We're off to see...

Nope, not the Wizard.

DOROTHY!

My God-daughter, Allie, was chosen to star in our community theater's annual production of Wizard of Oz.

She was fantastic.

FANTASTIC.

I will probably always see her as a sweet-cheeked baby girl, but for 2.5 hours, I saw a STAR.

I was so incredibly proud of this girl. She was so amazing. If you didn't see it, you missed out. And if you are friends with me on Facebook then I KNOW you have no excuse because I let you know ALL about it. :-)


Ironically, Allie's three original "Shout Sisters" all attended the same performance so we got a quick pic.

Love this girl so much and cannot wait to see what else she accomplishes!

Some Final Disney Memories...Way Back When-esday Style!

OOPS. I bet you thought all my Disney posts were over. One more.
I think. :-)

I think part of the reason I love Disney so much is that it holds so many memories for me growing up but also so many memories for my own family of 4.

Chad and I traveled to Disney with my parents and brother and some friends in 1999 when we had been dating about 18 months or so.

What a difference 16 years makes!

1999, 2013, and 2015 (I didn't have a good 2007 one)

But here's a 2007 and 2015 comparison for you...

And another 2013 and 2015 one...

I could go on and on, but you get the idea. Love this magical place and cannot wait to start planning the next trip!

October Randoms

I thought I was done with October, but in looking back at my phone pictures, I see we have just a few things to wrap up...
Goofin' around Johnzler-style

Celebrating our very own National Young Women of Distinction at work

Making our own play-doh

"Science Experiment" Playdate with some of our favorites!

Celebrating Misty's "real" birthday at Gramma's house

(She had more parties than Jake.)

The kids thought that Misty needed a "Smash Cake" for her 50th (because why should a one year old have all the fun?). And then they thought they should eat without forks.

Jake's impressive SpongeBob

The band played our annual Crop Walk for Hunger gig. Great music for a great cause.

School pics came in so it was time to replace the 5x7's in the living room. Crazy what a difference a year makes...

And, as you all know, we had an awesome family wedding a few weeks ago. The professional pics came in and entertained me for a full afternoon.

Welp. That should be a wrap for October. Right before we head into December...

Jake's birthday + Halloween

So, after a week in Disney, I knew the kids would be super sad coming home PLUS Jake still wanted to celebrate his birthday with our family PLUS I already knew my house would be clean PLUS I knew my doorbell would be ringing off the hook for Halloween anyway. So....a family birthday party literally minutes after our flight landed back in NC on Halloween it is!


Our favorite ladybug who loves Halloween just like her mama!


We then celebrated with all his friends the following weekend (because a week in Disney and a family birthday on Halloween doesn't seem to be sufficient for a 6 year old). :-)











Jake had a great time, and we are so blessed with so many great friends. I was glad we could do this for our Pookie, but boy, was I glad with the birthday celebrations were over. :-)

Rides...Oh, the Rides...

I LOVE rides.

In 2009 when we were in Florida and went to Universal, I was pregnant with Jake.  In 2013 when we went to Disney, I was just recovering from a major back injury.

But in 2015, no babies and no wonky backs, so It. Was. On.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train

We rode everything we could in all the parks and tried to capture as many of the moments as we could on the Memory Maker package.

Splash Mountain (First Day- Jake is hiding in there between Chad and me.)

Tower of Terror

Rock n Roller Coaster

Side note about this one below...It started raining while we were in the indoor portion of the ride, Test Track, so it was quite a surprise when the doors opened, the car floored to 65 mph, and we were slapped with rain drops right in the eye balls.

Someone had to stay with the kids, so poor Chad missed out on round 1 of this ride, Expedition Everest, but he did get to go twice more. However, we should have borrowed his shirt for my new friend.

Taking turns with the hot dog costume at Mickey's Not So Scary Party...


I like to caption this one: "Wait, where is the camera on this ride? Don't know? I'll just smile the whole first 90 seconds."

Space Mountain

Buzz Lightyear (Chad was way serious and Brooklyn was depressed about her score apparently.)

Tomorrowland Speedway