The Bathroom

You should know,  it's one thing to buy a few things to hang on the wall.  It's another thing all together to know how to arrange them.  With another opinion and after they had sat on the floor for a few weeks with Audrey reminding me daily that I needed to decorate her room.  I finally got these babies hung. They look beautiful.  

 This bathroom has been a nightmare.  It was Red.  A little too bold for me, and it made the bathroom so dark.  When Paul's parents were here we started peeling the paint off the walls because it was coming off in huge chunks.  I figured It was a win because it would allow us to start fresh.  Luckily we were able to finish half the bathroom while Paul's Parents were here.  The other half has had me sitting up here for hours alone chipping paint off in the middle of the night.  To be honest Paul has done his fair share too.  I just have more time at home.  I'm happy to report that I'm getting closer.  

I've been really pushing for this bathroom to get finished.  Maybe because I feel like it's the one thing holding me back from moving on to the next step in my life.  

We've decided that we want to adopt.  We're working to start an adoption profile on adoption.com.  I'm not going to say much about it, except for that I feel really good about it.  It's the first thing in a really long time that I have felt good about.  Why is the bathroom holding me back?  I keep thinking that having open light switches and plugs might not look very good to someone coming to do a home study.  I'm hoping to finish this week and then schedule the home study for next week.  

Wish me luck as I move into something new, and something that is a little scary for me.  It's mostly scary because I feel like every attempt I've made at having another child has yielded nothing but more pain in my heart, and a reminder every month that I currently can't have children.  This brings me renewed hope, but I'm moving cautiously as to avoid any let downs.  This time I'm relying on my faith and the spirit to move me.  We'll see what happens.  

My Silly Sassy Daughter

Every morning we check on Audrey's flowers to see how they're growing.  Every morning she's a little disappointed that they haven't grown flowers yet.  Some day soon little one.  I'm actually pretty impressed by their size.

She also loves taking pictures of her accomplishments.  We ran into a rather large ant while we were in the backyard today.  As soon as she noticed it she was on top of me.  We're used to seeing little ants. She insisted that this one was out to get her.  

 I've been meaning to check the lighting in our play room so that I can use it to take pictures from time to time.  It looks like it's going to be a good spot.  Check out those eyes!  And of course if you know Audrey, you have to have a little bit of silly and sassy too.  

This Little Girl

She hasn't been able to stop talking about her little brother.  I went to get her up from a nap and the first thing out of her mouth was, "baby brother!".  For the last year she's been telling me that she wants a baby sister so I asked her why she was talking about a brother.  She said they were both in heaven and then proceeded to tell me, "Mom you're going need two car seats".  

I'm not sure about the car seat thing, but I hope she knows more than I do.  

My little ray of sunshine.  

A Few of Her Favorite Things

Audrey's been wanting to go star gazing for a long time.  I mentioned it to her once and now she asks me about it all the time.  Unfortunately every weekend it has rained over the last two months. When I get the chance, my plan is to take her out far enough that she can see more than two.  I hope we can find a good spot.  I also want to buy some of those plastic glow in the dark stars and stick them to her ceiling like constellations.  

Today is another rainy day.  We've had a lot of those.  Perfect day for preschool.

 I attempted to explain to her that there's more out there than just the Moon, Stars, and Sun.  It might take a while to sink in.  Either way, she really enjoyed drawing her own Solar System.  If I was a more ambitious Mom I would make her one of those ones with Styrofoam balls.  Maybe someday I'll be that awesome.  She would love painting them. 

 The wall of Audrey projects.  She loves sticking a paper up here when we have finished, and it reminds her what we've learned about.  

Crazy Hair

We've been doing a lot of outside work lately.  We took a tree and a half out which was all Paul.  I won't take an ounce of credit.  He's awesome.  I trimmed back all the bushes and one of our other trees. We have plenty of trees to go around, even after taking the one out. We had more limbs than we knew what to do with.  While we're working in the yard, Audrey likes to run around and pretend like she's Elsa.  She likes doing what I call the snow dance.  Lots of ballet moves mixed in with crazy hand gestures.  The irony is that it's so hot and humid that she's sweating like crazy while she's screaming. "Look Mom it's snowing". I try to act surprised.  The neighbors probably think we're crazy. The good kind of crazy right?  I love how curly her hair gets, even if she spends just 10 minutes outside.  She always tells me, "My hairs a little crazy Mom."  I think it's cute.  Of course she needs a bath after it's all over.  

(pretending her blanket is a beautiful snow dress.  Yes she is still in her pj's)

Learning New Things

My Aunt came into town last month. I loved talking with her and her friend Chris.  They have been Mothers a lot longer than I have, which means they know a lot more than I do.  Every morning Audrey would come out of her room and they would read and play with her. It was like having my Mom around.  

I was talking about preschool one day, and they started talking about teaching their children. Annmarie's friend told me that she home schooled all of her children till college. She said she never went by a curriculum she just watched her children to find out their interests and she would teach them about those things.  Inspiration.

That was easy enough for me.  Audrey is interested in so many things.  She loves all things that have to do with flowers, the Moon, Stars, and Sky.  She loves to paint, and to sing, and I'm sure the list will continue to grow as I try to feed her love of learning new things.  

Today we learned about flowers and what it takes for them to grow.  We also learned about the parts of the flower, i.e.: leaves, stem, roots, petals, and the seed.  She got to plant her own flowers and water them.  It was so awesome to play on her interests and watch her excitement.  Everyday she wants to check on her flowers to see how they are growing and to see if they need water.  Maybe we'll try vegetables next time.  

Thank you dear Auntie for visiting and sharing your wisdom. I have thoroughly enjoyed discovering new things with this little girl. 

(Pay no attention to the door frame sitting on my back porch.  Lol.  Paul just replaced our back door.  Good times. Good times.)

 I inherited this beautiful Hibiscus plant from the previous owners of the house.  It makes me happy just to look at it.  Audrey has added this one to her watering rounds.  

 I have no idea what Paul is doing here. He's just handsome.  The End.  

Audrey's Room Repaint

 Yay!  I can't describe the happiness it brings me to have this done.  It was kind of a nightmare to finish the touch ups.  The last people didn't tape their lovely paint job, so after we painted the whole thing I had to touch up the ceiling and the moldings.  My shoulder has never been so sore as the day after I did the ceiling on this room.  That said, I'm so grateful that it is done.  It looks so beautiful.  

Sadly my camera is a 50 mm prime lens which makes it difficult to get a a shot of the whole room. 

A Window Seat

The house is moving right along.  The kitchen is no longer a dark olive green.  Now it's a white that has a little hint of mint.  I love it!  Paul's parents came down just in time to help us paint a few rooms.  I will never be more grateful.  This house feels a little bit more like home now, and it's only going to get better.  I got to see a little bit of my vision come to life and I couldn't be more pleased with the outcome.  Thank you Rod and Anne!  Every time I look at these walls I'm reminded of family.  

My favorite part of the house right now is this window seat.  It's the best place to take pictures and it's fun to just sit here and read a book, or a couple pages of a book.  :)

I've been busy on the finishing touches of Audrey's room and I finally finished today.  I'm looking forward to posting pictures in the near future.  

I love this little girl and her smiles.  She was so happy about her princess attire that I couldn't help but snap a few photos.   

Family

Living far away from family is hard sometimes.  Luckily I've been really blessed in the friend department and I've been adopted into a family down here.  It's the only way I can survive.  Sometimes you just need to sit a chat with someone, sometimes you need a hug, sometimes you need someone to be there for you when you move, sometimes you're sick or you've had surgery and you need a meal, and sometimes it's nice to have a place to go on the holidays.  I feel so blessed because I have found that here in Texas.  

Just recently I found out that I have another cousin here.  It's been a while since I've spent any time with him.  He must have been 12 when I last saw him.  He wrote me and invited me to his wedding.  I was so happy that I got to be apart of his special occasion.  It was simple.  I brought my camera because I knew they hadn't planned any pictures, and I figured they would want to remember such a special day.  

I'm so happy that I get to add Blake and Michelle to my Texas family, and I hope I can be there for them the way that others have been for me.  Congratulations on your wedding and to Michelle on her Baptism and thank you for sharing it with me.   

 Audrey...they only evidence that I was there.  

Disney World

Just moved into your new home a week ago.  Want to go on vacation?  Okay!

My big Sis. invited us to join her in Orlando.  We have been hoping to go for a while.   I'm glad we waited because it was better for Audrey to enjoy it with one of her cousins, and it was nice to go on a few adult rides (thank you Jenn!) 

It was truly surreal.  It was hard to believe that I was in Orlando.  When we arrived at the Magic Kingdom I started crying.  I felt so blessed to be there, and I didn't think that it would happen so soon.  

Audrey had been talking about meeting Cinderella for a month.  When we got there she was really nervous.  The only one she didn't seem to be nervous around was Rapunzel and Belle.  She talked with Rapunzel for quite a while and she danced for Belle.  Watching the way that she reacted to things was the best part.  I think her favorite thing at the magic kingdom was the Peter Pan ride.  You can't help but like it though.  They take you through the story while you're in line waiting for the ride.  Tinkerbell seems so real, Audrey was content to sit there watching Tinkerbell zip around getting caught in drawers and tea pots. Then when we got to the actual ride and got into Captain Hook's boat to fly over Neverland she was so happy. She'd been asking to ride in his boat all day.  She could hardly take it all in she kept pointing everywhere.  She asked to go again but the line was ridiculously long everyday we were there. 

When we arrived at the castle all of the princesses came out on the stage and sang and danced with Mickey and Minnie.  At that point I think she realized how awesome Disney really is.  At this point she was more interested in looking at the parade coming down the street than looking at the camera.  

Waving to Mickey.  It was sensory overload for her that first day.  Everywhere we turned there was a character that she had seen some point in a movie.

Dancing with Chip, Jenn, and Charlotte.

She was a little unsure about the carousel. 

She loved Dumbo and wanted to go again.

The Animal Kingdom was really awesome.  I loved it because of the condensed versions of the Lion King on Broadway and another one of Finding Nemo.  

Jeep Safari ride.  We went twice.  :)

Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes with Chip and Dale.

This was the coolest ride ever.  I wanted to go again and again.  Going backwards in the dark at high speeds is exactly what I was looking for.  

We bought her a Pooh Bear.  He didn't quite replace Bubba, but she loves him.  Now she carries two bears around.  

I brought her to see Tink because the line was short.  I'm not sure she was actually that excited about it.  

The Princess that she felt completely comfortable around.  I love her cheese these days.  It kind of looks like she's in pain.  Lol.

Paul got to play and knight at Belle's castle.  He was elated (hahaha).  If you know Paul you get my sarcasm.  He's a good sport for Audrey.  

 Another one of my favorites was Splash Mountain.  Audrey was so brave and went. I'm a terrible Mom, I didn't warn her beforehand.  She got a little worried after the first couple little drops.  I was more nervous for her than I was myself.  When we went down Paul was worried about her hitting her head on the front of the car so he put his hand in front of her face, even though I don't think you would be able to see her face anyway.  I know she was scared, but she seemed pretty happy when I looked down at her.  No so happy that she wanted to go again though. :)

The Parade and the lights on the Castle were the best part of the day.  Audrey was glued.  She kept saying, "this is so magical", "this is so cool Mom".  I loved watching her experience it all for the first time.  

We had to meet Mickey on the way out.  She was all smiles around him.  

Blizzard Beach.  I got to show Paul the tallest straight down water slide in the world and then I got to go down it with him.  I don't remember being as nervous the first time I went on it.  It's hard not to get a little worried when you can see all of Orlando when you get to the top.  They say your going 50 to 60 mph when you hit the bottom.

(Not my photo, but gives you an idea of what it looks like when your up there.)

Audrey had a lot of fun to.  I underestimated her again.  I didn't think she would go down the water slides by herself, but she was eager to do it all.  

The old house.  It's amazing how much I remember considering how young I was when we lived here.  I asked the woman who lived there if we could take photos.  Surprisingly she was the one who bought the house after we left it.  She remembered my Mom and that we were Mormons.  I guess we made quite the impression.

Walk around Lake Eola

Hollywood Studios.  Again there were really good live shows here.  We watched Beauty and the Beast, Frozen, Disney Junior (Audrey's Favorite), and The Little Mermaid.  We also saw a 3D Muppet show which was awesome.  The best part for me was the Rockin Roller Coaster I've never been on something that went so fast.  The Tower of Terror was pretty great too.  

That evening we watched Fantasmic and again Audrey got to see all of her favorite characters.  She also was a little scared by all the villains, but in the end Mickey triumphed over evil.  She still talks about how Mickey's magic made the Villains go away.

Gold dubloons, from Jake and the Neverland Pirates.

Swimming at the Resort pool.  

She may not remember it forever, but I will.  It was the most amazing week.  I couldn't have asked for more.  I'm sad I didn't get very many photos with Jenn and Derrick.  How lame am I?

Verdict:  Disney World is the most Magical place on earth.  You actually forget about real life while you're there.