Saturday Fun

This past Saturday we had a fun-filled day! It started out with Robert making pancakes for all of us. Afterwards he took the girls to a Tae Kwon Do birthday party while I went to work out and go to the store. After lunch, we decided to make the birdhouses that Uncle Steve gave the girls for Christmas. He cut out all the pieces for the birdhouses, labeled them, and then printed up step-by-step instructions (with pictures) on how to make them. The girls enjoyed making them! Now we've just got to get them put up somewhere outside.

After making the birdhouses, we decided to go hit tennis and ride bikes. Since Katelyn is so little, she's still been riding her 12 inch little bike with training wheels. She's tried without training wheels before, but didn't have much success. We thought maybe it was partly because the bike was so little it actually made it harder for her to keep her balance. She asked if she could try Rachel's old 16 inch bike without training wheels, so we let her. She did awesome!!! It's a tiny bit too big for her, but she did really well! Here's a video of her riding without her training wheels

Katelyn Loses Tooth #3

On the final day of spring break (last Sunday) Katelyn lost tooth #3! We had come home from church and the tooth was just barely hanging on. She asked Robert to pull it and he did very quickly. Her little mouth is so small, I'm not sure where the permanent teeth are going to fit!!!

Disney World Videos - Part 2

In the previous post with videos from Disney World, you got to see Rachel's reaction when the Voices of Liberty guy sang to her. Here's Katelyn's reaction when a guy sang to her.


Warning - if you get motion sickness, don't watch the next two videos! The first video is of Katelyn on the Big Thunder roller coaster. Turn the sound up - it's hilarious!!! The second video is of Rachel on the same roller coaster - very funny!!

Disney World Videos - Part 1

This is Rachel on the waterslide at our condo.


Here's the space shuttle launch. Sorry it's so shaky. It was very impressive in person!!



This is when the Voices of Liberty sang and one of the guys sang to Rachel.

Disney World - Day 7

In honor of our last day spent at Disney World, Robert made a Mickey Mouse pancake! See the picture in the slideshow below!

We spent Day 7 - our last day at Disney World - at Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom. We rode the Big Thunder roller coaster 3 times in a row, took a little break, then rode it again! The girls were hilarious! They screamed the entire time! I have some videos that I'll post later, but I'll warn you - if you get motion sickness you won't want to watch!!! We also rode Splash Mountain again. Katelyn had on a poncho that she borrowed from Lloyd & Wendy, so she didn't get wet except for on her face. The girls got to see Ariel, and the first thing she said to Rachel was "We could be twins!" Afterwards Rachel said "I bet she says that to all the redheads!!!"

We came back to the condo to eat lunch and watch UT play in the NCAA tournament. Unfortunately, they lost. Robert and I took the girls to the pool for the 2nd half of the game and they seemed to enjoy that.

Afterwards we headed to Animal Kingdom to watch the Festival of the Lion King show again. We were not disappointed! We thought it was even better the second time around!

On our way out, we stopped to see Pooh, Tigger, and Eeyore since there wasn't a line. We walked right up and had pictures made with them.

We then headed to Downtown Disney and visited the Lego Store and the Disney Store. The Lego Store had some pretty amazing things made out of Legos. There was a HUGE dragon in the lake - very impressive!

It was an awesome week at Disney World!

Disney World - Day 6

Day 6 we started out at Hollywood Studios to ride the Toy Story ride again. Actually, Wendy, the girls, and I went to ride the Toy Story ride, while Robert & Lloyd went to ride the Rockin' Roller Coaster. Lloyd, Wendy, and I had ridden it when we were there earlier in the week, but when it came time for Robert to ride it, we were all getting hungry and even the fast pass line was a little long, so he just decided he'd ride it when we came back. So the 4 girls rode Toy Story while the boys rode the Rockin' Roller Coaster. We were in line with some friends from our church (Heather, Amaya, and Averiella) so we got to talk to them while waiting.

After this, we once again took advantage of our park hoppers and headed over to Epcot. The girls got to see a lot of characters while we were there without having to wait more than just a few minutes! We also got to see several of the countries' performers. We saw the Chinese acrobats and the Japanese candy maker. The candy maker was very impressive! Evidently very few people in Japan know this art form. She can take a ball of candy stuff and make it into an impressive animal in about a minute or so! She would ask kids in the audience what they wanted her to make and she'd make something for them to share with their family. The first time the girls didn't get called on. But we went back for a second time and she picked them! They asked her to make a purple teddy bear. It was really cool! She even made it holding a heart. She could make pretty much anything! Some of the most impressive ones we saw her make were a unicorn and a swan. The funniest was probably the porcupine. The candy maker herself was hilarious - she would provide commentary and she molded and cut the candy.

We went to hear the Voices of Liberty sing again, and this time one of the guys came to sing to Katelyn. However, she did not like it and tried to bury her head into Wendy as far as she could! She even started crying! Sometimes I don't fully understand her!

They were having some kind of special flower festival at Epcot. They had all of these characters made out of different kinds of flowers! It was pretty impressive! They had all the princesses along with Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs. Lloyd and the girls put on their grumpy faces and posed in front of the floral Grumpy! They said they were grumpy because our Disney trip was almost over.

Disney World - Day 5

On day 5 we took advantage of our park hopper passes. We started out the day at Magic Kingdom, and ended the day at Animal Kingdom. At Magic Kingdom, we did all the things that we weren't able to do when we were there on Saturday. We did a ton of stuff in the first 2 hours and even more throughout the day. We rode the Peter Pan ride, the Carousel, the teacups, the Buzz Lightyear ride, the Barnstormer, the Big Thunder roller coaster, and Splash Mountain. It was so funny because the girls rode the Big Thunder roller coaster and didn't like it too much because it's fairly loud and starts out in the dark. It's not a kiddie roller coaster. We then let them ride Goofy's Barnstormer, which is a kiddie coaster. When it ended, they were like "Is that it? It's too short! It's too slow!" Robert & Lloyd convinced them to ride the Big Thunder roller coaster again since they knew what to expect. They did ride it again and loved it!

We also got to see a show at Cinderella's castle with Mickey and friends and some of the princesses. The girls really enjoyed that! On our way out, we saw Pinocchio. There was no one there waiting to see him, so the girls walked right up to him and got a picture. Another day we saw him again in the same place and the line was all backed up! I guess we were there at the right time!

Later in the afternoon, we headed over to Animal Kingdom. We rode the train out to the conservation area that also has a petting zoo. The girls brushed some sheep for a few minutes, and then we went inside. We lucked up and got to see several characters there! They saw Rafiki (from The Lion King), Pocahontas, and Jiminy Cricket! We've heard that Jiminy Cricket doesn't come out much for character appearances, so we were pleased that we got pictures with him. The best part was the Festival of the Lion King show. It was awesome!!! They had some guys that were dressed as monkeys and were called the Tumble Monkeys. They were obviously former gymnasts or acrobats, because they could do some pretty cool stuff on the high bar and rings. We all enjoyed that show.

Once again, it was another great day!!!

Disney World - Day 4

We spent Day 4 at Hollywood Studios. The first thing we did was the Toy Story ride. We loved it! You wear 3-D glasses and then ride through and shoot at carnival like games. It was lots of fun and the girls really enjoyed it. We also got to see the Playhouse Disney stage show. It was really good and had characters from the shows the girls like - the Little Einsteins, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, and My Friends Tigger and Pooh. While we were waiting for it to start, Katelyn took control of the camera and had us make silly faces!

Another thing that we all enjoyed was the American Idol Experience! It was just like being at an American Idol show. There were 3 contestants that had auditioned earlier in the day. They each sang a song and were critiqued by 3 judges. Then the audience got to vote for their favorite. The winner of each of the shows during the day then went on to compete in the finale each night.

We had a full day of fun at Hollywood Studios!

Disney World - Day 3

Day 3 of our Disney World adventure was spent at Epcot. The girls loved the ride Soarin'. It's kind of like you're California. It's really cool! As you fly over the orange groves, you smell oranges, and when you fly over the pine trees, you smell the trees! It's so neat!

We enjoyed walking around to the different countries' exhibits. We listened to the Voices of Liberty at the American section. They sang a few songs. Lloyd & Wendy knew exactly where we should sit, so we were front and center! When they sang "Skip to My Lou" one of the guys came over and sang to Rachel! I have a video that I'll post later - it's really cute!

We also saw a really cute Nemo show. It was really good and I think we all enjoyed it. We stayed until the park closed and watched the fireworks.

Disney World - Day 2

On Sunday, we spent our entire day at Animal Kingdom. We had two really good safaris and got to see several animals up close! The girls really enjoyed that, especially when the giraffe was right beside our vehicle and so close I could've reached out and petted it! We also got to see Mickey Mouse!

We rode the Kali River Rapids, and Rachel loves to get wet! Katelyn doesn't like it so much! She says it's not because she gets wet, but because it's dirty water! We thought that was pretty funny. We saw the 3-D "A Bug's Life" show, which kind of freaked out the girls. I think Katelyn kept her head buried into Robert the entire time. Rachel took off her 3-D glasses for most of the show. We enjoyed looking at the carvings on the Tree of Life. We had a great 2nd day at Disney World. We ended the day by watching the Space Shuttle launch from our porch. It was awesome!!!

Disney World - Day 1

Before we ever made it to Disney World, Katelyn lost a tooth! This was the second tooth she has lost.

We got the van parked and then rode our first ride - the parking lot tram! Then it was on to the monorail, which the girls really liked! They thought it was cool that it actually went through a motel and you could see people eating! Once inside Magic Kingdom, we took some pictures in front of the castle, and then made our way to some rides. We stood in line for a while to ride the Dumbo ride - not sure why since it's not that great of a ride! But the girls wanted to ride it, so we did! We also happened to catch Pooh & Tigger for some pictures and autographs. Tigger kept playing with Rachel's hair - it was cute! Katelyn gave Pooh a big bear hug! We rode several rides, walked around, ate supper, and watched the parade and fireworks. It was a good first day.

Disney World Spring Break

Last week we were fortunate enough to spend spring break at Disney World!! We actually left town right after school on Friday the 13th! We drove to Macon, GA and spent the night, then drove on to Disney on Saturday. We arrived at Magic Kingdom around 2:00 and stayed there all afternoon/evening and watched the parade and fireworks to end our first day. We went to all four parks numerous times during our stay. Friday the 20th was our last day at the parks. We left Saturday morning and drove all the way home.

We were blessed to have my brother, Lloyd, and his wife, Wendy go with us on our vacation. This was our first time at Disney World, but they have been many times. It was like having our very own personal tour guides! It was great!!! The girls loved having them with us too!

We stayed at a nice resort outside the park called Windsor Hills. It was really nice accommodations. We had a 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom condo with a full kitchen, living room, laundry room, and screened in porch. The resort had a really nice pool with a water slide, tennis courts, basketball court, playground, etc. We were able to get this condo for less than half of what we would've had to pay for the basic hotel room onsite, so we were thrilled! Plus, since we had a full kitchen, we were able to eat meals in the condo. Most days we ate 2 meals at the condo and one meal at Disney. I thought it worked out really well!!! Lloyd & Wendy have season passes, so they get free parking, which was nice! Our week was pretty much perfect!!!

The weather was awesome the entire week!!! Lows were in the 60's and highs were in the 80's and there was no rain!!! We didn't have to wait in line for anything for very long, thanks to wise use of our fast passes! The girls were able to get their pictures made with quite a few characters and get their autographs. We were able to do everything we wanted to do numerous times! It was a great week!!!

We also had a couple extra surprises during the week. Katelyn started out our vacation with two very loose bottom teeth. On Saturday before we had made it to Disney World, Robert pulled one of the teeth for her since it was just barely hanging! And yes - the tooth fairy did make it to Disney World!!! Her other tooth didn't come out until we got home, but she did have Robert pull it yesterday after church. So Katelyn has now lost 3 teeth!

The other surprise we had was that we got to see the space shuttle launch!! When we heard it had been delayed until Sunday evening, we thought we might be able to see it a little bit from our condo. We were expecting to just be able to see a little bit - kind of like an airplane trail. Boy were we wrong! We were able to see it pretty well! It was like a giant fire ball in the sky! It was so cool! We could even see when the 2 side rockets separated and fell off! It was awesome! I have some pictures and video, but it doesn't come close to showing how amazing it truly was.

I have a ton of pictures and I hope to post some soon along with brief descriptions of our days there at Disney World.

Official Father/Daughter Dance Picture

A few weeks ago Robert took the girls to a father/daughter dance. (You can read about it by clicking here.) Anyway, they had a photographer at the dance and Robert and the girls had their picture made. The pictures came in the mail today, so of course I had to scan it in and post it here on the blog!!!

And the Winner Is...

As I mentioned in previous posts, Rachel and Katelyn both entered projects in the Technology Fair at school. They both created digital storytelling projects using PowerPoint. They wrote a story, drew the illustrations, took pictures of their illustrations with my digital camera, recorded their voice narrating the story, typed the story into PowerPoint, imported their pictures into the PowerPoint Slides, and imported their voice into the slides. I think they did an excellent job!! Rachel won 1st place for 2nd grade, and Katelyn won 2nd place for Kindergarten. Katelyn's best bud Kylee won 3rd place, so they were excited that they got to stand next to each other!!





Rachel after receiving her trophy.

The 2nd grade winners

Katelyn after getting her trophy

The Kindergarten WinnersKatelyn and Kylee

My Young Achiever

A few months ago I posted about Rachel being nominated as a Young Achiever. You can read that post by clicking here. Tonight was the awards ceremony. Here are a few pictures from our evening.

This is Rachel and Katelyn before we left the house.

This is Rachel with her teacher, Mrs. Patterson.

Our family

This is Rachel being goofy by tying the ribbon from her certificate in her hair!

Some of our friends and fellow Young Achievers: Carter, Lauren, Suzanne, and Rachel

Silly Young Achievers!

Book Fair

It's the spring book fair at the girls' school. It started Monday and goes through next week. The girls loves shopping for new books! Monday they took some of their own money to buy some books. I bought each of them one book and gave to them. I actually bought several more books, but I've got them put up. Katelyn's birthday is coming up soon so I'll give her some new books for her birthday. Since both girls really enjoy reading, I don't mind spending money on books for them. Here are some pictures that the principal and the librarian took on Monday.