Busy Summer!

Well we are full force into summer and it is flying by! After Disney World, Aunt Stephi, Logan & Brady came for a visit, then the next week we had Vacation Bible School, and now we are getting ready for Music Camp. It is very busy but lots of fun! We enjoyed a quiet 4th of July at home. For 4 whole days we were able to stay home (exept for going to church on Sunday, of course). Nee and Pa came for a cookout and then came on Saturday to help move a fence in our front yard. It was a lot of work but it is done! While Caleb was napping on Saturday, me, Ben and Callie went for a bike ride through the neighborhood. It was great! Nice breeze, good exercise! Well, we got to the other side of the neighborhood and the sky opened up. Needless to say we got a little wet! Callie had her bathing suit on so she was set but Ben and I looked like two wet dogs. We had a blast! The kids spent the rest of the afternoon outside playing with the water hose soaking each other and the dog. I think Louie enjoyed it more than they did!

I have really enjoyed spending time with my kids! Even though our summer is busy, we have our times to just relax at home and enjoy being together without a rigorous routine. I am so blessed to have these 3 wonderful children!

School's Out Surprise - DISNEY WORLD!!!!!!

Daddy, Ben & Callie having fun! Caleb wasn't tall enough to go on this but he wanted too.


Go Go Power Rangers!


Grannie and Callie shooting the aliens on the Buzz Lightyear ride!


Me and my sweetie!


Caleb fell asleep and missed out on the ice cream at Ghiradelli Chocolate. We took this picture so he would have proof that he was there!


Ready for the Magic Kingdom!


Two silly boys!


Ready for lift off!


After lots of fun, it's time to go home.


Where's Callie?


Caleb and his buddies!


Daddy and Caleb on Dumbo!


Lunch at the Castle!


Dinner with Mickey!

Well, believe it or not, parents can still be pretty sneaky! Matt and I have been planning a trip to Disney World for the family since January and kept it from the kids until the morning we were to leave. Yes! I am pretty proud of us for keeping this secret for 5 months! We were supposed to go last December but had to cancel since Matt could not get the time off from work and we were all pretty devastated (me more than the kids). I told Matt that the next time we plan the trip that I would not tell the kids until we were about to leave so they wouldn't be disappointed if something else came up. So, we did it! The kids last day of school was June 6 and we were to fly out that afternoon. We woke the kids up that morning blaring the song from High School Musical 2 "Summertime" and gave them a little "end of school" gift. In the bag was a Disney gift card, Disney 2008 t-shirt (thanks Denise for picking them up for me in Orlando) and a poem that Matt and I wrote for the kids to let them know the "big" secret. Matt videotaped the surprise and Ben wasn't quite awake, Callie just kept saying "Are we really going?" and Caleb, well, he was just excited to have a Mickey Mouse t-shirt! That moment was "priceless"! I already had the bags packed and everthing ready to go, we just had to go for the awards ceremony to finish up school. Later that night, we were having dinner with Mickey Mouse at "Chef Mickey"!

Here is a copy of the poem Matt & I came up with. We had lots of laughs as we were coming up with this one:

After a year that was hard and grueling, why don’t we take a break from schooling?
Drop your pencil; drop your pen, it’s time to let the fun begin.
For the happiest place on earth you know – Disney is the place to go.
We leave at 2:00 on a big ole’ jet, we’re headed south and everything’s set.
The bags are packed, lock up the house, and let’s go see the giant Mouse!

We Love You,
Mom & Dad

We had a blast at Disney World! Caleb could not take it in fast enough and he loved every ride we put him on. He even wanted to go on a few rides that he wasn't allowed. His favorite things were eating with Mickey Mouse (he kept asking if we could go eat Mickey) and seeing Buzz and Woody. Callie enjoyed dining with Cinderella at her castle and the rest of us enjoyed everything! My mom went for a few days and we enjoyed having her with us too! It was a wonderful time and we enjoyed every minute of it!

Now that we are home, we are busy, busy with summertime activities. Aunt Stephanie came for a visit with the cousins, next week is VBS at church and we have Music camp, soccer camp, and lots of other fun things in store. The biggest for mommy is the trip to the Mall of America next month with my sisters! Woohoo! I can hardly wait!

I hope everyone is doing well and I look forward to posting all our summertime adventures here so stay tuned!

In His Mighty Grip,

Allison

Callie's Big Piano Debut!

Callie has been taking piano lessons for 2 years now and she is doing so good! She missed the piano recital last year because we were in China but this year she banged out the best version of "Jesus Loves Me" I have ever heard! (Of course, that is my opinion and I am not biased at all!) We were very proud of her for doing her best and working hard this year in piano.

Ben will be entering middle school next year and I don't know how ready I am for that but I praise God that he is going before us and paving the way! Ben had tryouts for middle school soccer and he made the first cut! God gave him such a talent for athletics and he works hard to improve and do his best. He will be doing a soccer camp this summer with the professional soccer team here in town, the Hammerheads. He is really looking forward to that! We are also very excited that we only have 3 days of school left! WOOHOO!!!!!!! A break from homework and getting up with the roosters. We are on the countdown and have a lot of extremely fun surprises in store for our kiddos this summer! We'll keep you updated since we don't want to give the secrets away too soon to the kids.

Welcome to the new Jordan Family Website!

We decided to start a new website to chronicle the many adventures of the Jordan family! We enjoyed keeping Caleb's website updated through his first year as part of our family but this website will keep you up to date on the whole family. God is so good and we want to give him total praise for the blessing of family. I will try to keep it updated as much as possible so stay tuned. It is sure to be an exciting time, never a dull moment around here! For past adventures and to relive Caleb's journey joining our family be sure to check out the posts at the link below!