I just wanted to share what Bailey did today… well, McKenzie started it. They came up to me wanting to paint my fingernails… how could I say no? McKenzie painted the left hand. Bailey painted the right, then Bailey decided they all needed to be repainted. Don’t I have pretty nails?!

I took Bailey to get her Birthday pictures today at Sears. It’s been a year since I took her in… it took us that long to recover! She cried and cried and cried. This time… she was shy and didn’t warm up to the photographer all that great, but she did alot better! My big girl, princess.. here they are

You know how some kids you have to poke and prod for details about their school day. “What did you learn today?” The child says “I don’t know” or “nothing”. LOL. McKenzie… I don’t even have to ask. She comes in every day just beaming from ear to ear and so excited to tell me what she did in school that day, which is always fun to hear about! She came home from school one day last week with a lesson she had learned. She told me about this guy “King Arthur” that was a very very special man. He did alot of good things for people. He made it so black people could drink from the water fountains and didn’t have to sit in the back of the buses. She had lots to tell, but she knew that he had died and that this holiday was set aside to remember all the good things he had done. I had to explain to her that it was Martin Luther King, not “King Arthur”, but I was happy to hear that she learned what today’s day off of school was for. Not just a day to sleep in and play at home all day, but in remembrance of a special man who did great things
We had a quick weekend getaway this weekend up at Collins Lake Resort in Government Camp OR. The kids had a blast playing in the snow for 3 days. My mom went along with us and enjoyed the snow, which was fun because we don’t get to do things as a family with her very often! It was so gorgeous up there. We arrived on Friday, the roads were bare and wet. I think by the time we had left on Sunday, we had seen about 8″ of snow fall? I’m not sure on that and David will probably correct me, but it was quite a bit of snow! Not something “WE” are used to at all! We all had fun tube’ing on Saturday. Katie took a boot in the face towards the end of the day, which was painful, but part of the game. We had rented skis for Katie and Tanner for the weekend, so after our midday break on Saturday, we went back up and bought a surface tow ticket for them to practice on the little slope.

The rest of us, watched, as David gave Katie, Tanner and Ashlyn ski lessons. Tanner was the only one that really took to it. Katie was a little leary still having the injured face and just a little spooked. Next time, though! Ashlyn, also was a little spooked, but Tanner took right to it. McKenzie and Bailey had fun making snow angels, snowballs and eating them, and even a little igloo LOL. They loooved it.

Sunday, we were sad to leave. Woke up to a beautiful gorgeous white winter wonderland… the chalet we stayed in was brand new, gorgeous, there was still plastic on one of the dining room chairs. I don’t think it has seen many guests yet. It was so hard to leave! But, we headed out for one more day in the snow… and Tanner got to go up the lift a few times. I couldn’t believe that my little man, who has always been so leary of trying new things and almost zero athletic ability was out there… skiing down a mountain… I was very proud and happy to see my boys (David and Tanner) sharing fun in a sport - something I wasn’t sure I’d ever see! We are looking forward to taking him again, and I hope next time I can get up on skis with them. Didn’t have the time for it this trip!

Click the picture below to see our picture album!

While I’m running yet another virus scan of this darn computer, I figured I’d write a quick update. I am about ready to throw this computer out the window…. I am online, but yet it tells me I am not connected to the internet so I can’t print my postage for my ebay packages. Grr!! I do not want to stand in line at the post office, but it looks like I might have to. This problem has me stumped!
I got my free pictures from AOL today! They turned out really good. My new 5mp camera takes excellent pictures. I remember my first digital camera which wasn’t even a 1mp… these are so sharp and bright. A few were cropped a little funky. One of David and I - his head is completely cropped off. It’s a good thing they were free! I ordered 3 sets and can still order up to 4 more from our other screenames. It’s roughly $6.00 per batch for shipping and tax. So essentially I could order 700 prints for $42.00, making them about 6 cents a print. Can’t beat that! I had some pictures on my account from 2003 - they were fun to look at :o) If you are interested, I don’t think you even have to be a paying AOL member, you can sign up for a free AOL.com account and go to this link: http://pictures.aol.com/promo/ It expires 1/15!

David and I just took this fun quiz. The first time I took it… I came up with David Arquette and Courtney Cox. The first time he took it, he came up with Bobby Brown and Whitney Houston LOL.. We talked about it a little and I just took the test again… and came up with one that cracked me up but is probably close to true!

http://tmz.aol.com/features/marriage_secrets/marriage_test

I can’t believe how long it’s been since I’ve updated! What a bad webmaster I am! Actually, just after Halloween, things started getting busy here. My online “work” picked up dramatically, so I was spending a ton of time working on ebay with that. And at the same time, I was invited to join a few of my online friends in Walt Disney World. That sent me on a massive planning obsession, and basically took all of my online time between my work and that. Whew! I got back from Orlando, just two days before the kids got out of school for Winter Break. Needless to say, I’ve had NO time to sit and update. Kids are back in school and the holidays/vacation/etc are all behind me, I can update! Yipee!
So a little about my trip…. it was all very spontaneous, the offer I had from one of my loopie friends, Janette, was too good to pass up. I told David about it and he immediately told me to GO. I basically had to buy my plane tickets and pay for my park hopper pass, a little bit of spending/food money and that’s all I needed. She offered me the room (which she had paid for and wasn’t going to use and several of her meals on her Disney Dining Plan). I first had to decide who I was taking on this trip, if any of my children. I knew that we couldn’t afford for all 5 kids to go with me. We’d have to save for years for that kind of expenditure. But, another big factor was time. I was only spending THREE days in the parks and FIVE days total in Orlando. There just wasn’t time enough to bring 5 kids and expect that we’d all have a good time. David thought I should go alone. But, I didn’t really think that I could. I didn’t really want to leave Bailey for that long, but also, I knew Bailey would be the cheapest child to take (free except for plane ticket) and she’d be my little buddy through the airports and parks when I was by myself, etc. She was such a good girl too, we ran on very little sleep our entire trip, and she only started to crumble the last 12 hours or so we were in Orlando. I was so proud of her!

My hope was that I’d go… and come back with all kinds of hopes and plans to take my family back there. Which, is exactly what happened. I *will* go back with my kids someday. I saw so many thing that each child would have enjoyed that I was actually sad and felt so guilty that I left them behind. I’m not sure when, but someday our family will go there :o) Disneyworld is amazing. I look through my pictures that I took (not nearly enough) and I still can’t believe I was actually there. It seems so surreal. Traveling by airplane, by myself (probably one of the least self sufficient women on the planet) with a toddler. It was a very empowering experience.

I have known these “loopies” since I joined a message board on AOL called “moms online: pregnancy circles: due in June of 2000″ somewhere around October of 1999. I catch myself talking about my online friends as if we’ve known each other forever, as if they are “IRL: in real life” friends. Some people look at me like I’ve lost my marbles. Well, when you have a lot of kids and you are a Stay At Home Mom, the internet can be such an awesome resource of meeting people in the same situation for support and just simple grown up conversation. I can check my emails and respond as time permits. I don’t have to make time for phone conversations with kids bouncing off the walls in the background or find a sitter to go out for “me” time. I’ve chatted with these ladies for 6 years. Some of them have met already, as they all live on the East Coast. Very few “loopies” live out here on the West Coast, so the thought of meeting online friends was always just a passing thought. I have met a few, but not many. This is nothing I thought I’d ever really be doing. This was a chance of a lifetime for me. So I took it

I met 4 mommies from my June 2000 board
Sarah - we got to share a room and her 3 year old daughter Emily. She is pregnant with her 4th child and has a son, Ethan, who is Kenzie’s age and an older son Nathaniel. Bailey and Emily became fast friends while there. I am so sad that they don’t live closer, so the girls could get together with each other on a regular basis.
Janette - and her whole family. Her husband Ray, two daughters Savannah (5) and Zoe (2), and her cousin and sister as well.
Jen - who has 4 boys, but only brought the younger two, Carter (2) and Braeden (5). She was there along with her friend Gina and her two girls.
Marcie - who actually lives in Florida, so she had her whole family there too. Her husband Chris (who was so nice!), 2 daughters Marissa and Cassie and 2 sons Mitchell (2) and Corbin (5).

So as you can see, we all have kids around the same age… I would have loved to have brought McKenzie, she would have had a blast with Braeden, Corbin and Savannah!

And I met 1 mommy from my February 2003 board (Heather - who lives in FL and has two boys - and her youngest son Evan (same age as Bailey). We had a great time and I’m soooo thankful that I had this opportunity and family who supported my going and parents who watched the kids for me while David was working. And a husband who was not the least bit hesitant in telling me I should do this! I’m truly blessed :o)

Click the picture below for my online photo album of pictures: