Monday, November 26, 2007

The last of the Disney pictures





Here is the final batch of pictures. While at EPCOT, most of us took a "behind the seeds" tour of the land. It was fascinating to learn how they operate their greenhouses. We also discovered how they grow Mickey Pumpkins (Katy is holding one). They put them in these molds as they are maturing, and they end up Mickey-shaped. Sorry if I spoiled the magic for you.
Our tour guide gave each of the kids a vial of ladybugs to release in the greenhouse; here is Alexander holding his. Finally, I just had to post my score from the Buzz Lightyear ride at Magic Kingdom. It is by far my best, and I'm never going on the ride again. This will stay as my last and best score ever!

Eating in Japan





While at EPCOT, we ate in Japan. I chose this restaurant because I knew the chefs cooked right in front of you and are very entertaining. When dining out with 6 children, the entertainment factor is of utmost importance.


We were not disappointed. Our chef, a woman, was great. She put on quite a show. I think Jonathan spent the entire meal with his mouth open in amazement. The food was delicious, too. We left there quite stuffed, with no room for dessert.

Disney pictures





I finally got our Disney pictures downloaded. Here are some family highlights.

Thursday, November 22, 2007

Thanksgiving Dinner



Well, it's turkey day. This afternoon we are going to the Weinrich's for dinner. I was assigned sweet potatoes, stuffing, and spinach, all of which are cooking right now. However, I have added one special dish: FLAPPY! For the Weida clan, it would not be a big family gathering without some flappy. Grandma always brought a bunch. Flappy is a Pennsylvania Dutch pie (sometimes called milk pie) that mothers would make with their leftover dough. We all loved it so much that we would ask Grandma to make just the flappy. So I went through my recipe box and found Grandma's recipe. You can see it's not very specific. I had a hard time getting her to even write down the recipe. She just put in the ingredients until they looked right. I am proud to say that my pies turned out perfectly! I am also proud to say that when Benjamin and Alexander came into the kitchen and saw that I was making flappy, they said, "Flappy?? I love flappy!!!" That's one tradition I am happy to pass on. We miss you, Grandma!

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

A Weekend at Disney

It's Thanksgiving time, and Cindi's family is here visiting. We began our visit at Disney. Today was the last of three days we spent there, with 6 children, 6 adults (nice man-to-man defense), and about 500,000 other people. Seriously, this is the most crowded I've ever seen Disney. Usually we avoid it at times like this, but here we are, at a hotel, recovering after a long day. We had intended to stay for the fireworks, but the kids started breaking down around 7PM, and we decided that two hours was too long to wait. Good choice. We ate dinner at Perkins, and discovered that on Tuesday nights, kids eat free!! Yea!!! Now all three of our children are sleeping and I'm able to catch up on my email from the last 3 days.

An update on the beard...unfortunately, Chris' kids raised more money, and he's in it until at least the first week of December. He doesn't like it - it's itchy - and I don't either. It's getting close to buy out time....

Friday, November 16, 2007

Survivor

I got this from a friend and enjoyed it. Thought I would pass it on.

THE NEXT SURVIVOR SERIES

Six married men will be dropped on an island with one car and 3 kids each for six weeks. Each kid will play two sports and either take music or dance classes.There is no fast food.Each man must take care of his 3 kids; keep his assigned house clean, correct all homework, complete science projects, cook, do laundry, and pay a list of 'pretend' bills with not enough money. In addition, each man will have to budget in money for groceries each week.

Each man must remember the birthdays of all their friends and relatives, and send cards out on time. Each man must also take each child to a doctor's appointment, a dentist appointment and a haircut appointment. He must make one unscheduled and inconvenient visit per child to the Urgent Care (weekend, evening, on a holiday or right when they're about to leave for vacation).

He must also make cookies or cupcakes for a social function. Each man will be responsible for decorating his own assigned house, planting flowers outside and keeping it presentable at all times. The men will only have access to television when the kids are asleep and all chores are done. Each father will be required to know all of the words to every stupid song that comes on TV and the name of each and every character on cartoons! Each man will have to make an Indian hut model with six toothpicks, a tortilla and one marker; and get a 4 year old to eat a serving of peas. Each man must adorn himself with jewelry, wear uncomfortable yet stylish shoes, keep their nails polished and eyebrows groomed. The men must try to get through each day without snot, spit-up or barf on their clothing.

During one of the six weeks, the men will have to endure severe abdominal cramps, back aches, and have extreme, unexplained mood swings but ever once complain or slow down from other duties. They must attend weekly school meetings, church, and find time at least once to spend the afternoon at the park or a similar setting.

He will need to read a book to the children each night without falling asleep, and then feed them, dress them, brush their teeth and comb their hair each morning by 7:00. They must leave the home with no food on their face or clothes.A test will be given at the end of the six weeks, and each father will be required to know all of the following information: each child's birthday, height, weight, shoe size, clothes size and doctor's name. Also the child's weight at birth, length, time of birth, and length of labor, each child's favorite color, middle name, favorite snack, favorite song, favorite drink, favorite toy, biggest fear and what they want to be when they grow up.

They must clean up after their sick children at 2:00 a. m. And then spend the remainder of the day tending to that child and waiting on them hand and foot until they are better. They must have a loving, age appropriate reply to, 'You're not the boss of me'. The kids vote them off the island based on performance.

The last man wins only if...he still has enough energy to be intimate with his spouse at a moment's notice.

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

A "Refreshing" Weekend

I spent this past weekend at a retreat center on Lake Yale in Leesburg, FL. Along with 275 other women, I was attending the annual gathering of the Florida-Bahamas Synodical Organization Women of the ELCA. Or in other words, a bunch of Lutheran women from Florida. Somehow, I had agreed to co-chair this gathering, so it wasn't quite the relaxing weekend others experienced. It was a lot of fun, though.

I've met some wonderful, crazy women through this organization. When I first started to attend, I was just about the youngest person there. Now, although I am still definitely on the young side, I've moved to a higher age bracket. How time flies.

Although it's wonderful to get away for the weekend, it is also a letdown when returning. I came back to all the same chores and respsonsiblities I had left, plus a backlog of things that did not get done while I was gone. I spent the entire day yesterday doing 8 or so loads of laundry (a full week's worth) while paying bills, going through the mail, and generally organizing the house. It left me feeling depressed. The problem with housework is that no matter how much you do, it has to be done again and again. It never ceases to frustrate me.

Tuesday, November 6, 2007

Benjamin's field trip






Benjamin's class took a field trip to the Ponce Inlet lighthouse to study light. It was the day Tropical Storm Noel was passing east of us, so the the winds were very strong! They climbed to the top of the lighthouse, and as you can see, Benjamin was a bit windswept. Thanks to Grandpa for these great pictures and for chaperoning!

Monday, November 5, 2007

Jonathan




The other night, we were playing Blokus as a family. This is one of my favorite games. You try to get as many of the pieces on the board without being blocked by other players. Jonathan played with us and WON!!!! He didn't use a whole lot of strategy, but it worked. Doesn't he look proud?? I've also posted two of his work samples from school. He is

learning how to write his numbers. On the last picture, he had to count the number of stars in each circle and then write the number. Now bad for his first try.

The Beard Saga


Last month, a few students walked into Chris' class and said, "Wouldn't it be funny if Mr. Weinrich grew a beard?" He didn't laugh. They came in the next day and asked if they could make it worth his while. As tempting as it may be, he can't take money from the kids. The NEXT day, they asked him if they could raise money for his favorite charity. We talked about it that night, and he came up with $3/day. For every three dollars they collect (to go to the ONE campaign), he won't shave for a day. They're now up to $88. I should say that I reserve a "buy-out" clause. At any time, I can match their money and buy them out, enabling him to shave. They have him through Thanksgiving so far.....

Pictures at last






Well, I've finally figured out how to download photos on to our new computer. It took awhile because it came preloaded with different software (of course) than our old computer. Last week I downloaded and edited a bunch of photos, only to be unable to find them on the computer!! Anyway, I had some time this morning to work on it again and here they are! These pictures are from Halloween. We had a bat, Harry Potter, and Anakin Skywalker. We went trick-or-treating on Wednesday and came home with over 9 pounds of candy. How do I know that? Our pediatric dentist is buying back candy at 3lbs/$1. Luckily, the boys don't really understand the value of money yet and are very excited to each get a dollar when we go to the dentist tomorrow afternoon!!!!