Disney DREAM vacation part 2

We woke up Monday morning in Nassau, Bahamas--could this get any better?!?! The weather was perfect~ and we got a slower start but finally got off the boat with swimming suits and WALKED, and WALKED until we found a nice little beach.

Our children had never been swimming in the ocean or played on a beach, let's just say they all took to it pretty well--except for Matthew who didn't really care for the sand at first and wanted to be held.Sam quickly got to work building a sand castle:
Lindsey cracked us up with getting drenched in the water, and then rolling in the sand and then running back to the ocean to get washed off, silly girl!!After spending the morning basking in the sand and sun, we boarded the boat and had some lunch. Not before us women folk stopped to spend some time with the street vendors. I got straw purses for the girls, some coconut shells turned into wind up turtles for the boys, and a couple of cute necklaces.

We then dropped our kids off in the wonderful kids area while Stephen and I took a break and let Matthew take a nap. It was so nice to just sit and relax and read, our room had a 4 foot in diameter window with a seat and I loved just sitting and looking out into the most blue water!! Here we are with Nassau in the background!

Dinner that night was memorable at the Animator's Palate. We were surprised when the TV screens came to life and started interacting with us! They even singled Matthew out and named him "Nemo" because he was wearing an orange romper with white stripes. He LOVED the attention and laughed and clapped his hands!

That night it was my turn to take Kaitlyn to the show featuring some of the Disney Villains. And got home just in time for Stephen to go watch "Tron" in 3D with his brothers. We slept well and couldn't wait for the morning~~CASTAWAY CAY!!

Our DREAM Vacation Part 1

Mothers Day 2011 began the BEST vacation I could have ever imagined for my family. We were celebrating the 60th birthday of Stephen's dad Carl and in total there were 7 kids and 9 adults off for the adventure of a lifetime!

2 days in the car to Orlando were pretty uneventful, the kids were super excited to see the Mississippi River and glimpses of the ocean, we told them that if they thought THAT was a lot of water, they were in for a big surprise. We also kept telling them that the boat was really big, but they didn't know what that meant. We passed the time by listening to "Ramona the Pest" by Beverly Cleary, watching an air show with dive bombing airplanes from the window, and Matthew tried to sleep without a crib in a hotel--it was a long night.

Sunday morning (Mothers Day) we attended a sacrament meeting in Orlando and then if was off to Port Canaveral to board our boat. Nothing could have prepared us for the magnitude of the boat this size:We went through the crazy process of getting us all on the boat, it was as smooth as could be expected when you consider we were on this boat with 4,000 new friends, and then we got on our boat. Lunch was an AMAZING, the Cabanas buffet up near the top deck with beautiful views.

Things were a bit hectic until the majority of the boat got opened for business. We tried to go swimming but found that everyone else had the same idea. We went up for the casting off party and lost Kaitlyn for a brief moment, she made me proud when she went and found a "mom with kids" who then found us.

Dinner blew our socks off, as it did every night, a 2 hour 5 course meal. The Royal Palace was beautiful and we saw glimpses of a few Disney Princesses too. And Stephen ordered escargot for an appetizer and I ate two of them!!

Sam HATED getting dressed up every evening, the requirement was no shorts so he wore his pajamas to the meal, then he had been begging me to go to bed, he practically dragged me back to our room where he slept a solid 12 HOURS!!

Dad took Kaitlyn and Lindsey to the first of many wonderful shows. This one called "The Golden Mickeys". We were wowed with our rooms and the turn down service and fun folded towels with chocolates! We couldn't wait for the morning when we'd be in the Bahamas!!!

Easter 2011

So Easter morning dawned and the family tradition of the Bunny Run Breakfast ensued--thankfully the weather cooperated and we were able to have our hunt outside--the kids each got Croc shoes from the Easter Bunny (how did he know they each needed new summer shoes to wear on our Cruise?!?!--he's amazing!)

Matthew was intrigued with the eggs--and has really been enjoying playing with them. He was doing his customary "baby elephant crawl" on the grass but we were not quick enough!!

And each of the kids were happy with their morning haul.Then after church we "TRIED" to take a photo of the kids--it's important to Mom's to take photos of their kids on occasions like Easter, but Sam NEVER likes these times (taking after his Uncle Joey early I guess) and this was no exception. He just wasn't having any of it so here it is buddy--forever and ever amen--

The Easter 2011 kid photo:

I sew

Not very well, but I did just complete my first sewing project.

These are the BEST valentines day present my kids ever got in April!!

So back in January I had this crazy idea that I'd sew Stephen some pajama bottoms as a surprise for him. He's really wanted me to learn how and I've been overwhelmed at the thought of learning how to sew. But I had a friend who said she'd help me so help me and I thought it wouldn't be too hard to also make some for each of my kids. But bad weather and a busy life got in the way and I never got back to finish them. BUT Summer is an excellent seamstress and she helped me whip these out and my kids are stoked!! What's more she turned some of the salvage material into skirts for K & Linds to wear this summer! Thanks Aunt Summer!!

A visit from Japan

My brother Ben and his wife Summer and daughter Elenore live in Japan. Ben teaches for the Department of Defense as a math teacher on a US Military Base in SOUTHERN Japan about 230 miles from where all the Nuclear issues are happening as a result of the earthquake and tsunami. So they are very much out of harms way, they experience a bit of inconvenience of minor food shortages and needing to conserve their energy a bit but for the most part are unaffected by the disaster.

Nevertheless, the military decided to "voluntary departure" people and send them home for a month or so if they wanted to, and seeing as how Ellie is not yet 2 and Summer is 6 months pregnant, they were in a group allowed to leave almost immediately. My poor brother though was not allowed to leave as he was considered "essential to the mission" and had to stay to teach any children of families who stayed behind. So they endured being apart for a couple weeks. But then Ben's school had spring break and at the time they didn't know when the "voluntary departure" orders would be lifted and so he came over for a little over a week to be with his family. This was a treat for them to be together and a treat for us since we hadn't expected to see them for at least another year (plane tickets to Japan are EXPENSIVE).

And on the morning that Ben was flying back to Japan, they got the good news that the orders had indeed been lifted and they were free to start scheduling their return home. So he left knowing that his wife and daughter wouldn't be very far behind them, so that was nice.

But we really enjoyed their visit. While Ben stayed with us he was my designated lifter of Matthew and they were such a big help, we enjoyed lots of Lewis Family Dinners and activities while he was here. And Ellie had a little dose of what it's like to live with other kids. She LOVED Matthew maybe a bit too much often tackling him with hugs and kisses. And I think she's really going to miss being with her cousins.

I feel loved....

Earlier this month I had to have surgery to repair a hernia. I discovered it sometime after giving birth to Lindsey and was planning on getting it taken care of prior to getting pregnant again because I was worried about putting stress on my body while being pregnant again, well I wound up pregnant a little faster than we expected so the surgery had to wait until after Matthew came along. And wouldn't you know, a little tender mercy that I didn't have a single flareup my whole pregnancy. Such to the point that I thought it had repaired itself, but it hadn't and after having Matthew I realized it was still there and I was having pain more often. So off to the doctor I went and surgery was scheduled.

The hardest part was the recovery, no lifting anything over 15 pounds for 2 weeks. That included a really cute one year old named Matthew who throughout my day needs to be lifted in and out of his crib, car seat and high chair. So that equated to me not being able to be alone with my kids and needing a lot of help.

But my family and friends came though for me, my mother in law came down and spent a whole week of my recovery and just picked up where I left off and kept my house running, she cooked up a storm and spent lots of quality time with my children, I can't thank her enough for her help, I love her so much and am so grateful she's in my life.

The other part that was just providence really was the disaster in Japan brought my SIL Summer and her daughter Ellie back to the states for a visit and just 2 days after my MIL left, they came to stay with me for the duration of my recovery. Summer was a lot of help and really fun to spend time with.

But that wasn't all the help I got, many friends as well jumped in and helped with meals, watching my kids for a morning or afternoon and just checking on me to make sure I was okay. Thanks everyone, I feel LOVED!

Sam is 5

Birthday central around here.....Sam has turned 5!

His birthday was a busy one. I was recovering from a surgery and had a helper here--(thank you Summer!!) We had soccer games in the morning and until just before his party but we were able to squeeze in a simple party themed around.....

LEGOS!

Sam has a passion for these things. He's quite a contemplative kid and often needs some quiet time to be with himself, we've found that Legos are a really good thing for him. So of course we themed the party around them!

First off, Dad was wonderful enough to let Sam have his party on his Birthday--(thanks Dad!) Sam invited 5 friends, a couple from school and a few from church and soccer team buddies.

When the friends entered we had them play a guessing game to see how many legos were in the jar. In retrospect it probably wasn't the best activity for pre-kindergartners but we made it not a competitive thing and all counted them out together. I think I fit 11 of the larger legos into this jar.

Then, because Sam has 2 cool grandpas and one of them is an artist, we enlisted his help in creating this one of a kind lego man which we displayed proudly on our back wall. We cut out hats in the correct half dome shape and played pin the hat on the lego man! We'd also made smaller versions of this sheet and used it as a coloring page as a time filler as the guests arrived--too cool!!

Then I think the coolest thing we did was we gave them all car bases made of legos and challenged them to make a car which we then "raced" down a make shift ramp Super-Dad Stephen created in our Dining Room. This was SUPER-fun, the boys had a really good time with it! Here are some of the boys with their car creations:It was a really fun party--I think Sam had a great time and I am about all birthdayed out!