So much to tell...

Okay this post is a million miles long, so I'm sorry up front, but since I've been trying to catch up on my life since vacation, I sort of forgot that you might be interested in my life happenings as well! Okay so maybe you haven't been dwelling on it, but I like to think you might be :)

So first and foremost, Maicey is finally giving up her Binky. I use the words "giving up" loosely because it's really more like we're ripping it away from her. I am not joking you, the girl acts like it's crack cocaine. Since the day she was born she has always felt the need to have it, and who was I to tell the princess no??? But now that she's able to talk with it still in her mouth, sneeze without loosing it, and find it while still sleeping in her mass of covers in bed at 2 A.M. we've decided it is time to give it a rest. So we're now going through withdrawls, and man are they ugly. We still give it to her while she sleeps (for selfish reasons like I don't feel the need to be up all night!), and in the car (again for selfish reasons like I don't want her screaming in my ear as we ride down the street), but other then that it's gone. So when it's not one of those designated times, she stands at the bowl that we've always kept the binks and she SCREAMS "BBBBBB". Continually. For hours. No joke. When I told my mother about this I mentioned that I thought she was stubborn (can't imagine where that comes from), and Mom said, "no honey, she's just persistant, and you'll love that about her when she's older". Wow I hope you're right, Mom.

Next order of business; seriously who said it was okay for it to rain on 4th of July?!?!? How am I supposed to do my normal 4th of July festivities in the pouring rain? Every year we go to the Bettendorf Parade (that's where Rob almost got arrested last year for having a water fight that got a bit out of hand... oops), and then to Mom and Dad's for a serious day of pool fun, then it's off to the fireworks for dinner and drinks and games with friends. Well since 2009 didn't want to cooperate, we instead went to Golden Corale for breakfast (the children wanted to make their own parade around the restaurant... hilarious), then we still went to Mom and Dad's and made the men swim with the children since it was literally 65 degrees outside and pouring cold rain. Then it did clear off a bit for fireworks, but we were all watching them in sweatshirts and blankets... Only in Iowa!

Next: How is it possible that my body that once worked so beautifully is now betraying me so badly? I'm in the middle of a 60 hour work week. It's called choreography week where we do all of our new dances for next season, and it's one of my favorite times in the studio because there's a new energy and it's so fun to see it all, but I'm not kidding, I couldn't even stand up this morning without cringing, and for anyone not keeping track, it's only Wednesday!

Lastly, I thought I would include some pictures from our vacation in today's post since I finally just got around to getting them off of my camera! These are just a few of the 450 I took on vacation... okay so I'm I bit over the top when it comes to preserving memories, so sue me :)


This is Sam and Emma on the train at Magic Kingdom... could they be any cuter, seriously?!?!

Emma's mom, Jenny and I are best friends... She was my dance teacher when I was a kid and we've stayed close ever since. She teaches at the studio now so we see each other or talk, literally daily. We loved being in Disney so much we're going back, I'm not kidding. We're going in December before Christmas and we are SO STINKING EXCITED!!! I should mention though that this is not unusual for Jenny's family... Miss Emma who is 6 years old has been to Disney 8 times, I'm not even exagerating this number people... she has a serious obsession with the mouse.

The two of them are like siblings, they get along perfectly one minute and the next they're yelling and screaming at each other... our joke is that they'll be married someday :)

Here's Miss Maicey being her sassy little self... She would leave these glasses on for literally 5 seconds and they'd she'd either scream or rip them off her face and throw them on the floor.

Here's the kids, Kaitlyn, Maicey, Aiden, Sam, and Emma in "jail" at the Buzz Lightyear ride.

They were all so happy to be in there, we SERIOUSLY considered leaving them in there for awhile :)

Here's my kids with Mickey... Maicey was a little scared at first and if Rob put her down, FORGET it, she was done.

We stood in line at Epcot for like 25 minutes and got to meet Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Goofy, and Donald... and it was air conditioned, who can go wrong there? Whoever invented that idea was brilliant.

This is at Aunt Sue and Uncle Paul's condo in Palm Coast. The kids were OBSESSED with the bed in this room! It was really fun to jump on apparently.

We just got to spend time with family and hang out in "PC" as we all call it. It was wonderful :)

Now you've all virtually been on vacation with us! Have a happy day and remember to slow down a little and just take a breath...