My Sister, the Genius

Sorry Steph, this one's not about you. And it's not a compliment to Jack either. Although this did come directly from her and I believe her description was "one for the blog".

Yesterday, after Rea got out of school, she went with my parents up to G-ville to pick up my sister Jack. If you regularly read my blog or actually know us, you know that Jack doesn't come down to the 561 often. So this was a real treat... What's the occasion you ask? LaLa is another year more wonderful... but I will get to her birthday party in another entry.

Rea was psyched about going. She loves flying and her Aunt Jack.

Around 9pm my parents dropped Rea off. I was a bit surprised not to see Jack in the car with them. Mom told me that Jack's friend Richard had flown home too, and Jack had taken Mom's car to drive him home.

Sounds simple enough, right? Drive your friend home... you guys went to high school together. It's not like you don't know where he lives. It's not like HE doesn't know where he lives. He is in the car with you to give you directions.

Well, apparently they had a bit of a rough time finding their way. They ended up about 45 minutes north of the airport. Jack said they probably U-turned 6 times on their journey. The best part is that Jack figured out that from the time they took off in G-ville to the time she made it to my parents' house was the same as if she had driven the entire way. Flying was a complete waist of time.

Hahaha.

And UF grads think they are sssooooooooo smart. *eye roll*

Valentine's Day

I know this is late... my computer crashed, taking with it all of my photos. BLAH.

I just got it back and have imported the pics from my cell phone. So now I can finally begin updating my very behind blog.

Valentine's day, and any other holiday, is very important to Rea. She likes to decorate. She likes to prepare and do something special, since they aren't normal days.

We made a LOVE frame which is still hanging in my living room. I think it turned out great. Rea picked the spot on our wall for it to go. We are moving in a couple months, that's why I let my toddler decorate the house. I don't think I would give her as much control over the walls if we were going to be here long-term.

Next, we decorated hearts to hang in the window. I found these colorful hearts and little stickers at Target. They were perfect! (and inexpensive)

 I asked Rea to tell me the things she loves... and I would write them on the hearts for her. Below is her list. Then about 10 minutes later, she grabbed a stack of hearts and asked me the same question. When Shane came home, she did it to him too. Rea tried to ask Ri but he had no idea what she was talking about. It was the cutest thing ever!

Notice I didn't make her list. 

These are my loves: Rea, Disney & books.

Then when Feb 14 rolled around, Rea and I made brownies the night before, and for breakfast we cut them into hearts. Rea decorated them with beautiful sprinkles and served them to Daddy. Yum.

Is It May 1st Yet?

Yesterday, my mom and I decided to take the kiddos up for a day trip to Disney. It's been over a month since my last visit and the withdrawal was almost physical. The kids (shock) were super excited to go. Mom picked us up around 7:30, we took her car so that Shane wouldn't be stuck in the house all day without one (this tidbit will be important later). 

All buckled up, food in hand, and we were off!

Ri ate and played with Grammie's phone. Rea ate and played with the iPad. Rea is very interested in words. She knows how to write all letters, upper and lower case. She knows they each have a sound (or two). The thing she is hooked on now is how to spell stuff. She has a large amount of words memorized already, and she is constantly asking, "How do you spell ____?"

Yesterday in the car, Rea was typing in the "notes" app. She was spelling things, asking for the correct spelling, trying to sound words out. Then she says, "How do you spell EO? Like Michael Jackson is Captain EO at Epcot." Mom and I tried to suppress a giggle. Then I say, "It's just like it sounds: E-O."

So we made it.

Rea wanted to try something new this time... so we went on Test Track (with Fast Passes).

She got a little freaked out by the crash test dummies in line. 

We had a great time - as usual. Then it was time to go. Ri passed out almost immediately in the car. Rea talked the ENTIRE way home. She was definitely in rare form. She wanted me to take some pictures of her... so here is my goofball:

She's a nutball.

I tried to convince my mother to take the kiddos for the night, but she wouldn't listen to me. Don't worry Mom, May 1st will be here soon! And Steph, yes I am purposely making your birthday week about me. You are welcome =)

Play Our Disney Game

My family plays a game called "Where Am I?" We take pictures and text them to the group and the first person to correctly identify the exact location of the photo, wins. Simple, right?

Here are my pics from yesterday - See if you know, post your answers in the comment section. Sorry Jack and Steph, my phone was acting silly and I was unable to send a lot your way.

#1

#2

Sorry, I just like this shirt... thought it was funny. 

#3

#4

#5

#6

#7

So, how'd you do?

Pajama Day!

This actually happened in January, but we have been so busy, I haven't been good about keeping my blog up-to-date. Sorry. I will try to be more diligent.

The 2nd Half of January

A lot has been going on. I haven't really been diligent about photographing and blogging our lives. But, I have a few things to share.

Ri had eye surgery. It went WAY better than we expected! Our doctor was amazing! Ri was a total professional.

He's totally related to me.... laughing and cracking jokes before surgery.

Pooh is ready to be super snuggly for Buddy

The nurse said he never cried. He woke up, looked at her, held out his hands and said "HI!"

The ride home was rough...

It was a difficult few hours. Luckily, Ri slept most of it off. 

Rea practiced her photography skills.

After she figured out that if she was taking the pictures, she wasn't in any of them, she posed for a few.

Then we flew to Gainesville to pick up some stuff from UF for our framing company.