I really didn't want to pour over *all* of the Disney photos again to pick out a bunch to post here. Here was just one highlight- Parker's birthday gift. Both girls got pirate makeovers! Princess makeovers are SO out-dated in this family and they are on to bigger, "badder" things. :) The girls got new "Elizabeth Swann" (Pirates of the Caribbean) costumes and they got their hair, makeup, and nails done. Then they had to recite the pirate oath, pledging their allegiance to Captain Jack Sparrow, and finally were able to enter the SECRET pirate room where we were NOT allowed to photograph what we saw!!! A *super* fun morning for the girls and for us while the boys went off to find characters to hang out with. :)
A little later in the day, the girls were in the pirate parade and then Morgan was chosen for training by Captain Jack himself!!!! After her training, Parker was also brought onstage to be part of the crew.
The vacation was an absolute dream-come-true. We've been to Disney somewhere around a dozen times, but this birthday trip was just SO special! We met up with a couple of sets of friends while we were there and that made it just that much more fun!In super-sad news, we returned home from Disney to discover that Jalen's beloved kitty, Sushi, died from ingesting plastic bags (a bad habit that already got him one enema.) Coincidentally, friends had some kittens that were just precious and eased our pain a bit. We are loving our new babies, Kuzco (Jalen's) and Leslie (Morgan's).
Hmmmm, what else is new? A friend that we have known by internet for several years came up from Illinois to spend a few days with us and go to the Time reunion concert. She was THRILLED when we took her after the concert to meet the band. Jerome's kiss is up there as a high point of her year, I think! Two of my favorite men...
Also in the "fan club" department, we saw Parker Welling in concert for the first time last week. This is THE Parker that inspired us to name OUR Parker, only at that time she was just a young teen and we had no idea she would grow up to be such an awesome singer! It was lots of fun to have the girls get to see her again after several years and they have already memorized all of the lyrics on her first cd! Get one for yourself- she rocks!
Parker and Parker...
Two of Parker's biggest fans- they came home, grabbed some microphones and the cd, and held their own concert. It's great to have a great Christian girl for our girls to look up to. :)
On one other note, I never updated on our 40 bags in 40 days challenge. We made it, but just a little late. In the spirit of Holy Week and the chaos of prepping for Easter and Parker's first communion, it just wasn't worth my time to write about it or even to push to complete the challenge on time, but we were thrilled to dump MORE than 40 bags in the end.We hope you have a wonderful Independence Day and we hope to post soon about our newest houseguest. Immo is flying in this evening from Switzerland to spend most of July here! He was one of the exchange students that hung out with our students a year ago.... we are so happy and honored to have him stay with us and to get to share some fun Michigan summer activities!
