Monday, November 25, 2013

Disney--Day 1

On Sunday, December 11th we woke up in the EARLY morning to leave for Florida.  I had a conference that started the day after Grace's 4th birthday at none other than DISNEY!  There is no way you can go to Disney on your little girl's birthday and not take her.  We decided to invite our moms to join us to help out with the kiddos and to get to experience Disney with them.  We stayed right on property at Saratoga Springs.  It was an AMAZING experience.  My brother and his family, cousin and his family and Aunt Susie, Uncle Bob and cousin Katie all joined us for the first 3 days.  I thought it would be chaotic trying to get 18 people through the parks but it ended up being the most fun 3 days I could have ever hoped for!  And it started out so fun that Sunday waking Grace up at 4 a.m. by starting to rub her back, getting an "I'm sleeping" grunt, and then saying "We're going to Disney" and seeing her explode out of bed.  To say she had been looking forward to the trip is an understatement.

 Laura hanging in the airport before her first flight

 On the plane (They did awesome!  Some ear issues on landing but couldn't have asked for a better time!)

When we got to the airport we were wisked away on the Magical Express--Disney's shuttle service to its properties.  Nana met us there.
 
 
Checking out the playground at our resort
 
 And Aly was there!

 Before dinner it was time for the pool.  Laura decided she'd watch from the sidelines with Nana.

 Brrrr!



 Rinsing off before dinner in the jet tub--water ended up everywhere!


 Laura and Alana--so fun to finally have Laura meet the extended family!

 The group headed to T-Rex in downtown Disney for dinner.  It was just a short walk from our resort.

 The boys and their beers in Downtown Disney

 In one of our brighter moments, the ladies decided to take the boat home.  Unfortunately, it put us on the wrong side of the resort--a longer walk than a straight walk from Downtown to our room.  Luckily, we found a nice staff member who took us for a ride on the golf cart to get back to our room. 


Catching Up

I am DREADFULLY behind on this blog.  Like a year behind!  My goal is to catch up by 2014.  We'll see how I do.  Cross your fingers.  I have all the pics and many are organized.  It will be a trip down memory lane over the next 6 weeks :)

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Bowling Birthday!


We had Grace's fourth birthday party on November 10th at the bowling alley.  We debated doing a party since we were leaving for Disney the next day (more on that in the next post!), but she has so much fun at all of her friends' parties and the kids are so close so we decided to go for it.  The bowling alley made it so easy.  We didn't have to worry about anything besides bringing the cake and favors.  It was really fun because it was the first time many of the kids had bowled.

Favors

Cake

Waiting for guests to arrive and getting silly...



 Sweet sisters!

 Wonder where Grace gets her silly from?

Cannot believe my baby is four!

Grace at the head of the table

And finally...friends have arrived! And then came pizza!






We were so lucky to have Aunt Janet in town visiting Kristen.  She took care of Laura for the whole party and Laura loved every minute of it!

Truly a baby whisperer!

Game's done...time for cake!



My favorite part of these kiddie birthday parties is how excited the kids get to give their presents to the birthday girl or boy.  They simply cannot wait.  It's so cute!




An exhausting but fun day!

Personality abounds

These two little girls have so much personality!



Photography by Grace

 Grace loves getting her hands on my camera/phone...

And I love getting pictures with my two beautiful girls!

Fall Fun

Nothing better than playing outside on a crisp fall day!