goodbye 2008

once again it's been a crazy year...
one with so many things to be thankful for ...
our first trip to hawaii,
selling our first home (IN 3 DAYS!)
building a new one to replace it,
stacey running his first half marathon,
sending ben to kindergarten,
taking a Christmas disney trip ...
AND SO MANY THINGS IN BETWEEN!!

it was fun.
but it can only get better from here, right :)

cookie decorating according to alex

this break in blogging ....

has been compliments of ...

the makers of
advil cold & sinus
nyquil
and
kleenex.

i think that the CEOS of these companies go around spreading cold germs ...
knowing they will make a ton off our family alone!

whatever their plan ...
it worked.

we caught a nasty cold bug
THAT
JUST
WON'T
LEAVE!

and my guess is ...
it will clear up just in time for school to start back up again
so that my kids can bring home something new :)

SO ...
until i can actually open my eyes and look at the computer screen

know that although we were sick,
we had a GREAT Christmas
we saw lots of people we love (who probably caught what we had ... SORRY!)
had a lot of fun
and took a lot of pictures ...
which i will post later :)

we hope that your Christmas was a nice one ... and that you enjoy the last few days of 2008!

ho ho ho

because we are leaving town tomorrow, the boys get their stockings and presents tomorrow morning here at home.
SO ...
before going to bed tonight ...
ben wrote santa a note, drew a few pictures, and set up a 'waiting station' for santa.

here's hoping that santa can read phonics!



AND in case you are having trouble ...
"we baked. cooked you some cookies."

barnett christmas card outtakes

do you ever get a christmas card and wonder how many pictures were taken before 'the right moment' was captured.
i know i do!
and sometimes i wish people would send those 'fun' pictures instead!

so ... although i did send the 'best of the bunch' in my card ...
i figured i'd give you a behind the scenes look at what our 'christmas card shoot' looked like ;)
(keep in mind this is just 6 of the MANY we took)

sharing the moment

sometimes pictures do a MUCH better job of retelling a story than i EVER could do ...

that is why i LOVE this sequence of pictures i took at disney.

i remember it started with ben laughing and trying to give alex a kiss

i remember hearing a "BEN ... THAT IS SO GROSS!"

now ... HERE is the rest of the story

can you tell which brother may have been running a LITTLE low on sleep ;)

busy bussers

yesterday i called and got the boys set up so that they can ride the bus

they were SO excited for this morning to come
by 7:30 they were completely ready to go
and had i let them ... i am pretty sure they would have gone and waited for the next hour outside!

*****
now ... if i can just keep them excited so that every morning runs this smooth!

one reason (of many) that i LOVE drew ...

because when alex decides he wants to go play outside ...



drew is VERY easily convinced to join him :)




thanks, drew!

until next time ...

we already miss you, 70 degree weather!

when the tooth fairy isn't allowed

while at disney drew lost a tooth.

now .. you may not know this ...
but the tooth fairy is not allowed at disney.
apparently it is 'tinks territory'.

and just in case you're wondering what tinkerbell does when someone loses a tooth ...
drew was surprised with some disney dollars ...
AND
because tink is too little to leave a note she left him a pin (which we heard can't be bought and can only be given by tink herself) to let him know that she was there!



and thanks again to the special mousekeeper that we had who helped tink out ;)

the candlelight processional

as i've mentioned ... one of the things we loved about disney's christmas was that they didn't keep out the real meaning of Christmas.

one night we were able to enjoy the candlelight processional at EPCOT.



each night between thanksgiving and Christmas - the Christmas story is read, from the Bible, by a celebrity. the celebrity would read a bit ... then an incredible choir would sing. then read then sing .. and so on. it was AMAZING! i had goosebumps! ESPECIALLY during the finale of the hallelujah chorus.

NOW ... the night we had reservations for ... neil patrick harris was the guest reader.

AND ... i know you are all wondering how it sounds to hear barney reading The Christmas Story.

SO ... enjoy this clip .... and if you ever get the chance to be at disney during this time ... SERIOUSLY ... GET RESERVATIONS ... it is TOTALLY worth it!

our fun mousekeeper

each day we came back to a very fun room.
we never knew what to expect.
here are just a few examples ...

*mickey reading "diary of a wimpy kid" to pluto.

*charlie watching tv
his paw was on the remote ... and the tv was turned on to disney channel.

*charlie hiding under a blanket reading the autograph book

*a remote control car made out of washcloths

and many more towel animals ... a few of which you can see in these pictures :)


i don't know who got more of a kick out of it ...

us, trying to figure out how they made them, or the kids :)

our new friend - PUSH

this is a friend we met at disney, named PUSH.

(he told us that was his name)

PUSH is a talking trash can.

really ... PUSH is a remote control trash can with a guy who follows him closely - but not too closely - and interacts with people in tomorrowland. it is SO clever and the kids all LOVE it. they have no idea who is controlling it and how PUSH is really hearing their answers.

i took a bunch of video of him talking to the boys, and then to stacey as well - but here is just a small clip :)

favorite rides

this was the first trip that drew has gone on rockin' roller coaster
it is now his favorite ride ...
he rode it a total of 6 times i believe.

ben and alex on the other hand lean towards the slower .. more relaxing rides
(how funny is that?! ben ... slow and relaxing ... HA!)

their favorite ride is the TTA - the train that circles above tomorrowland



i can't even come close to telling you the number of times we rode it.
when all else is busy ..
you can pretty much guarantee the TTA won't be
so we rode it often:)

the balloon man

one of the nights we decided we needed a break from disney so we went to chili's
(no comments from the peanut gallery on this one ... yes we have a chilis here that we could go to ... and we are losers for not trying some place new ... i get it ...)

there was a guy coming around to the tables and making balloon creations for the kids.
he asked them what they wanted ... anything they could imagine ...
(the guy OBVIOUSLY doesn't know drew)
and then he would make it for them.

ben immediately said pluto.
alex said mickey mouse.
and drew finally decided he would like an army guy with a parachute.

the guy was incredible!!
we were so impressed!

Mr. TMI

... i am taking a break from the disney trip to share a bit about my morning with ben ...



it's no secret.

my kids like to talk.
ok .. LOVE to talk.
they don't stop.
ever.

so ... it should come as no surprise when i say that ben talks to everyone.
while drew is the king of sharing random and useless information,
ben gets the crown for being the informer ...
meaning - he informs everyone about what's going on in our lives.
whether he knows them, or not.

today, for example, we were at target
(yes ... big surprise ... i know)
immediately upon entering a check out lane ben says ...
"did you know that i have another brother?
not this brother.
there's another brother.
there are 3 of us.
and he's at school.
AND ...
did you know that i puked 2 nights ago."

nice, ben.
although i know you like to keep the target check out ladies up to the minute on barnett family news ...
this would be one of those things that it's probably best not to tell

eating our way through ...

one of the best parts about disney has to be all of the treats ...

... because calories don't count at disney world ...
right?!

our character loving characters

let it be known that
ben loves pluto
and
alex loves all things mickey mouse
well ...
except the live one :)