Disney Day 5

Before plunging headlong into the holiday season, and its inherent craziness, (and necessary picture-taking) I must re-visit (and finish!) documenting our Disneyland trip. Day 5 was great. No rain, and Laura got to join us for the second half of the day (after spending the morning hours in the hotel lobby correcting Boring Papers from her English students). (No offense to the English students, but Disneyland is waaay funner.)

We had Magic Morning passes for this day, which allowed us 

(and a non-magical number of many others) to get into the park

 an hour before it opened to the public. We figured Peter Pan 

and Dumbo were our best bets since those lines are notoriously 

long, and I am a certified Impatient Line-Waiter-Inner.

Lex proved to be an excellent elephant flyer.

Our family of 5 sitting cozily in a teacup.

Small World was such a big hit with the girls...and me too. 

(Speaking of small worlds, did I mention that we 

ran into a family from Julia's school when 

we were in line for the teacups? So random.)

The happiest Daddy that ever sailed...

Meeting Mickey. Lex sure loves this guy from a distance.

(Julia was having a moment and opted out of the photo.)

Here's Lexa-Boom contemplating shoelaces 

and pumpkins and not meeting the height 

requirement for the Toon Town roller coaster.

Thankfully Goofy's Garden offered a reprieve from her cares.

(It was harder to get this shot than you might think...)

Roger Rabbit's cartoon spin. Lots of fun if you don't spin.

(And if you ignore the scantily-clad state of Jessica Rabbit.)

We thought these kids were so cute

 we decided to help them post bail.

This one swore she was innocent anyway...

Cheetos are a good way to get a toddler through 

the long line at the Haunted Mansion.

I know, right? She could totally be my kids' mom.

3 of my favorite people ready to meet their Doom...

Buggy. Julia looks scared already.

Towards the end of the day, we staked out a place 

to watch Fantasmic, feasted on Subway sandwiches 

(smuggled in by Craig) and took turns either sitting 

with Lexa or going on Splash Mountain with the older girls. 

Euphoria on a log ride. 

Laura was kind enough to accompany the girls 

on Splash Mountain approximately 100 times.

Snuggling up before Fantasmic

My doppelganger and her Vannakin.

(looks like I wasn't the only one 

struggling with multiple chins that day...)

The Family That Plunges Together...Stays Together

A recent leak under the kitchen sink meant that we had to take everything out of the sink cupboards to save it from total wetness and ruination. Tired though they were, the girls wasted no time and got to work plunging the kitchen floor.

(Savanna has also been known to get a plunger hopelessly stuck to the floor of a certain bathroom implements aisle at Target.)

Time Flies on Wings of Lightning...

I just realized last night that Alexa is almost the exact same age that Julia was when we moved here. I don't know if it's because J is my oldest and Lex is my youngest, but Lex seems so much more like a baby at this age than Julia did. (The fact that Julia was about to become a big sister probably has something to do with this.) I just cannot get over how fast the time has gone. (And how old this means that I am).

I love my little near-twinners and all their sweet cuteness.

p.s. if you find that you have "Improve the Shining Moments" running through your head as a result of this post title, I accept full responsibility.

History Repeats Itself

I have gone to the mall enough times in the past few months to know that the unfortunate styles of the 80s are back in full swing. (Enough times = one time.) Julia and Savanna's daily request for a side ponytail has also helped to confirm this. I'm not happy about it, but I figure I can wait it out and it won't kill me.

Sadly, I recently discovered that it is much worse than I had first anticipated:

(Maybe it will kill me after all.)

Where Have I Been?

No, seriously! Where the heck have I been? What on earth have I been doing? Not blogging, that's for sure. In case you keep count (which I'm sure you don't) I have posted only once this month, and I'm not sure it even counts because it was one picture and one sentence. (Okay, we'll count it if you insist.) The other fab posts this month originated from my fab husband. (We'll just say he has more free time than I do.) And while I go through my days with half-written blog posts knocking into each other in my very frazzled brain, they have yet to make their appearance here.

Busy. That's how life feels. All. The. Time. When someone asks if anything new is going on with me, I always say, "Nope, we're just staying busy." And it's true. I feel a little bit like I'm in the business of busyness. (It's booming, I tell you, but the pay isn't great.) The sad thing is, I always have an idea of what I want to do "when I have a second." For instance, I find myself carrying a coveted book around with me, dragging it upstairs and downstairs, just so that it will be within reach when I get a moment to actually crack it open. I bet you know how this story ends. I don't crack it open. Or, if I do, my sweet youngest child sees me actually sitting and plops herself on my lap so that I can read to her. (And she doesn't want to hear my book, either. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad if she did...) The real problem is, with all of life's daily requirements, there are no seconds. (No spare ones, anyway.) And while I am not disdainful of my life's responsibilities in the least, the fact remains that actual spare time is often more illusion than reality.

Oh, and if life weren't already overwhelmingly busy, Thanksgiving and Christmas are around the corner. Which means: there will be even less seconds to spare. Which means: extensive list-making, grocery shopping, meal planning, present wrapping, party attending, Christmas card sending, etc etc. Which means: Can I possibly be more tired than I already am? Which means: Will I ever blog again?

Because the alternative is just too sad to bear, we'll just say yes.

I guess I'll see you in January.