My Mia is 7

Amelia Mae. Such a beautiful, delightful, responsible, and often madening child.

"I wanted my hair in ponies today...like this, no like that, you're not doing it right"

{get the idea?}

Going to school has really given her a great deal of confidence, and has really let me see how responsible she can be.

Some favorites:

school subject...math

movie...Aladdin

song...Praise to the Man

food...left-over macaroni & cheese, chicken noodle soup, s'mores

clothes...pink and white striped t-shirt with denim (jeans, capri's or shorts)

to do...play with cousins

place to be...at cousin's house...(better than at home?) oooh, home....I love being at home. No, Disneyland.

restaurant...Olive Garden

best thing to do at Washington DC...swim

favorite thing at home...play outside, ride bike

She checks the school menu regularly and has a ham sandwich cut into triangles if the school lunch doesn't work for her.

She's very helpful if she wants to be. If not, don't even bother.

She is quick to bring me notes and notices from school, and takes her school work seriously.

She has not been quick to read, but is finally trying to read things, and is catching on. She's much more mathematically minded.

She loves to have things to do, especially anything active like swimming, bike riding, or helping her dad with projects.

She won't leave for school without a hug and a "love you mommy...see you at 3:40" and everyday after school she jumps up and runs to me with her arms stretched out..."mommy!"

For her birthday she wanted an umbrella and a hamper. hmmmm. It doesn't rain much here...it's for the sunshine, mom.

I got her a fuzzy blanket too. And some clothes.

She wanted to see a movie with her cousins for her birthday this year, so we did. It was super-fun.

Oh, and the cake. She wanted butterflies with bright colors.

That was fun too. Except that I put the big butterfly on the white cake, and she wanted the big butterfly on the chocolate cake. Can you say meltdown? It didn't really matter too much because by the time it got a booster seat thrown on top of it, and jostled around in the car on the way to uncle Darren's, it was a mess. Good thing I took pictures before we left=)

Mickey Mouse and Winnie the Pooh Bear

The kids have been begging to go to Disneyland forever. I guess that I'll admit I was anxious to go again too. We had such a wonderful trip the last time that we went...

Nate and I decided to go in June when there was a conference that he wanted to attend. When that date turned out to have a conflict with wrestling camp, we decided not to go. We couldn't go any later because of the baby...not to mention not wanting to be there in the hot California summer. Any earlier and we'd have to take the kids out of school for a week...so we did. I'm not sure how, but we managed to keep it a secret until the day we left. It was pretty fun.

4 days at the Park.

(note to self: never go on a Friday! No matter how enticing the parades and fireworks seem to be, they are not worth the crowds)

Overall, we had a great time. It was good to get away from the stresses of life for a few minutes and spend some family time together. But we've got our fix of Disneyland, and have convinced the kids that we can't go again for at least another 3 years.

Here are some favorite pics=)

But, the breakfast is fun with dancing, characters to meet, and the most delish Mickey Mouse waffles. My kids ate cereal..(really?)

We figured out a few systems that worked, and the older boys got to ride their favorites multiple times in a row without too much waiting.

California Screamin' seriously my favorite roller coaster, and what I missed most by being pregnant this time. This would be the 4th ride in a row for them.

Henry like watching them take off. And the water, loves the "wa."

Henry loved the carousels, especially the one with a horse. (You've got to hear him make a horse noise...it's priceless)

OK, so you can't really see the delight in this picture, but I promise. He screamed and cried, and grabbed onto the belt when I tried to take him off.

And knuckles and high fives for all the characters once he warmed up to the idea.

Mia likes the roller coasters, especially the Matterhorn.

Good thing Amelia had the umbrella she got for her birthday. We had a good bit of rain one morning.

Emma didn't seem to like very much, and spent quite a bit of time with me and Henry waiting while the others rode things that she was sure she wouldn't like.

She did like the little roller coaster in Toon Town that lasted like 28 seconds, the characters {we waited 1/2 hour at least to see Tinker Bell...no complaining}

the Winnie the Pooh ride (which we rode 3 times in a row, and maybe a total of 5 times altogether). And the carousel next to California Screamin'...perfect placement of that ride.

Aladdin ranks up there with one of my favorite Disney shows. We saw their production of the show, and it was fabulous!!! Henry was even good during the whole thing. And then, bonus, we got to meet Aladdin and Jasmine. {see how thrilled Amelia is? and Emma told Jasmine she wished that she could pet tigers too}

We wore all the kids out. It was a quiet trip home:)

Gonna Try The Private Thing Again

Hi family and friends.

Just gonna let you know that I will be making the blog private again. While I love sharing, I don't feel I can be quite as personal or candid as I would if I knew exactly who my audience is:) If you want to keep up with us, just drop a note to my email and I'll send you an invite in a couple weeks. If you don't accept the invite within a short period of time, it will not be valid anymore, and you'll need to be invited again.

I'm setting up another blog to be public, so you won't miss out completely if you want to hear about some of our comings and goings. It'll just have a little different slant...

(gonna do this in all my spare time:)

So, for this blog...email me at lesterbunch@gmail.com

for the other...www.crazywith8.blogspot.com

(for grandma...just have mom do what she did last time, and you'll be all set)