Speed Blogging: Disney Day 7, April, and May.....

Okay.  I'm tired of catching up.  Cause I'm AT THE BEACH and I THINK I just took some incredible beach pictures. (Haven't had a chance to actually LOOK at them, but I just have a feeling they are really good....)  However,  I'm a little bit OCD (Joe would say A LOT, but whatever),  so I've GOT to continue with the timeline - in order - before I post those pictures.  So, here's the Reader's Digest version of the end of Disney, April, and May....... so we can MOVE ON ALREADY and be all caught up.

DISNEY:  DAY 7:  BACK TO MAGIC KINGDOM

Our final day at Disney was back at the Magic Kingdom.  We were one of the first ones at the park and put in a FULL DAY.  Around 5:00, we headed back to Pop Century, packed and loaded the car, and got Mary (and Joe) to sleep.  Then, the boys and I got back on the Disney bus and headed back to MK to close it down!  We rode more rides, watched the Electrical Parade, enjoyed the Wishes fireworks extravaganza, and soaked in our last few minutes of magic.  Full and fun day!

Love these three.  Love this place.  

Don't love those darn cranes. 

Opened the park on this day! Woo Hoo!

Sometimes, you just gotta stand up to enjoy It's a Small World.

Mary with her Max.

Many of our pictures looked like this.... Mary on her Dad's shoulders carrying that mug.

Pretty sure Joe had  A LOT of Sprite poured on his head that day.

Tilt for the cuteness.  

And somebody tell me how to twist my pictures.

We loved the new Dumbo set up!

Real men ride Dumbo with their little sisters.

Mary is IN CONTROL.  

Cousin Josh bought this balloon for Mary.  She LOVED it.  We tied it to the stroller

and proceeded to knock several hundred people in the head with it throughout the day.  And, I kid you not, it's TWO months after we went to Disney and that thing STILL has a little bit of air left in it.  The eternal balloon.

Jack's score on Buzz Lightyear. 

Pretty good, I guess.

I blame Mary for my less than stellar score.

(Can't actually remember if I RODE with her on that ride, but I am blaming her, nonetheless.  My trigger arm was probably tired from carrying her or something....)

Baby girl loved her some Disney.

Joe, when are we gonna make our bushes look like this?

Baby girl REALLY loved her some Mickey Mouse.

Now.  This particular Mickey is in the building on the right just as you enter the Magic Kingdom.  We used one of Mary's fast passes for this character greeting (LOVE, LOVE, LOVE that character greetings are a FP option)......... but I feel like I should mention that this Mickey TALKS.  And IT IS CREEPY.  But Mary loved it.....

Precious people.  Precious memories.

Disney 2014:  The END.

And Joe would have me note that we made it home in 9.5 hours.  A Powell record.  

My people are ROCK STAR travelers.

NOW:  In this epic fast-forwarding of the Powell Spring Events..... On to APRIL!!!

April brought Max's first All-City orchestra performance.

He auditioned for this middle school orchestra and we were tickled when he made it. 

Is anyone laughing that my pictures are still tilted?

This actually cracks me up...... I can just picture all of you tilting your heads to look at these pictures.

Thank you for tilting.

(Tilt.)

Joe and I kept looking at each other during the performance and saying, "Wow.  He really looks like he knows what he's doing!"  He did a great job!

Mary's first Easter egg hunt!  She caught on REALLY quickly and loved it!

She carefully placed each egg in her basket. 

Once she figured out that there was CANDY in the eggs, well, it was all over.  I finally figured out if I told her "that's Max's candy" or "that's Jack's candy".... she would leave it in the egg and not eat it.  Cause no kid needs seven hundred thousand pieces of candy.  Sugar does BAD things to her, I tell you.

Mary Jewel Powell in her first Easter dress.  

I love her.

He is risen, precious child.... and He brought you to us!

Easter tradition:  eat lunch at Papa Chuck and Nana's house!

This might be my favorite picture ever.

Except Max forgot his belt.  On Easter Sunday.  

And I didn't notice until I was ooohhhing and aaahhhhing over this picture.

Went something like this: "Oh, Joe!  You caught a GREAT shot!  Look at my boys!  Look at Mary's face!  DID MAX NOT WEAR A BELT TODAY???"

Good grief.

Just look at Jack Powell in his tuxedo.

He and his high school orchestra went to Atlanta for a performance in April and did a great job!

Very talented, fancy-dressed kiddies!

Joe and Jack living it up in the ATL.

And, for the last of April's fun.... Mary's first experience with bad storms.  We explained to her about a "safe place", let her watch a little bit of James Spann, and even all gathered IN our safe place so she would know how it works..... later, we found her curled up in this basket laughing her head off.  Pretty sure this gives a whole new meaning to "safe place"..... I'm ready for the storms, Mom!

MAY:  We have made it to May, people.  And it was FULL......

But let's start with THIS.......

I'm not even sure this picture was taken in May, but I think it's hilarious.  Pretty much sums up her personality.  Pink Mickey ears?  Check.  Happy shirt?  Check.  Pajamas layered with other pajamas underneath?  Check.  Jewelry?  Check.  A myriad of straws that you have stacked end to end and walk around endlessly poking people with them?  Check.  A big smile?  Check.

Oh, Mary.  We love you.

We celebrated Mother's Day!  My first one as a Mom of THREE! 

It was two years ago on Mother's Day that we announced that we were adopting. 

Then last year, I was LONGING for a child I'd never met.

And NOW.  Look.  Just LOOK! 

Would you please look at my beautiful children?

Have mercy.

May also delivered what I'm sure will be the first of MANY football injuries.

Serious cut .... while lifting weights?  Not exactly sure how it happened, but he tells the story very well.

Coach bandaged him up nicely.

And the scar is cool.

Memorial Day was spent at the lake!  Mary decided this floaty chair was made just for her and she loved it!

Kickin back.  Ya'll pull me!

I told Daddy to pull me.... and he did!  

First boat ride!  Getting a little sleepy, but she did GREAT!

Taking it easy on the cruise.

Almost fell asleep..... then the brothers started tubing.  And she wasn't gonna miss that for ANYTHING!

WHAT ARE THEY DOING??  THAT IS CRAZY!!!

Wish I had pictures of years gone by.... these two have grown up on a tube!  Not sure they will fit on it together for much longer......  

But trying to push your brother off the tube is fun!

Mary didn't know WHAT to think..... she would not take her eyes off of them!  When Max busted (EVERY.  TIME.).... she would throw her hands up and say, "UH OH!" over and over and over and over and over until she saw he was safely back on the tube.

May also was filled with a sold house (yay!), two weeks of boxing up the house, the buyers backing out of the sale (Boo!), unpacking boxes (I wasn't exactly pleasant during these days), Mary's bronchitis, Mom's bronchitis, a trip to the Xray machine for Max's sprained ankle from playing frisbee in PE, FIVE strings performances/concerts, Joe went out of town like THREE DIFFERENT TIMES, end of year projects (heaven help me), awards/honors programs that I have absolutely no pictures of because I just don't, our ONE YEAR post placement adoption social worker visit, and a quick trip to the farm for like 20 hours or something.

AND THAT, my friends, IS AN UPDATED BLOG.

Next up?  BEACH PICTURES.

And a beach story or two.

Disney Day 6: Typhoon Lagoon (boys) and a day of REST

For Christmas, Aunt Paige gave the boys a day of fun at Typhoon Lagoon.  As  many times as we've enjoyed Disney World, we've never been to the water parks, so Jack and Max were THRILLED.  On Thursday, even though it was not many degrees outside, Aunt Paige and all FOUR boys headed out for a day of water park fun.  Their toes may have turned a bit blue and their teeth may have cracked from chattering so much, but they had a FABULOUS day.  The rest of us did our best to REST.

Joe's Journal Entry: (with Mikki's commentary in bold, as usual!)
.... and on the 5th day, they rested.  Can you really rest at Disney World?  No.  Haha.  Boys all went with Paige to Typhoon Lagoon, even though it's cold and windy.  Hoping they aren't "FROZEN" when they return. (Joe was very pleased at his movie reference here. He so clever.) Mom, Mary and I went with Mudger and NightNight over to Fort Wilderness and the Lodge. (Also played on very nice playground.) It was very nice. (We are using the word NICE a lot.)  Had lunch there.  Poor Mary was so tired, as were all of us, she finally nodded off on the boat ride back to Magic Kingdom....at 3:08 PM. (We didn't actually visit the MK, we just caught the boat to Wilderness Lodge from there.  It's fun just to ride the boats or monorails from resort to resort and think about where you'll stay NEXT time!  Cause, there's ALWAYS a next time for Disney!!)  Now in the room waiting for boys.

NOTE:  Joe must have been REALLY TIRED.  Cause that's all he wrote.

Not sure what's going on with Max here.  Doesn't look good.

BEFORE they all got hypothermia.

While the boys did their thing, the rest of us did a little resort hopping, playground visiting, and heavy RESTING.

We brought a blow up mattress for Mary and put it between the two beds in our room.  Fit like a glove and made a cozy place for her to sleep.  She loved it.  We Powells are all about some cozy.  I'm pretty sure it was like 4:00 in the afternoon here, and she's already OUT.  Ain't nothing more precious than waking up at Disney World to a little grinning face on a blow up mattress right beside you.  Ain't nothing more PEACEFUL than having that same little grinning face be ASLEEP on said blow up mattress.  

Coming soon..... our final Disney day!

And thank goodness for that, cause I'm tired just remembering it all.  

Disney Day 5: Hollywood Studios

My mind is not good.  I can't remember stuff.  Like I have to think REALLY hard to remember what I ate for breakfast or where I put my shoes.  Ask me to remember ALL THE WAY BACK to March to our day at Hollywood Studios?  Forgetaboutit.

Insert the good ole Powell Family Disney Journal!  Do you see why this journal of memories is so important?  Get your family one of these and USE it.  Trust me.  You will SO appreciate having it!

Here's a peek at ours in case you've forgotten:

I will rely on the Powell Family Disney Journal HEAVILY as I am DETERMINED to get this blog updated.  (And by "rely on it heavily", I pretty much mean typing up whatever Joe wrote word for word and inserting my commentary where needed...... worked last time, so I'm sticking with it.)

Ahem.  I now present to you "Disney Day 5:  Hollywood Studios".............!!!!

Joe writes,

We all got together out front at 8 today headed over to MGM.(Joe still calls it MGM.... old habits, you know....)  We got in line, then took Mary back out front for a quick Stitch reunion.( Please note the mouse ears OVER the hood.  It was COLD!)  They were glad to see each other again.  Still needing a Donald greeting (Don't think we EVER saw him!  Weird!)..... Once we got in, everybody but Mary and I (Joe) went over to Toy Story Mania.  We stayed under the hat to visit Chip and Dale as well as Pluto.  She loves characters.  Midway was broken, so everybody was kinda at a loss.  Ha!  (Good thing we had Fast Passes for later.... it was up and running when it was our turn!  Jack was happy to ride with Cousin Will who had done all the research on the tricks to scoring high.  He and Will were the top scorers in the bunch!) We finally got into the Little Mermaid show while the boys did single rider on Aerosmith.  We met back up and headed over to Star Tours where the boys did TWO tours.  Not me. (Joe again.)  Too queasy!  We then all split up for lunch.  Pizza Planet for us... a family tradition!  After, the boys saw The Muppets while we (Mom, Dad, Mary) walked the Streets of America.  Mary fell asleep as we were looking for Monster's Inc. (They've moved since we last saw them.... now they're over by the Backlot Tour!) She slept for almost two hours in her stroller! (Halleluyer.) Meanwhile, the guys all did Tower of Terror.... TWICE...(had enough Fast Passes in our group and just swapped out armbands so the boys could all ride twice.... worked very well!) and Dad bought ice cream for everybody. (Next time, Mary gets her own.  Sharing with her is not fun.) Plus, he (Dad) treated himself to a double espresso. (over by Tower of Terror)   The Beauty and the Beast show was next and Mary really enjoyed it.  Naps help. (You got that right.)  We stopped in to see Sorcerer Mickey and Minnie Mouse.  They also had the Wreck it Ralph people, but we skipped that. Next was the Great Movie Ride.... one of Jack's top five. (Mary took this all in except when Mom covered her eyes during the Alien part.  She kept trying to pull my hands off her eyes like, "Hey, Mom!  What are you doing?  I can't see here!) The line there had been bad all day, but had finally gotten manageable.  We then split again to take Mary over to meet Mike and Sully, while the rest took in American Idol.  She doesn't really know Mike and Sully, even though she is the spitting image of Boo... piggy tails and all! (Mom was a bit bummed that we didn't get a decent picture here..... Dad even had to jump in the photo to help rally Boo...)  That was it for Mom, Dad, and Mary.  The boys stayed with Raneys for supper, American Idol finale, and Fantasmic.  We headed back to Pop and had a nice supper.  Dad got his favorite Tie Dyed Cheesecake!  Back in the room and Mary bathed by 7:30.  Boys came back to the room at 11:52PM.

Photos of the day in absolutely the most random order EVER......

Mary was more interested in Minnie's SHOES than she was Minnie herself.  We finally got one decent photo.  Probably should post the bloopers sometime.  Oh dear....

Blurry.  Whatever.

Boo meets Mike and Sully.  I think she saw somebody in there......

Ears over hat.  Love.  Chocolate croissant and marshmallows.... the breakfast of champions.

Didn't I see you over at the Magic Kingdom????

Rubbing noses with Stitch.

My people.

Dad was trying to help Mom get a decent picture here.  Didn't really work.  

Boo.

Not blurry!  Mary was ready to go.

Mary does whatever the characters do.  If they stand, she stands.  If they get on their knees, she gets on her knees.  

We saw Mickey at every single park!

Ready for some Toy Story Mania!  The ears over the hood kills me!

Loving on Pluto!

She LOVES Chip and Dale.  Laughs hysterically at their cartoon when they irritate Donald Duck!

Alrighty.  That's Hollywood Studios!  

Memories:  officially documented!

The LIST.

Top Ten reasons this blog has been neglected for the past TWO months:

10.  It takes a week or two to get over the excitement/fatigue/adrenaline/laundry after going to Disney World.

9.  There has been bronchitis.  MUCH bronchitis.  Mary's bronchitis.  My bronchitis.  BRONCHITIS.

8.  Our house is for sale and we've had SIXTEEN showings so far.  That's SIXTEEN times that I've had to transform our house from utter and complete chaos to total perfection.  Sixteen times.

7.  We sold our house!  Well, for like TWO WEEKS, our house was sold.  So, I was a boxing fool.  When I put my mind to it, I can get things done QUICKLY. I had LOTS of things boxed up.

6.  Then, two days before things were final, our buyers backed out.  I have lots to say about this, but WILL NOT.  When I put my mind to it, I can get things UNDONE quickly.  Took me ONE DAY to unbox all the boxes that it took me two weeks to pack.  Anger and frustration can really fuel a fella, apparently.

5.  Performances.  Cello ones and violin ones.  Lots of them.  So very proud of my boys and their musicalness!

4.  Potty Training.  It's not going well.

3.  Projects.  End of year projects.  LOTS of end of year projects.

2.  End of the school year things..... award ceremonies, football practices and scrimmages, strings cookouts, class parties.  May is nuts.

1.  Jack's computer is my blogging computer.  It's the only one that lets me stick my little camera card thing into the side.  And it's been BROKEN.  No joke.  Ask Jack.  Broken blogging computer = the #1 reason that I now have TWO MONTHS worth of info to share!  But, SHARE I SHALL!!!!

So, let's back up.  If my memory serves me correctly, I believe I still owe you three days of Disney fun, one Easter egg hunt, one Easter Sunday, some strings concerts, one Mother's Day, a potty training update, one recital for Jack, an early birthday party with Max and his peeps, a day of fun on the lake, and an update on Mary's vocabulary.

This might take a while.

Powell Family Blog Finally Gets Updated:  Mission LAUNCHED!