Gloomy Weather and more

Well, the sunshine state is totally gloomy today. So is my mood. The cold doesn't bother me since I grew up in Elkhart, IN, which is on the Indiana/Michigan line and near Notre Dame. But gloom definitely bothers me.

They've actually canceled school for tomorrow. I have to go out anyway because Jasmine has an orthodontist appointment. But once home I plan to do nothing. Anyone who can cooperate can just watch Disney movies all day!! Update: all appts canceled, and one child brought home a terrible report of how she was mean, rude and inappropriate to others today so one will be in her room.

Adam moved into an apartment with a friend at the beginning of the week. (The above picture is only what he took at the time. He has lots more still here.) Our adult children are welcome to stay as long as they are in college or working toward some other goal. But Adam has decided to just work full time at Church's Chicken for now and do Marine reserves. I told him he needed a plan in place by next fall--such as going to college or doing active reserve or something. But he went ahead and moved in with a friend now rather than wait until fall, and that is probably a good thing for him. He likes to run around half the night, so he will be able to do that without having to be accountable to us. He is a very social person. 

I think he will do well, but I hope he plans to do more with his life than just work at Church's Chicken. I know  he wants to, but he needs to start taking the steps to make it happen. He hasn't yet done what he needs to in order to start college in the fall or to get his drivers license. I set everything up for his permit when he was 16, and he took the drug course, but never actually took the written test for the permit. The drug certification expired after 18 months.

I took Rick to Outback for dinner one night. We haven't really made going out a priority, but we are working on that. I think we need the time for just the two of us. We are still planning on a few days away in March. The Dr thought he had a hernia that was going to need surgery, but it's stomach issue instead and will be treated with meds.

The twins have been home four years now. They came home January 25, 2010.

So we took a little time out from homework to play and celebrate.

Jasmine does not like dresses at all, and I share that!! I had to wear them snow, sleet or whatever for six years to a Baptist school. I do not even own a dress anymore!! I got Jasmine this outfit for church. I'm not picky about what the kids wear to church as long as their heart and their attitudes are good and the clothing is clean and appropriate. (Some of the girls wear booty shorts and camisoles when it's warm!! Not my girls.)

So, that's it from here. How are you all dealing with the weather? Snow days?

Disney

Our tickets were the military special four day park hopper passes. We had two days left on them. Rick hadn't gone before, so he used his first two.

The first day we started at Epcot. We stayed there until about 2 p.m. Then we left Adam and Jasmine there and took the twins back to the hotel to nap with the intent of going to Magic Kingdom later. They were also getting a bit nasty with us, so we felt they needed to leave for a while.

Epcot

He didn't buy it. He might have if it weren't over $20.

Ready to go on Mission Space.

Our team for Mission Space.

Test track

Trying soda from around the world.

Loving the Italy soda.

We went back to Magic Kingdom about 7 p.m. (We left way before that, but you have to take the tram, then the monorail, then go through bag check etc). We stayed until midnight. Everyone was doing well at this time. We would have stayed until it closed at 1 a.m. but we would have been in a massive traffic jam.

Magic Kingdom

Day two we went to Hollywood Studios. Being a holiday, it was packed! Wall to wall people.

We went back to Magic Kingdom, but all the rides had 1-2 hour rides or longer. We don't really have any time we can go that isn't crowded because of school. But Monday was just over-the-top crazy. And as you know from the last post, Rick and I ended up sitting time out with the twins a majority of the time.

But, Rick and I are going to try and get away by ourselves a few days in March, and since he has two days on his pass, we may go back by ourselves. Not my first choice, but affordable. We've been away alone very few times in our 25 1/2 years of marriage. So we're just going to make it happen.

Back from Disney

We drove down to Orlando on Saturday. We used the last two days of our passes on Sunday and Monday. Monday was wall-to-wall people with two hour lines on the rides due to it being a holiday. I knew that was a possibility, but it being a holiday also meant we had time to go.

It started out pretty well Sunday, but on Monday it fell apart because the twins were running wild and when they had to wear wrist leashes (It was really wall-to-wall people so not wearing them would have been a safety issue.) So they went into super pout mode. To the point where other people were noticing. At the Wreck it Ralph photo spot, the lady there even commented on the large pouts. She was trying to get them to smile, but I told her just take it. So here's what we got:

So, happiest place on earth, but they have to pout because we won't let them run wild. They don't realize that not everyone gets to go to Disney.

I have other pictures and even some smile ones that I'll post later.

So, What Color Are Your Eyes?

I have two blue eyed children. And I have blue eyes. Mine are a bit grayish so I'd guess toward gunmetal blue. But I'm not sure. None of us exactly match any of them.

I have five brown eyed children. They are pretty much between chocolate and nut brown.

Green eyes are pretty rare, so it's funny that almost all the romance books have a green eyed protagonist in them.


So what color are your eyes?

Monday Again

We are kind of in a rut here. Not much new going on to post about. Things are kind of blah right now.

Sunday was Adam's birthday. Here are a few photos.

Pretty much everything he wanted was Nike. But while he was at training, he acquired so much Nike (that we didn't know about and went off his Christmas list) that he now has doubles of most things, like Lebron Soldiers etc.

Nineteen

Adam is sort of at loose ends because he did reserves planning to go to college. But he didn't do what he needed to in order to go to college. So he's home with not much to do but run around all day and night with friends. That ended today though because we think that adult children who are not in college need to be working. So he went back to work at Church's, but only for a few hours.

Mostly we are going crazy with homework, history fair and such. It's been rainy and gloomy and I think that's been affecting my moods a lot. We need some real sun. I need the beach. Sigh.

We've been to see Frozen three times (some of us). Tyler, Jessica and Jasmine went to the 10:20 p.m. showing of Hobbit and got home at almost 2:00 a.m. on one of the last nights before Christmas vacation ended. Tyler ended up going back to KY a day later than planned because his flight was canceled on the 6th due to cold temperatures in Nashville where all the kids fly into and are then taken the rest of the way by  bus. Different groups of the kids went to see Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs both at the cheap theater and then free at the bowling alley a week later. So, as you can tell, not a lot of excitement.

One thing that happened though is that we found out the kids have both the 20th and 21st off of school. We still have two days left on our four day Disney passes we got in order to take Adam to celebrate his graduation. So everyone except Jessica (who can't get off of work) is headed to Disney next weekend. I'm hoping we don't have cold rain in Orlando during that time.

Their first adoption! The white one is a boy and the darker one is a girl. They can't come home for a few weeks because they are just newborns.

Monday

Monday. And we are back to a normal schedule.

Adam and Jasmine made a rice krispy treat train last week.

The girls played some Just Dance

And played with Travis, who loves his new duck.

We celebrated my birthday two days early because Tuesdays are crazy and also Ty won't be here tomorrow.

We had a bit of trouble getting a good picture. Someone said something that set everyone off right before the timer went off.

The girls doing their Miley imitation.

Let's pile on mom.

The three kings have arrived just in time for Three Kings Day today.

Shoes were filled. We have a work boot, hiking boot, marine boot, scuba dive "boot," rubber work boot, new running shoe and casual shoe.

breakfast

The kids are back to school today, and Ty flies out today. Only Adam is at loose ends because he didn't do what he needed to in order start college today. So no college for him this semester.


Hope you are all staying warm today. Who all has a snow day?

Just Hanging Out

We have been mostly at home during this vacation with a few trips out to the movies with different combinations of people. Rick and I went to The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, and Tyler, Jasmine and a couple of neighbors went to Ender's Game. Jasmine and I went to Catching Fire, but we weren't that thrilled with it even though we really liked the first one. Tyler, Jasmine and Kaleb with to Cloudy 2 and some of us went to Frozen. We try to see the ones at the $1 theater when possible, but the new movies don't get there for a couple of months. Jessica has been working every day.

Jessica made a wolf blanket for Hunter for his birthday.

Hunter turned 25 on Sunday.

Rick's parents sent money for Christmas and we went out to eat with it. We went to Applebees.

I bought a Nike sweatshirt, but it was too small. Jasmine took it. A little big on her. Love this girl!!! (Yes, all of my kids, but Jasmine and I have a special bond due to her struggles).

We did Bible verse tattoos.

I think some girls  were wanting Santa to leave him under their tree :)

New Year's Eve

It was kind of boring so we went down and got three neighbor "kids." Jordan (left) is going to be walking across the country next summer to raise money for water in Africa.

Yesterday we finally got to the bowling alley. I haven't bowled in about two years, and the first game was horrid.

We had the bumpers up for Kaleb for the first game but he bragged so much about his score that Adam took the bumpers off. Then Kaleb pretty much pouted the rest of the time.

So that's what we've done this vacation.