Do You Ever...

So a few weeks ago a friend of mine had a little contest on her blog. She put a list of Do You Evers... (I'll tell you what a "do you ever" is in a minute)on her blog and asked people to contribute and she would give a prize for the best one. A chocolate prize to be exact. So I of course wanted to contribute so I could possibly win a chocolate prize (who doesn't want free chocolate?). However, I never got the chance, I think I was so concerned about it being deep and meaningful that I never actually sat and wrote anything to her. So I missed my opportunity.
So a couple of nights ago, my baby woke up at 5:30 am and I went in his room and rocked him. As I was sitting there my mind was suddenly very clear and I thought of a whole bunch of Do You Evers... They aren't deep and meaningful, just simple and true. So I thought that I should share them and see what all of you are thinking in your rare moments of clarity. I would love to promise a chocolate surprise for the best, but since I don't have clarity that often I would probably forget to do it anyway, so lets just share our Do You Evers... and buy ourselves some chocolate. So Lesli, this is for you, thanks for the idea and I'm sorry I didn't participate in your contest, but I would love to hear some more of your Do You Evers...

Do You Ever....
- watch your husband wrestle with your kids and think that this is one of the best memories your children will have of their father in their childhood?

-listen as your kids fight and just let them duke it out without intervening, secretly cheering for one particular child?

-hide a 5 lb. bag of peanut M&M's so nobody in your home can have them but you, and if the kids happen to discover them you immediately find a new, even more secret spot to hide them because that is just something that you won't share?

-wake up ticked off because your baby is awake and crying at 5:30 am, so you rock him in hopes that he will fall back asleep, and you actually find the moment to be incredibly enjoyable and thought provoking and end up cherishing it?

So let me hear your Do You Evers... I can't wait to see what everybody else has to say.

M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E!!

We just had the best time! We went on a Disney trip, 4 days on land and 4 days at sea. We flew into Orlando (Cole did not cry once, by the way) and spent 4 days at Disney World. It was a lot more crowded than I expected it to be. I figured we were beating the Spring Break rush, so it wouldn't be too bad, but it was more crowded than expected. But still not bad, we never had to wait in line for more than 20 minutes. We did all of the regular Disney stuff. Maile got a "princess makeover", which she loved. You should have seen her sitting in the salon chair getting her nails done and her hair done and makeup put on. She loved every second of it.

We went on this trip with some of my family. My parents came and my brother and his family. It was so much more fun to have cousins around for the kids to enjoy it with.

After we did all of the Disney World stuff, we went to Cape Canaveral to get on our ship. We were on the Disney Wonder and had a great time. If you have never been on a Disney cruise I would definitely recommend it. The kids (3 and older) can go into the "Oceaneers Club" any time they (or you) want and they have nonstop activities for them and they loved it. Carson and his cousin begged to go in there. We had to schedule babysitting for the baby, so we didn't get alone time without him very often but that was ok. There was so much to do for the kids that it was fun having them with us most of the time.

Our cruise went to the Bahamas and then to Castaway Cay, and then back. We had so much fun. I have to say, the cruise was anything you could ask for in a vacation for the family. It was lacking a bit in food quality, I would compare the dining to a Chilis or something like that, but don't go for the food, go for the kids. It was great. There were princesses walking around the ship, which made Maile's day, and Jack Sparrow and Captain Hook for the boys.

It was so nice to escape the monotany of the daily routine. But it is so good to be back and be able to sleep in my own bed. This vacation was definitely not relaxing, but it was a blast.

Is This Las Vegas?

So the other day we woke up and it was raining here, which is unusual in and of itself, so we thought, if it's raining here maybe it is snowing in the mountains!! So we jumped in the car, after frantically running through the house trying to round up warm clothes for everybody, and headed off. We had to stop off at Walmart to get some sleds and don't you know it, they don't sell sleds. At least not in Las Vegas. So we headed off to the mountain in hopes to find some sleds there. Of course Mt. Charleston is only about an hour drive away, but we made some wrong turns and it took us about 2 hours to get there. Then we finally went to the lodge to buy some sleds, and found some!! So we drive to the sledding hill and a cop pulls up next to us and says that all of the parking spots are taken, and that we are parked illegally. He was not nice about it either. So by now we're starting to get ticked. We've been in the car way longer than necessary and we can't even find a place to sled. So we drive around and just see a hill across a canal. We stopped and hiked to it (with three kids, two sleds, a chair, some snacks and diapers, a camera and all of the clothes the kids are losing off of their bodies). But we finally made it and it was a great hill. We ended up having a blast and it is so fun to play in the snow. It is such a novelty for the kids that they can't get enough of it. We ended up having a great family day, and the kids were so worn out afterwards that all of the trouble getting there was totally worth it.