MARKS FAMILY REUNION

The Marks family reunion was a blast!

The main entertainment for the kids was the huge blow up water slide.

 There was Crepe Maker, Cold Stone, a cotton candy and a popcorn machine. 

I didn't want to leave.

All the kids also ended up in the pool.

 I'll be honest, I lost track of what my kid ate, and no, I can't tell you how much cotton candy she had.

 Brings new meaning to Mom-Mom's demand to "give me some sugar!"

 Thank you so much to Steve, for letting us invade his lovely home, thank you to whomever set it up, and thank you for all who came cause' it was fun!

There were a thousand and one cameras that were used to take the group picture, but mine wasn't one of them. So, whenever that gets e-mailed around, I will share!

MOVIE VIOLENCE

Joey LOVES The Avengers ... and she's never even seen the movie. 
She has since bits of 70's style cartoons, and she's seen all the stuff surrounding this movie and has fallen in love with super heroes. Especially girl super heroes. Ask her who she wants to be, and most of the time her answer is Black Widow. Or Iron Girl (She made that one up herself.)


So this led Mark and I to have to make the decision of when she was old enough for that level of movie violence. 


Where do you draw the line? 
Bambi's mother being shot off screen?
Scar throwing Mufasa off a cliff? (You get to see that one.)


Joey is a very observant, empathic, and smart 3 1/2 year old. 
And, more importantly, I argued that super hero movies make the perfect introduction to movie violence becuase there is a clear good and evil, just like in Disney movies. There is a bad man who must be stopped and the good guy only uses violence to stop the bad man from hurting more people. 
It's not like we are showing her Rocky, for which there is absolutely no excuse. 
Plus, they are more obviously pretend. Not real. 


So Mark ok'd the The Avengers. (But, being the movie geeks that we are, we didn't just take her to see it.) She has to understand the backstory. So we started with Iron Man and are working are way through the movies that lead into The Avengers. We are watching them on DVD, at home, and with lots of pausing for explanation and discussion about what she is seeing. 


I love getting a glimpse into her brilliant little mind, by hearing the questions she asks. I know there is a cliche about little children and their never ending questions. But honestly, I enjoy the philosophical debate. (Where is heaven, and why is the sky blue, after all?) And besides Chris, very few people will have  a conversation with me about whether you call it Coke, Soda or Pop... for example. 


I, like my father, basically had children so I would have someone to play with. 

EXPIRATION DATE

Now I KNOW I'm getting close.


No, I didn't just wake up and realize that I'm almost 35 weeks pregnant. 
What's the new big give away?


I am now buying perishable goods at the supermarket with expiration dates past my due date.
I will have a new baby before I throw the hummus in my fridge away. 
I could possibly eat that yogurt after breastfeeding.


That really hit me.
The end is near!

CAR TALK WITH JOEY

Joey's formal car education has begun.


She questioned Sugey's cadillac emblem the other weekend. She now knows what and where the license plate is, and can locate the emblem, above the license plate, on most vehicles. 


She noticed "Jesus's cross" (her words) on Daddy's truck. I explained that Daddy's truck is a CHEVY, and Chevys are allowed to have Jesus's cross as their emblem because they are the best and special. 


I explained that Mommy's Camaro is a Chevy, Daddy's truck is a Chevy, Grandpa likes Chevys best and that Mommy was a Chevy girl! She said she wanted to be a Chevy girl too!
Makes a Momma proud!


Our new game while driving is pointing out all the emblems and learning what they stand for. (Mommy is VERY HEAVILY SKEWING things with MY OPINION.) 


I don't mind her deciding her own religious beliefs when she gets older... but car preferences are sacred!

Pledge Of Allegiance

STARTING TO FEEL PREGNANT

I'm 34 weeks today.
You know, I'm starting to feel pregnant!
What I mean is, I'm getting to big to do all the things I usually do.
Friends yell at me when they see me bending over or flopping down on the floor to sit crossed leg like it's nothing. Apparently its not fair that I can do that at 8 1/2 months pregnant. I still have my Craven energy too. But, you know how I've always only had 2 modes, on and off? Well, when I get to off, it is REALLY OFF now! And I'm a different person on the weekends then weekdays. I'm definitely more pregnant on the weekends.
I still need more time to get ready for baby, but it would be really cool if I could stop getting bigger now. I'm not trying to be vain, it's just that I'm starting to get in the way of myself.

FT. WILDERNESS CAMPGROUND

Both Mark's & my parent's LOVE Ft. Wilderness!

It's kinda like the 5th Disney park to us more then a place to stay.

 When staying in a motorhome, we like to stay in a premium site, which puts you closer to a "comfort station" (bathrooms/showers). Our last spot, in the 1400 loop, is also close to the meadow swimmin' hole and the Chip N Dale campfire and movie. The kids get A LOT of quality time with Chip N Dale. They sing songs, do games, roast marshmallows and then Chip N Dale leave and the movie (different one every night) begins.

Grandpa is an expert marshmallow roaster.

 Patience is the key. Keep it away from the flame, keep it turning, and keep going. He produces golden melted goodness without any char, every time!

 WHich he then gives to his princesses to eat!

GOD BLESS AUNT AYM & CHIA SEEDS

God bless Aunt Aym for suggesting CHIA SEEDS for Joey's constipation issue!

Joey has been constipated since birth. (Mark was too, when he was little.) 

Don't get me wrong, Joey eats fabulously! Granted, like her father, she has a smaller appetite, but she  eats plenty of vegetables, as her favorite foods are anything that can be dipped in Ranch Dressing. Besides eating healthy, we mix prune juice in her morning juice and give her Activia yogurt. All those added together were getting her to the point where she would go once ever other day on her own. (Although we still, occasionally, would have to give her a glycerin suppository.) 

Now that we have started sprinkling Chia seeds in her yogurt, and cereal, and oatmeal... She is going once or twice A DAY! And good consistency too!

And though she has been potty trained for a long while, she would occasionally have accidents basically because she was full of shit and the pressure was too much and sometimes she would have to go (1 or 2) RIGHT NOW! Now that she isn't full of shit, there's no rush. She has a better sense and feel of her body, and it's just not a big deal. She doesn't even tell us if she only has to go pee, she just does what she needs to do and goes back to playing and if we didn't hear the toilet flush and her washing her hands we wouldn't have known she'd gone!

Fiber, Protein and Omega 3. 

This is a super food that has changed our lives at this household, and I just wanted to share! Thanks again Aunt Aym!

EPCOT FLOWER & GARDEN FESTIVAL

I have a great family pic in front of the EPCOT ball when I was pregnant with Joey. 

That is going in a side-by-side picture frame!

There were a couple of different tot lots for Joey to play on, just like the last time we did the Flower Festival. I guess that is a constant thing.

 There were also some of the same Topiaries.

  But some adorable new ones too! 

Grandparents really do get so silly if you give them the chance.

 Breaking it down! (Honestly, I question her natural rhythm.) 

 Gotta Love Donald!

RIDES & MORE RIDES

Joey was tall enough for the Speedway!

Her first time.

 Daddy & Joey raced Grandma & Grandpa.

 (You'll get different answers to the question of who won, depending on who you ask.)

 Joey & I also got to ride on the new Dumbo! (The same old Dumbo, but in it's new place.)

 What we weren't able to get a picture of was Joey's 1st time on Goofy's Barnstormer!

She is such a big girl!

 Shouldn't the tall guy ride the short horse and the short guy ride the tall horse?

You know, to even things out?

 She just loves the plain old carousel. 

I also sucked it up, as a parent, and took her on the Whinney the Pooh ride, even though I hate him and all his peeps, because she wanted to go. 

OLD MCDONALD

Joey & I were sitting in the van waiting for Mark to make a quick run into Publix.
I wasn't really paying attention as Joey began to sing Old McDonald had a farm.
That is, until she sang:


"And a boogie here, and a boogie there. Here a boogie, there a boogie..."


I turned around to find her diggin' for gold, and singing about it!

Pledge of Allegiance at America, EPCOT

THE MOST MAGICAL PLACE ON EARTH

We're BACK!

Well, you see, what had happen was...

When we went to buy a 1 day admission in April, the cost was about the same as the Florida 3 dayWILD pass (not the same thing as a Florida 4 day play) so we bought that instead. (I'm usually the royal sense of the word "WE" here. Thanks Grandma & Grandpa!)

 But the WILD pass expires 5/25, so we went back to use up our other days Mother's day weekend.

(For those of you counting along at home, that is 3 times this current baby has been to Disney IN UTERO!!)

 Joey's favorite thing about Magic Kingdom isn't a ride, it's meeting the characters. 

 WARNING!! They have changed the FASTPASS rules! They no longer except them PAST the time window. Almost had a problem but I was firm and they made an exception. (They made this change in March.)

 It's great that you can FASTPASS Mickey and the Princesses. 

 This new indoor meet and greet format, I think, allows for a little more time with your princess.

 Joey had a routine down. Hug, talk, sign book, picture by myself, now Mommy & Daddy can join me.

 She told Rose that she was her favorite princess.

ANIMAL KINGDOM

We love to mix work and play!

We had to go to Daytona for the school food convention the last week of April. Well don't you know that is Disney is kinda-sorta on the way to Daytona (as a Dumbo crow flies.)

 So we spent 2 nights at Ft. Wilderness and a day in Animal Kingdom.

 Animal Kingdom really is a great place for meeting characters. 

 They are all in one spot, Camp Minnie Mickey, and the wait times usually aren't long.

 Yes, that is Chris throwing up Mickey ears on Donald Duck.

Donald then threw him out of the picture, then made him come back and bow down to him. 

Which Chris did.

 Joey LOVES Chip & Dale. 

They are her favorite. She is more animated for them then any other character.

 She's such a big girl now, she doesn't need the mom & dad in the picture anymore. 

She runs up, gives em' a hug, gets her book signed, turns around and says cheese!

 Waiting for the parade to start. 

Very interactive, loved it!

  Grandpa is a sucker for shoulder rides.

Grandpa is also the only man I know that can pull off camp pants without looking like a redneck.

 Joey walked ALL of Animal Kingdom that day WITHOUT a stroller!

A fun day!

RIDE FOR KIDS 2012

The Craven- Meyers volunteer team for 2012 consisted of:

Chris, Terry, Andy, Me, Dad, Mark, Rick, Kaki & Susie.

We made up 3 registration teams, Kaki did checks and Andy and his sister, Susie were parking lot greeters. We cover it all!

 As Joey would say, that's a lot a much bikes!

 But we always remember to have fun!