It Takes A Family To Raise Our Family!: 2013

The first 2 weeks of June are consumed with dance for Taylor. She started out with a dance camp intensive for STARS so they can refine and prepare for their time in Disneyland. 4 days, 3 hours a day of dancing. They worked on and perfected and added their dances. They did 2 dress rehearsals including the hair and make-up to be used. They ended their hardwork with a pizza/pool party at one of the Assistant teacher's homes and finalized the touches for one of the T-Shirts we are supposed to wear during the week in Disneyland.

During this time, Tony and I got a jump start on our packing. We made our list, checked it twice and he packed the boys and I packed the girls. As much as color coordinating shirts are fun and helpful, it also poses a challenge for us girls...what shorts will we wear with these shirts? In the end, we arrived safely with everything needed brought with us. There was a snafu with one of the t-shirts because I did not pay close enough attention to detail and what I was doing and added rhinestones to the wrong shirt. Needless to say, I was walking through Wal-Mart at 10:30pm last night to purchase another t-shirt and more jewels. But in the end, after staying up until about 1:30am Saturday, all of the girl's shirts for the specific day we are to wear them are complete!

We woke up and boarded our plane. It was very uneventful and given the previous night I had, was a VERY good thing. Then we flew into LAX, got our rental car and headed to Randy's Donuts to get breakfast. Randy's Donuts is the place with the huge Donut on the top of the building. This place was BUSY! 5 deep in the walk up line and a continuous line of cars in both drive-thru windows. The donuts are cheap and VERY delicious! I can see why people frequent them and wait for that "yummy goodness"! Then we drove up to Anaheim, Ca. We were so early that we couldn't check into our hotel yet so we parked the car and walked into Downtown Disney. Tony and I did make a stop at the Disney ticket booth so we could upgrade our passes to Premier passes which allows us entrance into both California and Florida Disney Theme Parks. Now we have our passes to park hop and visit both Anaheim and Orlando until the beginning of June 2014. After all of that was taken care of, we walked into Downtown Disney and browsed from end to end. By that time we were able to check into our hotel and catch about a 40 minute nap. For dinner we went to Lisa's family's house where the kids got to run around and play at the park with their cousin. Then it was to Sprouts to purchase food/snack items for part of the week and back for showers and bed.

Happy Summer Everyone!

We are currently 1 week into the kid's Summer Break from School. Thus far, Thing 1 has had tennis camp. Thing 2 has had a 2 day golf tournament and the girls have done nothing but veg out. Next week will be a very busy week for Thing 3. She'll be doing an Art Camp, Dance Camp and then we are off to Disneyland for a week!!!!

After we come back, we will be gearing up for back to school/uniform and school supply shopping. The kids will be at the same school again. Yay! One dropoff and one pickup for us. School starts on August 1. I think the remainder of summer will fly by! We may even have Thing 4 starting school in July. She turns 3 in August and I want her potty trained. The older kids got potty trained at school but she is my most stubborn one so she'll either figure it out in a short period of time or she'll prolong the event and take the most amount of time.

This post contains a lot of updates and pictures from the recent year. I think last year, I was posting about our trip to Walt Disney World and soon I'll be posting about our trip to Disneyland. I definitely have to stay better on this blog posting thing again! Hahahah, maybe I should set a calendar event with reminders so I know to make an update. I do that for the rest of our schedules, I may have to do this for the blog. But as always you can always follow us at Lisa's Facebook Page.

AUGUST

First Day of school for the older kids and Emelia turns 2 years old. It's crazy to believe how quickly time has passed for us. I guess that's what you get when you have a very active family life.

Anthony 11 Years Old, 6th Grade, Basis Oro Valley

Jackson, 8 Years Old, 3rd Grade, Legacy Traditional School

Taylor, 6 Years Old, 1st Grade, Legacy Traditional School

Emelia, 2 Years Old

OCTOBER

Halloween! Aunt Rosie and Nana worked on costumes for the kids. Initially we were all going to dress up as a character from Star Wars. But Tony and I didn't prepare far enough in advance. So we ended up with a lady bug, Princess Lea, Darth Vader and the Grim Reaper. 2 out of 6 is pretty good in my book. :)

NOVEMBER

Lisa's Grandmother turned 90. Lisa got another year older and our kids enjoyed a nice Thanksgiving with Nana and Papa and Papa's side of the family. We definitely had a lot to be Thankful for this year!

DECEMBER

Due to Winter Break, we always have a shortened December. At least it seems to be the case. We definitely had beautiful weather. Many sunny days where we could still wear short sleeves and shorts. You can't beat that at all. We took off on vacation and spent Christmas at the beach in Oxnard, California. We played in the sand and surf and we even road the North Pole Express in Filmore, California. Everyone had a great time! Lisa was in the midst of trying to train for her Disney Tinkerbell Half Marathon in Disneyland while injured. Yes, she is CRAZY!!!!

JANUARY

Disney Tinkerbell Half Marathon Weekend! Despite tendonitis in her left ankle and a tear to her FHL, Lisa completed her 2nd Half Marathon. She runs for the "bling." We took the kids to Disneyland and they had a blast! Tony ran the Family 5K portion and the race route took him through both California Adventure and Disneyland. It's okay that both of the crazy adults in the family woke up at 4am to run...They had a blast and came back with some great memories and BLING!

Hanging out and before the park opened. In the future we have to find out the fine print on E-Tickets. The tickets were printed with the option for an Extra Early Magic Hour to either park. What the ticket didn't state was that you had to be a resort guest in order to take advantage of the offer. This made several families very upset. Oh well, we decided that it was a good opportunity to sit, relax and have a cup of of hot cocoa.

Juice Anyone?

My Handsome Boys!

My Tinkerbell Medal. This girl received her wings!

FEBRUARY

Tucson Got SNOW! The second time since we moved back to Tucson from Colorado Springs, CO., Tucson got hit with snow. The kids had fun playing in the snow after they got out of school. It didn't last very long but it was fun while it lasted!

MARCH

We had some amazing events occur in March. Anthony switched schools to finish out 6th Grade, Jackson earned his Black Belt in Tae Kwon Do and Taylor Turned 7 years old. This month, it's all about bragging on the "Middles." Being middle children they sometimes get lost in the shuffle and have to quietly adapt to the needs of the first born and the youngest. They never cease to amaze me. They have beautiful spirits and are a joy to have around. They have their ups and downs but they play really well together and they take care of the needs of others very well!

APRIL

April was an emotionally tough month for Tony's family. Heaven gained an angel with the passing of his Grandmother. She made it through Easter and a few days later was called to another place. She will be missed. I'm very glad that the kids got to have many years with her and each one have a great memory of their "Granny." It was great to reconnect/connect with extended family despite the circumstances of our gathering.

MAY

May marked the end of the school year, Anthony turned 12, Tony got another year older, Jackson participated in his school's talent show Taylor's dance recitals. (More bragging on the Middles) Taylor performed in 2 recitals this month. She was a bunny leader in the dance school's version of Cinderella. The following night she danced her heart out in 6 dances..."What A Feeling", "Girls Just Want To Have Fun", "I'm So Excited", "The Lazy Song", "Disturbia", "Good Feeling." Now we prep for another Disneyland trip in June where she will dance some of those dances again with her STARS group. Taylor is not the best dancer and she definitely doesn't have the best technique but she is the shortest and youngest one in her dance group. She tries really hard to keep up with the older girls and has a blast dancing and hanging out with them in class, that's all I can ask from her right now.