I Survived The Sleepover of '08!

I'm thinking about having a T-shirt made with that very slogan.... We had 10 girls, yes I said 10, at our house from 6:00 Friday night to 10:00 Saturday morning. Here's how it went: Everyone run and scream, sit and eat pizza, run and scream, sit still just long enough to take a picture, sit and eat ice cream, run and scream until I MADE them lay down and be quiet at 11:45. Saturday: Everyone get up at 7 and run and scream, sit and eat donuts, run and scream until it was time to go home. I didn't do a whole lot, but I was exhausted! Holland thought it was the best thing ever, and that's all that really matters. I'm just glad we have 361 days until we have to do that again.

Happy Birthday, Holland!!

Let's take a stroll down memory lane, shall we? It was on this day, 9 years ago, that my mom, Scott, and I waited anxiously for this little miracle to take her first breath. There were a few tense moments, but then came a collective sigh of relief when we heard that very first cry. What a blessed day that was. It was a day that already had special meaning because it had been my Grandma Skelton's birthday. Even though she never had a chance to meet Holland, her spirit lives on in her. She's been gone for quite a while now, but every January 24th is a day of remembrance and reflection for me. Even though they are separated by 3 generations, Mamaw Skelton and Holland are forever connected by this day. To God, I am forever grateful for that.

Holland - You are pure sunshine and joy. How lucky am I that out of all of the millions of people in the world, God chose to give you to me. I'm the first one that gets to see your bright and shining face every morning and the last one to hear your sweet voice say, "I love you" each night. You are wonderfully made. God took all that is right and pure and lovely in this world and made you. I don't let a single day pass without telling Him "Thank you" for the gift of your life. The very thought of you makes me smile, and to be with you is true happiness. I cherish all of the memories from the past 9 years and look forward with excitement to the ones that are yet to be made. I love you.

All good things must come to an end....

No, we didn't just take the braids out. They came out last Monday night, but I'm just now getting around to posting the picture. Scott thought I should've left them in longer for the amount of money we had to pay for them, but you can only make vacation last for so long. I think it took me as long to get them out as it took the Jamaican lady to put them in! They felt just like poodles after I was done.

Final Highlights

Our most favorite crew members - the waiters, Non and Oka!! Very nice and very hard to understand!
The girls couldn't wait to get back to our room at night to see what new animal would be there on the bed.
The girls most favorite part of the entire trip!

I really miss that ship....

Scott's favorite part of the ship - the jumbotron above the pool. There's nothing like cruising down the ocean in a lounge chair watching the big game.
The only mishap of the entire week! The girls were playing follow the leader around the pool and Payton slipped and fell in with her clothes on! I didn't see it happen because there were chairs in front of me. I just looked up and saw Holland pointing and laughing (not trying to help her sister) and then saw Payton get out of the pool drenched, but happy. A lady from the other side actually came over to us and said that if we'd have gotten the whole thing on video, we would've no doubt won the grand prize on America's Funniest Videos. Poor Paty. She sure was a good sport about it, though!
This is on formal night. Nice.
Boy, did we enjoy the food!!
They had a pirate dance party one night out by the pool, and then shot fireworks right from the deck! It was fantastic! Disney sure does know how to have a good time!!

The best place to be in January....

Payton caught a starfish on the beach in St. Maarten!
Scott and the girls in front of the ship they used in the "Pirates of the Carribean".
Enjoying the 85 degree weather in St. Maarten...

The girls played in the sand for 3 whole hours without whining or complaining even once!
Morning in St. Thomas. The water was the most beautiful shade of blue that I've ever seen.
Ahhhhh, Serenity Bay. This is the adults only beach on the Disney island, Castaway Cay. We dropped the girls off at the kids program and sat on this beach for hours. After being on a ship with 1,000 kids (no joke - that was the rough estimate) this part of the trip was heavenly!

This is the aquarium we went to in St. Thomas. We went on a semi-submarine tour and saw some fish and coral in their natural habitat. The girls really enjoyed it, but Scott and I agreed that it probably wasn't worth the $72 in taxi rides that it took to get us over there and back. We'll save the money next time and just snorkel on the beach.

MIC-KEY-MOUSE & Friends

One of the main attractions on the Disney cruise is all of the characters. They list the time and place where each one will be, and you go stand in line to have your picture made with them and get their autograph. I'm just glad that we decided to take the girls on a Disney cruise when we did because I think they'd be too old (or think they were too old) for some of it in the next couple of years. We were by the pool one day and I saw that Mickey was going to be out soon. I asked Holland if she wanted to go down and get her picture with him and she said, "Nah, they're all phonies". Later in the week she said, "I wonder if they (the people in the costume) even smile in there. I bet they don't". But, I'd have to say that the characters were probably the only part of the whole thing that was more for younger kids. The stage shows were incredible! They said they were voted #1 in the whole cruise industry for entertainment, and I can definitely see why.

Back to Life, Back to Reality

We're back, and we're spoiled. When we got home last night I got into bed and waited for it to gently rock from side to side and put me to sleep in less than 30 seconds. Nothing. This morning I got up and thought about putting on my swimsuit and going out to lay by the pool, but when I looked outside and saw everything covered with frost, I decided against it. Then I went and sat at the kitchen table waiting for someone with a thick foreign accent to bring me a menu with all 4 courses listed. Nope. So, I went back to the bedroom expecting my bed to be made with chocolates and an elephant made out of towels smiling back at me. In my dreams. Well, we had a great vacation!! It was warm and relaxing - just what we were hoping for! I have to go today and print out all of our pictures, but I scanned a few we had made on the ship. There will be more vacation posts this week as I get time :)

"I can see"!!

What an inspiration Brian Regan is. After watching his stand-up routine 3 times this weekend, we decided that he's right - seeing clearly should be at the top of everyone's priority list. (That'll be really funny to half the people reading this and make no sense whatsoever to the other half...) To be serious now, Payton failed the vision screening at school, so I took both the girls to the eye doctor yesterday for exams. The good news was that Holland's vision in her left eye has improved so significantly that the doctor changed her prescription to a thinner lens. No more coke-bottle! We all did a little chuckle when he made the comment that he could tell she's been wearing her glasses all the time. We all know better than that. Anyway, the bad news was that Payton is near-sighted. She picked out some really cool red Bratz frames for her new glasses, but they won't be ready until we get back from vacation. Dr. Brandon said he hated the thought of her going on this awesome trip and not being able to see, so he talked me into getting her a temporary pair that they were able to do right there in his office. And here she is - the new Paty! How cute is she??

The girls got their own camera for Christmas......

Enough said.