Luggage Overload!

Oh my! I have spent most of this week packing for our upcoming vacation and it has been a test of both my organizational skills and my patience! The luggage for this upcoming week is insane. Let me explain.

The first leg of our trip will be to NASA's Space Center. We will have two days before we get on the cruise boat, so here is the bag for those two days. PJ's for each kid, two changes of clothes, mom and dad's clothes. I think we did a great job getting it all in this one bag!

Next, we will board the boat but each child and adult has to carry a bag on that contains the items they may need on board that first day. This is due to the fact your luggage does not arrive to your stateroom until late evening. So here we have a packed Trunki for each of the kids containing swimsuits, coverups, sunglasses, change of clothes (for dinner) and pj's (just in case it's really late when the luggage arrives).

On to mom's new luggage. I am loving my new luggage - Brett bought this for me and it's just my style. How can you go wrong with vintage Pan Am luggage in baby blue? The large suitcase contains all of the kids clothing for the cruise, the smaller one has mine and then the carry bag has all my essentials for day one on the boat. And of course it also has magazines, make-up, hair products, sunscreen, kids activity books......

And finally we have Brett's new Patagonia luggage. The blue bag is his carry on and then this awesome duffle that rolls has his clothes and the kids pirate costumes because there is a pirate party on board the ship!

And the final bag - the best of all, the SNACK BAG! I love this bag, I purchased it in Germany and it is so stylish and fun.

The Luck of the Irish....

Or in this case, the luck of the kids who were standing close to Eli's mom (as they call me) when I showed up to AH's after school soccer program on St. Patty's Day. I could not resist picking up these cute and tasty Krispy Kreme donuts as an after school treat. We only had six but the kids were thoughtful enough to share them with their friends. Here are some of my favorite pics of them enjoying their sweet treats!

Eli was excited to call his friends over to share.

Julianna is so cute and sassy - I imagine this is what Conor will be like in a few years.

Chapel and her touch of green headband. She would not get out of the bed until she put on her headband for fear the leprechaun would pinch her.

Nana and Owen. I just love both of these people. Nana is so very good to us and always helps me manage my big brood at karate, soccer and swim! Thanks goodness we have the same after school activities as our friends Mallory and Owen.

Happy 60th Papa Dan Dan

Happy Birthday to my sweet dad who turned 60 today. Me and my kiddos love some Papa Dan Dan time! For the past year, he has helped me immensely from everything like housework to carpool to dinners. We are truly blessed to have him in our lives. My kids especially love all the stories and time he shares with them. As you can tell from the picture below, there is never a dull moment when Papa is around!

For the Heart

Ashley Hall held its annual Jump Rope For Heart Fundraiser and I was so proud of my Chapel for raising $135 and for participating. The event was held in the gym, music blaring and girls from 1st grade to 6th grade divided into teams of 5. Each person jumped rope in 2 minute intervals before passing the rope to the next person. When the girls were not jumping, there was a huge dance party on the gym floor.

Chapel during one of her many 2 minute intervals. The girls jumped for one whole hour!

Working out the dance moves in between intervals.

Hanging At the Mall

I don't go the mall very often. Actually, I hardly go at all. But on Saturday when mom was here, we left the kids with Brett and my dad and had a little girl's night. It was so much fun. We were trying to remember the last time we had gone shopping together and it has been, believe it or not, YEARS. On my shopping list were flip flops for our upcoming cruise. I found some really cute ones for the kids but without them there had to guess at the sizes. Everyone's foot must have grown over the winter because Jude's and Chapel's were too little. I decided to return them yesterday and go up a size. Well, this trip, I had Conor and Jude with me. And were they ever excited to go to the mall. Probably because the last time we went, this is what we did:

Of course, they remembered and insisted we ride the train again. Short on time, I convinced them we should ride the little rides right in front of the store we needed to go to. It does not take much to make these two happy. They loved the little rides and $5 later I was dragging them off kicking and screaming. Ah....shopping!

Barbie and Ken

Today, I am excited to introduce you to my first guest blogger, Miss Chapel Barker. This weekend we held a much anticipated wedding for Barbie and Ken. We have been planning it for weeks. It turned out great and we had a wonderful audience. GiGi was the wedding photographer, Eli was the caterer, Papa Dan Dan officiated, Conor and Jude (with some help from Brett) provided musical entertainment. Chapel and I set up the wedding scene, dressed the guests, and took care of the rest.

Chapel, I turn it over to you.

Do you remember when you got married? And played with your Barbie dolls?

A man and wife standing together. The man in pink is the preacher.

You may kiss the bride. They are finally married.

They ride to the reception on a beautiful horse where Chef has set up a beautiful reception.

Delicious foods like bananas and carrots and of course, cake!

There were plenty of people there.

Music is the best part about it.

They smoothly make their way to the dance floor.

She's a Star!

I always knew Chapel embraced that "it" quality. That star quality. If you have read my blog you know Chapel has a big place in her heart for sea turtles - and it all started with her study of them in Kindergarten. Last year, parents were asked by Planet Bonehead to sign a release that their child could appear in an educational video and guess what?? She made the cut! She is featured as one of the Ashley Hall Kindergarten girls at the Sea Turtle Hospital, explaining cool facts about turtle knowledge.

The much anticipated video was released today! Planet Bonehead’s video, Saving Sea Turtles discusses the interconnectedness of life on Earth and the importance of sea turtles to the ocean food web. Below is the website, just click on the link and you will see my movie star toward the end!

http://www.planetbonehead.com/dvd/savingtheseaturtles