The S Word..

As many of y'all know, we have been anxiously planning a Disney World trip to celebrate our new adoption of Paisley, Kyle, and Zeek. We have put hours and hours into our planning and have made some of the most adorable (if I do say so myself) matching shirts for the days we will be there. We coordinated the shirts to the parks, and I think it has helped tremendously with packing. When we first debated Disney I had joined a Disney group on Facebook and I seriously thought the members were Disney lunatics.

I am proud to announce I am a Disney lunatic.

The "magic" that comes along with Disney is addicting. I only hope the "magic" is strong enough to keep all of us going once we hit the parks. Ha. I worked on itinerary's last week, and I compared maps of the parks, to age related things for both our big kids and small kids, along with all of the dinner reservations and fast passes that were pre-booked AND I based several decisions off of my fellow Disney lunatics advice and feedback. It's safe to say every second of everyday is going to magical, and I have planned out everything down to the bathroom breaks.. Kidding.

I am so excited. This is going to be a once in a lifetime celebration for my kids- literally. Disney is super expensive, and we've even tried to "cut corners" by pre-purchasing things ahead of time. I ordered some light-up light-sabers from Amazon. I also picked up tons of light up toys, glow sticks, etc from the dollar spot at Target. These items are so expensive at events, especially when you have to purchase a mass amount for your family.

Paisley Grace loves anything princess, especially dressing up as a princess. Before I even put the deposit down on our resort, I had planned for Paisley to do Bippity Boppity Boutique in Cinderella's Castle. I wanted her to have the most expensive package offered, as she totally deserved that moment in the spotlight. This was something she would always remember, and something that she whole hardheartedly deserved.

Though the package we are planning on purchasing comes with it's own Disney licensed princess gown, I wanted to be able to surprise her every morning by laying out a princess costume on her bed with a note from whichever princess gown she was getting that day. How magical would that be? Super magical. How expensive would that be, if I bought the gowns from Disney? Super expensive.

So, I decided to pre-purchase the princess gowns from Walmart's Halloween costume selections. I was able to find Rapunzel, Aurora, Ariel, Belle, Cinderella, and Snow White for way under half the price I would have paid at the parks.

While checking out, the cashier was confused at the amount of costumes I was buying. I told her about our trip to Disney and what I was going to use the dresses for.

And, that's when she said it. The s word.

Spoiled. She called my child spoiled.

And just like that, the next thirty years flashed before me eyes. There I was behind jail cell bars, dressed in orange, eating slop off of a plastic tray and peeing in front of strangers.

I thought I was going to sucker punch this cashier in the throat.

Instead, I thanked her and walked away.

Of course, she didn't know my children are far from spoiled. The majority of the clothes hanging in their closets come from the thrift store or are graciously donated hand me downs from my friends and sometimes even strangers. The toys they get from Santa are also thrift store or yard sale finds that I stow away in the storage shed until Christmas. They are always sharing their toys, clothes, bedrooms, and most of all their parents. They never complain or question why we live this way.

All they know is four years ago they were scrounging for food in trash cans. They were living out of their mothers car. The only clothes they had were the ones of their back, and those were soiled and stained. When we got our oldest child, he was eat up with ring worm. Our middle child still struggles with the long lasting effects of starvation. And their young sister still wakes up in the middle of the night with death curling screams from dreams that still haunt her.

They are far from spoiled, but I hope they feel that way in Disney. I hope they feel the magic that the commercials advertise, because they deserve it.

Good thing orange isn't my color and that Disney is less than two weeks away.. Otherwise, I would have punched her.