NOBODY IS MORE SURPRISED THAN US! GKTW alumni return! 10/21 MOVING DAY!!

[Piper]

Judy, mixed vegies taste good to me when mixed into buttered rice. I put a little garlic powder in it, too. I often have this (had it Saturday and Sunday and plan to eat it later this week again.) It is a good way to make your dollar stretch and get your vegies in your diet.

 

[DisNorth]

[/CENTER]

What a great movie night looks yummy and fun. David did a great job!

You should defiantly give fried rice a try. It has veggies and little bit of eggs so very well rounded dish And I've been to China, they eat tones of rice (but I never saw fried rice, ironically, just steamed) and they are all tiny so there must be no calories in rice, right?

Praying for Lisa and Rachel to feel better.

Praying for JJ also, sorry to hear about his tics and hope the therapy helps.

 

[mickeystoontown]

What a wonderful movie night! What creative ideas those kids of your's come up with!

Like you, I buy all sorts of plates and napkins and "stuff" when they are on clearance. You never know when there's going to be some random party going on at our house.

 

[VBAndrea]

Hi again,


Here are some recent pictures of the kids:


This was our family vacation this year. We went on a cruise with my side of the family. It was so much fun and we booked early so we got a great rate.

Thanks for posting the pics! It's so good to see Mallory again looking as beautiful as ever

Andrea loved reading your update.

Judy I am thinking of you all as always

You may not believe this, but yesterday after posting I perused your ptr to see pics of Sami. I got called away so never had time to post, but she's a beauty. I can't believe you are still finding time to do orders and launches with a new baby in the house!

Thank you Andrea!! We did get lucky that we didn't have to do the infertility treatments. We had done the 15 vials of blood they wanted to take and 2 days before we were to sit down with our Dr. to discuss what our next steps were we found out we were pregnant. Come to find out the cycle I thought I had in May was a false cycle and we were already pregnant!! We did have to do progesterone shots so I can only imagine all the shots I would have had to do should we have had to continue with the actual infertility treatments. (I hate needles!!!) I'm sorry you went through all that and didn't get a baby at the end of it. You do have 2 beautiful children though!! I'll be sure to keep you guys posted!

After the failed infertility we decided to adopt from Russia. Of course, we would have needed to sell our house in order to have $$$ to do that, so that didn't pan out either. At the time it hit me hard, but in the long run I do have two beautiful children and I very, very happy with our little family. I just love the dynamics of large families though and got a good taste of it when we went to UT to visit dh's family last month. So I'm really happy for you that you were able to get pg on your own. 15 vials is a lot -- I NEVER had that much taken at once. Age was my issue though so maybe most of the problem was already identified. Do you plan on finding out what gender you are having? We always did b/c I'm such a planner.

David also took charge of dinner, with assistance from Pete and Christian. I was technical advisor and showed them how to roll the Woody’s roll-ups. Thankfully I buy paper products when things are 80-90% off (I don’t care about the occasion, I just like the price) so we have lots of different plates for themes.

The menu included:

Buzz’s Pizza Planet Pizza
Mr. Potato Head Tater Tots
Jessie’s Juice
Stinky Pete’s Saloon Salad
Woody’s Roundup Roll-Ups (Pigs in a Blanket)
Bullseye’s Cornfeed Chips (Tortilla Chips)
Andy’s Birthday Cake with Al’s Ice Cream​

David made the design in sugar on the cake and we sang Happy Birthday to “Andy.” I am truly loving watching my children take charge, plan, organize and have fun with these ideas. He finally chose Toy Story 2 for us to watch...we enjoyed the birthday theme and cake anyway Oh yes, Christian put on his ToyStory T-shirt to get in the mood.[/COLOR][/SIZE][/B]

​

Fabulous movie night!!! David did an outstanding job. I think I've seen two of the Toy Story movies but we don't own either so I don't recall the story too well. Everything looked yummy though and seeing your kitchen with food makes me really miss your cooking!

 

[kayrosek]

Love the Toy Story Movie Night. Having a birthday party for Andy was a very good idea and I bet a yummy one with that cake. We had our first Disney Family Movie Night on Saturday and Jenna is planning one for tomorrow. I too am loving seeing my kids plan and get creative. We stopped at Grandma's to visit a bit today and Jenna was telling her about her movie night plans and Grandma raided her pantry and came up with lots of cool stuff for Jennas theme. Cant wait to see how it turns out.

 

[Disney9.9.10]

What a cute Toy Story movie night! You guys are so creative with your food items and their names! Buying your paper plates at such a discounted price is a great idea! Buying them on a day when you absolutely need them almost always results in spending too much on them lol

 

[redomni]

Like the others said we usually do stir fry with vegetables and rice. Also I know there is a book called gluten free on a shoe string, that is suppose to be full of affordable recipes to eat gluten free. I don't have as many lupus flare ups eating gluten free and the other plus is I am not nauseous all the time, and I don't throw up all the time like I used to.

Glad that Lisa is feeling better and hope that Rachel feels better soon, I know asthma attacks are no fun.

I will also be keeping JJ in my prayers and hope that things can get a little bit better for him.

Thoughts and prayers to all that need them.

 

[lovethattink]

Thanks appreciate the prayer, and I do pray as I read the requests. Today wasn't a good day for him. His throat tics have occurred so often today that I lost track.

 

[RooRach0906]

I found rewards worked really well with my oldest (if he went one day he got a sticker, if he went a week, he got a toy, 2 weeks another toy, 3 weeks, another toy and by the 4th week he got a really nice Lego set since that's what he is into). Once we started training him I want to say it took us a good month before he would go completely dry during the day and night.

My daughter basically trained in 3 days (if that). She started Preschool on her 3rd birthday and came home dry wanting to use the potty. Found out she had used the potty at school too. Then she wanted to do it herself but needed help putting her diaper back on and didn't like that so I put her in pull ups for a week (I should have just went to panties because she never wet them!!) She was sooo easy I basically didn't have to do anything to train her. She saw all the other kids going and I think she basically thought I want to do that and she did. Haven't had a single accident with her (expect for once at DL but that was Daddies fault, he didn't listen to her when she said she had to potty).

Have any questions we're all here to help. We did the timer thing with my oldest too. Where I'd set a timer for every 10 mins and then extend it 10 mins as I learned how long he could hold it for. Also made him go potty after every meal and before and after bed. Hope I'm not giving to much info but I found it frustrating to but tried to stay calm about it all because I found if I stressed about it he'd hide when it was time to go. Good luck!

Thanks! Sofia has become a favorite in our house lately and this was her reward for no more crying at school.

Thank you for the advice. After trying about 2 weeks, We ended up getting her a Sofia figurine set and put it on top of the refrigerator and told her if she peed in the potty with no pee accidents for a week she would get it. That worked and happily since then she has only had 2 pee accidents since receiving her toy. We are still working on the second part but I think we are going to have to go out buy the toy and put it on top of the fridge again. Again thank you for your advice and support and helping me know I was not alone.

Congratulations on your pregnancy, will be praying for you!

Rachel you sign in as much a you can, I have missed you but FULLY understand your family MUST come first!

I do hope the potty training is over quickly , I agree, use what ever means necessary. ONe thing I took comfort from was that i KNEW they wouldn't go to college in diapers! (Or even kindergarten). My biggest piece of advice is to not get in a power struggle you will lose.

I am praying fervently for your friend, her mom and their family! Please keep us posted.

I got notice you tried to PM, my box has been stuffed, forgive me. I am trying to keep it cleaned out.

Thank you for understanding.

I am hoping she will be fully PTed soon!

Thank you for praying. I talked to my friend the other day and she said her mom got out of the hospital with in the week but is still not doing well and that even the family feels like all they can do is pray.

Of course I will forgive you for having a full box.

I hope to get caught up tonight. I have been busy with potty training, planning our family reunion trip for Sept 2014, going to Williamsburg for a few days with my sisters, mom, nieces, and Annabelle, bday stuff, my dad had shoulder surgery(he is doing great) and my sister and niece coming in from Ohio. It has just been family time and cleaning. Today we even went blueberry picking. I am hoping this will settle down soon so I keep better up to date.

Hope all is well and you are always in my prayers.


So I think I caught up for the most part I will be honest I mainly read just your post. Wonderful news about your dad. I hope Lisa is feeling better and Rachel as well.

Your movie nights look like so much fun and are so well themed!

 

[happybelle]

David's movie night looks fun, creative and delicious. He did a great job.

 

[ladylyons]

I love the sweet story about Jeremy. I love how children's logic works. When I was little we never had BD parties, but I thought it was sad Santa didn't bring my parents gifts, etc. I didn't realize that when I grew up, things like that wouldn't matter to me. The fun is watching them have fun. He is a sweetheart.

Rachel says she is okay, we actually have an appt with her Pulm. Monday, I will take her to the peds if she gets worse. Thank goodness for inhalers! I keep saying we are having so much rain and illness so that when we go on the trip neither will be a problem!

Praying you are tucked in bed sound asleep!!

He comes up with some of the funniest things. Last week during swimming lessons he told me he didn't like trying to do front floats because they made him nervous. Now everything makes him nervous. I think that's become his new favorite word. But we had a break through today .... he did his front float for the full 5 seconds!! Now bobs and front floats are his favorite things to do in the water!! Silly boy!

Glad Rachel is ok too! Yeah that is a good idea let's get all the sickness out now and then you can have a very healthy vacation!!

After the failed infertility we decided to adopt from Russia. Of course, we would have needed to sell our house in order to have $$$ to do that, so that didn't pan out either. At the time it hit me hard, but in the long run I do have two beautiful children and I very, very happy with our little family. I just love the dynamics of large families though and got a good taste of it when we went to UT to visit dh's family last month. So I'm really happy for you that you were able to get pg on your own. 15 vials is a lot -- I NEVER had that much taken at once. Age was my issue though so maybe most of the problem was already identified. Do you plan on finding out what gender you are having? We always did b/c I'm such a planner.

We found out about a few problems I have and never knew of because of those blood tests they did. They were very thorough!! I had told DH this was our last shot. I couldn't keep handing the heartaches we were having. It wasn't good for me or the kids to see me being on an emotional roller coaster and they didn't know why. We talked about adoption also but knew the money would probably keep us from ever doing it. Only reason why we could afford to do the infertility treatments is because our insurance coverage is awesome and it would have covered everything!! I have to know what we're having (I'm a planner in that regards too)!! I need to know which clothes were pulling out of the attic for the baby and which clothes we're going to sell after the baby is born.

Thank you for the advice. After trying about 2 weeks, We ended up getting her a Sofia figurine set and put it on top of the refrigerator and told her if she peed in the potty with no pee accidents for a week she would get it. That worked and happily since then she has only had 2 pee accidents since receiving her toy. We are still working on the second part but I think we are going to have to go out buy the toy and put it on top of the fridge again. Again thank you for your advice and support and helping me know I was not alone.

Congratulations on your pregnancy, will be praying for you!

Glad to hear that your having success in the potty training department!! We haven't even started yet. Too much has been going on since we got back from my parent's house on July 7 but hoping to start soon!! You are far from alone and I do understand how tiring and frustrating it can be!! I'll continue to hope the best for you and that your completely diaper free soon!!!

Thank you! We are very excited and are just waiting until the right time to tell the kids. They haven't been to any of my appoints so they don't know what's going on (we don't talk about it when they are awake).

 

[happybelle]

I wanted you to know I am praying for your family. I hope you have a good day.

 

[McDuck]

David did a great job on his movie night! I love seeing all the pictures of how much fun y'all are having.

I have hit the grouchy stage waiting for deployment and I would appreciate prayers. Thanks.

 

[DisNorth]

Hope you have a great day today.
Looks like rain here, but that's good. Won't have to water my flowers then

Prayers to all in need.

 

[KatMark]

Love the Toy Story theme and the goodies for dinner. So good to see the kids taking charge and getting all of this done. Love that David wore his Buzz shirt for the occasion.

 

[courtneybelle]

That is so exciting that you get to go twice so close together...you could do a PTR for the trips combined...and I am very glad you will do a TR. for your grandmother, I love that you will have something to keep you busy. I know you will think of her no matter were you are. I am sorry for your loss. I think Disney instead of gifts is a FABULOUS idea!!

Thank you for the kind words and hugs, Judy My grandmother loved Disney as well, she went with us a few times before she got too sick to travel, so I know she is happy we are going!

I hope the girls are feeling better. I'm going to Pennsylvania to see family this weekend but know that I will be praying for you and your family!

 

[Redwavess]

Ok I have to know. When did you go on your cruise? We went on that same ship on May 20 - 24! We booked very last minute (2 weeks before the cruise left) and ended up with a pretty great rate too. We're already looking at when we can cruise again with the kids because they did great and loved the kids club!!

We went in February, during Presidents week, so we warmed the ship up for you!!

We would love to cruise again as well. We book our cruise over a 1 year in advance, as soon as they announce the sailing. This is how we get such great rates and as past guests we get even better deals including price protection. So if the price of the cruise drops we can get that cheaper right or on board credits. I have heard that you can get great deals last minute too, so good for you!!! Maybe will end up on the same ship sometime. And just like yours our kids love the camp Carnival. It's funny because some kids cry that they don't want to be there our little Mallory cried on her first cruise because we were picking her up!!

Happy cruising!!

Madeline

 

[Redwavess]

Madeline I honestly didn't realize we were under two months until you told me...I felt a moment of panic!

I just LOVE the pics you posted, Michael and Mallory have grown so much and look just as close as ever...they are adorable together. How exciting you got to go on a cruise that is my dream. Pete and I were supposed to go on a cruise when we got married, but Pete was on air alert for months because of Libya, then I was pregnant and Pete got the cruise to the Gulf War...23 years after the war we still haven't gone...but we ARE going to Florida!! And Mallory looks so grown up in her baptism photos...such a little beauty. I wondered if she could still wear her Dumbo dress. That was one of my all time favorite BG outfits! I still think of it and drool!

We got pizza every night as well, it as amazing to be there and enjoy some much freedom. I am so happy we get to go back!

Do you get to Disneyland any? I know that would be closer than Florida!

Thanks for being here and being excited for us..I am excited for us. Let me know how Mallory is doing health wise if you have time.

Sorry about the moment of panic!! I can understand with the trip coming up so fast you must feel under pressure to get all the plans pulled together and everything ready to go!! I hope that all the planning goes smoothly.

We always sing a song when we are waiting for the trip. It's called We're Going on a Trip. It played on a kid station called Noggin a couple of years ago. Anyway the lyrics say, "Packing the suitcases and counting down the days, is nearly just as fun as the actual vacation." Somehow life just seems better when a family trip is on the horizon, I guess it's the whole something to look forward too! I hope that helps as you deal with the stress of planning.

Thanks for the sweet compliments about the pictures. I can't believe how fast they have grown up. As far as health issues go Mallory had pacemaker surgery at the beginning of this year. That was stressful, and feels a little weird to have something like that in your child's body, but I try to focus on the fact that it will help her if her heart goes out of rhythm. When we were going thru security before the cruise we told them about the pacemaker to avoid going thru the metal detector so they took me and Mallory to an alternate screening area for a pat down. The security assumed that I had the pacemaker and started to pat me down.

Oh I do hope you two are able to go on a cruise. We can actually go on a cruise with the 4 of us for a cheaper rate then it would cost to take a weeks vacation to San Diego or Anaheim (which are each about 1 hour away). I think the key is booking early or booking late and getting an unsold room right before they sail.

We used to go to Disneyland all the time. When I taught year round school I had the months of June, October, and February off so we had season passes and would go then. Now that I teach traditional school now, we don't have that opportunity anymore. In fact, I haven't been to Disneyland since before the Wish Trip. But luckily for Mallory and Michael my mom bought them season passes and takes them a number of times each year. So much for perfect attendance!!

Okay I think you posted another Movie Night so I'm off to check that out.

Talk to you soon,

Madeline

 

[Redwavess]

In that long post I just typed I forgot to say yes Mallory can still fit in her Dumbo dress!! It's so fun to put that on an remember the Wish Trip and the Big Give. We love all of you that made that possible!! In fact, when my mom takes Mallory to Disneyland she wears the Dumbo dress or they each wear one of the Tye-dyed shirts and the compliments fly along with the questions of where can I but that?

Thanks for posting the pics! It's so good to see Mallory again looking as beautiful as ever

Awww! Thanks for your sweet comment!! I am glad to be back!! I missed all of you!!

 

[ladylyons]

We went in February, during Presidents week, so we warmed the ship up for you!!

We would love to cruise again as well. We book our cruise over a 1 year in advance, as soon as they announce the sailing. This is how we get such great rates and as past guests we get even better deals including price protection. So if the price of the cruise drops we can get that cheaper right or on board credits. I have heard that you can get great deals last minute too, so good for you!!! Maybe will end up on the same ship sometime. And just like yours our kids love the camp Carnival. It's funny because some kids cry that they don't want to be there our little Mallory cried on her first cruise because we were picking her up!!

Happy cruising!!

Madeline

Not only did we get their discounted rate they were offering but since we are also past guests (next cruise we go on we'll be boarding as Gold Members) we got that rate too. For my family of 5 in an ocean view we paid right around $1400!! Can't do that when we go to Disneyland or anywhere else for that matter! Plus we used it as a very nice relaxing vacation. The only one I had problems with crying was my youngest James. He's just not used to being left behind. But would get over it once we were gone and he got immersed in an activity. We're hoping to cruise again in the next year or two but with the new little one on the way it may be a little bit longer of a wait. Hopefully next time we cruise you guys are cruising too! Would be fun to meet up with other's who enjoy doing the same things that we like doing too.