So January 4th we boareded a flight bright and early to Orlando!  We were there by lunch time and had lunch, picked up our Disney tickets, shopped at Downtown Disney and enjoyed the amazing 3 bedroom villa we were staying in!

Lets start at the begining!  Here is John and I’s room.

Meme and Pop’s room.

The master bathroom

The living room.

Had pictures of the kids room (two single beds) and the large kitchen…but we’ll apparently didn’t upload them.

After playing some hoops at the hotel courts we headed to downtown Disney to look around.  Biggest stop being the all time favorite LegoLand!  Its amazing all the things they build out of legos!!!!!

And of course Savanna had to take time to dance with Sleeping Beauty!

It was COLD the night we got there but that was okay.  The rest of the week more than made up for it!  We went back to the room and got ready for our big day at Hollywood Studios the next morning!!!

We all signed our tickets and were excited to get a move on nice and early!

As we drove there is nothing more exciting then passing under this trademark sign!

All the Christmas decorations were still up so it was great!!!!

We first headed over to the Rock and Roller…Payton’s favorite ride (along side of space mountain) for the entire trip!  Meme, John, Payton and I rode that one, Savanna was MAD she was too short but her and Pop went on a mission to secure our fast passes for what would turn out to be her favorite ride!  And with no wait for the Rock and Roller it worked out perfect!!  This ride was a MUST do…very very fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We then went over to the House of Terror.  Yes this was Savanna’s favorite of all (along side of space mountain as well!)  Since she couldn’t ride the rock and roller Payton and John kept doing that one and Savanna and I kept riding the Terror.  Too much fun to ride with her I tell you!  Her excited squeal is the best!!!!!!!!

Here we are ready to go and all buckled up on the Tower of Terror!

This is the image they got as we took the first plunge…we are on the left side, I’m in the Rangers jacket second row back…John and I both obviously looking at the kids who were giggling with all their might…LOVE IT!

While we were walking (the boys were still on the Rock and Roller) Savanna passed right by Tigger and Eeyore so she stoped for a photo!  Bummer she didn’t have her autograph book, but no worries she filled up two as it was anyway!

We then all headed over to the Star Tours!  Another great ride!

3D googles on…all is a GO!

Loaded up for Star Tours!

Afterwards we rode several more rides such as The Great Movie Ride,Voyage of the Little Mermaid and Muppets Vision 3D.  There wasn’t a bad ride nor show!

Payton sporting his Muppets Vision 3D glasses!

We stopped on the bench for a snack…aren’t my kids and hubby cute!?!?!?

We saw the Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular!  I remember this from when I was a kid and went and it was just as good as I had memories of!

Then we headed to see Beauty and the Beast – Live on Stage.  WOW is a great word to describe this show!  And Savanna’s face when the “real” Belle came out….greatness…and thank you to John and Pop who went and made this a lunch and a show! HAHA  Thanks for carrying the trays of food to the front row where we sat for us!  I know you would do it again right?!?!?!?!  Okay so probably won’t ever live that one down, but we were front row so worth it! HA HA HA

It was then off to Toy Story Mania…and man was this a blast!!!!!!!  I see they have it for the Wii, might have to be on the we need game list! LOL  Although wouldn’t be quite the same without the cool glasses and spinning ride! hehe

Okay and guess I’ll give credit…John kicked everyone’s buns by hitting 1 million points! UGH And yes he was a SORE winner!

Afterwards we headed to The Magic of Disney Animation which is right up Payton’s ally!  When we came out we were able to see Pooh Bear and Fantasia Mickey!  Very cool!  Again didn’t have autograph book (Loser mom here forgot them at the villa!)

This is where we ended the day and headed out to eat dinner, but no worries we came back to ride the rollercoasters again at night and to see Fantasmic!  This show is AMAZING!!!!

We got home around 10 and were ready for bed as the next day was going to be a BIG day for Savanna and everyone of course but Savanna’s day started off early and with a special treat!!!!

We got to the parking lot at 730 so Savanna and I could head in to the Bippity Bop Boutique!

Here she is all dressed up and ready to go but a princess must ALWAYS brush her teeth!

Here we are riding the monorail to Magic Kindgom.

And on the ride it was such a beautiful morning I was able to get these beautiful shots!  At least I love them!

And then the moment was finally here, she’s been waiting for this with excitement for quite some time!  We were standing outside Magic Kingdom!

And so as the sign says…Let the Memories Begin!!!  A little photo op with Walt and Minnie! HA

and a princess in front of her castle!

Notice the shoes, lets just call them her heals since without them she couldn’t ride the big rides! hehehe  We went no where without them on!!

It was now time to head to the Bippity Bop Boutique.

Here she met her Fairy Godmother and was given a paper that said Princess Savanna on it and it was there she got to look and pick her hair style for the day!  I sat back and let her pick anything she wanted.  I was pretty sure she would go with the standard princess style but was so pleasantly shocked after seeing what she picked!  It was so her and I was so proud she did her own thing!!  It looked adorable and none of the pictures do it justice!!!!!!!!  Oh such a fun thing!

So here we go, hair style choosen and Fairy Godmother gets to work!  Oh and I’m so on the hunt for the magic glass in front of her face! LOL Greatness!

Here daddy even came in to see her and she was soooooooooooo excited!!!!!!!!!

She was dying to see her hair as she wasn’t allowed to look till the end!  It was killing her! LOL

Next it was time for hair and nails!!!!

Such a princess! LOL

She was given the choice of colors on nails and eyes and stuff…she picked blue for both, cracks me up!

When it was time to make “kissy” lips for her lip sticks she could do nothing but crack up…I love this!!!!!!  She still seems so little in these pictures!

Then it was all finished up with and wish and Pixie Dust.  She LOVES pixie dust, but she is daily waking up disappointed that she and us can not fly…apparently that was her wish and she is sad it hasn’t come true since she had so much pixie dust.  We have to keep reminding her that her Fairy Godmother has been asking for a pet elephant for a while now and is still waiting, soemtimes it just takes time! LOL Love that its so real to her!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I know I’m her mom and totally partial, but Gosh she is so beautiful!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now was finally the moment she got to turn around and see herself!  LOVE LOVE LOVE the reaction!!!!!!!!!!!!  She loved it!!!!!!!!!!!

Savanna and her Fairy Godmother!

and now its time to introduce to you PRINCESS SAVANNA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

and Princess Savanna and Meme!

Then it was time for Savanna and I to head across the way to Cinderellas Royal Table for breakfast!  She was so excited and when she walked in look who was waiting for her!

A little twirl with Cindrella!

And I absolutely LOVE the face and realness of it all to her!  She is truly just amazed and its awesome!  So glad we went this year while it was still magical!  Might not be in another  year!

Cinderella and Savanna….

Then it was time to head upstairs but not before a surprise visit from Cinderellas Fairy Godmother.

Once we were seated she was very excited about her wishing star!!!!!

And then …. guess who came over!   Snow White!!!

I think this picture is priceless!!!!!!!!!!!

And then she was given a Wishing Wand…so everyone gets wishes…”Bippity Boppity Boo, May All Your Wishes Come True!”  Love it!!!!!!!!!!

Then Princess Arora came over!  They chatted about shopping in her royal closet! HA

And to by chance have captured this moment, I just LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Breakfast of Champions on a Mickey Mouse Plate!

And then Ariel came over!

And then Belle, what I don’t get is why Belle doesn’t wear her beautiful yellow dress??

So exciting!  Anyway once all the princesses came through and spoke to her we darted back down the stairs and ran to Dumbo.  You know you have to do that ride, its a Disney World Classic right?  Well just so happens the rest of them were almost at the front of the line for it so if we ran there was no waiting for us so off we ran!!!!!!!!!!!!  Dumbo here we come!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This picture is so my kids, Payton with the “I think she looks weird face” and Savanna loving on her brother! HA HA love it!

Afterwards it was over to John’s favorite…another must do if your at Disney World…Its a Small World! HA  Okay so confession John doesn’t care for the ride but rode it anyway! hehe

and then it was over to Peter Pan!

By this time the rest were getting hungry for a snack since they didn’t get a yummy breakfast like Savanna and I so we walked up towards Casey’s Corner, but while walking we fell right into the Move It! Shake It!  Celebrate It! Street Party Parade that was going on so stopped to watch!

One of the performers even stopped and got on a knee and kissed Savanna’s hand! HA

And then we sat down for a snack and Savanna went ahead and got out of her dress.

Then Savanna and I ran over to meet TinkerBelle in her new home and Rosetta was there too!

Savanna was warned that fairies love fireworks so watch them around her hair!  Too funny, first thing she went for was Savanna’s hair!

And Tinkerbelle proceeded to tell her how fireworks were made, which of course involved fairy dust! HA

Then we went to ride the Magic Carpets while the crazy boys went to ride Splash Mountain!

Savanna and I on the Magic Carpet…you knew I had to throw in another self portrait right…only way you know I was really there behind the camera!

The boys had a blast on Splash Mountain, Payton even set John up to where two girls offered them to sit in front! HAHA  They got soaked!

Notice John’s shirt, he had worn a long sleeve shirt and it got warm so he had to buy himself a Grumpy shirt!  Love it!!

Savanna’s favorite ride last time was Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, probably because it was the only one she was able to sneak on for height reason! HA  But we rode this one several times too.  While we did that Pop had the perfect seat!

Here we are in line for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.  Had this great picture of the back of her hair so we could all get a better look! LOL

And then we were loaded up!

Here’s a video of the ride…or a couple of them anyway!  Sorry for the zoom in, I must have hit it while the ride was so bumpy, but honestly its the laughter and squeals that makes the video anyway!   It gets dark on a few occasions because the ride goes through the mountains, but squeals rule!

Payton telling Pop all about it!

We rode this several times throughout the day, but clumping all the photos for these rides together!

Then off to Space Mountain.  Payton had already ridden it one time with John while we were doing the breakfast, now it was Savanna and Meme’s turn to join in!  Such fun!!

I have no shame in taking photos during the ride…actually got a couple to come out too! LOL  Mighty feat with a pitch black rollercoaster ride! HA

And here Savanna is thrilled because she got the first car…I was a nervous wreck in the back car worried she’d fly out since she’s so small!

So I didn’t purchase them, but here’s the idea! HA HA

Then it was off to Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin!  Super Fun!

Then another MUST DO when your at Disney World…the Mad Tea Party tea cups!

And on this ride, John decided he was going to spin it so fast till I puked.  Well he got me VERY dizzy, but no puking!  We would try for that again later! HA HA

And not so dizzy that I couldn’t take a picture of myself while spinning!

And the tea cups at night when I tried to make the kids sick…also didn’t work, the faster the better with these two!

But they do play along well!

after riding all the rides and seeing all the shows we plopped down in front of the Hall of Presidents (which by the way if you haven’t seen you totally need too, it was amazing!!  Payton knew so much information there already I was surprised and proud!  But truly an amazing show!)  Anyway we sat and waiting patiently (most of us anyway) for the Electrical Parade which is always a good parade!

Savanna’s still favorite Dopey!

Then we rotated around to the front of the castle for Wishes.  WOW WOW WOW is all I can say, how they do it all to the castle I have no clue but truly amazing !!!!!!!  Which is followed quickly by Tinkerbelle  ziplining out from the castle and fireworks!!!!!!

This was SUCH a long day…before open to close that we were exhausted.  We actually left half way through the fireworks to beat the crowds, but Savanna wanted to stay so John carried her the below way so she could keep watching! HA HA

And the monorail ride back to the parking lot…well pretty quiet too! HA

Both kids were out cold in the car quickly!

When we got back I asked Savanna if she wanted to take her hair down or sleep on it, she opted to sleep on it…hilarious!!!!

One sweet sleeping princess!

The next morning we didn’t rush to get up and moving.  We decided to do Animal Kingdom since we figured it would be a short day.  Which it was completely!

We loaded the tram.

Notice Savanna’s hair is identical to the day before…so either 1. she didn’t move when she slept. or 2. that proves how much hair spray they really used! HA HA  I vote on both listed senarios! HA

LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And this next one I love so much it might just be next years Christmas Card photo ( and since I didn’t get any out this year…sorry to all!  To much going on with the flood! )

The number one task here was to ride Mount Everest!  We had been waiting with excitement to ride it!  We got lots of fast passes for it and rode away!  Too much fun, Savanna and Payton both loved it!  We were bummed it broke down half way through the day though!  Oh well.  So we went straight to Mt. Everest and rode it!  But not before sayign hello to a few friends…Flick and Doug!

Well I take it back, we actually went to ride the Primeval Whirl.  This one was a rip off for Savanna, she was too short and the ride wasn’t all that great anyway…so she didn’t miss out on much.

While we rode the Primeval Whirl, Savanna and Pop rode the TriceraTop Spin.

when we got done we also went to ride the TriceraTop Spin.

Now it really was time to ride Expedition Everest.

Loaded up ready and excited to go!

And their photo I’m to cheap to buy! LOL

So Pop stayed back with the big cameara and took pictures of us coming down…see the guy hands up in the back with the bright green shirt on?  That’s John and Payton, Savanna and I are in front of them!

Tons of fun, rode many many times and of course I took a video!!!!!!  Here it is!  A lot of this one too is dark because the ride half in caves   But again the squeals are hilarious!

and here’s anothe since I rode with Payton the next time:

After we were done with the ride for a while we sat to get a game plan.  Really wanted to do the Kilimanjaro Safaris, everything else would just be a bonus, we truly just wanted a down day!

So off to Kilimanjaro Safaris we went!

On the walk we saw this beautiful cardnial flying around…such a pretty red!

Then we boarded the safarii bus to see the animals!  The tour guide was great and funny and of course had a skit to follow!

I didn’t bring my massively big lens….so you get what you get…to much to carry without a stroller! HA

After the ride we walked the Pangani Forest Exploration Trail.

And then the funnies thing ever happened…okay well probably only because it wasn’t me, but John the bird magnet got pooped on YET again!  OMG hilarious…look at the kids faces!!!!!!!!!  He was NOT happy but sorry had to tell the story!  Sorry to through you under the bus .  and the next pictures totally needed explaination right?

So thankfully Meme had wet wipes so he was good as new….but he picked Savanna up and put her on his shoulders for protection…she was MAD and did NOT want to be up there! LOL

Can you tell by the face? LOL

We then went to It’s Tough to be a Bug!  Pretty funny, totally 4 D where you got spit at and so forth, not a favorite of the kids! LOL  espeically the part where we got exterminated! HA HA HA

We then set up shop to watch Mickey’s Jammin’ Jungle Parade.  Such a cute parade!!!

high fiving Payton…you can see his hand only…I was to close to him to get his face! HA HA

Savanna giving high five, you can tell its her by the hair right? LOL

Then we headed out to dinner and home for the evening.  You can tell it was still early, Payton was still being his usual silly self!

And when we got ready for shower that night Savanna decided it was time for the hair to come down! LOL

And this the results!

And after several scrub downs and pixie dust still present…our sweet little straight hair was back! HA

After a good nights sleep we headed to Epcot, the much awaited Epcot per Payton and Pop!

Just a random shot but really liked it for some reason!

And this ride was Payton’s favorite!!!!!!  well one of the many, but this meant he was commander of our ship and with the G force feelings and all it was amazing!!!!!!  Must do it you go type ride, don’t let all the millions of warnings they keep telling you about scare you away!  Totally an amazing thing!

Here we are loaded up…Commander Stevens and Pilot Stevens, I was the Navigator and John the Engineer. LOL  Everyone had a responsibility to push two buttons when directed to.

When we were walking out, Payton was patting Savanna on the back telling her “good job pilot Savanna!”  Love that!

We also road Test Track quiet a few times!  Very fun ride and fun to make fun of the kids while they drove us! HA HA

A little video of the test track…as you see Payton didn’t like the heat portion! HA HA

After riding several more rides we got on the Re-Imagined!  Spaceship Earth.  When you get towards the end of the ride an automated computer system asks you questions then tells you about your future…too funny!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Unfortunately, while on the ride Payton started throwing up.  Thankfully Meme had a bag with her and was able to get to it in time!  He and John laid on a bench, well Payton laid John was the pillow for a while.

So Savanna went to the Character Spot and got autographs and photos for her and Payton.

Thankfully it was about the time she finished that Payton started feeling better, the color came back to his face and he wasn’t in pain.  Poor kid! Just hate all this for him!

But off we went again!

We all went on Journey Into Imagination with Figment.  Always a fun one!  this little purple guy is Figment if you didn’t know .

We then stopped to play in the fountains…and let me just say I didn’t pull the trick my dad played on me when I was little…he got me shot in the back with one of them! LOL

We all went to see The Seas with Nemo and Friends and WOW amazing….okay I see I’ve used that word a lot this trip…so guess your getting the jist of how fun the trip was???

after all this Payton, John, Meme and Pop were going back to visit all the countries.  Savanna wanted to see Rapunzel so figured I would take her back to Magic Kingdom and wait to see her.  So we split up.  On our way to the monorail we ran into Chip.

Dale was apparently up in a tree. Ha ha

When we first got to Magic Kingdom it just so happened Pinochio was out signing and taking pictures, Savanna jumped in line and was the last one they took!

Then it really was off to meet Rapunzel (or wait in the longest line in all Disney park…we were warned so knew we’d have to be lucky to 1. make the cut off or 2. wait to be first…we waited 25 minutes to be first in line!…can you say BEATING!) But worth it as Savanna was thrilled and now wants her hair as long as Rapunzels…YIKES!

We then took our chances and ran back over to see if Jasmine and Eric were there adn that we wouldn’t get cut off, we did infact NOT make it, but the nice man saw the disappointment in Savanna’s eyes and told us to hold on and where to sit in the shade…he snuck her in to get her picture with them and meet them!  So lucky and grateful!!!!!!!!!!!

Anyway back over at Epcot the others were enjoying the Countries.  Payton also came upon Chip and Dale and got a picture too!

Once Savanna and I got back over to Epcot we headed out.  We went to dinner at UNO’s pizza…super yummy but found out something in their pizza like several others makes Payton cough…so it was an all nighter again! UGH

But we still headed back out to Epcot to see IllumiNations : Reflections of Earth.  I wish I had pictures to show you how amazing, but Savanna sat on my shoulders the entire time and Payton on John’s so they could see really good!  Amazing show!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  But before seeing that we took all our fast passes for our favorite rides and rode till they were gone, hints the reason that we were late getting to the night show and kids were on our shoulders! HA HA  So worth it!

The make you happy sign at night!

And the Epcot sign at night.

So of the 1500+ photos I took I got them down to this to tell our story…one word AMAZING!  Reliving the trip through this blog makes me more excited to go again…such a blast!  Thank you Meme and Pop for this unforgetable Christmas present!!!

Here’s most of the kids…and Joey!

Hailey pouring sparkling apple cider for all the kids and me since I don’t drink

Alyson and Lacey.

Savanna and Lacey ready for the new year to come!

Joey the entertainment!

Finally here…HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

and Happy Birthday Joe…with a personal singing of Happy Birthday from Joey!

And at 2am it was time to go…Savanna curled up on Nick so know we were all so tired! But had a blast!!

HAPPY 2012 EVERYONE!  Hope 2012 has wonderful things in store for you all!

Jeremiah 29:11

“For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.”

We started off the evening at the Titan.  Mise well go big to start with right??

here they go making the first BIG drop!!!!!!!!!!!

Here they are at the end of the ride…see Payton waving to me?   Glad to see that smile, I must confess I was a bit worried, he rides rollercoasters but had never done this one!

But when he came walking off, this face says it all!

While the others all waiting in line for this ride, I took Will (who didn’t want to ride it) and Savanna who wanted to but was to short (couldn’t pull off 48 inches if we are already tip toe for 44!) ha ha but I took them to the ride beside the Titan where they had a blast too!

Savanna was dying to ride a rollercoaster so we headed to the Shock Wave…do we all know about that one?  It has two upside down flips.  She wasn’t the least bit scared!

Here she is all ready to go!

This was the first year she was even close enough to ride the big ones and boy was it FUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!  She loved it!!!!!!!!!!!!

We rode all the rollercoasters that were open and had a great time!

When we finally left we headed to TGIF to finish up a fun night with food!   Thanks Mat, Lindsay, Krista, Mike and Will for going with us!  Had a blast!!!!!!!!!!!!

]]> http://stevensfamilyof4.wordpress.com/2012/01/23/six-flags-3/feed/ 0 stevensfamilyof4 http://stevensfamilyof4.wordpress.com/2012/01/23/great-grandma-jean-at-christmas/ http://stevensfamilyof4.wordpress.com/2012/01/23/great-grandma-jean-at-christmas/#comments Mon, 23 Jan 2012 22:27:13 +0000 stevensfamilyof4 http://stevensfamilyof4.wordpress.com/?p=3908 ]]> When we took Grandpa Jean to the airport I was able to get these two super cute pictures so wanted to share!

So glad she was still able to travel down here to spend Christmas with us!

This will be a shorter than normal post for Christmas, which I’m sure most are glad about! HA HA But it was great!

Christmas Eve we went to my parents house so the kids could open gifts from them as well as spend time with my Granmdma that came in for Christmas from Iowa.  So blessed that my kids could have so many  memories with great grandparents!

Thank you Aunt Chris for the kids gift cards!  A huge hit!

And Aunt Linda the Rangers wallet went to INSTANT use!

and thank you to all the other aunts and grandparents for the wonderful gifts for the kids…all a huge hit!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Nana and Grandpa got them ride on scooter things that were a blast!  Not sure if I or the kids enjoy them more! HAHA  Savanna also got High School Musical (her favorite movie!!) for the Wii with microphone to sing along with it!  Too much fun for us both!  haha  Payton got Wii Vacations as well so its a fight for the Wii now! Ha ha  another one of their presents will be blogged once we do it…a trip to the Great Wolf Lodge!

We went home and got ready for bed…and guess who came!!!!!!!!!!!

And we all enjoyed checking out their stuff while they were locked in the room! HA HA

John did finally let them out once everyone was there to see them and their excited little faces!  Oh nothing is better than Christmas through a childs eyes!

Pretty sure John was really enjoying keeping them locked up! HA HA  Can you just imagine the little screams coming from behind that door with excitement???

Yes pictures coming from all angles! HA HA  They got a bike, electric scooter and matching netbook tablets which made for happy kids!

and then it was stocking time, where Payton found the best gift ever…Santa must have known his love for the Rangers!

and her love for bottle candy! HAAAAAAAAAAAA

Then all their presents were passed out (and did I mention that all gifts but about 4 under the tree were the kids!?)  This part took a while! HA

The washing machine for her doll clothes she’s been begging for!

Rangers World Series 2011 necklace!  Yes we had the 2010 but needed the upgrade! HA  Thanks Austin and Maddie!

And every Ranger fans dream…Josh Hamilton LEGO man to add to his collection!

Finally got the bat she’d been asking for…thank you Payton!

Thank you Uncle Mat and Aunt Lindsay for the perfect carry on bag for our Disney trip!!!!!

After finally making it through all the gifts and having breakfast (Cinnabuns) we got dressed and headed to Aunt Sissy and Uncle Brian’s house.

Had an amazing brunch and the kids opened yet more presents!  I think we have the best aunts, uncles and grandparents around!  God blessed us all big time!

After all these were opened I am pretty sure we now own half the American Girl store and Half the Lego store!  Kids are in heaven!!!!!!

Savanna gave us a stand up performance! HA  This was by far John’s favorite toy she got! HA HA HA HA HA

Later that afternoon we headed back to Arlington and went to my parents house for dinner with family and friends.  We played lots of games including splitting into groups, each having a child and only three rolls of crate paper and had to create Santa…best dressed one wins…did I mention we only had 5 minutes to do it all in??  Here was the final!  John’s group had Savanna, my group had Payton.

There were several other games but this was the most picture friendly one!

The next morning Meme and Pop gave the kids (and us) our Christmas present…trip to DISNEY WORLD!  So they knew before hand but was still super exciting for us all too!  The kids gave Meme and Sugar Bear Matching PJ’s…ha Look how cute Sugar Bear is!

Like I’ve said many times it was a great Christmas with all of our family and friends!  We are so grateful for each and everyone of you, near and far!!  Thanks for everything and hope your Christmas was just as Merry!!!

]]> http://stevensfamilyof4.wordpress.com/2012/01/23/christmas-2011/feed/ 0 stevensfamilyof4 http://stevensfamilyof4.wordpress.com/2012/01/13/the-flood/ http://stevensfamilyof4.wordpress.com/2012/01/13/the-flood/#comments Fri, 13 Jan 2012 21:29:50 +0000 stevensfamilyof4 http://stevensfamilyof4.wordpress.com/?p=3903 ]]> Well the last day of school I started a load of laundry and left to pick the kids up from school.  Two hours later I came back home and something wasn’t right.  Water was flowing down my driveway and out the front door.  When I opened up the garage door water came pouring out and yes the house was flooded!!!!!!!!!!  The washing machine never got out of the fill cycle!   What a mess.  Thankfully the insurance company sent a company right away to start drying us out but as I type this exactly a month after it happened we are still homeless!  The floors have now been all town out (pretty much the entire downstairs) and we are trying to get floors and baseboards and everything else figured out!  Thankfully Meme and Pop have willingly (at least we think ) let us stay with them so we have a home.  The bummer part was I went to get Payton from school to tell him that his test results from the day before (the test to see whether Christmas would be spent in the hospital again or not) came back and the prayers had worked…his PFT was the highest it has been all year and his lung X-ray was much better!  We would be spending Christmas at home.  Apparently I spoke too soon, BUT we were much happier to be at a home and with all our friends and family free to go where we wish and when!!!!  We will be forever grateful for this!

Anyway its too depresseing to keep taking pictures of our destroyed house, but here’s a few.  Right now the house is just solid concrete and furniture in any place that wasn’t ruined crammed in!  There are holes all in the sheet rock and no baseboards on the walls.  But on a positive and exciting note, can’t wait to show off all my new floors when I pick them and get them! HA HA

will keep you posted on the progress….what a mess but excited about the new floors!

]]> http://stevensfamilyof4.wordpress.com/2012/01/13/the-flood/feed/ 0 stevensfamilyof4 http://stevensfamilyof4.wordpress.com/2012/01/13/mission-arlington/ http://stevensfamilyof4.wordpress.com/2012/01/13/mission-arlington/#comments Fri, 13 Jan 2012 21:19:06 +0000 stevensfamilyof4 http://stevensfamilyof4.wordpress.com/?p=3901 ]]> During the break we met some friends up at Mission Arlington to volunteer our time at the Christmas store.  I think its so great for the kids to be able to give back and hopefully understand a bit more that not everyone is as lucky as they are.  Not to mention that service is part of Gods plan for them.  Anyway we had a great time and can’t wait to do it more!

The boys got put in charge of breaking down and flattening boxes!

Savanna was emptying and replacing things on shelves and bring the boxes to the boys.

Then the boys started stocking the shelfs too.

and occasionally got caught playing with the toys! HA HA

The crew…

Can’t wait to do it again!!!!!!!!!

Here’s Payton and Gavin, God-brothers!

Savanna and Gavin.

And all three adorable kids!!!!!!!

We also were able to see the Harris family, it had been almost 2 years we figured out since we had seen them.  The kids had a blast!  They got to make ice scream sundaes does it get any better??? Yummy!

Savanna and Tanner

Love catching up with friends!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

When we first got there the kids got in their suits and off to the water park it was!

Although her face looks scared…its not, she giggled the entire time, this child has NO fear!!!!!

Savanna was all about jumping the lily pads!

Corrina and I … well we enjoyed the Hot Tub!

And the boys, well they were just being BOYS!

We went back to the room and got cleaned up…

and headed to have dinner at Palio’s pizza, Payton’s favorite!

When we got back it was jammie time for story time in the main lobby!

He’s always such a clown, you gotta love him!

Todd and Payton

Tavyn and Savanna

The boys passing out the Starbucks to the girls.  Notice the snow they make fall in the lobby during the story….so cool!

Cheers to good friends!

 Savanna got picked to be the first in line to get her picture taken with the reindeer!  Very cool!

The girls

The kids in their normal states! HA HA

Such GOOF BALLS!  Gotta love em!

Love how they have fun in the dumbest ways!

This is the best picture!  LOVE IT!

Walk overs off a chair, a new favorite thing! HAHA

The next morning we went straight back to the water park for more fun before heading home!

Here’s a video of the kids going down this slide too!

We had a wonderful time, thanks Baffa’s for the memories !  Can’t wait to do it again!!!!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/28643021@N08/sets/72157628420206225/with/6687798223/

and here’s a video of their sweet little voices!  love it!

Here’s Savanna and Mrs. Sawyer working on her snow globe together .

Snow globe completion!

Then it was the gift exchange to the reading of Twas the Night Before Christmas…everytime they heard the word THE they had to pass the book.  Too cute and they loved it!

And the kids with Mrs. Sawyer and her Christmas tree full of gift cards!

And when Savanna is out of school Payton is still in PE so we went to say hi to him and watch him play some dodge ball!

And then it was off for One Month for the Holiday break!!!!!!!

Love our school!!!!

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