Hurry we need a pumpkin!

Last year we had just moved to Illinois so we weren't really on top of everything but we did get pumpkins. It was a little stand by our house.  This year I really wanted to go to a pumpkin patch and go in the field and pick our pumpkins and get apple cider donuts and the whole tradition of it that we used to do in Virginia.  Well it isn't Virginia and there aren't pumpkin patches all over the place. The one that I really wanted to go was an hour and a half away. BOO. Brett had to work that weekend so that kind of drive was out of the question. So instead we went to a farm that was 20 minutes away but we couldn't go to a field and pick them..they were just piled on the grass.  Which actually was fine since my big girls weren't super into it..the next day Jolie said to me..why didn't we just go to the stand by our house. BOO!  The shining moment...they had Apple Cider Donuts. SCORE!!! I love those babies.  We got one for all of us..BUT I didn't know that the pre bagged ones weren't warm. We got a bag of six and a single one. Jillian got the single one..the only warm one...way better than cold..but still very yummy!  Later that night we started carving.  I am the seed scooper and Brett is the master carver. We make a great team! I will post a picture of the finished pumpkins when I take one..oops!

Fall leaves + Friends= FUN!

Ready. Set. GO!

                                            Jumping in leaves is one of the BEST things of Fall!

 Throwing leaves is the next best thing...especially with some of your best little friends!

                                                        Sisters.  So sweet and cute!

                                                        Jacob is buried in a pile of leaves!

        1.2.3........THROW!!

 One of Jacob's best little friends. Madelyn!

 Colleen!!! or Coco as we call her a lot.

100th post: Activity Days- Break Fast!

We had another fun activity days at my house.  I asked the girls to wear pj's or comfy clothes and bring their scriptures.  We talked about what the word breakfast means- to break your fast from the night.  Than we talked about the different types of fasting we can have.  Mental fast- exercises fast, and spiritual fast to name a few.  We read the above scriptures and than I gave the girls a challenge.  To read your scriptures every day for 28 days.  If they did than we would have an ice cream party at my house when we are done.  I gave them all there own chart and told them I would do the challenge as well.  We than played a pj relay.  The girls divided into 2 teams and had to take turns putting on my old pj's and a pair of my husbands and then run  back for the next girl to go. It was a lot of fun and the girls were such good sports.  We finished it with a yogurt bar and they all took a mini box of cereal with the above scripture on the back. I found this idea here.
I am so thankful to be able to work with these beautiful girls. They are so amazing and sweet and teach me so much!

Cocoa Beach...the end of our vacation!

Before I get into our last part of our trip. I thought I would tell just a little bit about how we did Disney World. We knew we wanted to go and we knew that it would be expensive but our kids were getting older and it seemed like we always had a little one so we thought we better do it now before our big girls are in high school. So we talked to LOTS of friends who have been tons.  We learned about a great website called allears.net  They post lots of good information and tips and even deals.  We kept checking and hoping that they would have a fab deal...and they did!!!  A free dining plan if you booked by a certain date and took your actual vacation by a certain date.  We were so happy because it was right when we were hoping to go. Fall.  I know the kids are in school but it is so much cooler...well not as cool as we had hoped but also SO much less crowded. We really couldn't believe how there were no lines. We did fast passes only because we used them to plan out where to go. Most of the lines were between 5 and 10 minute waits. It was so perfect.  So we stayed at the Caribbean beach resort which was incredible. 7 pools a main big pool and tons of fun. A big eating area where we got free refillable mugs that we could refill as much as we wanted.  With the dining plan we were able to eat at lots of fun restaurants at all the parks and we also got a snack each day. So we got the dole floats and smoothies and ice cream. We felt like awesome parents because we could say yes and it didn't kill our wallet.  One funny thing is I really wanted to do Chef Mickey..it's a fun place to eat. It was super booked so I didn't think we would get to go. While me and Grandma and the girls were at Harry Potter world Brett and his dad and Jacob and Giselle stayed at the hotel and swam and had fun relaxing..getting yummy drinks at the pool.  Brett decided to see if he could get reservations for lunch at the hotel and they were booked but said there is an opening at Chef Mickey's...WHAT? So they took it and had a blast. So awesome.  I was really stressing about this vacation but thankfully once we got there it was nothing but FUN times for our family. Memories for a lifetime!!

We love going to the beach. The waves were fun and the water was so warm.  We decided to get boogie boards and the kids and I tried it for the first time. It was great having our very own private instructors...Brett and Grandpa Fox.  The kids LOVED it. All of them tried it over and over. It was so fun to watch them.

Universal Studios: HARRY POTTER WORLD!!!!

 This was the day my big girls were counting down for.  They were SO excited and Grandma Fox and I were just as excited.  We walked up to the wonderful Hogwarts express and I can say with honesty..it was amazing!

 The conductor was awesome and said to Jolie..we've had a lot of you Weasely's on this train! She LOVED that!!!

 One of the first things the girls HAD to do was go to HONEYDUKES!   We got Bertie Botts and tried lots of fun flavors.

 Some were really good....AND some were..........

 really Bad...haha Jillian got a bad one.

 Jolie and Grandma trying some out too.

 They also HAD to have a chocolate frog.  It was a solid chocolate and really really good. It also didn't melt..which is amazing considering how hot it was.

 We went into the owl post and inside there were wands and lots of fun stuff..like the book of monsters. It moved and growled..in it's cage. Very fun.

 Some of the shops you couldn't go in but looked at the window display. Jolie is in front of Hermione's Yule Ball gown.

 We couldn't wait any longer...we had to have the FAMOUS... BUTTERBEER!  You could have it either regular soda or frozen. I chose frozen.  It was really tasty and really sweet. I personally liked the frozen better.  The mugs were fun too. Grandma Fox also got pumpkin juice..the kids couldn't believe they had all the fun stuff from the books. Pumpkin juice tasted just like pumpkins.

 A few more shots in front of the Hogwarts express!

 Here we are at THE HOGWARTS!  It was amazing. They had moving pictures and you felt like you were in the actual school. Hidden staircases and other fun objects.  They even had characters from the movie..Dumbledore and then Harry, Ron and Hermione come out on this balcony and have you follow them under the invisibility cloak. It really looks like they are there. Then you go on the flight of Journey. It is a really fun ride.  There are a few other fun rides. One of the rides Jillian wasn't tall enough which was good because she would have been very scared.  We ended up breezing through it all pretty fast since there were NO lines.  It was such an amazing experience...and I still can't believe we got to be there!!

 We also went on a few Jurassic park rides.

This was when we first got to the park so it is foggy but it looked like a fun Dr. Seuss area..we were too excited for Harry Potter world so we didn't stay in that area.