Week In the Life 2014

Next week begins Ali Edwards’ yearly project “A Week in the Life.”  I’ve joined in on this little project for about 4 (maybe 5) years now and I love it.  It’s so fun to go back and see what we were doing a year ago.  The little things-snacks we purchased, shows we loved, house décor, etc.

You can see my last year’s posts and pages here.  Last year captured the week of September 9-15, so I'm a little off from being exactly a year apart.  Oh well.

It’s just so EASY.  Seriously.  I download Ali’s templates so that all I have to do is drag and drop the photos into the template and it’s all done.  In years’ past, I’ve just carried a notebook/phone around with me to jot down notes about our day.  This year, I’m using the notes section in my Erin Condren planner.

Next week, I’ll be posting each day’s photos + words.  (I’ll share the layouts later.)  Sunday’s photos + words will show on Monday, etc.

One thing I really aim to do is put more words on my pages.  I got all the journaling down on my daily blog posts, but not on the pages.  When I looked back, I had to go to the blog page to undertand some of the photos.  So more words is definitely a goal for this time around.

If you are participating as well, let me know!

Project Life Tuesday, Digital Edition

This past week has been extremely busy.  The good kind of busy, but still, busy.  I didn't get to catch up on any layouts--I barely had time to complete this current week. I really need to do better about limiting my photos--maybe choosing only ONE photo per day, or one per 'happening'.  I've made myself a deal that once I've completed weeks 1-25, I can have them printed.  Hopefully, this will motivate me to make time.  If I'm being realistic, these next few weeks are going to be pretty busy, so I'm not going to pressure myself too much.  I'm just going to keep on keepin' on.

Week 19

Journaling, left side:  On Monday Kyndall had an appointment with an orthopedic doctor to have her ankle checked out.  (She hurt it the previous weekend jumping on the trampoline.)  The verdict?  A bad sprain and a brace for two weeks.  Tuesday night we had Libby's Kindergarten program.  I can't believe she is getting ready to move to first grade!  On Thursday, we took Max to the vet for his rabies shot.  Earlier in the year, Mica and I produced an Anti-Bullying video for our school.  Both girls were in it.  Our video won the elementary division and we were all presented with an award at the board meeting on Thursday night.  Friday night the girls and I drove over to Huntsville to pick up a TV for the library.  While we were waiting for Justin to meet us at school and help us unload, the girls did a little inventorying for me :)

Journaling, right side:  On Saturday, we celebrated Koby's birthday at Mallard Stables.  The girls were able to brush the horses, ride a pony, zip down the zipline, and play with some smelly pigs.  After the party, we had dinner with the Johnsons and Buffalo Wild Wings.  It has been a long time since we have all been able to hang out and it was long overdue...for everyone!  Sunday was Mother's Day and we began the morning with church, followed by lunch at Gra-Gra and Pops house.  Later in the day we went to Nana and Papaw's.  The girls got in their first swim of the summer and Max got in his first fight :/  Apparently Dakota, Nana and Papaw's dog, decided she didn't like him being at her house.   And if that wasn't a full-enough day, we finished out the evening with an impromptu neighborhood pizza party at the Milers.  We had a very full, but fun, week together!

Disclaimer:  As I was adding this page to the blog, I realized I had not included a photo of Kyndall in her brace.  There are a few other pictures I want included, so I'm going to add a 6x12 photo collage between these two pages.  For now, here is K in her brace:

    

Project Life Tuesday, Digital Edition

I had fully hoped to be completely caught up with PL 2014, but that didn't happen.  I did make some good progress, but I'm not there yet.  And honestly, I didn't work on the first layout on National Scrapbooking Day.  All these layouts were completed during the evenings after the girls went to bed. No #NSD10K, Becky Higgins.  Sorry.

Week 4:

Week 6:

Week 18.  This week had TONS of photos, so I made a separate 6x12 insert just for the journaling.

I'm not going to include the entire journaling insert, but I do want to clarify.  See that photo on the right side, in the middle?  The one with the arrow?  The arrow is pointing to a bird.  This bird has a nest there on the ground, and Every Single morning this week has come flitting out at us as we walked in to school.  The girls have gotten the biggest kick out of it!

Anyone else get any memory keeping completed to celebrate National Scrapbook Day?

Throwback Thursday Stories: Sister

When I was little, I dreamed of having a sibling.  Being an only child out in the country is tough--must be why I have such a vivid imagination now.  After months (maybe years?) of wishing and hoping for someone to play with that would be MINE, it finally happened.

One evening as I was getting ready for my bath, I saw something unusual in the trash can.  I picked it up (don't worry, it was all closed up and not nasty at all) and promptly read all the instructions on the box.  I can remember dancing around that little bathroom with the empty box in my hand, so ecstatic!

Of course, I couldn't let my parents know that I already knew.  Not until several days later, when they sat me down to tell me the good news. :)

I am nine and three-quarters years' older than Mallory.  (Ancient in her eyes, I'm sure.)  I sometimes feel like a second mother, when I'm nagging helping her with life, in general.

She was my Junior Maid of Honor in my wedding, responsible for carrying Justin's ring, and she cried during the entire ceremony.  She wasn't ready for me to get married and move away. (Although she did move into my old room suspiciously quickly....)

I often tell her that she is SO VERY lucky God blessed her with such an awesome big sister, but the truth is, we are both extremely fortunate to have each other.  I have her back and she has mine.  She has seen my best, and my worst, and loves me anyways.

How do people make it through life without a sister?

Project Life Tuesday, Digital Edition

I am so ready to catch up on this project (7 layouts until I'm up to date!).  Hopefully, I can do that on National Scrapbooking Day (May 3).  I am ready to be able to focus on one layout per week, but I'm also ready to get these printed and in my album!

Week 7--I cheated just a little on this week's layouts and strayed from the Kraft edition.  These cards are from the Cherry edition, I just recolored them to match the Kraft edition.

Journaling, left side:  Snow!! We rarely get more than a dusting here in Alabama, but this week we got almost 5 inches!  The girls LOVED playing.  Only when there cheeks and fingers were absolutely frozen could I make them come inside to warm up!  We played with everyone in the neighborhood, the Johnson family, and Gabby.  The snow started falling Sunday afternoon and we stayed up super late playing with Justin, thinking it would be melted when he got home Monday afternoon.  (It wasn’t!)  The girls built there own little Olaf and then Justin and I both helped build this big dude to the left.  He was possible the biggest snowman either of us had ever built!  (Check out that AT&T hat!)  If I had to estimate, I would say we spent around 30 of the first 48 hours of this week outside in this snow!

Journaling, right side: We also celebrated Robin’s 50th birthday this week! There was a surprise party planned on Thursday night and we were so afraid the weather was going to force us to cancel. Luckily, everything melted off to make the roads passable just in time.  School was cancelled on Valentines‘s Day, but the girls got their cards ready just in case.  (They ended up handing them out the following week, when we returned to school.)  On Friday, the girls and I headed to Gatlinburg with the sweet group pictured below.  The West, Johnson, Halbrooks, and Stephens moms’ and kids had reservations at the Christmas Place Inn.  It was such a great experience-we roasted marshmallows, sang with Santa, and had milk and cookies every night.  The kids did make a trip to the indoor pool one night, but it was a little too crowded for their liking.  It was such a fun trip and one that we are hoping to make a tradition for years to come!

Week 17:  This was one of those rare weeks (for me) where I just had too many pictures, and too many things to say about those pictures.  I actually love when this happens, because it makes for an easy layout.

Throwback Thursday Stories: Vegas, Baby!

Linking up with The Mom Creative again for #TBTStories.  My scrapbooking, memory-keeping heart is loving this!

This photo was taken almost 9 years ago.  Justin and I had been married around a year when we were invited to fly out to Las Vegas to watch Supercross Finals.  That's dirt bike racing, just so you know.   And back when Travis Pastrana was still racing.  It was our first "real" trip as a married couple.

We flew out on a Friday morning and flew back home on Monday, so it was quite the whirlwind trip.  The race was on a Saturday night and one of my favorite memories is of the jets flying overhead before the races began.  I had never been in a stadium where jets flew that low and it was amazing.

While in Las Vegas, we drove over the Hoover Dam, which is where the above photo was taken.  It was breath-taking.  And humbling, to know that so many lives (112, according to Wikipedia) were lost in its construction.

We also did a little site-seeing on the strip in Las Vegas.  Justin's cousin, Greg, lived in Las Vegas at the time and was more than happy to be our personal tour guide.

I'm so thankful that we had this experience, because it's not something I see us doing anywhere in the near future.  Las Vegas just isn't a place to travel with young children :).   Visiting Las Vegas DOES happen to be on my 30 Before 30 list, too!

What travel spots are on your bucket list?

Project Life Tuesday, Digital Edition

It's amazing how much easier Project Life is when you let go of all the "fuss."  Is my album simple?  Yes!  Is that ok? Yes!  Using only the Kraft edition has helped me tremendously--I have options for creativity, but not so much that I get lost.  And best of all?  This album is getting FINISHED!

Week 8

Journaling, title card:  Monday was supposed to be a holiday for us, but due to all our SNOW days we were scheduled to go.  The West, Johnson, Halbrooks, and Stephens families just skipped, because we had a girls and kids trip to Gatlinburg planned.  Monday was spent traveling home for the most part, and then Kyndall attended volley-ball camp that afternoon.  And through Wednesday. Tuesday night was Kyndall’s 2nd grade program-she made a beautiful (though light-skinned) Pochahontas. Thanks again to all our snow, the Valentines Day Dance was postponed until this Thursday.  This is Kyndall’s first year for the dances and she loves them!

Journaling, bottom right:  Both girls ADORE Mrs. Malcom’s pet snake, Roxie.  She brings it to the library for a ‘visit’ and they fight over who gets to hold her first!

Journaling, right side:  I’m so glad my girls have such sweet friends to play with in our subdivision. Every day they want to go ride bikes with these boys, or with Maggie and Will, or even with everyone all together.  They traipse through my house and gather in the backyard, for secret meetings on the trampoline.  I am forever handing out capri suns and snacks and I love every single second of it.  I am equally blessed that the girls can go visit the farm as often as they like.  I think we all appreciate it more, not living there.  We truly have the best of both worlds!

Week 9.  This is my least favorite layout so far.  But you know what?  It's finished, and that's what counts!

Journaling, right side:  Things are looking good around here.  The weather has been amazing and my paisey’s are blooming beautifully, no thanks to me.  I finally got around to hanging the gorgeous green letter ‘W’ that Carrie made me for my birthday.  All those loads of laundry happened.  The soccer Sports Banquet was Saturday night and Kyndall received a medal.  Sunday night was the Awana stock car race, and Libby won her division.  She was even sweet enough to let Kyndall pose in a picture with her trophy.  And to top it all off, Kyndall learned to ride her bike with no training wheels!

Week 16

Journaling reads: What a busy week!! On Monday, Libby died eggs at school and my Erin Condren planner FINALLY arrived.  Tuesday, the girls had gymnastics and then the WMES art show.  Libby and I went on a field trip on Wednesday to Gullion Farms and had so much fun seeing all the new baby animals. Thursday, as I was walking down the hall, I saw the above story written by Kyndall about her hero:  Libby.  We spent Friday resting up for the busy weekend.  Saturday was TBC’s Easter Extravaganza and then we spent the rest of the day fishing at Pops and Gra-Gra’s.  We celebrated Easter on Sunday with church, and then lunch at Gra-Gra’s.  There was such a crowd there this year.  Both sides of our family and Justin’s came to eat and hunt eggs, and everyone stayed until early evening visiting.

Are you participating in Project Life?  If you have a link, share it in the comments below.

Throwback Thursday Stories: Strong

I'm not sure if it's the story I've been sharing in the library (Baseball Saved Us by Ken Mochizuki), or the fact that she would have been ELATED about Kyndall's baptism,  but I've been thinking about Mamaw West a lot lately.  I wanted her story to be the first I shared in participation with The Mom Creative's link-up.

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Oh, this woman.  My heart swells with pride as I look at this picture and I don't even know where to begin with the telling of her story.  Great-grandmother to my girls. Grandmother to my husband.  Mother to 4 boys (God bless her soul).  Braves Baseball Fan.  STRONG.  Faith-Filled.  Selfless.

One of the earliest memories I have of Mamaw is Sunday lunch at her house.  I had finished my plate and drink and was sitting there, listening to the stories being passed around.  Mamaw insisted on refilling my drink, even with my adamant proclamation of not being thirsty.  That little memory EMBODIES her.  She was a doer.  A helper.  A servant at heart.

And, oh how she loved my girls.  (She loved everyone, but for the purpose of this story, we're talking about my girls.)  When we visited, she would light up and sit and talk and bask in all that was my girls.    Even when she was sick and I would hesitate in visiting, afraid the wildness and energy from K & L would wear her out, she asked for us.

When Libby was born, she would never take a pacifier.  We wanted her to, just as a comfort measure.  One of Mamaw's favorite stories to tell was the day she introduced Libby to the paci.  I'm not sure if it was the timing, or the approach, or just the presence of Mamaw.  One day, in her arms, Libby started taking her paci.  It was a saving grace for us at the time.  (Months later, I joked with Mamaw that since she was the one responsible for the paci habit, she needed to be the one to take it away.)

She had a face cream recipe that I swear is a miracle.  It should be marketed.  I have it written down, and one day when I start the face regimen that I need to have, I'll use her cream.

She survived the Japanese war camps, and while I'll never know all the parts of that story that my curious heart craves, knowing this makes her the strongest woman I've ever known.

Even as tiny as she was, she had such a commanding presence.  Justin's favorite memory is the way she 'scolded'.  When he and his brothers would be fighting, she would squeeze between them repeating "Say! Say!"

She was famous before being famous was cool.  A radio interview and a newspaper article were produced about her.  Both called her a "war bride", even though she loved to say that wasn't technically the truth.

She was part of the greatest love story I'll ever witness, and that is a story in itself.

She was, and is, such an inspiration to me.  I am forever grateful to this sweet lady, and the family she raised.  Her legacy lives on.  Through the slanted eyes and tanned skin of my husband.  Through the memories he has that he passes along to our girls.  Through his faith, which was very much influenced by her life.  I knew Mamaw for only eight short years, but I am forever thankful for each and every minute of that time.

Project Life Tuesday

If you read this Project Life post, you know that I started last week on PL 2014.  That meant I had some catching up to do.  This week, I was able to go back and finish Weeks 10-12, along with our current Week 15.

Week 10.

Journaling, left side bottom:  We had a VERY busy week! It was book fair week in the library and Read Across America week.  Monday was Hat Day for the entire school.. Kyndall finally pulled the tooth that had been loose for what seems like forever.  We had a special visitor at school on Tuesday.  Author Michael Finklea spoke to the students and both girls received signed copies of one of his books.  On Wednesday, we had a groundbreaking for the new addition at our school.  The girls were able to take part and scoop a shovel-full of dirt.  Kyndall even got to wear a hardhat.  On Thursday, Libby wore red and her class dressed as “Things”.  Libby was #14.  Friday night brought a trip to Build-A-Bear--a reward for the girls sleeping in their own beds.

Week 11.  This week is very much a "Kyndall week."  Sometimes layouts focus more on Kyndall, sometimes Libby.  I don't try to keep them even, because I'm telling the story of our life.  Life happens unevenly, and so do my PL pages :)

Journaling, left side bottom corner:  1.  Kyndall’s class took a field trip to the Soil and Water Conservation.  I snapped this picture of her with her ‘besties’.  2.  Our field trip tour guide was scooping up crawfish and passing them out.  Kyndall didn’t hesitate to hold out her hand, but I think she might have regretted it!  3.  Harrison turns 8 on the 30th, but his party was on Saturday.  We celebrated at the bowling alley.  4.  K getting some regular Max snuggles.

Right side, top square:  Instagram post from this week:  Libby’s class was still celebrating Dr. Seuss week.  This picture shows Wacky Wednesday--two different shoes, backwards shirt, inside out jeans, and crazy hair.  Same beautiful smile.

Right side, bottom square:  Sunday afternoon, we picked buttercups at GraGra and Pops’ house.  The girls made too many bouquets to count.  It was a good thing we had such hand-some men to help hold all those flowers!

Week 12:

Journaling below date card reads:  Out with the old, in with the new!  We switched out our old, maroon bedding for a new, fresh spread.  I love how it brightens everything up!  Next move- painting.

Journaling left side, below photo 1:  On Saturday, we headed to Orlando.  It was a long 12 hour drive, but we hit the park at Universal Studio’s wide open on Sunday.  The Butterbeer from Harry Potter World definitely lived up to the expectation.

Journaling, left bottom corner:  1.  In Mrs. Stephens class, Arthur makes home visits with each student. This week, we had the pleasure of his company.  K’s job is to take a few pictures with him and write all about their fun time.  2.  Kyndall is also learning all about letter writing.  Each week, she writes a friendly letter to one family member.  On Thursday, she wrote to Libby.  Then, she insisted on helping Libby write her back!

Journaling, top right corner:  1.  Frozen debuted this week and Aunt Mal made sure to get you a copy right away.  2.  Justin’s back has been hurting for a few days.  It helps when he lays on the floor. We put Frozen in for a home viewing and everyone piled up in the floor to watch.  3.  After putting the girls off for weeks, I finally agreed to take the girls to the movies.  We loaded up Kyndall, Raegan, Shaylee, Libby and Brook-Lynn and watched Mr. Peabody.  The movie was followed up by a trip to Ulta.  Fun times!


Week 15:

Journaling, right side:  On Monday, the girls went to a new gym to ‘try’ gymnastics again.  They loved it, so we went back on Tuesday for our first official gym day.  Kyndall went on a field trip to the movies and the park and her pen pal went.  Excuse her silly face in this photo--she does not take pictures seriously anymore.  Ever.  Saturday, we ran some errands in town and stopped for lunch at Chili’s, courtesy of a gift card from my parents.  (We’ve started this whole budget thing, so the gift card was great!)

Journaling, left side:  This week, Libby’s class learned about oviparous animals.  She made  a paper mache egg and then ‘hatched’ it at school.  Friday night the girls went to the Huntsville Stars baseball game with Blake for his birthday.  They had so much fun.  Kyndall was even given a ball from the pitcher.  I took the girls to a painting party on Saturday.  Sunday after church we attended the 12th annual Terry family Easter egg hunt.  As usual, we all had so much fun!  After the egg hunt, we went to Meme and Papa’s for an early dinner.  The girls loved Meme’s new kittens.

Project Life, Take 2

I started Project Life last year and was very passionate about it for the first 15(ish) weeks.  I'm hesitant to even share this post, because I may fail, again.  If you're not failing, you're not trying, right?  I'm going to try really hard to finish this time.  I LOVE digital scrapbooking--it is a creative outlet that never fails to de-stress me.  And I LOVE having scrapbooks that my kids can enjoy.  So this week, I sat down and did the last few weeks layouts.

This time, I'm limiting myself.  One of the major issues I ran into last year was having too many options.  This year, I purchased the Kraft edition core kit (you can purchase it through the link in the sidebar).  I plan to use ONLY this kit, to make things a little more simple for me.

Week 13:  March 22-30

Journaling at top right reads: We started our week at Epcot (Disney).  Our original plans didn’t include a stop at Disney, but thanks to a friend of Aunt Mal’s, we got a major discount and were able to stop in to see Anna and Elsa.  For the record, it was worth every minute that we waited in line! On Tuesday, we went to Universal Studios.  Wednesday morning we made a second trip to Islands of Adventure and ended the day at the outlets before heading home on Thursday.  Friday was a big girls trip to the movies to see The Single Mom’s Club, Saturday was a laundry/chore day, and Sunday was BAPTISM day!

Journaling at top right is this blog post from March 30th.


Week 14:  March 31-April 6

Bottom right journaling reads: What a GREAT week we’ve had!  We played outside almost every day, enjoying the gorgeous weather.  Chalk art was made.  Bicycles were crashed.  Ice cream was eaten from teeny-tiny cones.  Spelling tests were aced.  Cursive handwriting was practiced.  Somewhere in the midst of all this, Justin tackled a home improvement project--our TV.  Then, to top it all off, we went to the CIRCUS.  It was a whole-family adventure and we had a blast just being together.

Keep my accountable, ya'll.  I have a few (12) weeks to catch up on, in addition to staying current, but I think I can do it.  Fingers crossed :)

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WINNER, WINNER!

And the winner of the $25 Erin Condren giveaway is Celeste Weller.  Celeste, send me your email so I can forward that on over to the guys at Erin Condren and get your code.  Congratulations!!

If you haven't signed up for Erin Condren emails through THIS LINK, do that now.  Email subscribers get all sorts of amazing discounts!

From the Camera Roll

It's Friday!!! This has been the LONGEST week coming off Spring Break.  I'm ready to sleep in tomorrow, at least a little! As is tradition around here on Friday's, here are a few of my favorite pictures from my camera roll.

Silly girls at the Bubba Gump Shrimp Co.  Not sure what these facial expressions are about, but that's what happened.

Sam-I-Am and his green eggs and ham.

Sister photo from Disney.

On Friday, we took a girls trip to see the Single Mom's Club.  It was the perfect girl movie with lots of laughs.

Quote and image found on pinterest. Love it!

Another photo from baptism day.  K's feet were cold, so she held them up to the heater while we were waiting.

We have spent every free minute outside enjoying this gorgeous weather.  Our sidewalk is covered in beautiful chalk art.

If you haven't entered the Erin Condren giveway from this post, do it!! To be entered, you MUST have an Erin Condren account to receive their emails.  The contest ends April 9 at midnight.

 

A Day in the Life

Alarm goes off at 4:45.  I literally roll out of bed, throw on a few clothes, and meet Anna for our morning run.

Baths, ponytails, breakfast, and then we are out the door by 7:15 for school.

My day starts off with some computer "stuff" before I have classes.  I had to make a music CD to use during our morning news broadcast.

We had construction workers adding A/C to our gym and they accidentally cut the wiring, causing the fire alarm to go off.  No one was aware of the cause until AFTER the fire trucks arrived. (This is not a typical day, but you never know what's going to happen when you work at a school!)

We have been playing outside every afternoon after school, and this was no exception.  Well, the girls were playing with Cohen and Micah while I supervised the hubby finishing his project.

Shrimp and crab legs (courtesy of Publix) were for supper, ice cream for dessert.  These mini cones were purchased by accident, but how cute are they?  PS:  The girls each had an ENTIRE bowl of ice cream, not just these teeny tiny cones.

The girls watched a little tv all snuggled up before bedtime at 8:00.  Then Justin and I played catch-up with Nashville on ABC before ending our day around 10:30.

Come on, share your day with me in the comments :)

Orlando Vacation, Part 2--The One Where We Meet Anna & Elsa

Our original vacation plans only included 3 days at Universal Studios.  It really hurt my heart that were were going to be SO close to Disney and not see Anna and Elsa, who just happen to be our favorite.  If you've ever been to Disney though, you know that going for only a day is much more expensive than going for several days, so it just wasn't in our budget.  As our luck would have it, one of Mallory's friends who had just begun working at Disney texted her and offered to be our personal tour guide for a day at Epcot (where Anna and Elsa are until April 1st).  AND she was able to get 3 people in the park for free, as part of her employee perks.  YAY for us :)

Chelsea met us at Epcot Monday and spent the whole day with us.  It was truly a VIP experience!  We still had to wait in a few lines, but she knew so much and was able to help us with lots.  We were in line for Epcot at 8:15, and the gates open at 9am.  As soon as the gates opened, Justin SPRINTED (sorry Disney) all the way back to Norway to get in line for Anna and Elsa.  Even with all this planning, we still waited an hour and a half.  Anna and Elsa are kind of a big deal right now.

While we were waiting, I went into the store and purchased a few Frozen books (that I think you can only get at Disney) and we had Anna and Elsa sign them.

After Anna and Elsa, we hit the rides.  We did Soarin', Journey Into Imagination with Figment, and the Seas with Nemo and Friends. We took a break for lunch at La Hacienda de San Angel, in Mexico.  From there, we saw Mulan and watched an acrobatic show in China.

We rode TestTrack and the bigger kids (including Kyndall) rode Mission: Space.  While they rode Mission Space, Libby and I sat around and did a little people-watching.  When they were finished, we rode the boat over to Disney's Beach Club Resort and had dinner at the Crew's Cup Lounge and ice cream at Beaches and Cream Soda Shop.  We made it back just in time to see the fireworks before calling it a night.

On Tuesday, we went to Universal Studios.  From everything I read, this park was going to be the least-friendly to my smaller children.  It's better suited to teenagers and adults.  We did find lots to do though!

We rode E.T.'s adventure and Woody Woodpecker's Nuthouse Coaster. We happened on a dance party with the characters from Hop, and posed for a few pictures.

We saw the Spongebob parade, and characters, next.

We braved the Transformers 3D ride (the girls thought it was a little scary) and then the big kids went to ride Hollywoods Rip Ride RockIt while the girls and I, with Gra-Gra and Pops, went to see Shrek 4-D.

Leaving Shrek, we saw Fiona, Donkey, and Shrek.

Donkey was so cute!  He talked to the girls for a while and then asked Fiona to show them how to pose like princesses. When they already knew how to do it, he said "Well, look at them! Alabama royalty!"

After Shrek, we went for lunch at Bubba Gump Shrimp Company.  When our bellies were full, we came back into the park and found seats for the Superstar Parade.  (It was a really cute parade, but much shorter than the ones we were used to from Disney.)

As soon as the parade was over, we got in line for Despicable Me Minion Mayhem.  It was a 70 minute wait (because we didn't have Express tickets... boo!) but well worth it.  During the ride, Gru and the girls turned us all into minions! It was really cute.  After the ride, we were able to meet a real-life minion and get our picture taken.

Kyndall decided last-minute that she wanted to ride Revenge of the Mummy, so we hustled to the BACK of the park to let her ride.  Then we had to speed walk out to meet our bus to take us back to the hotel. (FYI:  We stayed at the Hampton Inn S. Universal.  It is off resort property, but offers free shuttle service to and from the parks.  There are certain times the bus runs, and you have to catch these times.)

Wednesday was our last day and we decided to go back to Islands of Adventure for a while.  Kyndall, Justin, and Gra-Gra waited 90 minutes to ride Forbidden Journey, while Pops and Libby rode Flight of the Hippogriff THREE times!  While they did all this riding, Mal and I did a little shopping.

We went back to Seussville and the girls rode the Caro-Seuss-El.

Just so you know how amazing Suessville is, here are a few photos.  

We left Islands of Adventure just in time for lunch, so we stopped in at Hard Rock Cafe for a quick bite to eat.  Then, we took a taxi back to the hotel (it wasn't anywhere near time for the bus to pick us up).  The girls loved it and requested that I take a picture of their first time in a taxi:

For the rest of the afternoon, we hit the outlets wide open :).  The girls both got new tennis shoes from the Nike outlet and germ-x from Bath and Body works.  (They love hand sanitizer, which is hilarious because I am the anti-germophobe!)  

We grabbed a quick dinner at McDonalds before heading back to the hotel and pack up.  We had a jam-packed, fun-filled 4 days in Orlando and, as I'm writing this, I'm already planning our next trip!

If you have any questions, feel free to contact me.  I am, by far, NOT an expert, but I'll be glad to share tips and tricks that we've learned along the way!