Sam’s Pacifier

On our drive to Florida for our Disney vacation, Sam had a horrible cough. The only thing that seemed to suppress his cough was his pacifier so Sam was allowed to have his pacifier that entire day. When we got to Claire and Bryan’s house Sam was chewing on his paci and a piece broke off of it (btw, this was our very last pacifier). He was a little sad but was not fazed at all. I was thrilled. I finally saw my way to start getting rid of it.

I didn’t mess with it while we were gone but I would comment to him that his paci was broken. Once we were home I started trimming more and more off of the pacifier. As of yesterday he could barely even hold the pacifier between his teeth. Tonight as we were getting ready for bed I couldn’t find his pacifier. He was in his room looking with me and neither of us could find it. I eventually saw where it was but didn’t tell him. When it was time for him to go to bed he asked for his paci and I told him he was a big boy and didn’t need it anyways. I rocked him a little longer and he never asked again. He went to bed just fine and I threw the paci away when I got downstairs. I am so excited (and a little nervous) to finally be done with the paci! We will see how the rest of the week goes…

Spoof Booth

Sunday we had a Spoof Booth set up at church to have fun family pictures made. It was very popular! Because I was working Sunday and finished cleaning every thing up once most people were gone, we were able to walk right up to get our picture made and were the last people. All morning long the line had been really long though. Everybody was having so much fun. Unfortunately Lance was not with us on Sunday so he is not in the picture.

Reese was super excited to pick out all of the items she wore. Sam cracked me up with these glasses on (that he chose himself). He kept touching them. What a fun idea!

The Pink Pig

Today we met our friends, Liz, Kayleigh, and Caroline, to ride the Pink Pig at Lenox. We hadn’t seen them in a while so we were super excited about it. I kept Reese home from school so we could do this! Shhh! Reese and Kayleigh were so excited to see each other and immediately started acting silly together.

The whole way down to Lenox Reese asked if she and Kayleigh could ride together on the Pink Pig. They thought they were such big girls! They were really so cute together though.

Sam and I had a seat together. He loved it and just like at Disney, wanted to “ride Pink Piggie again”!

Two sweet little cuties!

My silly two-some…

After riding the Pink Pig we went to the food court and had lunch together. I love that Reese was able to spend more time with the girls and I was able to spend some time with their sweet mom! Thanks for a fun day girls!!

Nothing but trouble…

After a short nap this afternoon, I realized Sam may have an ear infection so off to the doctor we went and sure enough! The poor little guy has an ear infection…at least it is only one ear. After spending a ton of money on his medicine, I came home and realized we still had that exact same medicine from having his tubes put in. GRRR! I am not happy about that! Oh well…anything to make the little man feel better.

Gingerbread Village

Our elf brought the kids a Gingerbread Village to decorate. There were five small houses/buildings. I ended up doing most of the work until Reese decided she wanted to have a go at it. Sam just ate all the candy. And it looks like our elf has now enjoyed the fruits (or icing and candy) of our labor.










- Posted from my iPhone

Our Christmas Cards

Build-A-Bear

Each year, after we visit Santa, we take the kids to Build-A-Bear. It is a fun little tradition we have started.

Reese was very excited. We were hoping they still had the Rudolph characters so that we could buy Rudolph to go with our ClaReese but they were out.

Reese picked out a soft bear with colorful hearts all over it. She did a great job filling it up with stuffing and love.

Sam wasn’t quite sure what to think but he had fun doing what Reese did. He picked out a super soft dog…no surprise.

The name on the dog’s tag was Shaggy Dog so we just kept his name as Shaggy. Reese chose the name Lovie for her bear because it was covered in hearts.

They both had fun and hopefully these animals don’t just get thrown in to the bottom of the toy box.

Thunder Buzz

While we were at Disney our Elf on the Shelf showed up for the first time sitting on our mantle. The kids weren’t too sure what to think and picking a name was a difficult decision. Reese was (and still is) convinced he is a girl. She always says, “Look at those eyelashes and pink lips! It’s a girl!”.  She kept choosing girly names but Lance was trying to convince her that our elf is a boy.

It took us all night to finally come up with a name.

Since we were still on our Disney-high, Lance suggested that we combine Reese’s favorite ride (Thunder Mountain) and Sam’s favorite ride (Buzz Lightyear).

And “Thunder Buzz” was the final choice.

Each day he has moved around the house but hasn’t caused too much trouble. We will see what happens from here on out. The kids have been so excited to get up in the mornings and look for him. Before we even get down stairs, Reese asks where we think he is hiding.

This has definitely been a fun adventure!

Visiting Santa

You might have thought that Friday we took it easy or did some laundry after getting home from our long trip. But we didn’t. We woke up and hit the ground running. We ran several errands, stopped to visit with Santa, took Reese to ballet and then a birthday party, and then had Reese’s BFF and her family over for pizza. It was a long day!

Reese’s last three visits with Santa have not gone so well (2010, 2009, 2008). This year I wasn’t sure what to expect but she told me she was not going to cry. And she didn’t! I am thinking that visiting Disney played a huge role in this. Sam, on the other hand, didn’t handle it so well.

Reese told Santa she wanted a castle.

Sam told Santa he wanted to get down…in not so many words.

HA! I love the pictures of the kids crying. It will give them something to look back on and laugh at one day. I am so very proud of Reese and her smiles!

Our Disney Trip–Day 4

Our last day at Disney started out slow. We originally planned to go in to Epcot but decided that there wasn’t much for our two little monkeys to do so we decided to go shopping in Downtown Disney. Gigi had given the kids some gift cards to buy themselves a souvenir so we went to spend that money!

The kids were excited to see these statues so of course we had to get pictures with them too.

Sam didn’t cry with them!

Reese bought some writing pens and stickers. Sam bought a Buzz Lightyear light spinner.

After shopping we went to eat lunch at Planet Hollywood. It was a long walk so the kids took a break with this guy.

Once we wrapped up lunch we headed back to our room to change in to our Christmas party clothes and went back in to the park. We were staying for the “A Very Mickey Christmas” party that night so we knew it was going to be a late night…and a cold night. After the rain on Monday it really cooled things off so long sleeves and jackets were a must.

One of the first things we did was go find the fairies. Reese had seen all of the princesses at this point so the fairies were next on her list. They were very specific about not looking in to see the fairies before you got in the room with them. They wanted everyone lined up along the wall so no sneak peeking could happen. Well Sam was not going to stand along the wall so we played a game. I told them the wall was about to fall down and it really needed us to hold it up. So that is what we did until it was our turn.

Once in the nook we saw Vidia first. She was super cute and very good in character too.

And then it was time for Tinkerbell. Reese was a little bummed that these were the only fairies we saw but she was happy to have seen at least these two.

After the fairies we headed over to get our bracelets for the party and then Lance and Sam rode Buzz (again) and the rockets while Reese and I went over to ride Thunder Mountain (again).

On the way back to meet the boys we ran in to Peter Pan. He was, by far, the best in character! He did exactly what you thought Peter Pan should be doing. Reese was bummed to have not seen Windy with him.

After all the afternoon fun we met up with our friends again to start all of the Christmas party fun.

The first thing we did was watch the show that turns the castle lights on. I think the castle is so pretty lit up for Christmas. Basically Cinderella wishes that her fairy Godmother could decorate the castle for Christmas.

The fairy Godmother is in the center of the castle below the clock. She does her magic and the lights start coming on in sections.

So beautiful!

We ate dinner together as the park was closing to everyone else and then we headed off for some more fun.

The first Christmas party event we did was the dance party. The dance party had Buzz, Mike (from Monsters, Inc), and Stitch as the character dancers.

While waiting for the show to start they had a little interactive song for the kids.

Reese and Maddy were so excited to be able to lead the audience in Deck the Halls.

After the dance party we had some time to kill. We were going to try to find the princesses around but there was a parade going on so we just rode some rides while the princesses were occupied. (We waited for the the 10:30 parade because we heard there wouldn’t be as many people there.) We decided to ride Dumbo and the carousel.

As we were walking up to the carousel we saw Peter Pan and Windy running around. They were just precious! Totally in character and asking funny questions. Reese was thrilled!

Next it was time to head back out to the castle for another show. This show was called Celebrate the Memories and it was a slideshow type show where they put up people’s pictures from the day all over the castle. It was very impressive.

As soon as that show was over the fireworks show started. The fireworks show was unlike any other fireworks show we have ever seen. It truly was an amazing event!

After the fireworks the Daddy’s had to go stake out a perfect spot for the Christmas parade. And they did a great job. We once again had front row seats to see everyone up close. While the Daddy’s were holding down our spot the girls tried to go see another show but they had technical difficulties so they did a Christmas Carol show instead.

We rushed back to our parade spots and were ready to get started.

This parade did not disappoint. In fact, it was the best parade of the week. During the parade it “snows” on you if you are on Main Street. That definitely kept us in the Christmas spirit.

Merry Christmas, Santa!!

It was the perfect way to wrap up our week at Disney! Within minutes of the parade ending Sam had fallen asleep. The kids did amazing all week. They did not nap and were going to bed late and getting up early every day. Don’t get me wrong we all had our moments but overall I was very proud of everyone! What a special week!

We were very sad Thursday morning when it was time to leave. Reese told us over and over she didn’t want to go.

On our way home Lance and I started planning our next trip!!