

Irish dancing, homework, lots of reading, birthday parties.  It's the good life even when it's cold. :)

Closets!

Brett has been working really hard to get the closets rebuilt in this house since we moved in.  We had all the wire shelving taken out, repainted the closets white and then moved in... with nowhere to hang, fold or place anything!  Because of that, the unpacking has been very slow!  Brett has never built closet shelving before, but he is very handy and loves that sort of challenge.  Plus, it was not realistic financially for us to do it any other way but ourselves.  Apparently built-in closets are VERY expensive!  So far, Brett has put shelving in the upstairs linen closet, built a mini "mud-room" out of our hall closet and finished a fantastic master closet for us to finally unpack into!  Remaining to be built - all three kids' closets.

We had a standard coat closet in the entry hall and no mudroom (which we had in our previous house). With three kids I knew we needed some sort of mud-room solution for all our shoes, bags, jackets, etc.  We decided to turn the coat closet into a mini mud-room since we had no option of putting a real mudroom in this house.  It is much smaller than our last one, but functions great, and you can close the door on it and not have to see all that clutter.  Here it is:

And the master closet is so nice!  After months of living out of piles and boxes it feels so luxurious to hang things up!

His side.

Her side.

A little vanity area for each of us with a mirror will be handy.

Thank you, Brett!  On to the next one... :)

There's nothing like a good book...

The week between Christmas and New Year’s seems to always be the week when I read more books than any other time of year.  It’s that wonderful stillness of this week that allows for a few extra hours of indulgent reading.  No sporting events, no birthday parties, no shopping, no school.  Just staying home and playing, resting, recovering!

So, I wanted to share with you the book I just finished.  It is called “Pope Awesome and Other Stories: How I found God, had kids and lived to tell the tale” By Cari Donaldson.  It was such an awesome book I couldn’t put it down and it merits sharing.  I bought this book for Brett as a Christmas present, but wanted to flip through it the other day and make sure it still looked as intriguing as I thought it would be when I gave it the ten-second glance over at our church’s bookstore last week.  Well, once I read the preface and started the first chapter, I couldn’t put it down. So, I finished it.  Now Brett is the recipient of a used book.  Sorry honey!!

This book is written by a woman who converted to Catholicism in her early thirties, and it tells her very unlikely and insanely comical journey from a spiritually lost individual to one who found her faith and purpose in life.  It is so funny that I laughed until I cried during several parts of the book.  Brett came in to the bedroom as I was laugh-crying hysterically the other night and said, “What in the world is wrong with you?”  I almost couldn’t explain I was laughing so hard.  The author has a perfectly sarcastic and witty tone that makes a book about a subject that is actually quite serious so enjoyable, relatable and approachable.  The book covers about fourteen years of her life beginning on the day she married the love of her life in “a twenty-minute Presbyterian ceremony that I insisted must be scrubbed clean of all references to Jesus.”  Although they began their marriage with an emphatic proclamation they would never have children, her faith journey makes her completely reevaluate her vision and her concerns about children, marriage, and life in general.  The author began her faith journey looking for a path to God, knowing for certain she would not find it in Catholicism, then after eliminating all other faith and belief systems, realized to her dismay that there was really only one left, and once she opened herself up to it, fell in love with the beauty of the Catholic faith.  She now has six little ones and says that by the grace of God her life is more magnificent than anything she could have possibly ever dreamed up for herself.  Her story is so touching, so real and so uplifting. 

There are so many funny anecdotes in this book.  It is hilarious to read the account of someone you know to now be a devout and enthusiastic Catholic describe her previous irritation (prior to her conversion) with all those crazy Catholics for standing vigil at church in anticipation of the death of John Paul II back in 2005.  And all the TV coverage and hoopla!  On the day John-Paul finally passes, the author is in a local café getting lunch with her husband and daughter and looks up to see on the TV that he has passed, and she inexplicably bursts into tears.  She runs to the bathroom in embarrassment and cries her eyes out, not knowing why.  Numerous little incidents like this one, along with lots of what she calls “late night internet research” eventually lead her to call her neighboring Catholic Church for RCIA classes.

I highly recommend this book to any Catholics out there and also recommend it to anyone who is friends with or a relative of someone Catholic and has always wondered, “What is the deal with Catholicism?  Why is (s)he Catholic?  I don’t get it!”  Her journey and her research address a lot of the most common questions about Catholicism and the Church’s often misunderstood teachings and positions (on marriage, on birth control, on Mary, on the papacy, for example).  It’s not a book meant to convert anyone, but certainly approaches the Catholic faith from an outsider’s perspective and then narrows in on what I (and most Catholics, I presume) find to be the most significant and most beautiful aspects of our faith. 

As with all great books (and aren’t there SO MANY of them!), this one will inspire you and make you a better person.  (And in the off chance it doesn’t, it will give you a good laugh or two!).

You can order and autographed copy of this book directly from her at clan-donaldson.com or get a copy on amazon where it is available in paperback or on kindle.

Happy New Year, friends!  And happy reading in the new year!  If you have any book suggestions for me, please send them my way!

Christmas fun

Here's what we've been up to...lots of fun for the holidays.

A cookie decorating party with cousin Addison (because mommy waited until the last minute to try to buy ginger bread house kits and there were none to be found in this town).  We I decided decorating sugar cookies shaped like ginger bread houses would be just as fun... and it was!

The funny thing is that these cookies have been sitting on plates on our kitchen counter with plastic wrap over them since Monday and no one has asked to eat their cookies yet.  I have even offered several times.  I think the fun is in the creation!

Sydney sang in the children's choir for Christmas Mass and it was wonderful. We got to sit in the choir loft with her and had the best seats in the house!

After Mass we had fun opening gifts with cousin Addison, unlce Ian, aunt Nathalie and Nana and Papa John back at our house.

The kids were rockin' the bounce house Nana and Papa John gave them!  We set it up in the office since it was so cold out and the kids bounced until they were red-cheeked and sweaty!

Our traditional Christmas Eve cheese dinner with family.  We've been doing this for about four years and enjoy the easiness of this meal (no cooking and almost no prep work required) and how special it is.

Rolling around on our new sets of wheels from Santa.

Breaking in mommy and daddy's new bath tub!  Party in the tub!

The kids loved all the fun of Christmas and loved spending time with family, and so did I.  It is so fun to indulge them with fun!  However, in all honesty, I am SO glad it is over!  For me Christmas is just so overdone here.  All the shopping and wrapping and cards and decorating.  It is completely exhausting.  Last night was the first night I've been in bed before midnight in a long time.  And that was my best Christmas gift - a great night's sleep.  Each year we pledge to simplify (and we do), but it is still so all-consuming.  One day I will figure it all out and sit each night with a warm cup of tea and freshly made cookie and just enjoy the lights on our tree and casually flip through the Christmas cards we received in the mail that day.  Maybe...  Does anyone do that!?!  I think the fact that we just moved in to our house and have not yet unpacked (we still have no bedroom closets built, so clothes and boxes are everywhere) made it more difficult to get my act together this year. I am so looking forward to the fresh start that January 1st brings.  I do every year.

Enjoy the rest of your week off and now that all the work is done, take a minute to enjoy that tree before you haul it out! :)