Medieval Times -- Yes, Please!!

If you remember nothing else about me, you might just remember my love for all things medieval. Knights? Ladies? Jousts? Yes, please!  I am convinced I was born in the wrong era. lol.   We have traveled to Medieval Times  once or twice ... or thrice.  lol.   I love it Every Time! Love it !


So when I received an email about this new deal from Medieval Times, I couldn't resist sharing with you guys ;)  Let me just say it sounds phenomenal to me !


Let's look it over.  For your $128 (with code WEB4P) you will receive :

• Four Admission Tickets
• Four Course Feast fit for a King ... or Queen 
• Two Rounds of select beverages
• Two hour action packed show

and parking is always free :)   Valid for shows thru 9/30 !  What are you waiting for?  If you want to learn more about MT or just check out our last trip to Medieval Times click here  :)


Now take a quick little jaunt over to the Medieval Times website and order your tickets now! I'm even making it super easy for you by putting the link HERE !  No excuses, go forth and have fun!

*Note- this is a limited time offer. How limited? Idk, but just go and get your tickets now :) *

Fare thee well, 

Momma Chaos

Post-Disney Blisss...

Hi Guys!   Happy New year and all that jazz...  Sorry I've been MIA a bit longer than I expected.  After 9 + days without a computer (but who needs a computer at Disney!?!), I came home to the Snowpocolaps...  -40 with wind chill temps and kids with cabin fever.  I honestly didn't even get onto the computer until Tuesday when I absolutely had to (review blog stuff due).  Beware-- this post is going to be absolutely laden with photos... You have been warned..

I'm trying to get back into the swing of actually being on the computer, which seems weird since I basically live on it normally.  Amazing what a break can do to you!

Anyhoo- we all survived the Great Disney Vacation.  The little kids survived at home with Gpa and Attitude King and were none worse for the wear if a bit smelly when we got home.  Never leave a 15yo boy in charge.. Especially a 15yo boy who has to be reminded to shower and brush his teeth.   uhm... yeah..    Fishing Pole spent the week at Cowie's because I thought  #1) it was best to separate him from the other kids for an easier atmosphere all around #2) he always gets completely spoiled at Cowie's house and he deserves a little spoiling and extra attention with all the crap he has going on.   He did really well there.. I could tell (maybe from the zillions of texts when he would steal Cowie's cell phone and the questions of how many days til I picked him up) that he got a little homesick after a few days.  It was actually nice b/c in his worst moods he is always swearing that he can't stand me and wants to live with Cowie.. Nice to be missed once in a while :-)  Unfortunately for him, Cowie is not a 15yo boy and so he was forced into many baths while we were gone.. I'm sure to hear him tell it, he is nothing but a prune by now.

Daddy Chaos, Drama Queen & I had a wonderful time at Disney.  We stayed at the Caribbean Resort this time around.  While it was pretty nice, I definitely prefer my Animal Kingdom Lodge..  I'm spoiled like that.. lol.  The location was much quicker for buses to the various parks though, so that was a plus.

When we checked in, Drama Queen was able to snag not only a fairy wand but also a cute purple balloon..  Yes, she's a big kid.. ha!  She was always so excited (again , big kid!) when housekeeping would make our beds each day and put her wand & balloon on her bed.  lol.   Me, I like the Mickey head w/ towels.

 I swear to you Every.Single.Time we left our room and started walking to the bus stop, the bus we needed would be pulling in. Naturally we could never make it in time and were forced to wait for the next bus.  Drove me insane.. I wouldn't have minded waiting at all if I hadn't see that dang bus.. Argh!..  The bus issue and the fact that we went during a high peak time (we NEVER do that. We always go off season) meant it was super busy and I hate crowds, were the only downfalls.  Still I was prepared for the super crowds and we still had a good time.

Christmas Tree @ Hollywood Studios (aka MGM)

Drama Queen and I chased down the Green Army Man for a picture :)

The Tower of Terror is one ride that I have never once rode..  I never plan to either.. *shivers*   I was happy to stand and play on my phone while Daddy Chaos & Drama Queen went on it..  More power to them.. ick.

Christmas Tree- Main Street USA (Magic Kingdom)

The first day we went to Magic Kingdom, it was packed.. Actually two of the days we went there, the park hit capacity pretty early on.   I was super glad for the opportunity to test the new Magic Bands - which also gave us the ability to FastPass items from home before we even left.  Only 3 FastPasses per day but hey it was wonderful!   We also learned that we could still do FastPasses with our cards as well. SCORE!

Our cute Magic Bands..

So the Magic Band thing is pretty cool if you haven't had a chance to try it out yet (still in testing phase).  Basically your band is your key to the world.  It gets you into the room, pays for your dinner, gets you into the park, does your fast passes. Everything!!!  We all three fought over who got to open the door or pay for meals.. ha.  They were just so much fun!

I honestly didn't take a ton of pictures at Magic Kingdom because I've been there a zillion times and it was super packed.. But I did love some of the changes they've made!  Rapunzel now has a tower (just for show) and the bathrooms have moved over there... The above picture was at the entrance of the girls bathroom.    Honestly, I have more pictures but we tried to save my phone to check reservations ect, and I haven't taken the rest off of Daddy Chaos' or DQ's phone yet..  I suck ... I may make a second post with the rest of the pictures, or I may forget.. We shall see..

My favorite part about Animal Kingdom is definitely the animals.. More specifically the Giraffes!   Love them!  They are by far my favorite animal! :)  Here is their baby.. How cute!!!  I just want to take him home with me.. ha..

New Year's Eve at Magic Kingdom is pretty cool.  I love the icicles on the castle!!  And the colors always amaze me!!

Alas, so many of my good pictures are not on my phone and not here to share.. But if I wait until I steal them back from everyone else's phones... well who knows when I'll get this posted..

I'm off to update the surrogacy blog now...

but in case you wanted a sneak peek....

Off to the House of Mouse !!

So much to talk about and absolutely no time.   Starting tomorrow, I'll be officially on vacation and won't be back here until well into January.  This is your warning!  I will be back.. I haven't abandoned you all.  Life has just been crazy busy between the surrogacy, Christmas / birthday shopping and life in general. 

Tomorrow - Daddy Chaos, Drama Queen and I head out for our first vacation- just the three of us.   We promised Drama Queen many years ago that when she graduated from high school, we'd take her on a trip anywhere she wanted to go - just the three of us.  We'll do the same thing with Attitude King when his time arrives.  I guess as a little celebration of who we used to be before we became such a large family.  In any large family, the older children tend to help take care of the younger ones and don't get as much attention (although completely unintentional!)..  It just happens.

And so Drama Queen proved once again that she truly is a mini-me.  She chose the ultimate vacation--  Walt Disney World!   So tomorrow we head off (yes, I realize that she hasn't graduated yet, so it's more of an early graduation, Christmas & bday -- because yes my darn kid has aged yet another year and now is officially an ADULT!! arrgh!) to the Sunshine State..  The lils are jealous , naturally.   I'm more than a bit nervous about leaving them at home... most especially Dimples.   But I know they are in good hands, as the Grandparents are going to be staying with them.

Cropped picture trying to cut out the photo bombing Dimples.. Little Stinker!
These are some of her jammies she got for her bday! lol!  It was Disney Themed 18th Bday!

I'll probably have lots of pictures and stories to share about our 1st ever adult Disney trip :)

Now I need to go pack..... because I procrastinate like that.. :-)

Attention Please...

You might notice a little more bling on the blog.. I've become an affiliate to a great company that specializes in all things Disney! (ok ok, they do universal too but you all know I'm a Disney addict so that's all I see..) So a few of their cute buttons all over the blog, if you're thinking of going to Disney click thru and give a Momma a few bucks. Or heck just click HERE. And shhh, don't tell them because I'd totally promote Disney for free.. hehee..  I especially love the banner at the top.. Sooo true.

Since we're on the topic of Disney..
Raise of hands-  Who has been to Disney ?

Ok.. put your hands down..

Next- Who plans on going to Disney with your kids (or heck alone?) ??

alright, put your hands down.

Who is planning a trip to Disney THIS YEAR??

Let's chat Disney!  :)

Ohh and while Universal is awesome in it's own way...it doesn't call to me like Disney.. However, I am thinking of running over there next fall when we head to the Land of Mouse  to check out the new Harry Potter park! Cuz that does call to me!! Me & HP are like this .. Woohoo!

The needs of an almost 18yo..

Soo as ya'll (see how I'm getting all southern on ya? hehehe) know we are heading to the hot as hell lovely Lonestar state very soon to meet our precious new Southern Darlin'...

We tend to forget sometimes that there are little pesky things that might need taken care of here at the castle de Chaos.. Such as.. ohh, I dunno.. watering the doggie.. feeding said doggie.. Maybe even taking said mentioned doggie out to go potty.. I mean who would forget simple things like that? Surely not me..

So it's been arranged that Smellsy will be coming over to house/doggie sit while we are gone. Is it smart to leave a not quite legal adult alone in my house w/ access to everything here? No probably not.. But we all do what we must right? Besides, she's free cheap. (not that way.. gross) Give her some internet access (via her own account cuz she ain't snooping thru my junk!), a remote and a fridge of food and she'll be good.. I think.

In order for Smellsy to actually have food to eat that does not take preparing (ie. cooking.. what teenager cooks when they dont have to?) I requested a grocery list.. I requested nicely.. I txt'd her several times this week reminding her (cuz -hello, teen brains dont work on more than one thing at a time) to bring said list.

Finally I had to get downright mean. I threatened her w/ sending Daddy Chaos shopping for her food in which case she'd be getting some spam, wheat germ, whey protein and whatever gross sounding thing he could find and put in the cart.

Guess what arrived today before lunch?? The requested grocery list.. Which I will now share with you , so you now can know what it takes to feed and sustain a 17goingon18 yr old for 12days.

I present to you Item 1:

Pretty easy to please, ain't she? Sorry, you can't have her.. or borrow her.. She's all mine.. My house/doggie sitter.. Nah nah.. Yeah, I know you're jealous :)

BFFs at 4

We went on our first roadtrip since we bought the Monster - I say that lovingly b/c I really do like "We new ban". It's roomier, ohh so much roomier. I don't have the constant "Mom! He's touching me!" "She is on my part of the seat" "Tell (insert random little kid) to quit hitting me and keep their hands inside their carseat" mainly because I can SEPERATE them!! It's wonderful! And it really doesn't drive much different than our Tahoe. Sure I miss the 4x4, especially since we've been drowning in snow lately.. but it works.

Daddy Chaos wasn't too happy that I was taking pictures in the car.. So what if I accidentally forgot to turn off the flash the first time. I did turn it off after you screamed.. And the other time, well I didn't realize the camera would shoot out a burst of light prior to taking a picture even if the flash was off.. But the picture was worth it.. I have no idea when they did this to this building .. maybe it's always been like that and I just never noticed?

The trip itself was fun! We went to the Sketchers store because Daddy Chaos has a bit of an obsession with Sketchers. He is the woman in the relationship when it comes to shoes. Me? I'm too cheap, I'll wear my same pair of shoes until they are falling apart.. And quite frankly, even if they're falling apart- sometimes they're still wearable.. You should see my sandals from last year (and the year before and the year before.. ok, I dont really know how old they are!).

Still Sketchers sucked us right in with their Buy 1 get 1 at 1/2 off sale.. I mean how can you possible just buy ONE pair then? So Daddy Chaos got some new shoes and I got some new ones too.. I think I'm a bit in love with my shoes. They are so soft and fuzzy and comfy! Best of all, I can put them on w/o using any hands! Then Drama Queen found a pair of boots she wanted.. lo and behold, they were on sale AND the sales guy could see the dollar signs just looking at us & assured me that I wanted to buy Spoiled Princess the new light up shoes she was drooling over- he'd let us use the B1G1 -1/2off sale on top of Drama Queens' already sale priced boots.. I have no willpower, once we start spending- ack! Lucky for me, Drool Prince really didn't need new shoes yet, Attitude King opted to stay at home & I couldn't convince Daddy Chaos that Baby Bug really needed some new baby shoes in sketcher version. So we left the store almost $200 lighter but with 4 new pairs of shoes. OUCH!

Drama Queen is loving her new boots, Daddy Chaos already got out his new shoes to lace them up. I've tried on my new slippers shoes.. Spoiled Princess, well she wore her shoes all nite in the house. She tried to convince me that she really needed to wear them TO BED. Yeah, I think she's happy.

After our shopping trip, we ran over to my former IPs (intended parents) house and spent the nite. The kids all had a blast playing together.. Drool Prince got to dress up in all of Dilly (my surrobaby- ok , ok she's 4.5, but I can still call her that) dress up clothes. I have a picture of him wearing every single one of her necklaces- at the same time. I'm surprised his head didn't fall right off from the sheer force of it..

It was just a fun time. Quick trip, time with friends, great pictures to keep the memories. It was amazing to me that Spoiled Princess & Dilly get along so well. Instant BFF's. The child that I carried in my womb for 10 months and my daughter sleeping side by side, all cuddled up next to each other. You just couldn't create a better memory.

It's official!

Starting in just a few days, we will no longer be a family of 6... Yup, we're adding one more :)

Drool Prince's new baby brother will be joining the family as our newest foster placement! He's currently in respite care since we are still vacationing down at Disney but once we get home we get to pick him up!! I'm beyond excited. I haven't heard any other details yet so we'll see what happens with everything. We also have termination for Drool Prince in a few days, so wish us luck there!

Other than that- it's H.O.T. in Florida right now.. We had a wonderful time last week b/c we got here before 'peak' and the parks were awesome -- HOT but awesome. No waiting in line for more than 10mins. Apparently it all changed this week as we got into 'peak season'. The parks were instantly filled & waits are now at least 45-70 mins for basically anything! BLAH! Thank goodness we got our fill last week , huh?! Remind me never to come back to FL in the summer, cuz did I mention it's HOT!? lol! I don't 'do' heat well so I'd rather sit in the resort room in the a/c than go out and smother! Lol! I guess we'll stick to our normal Oct/Nov timeframe from now on!

I'll have pictures to share when I get home and hopefully more news on our newest addition!

Hi ho.. Hi ho...

Well I've been a slacker major time over here lately. Most likely it's not going to improve til at least mid June, but hey at least I'm warning ya right?!

You see, we are leaving for D. I. S. N. E. Y in less than one week.. LESS Than a WEEK..

Spoiled Princess talks about it every day- every hour of the day- bordering on every minute of every hour of every day. She is Beyond excited.. She's all about seeing Mermaid (but not octopus b/c she's mean), Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and also buying a magic wand that will turn her into a mermaid while she's there..

Drool Prince wants to see Lumpy.. I'm sad for him. I dont think Lumpy is there.. Sure we'll spend lots of time with Pooh, Piglet, Tigger and even Eeyore.. but I just don't think Lumpy the heffalump is there.. He will be devestated because to him- pooh just isn't enough anymore. Lumpy MUST be there. Hopefully we can get past that though :)

The big kids don't know we're going. You see we planned this trip wayyyyy back in December. Lots of junk has changed since then.. For one thing- the supoena for one.. We were planning on being gone for 2 full weeks PLUS 1 day.. Nice long relaxing vacay.. But then the whole TPR thing got scheduled and although the caseworker assured me all would be fine- I wouldn't be needed or if I was, they could just continue it to another date- that just didn't happen. So now we will only be gone for 1 week plus 2 days :( Sucks majorly. When we got that news we almost canceled the entire trip. In fact we did for a few days. Thus the big kids thinking we aren't going now.. We decided what the hell- we NEED to get away from all the crap and stress that is home life and we are going. We just decided not to tell the big kids about our change of heart.. The little ones are easy- if they say anything around the big kids we just nod and say yup, we're going next year.. because they have absolutely no concept of time.

Regardless it's going to be fun to suprize the big kids! We have it planned down to the airport. My dad is taking us and dropping us off (to save on parking fees plus he wants to tinker with my tahoe- determined that he can MAKE it get better gas mileage..).. So the seed has been planted that G'pa is flying to Flordia next week and we need to drop him off at the airport, plus he asked last nite if he could borrow one of our suitcases? lol.. We told the big kids that we'll go to Chicago and do the zoo/aquarium instead of Florida so I think they're pretty convinced.. for now..

So if you dont see me around, you'll know I'm either secretly stealing kids clothes from their closets and hiding them away in my suitcase.. or maybe packing airplane fun bags (in hiding).. or even obsessing over what we need to do each day.. I'll be Disney obsessed for the next few weeks..