What it is like to be FIVE

So, I said I would be better at blogging, and then my computer broke. I think I am now able to write, but can't include pictures at the moment.

This post is dedicated to my Sassy Cassie, who turned 5 years old.

Q: What is your favorite food?
A: Cinnamon Roll

Q: What is your favorite meal that mom cooks?
A: Waffle

Q: What is your favorite toy?
A: Barbie

Q: What was your favorite birthday gift?
A: An Geo car from Madi

Q: What is something you love to do?
A: Play

Q: What is something new you want to learn while you are five?
A: To do math

Q: What is your favorite color?
A: Purple

Q: What is your favorite animal?
A: Puppy

Q: Who is your best friend?
A: Madi

Q: What is something you like about yourself?
A: That I like to play

Q: What is your best memory this year?
A: A trip to the zoo (in Oklahoma City)

Q: What is your favorite movie?
A: Cinderella 3

Q: What is your favorite TV show?
A: UmiZumi and Yo Gabba Gabba

Q: What is your favorite book?
A: Any princess book

Q: What do you want to be when you grow up?
A: A "Kid Rock Star"

To my sweet and silly Cassidy. You are more of a blessing than you will ever know.
God has used you to teach me some very important lessons. The most important lesson I have learned from you is that God indeed has a purpose and His plans and His timing may not be what we want, but they are perfect. You have taught me patience for sure. You have a personality all your own, and I love your spunky nature. You are strong willed and you stand up for what you think is right even at your very young age. Many people think that you do not know how to talk, but at home you are a funny and witty little girl that keeps us on our toes. You wear your heart on your sleeve. You do not like to talk when you are upset. You can definitely give the silent treatment. I thank God for placing you in our family. You have been a perfect addition. Happy birthday sweet girl. "You are my best friend, and I love you so much."

Turning NINE...

So obviously I took a year off from blogging. I am making a committment to getting back into blogging. After looking back at the blogs I had written, I reminded myself that this was a neat way to record our family's activities. I am kicking off with Madelyn turning 9.


Here is the interview I did with newly NINE YEAR OLD, Madelyn:


Favorite food: Ice Cream


Favorite meal mom makes: Mac and cheese


Favorite toy: Little LaLaLoopsy dolls


Favorite birthday gift this year: Meridia doll from The Brave Movie


Something you love to do: Spend time with my family


A goal you have while you are 9 years old: Going to a swimming place


Favorite color: Pink


Favorite animal: Our new dog, Molly


Best Friend: Katie


Something you like about yourself: Being a big sister


Some things you learned to do while you were 8: muliplication, a cartwheel, and tricks on the trampoline


Best memory: Going to Disneyworld and getting soaking wet on Splash Mountain. Also, getting Baptized on Easter Sunday.


Favorite movie: Tangled in 3D


Favorite show: Good Luck Charlie


Favorite book: The Bible


What do you want to be when you grow up?: A teacher


What I have to say about Madelyn on her birthday:


A sweet baby girl born at 8:21pm on 5/12/03. There is no better gift on Mother's Day weekend than to celebrate this sweet life...the one who made me a mother for the first time. I wish everyone had the chance to witness her beautiful spirit. She is one whose love knows no bounds. She is affectionate and sweet, and she desires to be a missionary or a chef. So thankful for the nine years I have been able to teach, guide, laugh with, and learn from my Madelyn Grace. Happy Birthday, sweet girl. It has been amazing to watch you grow and mature. It is bittersweet to think you are halfway to adulthood. I can't wait to see what God has in store for you. So thankful He chose me to be an integral part of your journey. I love you.

Fearless by Max Lucado

I recently read the book Fearless: Imagine Your Life Without Fear by Max Lucado. I originally selected this book to review because I thought it would be the perfect book for me as I am a person who tends to be fearful of most everything. Indeed, I did enjoy the book and after reading it, I do believe it was a great selection. Max Lucado uses this book to address many common fears that we experience on a regular basis, such as illness, violence, natural disasters, death, disappointing God, and other common fears of things that are usually beyond our control. The main message of the book tends to be fear less and trust God more. The book goes into detail about how having a trusting and intimate relationship with God can help you alleviate your fears, whether they are grounded in reality or exaggerated.

The book was easy to read. Once I started reading it, I could not put it down. Max Lucado uses many stories, life illustrations, and parables to help the information seem more real and applicable. He also discusses ways to have a relationship with God that is outside of your comfort zone. I particularly liked the use of the acronym “PEACEFUL” to teach Lucado’s 8 “worry stoppers.” I would highly recommend this book to anyone who deals with fear or anxiety.

Thomas Nelson has provided me with a complimentary copy of this book.

Turning THREE

Taking a step back into our year to share some of the things that I did not take time to blog about. Cassidy turned THREE on July 11, 2010. She had a small party at home with parents and grandparents.

Here is an interview I did with her on that day:

Q: What is your favorite color?
A: Black, white, orange, blue, red, purple, all of the colors

Q: What is your favorite food?
A: Chicken nuggets and candy

Q: What is your favorite animal?
A: A puppy doggie

Q: What is your favorite movie?
A: Snow White

Q: Who is your favorite princess?
A: All of them

Q: What is your favorite TV show?
A: Yo Gabba Gabba

Q: What's your favorite song?
A: ABC's and "drip drop" (It's raining it's pouring)

Q: What do you want to be when you grow up?
A: A horsie

Q: What is your favorite toy?
A: A puppy doggie

Q: Who do you love?
A: YOU.

Cassidy is growing and learning all the time. She loves to look at books, do puzzles, and color. She can easily do puzzles with up to 24 pieces by herself. She can count to 20. She is very shy when she's around others, but she is a little fireball at home. She asks, "why" alot and wants to know the details of everything (who, what, when, where, and why). She sleeps with a pink blanket and a "pipey" every night. My favorite Cassidy quote is, "You're my best friend. I love you soooooo much."

FIRST day of FIRST grade

Madelyn did start school before our Disney trip, but I didn't have a chance to blog about that until now. Here is an interview I did with Madelyn on the first day of school.

Q: How is first grade different from Kindergarten
A: "The teacher uses a lamp so it's not as bright as Kindergarten. We are reviewing everything we learned in Kindergarten."

Q: What do you like about your teacher?
A: "She's really nice and really funny. She even asked us, 'Do girls go in boy's bathrooms and do boys go in girl's bathrooms.'"

Q: What is a goal you have for the year?
A: "To read Junie B. Jones Boss of Lunch."

Q: What is something special you did today?
A: "Looking at books, taking off my shoes, and sitting on the floor."

Q: What is something you didn't like?
A: "There is nothing I didn't like."

Q: Tell me about lunch.
A: "There was a note from you in my lunchbox. I ate a lunchable, treats, and a capri sun. I was about to eat my chips and string cheese, but I didn't have time."

Q: Who did you play with?
A" "Katie and a new friend, Alexis."

Q: What are three things you learned?
A: "Reading, Math, and PE."

Q: What did you do at recess?
A: "Play tag."

Q: What did you wear?
A: "pink skirt, pink Cheetah shirt, silly bands, and glitter shoes."

Disney Vacation Days 6 (9/20/10) and 7 (9/21/10)

We spent our sixth day at Blizzard Beach, which is a Disney water park. I do not really have any pictures to post from this day for a couple of reasons. First, many of them are of me in a swimming suit....enough said. Also, I used a waterproof disposable camera, so I don't have them saved on the computer. Blizzard beach was a lot of fun for everyone. Cassidy enjoyed the wading pools and splash pads. Madelyn tried every slide they had there. We went up stair, after stair, after stair. I thought my legs would never survive. Madelyn decided that this was the park she enjoyed the most. It was pretty neat to go to this park because we have a Disney sing along video that was filmed entirely at this park so it was neat to do the same things and ride the same slides as the kids in the video.




We left on Day 7 after a wonderful, but exhausting trip. We made so many wonderful memories at Disney. When we went we really thought it would be a once in a lifetime trip, but Michael and I have decided to commit to making it a yearly trip while our kids are still young enough to experience the magic of Disney. Next year I am going to research the temperatures better. We are planning on going again in November 2011, and hopefully we will get to experience some of the Christmas Magic.

On our last day we didn't do much but get ready to leave. We had to check our bags at the hotel and wait for our bus to take us to the airport. We did do some exploring around the hotel, and we saw things that we didn't even see the first day when we looked around. We did notice that the heat was getting hotter and our patience was getting shorter. So, we had some quiet time in the cafeteria. Each girl got an overpriced coloring book and some markers in the gift shop. Cassidy entertained herself with a stack of maps. Cassidy loved to look at maps during the entire trip. She always wanted to see where we had been and where we were going. Day 7 was a long day of travel. We left our hotel around noon to head to the airport. After our flights and layovers, we didn't make it home until after 9:00pm, and Cassidy fell asleep on the plane.

Disney Vacation - Day 5 (9/19/10)

We spent Day 5 at Magic Kingdom. This seemed to be the park with the most to see and do so everyone agreed to spend more time there. We did try new forms of transportation. We rode the ferry and the monorail for the first time. I really liked the monorail alot better than the bus system. So, we decided next time we will stay in a hotel with monorail access (hopefully). Those hotels, we discovered, are quite a bit more expensive than All Star Movies.




We also spent more time looking around at the different things to see. Madelyn wanted to go in every single gift shop. She was in paradise in the gift shops, especially when we let her buy something. We ended up having to buy a luggage set to bring all of our souvineers home. And, that is after we took an empty suitcase for that purpose.



Madelyn loved trying on different hats and ears.





We got autographs from Ariel and Princess Tiana on this day also. We rode some new rides. Here we are on the Magic Carpets. And, I liked this picture of the girls playing in a band in Agribah. Aladdin is one of my favorite Disney movies so I really enjoyed this section of the park.




This is the day I was finally brave enough to ride the Teacups. I can ride any thrill ride, but spinning in a circle really makes me sick. I haven't ridden a ride like this since I was in the 6th grade. Michael is just as bad as me so he refused. But, how can you say no to these faces begging you to ride? I made them promise not to spin the teacup.



This day Madelyn also got to ride some of the bigger rides with Michael. She really loved Splash Mountain. While they were doing that, Cassidy and I rode the Winnie the Pooh ride over and over again. We never had to stand in line more than 15 minutes to ride. She loved that ride. I think we rode it four or five times.

We also went to the afternoon parade on this day. This is Cassidy before the parade started. If you know Cassidy, you know her falling asleep in public is very, very rare.


This was another time that I was glad I had the video camera. The girls have watched this parade several times a week since we have been home. They just love seeing all of the characters. We met a lady from Georgia while we were waiting for the parade to start. She had two year old twins. One slept through most of the parade. When one of Cinderella's step sisters came by she said, "Hey wake up. She's going to miss it." The girls think that is the funniest part. Here is her saying that to the baby. Her mother was glad that she still didn't wake up.




This is also the day I let my camera go dead and had to take all of the pictures with my iPhone. They still seemed to turn out okay.

This night we stayed for the electrical parade. We had to get a seat really early as this seems to be pretty popular. We got a seat on Main Street USA pretty close to the exit so we could leave as soon as the parade was over. They had games and hula hoops set up on Main Street USA to entertain the kids. Here is Madelyn. She is really good at the hula hoop. There is also a picture of the girls waiting for the parade to begin. This picture was taken at dusk, but you can still see how hot we were. My phone wouldn't take any good pictures of the electrical parade, but we were able to capture it on our video camera.