Disney Highlights

Do I really need to tell you what a fabulous family vacation we had in Disney World? It's Disney World!! We had a blast!!! What made it even more special was that we were with Jon's entire family. Eight adults and nine kids under eight. It was so much fun!

From the rides, to the characters, the shows to the gardens and grounds. It was all enjoyable. Relaxing? No. Fun? You betcha!

We got to spend lots of quality time with PopPop, Mammie and all the cousins, Aunts and Uncles.

Camryn loved most of the rides and all of the characters. She was constantly pointing and shouting.

Kim and her baby girl, Maya.

Katie didn't like Barnstormer. Just look at her face. Our once fearless girl has found her fear!

Kristine and her baby girl, Ella Rae.

T - I - double G- rrrr. Everyone loves Tigger!

Celebrating my 35th birthday. Wow. 35. I'm getting old.

This coming week is an exciting one for us. Thursday morning is Grandparents Day at Charlotte Latin. It's the biggest celebration in the Lower School all year. And this year we have a very excited lobster and penguin. Pictures to follow!! Oh, and to top it off we should see 80 degrees this week! Woo-Hoo, it's about time!!

Sugar

Okay. I get it. Mother Nature has a sense of humor. After my bitching and moaning of winter weather we get hit yet again. Snow in March. Very funny, hahaha, I get it, the joke's on me. Latin had a teacher workshop today so the two older kiddos were out of school. Being a Tuesday Katie was so excited to be spending the morning at Will's preschool. She has been talking about doing this for over a month now, and of course their schedules never allowed it until today. My original plan was to take Ben to the library to get him his own library card. Yes I know he's seven. Yes I know he should have one by now. You can only pass judgement on that if you have more children than I do. ANYWAY, Jon checked the weather, and his schedule, and decided their time would be better spent at Sugar Ski Resort in the beautiful North Carolina Mountains. Katie was so excited (I don't get it either!) to spend the morning with Will at preschool that she didn't mind one bit. My only request as the two oldest Palmer men headed out the door this morning ~ "Take lots of pictures!!" Here they are:

This was for my reaction only. Notice the rope. Jon swears they stayed on the blue diamonds all day. I will be verifying that with my oldest 'I cannot tell a lie' child in the morning.

Ben watched a lot of Olympic skiing events. He was most excited about 'tucking'.

Ben at the top. Check out the visibility. It snowed ALL DAY at the mountain and here in Charlotte. Nothing stuck here but they had inches of fresh powder. Even experienced skier husband was impressed with the conditions.

Look for Ben in the 2018 Winter Olympics!

They skied all day with only one stop in the lodge for lunch. I am hoping all the cold, wet roads will freeze so there's no school tomorrow, the little skier is going to need to sleep in!

On a completely unrelated note. Yesterday, March 1st, my sweet baby girl hit the 20 month mark. While to most people this may seem rather insignificant, it is quite a big deal in these parts. Not only did it mark Camryn turning 20 months but it also was the anniversary of me not being pregnant for 20 months. So? Well, it's official: this is the longest I have NOT been pregnant in 8 years. 20 months of not being pregnant in 8 years. Just think about that for a minute.

Crazy, no?

Are we done yet?!?!

Boy have we had a rough go of it lately. I am ready for spring. As it stands today four of the six of us are taking antibiotics. We've had sinus infections, strep throat and ear infections. It's been one sick kid after another, plus a sick Mommy. It has not been fun. But I see the light. I think the worst is over. Spring is around the corner.

Luckily we were all well enough to enjoy a visit from Chris, Kristine, Logan and baby Ella Rae. It was great to visit with them and the cousins had a blast playing together. Baby Ella is just the cutest thing, and has two older female cousins who just adore her. Camryn is convinced Ella is her own live baby doll.

Katie doting on her baby cousin. Isn't she just adorable?!?!
The only 'bright' side of the last week was the 4 inches of nice soft snow that graced us on Saturday. It was so beautiful. And fun. And now I'm ready for our normal 60 degree weather to return.

The snow started off too soft and fluffy to do anything but sit in, but as the sun grew warmer snow ball making became possible. The kids were so proud of themselves for making a snowman without any help from us big kids. They did a great job! Jesse didn't like it though and barked at the intruder in our backyard throughout the day. She was really upset when the head hell off.

My little southern belle can make a snow ball, makes a northern girl so proud.

The boys did a lot of laying in the snow.

So pretty isn't it?!?

Here was our back yard as the sun was coming up after the snowfall. The best part ....

this was our backyard as the sun was going down. I love it when it snows here, and I love it when it melts. Now that we've had our two snowstorms of the season spring can start any time. Spring can start any time. Spring can start any time. Do I need to say it again??

Winter Fun!

We finally got some snow. Well, it was almost snow. As predicted it started snowing early Saturday morning last week. I can verify that it didn't start here until after 4:50 am. I was up with one kid or another all throughout the night and kept checking on the status of the snow, hoping we'd have something by daylight. We did. Just a couple inches. The snow was followed by rain, making a perfect sledding recipe. The colds and fevers that kept the kids awake all night did nothing to contain their excitement for playing in the snow. We were all bundled up and out the door as soon as the rain let up. The next day was very sunny and quite a bit warmer making it that much more enjoyable to be outside. The melting snow and dropping temps set us up for a very slippery Monday morning and many school cancellations. As for the fevers and colds, well they are the reason this blog has waited almost a week to get posted. It's been a very long and tiring week. I'm ready for spring.

Camryn on Sunday afternoon. Check out the road. We don't get plowed-out down in the south, and when temps drop at night that mess on the roads freezes just like that.

My little snow bunny, dressed and ready to play! She loved the snow!

Ben and Kate at the bottom of our neighbors 'snow' hill. Ben was getting brave by this point. We are all lucky we didn't end up in the ER that day.

Trying hard to make a snow man. It didn't happen.

Sledding at the neighbors' house. They have the perfect slope for sledding, sending kids down into the road and back up the neighbors yard across the street. It's great when there's no one on the roads. Unfortunately the kids that live there also think it's great for riding those things you use to scoot under a car to change the oil. Yeah, they 'ride' that down the hill into the road right in front of cars. Watch for them the next time you come over.

Will's "don't take my picture" face. Makes me laugh every time.

I love the helmet. Granted they did play football for a little bit, but I think he forgot he was wearing it and kept it on the entire time we were outside.

Notice how little snow there really is. The kids had a blast anyway.

Bound to happen. Didn't stop him from doing it over and over again. Will, being smaller and more coordinated, was awesome at it. We really need to get that boy on a board on a mountain!

ROCK STAR

I can't watch this video without laughing. Out loud. Have you ever seen such a serious drummer? Dressed in a buttoned up polo tucked neatly into his belted khakis? Not your typical Rock Star, but he tries hard and he LOVES it. We are going to get him drum and guitar lessons this year as I'm sure you can imagine how painful listening to this day after day after day can be. But I love that he loves it. It's also a great outlet for him. After a hard day of being a perfect little first grader he gets to come home bang on some drums. It could be worse. Katie, Ben's partner in crime, took this video. Maybe we'll get her some videographing lessons while we are at it. This is one of her better ones.

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow ...

Or not. He does get kudos for trying though. After a little research he found out you need a power washer, an air compressor AND the correct humidity in the air. I'm sure this is not the last we will see of home snow making.

Happy New Year!!

Jon and I rang in the New Year like real adults, at a real bar listening to real live music. It was great! But before we did we threw our own little party for the kids celebrating the end of one year and beginning of the next. From party hats, to fireworks, goals for 2010 and a countdown it was a complete New Years Eve bash! The fact that the countdown was at 7:00 was only a minor detail that no one seemed bothered by.

Standing in front of our 2010 wall. (Jon and I were on our way out the door. I don't tend to hang around the house in party dresses and high heel boots, much to Jon's disappointment ~ and Katie's ;)

Jon in his very manly New Years Eve hat.


Will getting ready for the countdown.

Writing on the wall. This is our 2010 wall. There are three different sections. 1) In 2010 I WILL ... 2) In 2010 I WILL NOT ... and 3) In 2010 I want ...

I was really impressed with some of the things the kids came up with. Some of my favorites are:

In 2010 I want: to go out into outer space (Will)

In 2010 I will: make us late for school everyday (Katie). She meant to write it on the WILL NOT poster, but it's just so fitting that she put it in the 'will' poster. She does make them late everyday and it looks like that is not going to change anytime soon.

In 2010 I will NOT: listen to Camryn scream (Ben).

In 2010 I will NOT: scream at Mommy (Kate).

Jon and I contributed as well. Having goals written on the wall for all to see, and to remind yourself, makes it all seem quite binding. In 2010 I will compete in a triathlon ... guess I need to start training now that I've put that in writing huh? Jon said he was going to work less, sleep more and exercise. We are going to hold him to that.

Here are the hats we made. It was very fun breaking out the glue gun and getting rid of some of the wrapping accessories we have hanging around the house. These hats are left over from Kate's fourth birthday party, I guess being a pack rat has its advantages.

Jon and I stopped by a friend's house before heading out to Beantown (yes, as in Boston) Tavern. It felt very comforting being around all that Red Sox paraphernalia. The band we saw ~ Cloud Nine ~ was excellent! I was very impressed, especially since the drummer is Jon's trim carpenter. Many thanks to Mom to allow us to ring in the new year in adult fashion! One of the best things about 2010 ... the new no smoking rule in bars and restaurants!! YAY!! We don't get out that much, but it will be nice not coming home smelling like an ash tray when we do. Congrats to North Carolina for finally getting with the program, it's only about a decade later than the rest of the country, but this IS the south.