Disney World Part 1

We just returned home yesterday from a vaca with J's family at Disney World!   It was a whirlwind of a week and I almost feel like I need a vacation after that vacation! I broke this post into two parts since I knew it was going to be quite picture heavy!

We stayed at Disney's Yacht Club Resort.  It was a beautiful hotel that overlooked a lake and Disney's Boardwalk. The pool had a sandy bottom and was perfect for our little fish to walk in and out of.  They also had a water slide for the older kids and fun activities like bonfires and outdoor movies at night. It was also a short walk to Epcot.



Disney Boardwalk- across the lake from our hotel


We only had 5 days so we tried to make the most of every minute we had there.

Tuesday we spent the entire day at Magic Kingdom.



The expression on Grant's face when he saw Mickey was priceless!





He was pooped after only a couple hours in the park.  It was nice because this gave J a chance to ride all the adult rides!



Pretty sure Grant's favorite part of the park was the cold mister.  It was not a hot day outside and at this point it was evening and getting quite chilly.  He could have cared less- he loved running in and out of the mister!



We bought G this awesome bubble gun during the parade since he wanted a balloon and we wanted something that we could actually take home.  He absolutely loved it and ran out of bubbles in just a few minutes.  Luckily they refill them for you at no cost! 



Wednesday we laid  played by the pool and enjoyed the 85 degree weather!  Grant is a fish in the pool and it seriously scares the heck out of me!  He walked right into the deep end and went underwater and didn't even flinch.  When I put his puddle jumper on him, he was mad because he actually wanted to go underwater!  Pretty sure swim lessons are on our agenda for this summer.

Part 2 of our trip to come in a few days!

time out...

Our little angel enjoying his minute in the time out chair....

Februrary Recipe

I made this soup for a play date with some sorority sisters and their girls.  It was delicious.  I would definitely recommend it for a cold winters day!

Baked Potato Soup

Rated: Submitted By: Kristi Teague Photo By: mommymeggy Prep Time: 10 Minutes Cook Time: 20 Minutes Ready In: 30 Minutes Servings: 4

"'A good friend who runs a bed-and-breakfast game me this creamy potato soup recipe that's become a winter favorite,' recalls Kristi Teague of Southside, Tennessee. 'A dash of hot sauce a little basil give it special flavor.'"

Ingredients:

3 bacon strips, diced 1 small onion, chopped 1 clove garlic, minced 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon dried basil 1/2 teaspoon pepper

3 cups chicken broth 2 large baked potatoes, peeled and cubed 1 cup half-and-half cream 1/2 teaspoon hot pepper sauce Shredded Cheddar cheese Minced fresh parsley

Directions:

1.

In a large saucepan, cook bacon until crisp. Drain, reserving 1 tablespoon drippings. Set bacon aside. Saute onion and garlic in the drippings until tender. Stir in flour, salt, basil and pepper; mix well. Gradually add broth. Bring to boil; boil and stir for 2 minutes. Add the potatoes, cream and hot pepper sauce; heat through but do not boil. Garnish with bacon, cheese and parsley.

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © 2011 Allrecipes.com

Printed from Allrecipes.com 3/5/2011

a little of this and a little of that....

I stole this idea from my friend Kate- you can find her at When Hello Means Goodbye.  I have had a lot of random things on my mind lately and I thought this would be a great way to get it all out without having to do a separate post for each of them.


*Grant's appetite is never ending lately.  I am not sure if he is going through a growth spurt or what, but all he does is stand in front of the fridge and cry until we feed him something.  Needless to say, he is getting quite a round belly!  I am anxious to see how much he has grown at his 18 month appt next month.

*Grant and I have been watching Sesame Street on Sprout for months now.  The other day, he grabbed the remote and changed the channel to PBS and there was a fancy new version of Sesame Street that I didn't even know existed.  I guess the episodes we have been watching all this time are "classic" episodes.  It was so funny to me because everyday I would watch that show and wonder how the actors hadn't aged at all since I watched it years ago.  I just assumed they all had really good plastic surgeons!

*Grant's all time favorite activity is playing basketball.  He wakes up in the morning and his first word is ball and besides eating, that is all he wants to do all day is play ball.  We went to playgroup the other day and he was so distraught because it was held in the gym and he couldn't reach the basketball hoops.  The crazy thing is, he is actually really good and gets more baskets than I do!  (I tried to get a video to put here, but he wouldn't play for the camera, he was too interested in watching what was on the camera instead!)

*I received a prayer email from our church the other day about a church member whose daughter lost twin girls at 22 weeks pregnant. I don't know this family, but I still cried when I read it. I absolutely hate it every time I hear of another family going through this pain.

And, last but not least, this has been on my mind and heart a lot lately....


*Recently, I read a blog of a friend that lost boy/girl twins. She was struggling with how to handle a friendship now that her close friend was suddenly pregnant with boy/girl twins.  The thought of watching her friend live the life she should be living was overwhelming for her.  After not being able to contact her firendfor months, she finally went to coffee with her and this is what she wrote about it.....

 And I said, "I don't want you to hold back your happiness. I am happy for you"

And do you know what she said, you guys?

Seriously-if everyone we know could just GET this-

"Honey, I am happy. But I can have a MILLION moments of happiness, and there are plenty of people to talk to about twins and how amazing it is-but I don't need that happiness RIGHT now. I can get it other times. I can talk about it whenever. And with people who it won't hurt."

I mean, how lucky am I?

Those of us going through infertility, loss, all of that. There's that attitude out there-don't expect other people to stifle their happiness with their pregnancy. Don't expect them to not talk about it with you-you are the bad guy if you can't handle it.

But doesn't her thought make so much sense? She can get that anywhere else, all day long.

I was so struck by this.  During our infertility years, I always felt pressure to put on that smile and tell everyone how happy I was for them when all I wanted to do was run and cry and hide in a dark corner.  After we lost the girls, it just got worse.  I was lucky enough to have an amazing friend that gave me the time and space I needed to heal before I could accept her pregnancy. Unfortunately, I also had a friend that couldn't set aside the happiness of her child's birth so soon after we lost our girls.  Sadly, I just couldn't handle it and had to let that friendship go.

Do you have a friend or family member going through infertility, infant loss?  Have you expected them to be happy for you? Have you talked only baby talk when they are around or have you actually been the friend in the blog post above and put your happiness aside for them?  I thought this was a wonderful reminder for all of us to look outside of ourselves if only for an hour or two to help a friend in need.

Still here...

I just realized that I haven't blogged for almost 2 weeks!  It seems that last winter we had nothing to do and this winter we can hardly find any free time.  And of course, our only free time has been plagued with sickness.   A couple weeks ago I came down with my third (yes, third) stomach flu in the last six months.  I honestly didn't think that was even possible!  And, while my immune system was down, a nasty virus moved on in and has settled in my throat for the last two weeks.  I am finally feeling better, but it has been a long few days.  Needless to say, I can not wait for winter to be over already (hence the new springy blog background)!  I want to soak up some vitamin D and open my windows and air out all the germs!  Last weekend we went up north for our annual ski trip with my family.  Although I wasn't feeling up to par, we still had an amazing weekend.

Here are a few pics from our time up north....

Grant was so excited to have extra time to spend with his daddy.  Every time J would go out to ski, G would grab his coat and hat and beg to go with him!

hanging out on his sled

Looking for daddy on the slopes...

Hanging out inside and playing with mom mom's ski hat!

Crazy Love

Or maybe life is tough right now and everything feels like a struggle.  God has allowed hard things in your life so you can show the world that your God is great and that knowing Him brings peace and joy even when life is hard.  Like the psalmist who wrote, "I saw the prosperity of the wicked....Surely in vain have I kept my heart pure.... When I tried to understand all this, it was oppressive to me till I entered the Sanctuary of God."  It is easy to become disillusioned with the circumstances of our lives compared to others'.  But in the presence of God, He gives us a deeper peace and joy that transcends it all.

Excerpt from Crazy Love by Francis Chan

We are reading this book for our life group and as I read this paragraph, it really struck me as a good reminder to stop trying to figure out why others are blessed with my dreams and to start leaning on God for understanding and Peace and Hope that he will get me through the dark days.  I don't know where you are right now with your journey through infertility, miscarriage, infant loss, etc... but I hope this gives you peace through your dark days as well.

SNOW!!!

Snowmagedon, snowpacolyse, blizzard of 2011, call it whatever you want..... I call it a snow day!  We were lucky enough to be part of the blizzard last night.  Yes, I said lucky.  I LOVE a good snow day.  I think it goes back to my younger days living in the south.  Everything closed when the tiniest bit of snow hit the ground.  No one went to work for days and I have fond memories of sledding, building snowmen and cuddling by the fire.  When I moved up north, I quickly realized that snow days were few and far between.  I even had to walk to school in the snow, uphill for miles.... well, maybe it wasn't miles and it was pretty flat but I still had to walk to school in the snow and it made me hate the white stuff!  When I heard there was a possible storm of the century coming our way, I was so excited for a day hidden inside cuddling with my baby boy.  I was even lucky enough to have J home this morning as well- what a fantastic snow day!

We did get outside to dig ourselves out a bit so J could get to work.  Grant is usually not very tolerant of the cold, but he did pretty well especially considering I kept plopping him places to see how deep it was!

He is actually standing in the snow here. 

J teaching him to shovel at an early age!

He preferred throwing the snow over shoveling it!

Watching J finish up the driveway with a snow blower from the comfort and warmth of the living room.