Sawyer is 4!!!!!!!

My little buddy turned 4 today. It was such a good, good day. Dennis decided to get him up early and take him to a special breakfast at Cracker Barrel. Boy, was he EXCITED!!! What a special time! I couldn't be more thankful to Dennis for doing that. Sawyer told everyone about it all day long. As soon as he opened his eyes, he wanted to know if he could get up and he wanted to know if he was 4 yet. I think he thought something magical was going to happen when he "turned 4". Bless him. He was so proud of his "4 year old" shirt that he got to wear all day. Some of Sawyer's "stats" are: He is about 42 inches tall and weighs about 38 pounds. He's still a little dude, but we're going to work on fattening him up a bit this year! Sawyer is the sweetest little boy in the world. His smile melts me. He is looked at and flirted with by every female he comes in contact with. He has no idea how much people "ooooh and ahhhhh" over how cute he is. He loves to sing, LOVES country music, and LOVES going to the farm with Dennis. He would rather be there than anywhere else. Hmmmmmmmmm, sounds like someone else I know. He's FIRED UP about starting Pre-K next week. He is soooooo excited about being in Ms. Sharon's class, just like Sadie was. He feels like he is so big. Yet, he's so tiny! He has just recently really expressed an interest in sports. He is always asking Dennis to go outside and play ball with him, which makes Dennis extremely happy. He and Sadie play together all day, every day. Their imaginations together simply amaze me. He will pretty much go along with whatever she says and he loves every minute of it. He just feels privileged that she asks him to play with her all of the time!

He still loves his momma, but he's not so "attached" to me anymore. And, yes....for those of you that want to know if I miss it, the answer is yes....I never thought I would miss it, but I do. He's always willing to make new friends and play with all kinds of different people. He's a FABULOUS sleeper and a pretty good eater. He loves candy over chocolate, just like his daddy. Every morning when he wakes up, I pick him up out of his bed and carry him into the den so that we can cuddle for a little while. Every. Morning. Wouldn't trade it for the world. He is a total goofball and makes me laugh hysterically on a daily basis. I'm beginning to learn that he is very smart. He memorized a Llama Llama book that I had read to him no more than a handful of times. It baffled me! He told me he wanted to "read" it to me, but I didn't really think he was going to actually "read" it! Ok, he memorized it, but STILL! He's also memorized several Bible verses this summer and he gets them so quickly! He's gonna be a smart little guy!! He is a precious, wonderful boy and I love him more than I can put into words. He is my little bubby, bud bud, Sawy, Sawdawg, Ninja, goober smoocher, and so many other things. Happy 4th Birthday to my most favorite little boy in the WHOLE wide world!!!!!

One Month To Go!

Well, today is July 6th, which means the first of day of school is ONE MONTH AWAY! Am I any more ready than I was a month ago? Nope. The upside is that 2 months from tomorrow, we leave for our family trip to Hilton Head! So, even though the kids will start school soon, we still have our most favorite week of the year to look forward to shortly after school starts! We've had a great summer so far. It's been VERY laid back. Lots of sleeping late, lots of seeing friends, lots of movies, lots of laughter, lots of time at church doing camps and VBS, a little swimming, and lots of fun! July is our busiest month of the year, so I know it will fly by! I am a little bummed b/c Sadie didn't get the Kindergarten teacher that I REALLY wanted her to get, but I know that God is in control and I know that He will put her in the most perfect classroom for HER. I'm currently covered up with consignment clothes! I've offered to tag 4 of my friends' clothes this year so that I can make some extra money for Hilton Head, so I have clothes all over my house right now! But, it's such an easy way to help them out AND make some extra money with very little effort! And, I don't have to give up time with my kiddos to do it! More updates...Dennis has a little venture that he is planning to start in the Fall. We are both SO excited about it and are hoping that it works out for him. This has been a HUGE passion of his since he was really young, so I'm so excited for this opportunity!! Not much news going on, but I just felt like I haven't updated my blog in over a month! Oh, I can't sign off without failing to mention that we have had RECORD HEAT for the past couple of weeks. It's. Been. Miserable. We haven't been able to play outside AT ALL, which really stinks, b/c that's our most favorite thing to do. There is relief in sight, so we're crossing our fingers that we'll get to spend the last few weeks of summertime outside, where we should be!!!!!!

Back to Reality...

Wow. Disney World really takes its toll on ya! ALL of my friends have been to Disney World with their kids. All of them. I've heard their stories, seen their pictures, taken their advice, etc. But, until you've been there, you don't really KNOW. Now, I KNOW. I KNOW just how special it is. I KNOW just how magical it is. I KNOW just how addicted you can get to being there. It truly is the "Happiest Place on Earth"!!!!!! The characters are happy. Duh! The people visiting there are happy. Well, for the most part. (we did see a husband and wife get into a SCREAMING match one night on the way to the tram...in front of their 2 precious girls. So sad.) The employees are even happy! Like, even the sweet guy who was changing out the trash bags in the trash cans on Main Street. He joked around with Sawyer. How kind! I'm not sure what the Disney people do to ensure that their employees will all be so kind, but they do it well! We had such a special week. I was NOT ready to come back. Dennis and I both said that we wish we could've just stayed for another week and started all over again. I feel like if we want to go back in 5 years, we better start saving NOW. Ouch. Sadie and Sawyer were the king and queen of Troopers this week. We woke them up early almost every day, would wear them out to the point that they would be delirious, take them back for rest time, make them go to sleep immediately, wake them up from naptime, shove food down their throat, take them back to the parks and wear them out until midnight, and then bring them back to the condo and make them immediately go to sleep again...just to start all over the next day. The greatest part is, they loved it! They were so awesome all week long! No meltdowns all week! Woo Hoo!!!! Not to mention, the food that we were feeding them was far from healthy all week. I think a few mornings they had Hershey Bars and Reese's for breakfast. Pizza many nights for dinner. And, for lunch? Maybe a bag of Doritos and a sucker?? LOL They could've cared less. We just needed to fuel them up! Whatever was handy was what they got! LOL Sawyer CRACKED ME UP this week. I mean, I seriously laughed at him more this week than I ever have before. I don't know what it is about him, but his little personality is really started to shine. He is going to be hilarious. The girls are gonna love him one day...he's cute AND funny...sounds like someone else I know that I fell in love with almost 20 years ago...hmmmmmmmm..... Sadie was exactly like I wanted her to be. She was intrigued by every Princess. She LOVED getting to meet them all. She was totally wrapped up in the "magic" of it all. She was never afraid of the characters like I feared she would be. She LOVED them! She's much more cautious of things, and we definitely had to continuously explain to her the difference in "pretend" and "real". She was much more brave than I thought she would be and I was so proud of her!!!! I love that girl more than words. Is it possible to love your kids MORE while you're at Disney World??? LOL We're slowly but surely getting back into the swing of things in our "real world". I'm going to try my very best to enjoy EVERY second of these next 2 months with my kids, especially Sadie Jane, since 2 months from tomorrow, school begins again!!!!

Last Day at Disney...BOO HOO

We got up early this morning and headed to Magic Kingdom to finish up our week! I really wanted to be there early enough to watch the whole production of the park opening. They put on a little show and then the train pulls in with a lot of the characters on it, including Mickey and Minnie! They sing songs, do a countdown, and "open" the park!!!! It is really a neat thing to watch. We marched right on through the gates and went STRAIGHT to Rapunzel. Our goal for the day. Even though we were there right when the park opened, we still had to wait about 45 minutes to see her! Unfortunately, the rain started as soon as we got in line. But, we pushed through and got to see her. She was precious to Sadie and Sawyer. She asked Sawyer what his favorite color was and he said "camo". She said "well, then you and Pascal will be best friends b/c he's a chameleon and he loves to be camo! Wait...is Pascal on your shoe?? (he had on Camo crocs) Sawyer jumped back and looked at his shoe like there was really a lizard on his shoe. Too cute. She was super sweet and took a lot of time to talk to them. Sadie was in heaven! After that, we went and waited in line to meet Daisy. The line was short and moved quickly, so Sadie really wanted to get her autograph. Afterwards, we went to "Confectionery". If you can't guess what that is by the name of it, it's a DELICIOUS chocolate/candy/sugar store. Basically, my heaven! Everything is shaped like Mickey and everything has tons of chocolate on it! We got a couple of Mickey shaped/icing covered brownies, a Mickey shaped Cake pop w/ marshmallow ears, lollipops, and a cupcake. That was our breakfast...LOL We went over to Frontierland and Sawyer wanted to stand in line to see Donald and get his autograph. Donald was fired up that Sawyer had a "Donald Duck" pen and he started jumping up and down. We then went and rode Big Thunder Mountain Railroad 2 times. There was no line, so it was AWESOME! Sawyer was thankfully JUST tall enough to ride the big rides! He, of course, LOVED it and wanted to ride it about 50 times. It started to really rain, so we found a spot to eat some lunch. We headed over to the Magic Carpet Ride and then it REALLY started raining. So, we rode it in the pouring down rain. We went over and got to meet Jasmine and Aladdin. I love the way the characters take so much time with the kids. They make each kid feel so special. And, I love the way that they always stay in character, like they are in their movies. After that, we decided to head back for naps and a break from the monsoon! It's funny how you don't even care that you are soaking wet and riding rides in the pouring down rain. As long as the kids are having fun!!! After we rested, the 4 of us decided to head back and finish up our trip at Magic Kingdom. Grammy and Captain took the night off. It was the most PERFECT night!!!! We went and rode a Stitch ride and it was HORRIBLE. Waste of time. Disney needs to take Lilo and Stitch off the map. We went and watched the "Dream Along w/ Mickey" show at the Castle. It was WONDERFUL! It had all of the characters plus some of the prince and princesses. The kids loved it! Sadie and I rode Space Mountain together. I haven't ridden it since I was about her age, so I was REAL excited. She cried during the ENTIRE ride. I think she was just scared b/c she had to ride by herself, b/c it was only 1 person per seat. I loved it though. Afterwards, she said she wanted to ride it again, but we weren't able to. Dennis and Sawyer went and rode the Buzz ride again and then met us afterwards. We went over to FrontierLand and watched the Electric Parade again. It was worth it! I know I said it the other night, but I love how the characters all interact w/ the kids! It makes them feel so special! They all either came over or waved to Sadie and Sawyer and they just ate it up! When it was over, we ran to Thunder Mountain Railroad, but it was closed for the night b/c it was broken. So, we decided to suck it up and ride Splash Mountain. It ended up being one of my most favorite rides!! It was so fun!! The kids both LOVED it!!! We came out just in time to catch our last fireworks show. Yes, I cried. I've just had the BEST time this week and I'm not ready for it to be over. The good thing is, we did EVERYTHING we wanted to do and more, so we can leave with NO REGRETS. It has been the most special week and I wouldn't have changed a thing. Watching the kids faces light up over and over again has been the biggest blessing of all. As we were walking out (and I was still crying) Sawyer said "bye Cinderella. bye Castle. bye Disney". Bless him. We stopped at the Edy's ice cream parlor on Main St. as we were leaving, then we took the Ferry back to the parking lot. What a special, special week that I will never, ever forget!!!!