Yearbookyourself

I saw this on Fussy's Flickr page, and I had to try it. These are the shots that I thought looked the funniest. Some of the 1950's photos with glasses were quite hilarious, but mostly because I looked really bad, so I couldn't share! The site is Yearbookyourself and is quite fun!

1966
1972
1974
1978
1980

I HAVE to dig out my Sophomore year photo because that 1980 picture looks crazy familiar!

Trash the dress

River shot
Originally uploaded by bblack3

Linda commented on the dress Nadine had on for her Senior pictures. So all you out there with older children will chuckle at this.

We'd been through a session with this photographer back in April. At that time Nadine and I "battled" about what clothes to bring. The photographer said to bring more than you think you'll need. Of course that went in one ear and out the other.

So this time I thought she'd be more into having lots of clothes with her. HA! For the studio session, she brings down blue, grey and green stuff. I convince her to grab an orange shirt she has for a change in colors. I hear the orange photos might look pretty good!

For the outdoor session, I'm thinking the yellow dress she wants to wear will be too light. So I ask her to look around at the mall for something pink or red. She had the whole day to shop at the mall. When we talk, I ask if she found anything...No, but I did buy a "Twilight" t-shirt at Hot Topic. UGH!

We head over to a different mall about an hour before her session. In a mad dash to find something, we found that red dress at Wet Seal for $21.50! I thought that wasn't a bad price to pay for a dress going in the river! It is actually really cute and hopefully she'll even wear it again, as long as it doesn't smell like the river!

Oh my...Senior Pictures

Red Dress Senior Pictures
Originally uploaded by bblack3

We had our second "outdoor" session for Nadine's Senior pictures yesterday. Here's a shot I got of her just prior to the "Trash the Dress" shots we were going to do in the Maumee River. We had a great time. I can't wait to see how these turn out. I snapped a couple shots, you can see those on my Flickr page.

Nadine being impatient waiting for the photographer to take senior pictures.

I finally got text set

I finally got text set up to go to blogger. So excited!

Walgreens-loving them!

So I mentioned in my previous post about how I went to Walgreens in Orlando for snacks and drinks while on vacation.

I'd looked over the weekly flyer and kind of planned out what I could buy with coupons and deals. I pulled up a flyer for one of the Orlando stores and I realized the Pringles 10/$10 with $3 RR up here in Ohio/Michigan was even better down there. You got $5 RR. So there was an extra $2!

When I got home, I plugged in my receipts for the ESR, but I couldn't get back to the screen that lets you choose which rebates you're applying for. So I click through on a continue button and damn, I realized I submitted for August with only 1 rebate chosen (from a prior shopping trip). I called the help line and I get the "there's nothing we can do" line. So I figure I'm out the $9 I thought I was earning. Oh well!

So yesterday, I'm cleaning out my work email and I had gotten an email from Walgreen's saying my receipts were saved and I qualified for such and such rebates. So I got excited again because evidently if you input your receipts, you don't even have to select the rebates, they just tell you what you qualify for! So, now I'm crossing my fingers that I actually get the rebates they're showing I'm qualified to receive.

Back from vacation

Oh my gosh, it has taken me 4 days to recover from vacation. I've especially felt crappy the past 3 days. Things are looking up though!

So we headed out of town just fine. Our flight was at 7AM, so no delays or traffic. That was nice. I'm such a geek because I LOVE the window seat. Matt and the girls made fun of me because the whole flight I just looked out the window. I insisted that we flew north and then circled south over Cleveland (because I could see Jacobs Field and Browns Stadium) and then I picked out Lowe's Motor Speedway in Charlotte NC. But those guys thought I was crazy! Then on our flight home, the pilot announced we'd be flying over Cleveland and Matt & I just glanced at each other and cracked up! Oh, and because I HAVE to sit by the window and Matt is so tall he prefers the aisle we always have someone between us we don't know. I kind of feel bad, but I lean into the window to give the middle person room.

So we land, Matt & the girls head for the luggage and I go to get the car. Get to the Polynesian, check in and actually have a room available at 10:30AM.

Polynesian Beach
Originally uploaded by JNad

So we drop our stuff off and head for EPCOT.

Nadine & Lindsay @ EPCOT
Originally uploaded by bblack3

It was our plan to eat in Mexico as soon as we got to the park. Food was awesome and we were all refreshed and ready to explore. The girls took off but called a few minutes later to tell us it was raining like crazy. So we rode the ride in Mexico and then stood outside under a shelter waiting for the rain to pass. EPCOT had Extra Magic Hours that night, so we just walked around looking at stuff knowing we'd probably come back later.

The girls and I headed out to Walgreen's to buy snacks and drinks. I was trying to be smart and at least use "The Drugstore Game" to save some cash. It would have been better if not for being in a stupor when we got back and I submitted for the Easy Saver Rebates without realizing I didn't have all of them on there. UGH! Rookie mistake!

The girls slept in late the next morning so while Matt & I were down at the pool, our ceiling fell in! I think the staff expected us to be bitchy, but hey things happen. They moved us to a room that had a beautiful view of the Magic Kingdom, so it wasn't so bad!

We hung around the resort waiting for the other Black family to arrive. They were using the Magical Express to get to the resort. First thing I realized was the length of time this takes as compared to a rental car. Their plane landed around 12:30 and they didn't pull into the resort until 2PM. For us, that would be a long time to wait. Also, for the ride home, you have to be out waiting for the bus 3 hours before your flight. For them, that meant being out there at 6:30AM. I understand the reasoning behind it, but that's too much for me!

So the next couple days we all ran around doing things. Here are some shots of us...

The Black Family
Originally uploaded by bblack3

Wyatt in the air
Originally uploaded by bblack3

Trying on hats
Originally uploaded by bblack3

Emily acting like a monkey
Originally uploaded by bblack3

That picture of me with Emily was so funny! I told them that Spectro Magic was one of my favorite things, so we all lined up and waited for the parade. When it started, Emily started going OH, OH, OH like a monkey and would say "What's happening" the whole time. It was so funny, I wish we'd had a camcorder!

You can click over on my Flickr badge to see more of the pictures we took while down there.

So my advice if you're going down there...relax! Sometimes it is impossible to do everything! You may have to split up for everyone to enjoy what they want to do. Those EMH are helpful if you want to ride the popular rides. With kids, take sandwiches and drinks in a small cooler. Take a water bottle and just keep refilling it at the water fountain. With ours being 17, food and drinks weren't as much of an issue, so we're kind of lucky at this point! The same with buying stuff. We used to tell the kids to wait until we've seen everything and then we'll decide what we want the most. Every park has so many things, so you could drop a lot of cash each time! What I've found is that by making them wait, they usually forget about most of the stuff and then usually only want one thing. My nieces and nephews all seemed to love those squirt bottles with fans. My SIL bought them at the Dollar Store and brought them down. I think they were $15 at the park. During the summer months, you HAVE to head back to your room and take a break. We usually go swimming for a while to relax. Although we didn't stay there this time, I think the villas and the cabins are a good choice for families. They include a kitchen and laundry which are very helpful. We stayed at the Boardwalk villas one year and I really liked it.

Overall it was nice getting away and having time to just sit around watching boats on the "lagoon". I wish I could do it all the time!

Leaving Tomorrow

So we're leaving for Disney tomorrow morning. Really can't wait to get away for several days. I'm looking forward to just hanging out by the pool and people watching. Oh yeah and some good food and drinks! Our first goal for tomorrow is to get over to EPCOT and eat at the Mexican restaurant (San Angel) for lunch. First goal - FOOD!

Thanks to all of you commenting about my news debut! I forgot to mention in the post about how I woke up at 7:30 that day, which is usually when I LEAVE. So I completely skipped putting more make-up on than usual. I'm also a procrastinator with my hair. I don't know why I always let my hair just grow and grow! So after seeing myself on TV, I decided I NEEDED to get a haircut before vacation so I can look semi-decent in pictures! Hope to have lots of good pictures!

For all that are interested, I'm going to try to recap our trip and give advice on things. We've had it pretty easy since Nadine is older, but I'm going to watch my in-laws to see how they do stuff with 4 kids (1,3,8 and 9). We've already had a major discussion about strollers. Can you believe it would cost over a $150 to rent a double stroller for a week? Even though I can get a free one daily with my company ID, they decided they're going to take one from home. Their theory was that at the end of the day, you will probably have sleeping kids, so instead of having to get them out and carry them back to the resort, with their own stroller they can let them sleep until they arrive at the room. I think that's a good choice!

Our other in-laws are in town for a week. Matt's other brother Chris is writing for Ugly Betty, so he's making a trip to NYC while his wife and daughter came home to visit family. We went out for dinner last night and this is a picture of our niece Nora being sad "because no one likes her". She's such a trip!

Nora Being Sad
Originally uploaded by bblack3