a little end of the year family time
I married not only an amazing guy, but one that came with a really great family. I’m very grateful for that. We got to get away for a few days to spend time with most of his family (one sister and her family couldn’t join us). My kids LOVE being with their cousins. The downside of the trip involved 3+ hours in the car…which to me is horrible. I don’t do road trips. To occupy some of my time I created my version of New Year’s resolutions. I don’t really do resolutions, but I do like to make tangible fun goals that I want to accomplish during the course of the year. This year I decided to pick a handful of projects from Martha Stewart….you’ll be seeing more of these!
We hardly brought any toys…they had cousins. FireCracker’s favorite toy was a box. Thankfully we also got a bit of nice weather to play outside
My oldest isn’t pictured because he spent the day golfing with the big guys.
I took my nieces to see the movie Tangled. I cried. The last time I saw a Disney princess movie was over a decade again. Back then I identified with the young girls in the movies. Now I am a mom. I identify with the mom in the movie. So I left the movie disturbed and sad. My nieces thought it was funny and loved it. All a matter of perspective. As I thought about the movie and Disney movies in general I’ve decided Disney does not like moms. Think about it….in nearly all Disney movies the mom is either dead, wicked or out of the picture (Cinderella, Beauty & the Beast, Little Mermaid, Nemo, Bambi, etc.)
I also did not realize how much princess movies play on girl emotions. I am not an emotional girl, but after one princess movie I am back to the good guys beating the bad guys and saving the world. I don’t know how you moms of lots of girls do it! But I am sure if I had 3 girls I would be bewildered by how boy moms deal with all the destruction and fighting.
Though there was another room with a bed for them to use our kids wanted to all be together each night. They are so cute when they sleep.
We had one big family outing….
The outing was to The Dixie Stampede (kind of a southern dinner theatre but with lots of horses catered towards families). It was a huge hit. Thanks Grandpa & Grandma!
My very favorite pictures from the trip happened on a whim. We were all getting ready to head out for dinner and my kids were ready to go. FireCracker was sporting a new dress her Pappy (my dad) picked out for her. I wanted some pics of her in it and convinced Biggest Brother to join in. I took them against a building next to our parking lot. I love these because they truly reflect their relationship. He began counting how many years are between them (6) and she started copying him.
I am messing around with some changes to see if this blog will load for you faster. I’d love to hear if it is working at all.
Mornings are high traffic times, so it is always slower then…but it shouldn’t be as slow as it has been!