Double Digits

September 29th, 1999 at 3:26 in the morning my life changed forever. I went from being a daughter, wife, and sister to a daughter, wife, sister, and now, mother. Four weeks early, the tiniest baby I had ever seen, much less held, was placed in my arms and forever the make-up of the Balentine household was repurposed. I remember packing up the 4lb. 10 oz. sleeping bundle and putting him in his carseat thinking what do I do now? He's so tiny. He's so fragile. He's so perfect.

The days following were exhausting and scary, but amazing and wonderful.

Now here we are entering the double digits in age, an official "tween", and how the time has flown. He's no longer that tiny little bundle as he stands taller than my shoulders. He no longer is fragile as he can "throw down" with the best of 'em. And although he isn't perfect in character, he strives everyday to please his Maker and that makes him perfected in Christ. I adore this boy and the past 10 years has been the best of my life.

I am grateful for the gift of you, Daylor. We are so glad God chose us to be your parents. We look forward to what God has planned for your life. Happy birthday, D! We love you so much!

I Heart Disney World!

It's great to be home!!! I'm having a hard time believing we have been back almost a week. We had such an amazing time and it flew by in a blink of an eye. In fact, I have been feeling a bit off kilter because we have been planning and saving and planning and saving for almost two years and now that it's over, I am not sure what to do with myself. But with two birthdays in the next two weeks, Trick-or-Treat, Thanksgiving, and Christmas around the corner, I am sure that feeling won't last long!

I REALLY love Disney World! Everything about it is completely over the top and fabulous. The kids had such a great time, but I think it's the most exhausted they have ever been in their lives.



We were also able to visit Sea World and head to Sarasota to spend some time with some precious friends of ours. It was a wonderful, amazing, and busy trip! I ready to go back!

I took TONS of pictures. As in 1000's. I will try not to bore you with all of them, but I will be posting several as the weeks go by so you can get a taste of all we were able to do and see! It's going to take me awhile to get them up, so I am just going to spread them out over several posts.

So, until I get caught up here are just a few pictures!

I look forward to sharing more with you in the next couple of weeks!

"Lack of Planning..."

"...on your part does not constitute an emergency on mine." One of my favorite sayings. And truly, lack of planning, for the most part, is not something I struggle with. You are talking to one serious control freak here. Planning is an essential part of my life. I am learning that if planning ahead is not done I go completely nuts and have nervous breakdowns with temper tantrums following to cope with the fact that others are not nearly as obsessive compulsive organized as I am and that is really OK. But for me, I am built to plan. I think that's why I was a wedding planner for 20 years and I had my entire wedding planned by the time I was 13. It's in my bloooood.

There are 3 general rules for the subject of planning.

1. Planning must begin several weeks if not months, even better years, prior to an event. Don't even try to come to me the day prior to an event. I can do it, but you're going hear about it.
2. There MUST be lists. Lots and lots of them.
3. Everything must be entered into a Excel spreadsheet.

See? TOTAL control freak.

And our vacation to Disney this year has been no exception. We booked and started saving for this trip in February of 2008. That's almost two years ago. I had the tickets a year in advance and our reservations for meals 3 months in advance (only because they wouldn't let me do it any sooner.) I had a house sitter booked (my sweet brother), my dog sitters booked (my parents) and had a the "Big Reveal" for the kids planned by last Christmas. I've gathered books, bought a Disney planner folder and typed out itineraries. (Do let me interject and say I have not planned out our days minute by minute for this trip - just what parks we will be at on each day and where our reservations are. We are on vacation, ya know!)

AND I started packing two weeks ago. I absolutely LOVE packing! I know. I need therapy.

Here's just some of the stuff we are taking. Oh - and see that white tee with the red polka dots in the middle of the pic and the Children's Place bag in the photo below? That's what I can't wait to show you. It's my latest "craft crush!!" Can't show you yet, because I am not finished with them, but I can tell you I am absolutely addicted!! You'll have to wait!

See that cute little smocked Cinderella dress? Love it!! Picked it up at a sweet consignment sale here in town, another obsession of mine. Perfect for breakfast with Cindy!

Here's an image of just a few of my brochures, books that I am borrowing, maps, and my cutie- patootie folder where I keep the most important thing -MY LISTS! Oh, and other minor things like reservation confirmations and tickets and stuff. Just minor things.

So there you have it. I hope you still love me despite the fact you have just found out that I am a planning maniac! We are just about ready to hit the road.

We leave in just a few days, so I may be offline for awhile, but I will try to post when I can. I'll miss you guys and will be back soon! Mickey Mouse, here we come!!