Disney World!!

Well, our quick trip to Orlando has come and gone. After much anticipation and excitement, we had a great 3 day trip to sunny Florida. Monday morning we left our house at 6 am so that we could catch our 10 am flight out of Atlanta. We arrived at the gate with about 15 minutes to spare (much to the chagrin of my always-early-never-late husband...except when he is with his wife and kids). The flight was uneventful and fun for the kids and we landed in Orlando by 11:30 am. After picking up our rental car, we decided to head straight to Sea World in hopes of getting in most of the park in 1/2 a day. It was a challenge to hit all of the shows back-to-back-to-back, but the kids loved most of it (Sea World for an 18-month old is fun for the first 30 minute show, but after that Trey became very restless). Fortunately we packed lots of snacks and candies and managed to wrestle our way through most of the shows. The park closed at 7 pm, so after a full day of fun, we finally headed to our hotel. We stayed at an Amerisuites that was part of a Timeshare package that for the 2 nights of hotel, plus 2 Disney world tickets, only cost us $123. The hotel wasn't in the best shape but the room was big, which was great for our party of 5. There was a pull out couch as well as 2 double beds, which allowed the girls to have their own bed...very important for our crazy sleeping girls! After a quick dinner at our favorite restaurant, Chick-fil-A, we headed to bed. Tuesday morning started early with a quick continental breakfast, then Jeff and I headed for our mandatory 90 minute timeshare presentation. Jeff and I have sat through a couple of timeshare presentations before, so we knew what to expect. I have to say that the sales people at this presentation were probably the most rude and pushy of the ones that we have had thus far. But in the end we said, no thank you and thanks for the tickets and cheap hotel. We were done with the presentation by 10 am, so we decided to let the kids take advantage of the decent pool at the hotel and swim for about 1 hour. They loved it! I was anxious to see how Trey would do, since he hasn't been swimming for a while, but he loved it. There was a small water slide that kept the girls busy. After a quick bite to eat, we headed to the Magic Kingdom. We finally entered the gates of Disney World at about 1 pm. We really didn't think we were going to be able to ride all of the rides, since the park closed at 7 pm, but we decided to give it a shot. We were pleasantly surprised to find little to no wait times at most of the rides. In fact the longest we waited for a ride was probably 10 minutes and that was Splash mountain. The kids loved the rides....even Trey behaved completely on every ride! We were able to ride all of the rides except Dumbo, the Haunted Mansion, and Space Mountain (the last 2 by choice) as well as take in the parade at 3 pm. As we were finishing up the last of the rides around 6 pm, the skies opened up and it began to pour rain. After waiting 20 minutes to see if the rain was going to let up, we decided to make a run for it. We packed the girl under the stroller canopy and Jeff carried Trey in his hooded jacket and we ran for the entrance. We were soaked by the time we reached the long line to the monorail, but actually in better shape than a lot of people. We had remember to pack our jackets with us throughout the day despite the 80 degree heat, and boy were we glad we did. After waiting for a good 10 minutes to ride the Monorail, we were slammed into a train car full of people. We were much relieved to arrive at the Tram, until we realized that in the large crowd and bustle of getting to the Tram we had left Kendal at the Monorail (Jeff thought I had Kendal, and I thought Jeff had Kendal) Let's just say I was sprinting to the top of the ramp and was relieved to find Kendal with a Disney employee fine, but crying for her parents! What an emotional roller coaster in just a short minute...relief, fear, and relief again. So after an emotional and exciting day we decided to head home after a quick bite to eat at Chick-fil-A. We knew before we came on the trip that Wednesday's weather forecast did not look good. So after sleeping in and another continental breakfast we headed to the Florida Mall to kill some time before we headed to the airport to catch our flight home. The Florida Mall was big mall with a lot of fun stores and an all important indoor playground for the kids. We headed to the airport early, so that we would not be cutting it close for our flight home. We were actually to our gate about 45 minutes early, which is a lot of time to kill when you have little kids at an airport. Trey kept occupied pulling our little carry on suitcase up and down the hallway in the Terminal. It was the cutest thing you have ever seen. He looked like a little man who knew exactly what he was doing and where he wanted to go. Although I was hoping that all of the physical activity might wear him out for the plane ride, he managed to stay awake and busy the entire flight. He was good though, as were the girls. We finally got to our car to head home about 6:30 pm. After a quick stop at Chick-fil-A for dinner we headed home. It wasn't long before all 3 kids where sleeping soundly in the back seat. We were all exhausted! In fact, I am feeling that exhaustion once again after writing this travel diary/book of our trip....thank goodness it was only 3 days...a good length for a trip with young kids!

The only negative about the trip was that my camera decided to call it quits after 4 great years of pictures on Monday afternoon...just as we were ready to take pictures at Sea World. I continued to click away during our vacation, but the pictures a pretty poor. Oh well, what can you do!

Coming home has been quite the adventure. I think I jinxed myself after writing my last blog entry about the flood....Mother Nature struck again while we were gone, but this time it was wind and hail damage. Whatever hit Tuesday morning at our house, whether wind or a tornado, it managed to do quite a bit a damage to most of the neighborhood. We were told by golf course personnel that there were over 3,000 trees down between the golf course and the neighborhood. We lost most of our patio furniture, a deck box and had a some exterior damage to our house, but overall we feel very blessed that it wasn't any worse than it was. Needless to say it has been a busy day, catching up on laundry, figuring out our house mess, shopping, visiting teaching, etc...Thank goodness tomorrow is FRIDAY!

The Flood

Alabama is part of the severe drought conditions that plague much of the southeastern United States. Since we moved to Alabama last March, we have had very few days of rain. Well, last week the skies opened up and we had rain for a couple of days. Having a pond in our backyard has not been an issue, until last week. With lots of rain very fast we soon found our backyard flooded by water. You can tell just how far the water had come in on our grass by identfying the two benches that now looked more towards the middle of the pond rather than the edge of the grass. Fortunately after only one day the waters had receded back to where they should be leaving just a little mud behind on our grass. But the whole incident did remind us how quickly nature can change the environment around us.
One of Trey's Favorite Hiding Places is in the Kitchen Cupboard


Tomorrow we are headed for a short vacation to Orlando. The kids are so excited they can hardly stand it. We have had motivation for good behavior for the last couple of months around our house when we remind them that only the kids that behave will be able to accompany us on our trip. We will be back on Wednesday, so hopefully within a couple of days of our return I will be able to detail what we were able to do and have pictures to prove it!

Yes, Trey has found his Nose and we often find his finger in it! (I know my brothers love it)

Trey's 18-month Stats

Trey had his 18-month well-baby check up last week and I thought I had better record his stats before they were forgotten. He is 25.8 lbs. and 33.8 inches tall. Which puts him in the 50th percentile for weight and 90th percentile for heighth...suprise, surprise!

Valentines Day 2008

The Family I Love




All you have to do is mention holiday to my girls and they become the happiest kids around! Bayley knew that Valentine's Day was coming because her teacher had started to talk about it a couple of weeks before February 14th. As soon as she found out she became obssessed with finding and completing the perfect Valentine's for her class and family. We made a special trip to Target and I let her pick out her Valentine's for her class this year. She was so excited that we barely made it through the door before she had all of them out and put together. Then they sat on our kitchen counter for about 5 days before she could actually take them to school. I don't think she remembers any of her previous Valentine's Days so after a little party at school and the Valentines exchange between the students, she felt like the most loved girl in the world. It was great to watch her come in from school beaming! I wish she felt that way everyday, but unfortunately the school kids aren't always that kind. As a family we had a small Valentine's celebration. Jeff asked me where I would like to go to dinner and I told him Chick-fil-A was the place for me. No waiting to be seated, no waiting to be served, the food is a family favorite, and we could have the kids home and in bed at their normal bed time. I loved it and the kids loved it! After we got home from eating the girls put together homemade Valentine's cards for their dad and their dad had them list the things they loved about their Mommy! We exchanged small gifts and then headed to bed. What a perfect Valentine's Day if you ask me. I do have to mention a few of my favorite items from the "Why I Love Mommy" list:

1) She gives us donuts for breakfast on Valentine's Day (a VERY special treat)

2) She helps me pick up my toys

3) She will help me get toys that I cannot reach

4) She reads with/to me



This last week was a big week for us here in the Thornton household. I bought curtains for our family room. To many of you this may not seem like a big deal, but for me/us it is a huge deal. If you ask me, most rooms have very little need for curtains. In fact, my house would probably only have curtains in the kids rooms had there not been curtains rods over most of the windows when we moved in. Since we moved into our new house last March, finding curtains for these bare curtain rods has been at the top of my to-do list. I do not consider decorating one of my talents. In fact, unlike many women that I know, I really do not even enjoy decorating my house...it is more of a chore, so finding curtains became somewhat of a chore after such a long time. However, after almost a year of searching I think I found some great curtains! Both Jeff and I are happy with them and we are both more than thrilled to be able to knock curtains off of our to-do list (Jeff is especially pleased after having to wait almost a year to get that project complete).




The Curtains

18 Months!

Trey playing Elephun with Kendal
Sunday Pictures
His sister's love him

Cute Kendal

Today Trey turned 18 months. Jeff and I are very excited about this milestone because now that means Trey can officially go to nursery at church. Needless to say the last couple months of church have been interesting. It is just about impossible to keep a busy little boy quiet and content during 3 hours of church. We have been counting down the weeks until today and are so excited that not only can we enjoy church more, but I know Trey is going to enjoy nursery much more than hanging with the adults in Sunday School class (not that we spent a lot of time in the class, but rather we did spend a lot of time in the hall). He went right into nursery today and loved every minute of it. A couple of times I thought I heard him crying, but after a quick peak in I realized he was just squealing with delight!


Trey is such a happy little boy. We feel so very blessed to have him in our lives. His sisters absolutely adore him. He is constantly busy and keeps me very busy. He is ALL boy...despite the fact that we will often find him carrying around a purse and a barbie. Jeff gets worried sometime that he has too many girl things surrounding him, but I like to point out that he will be a very well-rounded boy. He loves to climb and continues to find new and exciting ways to be michevious. He has learned to hide when he is doing something he shouldn't be doing...one of his favorite spots right now is under his dad's office desk. The other day I found him devouring hershey kisses as quickly and quietly as he could. He is extremely goofy and loves to compete with his sisters for attention. I am trying my best to enjoy Trey at 18 months old. Despite the constant energy required to occupy and corral our busy boy, he really is a lot of fun!

When Dad's Away We're Off to Grandma and Grandpa's to Play

My aspiring cake-decorators
Trey has begun to enjoy "helping" in the kitchen with the girls

Jeff's new calling as Young Men's President is definitely keeping him busy. Most weekends he has either a Young Men's activity or a scouting activity that usually take up most if not all of his Saturday. So when he is busy with the Young Mens, we have decided we will take advantage of living so close to Grandparents so the kids and I make the short 1.5 hour drive to Marietta to see Grandma and Grandpa "G". And lucky for me, Grandma and Grandpa "G" have been gracious enough to give up their entire Saturdays entertaining the Thornton kids. My kids love it!! Who wouldn't love a day when your Grandma and Grandpa do just about everything you have on your "list" (Bayley came to her grandparent's house with a 12 line list of things she wanted to do on Saturday) as well as other fun things that weren't even on your list. My kids have been blessed with wonderful grandparents on both sides of our family. They look forward to their bi-annual trips to Indiana and have loved having grandparents only a short ride away.

Grandpa and Kendal making Chocolate Chip Cookies from scratch!