Devanie.com

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I am REALLY bad at this with a new baby and loads of vacation activities going on.

Janika was able to make it out for Thanksgiving =)!!!

We had loads of fun and the 7 kids had more fun than EVER. Playing Gamecube, eating good food, cooking together, eating a fancy turkey dinner, playing dress-up, Mouse Trap, Pretty Pretty Princess, Pop Beads, Play Kitchen, Polly Pockets, My Little Pony, Barbies, Betty Spaghetti, Block Building, Ball Throwing, Leap Pad, Musical instruments, Keyboard, Books, Train, Nativity, Puppet Theatre, Powerwheels, Gone Fishin’, and helping Decorate for Christmas -Still have lots to do, but the kids got to help decorate the tree, sing Karioke with th singing Santa, and help set up the train under the tree.

I don’t know if I will recouperate from Newborn to Disney World to Thanksgiving and a terrible birthday for Nathan, Visitors at the house, and getting ready for Christmas before the year is over. YIKES! I need another NAP! and now that all my nannys are gone and my baby is spoiled rotten I don’t have a minute to eat, type, help the girls, do housework or anything! Zachary is screaming as I type because I put him Down after he fell asleep in my arms. He’s supposed to be happily drifting away in dreamland in his swing, but has decided he needs SOMETHING, a tighter blanket perhaps, a pascifier?, maybe a cuddle yes He is spoiled He just wants to be held. So it takes extra long to type one handed.

I did it! I got Janika to BLOG!
http://janikasfam.blogspot.com/

Our Thanksgiving and Nathan’s Birthday was GREAT.

We had a crew of 10 Janika’s Fam, Ours and Aunt Kathy. We had all the fixins – And seems we still have the same amount of leftovers as were on the table. I tell you we always OVER-DO IT when it comes to food. It was all delicious we had the juciest Butterball Turkey we have ever had. He was a 23 almost 24 pound bird. We got about 6 Lbs of meat off of him-or her.

Nathan had a pretty good day. I’m sure it didn’t go exactly as he would have planned becasue all the kids wanted to play nintendo instead of watch the Macy’s parade. He recoreded the parede from NBC and all we saw was Al Roker Katie Courrac and the other newscasters talking about the shows they wanted to advertise. We didn;t really get to see many floats. Nathan was able to FF the commercials and that was nice. (Impressive to Janikas family) I did not get him a gift – he told me not to so I didn’t – He knows our finances better than I do and he said we couldn’t afford it. So I made him a card and wrapped up a DVD – The polar Express that HE bought last night. So it was something he picked out. – I know I’m a jerk – I should have gotten him something – at least sing happy Birthday to him . . .but I didn’t. Instead I made him a Huge Thanksgiving Dinner and Laughed with my sister while He got phone calls from his parents and siblings and watched a Denver Broncos game with his sister. He says he had a GREAT birthday because I cooked him a Feast, I Got it to Snow, I got the Denver Broncos to Win by 3 points in overtime, I got family to come over for Dinner, and nothing went terribly wrong.

The only picture I have of Turkey Dinner is Zach – our little turkey on the table.

STOUT FAMILY REUNION 2005: Day Six

It isn’t fun to be the last one to leave a family reunion. You have to watch everyone pack up and leave and you’re left alone thinking, “It can’t be over, can it?”

Everyone that didn’t leave very early hung out in our room today until they had to leave for the airport. We were also the proud recipients of everyone’s left-overs. We had so much soda we considered opening a stand outside the Magic Kingdom and selling it for a $1/soda. We probably could have paid for our flight home! Thanks everyone… we had a party after you left!

We took the girls swimming before everyone left and then had the best party we could with everyone gone. We went to dinner at Denny’s and filled up the car with gas. Devanie and I watched Mr. & Mrs. Smith while we snacked on all the goodies everyone left behind.

Not a bad day, but I felt pretty melancholy since everyone left. Tomorrow is going to be a stressful day as we try to get home and catch a plane at 8 AM.

STOUT FAMILY REUNION 2005: Day Five

We went to SeaWorld today. It was only a mile from the hotel so it was a short drive. We didn’t try to meet anyone today and instead just focused on trying to see all of the sights in one day. We got to see, feed, and pet a dolphin! It was pretty cool although the girls were afraid to touch it. We saw: dolphins, flamingos, vultures, sting rays, parrots, whales, manatees, turtles, crocodiles, lots of fish, sharks, penguins, Shamu, sea lions, a walrus, a sea otter, and other small animals.

We saw the Dolphin and Whale Show, the Sea Lion Show, Shamu the Whale (we are proud splash victims!), the Chef Trio (a couple of guys that bang on barbecues like drums), and Hi-5. We didn’t think we were going to make it into the Hi-5 show. They closed the doors before we got in and said the show was full. Then they opened the doors again and allowed 50 people in… we were the last family to get in. Actually, they shouldn’t have let us in because there weren’t any seats left. I had to stand behind Devanie and two men gave up their seats for the girls. We didn’t need the seats, though, because as soon as the show started they invited all of the kids down to the front to dance. Sierra pushed her way to the very front and was able to give Hi-5 a high five as they left the stage… the highlight of her day!

Devanie and I took turns riding the Kracken, a roller coaster that has an unbelievable number of loops and spirals. It was a lot of fun even though we had to go alone.

We also smashed a lot of pennies today! We tried to find a bunch in the Magic Kingdom for penny-books that Grandma and Grandpa gave the girls without much luck. The penny-smashing machines were all over SeaWorld, however. I think both of the girls smashed about a dozen pennies each; almost one for each animal species they saw today.

While we were smashing a penny, a sketch artist asked if she could sketch one of the girls for practice. We gave her her pick of kids and she decided to draw Hailey. About five minutes later she finished and Hailey did a good job of summarizing, “It doesn’t look like me at all.” Good thing it was just a practice and we weren’t paying for it!

We left the park at about 6 PM and headed back to the hotel for the family talent show that started at 7 PM. Grandma and Grandpa arranged pizza for dinner and then we all gathered together in a meeting room in the hotel for a talent show. Everyone made a poster to introduce their “act”. Here’s a list of the families, their talent, and our rating:

Grandma & Grandpa (8/10): The Amazing Torch Juggler; expertly executed.

Mike D. Stout Family (7/10): Tony Chestnut Song; we would have given you higher marks but we’re all sick of singing it and can’t seem to stop!

Nathan Stout Family (10/10): Bonfire How To; of course we’re biased.

Shana Henrichsen Family (8.5/10): Dirty Laundry Magic Trick; probably deserves a 10/10 but it made the rest of us feel amature-ish.

Joseph Stout Family (9/10): Hawaiian Limbo; would have been a 10/10 but the underwear was just too scary!

Melanie Canas Family (10/10): “Adaptive” Merengue Dance; we have got to give you credit for doing something that would terrify the rest of us.

Aaron Stout Family (2/10): Spit Catching; I got spit on… need I say more?

Kathy Stout Family (9.5/10): Reunion Slideshow; totally awesome… but how come you didn’t have to humiliate yourself like the rest of us?

STOUT FAMILY REUNION 2005: Day Four

Pictures today with Issac. We left early today after dressing for Celebration, a Disney “model” community. We all posed for pictures in our Stout Family Reunion shirts outside the theater in Celebration. It was a great place to take pictures because after we finished we were able to play in the park.

Grandma and Grandpa provided picnic blankets for everyone and breakfast-in-a-sack for each person; cereal, an orange, a pastry, and milk. At the park, the girls tried to fill up an entire slide with sand while others played on the swings. Mike pushed me so hard on the swings I almost fell off and Shana pushed me so hard she was able to do a complete under-dog!

After the pictures and picnic we went back to the hotel and went swimming. After swimming we went to Joe and Suzie’s room and watched movies. The kids watched Madagascar in one bedroom while the grown-ups watched (or tried to watch) Mr. & Mrs. Smith. The sound was terrible and Zachary wouldn’t take a nap. After about an hour, Merlin got sick and threw up all over Suzie. Thankfully, I was away picking up pizzas for lunch and didn’t have to see it… but I hear it was quite a doozey!Devanie was very brave and called the front desk to get the charge for the movie refunded since we weren’t able to watch and enjoy it. Way to go, Devanie!

Later that evening we went with Grandma and Grandpa to the Olive Garden for dinner. Grandpa’s brother, David, and his daughter, Christine met us there and ate dinner with us. It was very good and the girls were well behaved although very talkative. We got a little lost on the way home… our GPS Neverlost system told us to go the wrong way. After we found the hotel we saw that “Mickey and Minnie” had left us another surprise… a couple of good books including Danny, the Champion of the World. We’ll have to read those after we finish the Book of Mormon. Thanks, Mickey and Minnie!

STOUT FAMILY REUNION 2005: Day Three

I spent some time last night before going to bed to research the pins Grandma and Grandpa had given the girls. I noticed yesterday that all the park workers were wearing lanyards or other pin holders and I wanted to know how to trade with them. Turns out that pin trading is a BIG THING! Check out http://psc.disney.go.com/eventservices/.

At breakfast today I explained to everyone about the pins… you can trade pins with any of the park workers but there are some rules. You can only trade up to two pins per park worker each day. Also, there are special pins! Besides limited edition pins, there are pins with the word “Surprise” printed on the back that are rare. There are also special “cast only” pins that you cannot buy; the only way to get them is to find a cast member who is wearing them and trade for them. I didn’t realize it at the time, but I had apparently triggered Grandpa’s competitive side and I received a surprise later in the afternoon.

After breakfast we headed for MGM Studios with plans to meet up with Aaron, Alice, Suzie, Joe, and Kathy. Somehow things didn’t quite work out as we planned and I ended up by myself and sitting on a park bench feeling sorry for myself. Devanie and I got to go on Tower of Terror together because Suzie watched the girls for us. Thanks Suzie!

After we got out of Tower of Terror, Suzie and Devanie took all of the kids to go see Voyage of The Little Mermaid while I waited for Joe, Aaron, Alice, and Kathy who were “5 minutes” behind us on Tower of Terror. Joe and crew managed to slip by me and after waiting for a long time I gave up and decided to catch up to Devanie and the girls. I couldn’t find them. That’s because they had actually gone to Playhouse Disney Live instead. After searching the park and getting frustrated I sat down on a bench to wait until someone could find me… isn’t that what you tell your kids to do when they are lost?

Finally I saw Devanie, Suzie, and crew headed for Voyage of The Little Mermaid and I caught up with them. We saw that show together and it was pretty good; one of those 3D interactive theaters that blows air, water, and smells at you during the show. After that we walked over to the Honey I Shrunk the Kids playground and let the girls run in with Devanie. The girls were afraid of most of the things in the playground so that didn’t last long. We were all feeling pretty disappointed with MGM so we jumped in the car and headed for Epcot Center.

The only rides we wanted to go on at Epcot Center was Soarin’ and Mission: Space. I took Hailey and Zachary on Mission: Earth while Devanie took Sierra to ride Soarin’. Turns out Soarin’ was the only ride in the park with more than a 5 minute wait… 70 minutes! That may not sound too bad, but when you consider that we had to ride Soarin’ in shifts (remember Zachary?), 2 1/2 hours was too long to wait, especially for our girls. So we scrapped Soarin’ and I went to get Speed Pass tickets for Mission: Space while Devanie took Sierra and Zachary on Mission: Earth.

On the way to Mission: Earth I ran into Joe, Aaron, Alice, and Kathy. They told me there was no wait for Mission: Space so I went back to grab Devanie. Thanks to Grandma (who we found near Mission: Space), Devanie and I were able to ride Mission: Space with Grandpa and everyone while the girls played with huge blow-up balls.

Grandpa showed off the “cast only” Disney pins he was able to collect today. He had collected about 4 or 5 of them after speaking to 20-30 different cast members. Mom said he had asked everyone they saw. I was impressed. Later he traded with another park member for a couple more and had almost completed one of the pin series. Not bad for a first-day trader!

After Mission: Space, we all went on Test Track (even the girls!) and then made a dash for Fort Wilderness and Mickey’s Backyard Barbecue. We found Suzie and her kids at the bus stop to go to Mickey’s Backyard Barbecue. At least we knew we weren’t lost! Everyone from the reunion met at the barbecue for dinner. We had watermelon, beans, corn on the cob, corn bread, hamburgers, hot dogs, potato salad, ribs, and cake for dinner. Yum!

On the way to the barbecue Devanie found another cast member with two more “cast only” pins that we traded for and gave to Grandpa to further his collection. He still hasn’t completed a series, but he’s got a lot of pins. I think Melanie found 5 other “cast only” pins that she gave to him. That should bring him up to almost a dozen in his first day of trading. This could become an expensive hobby!

STOUT FAMILY REUNION 2005: Day Two

We got an early start today, courtesy of Zachary. After getting everyone ready we went down to the hotel lobby for breakfast buffet. Cereal, scrambled eggs w/ salsa, biscuits and gravy, pancakes, waffles, sausage, toast, bagels, pastries, yogurt and juices; everything we love. Yum!

Everyone showed up at breakfast that was missing the night before. By 8 AM everyone was down at breakfast; even Aaron and Alice who didn’t get in until 3 AM due to a delayed flight! It was very heart warming to see everyone together with all of their kids. After breakfast we headed over to the Magic Kingdom.

Grandma and Grandpa gave each of the girls a lanyard with a 2005 Disney Pin and a princess pin yesterday. We bought each of the girls another pin to add to their lanyard. Sierra picked Sleeping Beauty and Hailey picked Peter Pan. A short time later we actually ran into Peter Pan and Wendy and the girls were able to pose with them for a picture.

Today we went on The Magic Carpets of Aladdin, Pirates of the Caribbean, Splash Mountain (w/ the girls!), Buzz Lightyear, Cinderella’s Golden Carousel, It’s a Small World, the Tomorrowland® Transit Authority, Snow White’s Scary Adventures, Peter Pan’s Flight, Space Mountain, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, … AND … The Enchanted Tiki Room! The girls have been waiting for more than 2 years to see the Tiki Room and I’ve been hyping their expectations by playing the Tiki song over and over for years. I’m not sure it lived up to their expectations, but they seemed to enjoy it. Personally, I was a little disappointed as they have changed the show significantly and introduced Iago (from Aladdin) and Zazu (from Lion King) as new characters.

At lunch time everyone gathered at The Crystal Palace inside the Magic Kingdom. The buffet had lots of good things to eat including some colorful peanut-butter and jelly sandwiches that Grandma helped the girls find. Tigger, Winnie the Pooh, Eyeor, and Piglet were all present and posed for pictures with the kids. It was a lot of fun, although I think our family may have arrived slightly late and caused everyone to have to wait a few extra minutes… sorry!

We got to the park as it was opening and we left when it closed after watching the Christmas Wishes fireworks show. When we got home we found that “Mickey and Minnie” had left us another surprise! There were Dairy Queen dilly bars and frozen ice bars in the freezer… another favorite! Yum!

STOUT FAMILY REUNION 2005: Day One

Today was the first day of the 2005 Stout Family Reunion! I had purposely purchased airplane tickets on JetBlue for the afternoon so we could all sleep in and have a leisurely (supposedly stress-free) trip to Florida today. The plan was to eat breakfast, drive down to JFK, park in the long-term parking, stroll over to the gate and get on the plane.

What do they say about the best laid plans? After some last-minute packing we started for JFK airport and made our first fateful decision… to take the Hutchinson Parkway instead of I-95. We hit road construction and sat in crawling, bumper-to-bumper traffic. I’m watching the clock and I start re-adjusting my plan; leisurely stroll now needs to be a brisk walk. We cleared the traffic jam only to hit another jam; brisk walk now needs to be a sprint. We cleared the second traffic jam only to hit another traffic jam in New York; long-term parking is out… now we’re just trying to make our flight!

Once we got checked-in and seated on the plane, things couldn’t have gone more smooth. We flew JetBlue because we love having the TV’s for the kids to watch. We also like the extra leg room, the leather seats, and JetBlue usually has things in the terminal to entertain the kids. Nice! On the plane, Devanie took Zachary and Hailey in one row and I took Sierra and sat behind them. The seats next to Devanie and I were both empty, which was a blessing. Devanie left Zachary laying in the empty seat most of the trip.

Apparently fear is something you develop as you age because our once fearless Sierra became quite nervous when the plane took off. Hailey’s ears hurt her terribly. Meanwhile Zachary slept most of the flight; except for take-off and landing when Devanie fed him. A very smooth flight although a little distressing for both girls.

We went to pick-up the car at Hertz and had to take a shuttle; that’s something I hate doing because I don’t like trying to move kids and luggage on and off the shuttle. However, the bus driver was very helpful and after a short drive we arrived at Hertz. The SUV I had reserved was not available, so we got a free upgrade and got to drive a 2006 Cadillac Escalade instead — VERY NICE! The car only had 380 miles on it, was very clean, and the girls liked it so much they wanted to keep it. Only problem was a lack of storage space for all of our luggage.

When we arrived at the hotel, Grandpa and Grandma were waiting outside the hotel for us. I dropped off Devanie and the kids while Grandpa and I took care of the luggage. The rooms at the Residence Inn at SeaWorld were also VERY NICE! We had a two-bedroom suite with a small kitchen and common room. The fridge was full of soda and the counter was laden with all types of good eats: chips and salsa, Fruit & Nut candy bar, popcorn, vanilla wafers, etc. What a treat!

I met up with Devanie and the girls downstairs for a private barbecue on the hotel patio where Mark and Shana, Jorge and Melanie, Joe and Suzie, and Mike and Denise were already waiting. We had hamburgers, hot dogs, chips, soda, etc. at the catered barbecue. We only had a few minutes to say hello and scarf down a hamburger before the girls pressured us into taking them swimming.

The hotel’s swimming pool was great and had a zero-depth wade-in section so we could let the girls play without worrying they were going to drown. We had a lot of fun swimming. Grandma and Grandpa had purchased some colorful discs that we threw into the pool for the kids to find and retrieve. They had also bought a couple of balls that the grown ups took turns throwing at each other (ouch!).

After swimming we headed up to our room where we tucked the girls into bed with promises of DisneyWorld on the ‘morrow. I went down to Joe’s room where we watched The Fantastic Four and snacked on the goodies that “Mickey and Minnie” had left.

Not bad… and we’ve just started!

Back into the SWING of things!!

We are hustling and bustling about preparing for our MUCH AWAITED Disney World trip. and are VERY excited.

FIRST DOCTOR VISIT
Today I took Zach in for his 2 week appointment.

He’s DOING GREAT!!!

We also noticed that on paper Zach was born at 20 inches tall not 18 1/2 as we were told by a nurse. We read the paperwork after this appointment. We were quite ASTOUNDED to hear that he went from 18.5 to 20.25 Now it’s more reasonable to have gained 1/4″. He was 7.5 lbs went to 6.14 and is already back up to 7.15oz He is a good eater I must say. He still doesn’t have a routine down. Seems he just snacks all day. – and night. Doctors only expected him back at his birth weight by this time. . .He’s 10 oz OVER.

His paperwork from the hospital was a little scary to read.

His Apgar score was only 7 and 8 compared to the girls 8-9’s – out of 10. It said he had heart murmurs and slight jaundice. That’s part of why he was under the lamp for 2 hours after birth.

Glad he’s doing well now!

HAILEY got her REPORT CARD
She did VERY well again. She got the best marks possible in every category except one; 56 out of 57. Her teacher says she’s making progress in that area too (completing work in a reasonable amount of time). Her are her teacher’s comments:

Hailey is a pleasure to have in class! She displays a positive attitude and is very respectful, helpful, courteous to others, well mannered, loves to participate, and sets a good example for others. She has adjusted very well to routines and expectations of first grade. Hailey is highly motivated and shines in mostly everything she does. She is making excellent progress in math, grasping math concepts. She is doing a phenomenal job with her reading, going above and beyond to become creative with her reading, and also has excellent reading comprehension skills and retelling abilities. She reads fluently and should be encouraged to read independently at home. Hailey continues to shine with Social Studies and Science concepts. In addition, her writing is excellent, showing creativity, beautiful handwriting and letter format, and attention to capitalization and punctuation. Overall, Hailey is doing very well and I know that she will continue to succeed in first grade. Hailey’s reading level is level 20. The expected level at this time is level 4.

Lay Family Christmas Exchange

THIS YEAR 2005
Mom&Dad -Buy For- LeeJoe&Kim
LeeJoe&Kim -Buy For- Molly&Girls
Janika&Family -Buy For- Leonard&Kelli
Leonard&Kelli -Buy For- MaryAnne&Dee
Thomas -Buys For- Nathan&Devanie
Devanie&Nathan -Buy For- Janika&Family
MaryAnne&Dee -Buy For- Thomas
Molly&Girls -Buy For- Mom&Dad