tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34826022687256798272024-03-13T10:19:06.790-05:00Justin and Julie; Jacob, Joel and JeremyJustin and Juliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09695036320727049951noreply@blogger.comBlogger362125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3482602268725679827.post-5059563102230788302015-05-07T11:03:00.001-05:002015-05-07T11:22:53.532-05:00Cruise - Cozumel<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">We were at sea the first full day of our cruise and it seemed like everything was madness. We didn't get super involved in the on board activities, but I wanted to go to the gym (because I knew I was going to gain so much weight on the trip) and we wanted to lounge at the pool. The gym was so crowded and hot and sticky. Ugh.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Then we changed and headed out to the pool and there was just about no where to sit. We finally found two seats in the shade, but sadly it was just upwind of the smoking section so every now and then the stench got to us. We swam a little, but the water was so cold (since they filter it straight from the ocean) that it wasn't all that enjoyable to swim. So we ended up going to our room and reading books on our balcony. I can't say enough how worth it I think it was to have a balcony. If (when) we go on another cruise we will most definitely have a balcony.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Our first port of call was Cozumel. We decided that we would splurge and do an excursion at each port. In Cozumel we did the excursion that encompasses the entire time we were at port by going out to some ruins, heading to a lunch and time on the beach and then back to the cruise ship. This ended up being our least favorite excursion (and the most expensive).</span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CNcPasfMxxs/VUuLMV3S2DI/AAAAAAAAK_Y/j4CD90WFqt4/s1600/ruins2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CNcPasfMxxs/VUuLMV3S2DI/AAAAAAAAK_Y/j4CD90WFqt4/s400/ruins2.JPG" width="300" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">First, after disembarking from the cruise ship we had to take a ferry and then a bus. I had been warned that a lot of people get sea sick on the ferry and they weren't kidding. Even with Dramamine I felt so ill - I didn't throw up, but it was close.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Check out my handsome hubby</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Those of us who chose this excursion had been divided into 2 groups and handed over to 2 different tour guides. We were really put in the wrong group. Our tour guide was a little on the rude side and (having been a tour guide myself years ago), I really felt like he just made up a bunch of crap. Once we got to the ruins, it was a bit of a walk to actually get to where we could see anything and he kept telling us not the separate and he told us stories about some of the different buildings. I personally felt like he dragged out that part of our time and then when he finally gave us our own time and gave us a time to be back on the bus, it was only 15 minutes. But since we were a 5-10 minute walk back to the bus, that wasn't hardly any time to actually look around ourselves.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">We ended up getting back to the bus a few minutes late and we weren't alone. However, after waiting and waiting for the last couple to show back up, they finally made the decision to leave that couple and they left someone who would transport directly back to the ferry so that they could get back to the cruise ship.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">By the way - these guys were everywhere at the ruins:</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Once we made it to the location where we were having lunch we were given only 45 minutes to eat and swim in the Gulf before we needed to be back on the bus. Justin and I both decided that we would just eat lunch and then walk on the beach because that was hardly time to eat, change, dry off and get back on the bus again. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Overall this excursion was too much travel time (and then add in the extra 20+minutes that we were waiting for the couple back at the ruins) - but ferry ride from the port and back, bus ride to the ruins, bus ride to lunch and then bus ride from lunch back to the ferry. I think we were traveling between 2 - 3 hours of our time.</span></div>
Juliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12184774965578175291noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3482602268725679827.post-33860509854518593602015-01-29T21:26:00.002-06:002015-01-29T21:26:30.945-06:0010th anniversary<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Justin and I celebrated our 10th anniversary in June of this past year.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">We had discussed going on a cruise, but felt like maybe we shouldn't spend the money to go after we had just gone to Disney the December before. However in February after we filed our taxes and realized how much we were getting back and we thought back to how much we saved on our Disney trip (by driving instead of flying, staying off Disney property using my parents' timeshare, and preparing almost all of our meals ourselves without eating out much) we decided to go for it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">My mom agreed to watch our kids and we booked a week long cruise departing out of Galveston that went to Cozumel, Grand Cayman and Jamaica. We decided to go the last week in May (left on Sunday May 25th and got back on Sunday June 1st) so that the kids would still be in school and that way it would be a little easier on Grandma. (What wasn't easier for Grandma was that she had no kitchen to use - the countertop was installed the Friday we were gone but even then our faucet wasn't installed until Monday or Tuesday after we got back. What a trooper Grandma was!)</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bye-bye Galveston with your ugly brown water</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;">We splurged and got a room with a balcony. We LOVED having a balcony. The days we were at sea and we went to the pool, there were rarely chairs to sit in that were in the shade. So sitting by the pool and reading just didn't happen for us - we are too pale to sit in the sun for long. We sat on our balcony probably everyday reading books and enjoying the breeze off the ocean as we traveled.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">We didn't do many of the activities on the cruise ship, but we did do an excursion at each port of call (which is where things get REALLY expensive cruising). We also did two dinners at specialty restaurants on board and lunch once at Johnny Rockets.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">We went to the Japanese/Sushi restaurant but since we don't like sushi we did this thing where you cook the meat on super hot rocks at your table. We thought we ordered a meal for each of us and were a little surprised when our food came and there wasn't much for 2 (but it would have been way plenty for 1). But when the check came we realized that they misunderstood and brought us one meal to split, which was fine and filling enough.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Another night we went to the steakhouse on board and it was REALLY good. Almost as good as Ruth's Chris steakhouse. However, in the future I don't think we would do specialty dining - it added to our tab and the food in the main dining room was usually really good without costing extra. Neither of us were very impressed with the buffet/casual dining area's food.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The others assigned to our dinner table were all varied - an older couple who were only there 1 or 2 nights we were there and didn't talk to us much, another older couple who were really nice and we got to know them pretty well and then 2 other younger couples - 1 who were living together and trying to have a baby, the other who had only been dating for a few months or so.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">It was weird to us that we were the only ones at our table who had kids at home. Our last night on board the two older couples didn't come to dinner so it was just the 6 of us. That night it was a little strange for Justin and I to be the "older" couple.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Last night on the cruise</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I'll post about our excursions later.</span></div>
Juliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12184774965578175291noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3482602268725679827.post-14159585757113245662015-01-28T13:57:00.000-06:002015-01-28T13:57:40.756-06:00Summer 2011<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">We recently were told a really cute story about Jacob that we weren't aware of before, and I just had to document it. The other day the kids were playing outside and a couple of Jacob's things ended up in our backyard neighbor' yard. When Justin went over to recover the items our neighbor, Holly, told him this story.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Just a little background first.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">When the twins were born our lives were thrown into complete chaos. Poor Jacob was often left to entertain himself and play alone while I cared for the twins. As long as the weather was nice in the afternoons, Jacob would play in the backyard. He could frequently be found at the fence, putting leaves or blades of grass through any gaps or holes in our standard 6 ft tall wooden fence. One day he came in very upset and I realized he had been taking his spoons outside and putting them through the fence into our backyard neighbor's yard. I didn't want to load up all the 3 kids to go over and try to get the spoons back so we just waited for Justin to get home from work and he went over and retrieved the spoons.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">This must have happened sometime after that.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Holly was working out in her garden or yard and when she looked up she noticed a little set of eyes watching her through the fence. She said hello, but normal for Jacob, he didn't respond. A little while later, she looked up to see a little hand holding out a little flower through a small hole in the fence. She took the flower and thanked him but Jacob just ran off.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">A couple more times after that Holly would be doing some work out in her garden and she would notice that Jacob was back at the fence again, holding out a little flower for her.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">So sweet.</span></div>
<br />Juliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12184774965578175291noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3482602268725679827.post-12548339468865531602015-01-26T17:28:00.000-06:002015-01-26T17:28:42.517-06:00Working<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">I went back to work in the fall of 2013. The department chair took it really easy on me and only assigned me two sections of college algebra. It had been over 3 years since I had taught the course and we weren't using the same edition of the textbook, so I had some work to do writing up a plan for what to cover in class, but I decided that it had been so long since I had taught I basically used exams that I had used the last time I had taught the course.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I prepped and graded either at night or while the twins were napping during the day and the only time I felt really stressed was at the end of the semester when I had to have everything done before we left on our Disney trip.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">For the spring semester I was assigned to teach Calculus 2 and a course called Finite Math. Finite Math is pretty easy and encompasses a lot of things that come really easy for me, so even though I hadn't taught it for over 4 years at this point I wasn't concerned about teaching that. I was a bit concerned about teaching Calculus 2 - I hadn't taught it since Summer of 2008 so it had been almost 6 years and the material is not easy.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Sure enough, I spent every single night Sunday - Thursday after the kids went to bed re-teaching myself Calculus 2 so that I could teach it to my students. I also spent the twins' nap time usually working on grading, planning out homework assignments for both classes, etc. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">It was such a relief to be done teaching in May just because it was so much work. I was off all summer because summer classes are too intensive for me to teach with little kids.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">For this past fall I was given 3 classes - College Algebra, Statistics and Trigonometry. I was excited to teach stats because it had been well over 6 years since I'd had a chance to teach it, but I knew that meant it would probably take a bit more prep work writing exams almost from scratch. I had never taught trig before and I was not very excited about it - I've never cared much for trig and I'd be doing everything from scratch.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Teaching 3 different classes was A LOT of work. I think I worked about as much last fall as I did in the Spring. And my trig students did horrible - worse than any of my students have ever done (although one student aced the class and a couple others got A's). </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I'm currently teaching 3 classes this semester, but at least two of them are the same course just 2 different sections. And I've taught all these classes very recently, so hopefully that means lots less prep time. I'm glad for the extra income in teaching 3 classes, but hopefully I'm not regretting agreeing to teach 3 classes by the time we reach the end of the semester.</span></div>
Juliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12184774965578175291noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3482602268725679827.post-57545111376319147382015-01-26T14:37:00.003-06:002015-01-26T14:37:21.144-06:00Splash Day 2014<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8SLV9JfyRKM/VMalP1PQO0I/AAAAAAAAI5U/g6UhhmhKRiI/s1600/20140516_112357.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8SLV9JfyRKM/VMalP1PQO0I/AAAAAAAAI5U/g6UhhmhKRiI/s1600/20140516_112357.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Every year toward the end of the school year the PPCD and LifeSkills kids at school have a "Field Day" that is really just a splash day. This past year the Splash Day was happening right in the middle of all of our kitchen construction. I thought I was going to have to miss seeing Jacob and Jeremy at Splash Day, but then a friend offered to come over and be at my house while the workers were there so that I could take Joel and go. Yay!</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Joel was a little standoffish at first, but all the kids had a ball.</span></div>
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<br />Juliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12184774965578175291noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3482602268725679827.post-83746356974869539302015-01-26T14:21:00.000-06:002015-01-26T14:21:02.847-06:00Diagnosis<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-D8Nx6ggUw1A/VMag7PbWGQI/AAAAAAAAI4Q/k3va7NH9jyY/s1600/20140419_110428.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-D8Nx6ggUw1A/VMag7PbWGQI/AAAAAAAAI4Q/k3va7NH9jyY/s1600/20140419_110428.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jacob covers his ears like this a lot because sounds can overwhelm him</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;">A year ago I was given a lot of forms to fill out for Jacob and even had an interview with a child psychologist about him. Since Jacob had turned 5 and was starting kindergarten in the fall, we were having him evaluated to determine if he is on the autism spectrum or not. We were scheduled for a meeting the week before the kids were on spring break (so during my spring break) to go over all the results.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">At first I was going to go to the IEP (Individual Education Plan) meeting by myself like I usually do, but then I decided that Justin needed to come with me.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">While we had been assuming for a little while that Jacob had an autism spectrum disorder, it was still a little rough to go through all the things that make your child different, still a little rough to discuss all the things that your child does that aren't necessarily considered "normal" or "typical", and still a little rough to officially be given an autism spectrum disorder diagnosis.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I think that anytime your child does something annoying or that you don't want them to do, you try to teach them to not do whatever the habit is. With Jacob, he is constantly doing the things we try to get him not to do whether it be to play in the kitchen sink, spit just because he likes to watch it fly through the air, scream and throw a fit because something is on TV that he doesn't want to watch (even if it is something that he used to love to watch), etc, etc.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Part of what was upsetting for me was that although I never really believed that he would one day just outgrow a lot of the weird, quirky things he does was realizing that it is going to take more work than I ever imagined to get him to function "correctly" in society. That's a difficult thing to come to terms with. And I hear from people all the time that they have the same struggles with their kids - but I hear these things all the time from people whose children do not have a developmental or behavioral problem which means our struggles trying to teach our children are no where close to each other which honestly just makes it that much more difficult to deal with on an emotional level.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">And even though I know not to expect from Jacob what most people expect from their 5 or 6 year old, sometimes it is hard to deal with. The other day I saw a 3 or 4 year old having a discussion with an adult saying "if I pout, Daddy says I can't play". Wow - I feel like I can only dream of my child understanding a concept like that.</span></div>
Juliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12184774965578175291noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3482602268725679827.post-64374938852059300682015-01-25T21:44:00.002-06:002015-01-25T21:44:09.466-06:00New Kitchen<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">For a while I'd been wanting to re-do some of our kitchen, but wasn't sure how to re-do parts of it and leave other parts the same. For instance, our counters were in really good shape, but I hated the wasted corner space in two corners of our kitchen and I wasn't fond of the boring beige coloring. A couple years ago or so, we had a water leak under our kitchen sink. We aren't sure how long it had been leaking when we found it, but after we cleaned it up we could tell that the cabinet under the kitchen sink was warped and the cabinet next to it had a moldy smell even after wiping it out with bleach.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">So sometime in March last year we went to Ikea for something and I picked up one of their kitchen books. While some of their kitchen cabinets definitely were not anything I might like, some of them looked really nice and they are quite a bit less expensive than most places. I kept flipping through the catalog and even went as far as to measure our kitchen to get an idea of how much it would cost to replace our cabinets.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">We knew we had some money coming to us in May so when Ikea ran a special to save 20% on a new kitchen we decided to go for it. We didn't replace our fridge, dishwasher or freestanding range/double oven but we did replace everything else including the garbage disposal, above range microwave and kitchen sink and faucet.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">We shopped around and had different people handle different parts of the work in order to save as much money as we could - so we hired a contractor to rip out the existing cabinets and backsplash; install undercabinet lighting; paint the kitchen, breakfast room and family room; rip out a pony wall between the kitchen and breakfast room; relocate the dishwasher to the other side of the sink from where it was; install the new faucet, new garbage disposal and then the dishwasher. We hired a flooring company to rip up the existing tile floor and install the new floor and backsplash. We hired the company associated with Ikea to do the cabinet install and install the above range microwave and Ikea already contracts out the kitchen counter to a company who measured and installed the counter and kitchen sink.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I'm glad that we saved money, but it really was a pain to have so many different people that we worked with and trying to coordinate it all while minimizing the amount of time we were without a kitchen. Most frustrating was that they couldn't come map everything out for the countertop until the cabinets had been installed and then it was a 2 week wait after everything was mapped for the countertop install which meant 2 weeks of no work being done and still not having a kitchen to use.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Here's a little slideshow of the process:</span></div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen="true" frameborder="0" height="389" mozallowfullscreen="true" src="https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1qUSFLIUVaSKlFPuRdeQrt5S2GnUBdvircMOVAMs_OPs/embed?start=false&loop=false&delayms=3000" webkitallowfullscreen="true" width="480"></iframe>
Juliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12184774965578175291noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3482602268725679827.post-17854676698378626722015-01-25T16:12:00.001-06:002015-01-25T16:15:42.726-06:00Easter 2014<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Easter weekend was also the weekend of my parents' 40th wedding anniversary. We decided that all the grown-ups would go out for a nice dinner together on Friday, April 18th (the night before their anniversary). We went to Texas De Brazil in Fort Worth - it was very yummy and I think we all ate way too much.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-IV1Lco5oxRI/VMVo0rQ5GdI/AAAAAAAAI3Q/wTY488dfnBE/s1600/anniversary.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-IV1Lco5oxRI/VMVo0rQ5GdI/AAAAAAAAI3Q/wTY488dfnBE/s1600/anniversary.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fuzzy and Rick is totally washed out in the backrow, but this was our crew at dinner</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;">But earlier that day we had an Easter egg hunt with my sister's 2 kids. Joel was the most interested in the egg hunt out of our 3 boys.</span></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1oe-4J0YP5k/VMVk5ZiELLI/AAAAAAAAI3A/e_UV3YQ1zKo/s1600/20140418_103951.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1oe-4J0YP5k/VMVk5ZiELLI/AAAAAAAAI3A/e_UV3YQ1zKo/s1600/20140418_103951.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The next morning we took the boys to ride a train in Fort Worth. We had to wait a while for the train to get there, but it was a nice little ride and super inexpensive.</span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ycMC66FY-Ew/VMVk5bnIZZI/AAAAAAAAI3A/UVeZLWMlbvs/s1600/20140419_120104.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ycMC66FY-Ew/VMVk5bnIZZI/AAAAAAAAI3A/UVeZLWMlbvs/s1600/20140419_120104.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-OQO2MqE2cp8/VMVk5RU6zAI/AAAAAAAAI3A/VxribdN9NBM/s1600/20140419_110439.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-OQO2MqE2cp8/VMVk5RU6zAI/AAAAAAAAI3A/VxribdN9NBM/s1600/20140419_110439.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mfh5l7R1Hd8/VMVk5ZjsgYI/AAAAAAAAI3A/9iCh6Ybfl3U/s1600/20140419_110433.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mfh5l7R1Hd8/VMVk5ZjsgYI/AAAAAAAAI3A/9iCh6Ybfl3U/s1600/20140419_110433.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">That night we had the boys set out their Easter baskets for the Easter Bunny to come the next morning. We put the boys to bed and about 10 -15 minutes later Jacob got up and was very intent on checking out his Easter basket. We were pleasantly surprised because this was one of the first times that Jacob has shown eagerness or excitement about a holiday.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Luckily we easily got him back to bed and actually to sleep this time so that the Easter Bunny could come.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The boys were really excited to see their goodies the next morning.</span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5LBuEs0__Qw/VMVpcp7Io3I/AAAAAAAAI3Y/FeyEa5AjrtY/s1600/easter1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5LBuEs0__Qw/VMVpcp7Io3I/AAAAAAAAI3Y/FeyEa5AjrtY/s1600/easter1.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zYXvd2IX2BI/VMVpe3djxII/AAAAAAAAI3o/VTcGpUpb9PU/s1600/easter4.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zYXvd2IX2BI/VMVpe3djxII/AAAAAAAAI3o/VTcGpUpb9PU/s1600/easter4.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The twins were really excited about the puzzles they got</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ZAfDxZjbReg/VMVpm8PWZII/AAAAAAAAI3w/bVaXX1_-kxw/s1600/easter3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ZAfDxZjbReg/VMVpm8PWZII/AAAAAAAAI3w/bVaXX1_-kxw/s1600/easter3.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jacob was really excited about his Planes underwear</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;">We drove back home on Easter which we are never doing again. Driving back home on Sundays is hard enough because there aren't any ChickFilA's open for the kids to play, but since it was Easter there were so many places closed.</span></div>
<br />Juliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12184774965578175291noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3482602268725679827.post-35921184740119035252015-01-25T15:27:00.000-06:002015-01-25T15:28:45.878-06:00Spring Break 2014<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Spring Break last year was actually timed pretty nice. I had spring break the 2nd full week in March like almost every school in Texas, whereas the kids had spring break the next week. At first it was a little aggravating that we weren't going to have the same spring break, but then I realized how nice it would be. There were only 2 school districts in the Houston area that had spring break the 3rd week in March instead of the 2nd week. This meant that we were able to do things like go to the zoo and go to the rodeo without having nearly as big of crowds, and it meant that my spring break was a bit more enjoyable since Jacob and Jeremy were both still in school.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Justin took off work Tuesday through Thursday of the kids' spring break since I had to work that Tuesday and Thursday. After I got off work on Tuesday I was in charge of making 5 dozen cupcakes for a Relief Society activity that night, and Thursday after getting off work we headed to the zoo.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-cv-p6Rkn-iU/VMVejZr5kPI/AAAAAAAAI2w/_-FbDcpOzaE/s1600/20140318_165544.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-cv-p6Rkn-iU/VMVejZr5kPI/AAAAAAAAI2w/_-FbDcpOzaE/s1600/20140318_165544.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nutella filled chocolate cupcakes with Nutella buttercream</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-FgSQ_puCt3g/VMVejeyKjMI/AAAAAAAAI2w/-1PQT6AiWZA/s1600/20140318_155506.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-FgSQ_puCt3g/VMVejeyKjMI/AAAAAAAAI2w/-1PQT6AiWZA/s1600/20140318_155506.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">White almond sour cream cupcakes with strawberry swiss meringue buttercream</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;">On Wednesday we went to the rodeo. We didn't realize until after we'd already decided to go to the rodeo this day that Wednesdays are "bargain" days with discounted entrance fee as well as less expensive rides so it really worked out in our favor since Wednesday was the only day we could go.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">When we first got there we let the kids do a pony ride. They loved it, but none of the pictures really turned out very well.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">After that we walked around looking at different animals. We knew that the kids just wanted to head to the carnival part of the rodeo, but that didn't open as early as the rest of the rodeo.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">We got to see some pig races which I think were only slightly interesting to the kids.</span></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-77FeIMNb2nY/VMVejdyifNI/AAAAAAAAI2w/qBFqxu4CKGs/s1600/20140319_104034.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-77FeIMNb2nY/VMVejdyifNI/AAAAAAAAI2w/qBFqxu4CKGs/s1600/20140319_104034.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"> Their favorite part was definitely the rides and we're glad that they were slightly less expensive on Wednesday because they were pretty pricey.</span></div>
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Juliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12184774965578175291noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3482602268725679827.post-17652238005248404832015-01-25T14:50:00.000-06:002015-01-25T14:50:00.365-06:00Rodeo Field Trip 2014<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Jacob got to go on a neat field trip to the Houston Rodeo in 2013 and we thought it was a one-time only kind of thing. So I was very surprised to get a notice last January about their upcoming rodeo trip. When I went to the informational meeting the PPCD teacher told me that they were already planning on Jeremy going on the field trip as well (even though he still hadn't been evaluated for the program yet).</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">They got to go on the field trip the week before Spring Break and again provided us with some of the pictures.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jtEDa5jjIjY/VMVVyl5C4KI/AAAAAAAAI18/pt1Cg7Tvtp8/s1600/rodeo4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jtEDa5jjIjY/VMVVyl5C4KI/AAAAAAAAI18/pt1Cg7Tvtp8/s1600/rodeo4.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Love, love, love this picture</td></tr>
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<br />Juliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12184774965578175291noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3482602268725679827.post-29359413121022427702015-01-21T15:09:00.002-06:002015-01-21T15:09:47.417-06:00Jeremy started PPCD<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">It is a little strange to have 2 out of 3 children with developmental delays and problems. Everyone always says not to compare children to each other, but I feel it is nearly impossible not to.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Jeremy had to go through the same evaluation process that Jacob went through in order to determine if he was delayed enough to qualify for PPCD (Preschool Program for Children with Disabilities). Again, we weren't really sure if Jeremy would qualify for the program or not - he definitely wasn't as delayed as Jacob was at the age of 3, but also he definitely wasn't developmentally at the same level as his twin brother.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">We were happy to hear (just 2 days before his 3rd birthday) that Jeremy did indeed qualify for PPCD, and that he could start school on Monday. And then to realize that I had never ordered birth certificates for the twins and I couldn't actually register him for school until I had that. Needless to say, I rushed home and ordered one for each twin as a rush order.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">We already knew that the PPCD kids were going on a field trip to the Rodeo the very next week and without the birth certificate, Jeremy would have to miss the trip. Luckily we received the birthday in the mail the very Friday after I ordered it and Jeremy was able to start school only a week later than we had thought he would and still go on the trip.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Joel really didn't know what to think about Jeremy going to school. The first day or two I think he was just confused, but after that he would cry and cry about not having his own bus that picked him up and took him to school. After all, a bus picked up Jacob and then about 45 minutes later a bus came and picked up Jeremy. The whole rest of the school year was tough because Joel didn't have a bus or get to go to school.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TPm4s0r-36A/VMAVFtoqkNI/AAAAAAAAI1A/KToMzFTDLSE/s1600/Jeremy2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TPm4s0r-36A/VMAVFtoqkNI/AAAAAAAAI1A/KToMzFTDLSE/s1600/Jeremy2.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Someone did not want to stand so I could take a picture of him with his backpack on</td></tr>
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<br />Juliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12184774965578175291noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3482602268725679827.post-55206362575795370142015-01-20T22:44:00.002-06:002015-01-20T22:44:22.136-06:00Jeremy graduated from ECI<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">When the twins weren't really talking when they were almost 18 months old, we started the process of having them evaluated for ECI (Early Childhood Intervention). After having them evaluated it was determined that Joel wasn't delayed enough to qualify for assistance, but Jeremy did.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">ECI worked with Jeremy for almost a year and a half and he graduated out of the program when he turned 3. For his very last visit, we had a little graduation ceremony for him.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I didn't even know that they did anything like this because Jacob never got to have his last ECI visit just when he turned 3 - </span>it was canceled due to the lady that worked with him being in an accident.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GqH4uMDKDnk/VL8t__qrkEI/AAAAAAAAI0Y/QInn71YmNPM/s1600/grad.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GqH4uMDKDnk/VL8t__qrkEI/AAAAAAAAI0Y/QInn71YmNPM/s1600/grad.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">So excited to graduate</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Jeremy was so cute in his cap and gown!</span></div>
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Juliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12184774965578175291noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3482602268725679827.post-23503401534311965802015-01-20T22:32:00.000-06:002015-01-20T22:32:01.035-06:00Twins turned 3 (Feb 2014)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-QyUINEkWck8/VL8qVLo2ETI/AAAAAAAAIzc/oWsxKpInEeQ/s1600/bday%2Btwins.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-QyUINEkWck8/VL8qVLo2ETI/AAAAAAAAIzc/oWsxKpInEeQ/s1600/bday%2Btwins.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-UKgWcKM6TIU/VL8qV-braKI/AAAAAAAAIzg/hwdBQebKfgI/s1600/bday.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-UKgWcKM6TIU/VL8qV-braKI/AAAAAAAAIzg/hwdBQebKfgI/s1600/bday.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Joel is 3!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9s0ilDldHVs/VL8qWJSBynI/AAAAAAAAIzk/L4h2D1vvgd4/s1600/bday2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9s0ilDldHVs/VL8qWJSBynI/AAAAAAAAIzk/L4h2D1vvgd4/s1600/bday2.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jeremy is 3!</td></tr>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-h5AOxMLV9rk/VL8of7FmucI/AAAAAAAAIzM/G5YDQNiZ2K4/s1600/20140223_074257.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-h5AOxMLV9rk/VL8of7FmucI/AAAAAAAAIzM/G5YDQNiZ2K4/s1600/20140223_074257.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">We celebrated the twins 3rd birthday by taking all the boys to Chuck E Cheese for the first time ever. They all had a ball, but didn't understand many of the games - for them it was all about just putting the tokens into the slots for the games.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">We cheated a little when it came to the twins' birthday presents. We had kept them in their cribs as long as possible but it was time to move them into big boy beds. Which means that we spent quite a bit more money on bunk beds and bedding than we wanted to spend and we called that their birthday presents. But then we felt guilty that we weren't going to have anything for them to unwrap so I ordered some puzzles for them because they love puzzles.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Tru7fw6ydC4/VL8of1MGCtI/AAAAAAAAIzM/lJl5aFH3nTA/s1600/20140220_163313.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Tru7fw6ydC4/VL8of1MGCtI/AAAAAAAAIzM/lJl5aFH3nTA/s1600/20140220_163313.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The boys were so excited about their new beds</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_P98eTAlQaU/VL8qa1JlfJI/AAAAAAAAI0A/i6Efxp_BXIc/s1600/presents.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_P98eTAlQaU/VL8qa1JlfJI/AAAAAAAAI0A/i6Efxp_BXIc/s1600/presents.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Opening some presents</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-akiL7wW5Ve8/VL8qauArBEI/AAAAAAAAIz8/kPyZGb3YhZc/s1600/puzzle.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-akiL7wW5Ve8/VL8qauArBEI/AAAAAAAAIz8/kPyZGb3YhZc/s1600/puzzle.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jeremy is the puzzle master</td></tr>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">I also cheated when it came to a birthday cake for the twins. Jeremy doesn't like cake (or any sweets) and Joel never told me what he wanted, so I did the same thing for the twins' 3rd birthday as I did for the Jacob's 3rd birthday - Elmo and Cookie Monster cupcakes!</span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-RGtV3cYtoA0/VL8of-Dh-xI/AAAAAAAAIzM/uMkPcheK4Wc/s1600/20140222_153955.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-RGtV3cYtoA0/VL8of-Dh-xI/AAAAAAAAIzM/uMkPcheK4Wc/s1600/20140222_153955.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-maUzlf0mQkw/VL8qY_x27MI/AAAAAAAAIz0/gnkZVpkzZn0/s1600/cupcakes.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-maUzlf0mQkw/VL8qY_x27MI/AAAAAAAAIz0/gnkZVpkzZn0/s1600/cupcakes.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">These cupcakes seemed easier to make this time around than when I made them for Jacob's birthday</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Jeremy liked seeing the cupcakes, but just like Jacob always does when it comes to cakes or cupcakes, he didn't even want to touch them.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Joel, on the other hand, can eat enough to sweets for all 3 of the boys combined.</span></div>
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<br />Juliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12184774965578175291noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3482602268725679827.post-26642264432040961302015-01-15T21:58:00.000-06:002015-01-15T21:58:23.321-06:00Jacob turned 5<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Jacob turned 5 on our trip to Florida. I was a little torn about what little about we actually did to celebrate Jacob's birthday a year ago. He doesn't talk about things like kids his age do. We can only assume that most kids are probably really excited as their birthday gets closer, and start talking about what they will get for presents, their birthday cake, etc., Jacob doesn't do any of that. That isn't to say that he doesn't get excited about birthdays, it's just that we don't know just how much he understands about birthdays and he doesn't communicate his expectations to us.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I kind of took advantage of Jacob's inability to communicate any of his expectations or wants for his birthday last year by not doing much. We took a present with us to give him on his actual birthday and we left a present at home to give him once we got back because it was a little bulky to take with us. We didn't worry about a birthday cake or anything like that because Jacob doesn't like to eat those types of things.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">But the night of his birthday I felt a little guilty that we hadn't done anything for him and he was really interested in a candle that was burning when we went to dinner at Justin's brother's place in Orlando. So we sang happy birthday to him and let him blow out the candle a couple times. He loves to blow out candles.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">After we got back home from our vacation I took his annual birthday picture with the blue elephant.</span></div>
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<br />Juliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12184774965578175291noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3482602268725679827.post-23641602472358073872015-01-15T18:33:00.003-06:002015-01-15T18:33:35.133-06:00Vacation over<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">It was sad to leave vacation, but I think that Justin and I were looking forward to getting back home and having everyone sleep in their own beds. We were not looking forward to the actual drive home though.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Everyday while we were in Orlando, we would pull out of the resort and turn right to head to the parks, but on Saturday morning, the 21st, we turned left to get onto a freeway and head out of Orlando. Jacob started crying as soon as we turned onto the road saying "I want right. I want right." It was so sad.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Driving to Orlando we stayed overnight in Pensacola because it was a little over halfway there. Going back we knew that we wanted to stay somewhere that would be over halfway home and we initially booked a place just on the Louisiana side of Mississippi and Louisiana using some of Justin's hotel points. But once we were on our way we started thinking that we wanted to be a little closer to home when we stopped and we were hoping for a suite where we could have a living room and a bedroom with a door to close between the two. The twins did not sleep well on the way there in the same room as us and we were exhausted from so many late nights so much walking around the parks.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">We couldn't find somewhere to use hotel points on that was just a little about an hour further than we originally booked, but we did find a place where we could have a 1 bedroom suite like we wanted and we decided that we had saved so much money on our trip that it would be worth it to just pay for the hotel. And it was! We put the twins in pack and plays in the living room and Jacob slept in the second bed in the bedroom. Justin and I went to sleep right after putting the kids down so that we didn't have any lights on to disturb their sleep. We loved getting more than 10 hours of sleep that night - it was much needed!</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The drive home was long and tiring. We finished our drive home on Sunday and it rained a lot. Since there weren't any McDonald's with play areas and Chick-Fil-A is closed on Sunday and it was too rainy to stop at a park, we weren't able to stop anywhere to let the kids run around on Sunday and that was really difficult.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Overall we loved our trip. But we also learned that there is a reason that kids under 3 get in for free - they are definitely much more difficult to deal with than an older kid. Even though Jacob has developmental and behavior problems, he was the easiest child to handle on the trip. We're thinking - maybe we'll go again when the twins are 6 or 7. Hopefully.</span></div>
Juliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12184774965578175291noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3482602268725679827.post-56802483326537698912015-01-11T22:26:00.000-06:002015-01-11T22:26:11.564-06:00Disney trip - Friday<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Friday was our last day in Orlando and even though we didn't have park passes for this day we still participated in a Disney activity. This was another one of our splurges - we had breakfast at Chef Mickey's!</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Our kids are really picky eaters, so we were really glad that the twins "ate" for free. (I have to say "ate" because I really don't think they ate much at all.) And Jacob was half-price, which was also very good because I don't think that Jacob ate anything at all. The food wasn't that great (breakfast buffet), but it wasn't bad, and where else can you eat and be greeted by Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Pluto and Goofy? The boys were in heaven.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">We walked around Downtown Disney a little after breakfast, but most things weren't really open yet and we were just tired of walking around. We did go up in a big hot air balloon, but it seemed that the kids weren't as excited about that as we would have thought that they would be.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">We went back to the pool and the kids had a really good time swimming, even though it wasn't all that warm (thank goodness for a heated pool).</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Then we spent the evening getting everything together and packed up so that it would be easier leaving the next morning.</span></div>
Juliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12184774965578175291noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3482602268725679827.post-5135096435671795702015-01-11T21:55:00.000-06:002015-01-11T21:55:05.984-06:00Disney trip - Thursday<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Thursday was our last day with park admission and we knew that the kids would definitely want to go back to Magic Kingdom. We knew that there were some rides that the kids had ridden on Sunday that they would like to ride again and we made a sort of metal list the night before of rides we wanted to make sure to take them on. We didn't take any pictures at Magic Kingdom because we stayed too busy playing!</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">We packed lunches and got to the park soon after opening. We rode lots of rides, made sure to get a couple pineapple whips to share and went to the show in the Tiki Tiki Room. We really wore the kids out and stayed at the park until later in the afternoon than we had any other day. We really wanted to take the kids to see the Christmas lights at Hollywood Studios that evening and we just crossed our fingers that the kids would handle the late night without too many meltdowns. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">When we got there I decided that because we had saved so much money on food, lodging, park fees, etc, that we just had to get the boys some Mickey ears. We had each of the boys' names embroidered on the back. Luckily they were able to have them ready for us before the park closed that evening so we were able to get them on our way out.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I had seen somewhere in one of the brochures or pamphlets or somewhere that there would be fireworks at Hollywood Studios that night. However, once we got here and started asking about where to see the fireworks the staff seemed to be confused and it turns out that I was the one confused. There was a fireworks show, but it was at the end of the Fantasmic! show. We got all turned around and had trouble finding the show so we got there late. And the kids weren't super excited about the show, although I think the fireworks at the end they enjoyed.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Once the show was out we headed over to the Christmas lights. They really were amazing and the kids really liked them - especially when the lights would blink in time with the music. The only drawback was how crowded it was - it felt like everyone in Orlando was in that one section of Hollywood Studios trying to see the Christmas lights.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Once we finished seeing all the Christmas lights and got the boys' Mickey ears we headed out. Some people walked back out to the parking lot, but my mom and I rode the tram with Jeremy. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Story about Jeremy. We'd been only letting the twins have binkies while they slept for a while before the trip, but once we were driving to Florida it made it a much more pleasant drive to let the twins have their binkies whenever they wanted while we drove. But that turned into twins who wanted their binkies all the time whether we were at the park, the resort, or wherever. When we got on the tram to head back to the car, Jeremy dropped his binky and luckily we caught it before it rolled away. But then he dropped it again right after we gave it back to him and it rolled off the side of the tram and underneath the tram. It ended up right in the middle of the tram car and was unreachable. We kept trying to figure out a way to get it, while Jeremy whined that he didn't have his binky and then the Disney workers stepped in. They made sure that the tram didn't leave while they got a pik-stick to reach under and rescue Jeremy's binky. There really is a a mentally among the staff at Disney to be happy and helpful and to make children happy. We were really grateful right then that they did whatever they could to get Jeremy's binky back for him.</span></div>
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Juliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12184774965578175291noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3482602268725679827.post-64659003775404085282015-01-06T22:37:00.000-06:002015-01-06T22:37:09.673-06:00Disney trip - Wednesday<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">At first we had thought that we wouldn't go to Hollywood Studios at all - none of the attractions sounded like the boys would be excited about them anyway. But as we looked a little more, we realized that some characters that our boys would really like to see were only at Hollywood Studios so we got there right as they were opening on Wednesday morning.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">First up was seeing Lightning McQueen and Mater. The boys were really excited to see them, but I think Jacob was trying to figure out why they weren't talking or moving.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">After seeing our Cars friends, we headed over to see Sheriff Woody and Buzz Lightyear. We had to wait in line for a while and the kids got really restless, but they were really excited once they finally got to see Woody and Buzz.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Next we headed over to see Mike and Sully from Monsters, Inc. We were a little worried about how Jacob would react because at home he cries and screams when we try to watch Monsters, Inc when he is home. He kept saying "no" when we said anything about Mike or Sully, but he seemed okay when we finally got to see Mike. We never got to see Sully because even though he was scheduled to be there with Mike, they said he was "taking an exam".</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">After visiting with Mike, we headed over to see Ralph and Vanelope from Wreck It Ralph. We were happy that they were there because around this point in time Wreck it Ralph was definitely a favorite movie for the boys.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">We had contemplated riding some rides, and we tried to get some fast passes while waiting in line to see Buzz and Woody, but by that time the fast pass times were hours away and the lines themselves were a little ridiculous, especially considering the fact that we weren't even sure if the kids would like the rides.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">This is where my memory gets fuzzy - you know, since all this happened over a year ago. But I'm pretty sure that we headed straight over to Epcot. We knew that there wasn't a lot at Epcot that would entertain our boys either. One thing I know they liked was seeing Pluto just inside. There was no line to see him, but also no photographer (even though there was supposed to be).</span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JuyuC8IEvWw/VKxYPCFJzrI/AAAAAAAAIr8/peUahK3Uf3U/s1600/20131218%2B-%2BEpcot12.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JuyuC8IEvWw/VKxYPCFJzrI/AAAAAAAAIr8/peUahK3Uf3U/s1600/20131218%2B-%2BEpcot12.jpeg" height="400" width="265" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">At Epcot we rode Spaceship Earth, which was way too slow moving for Grandpa Mac, and we rode the Gran Fiesta Tour. We went to Turtle Talk with Crush, and I really thought we did something else too, but can't remember for sure. I always think of Epcot as being more for grown ups, walking around to all the countries, etc. But the kids had reached their limit and we decided to call it quits.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">We had the twins nap a little later thinking that they might be able to handle going to Magic Kingdom that night since it would be open late again, but we could tell after they woke up from their naps that they would not be very fun to take back. Add in the fact that Jacob doesn't nap, and has serious behavior issues when he stays up late and we decided that going back to the park wasn't the best thing to do.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Once again, Grandma Mac offered to stay with the kids and Grandpa Mac went back with me, Justin and Justin's dad. This time we decided to ride rides instead of watching all the fireworks and parades. We timed it very well - we got in line for Space Mountain in the middle of one of the fireworks shows and we only had to be in line for about 20 minutes. We contemplated riding it again but the fireworks had ended and the wait for the line was now over an hour long.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">We went around riding all the rides that seemed more like grown-up rides, but of course since we were at Disney everything seems tame compared to the roller coasters of Six Flags Over Texas. Justin and I also worked on a plan for the next day as we went through Magic Kingdom this time. We knew we were bringing the kids back here in the morning and we wanted it to go smoother than it did our first day.</span></div>
Juliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12184774965578175291noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3482602268725679827.post-63170771905446037922015-01-05T21:02:00.000-06:002015-01-08T21:56:00.447-06:00Disney trip - Tuesday<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Tuesday we took the day off from parks. We decided that it might be good for our kids to have a break anyway - they are easily overstimulated and have (a lot of) trouble handling too much excitement sometimes.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">We went to see Santa since we hadn't done that yet and played for a little while at Bass Pro Shop (seriously the best place to see Santa if you want a good deal and don't want to spend a lot of money for Santa pictures - you get one picture for free, can take pictures with your own camera if you want and they have all kinds of free activities set up for the kids - this one even had a little carousel in the store!)</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jeremy was scared to ride on one of the animals, but he wanted Grandma Mac to hold him so he could ride</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;">After seeing Santa we went to the pool at our resort. It was still chilly from the cold front that came through, but the kids loved swimming anyway.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The resort has an indoor/outdoor pool. It was a little strange to us because it was all connected as one pool and you could swim from inside to outside (and vice versa) and there was a sort of wall of windows about 6 inches or so above the surface of the water that separated the inside from the outside. The strange part to us was that the inside half of the pool was not heated, so the air was warmer inside, but the water was really cold. The outside half of the pool was heated so the water was warmer here, but any part of you that was outside the water (especially if it was wet) was going to get really cold because of the chilly weather. The inside should have been heated as well - swimming would have been much more enjoyable that way!</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">This is one of the few nights that I (or anyone else with us) didn't prepare a meal. When Justin and I were picking what we wanted to do and see, he really wanted to go to the Luau at the Polynesian Resort (after living in Samoa for two years of course he would want to go to the luau). At first I said that it was too expensive, but then we decided that since we weren't paying for a place to stay and we got 2 kids into the parks for free and mine and Justin's tickets were half price, we could splurge on a few things. My parents chose not to go because they get to go to luaus occasionally for much less than the Disney one, so again we left the kids with them and we went with Justin's dad and step-mom and we met up with Justin's brother and his wife as well as Justin's step-sister and her two children (quite a bit older than our kids).</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The food was good and the entertainment was good as far as the dancing, but they had the people acting out a really cheesy skit in between all the dances that we thought was a little lame. It wasn't so easy to get good pictures of the dancing, but we especially liked the fire and knife dance.</span></div>
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<br />Juliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12184774965578175291noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3482602268725679827.post-83872866223094849822015-01-05T14:44:00.001-06:002015-01-05T14:44:14.583-06:00Disney Trip - Monday - night<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Animal Kingdom closed early (I want to say at 6pm) every night, but the other parks had some nights when they were open late - and Magic Kingdom had some nights they were open *really* late. On Sunday, Magic Kingdom closed earlier (maybe 7 or 8pm), but Monday night they were open until midnight or later. We when saw that the park was going to be open later some nights, we contemplated taking the kids to see the park at night including the fireworks and electrical parade. But our kids really don't cope well with staying up late and they were so tired that we knew it wouldn't be a very good idea to take them back to the park. If you noticed in the post before this, my mom was in a wheelchair; her hip and sciatic nerve give her lots of issues and all the walking was really causing her some pain. She did not want to go back to the park so she volunteered to stay with the kids so we could go back.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">We all had dinner, let the kids play a little bit (run around our condo like crazy) and then we bathed them and put them to bed. After getting them to bed we headed back up to the park. It was actually really cold (for Florida) and I had wished that I had something warmer than a sweatshirt.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">It was really nice to be able to be at the park without the kids. We didn't ride anything, but we got to go through the shops on Main Street without worrying about what our kids might break. We got to watch the fireworks and the electrical parade and not worry about our kids running off or fighting with each other. It was so nice.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The Christmas lights on Cinderella's castle were amazing! And the electrical parade was pretty cool too. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">We stayed up way, way too late but we were glad to get a chance to enjoy the night festivities!</span></div>
Juliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12184774965578175291noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3482602268725679827.post-32745458615690946682015-01-04T21:53:00.001-06:002015-01-04T22:00:52.868-06:00Disney Trip - Monday - day<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Monday we headed to Animal Kingdom in the morning and we got there right after they opened - we planned a little bit better because of the chaos of the morning before. Justin's step-mom didn't join us at Animal Kingdom because she wasn't feeling well, and a cool front had come through that made it a little chilly at the park this day.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hL-MJDYqtoU/VKoGe9oy0hI/AAAAAAAAIng/NzudCT4RMSM/s1600/P1050815.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hL-MJDYqtoU/VKoGe9oy0hI/AAAAAAAAIng/NzudCT4RMSM/s1600/P1050815.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I guess I took this picture, since I'm not in this picture</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br />We caught a few shows - one was a 3D attraction that was using characters from A Bug's Life and the other was a live action version of Finding Nemo. I think the shows were only kind of interesting to my kids - they would rather be riding rides!</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">As far as rides, there aren't a whole lot at Animal Kingdom - we rode the Triceratop Spin (just like the Flying Dumbo ride at Magic Kingdom) and we were the first to get to see Winnie the Pooh and Tigger (who the boys LOVED). </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-28EJhLG0j84/VKoFjWrqIeI/AAAAAAAAInI/OK-JVWVQDFU/s1600/20131216%2B-%2BPooh%2Band%2BTigger15.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-28EJhLG0j84/VKoFjWrqIeI/AAAAAAAAInI/OK-JVWVQDFU/s1600/20131216%2B-%2BPooh%2Band%2BTigger15.jpeg" height="400" width="265" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jeremy just loved every character he saw</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-d4qlEUh6nnM/VKoFgCpTo4I/AAAAAAAAInA/LB4rLg-YCE0/s1600/20131216%2B-%2BPooh%2Band%2BTigger19.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-d4qlEUh6nnM/VKoFgCpTo4I/AAAAAAAAInA/LB4rLg-YCE0/s1600/20131216%2B-%2BPooh%2Band%2BTigger19.jpeg" height="400" width="265" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Joel was a little more apprehensive</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-x7yC8umTs2k/VKoHTBFF0_I/AAAAAAAAIoI/VFS2evmMqFA/s1600/20131216%2B-%2BPooh%2Band%2BTigger20.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-x7yC8umTs2k/VKoHTBFF0_I/AAAAAAAAIoI/VFS2evmMqFA/s1600/20131216%2B-%2BPooh%2Band%2BTigger20.jpeg" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jeremy was all ready to run see Tigger</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My kids really don't understand posing for pictures</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Jacob was tall enough to ride the DINOSAURS ride so he went with Justin, my dad, and Justin's dad while my mom and I let the twins play on a playground area and then my mom and I rode while all the guys stayed at the playground.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-X1PpVhBeSWg/VKoGp5kyUWI/AAAAAAAAIno/gc6SVxCa5RY/s1600/P1050816.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-X1PpVhBeSWg/VKoGp5kyUWI/AAAAAAAAIno/gc6SVxCa5RY/s1600/P1050816.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Outside the DINOSAUR ride</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-pM8LPQVWXEU/VKoFNbcvnXI/AAAAAAAAImo/I6TQuf7DjPY/s1600/20131216%2B-%2BDinosaur01.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-pM8LPQVWXEU/VKoFNbcvnXI/AAAAAAAAImo/I6TQuf7DjPY/s1600/20131216%2B-%2BDinosaur01.jpeg" height="400" width="266" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The guys on the front row</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-130YiP4xp48/VKoFNdLINFI/AAAAAAAAIms/fL03OQtb-30/s1600/20131216%2B-%2BDinosaur02.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-130YiP4xp48/VKoFNdLINFI/AAAAAAAAIms/fL03OQtb-30/s1600/20131216%2B-%2BDinosaur02.jpeg" height="400" width="266" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ladies on back row</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;">After playing, riding a couple rides, seeing a couple shows and seeing Pooh and Tigger the twins really needed naps and everyone was hungry for lunch. We headed back to the resort and hung out for a couple hours.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Because the twins took later naps than usual, we were rushing back to Animal Kingdom to try go on the Safari ride. Animal Kingdom was closing kind of early and we didn't want to miss that but we also didn't really want to go back to Animal Kingdom another day just for that one ride.</span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-C98wHV22Zuw/VKoFxyGG0-I/AAAAAAAAInY/fJumFy-C2fM/s1600/20131216%2B-%2BTree%2Bof%2BLife01.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-C98wHV22Zuw/VKoFxyGG0-I/AAAAAAAAInY/fJumFy-C2fM/s1600/20131216%2B-%2BTree%2Bof%2BLife01.jpeg" height="400" width="265" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">We got stuck because of a parade in the park and we weren't sure if we would make it before the last safari run, but luckily we made it just in time. The sun was already starting to set and it appears that we left our camera (or the battery on it had died) so we only had a cellphone camera to get pictures on the safari so sadly our pictures didn't turn out all that great.</span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-83mpdDSr8f8/VKoHhthO00I/AAAAAAAAIoY/_IxBX8ZLcWo/s1600/safari5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-83mpdDSr8f8/VKoHhthO00I/AAAAAAAAIoY/_IxBX8ZLcWo/s1600/safari5.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Speaking of pictures - there are a number of things that I KNOW we took pictures of, or had the Disney photographers take pictures of, but we don't have now. We've checked our cellphones pics (which automatically upload to our Google accounts), the Memory Maker pictures and our personal camera pictures. Sadness that it seems like we lost some pictures somewhere along the way.</span></div>
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Juliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12184774965578175291noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3482602268725679827.post-70579435063194167792015-01-02T14:25:00.001-06:002015-01-02T14:37:22.042-06:00Disney Trip - Sunday<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">We had 6 full days in Orlando (got there on Saturday night and left the next Saturday morning). We had 4 day park hopper passes for Disney so we decided to do parks on Sunday and Monday, take a break from parks on Tuesday and then do parks again Wednesday and Thursday.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hxkNl_4Pg0g/VKb9HGS12FI/AAAAAAAAIig/yjzzWgYzpo0/s1600/P1050993.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hxkNl_4Pg0g/VKb9HGS12FI/AAAAAAAAIig/yjzzWgYzpo0/s1600/P1050993.JPG" height="400" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Christmas time at Disney</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;">We started at Magic Kingdom on Sunday. We knew that would probably be a favorite with the kids and that we would probably head back there a few more times.</span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Q4DQdePROVM/VKb9DlxwYfI/AAAAAAAAIiQ/ZoQUkFd1dEo/s1600/20131215%2B-%2BMain%2BStreet01.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Q4DQdePROVM/VKb9DlxwYfI/AAAAAAAAIiQ/ZoQUkFd1dEo/s1600/20131215%2B-%2BMain%2BStreet01.jpeg" height="400" width="265" /></a><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">The original plan was to get to the park right as it was opening, but due to everyone being tired from traveling the couple days before we got a little bit of a late start. We were already about a half hour past park opening time when everyone started making sandwiches and getting other lunch items together to take with us. Once we got there we were at least an hour after park opening time and we spent about half an hour or longer transferring our military discount passes for actual Disney passes, fingerprints, etc. We weren't in the park very long before the kids were already hungry for lunch.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">We took a little time out to eat sandwiches and ride another ride or two, but the lines were starting to get really long and we got word from Justin's brother (who lives in Orlando) that they were there to meet us. We met up with them and chatted for a bit, but our kids didn't want to just be standing around chatting - they were there to have fun! And the twins had reached their limit and really needed to take naps. My mom and dad volunteered to take the twins back to the resort and let them nap while Justin and I stayed with Jacob.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Jacob was just barely tall enough to ride Big Thunder Mountain Railroad but I think it is safe to say that he LOVED it! He also liked running into Woody and Jessie after taking a bathroom break while we waited to ride.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">We called it quits around 4pm or 5pm that day to head back to the resort and have some dinner.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The first day was a little rough since we started out later than planned, the park was the most crowded this day because it was a weekend day and we were all kind of feeling out what worked best. One thing was certain though - the kids really liked the rides and any characters they saw!</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GKkJMV58a_4/VKb9DxptejI/AAAAAAAAIiI/ZdsSF3ssxKs/s1600/20131215%2B-%2BAriel09.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GKkJMV58a_4/VKb9DxptejI/AAAAAAAAIiI/ZdsSF3ssxKs/s1600/20131215%2B-%2BAriel09.jpeg" height="400" width="265" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jacob was actually a little obsessed with Ariel's belly button and kept trying to touch it</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_I177-AqryY/VKb9ECqqBdI/AAAAAAAAIiM/KasUW8GHSfw/s1600/20131215%2B-%2BAriel12.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_I177-AqryY/VKb9ECqqBdI/AAAAAAAAIiM/KasUW8GHSfw/s1600/20131215%2B-%2BAriel12.jpeg" height="400" width="265" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The big Anderson boys wanted a picture with Ariel too</td></tr>
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Juliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12184774965578175291noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3482602268725679827.post-64988154151962354982015-01-01T23:47:00.002-06:002015-01-01T23:47:49.060-06:00Our new car<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">When Justin got into a little fender bender the day before we were leaving for our vacation, we were glad he wasn't driving our van since we needed to drive that to Florida! But it meant that he got into a little accident with the car that we'd only had for about 2 months. It was kind of crazy getting the car situated at a body shop and making sure everything of value had been removed from it the day before we left.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The damage didn't look too bad, but since the car was 14 years old we knew there was a pretty good chance that it might be declared a total loss. Sure enough, we got a message either our first night on the road or the next night letting us know the cost to fix the car was too high a percentage of the value of the car and therefore they wouldn't be paying to fix it. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">As far as losing a car, the timing was pretty good. We didn't need the car while we were out of town, we got a good settlement amount from the insurance company, and Justin had just gotten a bonus from work.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">When we got back from our Disney trip, we started some serious car shopping and on Christmas Eve we bought a new 2014 Honda CRV. It is the first time Justin has ever had a brand-new car (I bought my Civic brand new as my graduation present from BYU) but there really wasn't much selection on a used CRV with low miles and we got a better deal on a 2014 than a new 2013.</span> </div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1ie4Er7qTfA/VKYv7vLei7I/AAAAAAAAIhQ/c3IlQ3r0u34/s1600/20131224_140749.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1ie4Er7qTfA/VKYv7vLei7I/AAAAAAAAIhQ/c3IlQ3r0u34/s1600/20131224_140749.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">We're hoping that we won't be buying any more cars for several more years!</span></div>
Juliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12184774965578175291noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3482602268725679827.post-60246037328485370952015-01-01T23:15:00.000-06:002015-01-01T23:15:08.046-06:00Our first real family vacation<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">In December of 2013 we went on our first actual family vacation (you know, other than just vacation to visit family). We wanted to take advantage of the fact that kids under age 3 get into Disney for free and we took a trip to Orlando to go to Disney World before the twins 3rd birthday.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">We tried really hard to save money, but still have a good time. We drove instead of flying for a few reasons, but one big one was the cost. It is far less expensive to drive your family of 5 than to fly them and then have to rent a vehicle. We stayed at a resort using my parents' time share points to also save money and my parents' joined us to help us out with our kiddos. I prepared most of our meals at the resort to save money on dining expenses. And Justin's dad and step-mom also joined us and he was able to get us super discounted tickets to Disney since he used to be in the Air Force.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Our plan was to leave at 4am on Friday morning the 13th of December, but instead we considered ourselves lucky that we left by 6am (and that was after Justin and I only got maybe 4 hours of sleep). I gave a final on Thursday morning the 12th and had to have all of them graded, final grades calculated and turn in my end of semester paperwork before we could leave (so I had to have it in before the offices closed at 5pm on Thursday since they wouldn't open again until 8am on Friday). And Justin ended up getting in a fender bender on Thursday morning that also took time that we meant to be packing, etc. to deal with.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">We spent the 13th and 14th (Jacob's birthday) on the road driving there and then we drove back on the 21st and 22nd.. We ended up stopping at Chick-fil-a a lot since it is just about the only place that has a play area for the kids to go crazy and each day we got to our planned destination later than we would have liked. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I want to write more (with pictures) about actually being at Disney - hopefully that won't take another whole year for me to post!</span></div>
Juliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12184774965578175291noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3482602268725679827.post-309843271124349632014-06-17T14:43:00.002-05:002014-06-17T14:43:33.267-05:00Thanksgiving and Christmas part 1<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Because both my parents and Justin's dad's family all live in Texas we alternate Thanksgiving and Christmas with each family each year. In 2013 we spent Thanksgiving with my family and Christmas with Justin's dad and family. Whenever we spend Thanksgiving with my family, we typically celebrate Christmas as a family that same weekend.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">It seems that I didn't get any pictures of Thanksgiving Day, but I tried to get some pictures of the Christmas madness the next day. Basically kids were opening gifts all over the place and I kept snapping pictures. Here are some of the best ones.</span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-e203gqrFYB8/U6CYwXEffMI/AAAAAAAAGw8/YC8JKd_BCbw/s1600/P1050734.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-e203gqrFYB8/U6CYwXEffMI/AAAAAAAAGw8/YC8JKd_BCbw/s1600/P1050734.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My sister, Sherry, with her daughter, Abby</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-wcV_qE95AhA/U6CYvuslJVI/AAAAAAAAGw4/4yXxSx5H62I/s1600/P1050735.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-wcV_qE95AhA/U6CYvuslJVI/AAAAAAAAGw4/4yXxSx5H62I/s1600/P1050735.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Justin helping Joel open a present while Jacob looks on</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WmFCNnLYoC0/U6CYwerpxeI/AAAAAAAAGxA/G7adf7zRYr0/s1600/P1050738.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WmFCNnLYoC0/U6CYwerpxeI/AAAAAAAAGxA/G7adf7zRYr0/s1600/P1050738.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The most people I got in one picture starting on the left: Joel behind Grant, Grandpa holding Fiona, Kelly, Rorie and Rick</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-nH8_KwGHRrw/U6CY1L7zn6I/AAAAAAAAGxQ/jMvJxIbOmX4/s1600/P1050760.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-nH8_KwGHRrw/U6CY1L7zn6I/AAAAAAAAGxQ/jMvJxIbOmX4/s1600/P1050760.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Aunt Sherry helping Jeremy</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-vuhsRUYioPI/U6CY3ZsXPuI/AAAAAAAAGxc/ngAd7GXu47g/s1600/P1050778.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-vuhsRUYioPI/U6CY3ZsXPuI/AAAAAAAAGxc/ngAd7GXu47g/s1600/P1050778.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Grant and Abby</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wtYRz2erX5Y/U6CY3nWdsCI/AAAAAAAAGxY/aML--NYWj_Y/s1600/P1050783.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wtYRz2erX5Y/U6CY3nWdsCI/AAAAAAAAGxY/aML--NYWj_Y/s1600/P1050783.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Joel and Jacob checking out one of the gifts for all 3 boys (Jacob may have insisted on wearing that hat the rest of the time opening presents once he opened it)</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-nkc-POifRSo/U6CY5q9gs7I/AAAAAAAAGxo/8E-5t2SjB6E/s1600/P1050793.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-nkc-POifRSo/U6CY5q9gs7I/AAAAAAAAGxo/8E-5t2SjB6E/s1600/P1050793.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jacob, Joel and Aunt Sherry</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Pd7t9xfziv8/U6CY61UHdUI/AAAAAAAAGxs/xFq5JNZ4a0M/s1600/P1050796.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Pd7t9xfziv8/U6CY61UHdUI/AAAAAAAAGxs/xFq5JNZ4a0M/s1600/P1050796.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rorie, Rick and Grant</td></tr>
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<br />Juliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12184774965578175291noreply@blogger.com0