Disney World 12/10/12

I want to journal day by day of our recent trip to Disney World. We had such a magical trip that I want to try to document as many details as possible.

We started our trip as early as possible Monday morning. The girls missed the week of school for this. Brady kept asking me what time it was and wanted to know what the kids at school were doing. I purchased Usborne Book sticker books for the girls and it entertained them in the car for a huge chunk of time.

Our first stop we pulled into a rest area, and Reese asked "Is this Disney World?"

All three girls were troopers on the car ride, but we quickly realized Elli was coming down with a cold, maybe even an ear infection.

Brady made sure to have her camera in the back of the van with her so that upon entering Disney she could take pictures. We got there afterdark but the girls ohhhed and ahhhed at all the lights they saw. Reese exclaimed "I love Disney mommy, thank you" Shortly after that Brady states "this is way better than preschool!"

I bought fancy princess nightgowns for the girls for this trip. After Brady got hers on she called it her "royal evening gown" and pranced around the room.

We stayed at the Art of Animation Suite hotel. We were in the Cars Movie section. There was so many amazing details. I highly recommend this hotel to families with young kids. In the nightgown pictures above, the girls are in the murphy bed. When it is put away, it becomes a table for four.

 The shower curtain in one of the two bathrooms.

 All the lighting with Cozy Cone related.

There are lots of 'characters' to take pictures with as well. Pictures to come in a later post!

Mini Mani Party

We are celebrating Reese's 4th birthday at Disney. But I couldn't resist a little party with a couple friends as we say farewell to this city. Here are a few pictures of the 4 year old fun! Yes, Reese loves her colonial dress...she just thinks she is the bees knees when she wears it. 

Smilely Elli

So, in response to the Christmas card, my sister asked me the other day if Elli ever cries. She said every picture she sees of Elli she has a huge smile. Here is a sampling of that awesome smile. If you make eye contact with Elli and say something sweet to her, you will most likely get this huge smile from her. 

I thought to myself as my sister asked me this question at 8:00 at night, and I couldn't remember Elli crying on that particular day. She grunts or whines, but rarely cries.... I am a lucky momma!

So at dinner tonight when she looked at us and randomly gave us the fat lip and then pulled out full on tears, I, like every mom would,  grabbed (nope not the baby)... the camera. So here it is Andi, a unhappy Elli.

How is she so cute even in full on tears?

Did you spy her two new teeth?

Farewell MSP

The girls had their last day of school at Montessori School of Pensacola. I knew when I looked at the school just under 3 years ago this school was special and a perfect fit for my girls, but Friday as we said our good byes that decision was confirmed.

These are the faces of the three teachers as they had to give the girls a hug one last time.

 I am not sure if you can tell in the pictures, but all three teachers were boo-hooing as they gave out hugs. One teacher was even heaving/shaking from tears as she gave me a hug. I will be lucky if I ever find teachers this compassionate about my kids again.

I did get one huge reminder from Reese. I was asking her to give out hugs to her friends and teachers to say good-bye, but Reese just kept coming back and giving me hugs. I was thinking I needed to get her to give hugs, then it hit me...she was giving hugs...to me! I was overwhelmed by ease in knowing that with this move, I will say lots of good-byes to lots of amazing people but I will always have my family by my side. I will always be able to get the best hugs there are, those from my husband and girls. "Home is where the Navy sends us" is a common phrase among us military families. It is true, I may not be in NC but I am HOME with my family.

I had to chuckle to myself though, Reese finally gave one hug to a friend, and I was shocked by what I saw.

This is the same little boy she asked for help on the calendar when she was the leader of the day the previous week.... I think Reese has a crush!

On a side note: I think the girls are unphased by this move. They are looking forward to Disney World and may not quite understand the permanence of the move. Also it helps big time that their best friend from school last year now lives in Virginia Beach. They are super pumped to be back in the same city as her.

Daddy's Girl

Brady proudly labels herself as a daddy's girl. They have started working out on base weekly. There is a running trail with intermittent stations. She is very proud of her time with her daddy and she likes to show me the exercises that are at the stations. 

Next Children's Book Author?

Reese received a kit to write her own story book. This is her story... grammar is obviously her doing. 

Well, would you buy a copy?

Letters to Santa

We will be getting to our new house a couple days before Christmas so the girls wanted to make sure that Santa knew where to find us. 

 Brady's read" "Dear Santa, My new address is ....... Maria is our elf. I have been a good girl this year. I want bunk beds for dolls, Olivia legos set, book of Santa, Carolina doll. Love, Brady"

Reese's has some of the same sentences, but she is asking for princess playdoh and caroline doll.

I hope Santa gets these letters so he can track us down. 

Peek-a-boo

This is no longer a toothless grin.

November 28 Elli's first tooth popped out. Within ten minutes of my discovering it, she bit me three times while nursing. OUCH!!! I have to break that habit fast!

Speaking of peek-a-boo... This is Reese on her best behavior at a fancy restaurant. And yes, I choose to take her picture instead of correcting the behavior.

Owl Blanket Project: Six Months

Well, I am a few days late posting this, but my baby girl is six months old! Look at how she has grown...I had a hard time snapping this picture this month because she was rolling all over the place.

-Her biggest strides came this month in hand control. She know reaches straight out for the object she wants to touch. Her favorite thing to grab, hair! Brady and Reese have been at the receiving end quite a bit. I love it though because when I hold her facing me she grabs with both hands and it is just like a little hug from her, I look forward to my hugs after her naps.
-We had a interesting month in the breastfeeding department. Her weight gain had slowed down last month so I spent some time with a lactation consultant to get everything back on track. In the previous month she only gained 2 ounces, but after the consultant got everything fixed Elli gained 10 ounces in one week!
-Since I didn't have as much milk, Elli has stopped sleeping through the night. She still sleeps on average 6-8 hours, but definitely not through the night, but it is okay because she needs to calories.
-A day before she turned six months, she got to try solid food. She did the best out of the three girls. I believe this is due to the fact that she takes medicine nightly so she is used to different taste. She has tried sweet potatoes, avocado and bananas. I think bananas are her favorite.

My two favorite things about this video: one, she uses her thumb to suck the food down, Brady did the same thing and I think it is so clever and two, how she would be eager for the next bite.

Our Baby Business Woman

Our family had a yard sale this past weekend. I had been preparing for it for a while so the girls we very aware of what was going on and how it all worked. I decided to let them get involved. Karl and I use credit for everything these days and they need to learn what money is and where it comes from.

The day or two before the yard sale we baked cookies (from scratch  and made lemonade (from crystal light powder). They were very eager to have their first lemonade stand.

I told Karl we would start setting up at 6am so that we would be ready at 7am. I my alram was set for 6am, I woke up threw on a jacket and headed out. Karl had already set up half the stuff and the girls were both awake, ready to sale lemonade. It was like it was Christmas morning for them and they couldn't sleep in anticipation. Brady and Reese got their stand all set up and sat in their chairs in the dark waiting for a 'bite'.

Apparently 'early birds' don't get the worm (or cookies and lemonade). Even though we had a steady flow of costumers in the first hour, none of them showed any interest in the girls whatsoever. I had to be their first costumer. This bored Reese and she went inside for the rest of the morning. Brady, however, was determined. Patience paid off.

 After all was said and done Brady sold about $20 of cookies and lemonade by noon. She was very proud of herself, and often bragged about her success to people stopping by to check out the yard sale. Occasionally I would hear "I have LOTS of money" being sung to visiting costumers. We had a little mini lesson about bragging.

Brady came in with her cash and Reese immediately went after the money assuming she got half of it. Insert another teachable moment...you have to work for your money. Reese was quite upset that she didn't get to have money even though she didn't work for it.

We brought Brady out to use her money for whatever she would like. She choose Doc McStuffins play set and Lego Friends doll.

Brady we are so proud of you for working hard for your money!