Celebrating with the family

Since we were away for her actual birthday, we celebrated with Mee Maw and Goompa when we got back. Just a quiet dinner (of mac and cheese) with the family....and of course cake afterwards. Notice the Aura dress. I think she wore that for 2 weeks straight.

Disney and the birthday

Over Miss C's birthday, we took a trip to the most magical place on earth....no, not Napa....Disney! We kind of had some concerns going this year because Little J is only 3 1/2 and we didn't know how well the both of them would do going all day long for 6 long days. We actually had planned on coming back to the room mid-day each day so they could "rest". Well, you know what happens to the best laid plans don't you? Despite going everyday, all day long, they did great! J and I were very surprised and in all, we had a fun vacation! I think it's definitely something we will do again this year (but I think we might add the cruise in too).

Here we are on the way!

The first afternoon we were there, we checked out Downtown Disney and then finished the day off by having dinner with Mickey and his friends. What a treat that was! It was a great way to start the week. The kids got so excited every time one of the characters came out to greet the tables. Definitely a big hit!

On our first afternoon out...

Meeting Minnie Mouse

The next day we ventured over to the Magic Kingdom. Disney tip #1: Don't go to the Magic Kingdom on a Monday. I guess that is the first place everyone wants to go when they arrive over the weekend. It was crowded (but actually not too bad) but the kids had a blast.

We spent the day riding all the rides, watching parades, and having a good time.

One of their favorite parts of the parade at Magic Kingdom.....Malificent!

That night, we were able to catch the electrical parade. I kind of remember the parade from when I was a kid. It was my favorite part of the whole day. The parade didn't start until 7ish (which is their bed time) but we had made the decision to stay for that and the fireworks after and pray the kids would be in decent moods the next day. It was the first time the kids had actually seen a fireworks show, and they loved it. At the start of the fire works, Tinkerbell came out of the castle and zip lined across the sky. The kids were in heaven. Leaving the park that night was not too fun, but it was well worth it!

The following day the boys played golf in the morning and we hung around the hotel slowly taking our time and recovering from the late night. We also bought the kids these autograph books that you take with you everyday and get signatures of all the characters. In my opinion, it's kind of lame, but the kids loved it. Every time we spotted one of the characters, we had to stop to get their autograph.

After the boys finished up, we headed to Epcot. We decided to only spend a 1/2 day there, but in hindsight, I wish we would have made it a full day. There aren't a lot of rides for the little ones, but they have fun things to see and do in each of the "countries" represented there. We didn't even make it through half of them before dinner and ended up missing a big chunk of the park. The highlight of the day was dinner with the princesses that evening. Miss C was in heaven. She's all about Sleeping Beauty right now, and it was fun for her to be able to meet her in person :)

Wednesday we hit the Animal Kingdom. That was another fun day filled with a safari ride, a jam session with African drummers, and dino land (by far one of their favorites).

Thursday was the big birthday and started off with opening a few presents at the hotel.

After breakfast, we headed back to the Magic Kindgom.

We rode a bunch of rides (Tomorrow land was one of their favorites) and had lunch at Cinderella's castle with all of the princesses. What a treat!

After lunch, we headed to one of the dress boutiques and let Miss C pick out an outfit. Doesn't she look like a princess?!

And one of Little J

Friday we headed to Hollywood Studios. Miss C insisted on wearing her Sleeping Beauty dress for the second day in a row. Who were we to stand in her way?

By far, they had the best ride there....the Toy Story ride. If you ever go, you must get on that ride! Little J also got a chance to meet Lightning McQueen. I will have to say, couldn't Disney step it up a little and make him more interactive? He didn't do anything...

Finally Saturday we did a 1/2 day at the Magic Kingdom to re-ride all of our favorites and then headed home that afternoon.

It was a great vacation!

Five

Happy 5th birthday Miss C! I can't believe you are five years old already. It seems like just yesterday we were bringing you home from the hospital. You have brought us such joy over the past five years, beyond our wildest dreams. We have enjoyed watching you grow and become such a beautiful little girl. Over the past five years, we have learned that you are cautious and kind and show such concern for others and their well-being. You are cleaver and are always trying to outwit us and your brother. You love drawing, doodling and painting and will write on any piece of paper you find. Your favorite colors are pink and purple, but you are not overly girly. You have a little bit of a bossy streak, and I'm not sure where you get that from :). You are curious and ask a lot of questions. You have an acute attention to detail and can easily recognize when something is different or out of place. You are persistent, bordering on stubborn. You are sassy, and I love that about you. You have an infectious smile that just lights up the room. You are creative and love to learn and want to try new things. You are sensitive and can easily get your feelings hurt but are the first to recognize when someone else is hurting and offer sympathy. You are timid and prefer to be in smaller environments. But every once in awhile, you show such courage you truly make us proud. We marvel over how much you have grown over the past five years and what a lovely young lady you are becoming. You are beautiful. You are loved.

Happy 5th birthday!

Finishing up Halloween....

In the spirit of catching up, here are a few more from the fall that never got blogged. First up, Little J's class trip to the pumpkin farm. This is the third year I've gone with one of their preschool classes and we always have a good time. It was nice to be able to go this year with just him (usually I have both kids in tow).

Sitting with his class....notice how he's properly trained to look at me at all times when I have a camera in my hand!

Picking out the perfect pumpkin

A day or two later, I let them decorate the pumpkins with paint and glitter. That was at least a good hour of fun! Little J concentrating:

Miss C making her perfect pumpkin:

Little J had to make sure the whole thing was painted--even with me begging him to leave the bottom alone (because now blue paint is all over the table). Look at the kid, he had a hard time holding it up

The finished products

Finally a family trip to the pumpkin patch

A day later, pumpkin carving! These are all going to be in black and white because it was pitch dark and the color is awful. Never mind, they are super grainy from pushing the camera to it's limits!

While I've been waiting for over 2 hours to load all these photos (in addition to not being able to figure out how to make this blue font black), I finally took the plunge and set up a new blog.....hopefully I can get it customized in the next few days and start posting without frustration!