in orlando...

 spencer showed great bravery by riding on all four plane rides even though it made him a little nervous.
you know, come to think of it, i am not a very good flyer either, and i was brave too. :)

i only wore my hair down for about ten minutes on the first day - then in a messy bun for the other six and three/fourths. even a pony tail was unacceptable because hair was still touching my too-hot neck.

we saw penguins (my favorite) and dolphins and whales.

tasted all kinds of coke from around the world, it was pretty gross.

rich channeled john lasseter.

spencer had the gall to tell me that the rockin' roller coaster was "just ok, mostly it was just turns". what the? it's one of my favorite rides of all time.

then i saw the photo and laughed at him because it seemed to me like he was having a good time.

woody gave ethan his hat as a reward for being brave enough to give him a hug. (he must have known that ethan was nervous.) that moment made the whole trip worth it.

taylor's long thick hair reacted so awesomely to the amount of humidity in the air, that it provided daily entertainment for us all. this photo doesn't even do justice to the sweet fro that it was.

allie purchased the ultimate pin and lanyard collection she's always wanted - with her own hard-earned cash.

we ate really bland, over-priced food at the famous planet hollywood. (we're smiling because we didn't know how bland and over-prized it would be yet.)

ethan was psyched to be just tall enough for most of the rides we rode.

the kids, little guy included, salivated over this sweet ride at epcot...

 we fed the dolphins and pet the sting rays.

we saw all the important people and took photos with most of them.

even in orlando, the teenagers managed to make time for texting. usually while waiting in the long lines or riding shuttles in between parks.

taylor channeled his inner viking.

 his fellow SBOs would be so proud.

all the people in our family INCLUDING rich, rode this ride. the photo was terrible or i would've purchased it as proof for rich doubters.

spencer managed to sneak into several photos without me noticing until reviewing them later. these two are my favorites.

we walked at least 100 miles over the seven days - seriously, and i had about sixteen blisters on my poor feet to prove it, i'll spare you the photos. with the heat and humidity, we were all pretty wasted at the end of each day - ok half way through each day.

 hot and miserable, but i still managed to get them to smile for me. ya, i got skills.

  we all loved chilling at typhoon lagoon in the water for one whole day to beat the heat.

there was one more part of orlando that we all loved, but it deserves it's own short post. so you'll just have to wait. but here's a little clue...

onward

the overwhelming task of the overdue christmas post
is lingering over my head
and blocking my ability to post.
which makes me feel super behind
which blocks my ability to post
etc. etc.
and so, i'm giving myself permission to SKIP it.
the end.

onward with a few miscellaneous things.

i love little kid handwriting.

i wish i would've taken photos of the older kids' handwriting from when they were young.

come to think of it, spencer and taylor's handwriting probably still looks the same,

but it's not as cute when you're past 1st grade.

speaking of taylor and spencer....

how man moore boys does it take to screw in a lightbulb?

i took this photo after they had been up there fiddling with it for more than fifteen minutes.

for some reason, it just cracks me up that they had such a hard time with it.
maybe because i've heard too many screw in a lightbulb jokes?

spencer is back to his old self now that indoor lacrosse has started.
the bad light and plexi-glass arena make it almost impossible to get a decent photo,
so i can usually be found cheering (too loudly for rich) instead of shooting.

after the first game spencer decided he needed to work out on the treadmill more often.

i wonder if it has something to do with all the video game training he does?

i'm so lucky that all of my kids love music so much.

i'm even luckier than the high school musical AND the jr. high musicals are two of my most favorite of all time and all three of my teenagers are participating in them.

the high school is doing the scarlet pimpernel - with guillotine special effects and all. 

 and spencer and allie will be doing o.k.l.a.h.o.m.a - ooooklaaaaahoooooma!

hmmmm....too bad hugh jackman won't be staring in the jr.high production!

i love the music from both of these plays so much! i have been listening to them non-stop since we heard the good news.

a few more reasons to look forward to spring.

over christmas break there was more than just christmas morning that we were counting down at our house.

allie was counting down to three days BEFORE christmas when she could smile metal-free again.

 and all of us were counting down to TWO days before christmas when we could welcome these two cuties home from their mission in hawaii...

it was definitely nice timing to have them home for the moore family party the next day.

even if it meant getting up before the sun to see them at the airport!

last sunday we enjoyed hearing their talks at their homecoming.

 glad to have them home.