Disney World, Here We Come!

We feel so blessed to have been able to spend a week in sunny Florida enjoying all the magic Disney had to offer a couple weeks ago....here's a brief rundown of our time away....

We arrived in Florida on Saturday afternoon. We got checked in to our hotel (Disney's Pop Century Resort) and headed out for Downtown Disney where we were bombarded with shops, shops, and more shops...we enjoyed a dinner at Planet Hollywood and then looked around at all the retail establishments. Downtown Disney is home of the LARGEST Disney store EVER (we literally had to use our cell phones to find each other a couple times), and also home of the Lego store, which was Connor's favorite.

We arrived back in our hotel room, tired, but happy, only to find that our luggage had not yet been delivered to our room (this was part of our package deal...our luggage was to "magically appear" in our room 3-4 hours after our arrival...I know, I know, anyone with half a brain could smell trouble brewing with a promise like that!). Thankfully, we had packed an extra set of clothing for everyone, so all was not lost, and the kids got to enjoy some time in the pool with Daddy while Mommy worked on tracking down our bags (thankfully, we were able to round up almost all of them with a couple hours' work). It wouldn't be a family vacation without some sort of hiccup like that, right?

Our first day at the parks was spent at Epcot. We learned that this isn't the greatest park for little kids (funny how they don't really care about cultural diversity). We enjoyed ourselves, though, with the highlight of our day being our Princess Storybook Lunch...Kylee got to meet Belle, Jasmine, Ariel, Aurora, and CINDERELLA (who only occasionally stops in, so we felt pretty lucky). This sounds like a dream come true, but Kylee was pretty overwhelmed by the princesses, so all the pictures we took were of her glued to me (as you can see here with Cinderella):

Epcot is also home to "The Seas" where they have some great Finding Nemo themed attractions that the kids liked. Connor snapped this photo of us:

We also became familiarized with the Florida rains...it poured for about two hours in the middle of our day. It didn't stop us from exploring, though, and we concluded our day by watching the Illuminations fireworks show (which again, terrified both of our children, but was quite amazing to Brandon and I). Here is a picture of Connor in front of "Mission: Space" with the infamous Epcot Space Mountain ball behind him. I love this shot...

Our second day was spent at the Animal Kingdom, which was cool. We started the day out with a character breakfast where we got to meet Mickey, Donald, Goofy, and Pluto. Again, the kids were completely terrified, so the pictures are interesting. Doesn't it look like we're having the absolute time of our lives?!?!?! ;)

Our favorite part of the Animal Kingdom was the Kilimanjaro Safari that we went on, where we got to see lots of exotic animals and enjoy a ride in a cool-looking jeep. :) We took in several animal shows and the kids had fun "digging" in an dinosaur boneyard. Here's Connor doing his best dinosaur impression for the camera:

The next day was spent at MGM studios where we got to meet Lightning McQueen (again, completely terrifying for our son, thus the family picture).

This was a fun day filled with lots of character sightings (our kids really did enjoy seeing the characters from afar) and lunch at Pizza Planet, the restaurant from Toy Story. We also got to see a live re-enactment of a movie stunt sequence filming, which was awesome. Connor loved watching all the cars, jet-skis, and motorcycles race about and was also impressed by watching a stuntwoman being set on fire (the older male in our family also would call this show a highlight of our trip, too). :) We got to see a parade that featured some Star Wars characters, and then ended the day with Fantasmic, which was awesome!

This picture doesn't really fit anywhere, but I thought it was hilarious. Here's Kylee trying on a hat:

Our two final days were spent at the Magic Kingdom, which was the best part of the trip for all of us. The kids especially loved the Winnie the Pooh ride and Peter Pan's Flying Adventure. Connor and I got to ride on Dumbo together, and Kylee and I got to attend Storytime with Belle. We rode the teacups as a family and then Connor and Daddy rode together in a racecar and CONNOR got to drive. They issued him a "driver's license", which he thought was the coolest thing ever!! We ended our day with yet another character meal with Winnie the Pooh and friends (because our children enjoyed them so much!):

They say that Disney is the happiest place on earth....we laughed often about how almost every family we saw during our time in the parks had either a child screaming (sometimes two!), sleeping, or parents that looked completely exhausted (we took our turns with all of these things, too). It was sensory overload for our little ones (and their parents, admittedly), but overall, an experience we wouldn't trade. Here are our brave little road warriors hanging out in their stroller...

It wasn't fun to think about coming home, but at the same time, it was really nice not to have to share double-beds anymore!! We've gotten settled back in and have had fun listening to the kids talk about what they enjoyed during our vacation (ironically, they will tell you that they loved meeting the characters...go figure!). :)

Our Little Girl is Three!!!

As many of you know, we just returned from a week-long vacation to Florida (sigh). However, before we can fill you in on just how much fun we had there, I feel it is important to highlight the fact that our baby girl turned 3 on September 9th. We celebrated in a low-key manner with a few friends and family members--a "Dora tea party" at Kylee's request (tying those two themes together required a little more creativity than I had originally imagined it would).

Here's Kylee with our family...she's sporting her new Cinderella dress from Grandpa and Grandma Lori in some of these pics:

Kylee with her friends, enjoying her birthday lunch:

Kylee has been asking for Wysteria, a My Little Pony, for months. The Blakemores answered her prayers...

While Kylee is still insistent that she wants to be 4, or on some days, even 6, knowing that she is 3 means that we're entering a new chapter in life...gone is the baby stage, and now, in my mind, even the toddler stage...we now have a budding preschooler in our house. She runs the joint in fine style and continues to be passionate about laughter, snuggling, and occasionally, screaming. It is hard to believe that three years ago, she was about the size of one of the babies that she so regularly carts around the house now.

Favorites in Kylee's world include My Little Pony, Strawberry Shortcake, and all things Princess. I had briefly contemplated trying to ban all princess paraphenalia from our house, and quickly gave up when I realized that this was going to be an almost impossible goal. I triple dare you to walk through the aisles of Target without finding at least 20 princess accessories in any girls' toy section. Kylee is also into "make-up", which fortunately for us, means lip gloss. She can occupy herself for (literally) hours by putting on her make-up...dabbing her fingers in the Hello Kitty lip gloss she got in a McDonald's happy meal and rubbing it on her lips over and over again. It's quite precious.

We hope and pray that our little girl continues to grow healthy and strong...both physically, emotionally, and spiritually. We thank God for all that she brings to our world and hope that her precious smile continues to light our world for years to come!

Happy Birthday, Kylee J!!

Can You Reach the Sky?

One of the sources of great joy for our children in these last few weeks has been the addition of a trampoline to our neighbors' yard. Our neighbors are very kind and willing to let us use it even when they are not home, for which we are grateful. We are blessed to be surrounded by people that buy all the cool outdoor toys so that we don't have to. :) It is a lot of fun to watch the kids smile and jump and have such a good time doing it. Here are some pictures:

Things have been going well around our house. Connor is in full swing with school, and I have started my clinicals for William Jewell, so the fall routine is in place. The beginnings of the week are busy for us, but the end of the week is fairly quiet, which is just perfect.

We have begun tackling the potty-training beast with our daughter...some days go really well and other days are an absolute disaster. She hasn't totally made up her mind that she wants to do it, so the process moves only as quickly as she allows it to (which is sometimes only in a backwards direction, mind you).

Speaking of Kylee, we will celebrate her 3rd birthday on Sunday. Can you believe it? Our BABY is turning three. I am so thankful for all the sparkle that she brings to our family.

Birthdays lead me into a great deal of reflection...my prayer for both of our children is that they will flourish and know Jesus in a personal way and then, in turn, share His love with others. We also pray for peace and happiness in their lives...when I watch them jump on the trampoline, it is somewhat symbolic for me to see the joy that they experience from being lifted (or bounced) to a new elevation--even if it means that their footing is a little uncertain at times. Their willingness to embrace that uncertainty as they seek to reach new heights is a weighty example for me. I pray that our children will seek higher ground and that family and faith will always be there for them to land on when they need to.

I hope they never stop reaching for the sky.

First Day of School

Connor went through his first day of school last week like a real champ. He's in an all-day class on Mondays and Wednesdays at Second Friends preschool with one of his best buds from last year, Truman.

I made Connor pose for the traditional "first day of school" photo right before we went inside Second Friends. He looks thrilled, as you can see. He is pretty cool with his Spiderman backpack (which has wheels, at his request) and his coordinating lunchbox. Thanks, Aunt Sarah!

He did pretty well walking into school to face a barrage of parents getting their kids settled in the new classroom. There was a small degree of leg-clinging when I tried to leave, but I peeled him right off and away he went. Here he is playing with Truman right before I left.

The house is really quiet without him around, and I mean this in a literal sense. I didn't realize how much audio accompaniment Connor brings to our world with his almost constant verbal percussion and various sound effects that accompany almost everything he does. I kind of miss it, but look forward to the one-on-one time with Kylee.

He started his second week today...he had to take something for show-and-tell, and as we were sorting through various options last night, he chose one of his cars telling me, with a serious expression on his face, that it "would be more impressive" than another one.

Our kids are so cool.

Hot Fun in the Summertime

It's been awhile since I've posted...I wish I had something really exciting to update you on, but basically, we've been pretty focused on simply trying not to melt in this crazy heat these last few weeks. :)

We've really been enjoying the summer. We've made a couple trips to the pool, and have been blessed to be invited to swim with friends at their neighborhood pools. We've played with cousins, church friends, and school friends. I've really enjoyed being away from work for awhile, and it's wild to think that next week, Connor and I both head back to school.

We spent a weekend away in Branson at the end of July. A student of mine was gracious enough to offer us her family's BEAUTIFUL cabin down in Branson, so we enjoyed a free place to stay and had a great time boating out on Table Rock Lake and even made a trip to Celebration City, where Connor especially had a great time riding all the rides. It was the kids' first experience with boating, and a good time was had by all (see the pics--I have to admit that as I was resizing them, I was especially struck by how much Kylee looks like her Mommy!). Both of the kids jumped right in the lake and swam like crazy with their lifevests on--it was wonderful!

The kids and I made a trip the week before last to see Dana in Springfield. It was so great to see where she and her family have settled, and to hear how happy they are with their new surroundings. She took the kids and I to the Wonders of Wildlife Museum next to the Bass Pro Shop in town and we really enjoyed it. Connor was fascinated by the animals, and the kids especially liked watching the HUGE aquarium (the sharks were the highlight). It was a great roadtrip for us. Above is a picture of Connor and I with Aleksander and Rocky.

The kids are doing really well. We went school shopping for Connor this weekend, and it is incredible to see how "grown up" his tastes are becoming. He is excited to start school, but a little apprehensive about his new teacher. She came and did a home visit a week or so ago, and it went well, so we're optimistic about another great year at Second Friends for him. He is a little disappointed that he won't be starting kindergarten this year, but we're still confident that we've made the decision that is right for him in the long run.

Kylee is still insistent that she is four (and lately, she is also emphatic that Connor is two). Her latest adventure includes giving herself a haircut. She has cut a few hairs before, but this time, she took a rather signficant chunk out of the left side of her head. It was like a scavenger hunt finding all the pieces of hair scattered around the living room. And I swear, she was only unsupervised for 5 minutes!!

Life as a Princess

I have been trying to get some cleaning done today. As I was dusting our bedroom upstairs, I heard the kids playing Cinderella downstairs. Kylee was starring as the famed princess, and Connor was playing the role of the stepmother, ordering Cinderella to do various things. It was quite precious.

I then notified the children that we needed to get ready to leave the house to go run errands. I asked Kylee to go downstairs and pick up her mess. She looked at me and said, "but I'm Cinderella!". I said "Cinderella needs to go downstairs and pick up her mess". She again informed me that she was Cinderella. I stood firm and insisted that even if she was Cinderella, she needed to go downstairs and pick up the mess, because that's what Cinderella would do.

Finally, she looked at me and said "well...then you're Cinderella, and I'm Jack" (for those of you who don't know, Jack is one of Cinderella's mouse friends).

What a smart little stinker.

Old Stomping Grounds

We made the trek back to our hometown (Lindsborg, KS) this weekend to spend some time with Brandon's family. His Grandmother has been in poor health and seems to be having some issues with her memory over the last several weeks, so we took off for a quick visit.

Justin and Mary brought their children, Drew, Amy, and Beth, to Lindsborg too, and Rachel was there as well, so it was fun for the cousins to spend some time together. It was so fun to see all the kids--especially the twins, who have grown up so much since Christmas when we last saw them!

We got to see several of Brandon's extended family while we were in town, which was fun. It is always a bit surreal for me to be in the midst of such a large, bustling family. At my extended family gatherings, there are just a few of us around the table, but with the Carlson family, many times there are no fewer than 15 or 20 people present at any one gathering. They are all very gracious and welcoming to us, so I do genuinely enjoy being in the mix.

Our extended family gathered in the basement of the church that Brandon grew up in on Saturday evening. While we were there, a wedding was taking place. Brandon and I got married in that same church, so it was a trip down memory lane for me as I watched guests file into the reception and then saw the bride and groom drive away from the church together to begin their lives as husband and wife. I thought back to our wedding 7 and 1/2 years ago and was so thankful for the way that God has blessed us since then. We attended church on Sunday, and as I sat in the sanctuary, I looked at the aisle I walked down when we got married. As fun as it is to remember that very special day, it is even more fun to see what God has done in our lives since that day. We were so young and I don't think we could have comprehended the ups and downs of the journey that was to come even if someone had been able to tell us. I am confident that even if we had known, we still would have married each other, which is a bonus. ;)

On Saturday afternoon, I had a couple minutes by myself in the car. I seized the rare opportunity to listen to MY music and take a spin by the house that I grew up in. The owners are currently renovating it and I was shocked to see that the two huge picture windows that graced the house are being replaced with smaller, but probably more energy efficient, windows. It was kind of a sad moment for me. I lived in that house for 20 years--it was where birthdays and graduations were celebrated, where I came home to in college, where my friends and I hung out, and where I said goodbye to my Mom in her last moments on this earth. It will always be a special place to me and to see it changing made me a bit teary-eyed.

It's always neat to see how things change in Lindsborg and yet, how things stay the same. I miss some things about the small town atmosphere--the pace being a little slower and the streets being quiet--and even though Liberty is just where we need to be, I am thankful that Brandon and I got to grow up in a smaller, quieter place, and that now, we can take our children back there with us to experience a small sampling of what life was like when we grew up.

A big part of life in small-town America is farming. Brandon's Grandpa has farmed forever, as has his Uncle Dan. Dan and his wife Jane invited us out to their farm on Sunday afternoon, where we got to look at tractors and corn fields. Brandon took Connor out for a spin on some of the equipment, and it was hard to tell who was having more fun. :) Connor has since been trying to convince me that "Daddy needs a 4-wheeler for Father's Day".

Please pray for Brandon's Grandma and the rest of the family as they navigate through these current challenges with her health. She is an amazing woman that means so much to so many people and continues to be an example of Christian love even when she doesn't feel well...I watched as she and Grandpa walked together hand-in-hand this weekend and can only hope that after that many years of marriage, Brandon and I will also show that same love, concern, and dedication to each other. Grandma once said: "I know everything is right with my world when I wake up in the morning and hear Grandpa stirring around".

What an example for us all.

Good Times and Good Laughs

This weekend was a crazy one for us. We celebrated my Grandpa's 80th birthday together as a family, and also got to spend some quality time with our niece and nephew, Cara and Collin. The kids had a great time playing together. We hosted our babysitting co-op at our house on Saturday night. Brandon did the powerpoint presentation at church on Sunday, and I read Scripture in the service. We crammed a lot into one weekend, but had fun doing it.

Connor started soccer on Saturday and he LOVES it. He is playing through Upward Sports and his team name is the Lions. Brandon is the official coach of the Connor's team (no, he's never played before, but he's a fast learner) and Connor is SO excited that his Daddy is out on the field with him (he is just sure that his Daddy is going to "get a whistle and wear a black and white shirt" eventually). Connor did a great job out on the field and has already asked repeatedly when he's going to get to play soccer again. He came home with a soccer uniform that included socks and a new water bottle. You know how much our son loves accessories, so this was a banner moment for sure!!

Connor has also gotten into answering the phone recently. Fair warning to those of you who call. He does really well, but unless he knows you, he will assume you are one of my students. That tells you a lot about how last semester was for us. :)

Speaking of my students, 54 of them have passed boards, which means we have only a handful of them that still have to take. We have, unfortunately, had a couple who have been unsuccessful, but I am optimistic that our pass rate will be better than people thought it would be. We have a few more taking over the next couple weeks, so please say a prayer. God has been very, very good.

Kylee is still keeping us on our toes...if you ask her how old she is, she will tell you (VERY emphatically) that she is four. If you try to tell her that she is two, she will collapse on the floor and cry (Brandon has done this a couple times purely for his own enjoyment). Our favorite part of this whole exercise is that when she tells you she's four, she holds up one finger.

Life is good.

Road Trip: The Creation Museum

As a part of Brandon's birthday present, we went down and visited the Answers in Genesis Creation Museum in Kentucky last weekend. Brandon has been following the building of the museum for the last few years. Creationism is something that Brandon is especially passionate about, and we thought it'd be neat to take the kids to learn about it. Therefore, it was only natural that our family would make a trip down south to see the newly-opened museum.

We started driving on Saturday morning. It was a 10-hour trek with stops (you stop frequently when you have a 5 year-old bladder in the backseat). We stayed at a hotel near the museum and the kids really enjoyed that part of the experience. We had the pool to ourselves on a couple different occasions, which was really fun.

We went to the museum on Sunday. It was pretty amazing, especially considering that the museum is entirely supported by donations and it opened debt-free. A guy from Disney designed most of the museum displays, which was apparent by several neat animatronics displays and the special effects theatre. The museum presents concepts of both evolution and creation and encourages visitors to think carefully about both processes. Not having studied creation vs. evolution in great detail, I learned a lot, and was impressed by the museum's seeker-friendly, non-confrontational atmosphere. There were beautiful gardens to explore outside the museum, which was nice and relaxing.

The downside to our trip was that the museum was not so great for the kids. Connor did okay, but Kylee was a mess for most of our time there (thus the picture above). It would be great for children older than seven, but not so wonderful for the little ones. Live and learn.

We began the long trip home on Monday and arrived safely to our house in the late evening. It was so nice to have a couple days away from the normal routine!!

We Have a Big Girl Room!!

Good Morning!

We hope you all had a great 4th of July. Ours was fairly low-key, with a lazy day at home and then dinner and fireworks down at the Chase home in Blue Springs. The kids enjoyed the fireworks this year, with the favorite being glow worms. I think they liked them because they were cool without being noisy.

We have a lot to update you on, but I will start here:

A couple weeks ago, Kylee announced that she didn't like her crib anymore and wanted a big girl bed. When our little redhead makes a decision, there's no turning back. We had planned to do her "big girl room" as a part of her third birthday in September, but she was ready!! So, we pulled her bed out of the basement (we had some friends from church who passed it down to us, and were lucky enough to have scored a mattress from Great Bend--we love FREE!!!), and Mommy and Kylee painted it purple (the color was Kylee's choice). I got the bed painted while Kylee managed to create a lovely purple mural on the garage floor.

Anyway, then it was time to move the bed upstairs. Brandon began breaking the crib down, and I was hit by some pretty strong emotion as I realized this would be the first time we'd broken the crib down since before Connor was born. I hadn't thought through the fact that with the arrival of the big girl bed, I would need to pack up all of the Pooh nursery decorations and sheets that had graced our babies' rooms for the last 5 and 1/2 years. Ouch. Tears. Stomach lurch. A new phase...meanwhile, I swear I heard my husband singing the Hallelujah chorus under his breath. :)

We went shopping at Wal-Mart for some sheets that night--I refused to put Spiderman sheets on our daughter's big girl bed...Kylee instantly selected Dora sheets. Then this week, we went and picked up her comforter and a Princess pillow to round out the scene. I picked up the letters on her wall on clearance about a year ago at Target, painted them pink, and glued ribbons on to them to hang them from. I had seen the idea in a catalog and thought it was way cute. I have to highlight this because it is rare that I am actually able to effectively duplicate a concept like this at a fraction of the cost (those letters in the catalog with adorable ribbons on them will cost you a fortune, by the way). Usually, my money saving attempts at decoration just end in frustration, so I was pretty happy with how this turned out. We selected a simple flower theme for the room so that she doesn't grow out of it next year when her character tastes change.

I have dreamed of Kylee's big girl room for months as I rocked her to sleep at night, yet somehow, I didn't imagine our little girl growing up so quickly...she looks so small in her twin bed. The smile on her face when she saw her big girl room all put together for the first time was priceless.

Sweet dreams, little princess!!