Let's Get Ready to Rumble!

Our already hectic life as we know it is about to get even crazier! Hadlee's first soccer game this season is Saturday, and if Hollyn was able to get on a team (our registration was a little late!), hers will start next Saturday and Hunter's volleyball will start April 15th. So those games will all be on Saturdays and Sundays. The Sunday games are all after church services though, so I'm happy about that! I'm sure we won't always be so lucky with that in the sports life though.

Hadlee's team was undefeated last season, so she's excited to learn from all these girls - enough to be able to do well at try outs for her high school team.

As far as the babies go (I'm not sure at what point I'm going to stop calling them "babies"!), they definitely have Spring Fever and throw a little tantrum every time someone opens the front door, or we have them out and bring them back in. Even Hope throws a little fit! So we will be looking into different fencing options for the back yard for this summer. It will be much easier and less stressful to have them contained while outside! I'm really glad that they enjoy being outside. They are both old enough this summer that we will try do have them out of the house more than they are now.

Oh, speaking of Spring.......Spring cleaning.......ugh! I'm not sure that I've ever really done that, but I really think I need to! The older and more active the babies are, the more I'm remembering the days of not ever having a clean house! The good news is that now I have the older girls to help me with it. They are being really good about helping me out with the chores, but now that the weather is nice, they want to be outside too. Does anyone EVER have a perfect schedule or plan to get everything done the way they want to and when they want to? Someone let me know if you figure that out!

Update for Hope!

She had school yesterday and Miss Millie was very impressed with her interest in wanting to stand, and being able to pull herself up! If she was trying to reach something and had something to grab onto, she pretty much pulled herself up on her own. She wouldn't even put any weight on her feet at all a couple of months ago. Millie is going to check on some equipment - we'll call them accessories, she's a girl! - that will help her stand on her own a little more. She's very apprehensive to put her in anything that's going to restrain her from moving around, which is what she said a lot of the "standers" do. They are just pretty much strapped in and can't really move around much, but it forces them to put weight on their feet. I have to agree with her on this one! She said that if she didn't see anything that she liked that she had a guy that she could explain what she wanted to accomplish and he could make something. That's pretty cool! Hopey has "people"! A year ago, I had no idea that we would even be looking into these "accessories" so soon! Way to go Hopey! Millie would still like to see her do 4 point crawling on her hands and knees, but Hope still prefers to do the "booty scoot"! If you can force her on her tummy, she almost does crawl up on hands and knees, but before you know it, she's flipped back over on her booty. She's so quick! Both her therapists say that they need about 9 more hands to keep her in the positions they want her in! I'm telling you, I think she could take state in wrestling! LOL! I guess that's all the new news that I have for you at this time. As far as the other kiddos go, they are all doing just great! Hadlee's first soccer game is this Saturday, so she's excited about that. Hunter's Volleyball will be starting in a few more weeks. She's very excited because Mallory (my best friend's 16 year old daughter) gets to be her coach. None of the parents had volunteered to do it, so thanks Mal! Hollyn's basketball just got over, so now she thinks she wants to play softball to pass the time until basketball starts again! Never a dull moment with this crew! I think I may have to sneak off to bed before the dryer stops and I have to fold laundry or something! Shhhh! I had to post another picture of Hope in her Minnie Mouse ears - they're so darn cute! Until next time................

Back to normal.........if there is such!

We all got up and went to church this morning. Missing last Sunday when we were on vacation seemed really strange. We rarely miss a church service with our family. It was a great start to our day. Everyone is ready (NOT!) for school tomorrow, officially ending their Spring Break. Even Hope has to go back to "school" tomorrow. Her OT will be here at 11:30 to work with her. We just had her IFSP (Individual Family Service Plan) meeting right before we left. That's where all the people that work with her get together and share info on what she's doing or not doing and review the goals that they set for her at the last meeting, and then set new goals for the next one. It's fun reading what they are expecting her to be doing by the next meeting. I'm just simply amazed at how far she's come in the year since her diagnosis. Yesterday, Rob was laying on the couch and she scooted over and reached up, grabbed his shirt and pulled herself up to a standing position. It wasn't real pretty - very stiff legs and locked knees, but she got up there all by herself! It's funny seeing her in a standing position! She's so tall! So, anyway, business as usual starting tomorrow. Piano lessons, Girl Scouts, Guitar lessons, Soccer Practice and Games, Volleyball Practice and Games, Youth Group meetings, Hope's school........and the list goes on! This is the time of year that I'm ready for school to be out for the summer. Part of it is just having them here so I can run errands during the day instead of doing the mad dash to try to fit as many in as I can before or after I pick them up from school before any of their extra activities start, part of it is just the laid back attitude that you have when you think about "summer time", and maybe some of it is I just want it to be warm once and for all! No more 80 degrees one day and 40 degrees the next. I guess that's Nebraska for you though. OK, it's 11:40 and everyone else, including Hope is asleep! I'm going to sneak off to bed so I can get up and vacuum the myraid of morsels I have in my living room carpet! (corn pops, cheerios, popcorn and whatever else Asher could con anyone to put in his bowl this evening for him to carry around!) Hopefully I can get all that done before Hope's teachers get here. Nighty night!

We're home now!

We made home safe and sound (not necessarily sound mind, but sound body!). We got everyone up yesterday morning at 4:30 a.m. and were at the airport in Orlando at about 6:00 a.m. I even had time to grab a cup of coffee before our flight at 7:00 a.m. That made the flight even more tolerable for me! And probably everyone that had to be around me also! The kids all did great. Hopey had her moments of kind of wimpering a little because she was tired and she's just not use to someone holding her when she's tired. She just likes to be laid down and left alone so she can sleep. There was one time that she just couldn't stay awake any longer and fell asleep in my arms and about 5 minutes later, the stewardess came and told me to put my seat belt on and woke her up! ARG! We arrived in Kansas City at about 7:45 a.m. (that's weird! but we gained an hour on the way). Rob called the hotel that we stayed in on the previous Friday and they sent a shuttle for us that came in about 15 minutes which timed out perfect. We got to the hotel, hopped in our car and headed out for Lincoln. We had no trouble on the way home either. We got home at about noon. We fed everyone lunch and then took some naps. And.....scene. Just like that, it's all over and done! Crazy! All in all, everyone had a great time and we had no major problems whatsoever with the kids. Just a few little snaffoos along the way because someone (namely, Hopey!) was tired. But even with those, it was an enjoyable trip and we would do it again. I say "we" meaning the kids and I, uh, Rob.......that's a different story! LOL! He says next time just the 2 of us are going to Mexico! So, I guess either way, I'm good! Thanks for following along with our vacation and I will probably still try to post every now and then. I'm not promising that it will be as exciting as hearing about Disney, but what can I say, we're just simple folk!

Wednesday - Last but not least!

Wednesday was our last day at Disney and we made the most of it by staying for nearly 12 hours! The guys left the house at about 6:30 to go golfing and the rest of us started getting ready for our day. We got there (at Epcot) right as they were opening at 9 a.m. The first thing we did was to head over to get our fast passes for Soarin' and we're glad we did! By the time we walked over there our fast pass time was already 2 p.m. to actually do it. I'm sure they handed them all out shortly after that. The fast passes go so fast on the popular rides. After that we took the babies on "Living with the Land" ride. It was a little boat ride that was kind of an educational thing that taught about aquaculture and desert farming. It was pretty interesting, but the babies just loved the ride and looking at everything. Then we took them on the Nemo and Friends ride - they loved this one too. We rode in little clam shells around in front of this big screen that made it look like we were under water with all the Nemo characters. Then we went and did "Turtle Talk" with Crush the turtle from the Nemo movie. We were all sitting in front of this huge screen that looked like it was underwater and Crush was swimming and moving around and talking to us. They had someone "behind the scenes" somewhere that was talking for him because he could see the audience. When they raised their hands if they had questions, he would actually say, "The little boy in the blue shirt in the second row" and stuff like that. It was cool because the animated character on the screen's mouth was moving and saying exactly what the guy was saying. Dori even made a surprise visit with us too! After all that, it was lunch time so Becky and I sat down with the babies and started feeding them the PB & J sandwiches that we packed to take with us while Jen and the girls went to stand in line so they could do the Test Track ride (for the 3rd time!). It was actually Hunter's first time - the others rode it the day that Hunter and I went back home in the afternoon. But they have a camera that scans the people standing in line and that day they got picked to be the "family of the hour", so they got to go to the front of the line and ride it and when they got done, they got to do it again with no wait! They were very excited! By this time, the guys were done golfing and met up with us. Rob and Papa took the babies home for a nap and planned to meet back up with us after they woke up. We tried really hard to stay one step ahead of the babies and take them home for naps BEFORE they started getting fussy! The rest of the afternoon just flew by as we knew it would. But we did a lot of walking and riding to finish up our vacation. At this time, it was time for our Fast Pass return for Soarin'. This was one of my favorites! It was so cool! We sat in several rows of about 8 seats. When it started it got really dark and the rows of seats moved up in the air so they were stacked on top of each other. If you could imagine a movie screen and all the rows of seats starting with the front row started moving up until they were all stacked on top of each other, that's kind of what it was like. Then the screen came on and we were "soaring" over the ocean - it was beautiful! There was a breeze blowing on you so it actually felt like you were moving. The picture on the screen would go faster and the breeze would get harder to make you think you were flying really fast. The seats would go up and down a little for some movement - or at least I think they did! Maybe it was just the picture on the screen. But we went over the ocean and you could actually smell it! Then we flew over orange fields and you could smell oranges. They had a lot of different scenes, they were just beautiful! I really would've done that one again and even waited in the 70-90 minute lines to do it! It was awesome! We also did the "Circle of Life", "Journey into the Imagination with Figment", "Honey I Shrunk the Audience", and walked through all the different countries. Jen and I stopped off to get some Brats and Sauerkraut in Germany and Mark got some Sushi in Japan. The girls opted to get funnel cakes and snowcones along the way. Then we hopped on the monorail and went over to Magic Kingdom to meet up with Papa and Rob and the babies. There we did "Stitches Great Escape". Me, Rob, Mark and the girls did this one while Jen, Bill and Becky sat with the little ones. It was pretty funny! Stitch spit on us a couple of times and when he escaped it was really dark and I think there were speakers in your head rests that made it sound like he was sitting right behind you. He stole someone's chili dog and ate it and then proceeded to burp on the back of your neck! It was funny! You all of a sudden heard this big burp and felt this soft warm breeze on the back of your neck and it smelt like chili dog! GROSS! Hunter actually felt sick to her stomach after this and had to shower right when we got home to get rid of the smell! Then we did the Big Thunder Railroad ride for our one last thrill before we headed home for the night and home in Lincoln the next morning.

Exciting Tuesay!

We had a very fun and productive day today. Everyone had a great night's sleep and was rearing to go this morning. We arrived at Animal Kingdom at about 9:30. It opens at 9:00, so the crowd going in was very large! It was the biggest crowd that we have had to deal with since we've been here - as far as being all bunched together. We started out the morning walking all the way to Africa! We did the Kilimanjaro Safari where we rode in an open air safari vehicle where we saw giraffes, gazelles, elephants, rhinos, lions and other ones that I can't spell or pronounce! Next we went on the Pangani Forest Exploration Trails. That's where we just walked through on trails and saw lots of animals including gorillas, birds, fish and an underwater hippo viewing area. It was really cool. Next we headed over to Asia - I never knew they were walking distance away from each other! LOL! This is where to day ended for the babies. They loved seeing all the animals, and strangely, the giraffes seemed to be Asher's favorites! They were ready for their naps and honestly, I think Papa and Daddy were just ready to go home! So they left the rest of us there to do the rides while they took babies home. So we were off to ride the Kali River Rapids ride. We got SOAKED! We were literally dripping. Hunter and I sat next to each other and ended up getting it worse than anyone else in our raft. It was really fun though. Next we were off to Expedition Everest - Legend of the forbidden mountain, home of the fierce Yeti (a.k.a. the abominable snowman - or as we like to say "the abdominal snowman"!) That was a really fun ride too! Next was Dinoland USA. The girls rode a ride here all by themselves. It was a little area set up kind of like a carnival with the games and little rides. They rode the Primevil Whirl. Then we all went and rode the ride DINOSAUR. It was a pretty fun ride. It was realy dark and there were dinosaurs leaping out to get you! Hollyn thought this one was scary. In our pictures that they take on the rides, you couldn't even see Hollyn because she was bent all the way forward!! And Taylyn was covering her face with her poncho! They were prety funny pictures. Then we headed over to Discovery Island where we went in the Tree of Life. We did the It's Tough to be a Bug 3D show. It was really fun! It was the characters in the movie It's a Bug's Life. They had a bug that sprayed acid that they were talking about and it came out and all of a sudden you felt yourself being sprayed with something! And then the stink bug came out and blasted us and you could really smell it! It was pretty stinky. It was a fun show and the girls loved it. After that, we rode the bus back over to Disney MGM park to see the car stunt show. By then it was about 4:00 and I was ready to check on babies, so I called for my Watson shuttle to come get me! All the girls wanted to stay this time, so I came back by myself. After the babies woke up from their nap, daddy took them swimming in the pool. He took them both under water - one at a time though! Hopey enjoyed that more than Asher. He didn't cry, but didn't seem like he liked it much! Everyone else ended up coming back after the stunt show too. It was a long day and everyone was pretty tired. Not too tired to jump in the pool though! We just had pizza delivered for supper tonight and relaxed. It was nice, but at the same time, we felt like we were wasting time! We only have tomorrow left before coming back to reality! We've had a great time though. I love being on vacation, but I know it'll be nice to be back home again. I miss everyone! Tomorrow the plan is to hit Epcot while the boys are golfing. My last chance to grab souvenirs! I'll try to post some pictures now before I go to bed- I'm exhausted!

Ready for Monday!

Well, although we had a great time closing down the park, Hope just got way too much stimulation I think. She went to bed just fine, but got up at about 4:00 a.m. Daddy got up with her and they just had some father/daughter bonding time! I'm sure he would've loved it even more if it had been during the daylight hours! The guys got up and were out the door at 6:30 to go golfing today. Hope went back down at about 7:30 finally to get some much needed sleep. After I was sure that she was asleep, I went back to bed also! Everyone slept in and caught up on some sleep. After we all woke up we got ready and headed out the door to go to Downtown Disney - this is where all the shops are. We thought the time to do our shopping was when we were without the guys!! LOL! It turns out that the babies didn't enjoy riding in the stroller inside the stores near as much as they do when we're walking around outside. By this time, the guys were done golfing and came and picked up the babies from us and took them home for naps and all the girls continued shopping. There are some really neat stores there! Hadlee even ran into a friend from school! It was funny because she had her Mickey Mouse ears on and her face all painted and she was quite embarrassed. Her mom was dying laughing because Tori didn't want to do it, but her mom coaxed her and said, "Come on, it'll be fun, you'll never see these people again, and besides it's not like you're going to see someone you know"!! LOL! After shopping for a little while, we went to the Rainforest Cafe to have some dessert and get some more energy! It was really cool. It's like walking into a rain forest. They have life like jungle animals all over and every once in a while there is a tropical storm inside the restaurant. The lights flicker when it thunders and looks like lightning and all the animals move around and make their jungle noises. There is even rain falling down on the animals. I'm glad that we didn't have the babies there - it was prett noisy. After that, we hit a few more stores and then Hunter wanted to go back home and swim for a little while. Papa came back and picked up Hunter and I while the rest stayed behind to go to Epcot for a little while. We'll go back there again so the rest of us can see Epcot, but I was ready to come home and check on my babies. Everyone was sleeping when we got back home (Rob, Asher, Hope and Uncle Mark) so Hunter and I got our suits on and hopped in the pool. While we did that, Papa ventured out in the van to hunt down a good place to eat supper. At about 5:30 or so, we called the rest of the group and went to pick them up from Epcot and went to Joe's Crab Shack for supper. It was really fun! I didn't want to leave Florida without having some Crab Legs - they were yummy! We were debating heading back to Epcot so the rest of us could catch up with what the others saw earlier in the day, but during supper everyone decided that they wanted to just come home and swim before bed. They had a great time! Uncle Mark and Rob were having cannonball competitions - I'm surprised there is any water left in the pool! They finally all came in from swimming at 10:30!

I didn't take many pictures today, but I have to post one of Hopey's Minnie Mouse ears that she got shopping today. They are so cute! They are little barrettes that you snap in her hair.

Everyone is in bed getting rested for tomorrow. We are headed off to Animal Kingdom first thing in the morning! I'm headed that way too, just wanted to get caught up with my posts! Oh, by the way, Rob beat Mark by one stroke in golf this morning. Mark is already plotting his revenge for their tee time on Wed. morning! Bill got paired up with a guy from California that is a land developer of some sorts and they hit it off right away. Small world! Then they found out that he also has a tee time at the same place they are going on Wed.! Okay, off to bed! Peace out!

Sunday in Florida

We got up to a beautiful morning here in Florida. Everyone, including Hopey had a great night's sleep and were rested up and ready to head to Disney to eat breakfast in the Crystal Palace. They had all the Winnie the Pooh characters come to our table and see the kids and pose for pictures. It was a great time! and really good food! After we ate breakfast, we walked a little ways and Rob and I decided to come back to the house for a little while and let the babies get a nap. I did some laundry and TRIED to load some pictures on here! When it wasn't working, I took a nap! After a few hours, Rob went back and picked up the rest of the group and came home so they could swim for a while. We had 6:30 reservations at a restaurant called Prime Time. It was a 50's style restaurant that was set up with those old metal leg tables and complete with black and white TV's. It was a fun atmostphere. The waitress came and introduced herself and informed us of the "rules" of her kitchen. They included, no elbows on the table, no talking with your mouth full, no chewing with your mouth open, no tattling and stuff like that. She was a little rude and letting us know that she would take our order in the order that she wanted and not to tell her anything before it was our turn or we wouldn't get served and if we forgot to order something when our turn had passed, too bad! It was all done in good humor and everyone had fun. Papa kept forgetting the "no elbows on the table rule and would get in trouble! One time Taylyn told the waitress that he had his elbows on there and the waitress got on to her for tattling and made her stand up and go to the middle of the room and sing "I'm a little teapot"! I got a picture of that! She was embarrassed a little, but everyone applauded for her when she finished her song. The waitress was very kind and gave us a huge container of grapes to take with us when she saw how fast Asher was eating them. After supper, we walked around and did a few rides. The girls and Rob rode the Rock and Roll Rollercoaster and loved it. The girls rode it again a second time with Nana right before we left. Rob, Mark and Hunter went on the Hollywood Tower of Terror. Hunter was the only one brave enough to go on it and she loved it. She wants to ride it again before we go home. The other girls are still saying they won't do it! The whole entire group stayed and closed the park down at 10:00. The babies were real troopers! They loved every minute of it today.

First Trip to Disney

After we all got settled and the babied were rested up on Saturday night, we headed off to Disney for a little while. When we got there we searched for some place to eat and the kids hit a few of the rides along the way. We ended up eating at just a counter service type place that served chicken and burgers. It was pretty tasty. Even though the babies took a great nap, they were just not ready for that much commotion just yet! So Rob and I took them home while everyone else stayed behind to ride more rides. I put the babies to bed - with no trouble at all! - and Rob went back and picked the rest of the group up at 11:00 when the park closed. At that point, I think everyone's adrenaline that had been building for a few weeks was starting to dwindle and we were all ready for a good night's sleep--especially Rob and I! This is a picture of Cinderella's castle. It's really dark, I just looked up in my camera book how to take pictures in the dars, so hopefully I can get a better one next time! Speaking of pictures.....it takes about 10 minutes to download each picture for some reason, so you'll probably get minimal pictures with some of the posts until I have time to just sit and wait for them to load! So keep checking back and I'll add pictures to each post when I can.

We're here!

I tried to post yesterday and lost connection and lost everything! I had typed A LOT and was tired, so didn't try to post it all again. I will try to do both days today:

The kids had a fun time going to KC - riding in the car and watching a movie. Once we made it to KC, we all met up and had dinner in the hotel. The girls (and Mark!) were in the pool before the rest of us even finished our meal - imagine that! I took Asher down and let him swim for a little while before bed. He really loved it. I didn't take Hopey for fear that it would just be too much stimulation before bed. Turns out that theory didn't really pan out for us! She slept for about an hour before waking up and not sleeping again until we arrived in Florida and to our house.......with the exception of nodding off right after the plane took off and right before we landed! Murphy's law, right?! Both times she was wakened by the loud speaker which was insanely loud and we had a speaker right above our heads - she didn't care for the speaker much. To top it off, our captain felt the need to "think out loud" on the intercom! He was very chatty! The sleeping arrangements are SO MUCH BETTER here at the house. Can we say AMEN??!! Hope and Asher took a long nap and the girls hopped in the pool. After everyone woke up and seemed refreshed, we headed off to Disney World! Stay tuned........

1 more day......

Everyone is getting more and more excited to leave tomorrow! I love going places with my family! The girls are extra excited because we are picking them up at school tomorrow at lunch time so they can come home and finish packing all the last minute stuff. That will be nice for me too to have them here just in case I have a last minute errand to run before we leave. Every time I think that I have everything we need, we think of three more things! Who knew it would take so much and cost so much just to leave town! You'd think that we had a bunch of kids or something.....ha ha ha! The good thing about it is, everyone should be set for summer now -- they all have new sandals and new summer type clothes. Speaking of clothes, I still have tons of laundry to do so we can pack! Stay tuned...............

Welcome to our Blog

This is our new family blog created for friends and family to keep up with what we're up to. I have hesitated to do this type of thing for various reasons, one being just the time commitment that I think it may take to keep up with it. But I have been asked by a few people (you know who you are!) to keep a journal while we're on vacation so I don't forget to tell them EVERYTHING that we do! We are leaving on the 9th heading south to Walt Disney World! So we'll try it and see how it goes and how long it lasts. On the other hand, I've heard that it can be addicting and you guys may be sorry that you asked! Just let me know if you're getting "TMI" (too much information! hee hee!) Please feel free to post comments!