The Big Secret

On Monday, we finally got the house cleaned up (kind-of) from all the Christmas activity. Rick went back to work, and it seemed as if things were finally settled back to our normal pace of craziness. Also, add in a little bit of Oh shit! What do you do when 7 children are home from school?

I told the kids that if they cleaned-up pretty well, then we could ask Rick if we could go out to eat when he gets home from work. (Unfortunately, this is a rare occasion in our house. It's something that both sets of kids had in their previous lives, but since we became the Brady-Doodle's, It was one of the first things we gave up. Even McD's costs about $40-$50 for us.)

So they cleaned, and I was so sneaky, because the dinner was already planned, and we weren't even paying for it. But My God people, you would have done it too if your kitchen looked like mine did. And then when Rick got home, they nominated Rainia to do the begging, and she batted her eyelashes and asked in the sweetest voice possible if we could go out to eat. With all of her eylash batting, and sweetness, Rick gave in (planned) and off to the steakhouse we went.

When we walked into the back room, where all the REALLY long tables are, to the kids surprise it had balloons, and a couple of people they soon recognized, and some signs that Andrew had to get about 6 inches away from to read, but there it was, in large print. "Bon Voyage Andrew!" "Disney Bound!"

Before we went into the restaurant, we had given the kids the normal pep-talk which included things like No Screaming, No Running, Don't stand on the table or climb the walls. You know, pretend you are actually civilized. And of all times to listen to us, they chose this one. So there we were, they had just found out we are going to Disney, and not a peep out of this bunch. You could have heard a pin drop. Ummm...Kids? Helloooo? We are talking about the happiest place on earth! In three days!

Finally Andrew asked if we were going to miss any school, Of-Course we are, and then the excitement started. Brooke quietly asked me if she could let out a little squeal, just one, and I happliy obliged, her and Rainia screamed, jumped a few times, and then the giggling, talking, and eating began. They were sweet. And funny, and started talking about what to pack. And I wasn't even embarassed in front of the make-a-wish people the whole time. Well, only once, when Rainia told Kyley that no one wanted to hear her bladder. She actually meant Blabber, which wouldn't have been a nice thing to say at all. But Bladder was much more enjoyable for everyone. Oh-Yeah, also when one of the make-a-wish ladies told her she had ice-cream on the tip of her nose, and she proceeded to clean it off. WITH HER TONGUE. I quickly had to remind her that that was a talent best kept to herself. She also made an announcement that this was the best day ever because she found out she was going to Disney, AND she got food. Now I know that she meant food in a restaurant, but this was just too much for Rick, who announced that the best days of his life also were the ones when he got to eat food. They all really had the make-a-wish ladies laughing the whole time.

And when we got home, and the kids got the luggage that Rick and I have been collecting for the last few weeks from the goodwills and thrift stores in our area (and neighboring towns), the kids REALLY freaked out. This is where I was glad I said all the stuff about not climbing walls, or practicing your cartwheels in the restaurant. But they quickly calmed down when we put in the DVD they had given us about disney. They sat watching, mesmorized, with smiles from ear to ear, and the occasional squeal of delight.

So we leave early tomorrow morning, and we are staying here That site is for the general public. But they also sent us a site to look at for the families. Kind of a 'what to expect'. And of course I will share that with you as well. It is here. I haven't decided yet if I will bring my laptop, so I don't know if I will be updating, but I definately will when we get back. We get home on Wed. the 7th. And the kids aren't actually missing that much school, because they weren't scheduled to go back until the 5th anyway.