2 Castles, 2 Send out 2011 & Ring in 2012...12 Days of Christmas

[momabaarjo]

Home safe and sound...

Thank you everyone for the well wishes for my dd and her academic competitions this weekend in DFW. I am so very proud of her for even making it to the state level in 2 events...sadly she did not place in the top 6 of either event...but when you are competing against around 100 other top middle schoolers in the entire state...it is just an honor to get there! I know she is disappointed, but I am not! Here are a couple of pictures to share...

I managed to survive shopping with her, but it about came to blows Friday night after shopping all day and we did not have an outfit for the next day. We agreed on this cute sundress...and I added a jean jacket to make it look more casual (she does not like jean jackets). It is really hard to shop with her...while school uniforms are great (they also so not help with fashion sense), plus she is under 5 feet tall/weighs less than 80 pounds and wears a size 00 or ExSmall, better yet girls size 12 fits the best (but being a teen wanting to wear Junior clothes...) you can imagine show hard it is to find clothes. Thank goodness MIL is built the same way and can alter anything for her.

Tonight, I am trying to get a dinner & moive night under way along with unpacking and getting the house and laundry ready for the week (which is looking like a busy one).

 

[veggiemama]

I'm all caught up once again on your PTR.

This morning the boys heard the postman and ran out to get the mail. All of the sudden they came running in the house screaming...the momma in me was about to get really mad (fighting and arguing again, please!!!). Right as I was about to get on their case, Goo announced that Mickey Mouse had written them a postcard, telling them that he could not wait until they visited him. I was a little confused as to what they were talking about until they handed me the postcard...sure enough Mickey had written them! (I had totally forgotten a few months ago I signed up for a fairy god mailer...thank you T Morrows Child).


I am going to have to play this happy event forward when we go...it was priceless their reaction!!!!

LOVE the Mickey mail. wonder if I might be able to pull off something like this for my kids once we tell them... hmmmm wheels are turning!

Home safe and sound...

Thank you everyone for the well wishes for my dd and her academic competitions this weekend in DFW. I am so very proud of her for even making it to the state level in 2 events...sadly she did not place in the top 6 of either event...but when you are competing against around 100 other top middle schoolers in the entire state...it is just an honor to get there! I know she is disappointed, but I am not! Here are a couple of pictures to share...

I managed to survive shopping with her, but it about came to blows Friday night after shopping all day and we did not have an outfit for the next day. We agreed on this cute sundress...and I added a jean jacket to make it look more casual (she does not like jean jackets). It is really hard to shop with her...while school uniforms are great (they also so not help with fashion sense), plus she is under 5 feet tall/weighs less than 80 pounds and wears a size 00 or ExSmall, better yet girls size 12 fits the best (but being a teen wanting to wear Junior clothes...) you can imagine show hard it is to find clothes. Thank goodness MIL is built the same way and can alter anything for her.

Tonight, I am trying to get a dinner & moive night under way along with unpacking and getting the house and laundry ready for the week (which is looking like a busy one).

Glad you survived shopping! My dd is 13 and it can be a challenge with her too. Thankfully she is very modest and is mostly a jeans and t-shirt kind of girl. She doesn't really care for dresses most of the time. The only thing we don't agree on is the length of her shorts!

So proud for you and your dd! Placing is not what it is all about. I'm impressed that she went and achieved her personal best!

Love all your dinner and movie nights. even if some is borrowed from others it is still creative and fun! we won't start that kind of stuff till fall since we aren't sharing the secret with our kids till late in the summer.

 

[Becc1]

Congrats to you daughter for making it as far as she got, you both should be very proud! Can't wait to hear about movie night!

 

[annmarieda]

Again, congrats to your daughter!

And... Congrats to you for surviving the shopping with her..

 

[momabaarjo]

Dinner & a Movie Night
Twister
May 1, 2011

​

Okay before everyone gets upset and tells me that Twister is not a movie night, I KNOW! But since we are going to Universal before WDW and Twister has an attraction that goes with the movie...need to prepare the kids for this part of the trip too so they can really enjoy and understand the attraction. Plus, with all the crazy weather and living in tornado alley ourselves it is always good to talk about tornado safety.

I love Twister...mainly because in the 90s I had a crush on Bill Paxton. I still think he his pretty cute...I know not the handsome leading role type but the average joe. I wonder what he has done lately and for the matter what happened to Helen Hunt? It took me a while to realize where the girlfriend in the movie (sorry forgot her name) was from...she was the lead in Jersey Girl.

There are scenes from the movie that were filmed in our general area. So that was cool to share with the kids. We see a lot of these crazy carvan strom chasers this time of year, although we have been real quiet with severe weather (and I like it that way, though we really need some rain).

Dinner: Twister Chili Cheese Fries (okay not very healthy, but fun and fast,,,used curly fries for the Twisters) and Tornado Cake (found the recipe...it is really called Tornado cake-basically a german chocolate upside down cake with the gooey frosting baked inside)

Twister Chili Cheese Fries

Boo making the Tornado Cake

Tornado Cake (a la mode)...it is even yummier than it looks!!!

Activity: Played Twister

So far so good...everyone is still up....

Yikes...Goo on the bottom of the pile!!

 

[annmarieda]

I will have to try that cake. It looks yummy!

 

[Becc1]

Love the Twister night! Good for you for thinking outside the Disney box I'm going to have a look that cake recipe up, looks so good!

 

[shocky5]

OH WOW - the Twister chili cheese fries look sooo good! I remember when Twister was filmed - I was in college about 50 miles from Wakita - one of the 'towns' from the movie but which only had about 8 minutes of true fame in the movie.

Tell your daughter, from a teacher, what she did in qualifying for that academic competition, in the state of Texas to boot, that she should be very proud of herself! Congrats on such beautiful and talented children!!!

 

[Monknmom]

Oh WOW congrats to your DD! She should be very proud of herself! And as far as the shopping- my SIL is 4'8 and wears a size 00 and I'm NOTHING near her so shopping together is.... well... I imagine just as bad as a teenager!

The twister movie night looks good and you have to do Universal too since your PTR clearly states that you are going to both castles on one vacation! We are actually trying to plan a movie night because we haven't had one since our first so I told me son that he can browse around your posts and a few other peoples!

 

[veggiemama]

Twister night looked like a lot of fun.

 

[momabaarjo]

I must say that I have had no time to think WDW, other than each time I shell out more $$$ for something... Budget busting still continues! Here is my week do far...

Monday-Boo's dental check up, guitar lesson, and first official Boy Scout meeting since crossing over last week from Webelos

Tueday-Ab's birthday (not celebrating until this weekend) and her sports banquet and awards night

Wednesday-Ab's violin night and middle school youth group

Thursday-Ab competes with her school choir in a music festival then turns around and competes with her Suzuki strings orchestra... planning on a quick and easy dinner & a movie night

I am tired even writing it all down! It looks like the craziness will continue for the rest of the month!

 

[kwitcherkicken99]

There is a reason why I tell people I hate the month of May!

It is a never-ending cycle of change and headaches!

Hang in there!

 

[Becc1]

I totally feel your pain, we've been having alot of budget busting in my house too! Good thing is school and spring sports are almost over

 

[Monknmom]

I feel you on the budget stuff! The end of the year stuff just seem to keep sneaking up on us and hitting us from behind! At least you can look forward to the summer and taking it a little slower!

 

[momabaarjo]

Today I took another personal day...hey this taking off Friday's is starting to be a habit with me. I went with Boo's class on their field trip to a place that is the 2nd largest canyon in the US...leave it to Texas to have to compete with the rest of the country! We ended up hiking 3 1/2 hours and 8 miles to what is called the Light House in 90 degree heat by the time we were done. I have to praise the kids...no complaining or whining (or at least where I was at...leading the way the entire time...I am too old to keep up with kids). I am sunburned, worn out completely, and ready for bed!

 

[veggiemama]

Today I took another personal day...hey this taking off Friday's is starting to be a habit with me. I went with Boo's class on their field trip to a place that is the 2nd largest canyon in the US...leave it to Texas to have to compete with the rest of the country! We ended up hiking 3 1/2 hours and 8 miles to what is called the Light House in 90 degree heat by the time we were done. I have to praise the kids...no complaining or whining (or at least where I was at...leading the way the entire time...I am too old to keep up with kids). I am sunburned, worn out completely, and ready for bed!

Great picture! Don't think I would have been as good as the kids. i would have been griping and complaining.... I don't like really hot weather!

 

[annmarieda]

I must say that I have had no time to think WDW, other than each time I shell out more $$$ for something... Budget busting still continues! Here is my week do far...

Monday-Boo's dental check up, guitar lesson, and first official Boy Scout meeting since crossing over last week from Webelos

Tueday-Ab's birthday (not celebrating until this weekend) and her sports banquet and awards night

Wednesday-Ab's violin night and middle school youth group

Thursday-Ab competes with her school choir in a music festival then turns around and competes with her Suzuki strings orchestra... planning on a quick and easy dinner & a movie night

I am tired even writing it all down! It looks like the craziness will continue for the rest of the month!

Looks like my life!! At least it will make the time go by quicker

Today I took another personal day...hey this taking off Friday's is starting to be a habit with me. I went with Boo's class on their field trip to a place that is the 2nd largest canyon in the US...leave it to Texas to have to compete with the rest of the country! We ended up hiking 3 1/2 hours and 8 miles to what is called the Light House in 90 degree heat by the time we were done. I have to praise the kids...no complaining or whining (or at least where I was at...leading the way the entire time...I am too old to keep up with kids). I am sunburned, worn out completely, and ready for bed!

What a great pic!!! I love the blue sky. It is so rainy here I can barely stand it!

 

[Becc1]

Today I took another personal day...hey this taking off Friday's is starting to be a habit with me. I went with Boo's class on their field trip to a place that is the 2nd largest canyon in the US...leave it to Texas to have to compete with the rest of the country! We ended up hiking 3 1/2 hours and 8 miles to what is called the Light House in 90 degree heat by the time we were done. I have to praise the kids...no complaining or whining (or at least where I was at...leading the way the entire time...I am too old to keep up with kids). I am sunburned, worn out completely, and ready for bed!

OMG, Hiking 8 miles! ANd I was complaining yesterday because we walked a 3 miles for the kids Healthwalk at the boys school, lol. Hope you got to rest up last night!

 

[momabaarjo]

Dinner & a Movie Night
Three Caballeros
May 5, 2011​

I don't think I remember seeing this movie as a kid, this movie is around 50 years old...and politically incorrect as can be by today's standards. Wow, I must say I don't remember Donald Duck being so "girl crazy" as he was in this movie...constantly chasing bikini clad senoritas around on the beaches of Mexico or flirting while dancing. It was really fun to introduce the kids to the voice of Walt Disney, he narrates some of the movie. The kids really enjoyed Donald's antics, but I kept watching the clock hoping that it was almost done. It is a good introduction to the ride in Mexico...now after seeing the movie I understand the ride. Don't worry, no spoilers!

We really did not go all out with this week's movie, just made it simple and easy since it was a school night!

Activity: We made God's Eyes to hang in our windows. I had planned to do a pinata, but Joseph had one a school and I was feeling cheap.

Menu: Any excuse to have taco and burrito night at our house is a good one (family loves it and it is easy on me). I also bought some Mexican Sodas in fun glass bottles and we stopped at one of the local Mexican Bakeries we pass by on the way home each evening and picked up some Mexican pastries.

 

[Monknmom]

Hey I don't have time to read and won't get on until Monday again, but I hope that you have a VERY happy mother's day!

PS I quickly went down and saw the movie night I will have to come back and read but the pictures make it look great!