Disney World (part 2)

On our first full day at Disney World (Tuesday) we decided to go to the Magic Kingdom. So, after we got done eating breakfast we headed out to catch the bus! We never had to wait too long, but the kids usually managed to entertain each other... or meet some new friends. Yet another picture in front of Cinderella's castle....

Grandma Piano on the magic carpet ride with Lola....they were in charge of the 'tilt' of our magic carpet... and Keaton and I were in the front controlling the height of our magic carpet... :)

The kids enjoyed playing on any 'playset' they could find...

The long awaited ride on the train around the Magic Kingdom....the kids couldn't wait to get on this.

One of the kids' favorite places was Mickey's Toontown...below are pictures of the kids at Mickey's house! They thought that was SOOOO cool....

After walking through Mickey's house, we got to go and meet Mickey! Keaton decided that he didn't want to meet Mickey or get his picture taken with him (he was too scared). Instead he was the photographer for Lola and me.... BUT.....

...after our pictures were taken, Micky went over and gave Keaton a high five and a hug...then SNAP! we got a great picture.... (funny, after that point, Keaton was very brave with all of the characters and LOLA turned into the one who was scared and didn't want to be around them!)

Grandpa Sheryl and Keaton walking...walking...walking....

And..... another pic in front of the castle....pretty much from this point on, every time we stopped to take a picture, we had to do a nice one AND a silly one (by request of the kids, of course).

Shortly after lunch we headed back to our motel on the bus to take a break! The kids got to swim every afternoon, and loved every minute of it. (There will be lots of pictures of swimming in the next post).

Below is a picture of Keaton explaining a map to Lola. He would look at the map ANY chance he got and he loved to help us find our way!

sunglasses....too cute.

Mini family picture by the water.... We were on the way to our dinner reservation for the evening at a seafood buffet!

I may have forgotten to mention this...but my grandpa and grandma Werges also came to Disney World for a part of our trip. We would usually see them when we went to PCB, but because we weren't visiting this year, they joined us at the motel at Disney so they could see the kids! They never went into the parks with us, but ate supper with us that night and watched us swim in the afternoons. It was great to see them again, and the kids always enjoy an audience while swimming! :)

I just wanted to include a quick picture of Lola in her 'ear muffs'. She wore these most of the trip...she was pretty much a scaredy cat and didn't want to go on many rides or go to many shows. :) (unbelievable, but true) We would put her ear muffs on so things weren't so loud and if she needed to she could just cover her eyes to block things out.

We ended the night at Epcot (because it was close to where we ate supper). We mostly just watched the fountains and just did a ride or two....long days call for early bedtimes!

Disney World (part 1)

This winter, Keaton, Lola and I took a little trip. The original plan was: the three of us would fly to Panama City Beach (where my parents live during the winter) and spend some time with them. Jason and I decided that he and Nash would just stay home because he is not at a great age to travel, and would not be easy to travel with....what can I say, he is a creature of habit and routine, and a visit to Panama City Beach would not include routines or habits *unless you want to count the habit of going out to eat every night. THEN in November, Jason and I had the GREAT idea of meeting my parents in Disney World instead of PCB. Keaton and Lola are at the perfect age for a trip to Orlando... and we knew that they would enjoy it. I wasn't sure if my Mom would go for it or not (Ha ha....of course she would). So, on Christmas morning we gave the kids a present containing some Disney toys to tell them we were going to Disney World in a few weeks! Keep in mind, I was expecting a great reaction...instead...Keaton cried because he thought he might be scared and Lola did not know what to think! I am writing a separate post for each day of vacation because otherwise I had WAY too many pictures to share. Enjoy!

So...on Monday, January 17th Keaton, Lola and I flew out of Moline on a direct flight to ORLANDO, FL! We were supposed to fly out at 9:50...but ended up in the plane on the tarmac for over an hour becasue of icy conditions. They de-iced the plane 2 times and then finally took off! The kids were EXCELLENT on the plane...they were very excited and really enjoyed coloring and taking in the sights.

We finally arrived in Orlando sometime after lunch, and took the Magic Express :) to our hotel to meet my parents. When we got there we ate an early supper and then headed to the Magic Kingdom! This was the first of many pictures in front of the castle!

Next are some pictures of us on the kids' 3 FAVORITE rides.... Dumbo, Small World and the Carousel. (Lola loves riding the beautiful horses....but Keaton prefers to sit on the bench :)

We ended the night with a great Electrical Parade....*not sure of the correct name. It was very fun to see the kids watch the parade, they really thought it was cool and it was the first time that they got to see any characters! Our first night was awesome...but we were tired and had to call it a night after that. Lola was WAY too scared to try to stay for fireworks...so we headed back to the hotel and got settled in to sleep after a long day of travel. Well, I hope you enjoyed reading about day 1 in Disney World....stay tuned for more installments!

whobody likes Lolaisms?

SO....here it is. Every time I post a funny from Lola on facebook, people remind me that I should be keeping track of these "Lolaisms". So, my mom lovingly went through my facebook page back to MAY and copied and pasted these posts for me to keep....so I thought that I would share them on the blog. So, enjoy...I know I sure have. My personal favorite is on May 24th. Please note: I love all of my children...and they all do funny or sweet things (some of which are included here in the "lolaism" list)...but at this age, Lola seems to have the most entertaining things to say! As I said in the beginning, there will not be equal coverage on all kids...but I will do my best. For now, enjoy Lola's funnies.

12.23.10 me- "are you buckled yet?" lola (while shaking her head) -"this is just life mom, this is just life...." me- "what do you mean?" lola- "mom, it is just life that it takes me so long to do everything!" well said, i guess....

12.21.10 Lola was heartbroken this morning. "mom, why did you guys name me Lola? it starts with 'Lo' and that means little and i am not little...I am 4." We have officially changed her name to High-la.... (by officially, I mean on facebook, of course)

12.19.10 Today Keaton asked "mom, how does God get babies into mommies' tummies?" Lola was quick to answer..."Christmas magic Keat, Christmas magic." (maybe we have been using that to explain too many things this time of year...)

12.4.10 "....with a corncob pipe and a butt and nose....:) and two eyes made out of coal...." (Lola seriously thinks these are the words.....")

11.19.10 ‎"mom, if you give me a piggy back ride I will give you a quarter..." maybe I'm using the quarter thing a little too much with Lola :)

11.8.10 I think it is sweet that I have had to reassure Keaton over and over that he can keep on living with me when he grows up :) this is something he is very concerned about. (and yes, we will have to have a little talk if he still feels that way when he is 18)

11.2.10 Lately, every time I send Lola back to her room to put away the clothes in her laundry basket, she comes out in a completely different outfit! :) Seriously, 3 going on 13

10.18.10 Tonight as we were getting ready for bed: Keaton was singing the Clayton Ridge Eagles fight song at the top of his lungs....(thank you kindergarten:) so Lola says "Keaton that is so loud it is hurting my eyeballs AND my earballs!" I later asked what earballs are...they are the part that you put the earrings through.....just in case you were wondering.

10.15.10 "but mom, i CAN jump on the bed because I'll never get hurt....I always keep things around my bed...and I will always make sure God is with me. HE will protect me!" how do I argue with that one?

10.11.10 my latest argument with little miss Lola...she is convinced that the instant Nash turns one (when he wakes up tomorrow morning) he will magically be able to walk and talk perfectly. "I can't wait to chat with him and see what his voice sounds like...." although I have tried to reason with her, I am choosing for this to be a battle I stop fighting :) who knows, maybe she will be right!

9.29.10 in case you were wondering... the opposite of 'inside out' is 'inside in' (lola has successfully used this in conversations like 3 times today :)

9.15.10 tonight keaton told me "I'm gonna tell my teacher on you, MOM!" (I hope I don't get in too much trouble from Mrs. Tujetsch for putting Keaton in timeout...)

‎9.13.10 "Mom! Look! it is snowing! that means it is almost winter! YES!" "No, Lola.... sorry to disappoint you, but that is just the corn dust from the dryer floating in the air and piling up in our yard....." "can we still play in it?"

‎8.31.10 "Mom.... can I text Keat? I really need to tell he somethin'....I REALLY miss he!" (thankfully preschool starts in a week....this kindergarten thing has been harder on Lola than mommy!)

8.22.10 leave it to Lola to have a hokey pokey accident at the wedding dance last night.... that is one DANGEROUS song!

‎8.5.10 "mom, when we go to the zoo in chicago...I don't want to see the scary animals like the lions and tigers....I just want to see the cuddly ones....like the crocodiles..."

9.27.10 Today at nash's 9 month checkup the doctor referred to him as a MOOSE! Yes, he is already 27 lbs and has 8 teeth...but he does not have any antlers :) I hope that my kids score as well on ITBS as they do on their growth charts...100th percentile every time!!! Nothing like setting the bar....

7.16.10 I just learned that every time Lola sits in the seat next to Nash in the car...she has to pay Keaton one penny. (I wondered why they were no longer fighting about that seat anymore...it is now a toll seat and Keaton owns it!)

7.14.10 Nash is in "crawling position" on a blanket, and keaton is giving him a ride around the kitchen! (is it because he is my 3rd baby that I think that this is incredibly cute instead of incredibly dangerous???)

7.12.10 swimming lessons went okay! one child went down the slide 3 times and jumped off of the diving board 6 times...and the other child just stayed on the steps and held onto the edge of the pool.... oh how their personalities shine through! :)

‎7.10.10 (at the pool yesterday) keaton says "mom, why do we have to get out of the pool?" I said "it is a pool check" keaton says "what are they checking the pool for?" LOLA says, with all of the confidence in the world, "they are just checking the pool for pee and poop, Keat!" She has got it ALL figured out!

6.28.10 ‎"but mom, why do they make dusting spray smell so good if they don't want you to eat it???

6.21.10 thinks it is cute that everytime I tell Lola "be careful" she says ..."but why, mom?"

5.26.10 Today the kids were telling me what they want to be when they grow up. Keaton wants to be a taxi driver AND Lola wants to be (drumroll please) a lollipop~

5.24.10 ‎"Mom, will you help me put my boobs on?"
-Lola...needing help with her swimsuit.

5.22.10 is listening to Keaton & Lola argue about whether or not tigers lay eggs. Lola says yes, Keaton says no..... I think I will just let them fight this one out....

5.20.10 I love it that my kids were just fighting over who GETS to change the toilet paper roll. keaton's future wife will thank me someday.

5.18.10 Keaton just came in the house with his bike helmet... "mom, help me put this on. I am going to play some tball with Lola and I want to be safe....she is pretty wild" Too cute. So they are both running around the "bases" with their bike helmets on. Love it!

5.13.10 so...lola just hurt her foot in her room....she was jumping from her bed onto a stepstool strategically placed about 3 feet away. "i was just trying to exercise, mom....!"

whobody had a wonderful Christmas?

Although Christmas was a few weeks ago, I thought that I should put a little post about our holiday season for 2010. We had a wonderful Christmas filled with programs, parties, presents...and pacifiers (Nash needed a lot of those to get through the first 3 things). Keaton and Lola both sang in the program at St. John's Lutheran in Guttenberg, where they both attend preschool. Lola was the token preschooler who kept lifting her dress up. (As you may know, every program has to have one of them :) They both did a great job of singing the songs...especially "Away in a Manger"....and at the end the preschoolers and the kindergartners ran around the aisles of the church as angels. Mom, Dad, Grandma Tractor and Great Grandpa Firetruck were very proud! Keaton had a Christmas program at school too (which I seem to have no good pictures of...) and then on Christmas Eve, Keaton was able to play the bells with the CCD kids for "Go Tell it on the Mountain". He, of course, stood in front of cousin Mason and right beside his BFF Lily! I am including the video....not because it is beautiful music (of course it is)....I am including the video because I think it is so stinkin' cute how PROUD Keaton is to be up there ringing the bells. I also enjoyed how he was getting so into it that not only was the bell hand ringing, but he was putting both hands and sometimes his whole body into it. The video is shaking because I was holding Nash while taping...along with giggling at his intensity. I hope you enjoy it too.

**********still working on uploading the video.... :(

After Christmas Eve church, we had supper with Jason's family at his mom and dad's house. The kids enjoyed playing with their favorite (and only) cousins....and they especially had fun opening presents. By the time we got to the presents, Nash was ready for bed...but he was a trooper and was able to party until 9 pm. *he is usually in bed at 7 :) When we got home we quickly set out milk and a cookie for Santa and carrots and celery for the reindeer...then it was off to bed.

Finally...on Christmas morning we opened Santa's gifts...the kids got WAY too many toys, but were very happy! Then for lunch we went to my Aunt Linda's house to spend time with my side of the family. Although there are no Zittergruen cousins for the kids to play with, the kids still had a blast playing with some of their Santa toys and entertaining the crowd. (Giving Lola a jingle bell is just asking for loud caroling).

The bottom picture of this post is of my 92 year old Grandpa Zittergruen (a.k.a. Grandpa Firetruck) trying to hold all 3 kids on his lap for a picture. As you can see, Nash was not extremely cooperative. Merry late Christmas from the Reimer family!

whobody are you talking about?

I thought it would be appropriate to first introduce you to the 'characters' of my life...and therefore the 'characters' in this blog.

First is Keaton, he is the oldest child in the family. He is 5 1/2 right now and is almost halfway through Kindergarten. Keaton is a very kind hearted, emotional, loving little boy. He is a kid who LOVES to play by himself....and sets up towns and make believe worlds in his corner of the universe (a.k.a. his bedroom). I thought that he might have a hard time adjusting to life in Kindergarten, but he proved me totally wrong. He loves to go to school and complete any task put before him, usually in a very organized fashion. Keaton is a very good helper...and loves to do jobs around the house, as long as he gets paid! He will go play outside any chance he gets...in the warmer months he goes on nature hunts and proudly rides his bike with no training wheels. In the winter he likes to go outside and shovel shovel shovel...he will make up places to shovel when the places that need shoveling are already done. Keaton is a very thoughtful little boy...he gets tickets at school for good behavior and once a month they get to spend those tickets at a store to buy trinkets for rewards. Often times he buys something for Lola with his tickets....very very sweet. As of right now, Keaton says that he never wants to move out of my house, even when he gets married he wants to live with Jason and I. We will see how that one turns out!


Next, we have Lola. She just turned 4 (but sometimes she acts like she just turned 14). Lola is in preschool 3 mornings a week, but she wishes it was every day. She is FULL of personality and gives me most of my stories to share. Her one liners and preschooler logic are a constant source of joy for Jason and I. Lola is a lot different than Keaton....still sweet but in a completely different way. When we are playing Uno and she has a wild card, she will ask Keaton what he has the most of and pick that color, even if she has none of that in her hand. Not a great strategy...but sweet thinking. Lola does NOT enjoy playing by herself. When Keaton is at school, she pretty much just follows me around and lays on the floor singing or talking to me while I do whatever it is that I am doing. She is really enjoying Nash more now that he is walking and talking and she is always the first one to run in his room to say good morning when he wakes up from his naps. Lola is not quite as efficient at getting things done as Keaton is. She is very easily distracted. When I send her back to her room with a basket of clean laundry to put away, she usually comes out in a different outfit, but completely forgot to put the clothes away. Lola gets lots of reminders...and the bribe of gum goes a very long way with her.

Lastly, the youngest child, Nash. He is about 15 months old right now and we are really beginning to see his personality shine through. Nash is a very determined young man. If he sees something that he wants...whether it is a nightlight or a bottle of vegetable oil...he goes after it, even when he is not supposed to. Now that he is walking well, he is able to completely rearrange cupboards and closets for me. It is not unusual to find the baking powder in the drawer on the bottom of the oven...or boxes of cake mix in the craft closet. His newest favorite toys are Keaton and Lola's toothbrushes. He will go after anything he can reach...today at lunch he was trying to get the full gallon of milk off of the table. Luckily, he did not succeed. Nash's one and only 'trick' is "nash, what does a kitty say?" and he will answer with a high little squeal. He does this not only when he sees cats, but any kind of animal...or really anything that slightly resembles an animal! He loves the furreal kitty that Lola got for Christmas...it meows and walks....the perfect toy for Nash. Santa should have known. As you can imagine, Nash LOVES to get into Keaton's room and mess up his perfectly arranged toys. Luckily he can't do any damage in Lola's room!