Disney Pictures ....the hotel

Good morning.  I realized this morning we had been back from our Disney trip for several weeks now and although I have developed nearly 600 pictures, I have not shared any with you.  

This trip was the best one we have taken with Darbee yet.  I cannot describe the feeling of magic, thankfulness, blessedness and love that overcame me when I watched her face.  I will never forget it.

We were there from Sunday till Friday.  We stayed inside Disney at the Art of Animation Resort in a Little Mermaid Room.  We loved the hotel, especially the pools.  

I would stay there again.

I won't bore you with lots of details.  I will let you see our trip through pictures.

This place was huge!  You could not stand in the front and see all of the buildings.  

There are themed sections.  There is a Cars area, a Lion King area and a Little Mermaid area.

Take a look at the lobby.

It was really pretty and colorful.

We were in the Little Mermaid section. The rooms were nice.  We had no complaints!

This towel mickey was waiting for us on our bed.

I loved how they had a shower curtain to close off the sink area for privacy.  Darbee loved it too.

She loved jumping out from behind the curtain.  Ha!

We loved the mickey soap and shampoo that was left for us each day!

We were in building 9.

Here is our room.

We lucked out and got a first floor room right in front of one of the pools.

Here is our view from right outside our door.

Isn't that pretty?

We never went swimming in this pool because it was a little deep for Darbee.

She liked the big pool near the lobby.  It started out at 1/2 ft. deep and only went to 4ft. 

How neat!  There was a huge 2ft deep area for Darbee to play and it was so neat!  

Just take a look at this pool.

It was amazing!  

When you go underwater, you can hear Ariel's music playing!  

We swam at night and it was so pretty!  Look at this.

The music was enough to motivate Darbee to learn to go underwater!  Yay!

Each night when we came back to the room, the "mousekeeper" had arranged Darbee's stuffed animals and done something cute.  

We were always excited to see what she had done.

This was my favorite!

They even arranged our toothpaste and soap in a cool folded towel!

We left her a tip each day on a card that I made.

Here are a few last pictures from our walk at night.

We had so much fun exploring this resort.  

It was a great place to stay and I would recommend it to anyone!

Getting back to a routine....

Good morning friends.  Do you smell that yummy pot of vegetable soup simmering on the stove?  If you come back to visit this evening, I will share some with you!  It smells so yummy.  

How in the world am I up and already have supper simmering on the stove?  How do I already have the beds made and all of the laundry done?  

My girl went back to school yesterday.  Can you tell I'm a bit lonely?  My house is clean. The laundry is folded.  I am lost!  

I know we will soon settle into a routine and I will probably enjoy some days of having the mommy time to myself but I will admit to anybody I am lost without her.  Is that good that we are so close?  I don't know. I think so. It was the same with my mom and myself.  Still is. Smile We have something most people don't understand or don't want.  I have never met another friend that is as close to their mom and I am or as Darbee is to me.  I love it.  Wouldn't trade it for the world.

Anyway....enough of that....If I keep rambling, you won't have to come back for supper..you can just stay on!  Hehe.

We had a nice holiday weekend.  We spent most of it at the craft fair mama and daddy set up at each Labor day weekend.  It was nice weather and they had an awesome show.  Their booth was pretty much wiped out on the last day.  It was empty!  That's a good thing.

Darbee enjoyed every minute of it.  She was right alongside Papa helping him put the tent up.

She even stole our fans to keep her doll Emily cool. Smile.

She had fun bagging up purchases and handing out business cards to those who asked. 

It won't be too long and she will want to be handling the money! Ha.

When we came home on Monday night to get ready for the first day of school, there was a package on our door steps. (wink)

Apparently, a back to school fairy had came to visit Darbee Rae!

She couldn't believe it.  She couldn't wait to get inside and open it up.

Inside were several fun goodies like a Ripley's Believe It Or Not book and some gum.

There was also a new pair of pajamas and a new shirt and a new pair of underwear.

She also brought a neat ice pack for her lunch box. How neat!

She couldn't wait to get in the tub and put on her new PJ's!  

She was so ready.

Thanks to Pinterest, I prepared a really cute simple gift for her teachers for the first day. 

I LOVE how they turned out.  I will share a tutorial in a later post.

I will definitely use this idea many more times for different holidays and occasions.

Then the big day finally arrived.

Her first day of kindergarten.

She was so excited!  She couldn't wait to go. She stays an hour longer this year and eats lunch at school.  She takes a lunch box Mon.-Thurs. and on Friday they get a hot lunch delivered from Domino's, Chick-fil-A or a locally owned restaurant up the street.  How neat!  She was very excited to take her own lunch box.

She was up early and ready to go with a big smile on her face.

There were some silly moments too!

And some "I'm so growny" moments.

After she saw me making the big sign the night before, she wanted to make her own. 

She found this mini chalkboard I had and made her very own.  Love it.

Being so goofy!

She was VERY tired when I picked her up but seemed to have a good day.

There are several people from her class last year in her room, so that is good.  

We are looking forward to a great year!

I hope if your children have started back to school, they are having a good year so far!

Until next time...

We're back!

Good evening.  It's good to be home and back in somewhat of a normal routine.  A normal routine for only about a week more.  Darbee starts school next Tuesday so the schedule will change once again and we will find a new normal.  I have a TON of pictures to share with you from our trip and I promise to post them soon.  We had a wonderful trip.  Words cannot describe how much fun we had and how amazing it was to watch Darbee's face as she took it all in.  I will never forget those looks.  

Are your little ones back in school yet?  If so, I hope they are having a great year so far.  Darbee is very excited about kindergarten.  Today was meet the teacher.  She was happy to find see several friends from last year's class in her class this year.  Both of her teachers seem really nice and we are looking forward to a fun year.

Here she is right outside her classroom door.  She can't wait for school to start!  

Here she is at her spot at her table.  It looks like a fun classroom!

We are keeping busy and enjoying some different activities.  Yesterday, we began a new adventure.  I have signed Darbee up for a homeschool art class at a local art studio here in town.  Her friend Mia and her brother also attend and told us about it.  We had the first class yesterday and it was awesome.  Since Darbee is only attending a 1/2 day kindergarten, we will be able to attend the class.  I was so glad to sign her up.  

She LOVED the class yesterday.  Each week, they will learn about several artists and their techniques and then create a piece of art related to the topic of study that week.  This week, they learned about ceramics.  They worked with clay and made pinch bowls.  They painted them and left them to dry.  They will then be fired in the kiln and they will have a really cool bowl to bring home.  It was really neat.

Here are some pictures from the class.

Darbee was so excited to work with clay.  This is not something we have worked with much at home. 

The first step was to get the air bubbles out of the clay.  This was accomplished by throwing the clay very hard onto the floor.  This looks fun huh?  Oh yea.

Then, the clay had to be formed into balls.

After that, two thumbs were inserted in the middle and then they began pinching the sides to form a bowl shape.  It was really cool watching it form.  

Then they could get creative and make their bowl look however they wished.  Darbee chose to make her sides curvy and put little indentions in the top.  It turned out really cute.

Last, they painted them with a glaze.

Darbee chose purple, white and blue.

I can't wait to see the finished product.  We are already looking forward to next week's class!

We are looking forward to a fun weekend at the craft fair with Nana and Papa.  I hope all of you have a fun weekend too! 

Until next time....

Do you Instagram?

I have a new addiction.  I must confess.  Along with Blogger, Facebook and Pinterest, I am now an Instagram addict!  Not only am I, Darbee Rae loves looking on there too.  She enjoys looking at the pictures and now that you can post videos, she LOVES watching the videos.  

So.....are you on Instagram?  I would love to follow you as well as you follow me!

You can find me under the name:  enjoyingthejourney82

I look forward to following you!

My How Things Change....

Good evening friends!  I hope all of you have had a great day.  It has been another HOT one here but a fun day for us.  We enjoyed a play date with one of Darbee's buddies from school, Mia.  We met for lunch and the girls enjoyed an afternoon of playing at Monkey Joe's.  We had a great time. 

They were being silly and about to slide down a big slide!

Darbee looks so grown up in this picture!  She is  growing up so fast.  Wow.

Let me tell you.  In my last post, she had just lost a tooth after a LONG battle trying to get it out.  She cried and worried about that tooth for over a week.

Well.....BOTH of the bottom two were loose.  Once that one came out, the other one got very loose pretty quick.  Darbee decided that one needed to come out too.  She has done nothing but wiggle it since then. Yesterday, she showed it to me and said she decided it needed to be very loose so she had pulled on it a lot.  She had succeeded and it was very loose.  It was almost ready to come out. 

Fast forward to last night.  We were watching a movie.  Darbee crawls up in my lap and is minding her own business.  I thought she was watching the movie.  All of a sudden, she screams and puts the tooth in front of my face!  I think I panicked!  She had puller her own tooth!  Wow how things changed from the last one!  She was so excited and so proud of herself.  She said she decided the last one didn't hurt so this one shouldn't either and pulled it on her own!

Now she has a BIG hole! 

Silly girl.

She has one more loose on top but I informed her it is NOT to be bothered for a while.  smile.

The tooth fairy is going to go broke! LOL.  

My little girl is growing up.....

Until next time...

Something's missing.....

Good morning!  It's such a pretty day here.  The sun is shining bright but it is going to be HOT! Where is fall?  I am so ready to pull out the pumpkins and start decorating.  What about you?  When do you decorate? I think I will wait until after Labor day and then bring it all out.  

We have been busy with our last few weeks of summer.  School went back here in our County but thankfully with Darbee being at a private school, she doesn't go back until after Labor Day.  Woohoo!  We can go to the park now during the day with no crowds and we have already taken advantage of that!  We are squeezing in a few last play dates next week and enjoying every bit of time we have before she returns.

I have to say thank you to all of you who commented and sent well wished for Stacy.  He is feeling much better.  I think he is gonna make it now..smile.  You all are so kind and I told him about all of your comments. 

Do you remember losing teeth as a child?  I sure do.  It was always a big deal.  It would be finally loose enough to be pulled and I would chicken out.  I would cry.  I would hide.  I wouldn't open my mouth.  I was scared it was going to hurt. But I can remember being soooo excited once my daddy finally got it out.  I was like a new person. Smile.

Darbee's first tooth was pulled at the dentist.  It wasn't a big deal.  She was numb and it was out.  But this was her first one that was wiggly.  It was finally loose and needed to come out.  She really wanted it out but just as her mama was scared, so was she.  There were lots of moments like this over the last week.

I felt so bad for her.  It was aggravating but she was so scared it was gonna hurt.  We finally decided to let Papa try to get it out.  After more tears at his house, he said it wasn't ready.  He told her he could get it but it would hurt a little bit.  NO WAY!  He told her to wiggle it some more for the next few days and it would really be ready.  I think that is all she did.  She worked with it so much she had it all the way out in the back.  It was only being held by a little bit of skin in the front.  She still wouldn't let anyone near her mouth.  :)  

I finally told her (once I knew it was now really ready to come out) that it had to be out before our Disney trip.  I knew she was nervous but I also knew it wasn't going to hurt a bit now.  It was so ready. 

I begged and begged her to let her daddy or Papa pull it.  No way.  

Thursday night, Stacy was brushing her teeth as he always does and I was listening to the talk as they normally do.  Their conversations are sometimes so entertaining. They finished brushing and it was time for her mouthwash.  I sort of tuned them out knowing she would come running in the living room to me like she always does when they are done.  But she didn't.  Things got might quiet in there.  I asked what they were doing and Stacy said he was just looking at that tooth.  I heard no whimpering or crying so I knew he wasn't pulling it.  Just a second later, she comes running in the living room screaming and jumping and laughing.  I took one look at her and I knew it.  The tooth was gone!  She was beside herself.  No tears....no pain....her daddy got it out!!!  She was thrilled.

She couldn't stop screaming and laughing.  She was so proud of herself. 

I was so proud too!  The tooth fairy would come and she could finally use her new tooth fairy pillow I made for her.

I didn't think she was ever going to calm down enough to sleep, but she finally did and the tooth fairy did come. 

The tooth fairy left a letter also!  She explained that she left her a few extra dollars to spend on her trip to Disney. She also explained how brave Darbee was and how proud she was of her.

Darbee was so excited when she woke up!  She read the letter to me and couldn't wait to call daddy and Nana.

She is so proud and wants the other ones out now! LOL.  She has two more wiggly ones! 

I think the tooth fairy needs a job!

Before she went to bed, she wanted to write a story about losing her tooth.  She wanted to write it all by herself with no help from mommy or daddy.

She got her stuff and began to write.  When she was finished, this is what she showed me.  I think she did pretty good for a kid who hasn't started kindergarten yet huh?  She sounded out her words all by herself.  I am so proud of her.

I must explain.  The sentence that says her daddy was brushing her teeth, e, her tooth wiggled.

They have a method for brushing.  They brush Ahh, sides, e and tongue.  LOL.  "E" is the front.  SMILE.  She knew what she was writing about. :)  So cute and something I will treasure forever. 

I hope you all have a fabulous weekend.

Until next time....