Easter Egg Drop

A local church was hosting an Easter Egg Hunt.  We had heard about it too late last year, so we decided to head over this year.  The field was marked off in 3 sections for different age groups.  Under Preschool, Preschoolers and Older kids.  We had a hard time getting out of the house on time and really should have planned better, but we finally made it there, ran across the field while watch a helicopter drop 10,000 easter eggs onto the field.

We rushed across to our age group just in time to turn around and go back to where we were.  We could have stayed where we were, but didn't want to get yelled at by the angry parents who had been waiting there for over 45 minutes to be "first in line".  Seriously folks?  It's just easter eggs.  But apparently, it is taken very seriously.  Anyway, the kids were so excited about the helicopter.

When they called out our age group to start, it was insanity!  Someone dropped their smartphone of sorts and instead of reaching down to get it (and possibly get trampled), they looked down, looked back up, grabbed their child in their arms and started running.  Mayhem, I tell you.

We got quite a few eggs and vowed never to go to it again. It was an experience that only needed to happen once.  The kids enjoyed it for the most part though, and it really is all about them, right?

Poor little one was just tuckered out.

Daddy Time!

Helping Daddy and spending time with him is a favorite time of the day!  Even if you have to improvise!  Monkey is just now starting to like being on the mower, because she can drown out the noise!  Love how they puff out those cute cheeks!!

He can't wait for this to be his job in quite a few years!

Kinda makes you want to go... hmmm.....

Sometimes I wonder about my kids.  They are so creative and fun-loving, what is really going through their brains? Sweet Pea is the instigator.  He will come up with ideas and plans and get Monkey to follow through on them.  Yes, he gets in trouble too, if she does something he told her to do.  It is a never ending battle with those two!  I understand that Monkey loves dogs (stuffed, not real) and oftentimes will pretend to be one, but this is the first time she actually ate like one!  Not sure who came up with this "game", but I had to take a few pics before telling them that their food should be on the table, not the floor.  Oh and that they were humans.  Crazy kids!

Stinker!!

New Toys!

The family and their new toys!  The kids got a bigger bubble maker and The Hubster got an electric chainsaw!  Time to clean up the yard and have some fun!

Mahwidge, Mahwidge is what bwings us twogetha twoday!

 My kids are obsessed with getting married.  They like to get dressed up and come into the room and tell me they are going to go get married now.  Um... what?!??  I know, they are kids and these two are so imaginative that it is all part of the fun and explorative play, but I always have to remind them that God has someone special for them to marry and that they are not going to marry their brother/sister or even their mommy/daddy.  They go back to playing and I am satisfied that they know where marriage comes from.  Yes, we have had deeper conversations about this in the past, so now each time it is more of a refresher for them.

Mommy! We are going to get married today!

A prince always kisses a princess.

Those adoring eyes of her big brother.

Playing a wedding song.

LOVE HIM!!

Adorable little girl!

And the wedding dance.

Disneyworld Vacation 2011 - Part 2

Friday, January 28, 2011

Happy Birthday Joan!!!  It's my mom's friend's birthday today!

We made our way across the Florida State Line and into Disneyworld today!  Oh the excitement of the kids!  We stayed at one of the value resorts - Pop Century!  It was fabulous!  Tip #1: If going for a value resort, stay at Pop Century!  While the other value resorts seem nice and even more fun, Pop has it's own bus system, so it makes it easier to get to and from places and not worry about other buses being filled up. It also has been refurbished more recently than the others. Tip #2: If you're trying to pinch pennies, get one of the standard rooms and then spring for the fridge.  A preferred room isn't always better located, but an in-room fridge is so helpful!  It's one of the small box fridges - not an upright rectangular, but it still has enough space for what you'll need it for.

Yay!  We're here!!!

Unless you have unlimited time and tickets, Tip #3 is to not waste a park ticket for the first day you get there.  Instead, attend one of the character meals. For the little ones, big stuffed characters can be scary!  So, to acclimate Monkey into seeing them a little more, we chose to do Chef Mickey the evening we got there.  So fun!  We took the bus from the hotel to Magic Kingdom and then hopped on the monorail to the Contemporary Resort.  They LOVED the monorail!

Chef Mickey's for Dinner

Monkey not so sure about the big Pluto, but she slowly got into the characters

Sweet Pea loving each new "friend"

Getting into the swing of the characters.  Maybe she just likes the female ones.

Nope! No excitement here!!!  ha ha!

The dinner at Chef Mickey's was really good.  Since I have a gluten allergy (no wheat, rye or barley), one of the chef's came to our table and brought me through my options at the buffet line.  I was pleased that there was quite a bit I could choose from.  They even had chicken without breading on it.  It was a little dry, but delicious!  The mashed potatoes were to die for! Normally, I like chunky potatoes, but with all the butter and cheese and 1000 calories per bite, it was so good!  Other fruit and salad options were good and The Hubster enjoyed some carved meats.

The dessert section looked heavenly, but of course I couldn't have any of it.  All of these bite sized treats of key lime tart, brownies, cheesecakes, cookies.  Oh, yum!!

One gripe is that most places we went, the kids had to choose from the kids menu, which mostly consisted of mac n cheese, pizza, chicken nuggets or something else equally fried and not so good for them.  Don't they know my kids like to eat salads and veggies???

As we were finishing up, we heard the fireworks from "Wishes" at the Magic Kingdom.  We could barely see them, but the kids liked what they could see, all the same!

Disneyworld Vacation 2011 - Part 1 (of many)

Thursday, January 27, 2011

We have been wanting to go on a family vacation, just the 4 of us, for quite some time.  Since we don't live near any family, all of our vacation time has been used to go to one side of the family or the other, both of which take a day of travel to get there and back.  This time, we decided it was time to go to Disneyworld!  The kids were ecstatic!  The Hubster, Sweet Pea & Monkey had no idea really what to expect.  I had some sort of idea since I grew up going to Disneyland, but it was all still new to me!

We booked our tickets in November and were excited to get the Free Dining Plan. Yay for free meals!  Little did we know those meals would be as interesting as they were.  More on that throughout my updates, later!

The kids didn't ask EVERY day when we were going to go, but they knew it was sometime soon.  So, I found some Disney paper on clearance and made a paper chain countdown.  Monkey had the blue Cinderella paper and Sweet Pea had the orange Tigger paper. The Hubster & I had the black Mickey paper.  Such an easy way for them to count down their trip!  They loved it!

Don't mind the ugly curtain on our back door. We think it's been there for 34 years (since the house was built)

We decided that since it was a long drive, we would break it up into two days of travel.  We were set to leave on Thursday after school got out. Pick up the kids and GO!  But, lo and behold the weather kept the kids out of school, so I ran around town with them trying to do final prep.  It all worked out though!!  Even though they were out of school, we still didn't find our way out of the garage until 2:12pm that day since The Hubster had to work in the morning and I just wasn't ready!

So excited!

Doing her arm pumping dance in the car.

Dreaming of warmer weather

And a trip in the car wouldn't be complete (no matter how far), without Monkey taking off her socks.

The love these two have for each other just keeps growing. So glad they are best friends!!

We made our way out and to Macon, GA for a quick night's rest.  Whenever we go to a hotel, the kids LOVE playing on the luggage carts!

Bedtime!!!