Christmas in Florida: Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve was much different for us this year. We had planned on spending most of the day at the pool. (It was heated) But, it was so cold that we didn't want to have to walk back to our condo wet, or eat lunch wet at the pool.So we just relaxed in the condo that morning. We ate lunch at Chili's, and then we decided to go back to Downtown Disney. We just wanted to do some more shopping down there. So we went, and Michael made a cute shirt at the t-shirt design place, and we ended up getting three. So yes, we were those people with the matching t-shirts the next day. :) I ended up (finally, I'd been looking for almost 3 years) getting a really good milk and cookie platter for Santa. I'd been looking for one that I could use for years with all of my children. I had a plastic one from Target that I knew the writing would all eventually come off. So, now we have a glass one. Then we went to Goofy's Candy Factory, and we bought our traditional snickerdoodle cookies (that Alexis and I normally make homemade). See, told ya it was different for us! And, we ate dinner at a sandwich place. Then we got home pretty early again. We got baths and set out our cookies and milk, and Daddy read The Night Before Christmas to us on the ipad. Then we went to bed (all of us) because we were exhausted and Christmas was going to be a very busy day.

Christmas in Florida: Magic Kingdom

We got to the Magic Kingdom parking lot about an hour before the park opened, which was perfect. We parked in the first parking lot by the gate, we were able to easily get a stroller, there was no wait in line for tickets, and we walked onto the monorail. When we were getting tickets the lady gave Alexis and Michael first visit buttons, and a tip on the parade that Santa Clause would only end the 3:00 parade. So that was the one we aimed for. When we got to the main entrance of the park (right when it opened) there was NO ONE there. We were very shocked as Christmas time is usually almost as busy as summer at the theme parks. We were sure that it would get busy in no time at all, but it never did. We walked on and off rides all day, we meet characters, and the only two things that we didn't get to do that we wanted to were Peter Pan's Flight, and Space Mountain because both of those lines were 75 minutes long. Everything else was about 10. Out of the character's we got to meet all three of the princesses that were there, Belle, Cinderella, and Jasmine. We were able to just walk right in to meet them, and as soon as we walked in the room Alexis started yelling, "Cinderella, Belle Mommy, BELLE, BELLE, BELLE!!" Belle was not meeting anyone yet, (We were third in line) so she came over to the line to talk to Alexis, and gave her a little special attention, and gave her a big hug! It was very nice of her to do that. Alexis was not afraid of the princesses...she was in awe of them! She walked right up to them all, but she didn't talk much. She just had a huge grin on her face, and a look of "I can't believe I'm talking to the princesses!!" It was so worth it, and of course no wait which made it perfect! Then we went over to the fairies. We had to wait a little bit for them, but not more than 15 minutes. Alexis' reaction was priceless. God bless whoever decided to put a video camera on the iphone 4 because Michael was able to catch all of her precious reactions. I may try to figure out how to post them on here from his phone. She was beside herself, excited to meet the people that plaster her bedroom and bathroom. She was so excited about meeting them all that she couldn't concentrate on the fairy that she was with, she kept looking onto the next fairy. Again, she walked right up to them, and was speechless. :)All in all, a perfect day. We rode all the rides we wanted (except the two), saw the parades, met characters, saw shows, and just had a lot of fun. We also saw them light the castle for Christmas, which was magical and beautiful, and we had to race to buy sweat shirts because it was freezing!! That we weren't expecting because the weather was suppose to be in the low 70's. I will post pictures of this later. All of the pictures are on Michael's computer, and I am writing this on mine. So, the next day was Christmas Eve...our day of rest.

Christmas in Florida: Downtown Disney

I haven't had a Christmas in Florida for a very long time. Every other year we would go to Florida for Christmas to visit my grandparents (for a while both sets), great grandparents, and my aunt, uncle, and cousins. But, it had been a while and this time I had my husband and daughter in tow. When we got to our hotel we decided to go to Downtown Disney for dinner. We had been to Downtown Disney as a family once before. The previous summer when Alexis was just 1 year old. When we got there Alexis started shouting "Disney Mommy, Disney!!" She was so excited. We had been talking about Disney a lot leading up to our trip, and she was excited to get to go to Disney early for dinner.




This was when we arrived at Downtown Disney,and then we headed over to Rainforest Cafe, the same place that we ate last time. Alexis got really still during the rainstorms, but she never cried. She just held onto my arm really tight. We sat in the elephant room, and paid way too much for burgers. But, it was fun, and Alexis gave it two thumbs up!



Then we did some shopping, and looked at all of the neat things they have there. We even found a Lego German Shepherd!


Alexis picked out her Mickey Ears for the next day, and Alexis couldn't wait to meet the Princesses so we improvised.



When we went to the big store they had a Bibbidi-Bobbidi- Boutique where little girls (3 and up) can get their hair, make-up, and nails done like a princess. They also get a princess dress of their choice. Alexis was not old enough, nor did she have enough hair, and wouldn't hold still long enough for her to get her hair and nails done. So, she met a "fairy godmother in training" that sprinkled her with pixie dust. Which, was purple glitter, and by sprinkled I mean poured. She even put a visor over her face so it wouldn't get all glittery. It took a good 3 weeks to get all of the glitter out of her hair, but it made her night. She was so so happy, and it really didn't matter that her hair had purple glitter in it for so long. Or that everything I washed with those clothes sparkled a tiny bit either. :)We left pretty quickly from Downtown Disney because the next day was Magic Kingdom, and we needed to have Alexis good and rested. It was the perfect start to our vacation.

As some of you know I am allergic to my wedding ring set. :( My skin has a bad reaction to white gold worn over a long period of time. We tried everything the jeweler said to do, but none of it worked and we ended up getting a yellow gold wedding band for me to wear when my finger broke out. It works pretty well, and I just switch them out when I need to. Well, one day my finger was itching and I took off my wedding bands while I was cooking dinner. I set them on the counter. The next day I went to get them to put them up, and they were gone. I searched everywhere I could have moved them, and even some places that I've never put them before. They have been gone for a good 5 months. I was so upset, and I ripped our house apart looking for them, and they were no where to be found. After a couple of weeks of looking I told Michael. He wasn't really upset at all. Which, made me feel worse, because I was upset and I guess I wanted him to yell at me or something, but he didn't. He just said that he knew I didn't do it on purpose and these things happen.

Anyway, last night I was getting Alexis' money that she's been earning ready to roll. She's been doing little chores around the house all year, and we told her that she could use it for extra souvenir money on our trip. When I dumped out her change OUT. CAME. MY. WEDDING BANDS!!! Alexis said, "My pretty money yay!!" I was so excited I asked her if she put these in her piggy bank, and she said "Yes Mommy it's pretty money." I told her that it was not money they were my wedding rings and I thought I had lost them forever. It was so funny...well since all is well and I have them back. And I am so glad to have them back, and I will make sure I will put them where she can't reach them from now on!

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was fantastic at our house. Michael had to work that day so while he was at work Alexis and I were busy cooking up a storm, and watching the parades which she loved! Once Michael got home that afternoon we ate an early dinner, and then we headed out to go see Tangled. We all loved that movie! It was worth the drive in the rain. Ever since the Rapunzel dolls started coming out Alexis has been very excited about another princess movie, and she has talked about that movie ever since. We also found out that they've added Rapunzel and Flynn to the characters that you can meet at Disney, so if we get a chance to meet them in particular it will make Alexis the happiest little girl in the world. :)

That evening, well on Friday, we asked Michael's dad to come over and sit on our couch while Lexi slept, and Michael and I went to Wal-Mart at midnight to try to get Alexis a Power Wheels Barbie Jeep, they had a small one on sale. Michael had never been to a Black Friday shopping event, but I never miss them! When we got to Wal-Mart he was amazed at the number of people out, and I was thrilled that it wasn't as crowded as it could have been. I mean, there was still parking in the parking lot, so I figured we'd have a good chance. It seemed that Wal-Mart decided to keep the Jeep's in the garden center, of course, in the cold and I was glad we only got there 10 minutes early. And, then it began. The cellophane was ripped off the boxes and people went CRAZY. I stayed with the cart, and I sent Michael in the mix. My poor husband, he got knocked down, and I tried to see if he popped back up. Then he got hit in the head with a box on accident. Then he got a Jeep and got it ripped out of his hands. Then he turned around and there was one that was forgotten. :) We came out winners, but I did feel bad Michael got so beat up over a toy. But, as he has wanted Alexis to have a Jeep "like his" since the ultrasound tech. told us that our baby was a girl it was worth it. And it will be sitting in front of the tree when we get back from Florida all put together, because we can't fit it in the car. And she will love it! Michael said that he was glad to have gotten the Black Friday experience, but that he never wanted to do that again. :) So we went home, put the Jeep in our closet, and went back to bed. I was going to go back out to Little Rock later, but I wanted to sleep first, but that didn't happen because I just. was. too. excited!! So off I went to Little Rock, and hit up Toys-R-Us, Target, Old Navy, and Wal-Mart again. I got to each store about 2 hours after it opened so I dealt with no more craziness the rest of the morning. Oh, and when I got to Little Rock there were 2 Barbie Jeeps just like the one we got sitting on a shelf with no one around them...of course.

A Job Mess

I decided to go ahead and post about my job debacle. It's not good folks, not good at all. As most of you know I got this teaching job on a whim, it literally fell in my lap. I interviewed at a public school for an elementary teaching position, and I did not get hired. I had no other offers or bites, but then in June I got a call from the principal of Trinity and they offered me the third grade position basically on the spot. They called me with the job offer later that day. I never felt like God was more on my side, from high school to college everything seemed to come with a hitch, nothing went smoothly.And then finally, something broke through for me.

On the 10th week of school there was an article that ran in the local newspaper saying that a charter school was going to be taking over our school. Now, apparently nothing had been decided yada, yada. We've had a meeting once or twice a week about whether or not the school was going to close, what would happen to us, etc. Finally, today the board made a decision to close the school regardless if the charter school wants to lease our building or whatever. The reason: money. We have no money, and we lost 44 students during the summer, and we have lost about 7 more since school started. Tuition is what pays everything from year to year, and since we have lost so many students we have no long term plan to keep the school running.

So, now 4 months into my new job I am job hunting again. They are going to honor our contracts through August so that is financial good news. Amid job hunting, and just being a wife and a mom I am also working on my Praxis III exam which is Arkansas' final test for teachers to receive my 5 year license. I only have a 3 year license right now. Since finding a new job is now a necessity and not a luxury I am also going back to school to add a 5th and 6th grade endorsement to my license so I will now be certified to teach Pre-school to 6th grade, instead of just P-4, so that will make me a little more marketable. It only requires me to take another Praxis test and 3 courses, and I have 3 years to complete them after I get hired in a 5th or 6th grade position. I'm going to take the test in January, and then the courses as I can starting this summer probably.

I know it could be worse. I was never planning on staying at this school more than 3 years anyway, not that it helps much. But, it's not like I got fired for job performance, and I will teach again somewhere. I also have stellar recommendations from my principal and mentor teacher. I also asked and I was on the short list for the job openings at the public school that I first interviewed at, and so I have a decent shot at a position there next year. It's just another bump in the road that will eventually smooth out, and I know this...I'm just tired of the bumps.

It Only Gets Better.....

Well, Michael and I have decided that being a parent only gets better the older your child gets. Or at least so far in our case that seems to be the pattern. Alexis is every bit of 2.5 years old, and I can slowly see my little girl changing from a 2 year old to a 3 year old. We have had so much fun with her, and especially the past few months. I need to get all of my pictures organized so that I can share some of the recent ones. She has just turned into her own little person over the past 6 months or so, and it has been truly amazing to watch.

Halloween was a lot of fun this year. It took Alexis all of 1.2 seconds to run into the Halloween store, spot the Minnie Mouse costume, and declare that it was hers. Luckily, it was in her size, and only in her size, and there was only 1 left that hadn't been opened. This year we went to Boo at the Zoo instead of trick or treating. My parents joined us, and Alexis had a blast riding the haunted train, going to the trick-or-treat stations, and riding the carousel. She also had a Halloween party at daycare. She wanted to wear a special Halloween dress to her party, but we couldn't find one that met her standards. (I'm not even kidding.) So, I took a deep breath and said, "Alexis, do you want Mommy to make you a Halloween dress?" Her reply was of course, "YES!" So she picked our her fabric, a sparkly Elmo and Zoe Halloween print with a solid orange fabric, and I found a pattern that I thought I could pull off, took everything to my mom's and had my grandma help me with the whole thing, because come on, it's been high school since I've used my home ec. sewing skills.It turned out really, really cute and she loved it! She just kept spinning around and around in it, and when we walked into daycare that day the first thing she yelled at her teacher was " LOOK AT MY DRESS ISN'T IT PRETTY? I MADE IT!" It was so cute and she had a blast at her party. She came home with way too much candy, and I let her eat on it for 2 days and then we threw it all away, because she has quite the sweet tooth and would just beg and beg for it if it were at the house. I will try to post some Halloween pictures of this year, and then blog about Thanksgiving, and the Christmas stuff, and then my job. It's been a crazy year since we decided to move in April, so much has been going on it's been hard to find time to blog, but I'm going to try harder because life is so precious at the moment and I don't want to forget it.