May Fun!

We started Mother's Day weekend with a fancy soiree at G's preschool.  She made fancy crowns for both me and YaYa.

She also filled out questionnaires about why she loved us and other such information. We were delighted to know that she likes when"YaYa buys things for me!" and "My mother is really good at napping."  

For Mother's Day on Sunday my darling family took me to Punch Bowl Social downtown for brunch.

Those kind people gave me the chance to bowl a strike for free brunch!

I almost nailed it, but left one pin standing!

 Trinity bellied up to the Bloody Mary bar.

I had to forgo my free mimosa.

Our kind waitress let G think she was really paying for our breakfast with her Princess credit card.

We followed up our brunch with a walk through the gardens at my happy place, the IMA.

I knew it was my special day when both of my peeps were willing to take me to this vintage/antique store in Broad Ripple that I had been wanting to visit.

The Stems flower truck was parked outside too, so I got some beautiful flowers!

We finished our day with a stop at Nicey Treat for popsicles!

The following weekend was all about the royal wedding.

I woke up around 6:45 on Saturday and T served us coffee and milk in bed as G and I watched every second of the arrival and ceremony.

I thought the American minister's sermon was a smidge long, but I could not get enough of that gospel choir singing "Stand by Me."  So good!

That afternoon we went to Allison's house for her Royal Viewing party.

G opted to stay home with her favorite babysitter, but I got some kid squeezing in while I was there.

Georgia kills me.

I just adore her.

Tiny was their with her newborn son, Van.

He was squishy and cute and reminded me of how terrified I am to soon have my own newborn again.

Pancake was there with Li'l P.

Phoebe is going into 2nd grade and is smaller than G.  This makes me laugh a lot.

Allison's Aunt Pam was there sampling the fabulous food.

The Lorenz women know how to cook.

The Queen and Prince Phillip attended.

Allison and Steve had their yard looking pristine and their Trillium camper was set up to make everyone all jealous.

These masks had us all giggling.

G has her class picnic at a local park and splash pad.  Her darling teacher gave out some awards.  Some of those included "Best Reader"  and "Class Mathematician."  My child was awarded the "Firecracker Award" for having the most energy and spunk!

That's teacher talk for let's give an award to the kid who never stops talking.  She's just so "energetic" and "full of life."  

Ha!

I can read between the lines.

My daughter, however, cannot.

She was tickled!

She strutted down that little piece of red paper like she was on top of the world.

Or like she had just won the bikini contest for MTV spring break in Panama City.  Either one.  

My last day on Friday ended with a trip to Strawberries on the Square in Franklin.  I just adore that little town.  

Emily and Marinda came too and we ate lots of ice cream and strawberries.

Let the summer commence!

Suzuki Concert and Frida Kahlo

Genevieve showed off her violin skills during her first Suzuki concert.  Although she plays with her bow, she plucked a tune with her fingers for the audience.  

She performed her piece on stage all by herself.  

My heart was in my throat just because I was afraid she would be too nervous or anxious.  

She handled it perfectly!

YaYa and Bob arrived bearing flowers.  

I love it when my large nose casts a shadow on my face that makes my teeth appear to have a huge gap.

The very next week G's preschool hosted their annual art night.  This year they studied the work of Frida Kahlo.

I do love a good theme, so we pulled out some Frida-esque attire.

They also learned about Dia de Los Muertos.  She created this skull  on canvas.

I love her self-portrait with her bow.  She told us she has been thinking about her sister a lot, and that was "my inspiration for this."  Sniff.  

This was her portrait of Frida.

YaYa and Bob arrived just in time from TH to see all of the finery and taste all of the different cultural foods.

As Mother likes to say, "The traffic is terrible!  We were simply traveling at the WORST possible time!"

Genevieve is so excited about kindergarten, but I have just loved her preschool experience.  

Disney and I'm pregnant!

I've been off the grid again.  

I'm old and pregnant.

It's a tough combination.  

That's right, I'm with child.

We are thrilled beyond description!

I knew I was pregnant at 4 weeks, and we didn't tell G until I was about 15 weeks.  That was a long haul, let me tell you.  Fortunately, my history of excessive nap taking and overall lethargy masked my pregnant condition to my daughter.  

I was sick, let me tell you.

Not nauseous so much as just constantly feeling like I had a really bad stomach ache all day long.  

By week 14 I felt better.  

I had a bunch of genetic tests done due to my advanced maternal age (38 at conception, 39 at birth).  

We knew the gender at around 13 weeks.

Caroline was most excited so she planned a gender reveal with confetti in a balloon.  

We are having another girl!

The baby is due in the beginning of October.

G is thrilled to be a big sister.

She really has prayed for a baby each night for the past two years.  

The morning after our balloon explosion we flew to Disney World for a girls trip!  Sister had to attend the annual McDonald's convention in Orlando, so she invited us along.

I took 3 personal days from school and we were gone from Saturday-Wednesday in mid April.

The weather was perfect!

We had a direct flight and arrived around 9:00 a.m. in Orlando on Saturday morning.

We were shocked that we were able to check in to our resort, The Grand Floridian, that early.

We fancy!

We did a quick change and were strolling down Main Street by 11 a.m.!

After Caroline's quick tutorial on "pin trading" in DW,  Genevieve was ready to barter.  

Sun's out, ears out!

We hit up Small World and Ariel's ride.  

At 15 weeks pregnant, there was not a lot that I could ride.  Physicians strongly oppose roller coasting and such.  

I spent  a lot of time resting on benches in the shade.  

We had Fast Passes to ride the 7 Dwarfs' Mine Train and I was left on the sidelines.

We all shared one room and mother and I nearly came to blows over each other's snoring habits.  I thought about smothering her with a pillow.

I slept with earplugs and white noise going.  I awoke many times not knowing if it was my own snoring or hers.  

Good times.

The next morning we dined with characters.  

We spent day 2 in Epcot.  I had not been there since I was a kid myself.

I loved it.

We really thought Nemo's ride was cute.

Disney is not all smiles.

Don't be fooled.

After waiting for the Frozen ride for like an hour, the girls were hangry.

Stupid YaYa tried to get their picture in China before lunch that was in Germany.

Caroline was peeved.

This guy was a hoot!

After our so so experience at the German buffet, we rocked out to this darling band from Munich.

These boys were darling.

G stood for Groupie as she rushed over to them to talk and get a picture after their concert.  

After visiting several countries in the world showcase area, we toured the Future World section of Epcot.  

On the Planet Earth ride they snapped our pictures.  I was so humbled by this lovely shot-

I'm just as unattractive in Outer Space!

On Monday Katie went to the conference and the rest of us visited Hollywood Studios.

We attempted a jumping photo!

4 attempts later, we were airborne!

We had a ball watching the Muppet Show.

I could not ride on the Rock 'N Roll Coaster featuring music by Aerosmith.

I parked it with a churro.

We had a major fiasco with that ride.  Somehow Li'l G made it past the height checkers at the Fast Pass point.  She got all of the way to the point where they were putting people in the car and was told she was too short for this one.  A total meltdown ensued.  YaYa flipped out because Caroline had to go by herself because she couldn't leave G alone.  I was obliviously noshing on a cinnamon sugar confection outside said fiasco. The Disney people apologized all over themselves and gave us another Fast Pass.

The Tower of Terror was closed for maintenance so the girls used the pass on some Star Wars thrill ride that I of course, could not ride.

We hightailed it back to the hotel for lawn games.  

We rested for  a bit, picked up sister, and headed back to the Magic Kingdom for some night action.  

We rode the carousel.  

As it got darker I parked it again as the jerks/gals rode Big Thunder Mountain, which is my favorite Disney ride.  They then did Splash Mountain twice, since the lines were nonexistent.  We watched the fireworks as we left the park that night.  

For our last day Katie went back to the conference and the rest of us rode the boat over to the Magic Kingdom.  I loved that the monorail went to our hotel and also there was a small boat that carried passengers between the Polynesian, the Grand Floridian and the Magic Kingdom.  It crossed the Seven Seas Lagoon, which I thought was relaxing and beautiful.

Alarmist Katie was quick to remind us that it possibly contained alligators.

  

We puttered around and G had another meltdown on Space Mountain.  She was tall enough, but once she saw she would have sit in a little capsule without my mother next to her, so was over it.

Sweet Caroline braved yet another roller coaster on her own as my mother stood with a screaming 5 year old.  

We met Katie for lunch at Tony's Italian restaurant, from Lady and the Tramp.  After that we decided we were done.  The weather was gorgeous, and I was ready for the pool.  We stopped at the Confectionary on Main Street, which I adore.  I loaded up on Mickey Mouse chocolate dipped Rice Krispie treats and G played a candy game with one of the employees.  

G might be the only person I know who exudes confidence whilst donning a bikini.

Abby bought her this one for Easter.  

There were two main pools and they were gorgeous.  Had the idea of me just staying by the pool not been vehemently rejected my mother and sister, I would have spent most of the 4 days there.

Katie conveniently left her swimsuit at home.  I declined any photos with my 14 week/possibly just ate too many churros bump.  

For our final night, Caroline and Katie attended the McDonald's only night at Universal Studios.  They were able to do all of the fun rides and have dinner and drinks in the park with a much smaller crowd until around 11 p.m.

We opted for grilled cheeses and Bambi on the outdoor screen back at the resort.  

We finally got a picture with all 5 of us on our way out to the airport on Wednesday morning.

It was such a fun and memorable trip.

I'm officially Disneyed out for several years, at least to the World or Land.  I'm still open to cruising.