A Much Needed Getaway...

Dennis and I headed to Orlando this past Wednesday for a little getaway. We had 2 plane tickets that were about to expire and Deb got us one of their timeshare getaways for the week for a great price! Also, Dennis found out that the PGA tournament was going to be at Bay Hill that weekend, so off we went! I was a nervous wreck leading up to the trip b/c we haven't flown in about 7 years!!! More importantly, I haven't flown since I've had children, so I was having small panic attacks on the inside. I'm not a huge fan of flying anyways, but knowing that I was leaving my 2 kids behind while BOTH of us were on an airplane was a bit nerve-racking! Luckily, our flight there was very non-eventful, so that helped! We caught a cab in Orlando to our resort. We orignally had booked an "efficiency" studio room, but we thought we'd ask for an upgrade! Luckily, the lady checking us in offered us a 1 bedroom villa, which had 2 full baths, huge bedroom, full kitchen, dining area, large den, screened in balcony and....the BIGGEST jacuzzi tub I have EVER seen in my life INSIDE of our bedroom!!! Seriously? It was like a small swimming pool! Seriously, my words do it no justice! It only cost us $20 additional per night to have the 1 bedroom villa over the studio room, so we upgraded right away! We put our stuff down in our condo and went straight to eat dinner before all of the places closed.
The next morning, we got up and decided to go to Universal and Islands of Adventure theme parks for the day. We had the BEST time. I haven't ridden any roller coasters like that since I was probably a sophomore in high school and I got very sick when I did it, so I was a little skeptical about doing it again. I didn't get sick AT ALL on any of these roller coasters and there were some SERIOUS roller coasters!! We had the best time just walking around and acting like kids again. We had lunch at the Nascar Cafe (redneck, I know). It was delicious! The best part was that we had our own personal TV in our booth and Dennis loved that.
We had dinner at Bubba Gump's Shrimp restaurant. It was REAL good too! I've always wanted to eat at one of those. It was a neat atmosphere, with lots of Forrest Gump stuff everywhere.
After dinner, we walked around the Universal City Walk a bit more and then headed back to the condo. We had a GREAT driver named "Ben" that took us everywhere the whole time we were there. He drove a pimped out new black Escalade XL and was super sweet and always on time!
Friday morning, we got up and headed to Bay Hill for the PGA tournament. I've never been to one, so I was really excited sbout going. Little did we know, since we were in a pimped out ride w/ blacked out windows, the people at Bay Hill must've thought we were somebody famous, so they sent us to the Lodge to get dropped off. Once we got there, the lady told us how to get into the tournament, and we never even had to use our tickets. Oh, to be famous...they really do get the "star" treatment!
The tournament was so much fun. We even got to be on national TV! My mom texted me during the tournament and said that she had just seen us on TV. How cool! We got just inches from Tiger, Phil, Zach and some other famous golfers at the 14th hole. We were front row and center and it was so cool to see it from that point of view. I got FRIED. Like, REALLY fried! Like, the worse sunburn I've ever had fried! Ouch.
We also learned that if you act like you know what you're doing, you can do whatever you want. So, while we were waiting for Ben to come pick us up, we walked straight into the Lodge clubhouse, walked straight into the sitting room where it's "members only" and watched the rest of the tournament. Security must've been really tight for these pro-golfers! LOL
We went and had dinner at Oceans Prime. Delicious steakhouse. The food was fantastic.
We got up Saturday morning and had NO plans for the day. So, we walked around the property and looked at all the pools and activity center. This place is HUGE. We grabbed a bite to eat for lunch and then decided to just chill by the pool for a while and head to Downtown Disney for the night. I LOVED Downtown Disney! I seriously could've spent all night long there!!!!! We had the BEST dinner at the House of Blues. It was by far the best meal we had the whole time we were there. Wow. Aaron Sanchez of the Food Network designed the menu and boy, did he hit it right on the mark! Amazing food.
Afterwards, we shopped and shopped and shopped. We went to "World of Disney" which is the worlds largest Disney store (duh). I told Dennis that I was having heart palpatations and a rush of adrenaline being in there. I could've spent hours (and a few thousand dollars) in that store!!!!!!!!!!! We bought the kids a few goodies to take home to them and then Dennis made me leave. Boo.
We got back to the condo and packed everything up.
Sunday morning, we headed back home. We had the BEST time, but we are both SO ready to see the kiddos!!!!!!!!!! This is the longest we've ever been away from them! 4 whole nights! LOL We appreciated my mom and Dennis' mom watching them and taking such good care of them while we were away. We are blessed.
I cannot wait to see them. We're currently in Raleigh for our layover and in just a little while, we're headed to Nashville!!
I cannot WAIT to head back to Orlando in 2 months WITH our kiddos!!! Ready for the MAGIC!

Sadie Jane's 5th Birthday

This is a day I have D-R-E-A-D-E-D since she was born! I don't want my little baby girl to turn 5!!!!!! NO!!!!!! Let her stay 4 forever!!!!!!!
But, since it's inevitable, let's at least make it FUN and MEMORABLE!
So, her celebration started a little over a week early. Spoiled, much? Yes, I think so. My mom took her to Build a Bear and let her pick out Ms. Piggy and get her some clothes and accessories, which is always such a treat!!!! They spent the whole day together! We had her party at Monkey Joe's, per her request. I was sick. as. a. dog. for the whole week leading up to party night. Like, on. my. death. bed. Sickest I have ever been in my life. And yes, that is compared to puking for 9 months while pregnant with 2 children and throw in a few kidney stone episodes as well. This took the cake! I'm still not exactly sure what I had. The nurse said it was a sinus infection. I think not. I have had my share of sinus infections and they have never felt like this. I had 101.4 temperature, chills, sweats, pain from head to toe, tingling, congestion, puking my brains out, lethargy, and I didn't eat for about 5 days. Doesn't sound much like a sinus infection to me, but whatever. I literally remember laying in the bed at one point and seriously didn't care if my house burned down right then and there with me in it. Anything to take away the way that I was feeling!!!!!!! A-W-F-U-L! You get the hint? Okay, good.
Since the Lord is always in control, thank goodness, I had already prepared for Sadie's bday party the week before. So, all of that was done. THANK YOU LORD!
Anyways, I don't really even remember seeing my kids all of last week, but I was bound and determined, come hell or high water, I was going to be at Sadie's 5th birthday party - NO MATTER WHAT! I'm a mom. That's what I do. When I'm physically unable to "be a mom", I feel empty, helpless, miserable. So, that is how I felt all of last week. But, I took it slow and made it to Sadie's party. I don't remember a lot from it, b/c I think I was so doped up on Phenergan, Zofran, Zpac, Zyrtec, and steriods, but I do have pictures and video to remember it by! And, I was there. Sadie won't remember what I looked like, or how I felt, but she WILL remember that I was there!!!

Sawyer flew over the side of a bouncy right after we got there and ate. the. floor. The thud heard round the world. Ouch. It was so pitiful!!!! He busted his head, mouth, chin, and lip. I seriously thought he was going to look up and have no teeth left. Luckily, he was okay! Just badly bumped up and busted up a little!!!

Here are some pics of her and her friends from school!



Of course, we had lots of family there also!




And, the birthday girl was SO happy!!! This was by far the most excited I've ever seen her about her birthday. She had this HUGE smile all day long!!!!



It was such a FUN birthday party! I continue to be humbled every year when my children's birthday's role around. So many friends and family come and show their love for my kids and it means the world to me! We are so blessed!!!!!!




We stayed until they about closed and then we headed home so that Sadie could open all of her fun presents! We took baths first and got all ready for bed and then we let her open every last one of them! She had so much fun!!!




Sunday night, Dennis and I surprised her and took Sadie on a special date night with just us 2. We took Sawyer to my mom's and we took her to eat dinner at Outback and then we took her to see the Disney Princess show at TPAC. She was so excited to get to be with just mommy and daddy for a night all by herself! It was so much fun!!!!!





Finally, Sadie's REAL birthday arrived! Jodi had asked us to go to American Girl Doll store at the last minute, so we did! We waited to tell Sadie until the night before we left. She was SO excited!


We arrived fairly late, so we quickly checked into the hotel and headed straight to American Girl store. Sadie wanted to get Rebecca's hair done, so we did that right away.



We wanted to go eat a late dinner at the Cheesecake Factory, but there was too long of a wait, so we opted for our favorite, Fuddruckers!!! Jodi had never been before, and she was pleasantly surprised!


I think my favorite part of our trip was when we got back to our hotel room. I gave Sadie a bath and we just hung out together. Till after midnight! We got her a LeapPad for her bday, so she was playing with that. We were laughing together. I helped her get Rebecca changed into her new PJ's and then Sadie put on matching ones. She was so excited and proud. It was PRECIOUS!



She was in her bed and I was in mine and we sat that way for almost 2 hours. We would just look at each other and laugh that we were awake so late! I loved every minute of it.
We got up Saturday morning and went to have Brunch at the Bistro for Sadie's bday. It was so much fun! Always fun to get to eat a meal with your doll!



After brunch, we shopped for a long time. Reese and Sadie did so good. They were troopers! We rode the carousel and we ate some lunch, then grabbed some goodies at the Nestle Toll House store. YUM!
It was a fun, fun trip that I look forward to taking again SOON!
Sadie got to celebrate her birthday for over a week! I just wanted to make it extra special for her since it's her 5th. It's such a BIG birthday!
She's a precious angel who just has to be the easiest child in the whole world. I am blessed to call her mine. She makes me want to be a better person. She's so precious to Sawyer. She's a great big sis and takes such good care of him. She LOVES her new LeapPad, she LOVES playing with her dolls and Barbies. She loves watching any Princess movies. Right now, she loves the movie "Rio" and she loves watching "Bubble Guppies" on TV. She's getting so smart. She has learned this year to write her whole name and she does very good at it! She's learned a lot of Spanish, a lot of spelling, etc.
Happy 5th Birthday to the most precious little girl in the whole world!