Monday, March 31, 2008

You asked for it!

Well all I needed was one person to say I could blab all I wanted about my upcoming trip. So I am going to start with how we decided where to stay. Did you know Disney has hotels for every budget, economy, moderate and deluxe. They have them in all areas of their park and they even have DVC, Disney Vacation Club. (DVC is a timeshare)

Before our last WDW trip I studied everything I could get my hands on and decided to rent points from a DVC owner. This got us really great accommodations at a fraction of the price. It wasn't as cheap as economy but was really close to moderate prices. It was nerve racking finding someone to rent points from. The reservations are really not yours, they are still the owners so you have to trust that they will make book your reservations and not take off with all your hard earned Disney money. It worked last year so we decided to do it again for our upcoming 2009 trip. We are renting points to stay in a 2 bedroom DVC unit at Saratoga Springs Resort. This also gets us a nice living area, kitchen and laundry machines. SSR is close to Downtown Disney but further then other hotels to the parks. But the Disney transportation is great so we don't care.

We had discussed getting a condo off site as you can rent one for a great price. But Ben does not want to rent a car and drive. He likes that once he arrives at the airport Disney does it all. They pick you up from the Orlando airport, for free, and take you to your hotel. Then you can use Disney transportation for everything else, buses, boats and monorail. So he vetoed my idea of saving money for his idea of vacation. O, how I love vacation!

Thursday, March 27, 2008

Disney on the brain


Last week I booked our January 2009 vacation! So now I keep checking flight prices, looking at restaurants I want to go to, what extra activities I want us to do, What clothes I may need to make, etc. It is so fun. We are taking Ben's parents, Grammy and Papa. They have never been so I want them to have a good time and I want to make lots of memories for our kids. July 5 I get to call and make my ADR's for Disney food. That means our Advanced Dining Reservations. :) So between now and then I know I will perfect a schedule then scratch it and make a more perfect schedule a thousand times. I am also buying transfer papers to try my hand at some iron ons for some tee shirts and making the kids activity books for the plane.

I love to plan. I think when my kids get older I may look into being a travel agent. I just get such a high from this. Because of this you will probably hear more then you want of my trip to Disney World before now and January!! O, and did I say I will be there in time to see some of the great Christmas decorations and events. YIPPEE. I love the holidays.

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

I have a 6 year old!

Today is Alicia's 6th Birthday. 6 sounds so big! Six years ago today it was snowing! At this time six years ago I wasn't even sure if I was having a girl or a boy! We were blessed with a little girl though. Alicia Elizabeth!

She started off her morning with a smoothie (her favorite) and then daddy took of some time off work to take her to school. Then I will go into her class today and bring homemade chocolate chip cookies (that her and daddy made together last night) for her party. After school is out we will head into Salem to eat lunch with daddy and open presents. Tonight is AWANA so there is not time between when daddy gets home and they leave to have dinner, cake and open presents! What a busy day. Sunday we are taking one best friend and one cousin to see Horton Hears A Who! This is what she has been planning for about a month when she saw it was coming out right around her birthday. :) They even have it here in Stayton at the Star Cinema so we will save some money by not having to go to Salem to watch it.

Saturday, March 8, 2008

NOT BIG winners at SCS Auction

I must begin this with an apology to Karen. I brought my camera took it out right away to take some pictures and it told me I had no memory card!! So sorry. So I will try to be a bit more detailed.


Well we had a good time but it was a bit disappointing. :) Both Ben and I went wanting to buy two things and then everything else we bought would be cream. We wanted a class ceramic Alicia's class created and we wanted 1/2 cow. Last year the 1/2 cow went for $400.00. Those were oral auctions. So first we did the silent auctions and each won some stuff. They have tables around the room and each section has a color that ends at a certain time. As you make your way around the room the stuff gets a bit better. While you are waiting for these auctions to end you get to eat a salad, then dinner and then dessert.


Then the oral auction started. Ben bid for awhile and ended up winning a golf package. So he will be golfing a lot this summer. :) He even plans to take Alicia and start teaching her! Then came my platter. I thought it would be nice to say I have Alicia's Kindergarten plate! Some dishes earlier had gone at $1000.00 to $250.00 so I wasn't sure how high we would have to go. Ben did the bidding and when it got to the 5 hundreds I made him stop. Just too high for my blood. Even for a good cause. But I am so regretting it now. I wanted that plate!!!! Then later was the meat. We bid against some man I did not know and he was relentless. We told ourselves 700 was our out but we bid higher and finally gave up when it got in the 800's! So NO meat and NO plate! Pooey.


Then it was time for the raffle drawings. Sadly my chances at 1 in 6 for the school tuition had gone to like 1 in 50. And I did not win. We also did not when a door prize, dinner raffle or Hawaii prize either. :) Alicia asked me this morning if we were going to Hawaii to see the things that blow up? I had to tell her sadly that was not in our future.


It was a fun night. The men the school hires to do the oral auction are SOOO funny. They are so good at their job. It made for a very fun evening away from our children. And we came home and pouted while eating the Mountain Man goodies I won. :)

Friday, March 7, 2008

Stayton Christian School Annual Auction

Tonight is SCS Annual auction, silent and oral. Ben and I went last year and had a really good time. We bought all kinds of things but the big item was blinds for our kitchen and dining room. I have been really looking forward to this years Serengeti Safari themed auction, which is tonight. It starts at 5:30 so it is like a count down until I get the babysitter and Ben and I get to go out and see friends from the community, eat dinner and bid on cool things. I also bought two different raffle tickets. One ticket is for a trip to Hawaii and the other for a full year scholarship next year!! I am hoping to come home a BIG winner. :)

SO just 7 hours until I am kid free and able to shop to my hearts delight! I will post later with the big wins!

Monday, March 3, 2008

My sweet little boy


Last week I was doing a puzzle with Ethan. I looked over and was taken back. He had this burn on his nose and forehead! I asked what happened and he really has no idea. Then yesterday at Papa and Grammy's he fell off the truck sand box and gave himself a fat lip. His face is just a mess. :) I cannot wait until it heals but part of me is a bit afraid. The last time he scratched his face pretty bad it left a nice scar down his cheek. I sure hope these do not leave scars too. Pretty soon they will call him scarface!

Sunday, March 2, 2008

In a good mood

I am in the mood to write something to you all (I am in a good mood) but am clueless as to what. It has been a good weekend. Friday night we had our small group and it was a time of honesty and therefore a time of growth in our friendships. It also convicted me of my prayer time with Him. I need to be in prayer more for my friends and family. I am excited to really work on this area of my life.

Then Saturday night we had our old friends the Riddles over. This is always a fun time. We eat and play games while the kids play. Jill brought matching nightgowns for the girls and they looked so cute.

One of my friends had a baby girl Friday, leap day. I have been really excited for this friend to have her baby but when I heard it was a leap day baby I got even more excited. What a rare child Amara is. The odds of having a leap year child is 1 in 1,461!

Well I am off to teach little 4 and 5 year olds about Jesus this morning. I haven't taught in a class that my children haven't been in EVER so this will be a new experience.