Wedding Day

We had breakfast at the hotel restaurant, talked with family, then headed back to get ready for the wedding. Unfortunately, the maids were in our room right then, so we did some more walking around the hotel. That was a big mistake! That set us back so far in time, I was scrambling trying to get everyone ready while Mark was trying to be Best Man.

After blowing dry and curling 3 girls hair, getting them put together w/ tiara's and gloves, I was a mess. K. and I had no time to get properly ready so I quick combed out both of our hair, threw on our dressy clothes and headed out the door so the bridal party could catch the limo. Fortunately, Mark stayed back and helped me otherwise I would never had made it out the door in time. He got himself and the boys ready which was a good thing as I've never had to deal with a tux personally and wouldn't have known what to do with all those pieces!

 At the church waiting

K. fell asleep right before the ceremony and I was hoping beyond hope she'd stay that way as I knew she was tired and hungry and if she saw Dada and all her siblings up there at the front of the church, she'd be wailing. She stayed asleep until the bride walked down the aisle. She woke up happy, thankfully, but as expected when she saw Daddy, that's all she wanted! I quickly made my exit with her before she disrupted the wedding too much and we hung out in the narthax with Mark's cousins wife and their little boy. K. and her second (third?) cousin had fun babbling to each other and Julie and I had fun talking.

After the wedding ceremony there came the pictures. The endless stream of wedding pictures. When that was finally over, we headed back to the hotel, kicked off the fancy clothes and hung out for an hour before the reception. Ahh, what bliss.

 Finally, Daddy!

The Car

Fluffing the train

Fortunately, the reception was also in the hotel, so we didn't have far to travel once we gussied up again (minus tiara's and gloves). The reception was held on a second floor balcony outside the room for the reception. The sun was setting over the Pacific Ocean and it was beautiful!

The room for the reception was beautiful. They created a magical fairy tale setting with lights and tulle and beautiful centerpieces.

It was so late by the time the reception started and K. had had so much that entire week, I ended up leaving with her right as dinner arrived. She crashed as soon as I laid her down in the crib and I enjoyed some quiet before the rest of the family came back from the reception. From what they said, and the pictures they took, it was a fun time for all.

TOS Review - New Monic Elementary Edition of Vocabulary

As part of the TOS Crew I had the opportunity to review NewMonic Books Vocabulary Cartoons.

 NewMonic's Vocabulary Cartoons uses mnemonics to teach vocabulary words making the experience enjoyable and fun. Research has shown that we learn better and retain information longer by using the art of mnemonics.

Not sure what a mnemonic is? It's a catchy phrase, rhyme or picture, or a combination of all three that helps make the leap from short term memory into long term memory.  Which means, once the material goes in, it's gonna stick! Remember learning, "In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue" ? That's a mnemonic. How about memorizing the books of the bible to a familiar preschool tune. That's a mnemonic technique as well.

Vocabulary Cartoons is 253 pages long, divided into four sections:

• Introduction
• The Words
• Review Answers
• Index

The word section is divided into 21 sections each containing 10 words per section. After the student goes through the words, they take a review test which consists of 10 match the word to its definition and 10 fill in the blank sentences.  It is encouraged not to move on until you have mastered the previous section.

This summer I started using various mnemonic tricks with one of my daughters to help her with some learning issues. So I was very excited to receive this book for review!  It was right up our alley.

My kids really enjoyed looking through the book and answering the review questions. They found the cartoons to be funny and they really did retain the information.

Vocabulary Cartoons sells for $12.95 + shipping.  It's a great price for a fun, painless way to build your students vocabulary!  You can check out samples of the cartoons here.

Vocabulary Cartoons has other books for all ages from K- Highschool. 

To check out what others had to say on the TOS crew, click here.

I received this product free for the purpose of reviewing it.  I received no other compensation for this review.  The opinions expressed in this review are my personal, honest opinions.  

And on to Huntington Beach!

It was hard to leave Disney but the prospect of seeing family and the beach certainly made the move in location much more palatable. :)

My bil was getting married to a beautiful gal and we were going to see it! Mark and the kids (minus K.) were all in the wedding, so it was of the utmost importance for us to be there and on time!

We left Anaheim and headed to the Huntington Beach with our first stop being, The tux shop! Now that's fun! As usual, they were running behind schedule with only one fitter there and 2 bridal parties waiting to be fitted. As we waited for our turn I tried to amuse K. as much as I possibly could and keep her from tearing apart the bridal shop that was adjacent to the tux shop. I finally broke down and booked across the parking lot to the CVS there and bought her some crackers to keep her amused. Being number 6 definitely has it's perks. ;)  While we were at CVS we ran into my sil and niece and nephew. Talk about weird! They live in FL, we live in AZ and here we are running into each other in CA. Not totally unexpected since we were there for the same reason, but still, a bizarre experience to run into family in a strange city and store!

 The Groom

My handsome S.

From the tux shop we headed to our hotel, The Hilton Waterfront. Very nice hotel but not as nice as Disney! LOL  (we really missed the elves that helped us unload our cars. ;-) ).  We had a quick change and Mark and the older kids left for the rehearsal. I stayed back with the little Miss since her mood was not exactly ready to put up with an hour or so of rehearsing for a wedding. The rehearsal dinner was down in our hotel so at the appointed time K. and I headed downstairs where we met up with Mark's family, the one's not in the wedding like K and I. :)  We enjoyed a moment of quiet and peace before the wedding party arrived and the craziness began!

The cousins had a blast getting to know each other again. They all get along so well. I wish we lived closer so they could hang out together more often. Everyone ate, drank and had fun! K. and I headed back up earlier than everyone else so she could hit the sack ready for the next day of fun, fun, fun.