Days of Disney

Jalen, Jameson and Jacey here! Did you know that Mommy and Daddy took all three of us to Disney this fall? We know what you're about to say..."What were they thinking?" Well, we promised to be on our best behavior and we think we did a pretty swell job! We started the excitement by creating a countdown calendar that Mommy put on the fridge. Each morning before school, one of us got to do the honors of marking off another day. Finally, the big day arrived. We could hardly squeeze the four suitcases, diaper bag, two boosters, a car seat, a stroller and 5 people inside but we made it work...Barely! Jacey was super excited to be on an airplane for the first time. She loved looking out the window and watching the clouds go by.

When we arrived at our hotel room we discovered that Minny and Mickey had been waiting for us to arrive! They even left us surprises in our room to show how excited they were to have us there.

The next 6 days were nothing but fun as we were up at dawn and out til dusk ensuring that we didn't miss a single thing.

We visited Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Hollywood Studios, Animal Kingdom and Downtown Disney. Because our Mommy tends to go overboard at times, she took over 400 pictures which means that we can't possibly post them all here but we do want to share them with you! Click Here To Take A Peek At All The Fun We Had!

Fond Memories

As we sit here today stuffed to the gills, watching football in our cozy new slippers, I can't help but think "Where has the last few months gone?" Yes, I realize that I have not posted anything since August and yes, I'm about to give you a few good (what I think are good) excuses as to why. This seems to be a pattern doesn't it?

The end of August was a season of change for us as Jalen moved on to first grade and Jameson started Kindergarten!
How could this be? The sweet little boy stripped down to his diaper with his face covered in finger paint, was now a handsome little boy with backpack in tow, standing as proud as a peacock and about to embark on a new adventure. Needless to say, he loves every minute of it and is one smart cookie if I do say so myself. Sometimes too smart. Here's a proud picture of his first day.

To celebrate the end of summer and the start of fall, we asked Daddy to take us out to the ball game! Chicago here we come! It was such a great day as the Cubs were able to pull off a victory which we all know doesn't happen all to often.
The weather was hot but the fun was cool and even Jacey was snug as a bug as we enjoyed our only game of the year.

We of course have our fondest memories from this year's vacation to Disney World! There is so much to share that we will make a separate post so that you can share every moment of joy with us. But first, we are about to say goodbye to The Sweet and Salty Life. With three kiddos competing for attention and my desire to share recipes and frugal finds, we've decided to move to a new website that will include a page for each of us. Jalen, Jameson and Jacey will each be able to share their favorite moments with you while I'll have a separate page for updating freebies and deals. We are still in the construction process but we will keep you posted on our progress.

Okay, Miss Jacey is becoming impatient. Days of Disney on the way!

Yo Ho Yo Ho, A Pirates Life For Me

Ahoy Mateys! It's Captain Jameson here. Did you know that I am turning five next week? Shiver me timbers, time flies when you're havin fun and that's just what I've been havin this weekend. Its all hands on deck as we tossed anchor in celebration today. Granny and Papaw even sailed the seven seas to join us! Mom and Dad hid gold all around the place and we went for a hunt. My lad Jalen tried to steal some of my coins and had to have him walk the plank. Aaarrrggghhhh!

 Mom made me a great cake complete with two ships battling it out with whopper canon balls and an inlet with lots of treasure to be found.

Before the sun set, Dad gave me a map that pointed me in the direction of the real treasure...my presents!

An Iron Man mask and glove! Blow me down, I was excited! Yo Ho Yo Ho A pirates life for me. Well,  thar she blows! I'm sure I'll have lots more to say in a week or two. I'm starting Kindergarten me hearties! Until then...
 

Art Appreciation - Day 3

Today we learned about Vincent Van Gogh. Did you know that he was a Christian? He at one point gave everything that he owned away to the poor. He was an art teacher and a preacher! I'm sure you already know that he was a great artist too. He is most famous for his painting "Starry Night". This is one of our Daddy's favorite paintings so we made him our own version today. 

When we were finished we looked outside and it was pouring down rain. Mommy looked at us and said

"You wanna go outside and play in the rain today?" Was she joking? For a few minutes we just gave her a confused look, not sure if we should run for the front door or if this was just a mean trick. Great news, she was being serious! We went outside and ran through our driveway, laid down and made "rain" angels and splashed in puddles upon puddles! It was soooo much fun. Mommy said our neighbors driving by must think she is crazy but if this is crazy then crazy is fun!

Art Appreciation - Day 2

Day two of Art Appreciation Week! Today we learned about Pablo Picasso. We tried our hand at Cubism which was just okay. Did you know Picasso used very little color during this time? BORING!

We had to spice it up a bit so Mommy let us helmet paint. Yep, that's right! We strapped a paint brush to the top of a construction hat and painted with our heads! What a hoot! Can't wait to see what's next. Hope you are all enjoying the week with us!                 

We wouldn't want to leave Jacey out so here is a picture of her just being cute.

"All children are artists. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up" ~ Pablo Picasso

Art Appreciation Week - Day1

Hey everyone. This week is Art Appreciation Week at our house and it all started today. Each day mommy is going to teach us about a well known artist and we will get to model his work. We also get to do something fun and messy with paint which is our favorite part! Today we learned about Michelangelo. He painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel on his back! We thought that must have been awful tough so we thought we'd give it a try. 

 

Next, we got to splat paint. Now that was exciting!! We stuffed panty hose with unpopped popcorn and dipped it in paint. Then mommy let us stand on a chair ( I know right? That never happens!) and drop the paint bomb onto the paper. Guess what happens? SPLAT!


We can hardly wait until tomorrow. We are going to learn about some Picasso guy and cubism, whatever that means. Stay tuned...more fun to come!

My Fearless Leader

Jacey here! This is a picture of me and my friend Brayden. His mommy and my mommy are great friends and so are we! Brayden was born 2 months before me so he knows his way around the world a bit more than I do. I don't mind though because he always shares the latest and greatest with me.We had a sleepover last Friday and he brought this cool new blanket to lay on. It had swinging monkeys that made cool noises, things to grab at and things to kick..it was the best! Our mommys and daddys hang out quite a bit which means that we get to see a lot of each other. We even went to see our first fireworks show together. Mommy thought that I would be scared but I was such a big girl, I didn't even cry at the loud noises. I loved all of the pretty colors and best of all, I got to hang out with my good pal Brayden. I have so much fun with him and something tells me that he'll always look out for me.Well, it looks like my time is up. My brothers are wanting the computer so they can brag about some silly art thingy they did today. I can't wait until I'm bigger so that I can have fun with that messy stuff, mommy says it won't be long!

 Loads of love:)     ~ Jacey

Take Me Out To The Ballgame

A couple of weeks ago, our life group headed out to Victory Field to catch an Indian's game. Who won? I have no idea! I'm not sure how many of us actually watched the game as we were too busy socializing but we all had a great time. Jacey and Brayden did a great job at their first official baseball game. What good sports! The boys as always had a blast and James and I loved hangin with family. Here are a few pics from the night.

Legoland

Hey friends, it's Jalen! Sunday we celebrated my 7th birthday! I know, I know, you can hardly believe that I'm growing so fast right? Instead of getting a ton of presents that Mom says will end up in next year's garage sale, my brother and I always get one or two small gifts and our choice of a family mini trip. Mom and Dad tell us that the memories will last longer than the toys and I'll admit, I sure do love traveling to new places! This year, I chose Legoland Chicago.

We started the birthday morning just as we always do with cake for breakfast! This is one of my favorite family traditions:P

Once inside the museum, we were able to walk through lots of exhibits, all made entirely out of legos!  

We entered a jungle with hippos, tigers, monkeys and snakes all constructed of tiny plastic bricks, pieced together one by one. I wonder how many hours it took to build such a masterpiece? I hope they stopped for snacks!

Mommy and Daddy's favorite exhibit was the mini replica of Chicago. It was amazing! Every tiny detail was there from the sears tower down to road construction being completed in the middle of Michigan Ave. There were dog walkers on the beach, shoppers galore and lights that shined through the stained glass windows of the beautiful churches. The pieces even moved so that the whole city was in action!

We rode a hanglider and we even took a tour of the lego factory where we made our very own souvenir lego. I was in charge of pushing the button that stamped the factory name on top.

My favorite part was when Daddy helped us build a giant tower out of lego bricks. 

Jacey took a little nap while we worked on our project.

It took a long time but we finally finished! Can you guess who's inside?

Before heading home we stopped at my favorite restaurant, The Rainforest Cafe!  Thanks Mom and Dad for such an awesome birthday! I'm already planning for next year.

Hmmm...an African Safari sounds like fun! Do you think we could make it there and back in a day? Probably not huh? Well, let me know if you have any ideas. I love exploring new places!

The Perfect Morning

Five years ago, my perfect morning would have consisted of my favorite black suit, a starbucks in hand and my favorite song on the radio while driving into to work. My agenda for the day would include managing a staff of 25+ people, 140 children, answering telephones, returning emails, scheduling, problem solving, answering questions and addressing concerns. My how things change! Last week, my day started out with my alarm clock going off around 7am. (a hungry baby crying for her bottle) I then decided to take my work outside to the front porch. There I sat, feeding my newborn baby and sipping on a glass of ice tea. A warm summer morning breeze was blowing and dew drops were still on the blades of grass in my front lawn. A cardinal was perched in the tree and a chipmunk was running through the mulch. Across the street my neighbor was wearing a straw hat and landscaping his side yard. Ah yes, now this was the perfect morning! I love that life has slowed down for me to enjoy little moments like these. It's days like this that I am reminded of how grateful I am that God is in control and not me, that He knows what is best for me and that my life is going according to His plan and not my own. I thought I had it all figured out, that I had a 5 day, 5 month, 5 year plan and that I was happy. That was before giving my life completely to him. Wow! What a difference it has made.

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. - Jeremiah 29:11

Out and About

Hey everybody, it's Jacey! My brothers aren't here this week so I thought I'd steal the show. Now that I'm getting a little older, Mommy and Daddy have been taking me out to see the world! Friday night, I went to my very first strawberry festival. There really wasn't a whole lot to do there but Mommy insisted on taking me for an hour and fifteen minute drive just to get a picture of me in some dress that she bought before I was even born! Well, here it is folks. You can see how excited I was to be there. I guess I did look pretty darn cute huh?

Saturday I was a big city girl as Mommy and I went downtown Indianapolis to my cousin Sarah's graduation. She's a graphic designer and made me some super fun note cards with my name on them! Sarah says that I'm her little princess in training. I guess I might as well learn from the best:)

This is my cousin Halley, she's a soccer star! Mommy says that she will show me how to do my hair and makeup when I get older.

And this is my Aunt Alyce. Isn't she pretty? Mommy has looked up to her since she was a little girl. She says that she is very smart and talented and that I will want to be just like her.

My cousin Steph and Uncle Steve were there too but they were busy mingling and somehow we didn't get a picture with them. Maybe next time.

After the graduation, Mommy and I went to see the girls in her Life Group. My friend Jani was there but Brayden and Josh had stayed home. Bummer, I really wanted to see them. We were celebrating my new friend Zack which is suppose to join us sometime in the next couple of weeks. Then baby Russell will be here in November. Her Mommy isn't telling us her name just yet but I'm already excited to meet her. I just know that we are going to have so much fun together playing dress up and having tea parties.

Well, I'm starting to get hungry so I better sign off and let the parents know that it's time for my bottle. Trust me, it won't take them long to figure it out. Mommy says that the neighbors usually know when its time for me to eat. I hope you all have a fantastic week! Love, Jacey

What's Cookin Good Lookin?

This morning Jameson came running into the nursery and asked if May was over yet. "Only one more week!" I told him. Why did he ask? Apparently, he just remembered that Topper's birthday is in May. Who is Topper? Ah yes. Topper is a beanie baby giraffe from a McDonald's happy meal that we were blessed with three years ago. Let me add that the tag is no longer attached to tell us his date of birth so when Jameson said that it was in May, I figured that he was just trying to find another reason to eat more cake! Lo and behold, after doing a quick search on Ty.com, Topper's birthday is in fact this week. Our little guy will be turning three which means a celebration is in order. Jameson wanted to do it up right so he decided that Topper would enjoy some confetti cupcakes with lifesavers on top. Okay little man, if you say so! Chef Jameson in the house! He did it all by himself from start to finish and I must say...not too shabby. He told me that he thought the first "patch" turned out better then the last...no that was not a typo, he said "patch" not batch. We are still trying to learn the kitchen terminology but we may just have the next Emeril on our hands folks!