Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Top 10 Vacation Photos

I know some of these aren't great photography wise but they are great because the of the people in them. I've finally learned that not every photo has tp be fantastic lighting, placement etc. but it's the people that make them great.My Dad walking with the kids. They sure do have a great time together!

Doug and I out on the observation deck at the California Grill after a nice dinner.

Gracie and Doug laughing about who knows what as we wrapped up our last day at the Magic Kingdom.
Q holding my Dads hand while on his sholders watching the Block Party Bash Parade.

Gracie with Kayla right before we jammed out at the Move It! Shake It! Celabrate It! Parade (Kayla always says there are never any pictures of her...well Kalya I proved you wrong!)

Q and Gracie with Minnie at Chef Mickey's...ummmm check out my sons eyes! LOL

Q really wanted to get in this car with the Dino at Animal Kingdom. Can you spot his little head popping out?
Gracie really enjoyed the puppets in China at EPCOT. She ended up buying a smaller one but of course it was a giraffe!
Just love how the sun hit spaceship earth as we walked into EPCOT.

Gracie and Kayla acting silly while shopping on the Boardwalk! Yeah, you two are very scary "Gangsta's"

Monday, January 18, 2010

Welcome back to reality!

I'm back from the most magical place on earth and thrust right into reality. More on that later first lets talk Disney!

We had a wonderful time at Disney World once again and once again we can't wait to embark on our next visit. It started off really cold but it warmed up by then end of the trip so we were able to actually wear Capri pants and no jackets! Yippee!

In an effort to not babble incessantly about Disney I will review it for you in Top 10 form

Here's my top 10 moments from the entire vacation:

10) Being extremely close to the giraffe on the safari ride.
9) The Move It, Shake It, Celebrate It parade with Gracie and Kayla
8) Breakfast at Chef Mickey's with the whole family!
7) Matching family t-shirt day. They turned out really cute M and K!!!!
6) Out to dinner with Doug and my parents.
5) The ride home on day 4 when Q couldn't stop talking about Disney and life in general. Too funny!
4) Illuminations at EPCOT, always a favorite!
3) Dinner at Whispering Canyon the last night, I want to go back there when we are not so tired!
2)Meeting the fairies with Gracie. Tinkerbell sure is a spitfire!
1) Sharing my magical place with Doug...and he actually liked it.

This picture says it all! We had a great time!!!!!

Then... reality hit!

After arriving home I took the van out to run errands and guess what?!? My van broke down. It wasn't to much of a hassle as it did get fixed. Also both kids got sick and we have been home all week from work and school because of it. So reality decided not to waist any time and make sure I knew I was home! :) Ahhh life gotta love it!

Friday, January 01, 2010

I did it, I did it!!!!
December Daily Day 22


Tonight the kids went to spend some time with their Dad so I feverishly wrapped presents until all were neatly wrapped and tucked under the tree. I think it was about midnight when I finally finished the job.

My family gives me a hard time every year about my wrapping. They love to poke fun at my process. Yet, every year they also love how cool the finished process turns out. They laugh as I search high and low for a theme for my wrapping. Then I tear apart my ribbon drawer in search of the perfect matching ribbons to adorn the packaging. I even find ornaments that can be tied to the packages that match. Then the final step is making the matching gift tags. It's like scrapbooking around a package. How fun is that!!!!!
Fa la la la
December Daily Day 21


Gracie had her winter school concert today. It was such a cute performance by all the grades. Even entertaining for a very energetic 2 year old. We all really enjoyed it as well as I think Gracie really enjoyed performing with her classmates.

She woke up this morning not feeling ill but insisted that she needed to be at school for the final performance rehearsal for the concert. She got dressed and sluggishly went about her normal morning routine. I told her that she could always call me if she couldn't make it and I would come to pick her up. She insisted over and over again that she was not going to miss any part of her day! I love how determined she was not to let her classmates down! What a trooper!
Ho Ho Ho
December Daily Day 20


Today we took a little pilgrimage to the mall for a visit to see Santa. We got all decked out in our matching Christmas gear and waited our turn to see the big guy in red! I thought for sure Q was not going to do well with this whole process. So, I decided it was best for me to tag along with. To my surprise he did very well! I don't know if that was because I was right there with him or if it was because he just naturally would have been OK. All I know is that I was happy to have been there to listen in. It was just so stinkin' cute! Gracie was her normal sweet self and Q was just as sweet after a great example set by his sister. Gracie said she wanted the American Girl Doll Kit and Littlest Pet Shops and Q said he wanted a Tractor and a Scoop It. My Mom said that it was They booth said thank you and walked away as happy as can be. Then after the visit we sat down and my sister snapped a few pics of the three of us. Good job Auntie Kayla!
A Walk Through Candy Cane Lane
December Daily Day 19

Tonight Gracie was supposed to meet up with the Milwaukee Children's Choir to go caroling down Candy cane Lane. (For those of you who read this that are not from the area- It is a neighborhood that has nearly every house filled with Christmas lights to raise money for charity. It is commonly driven down in your car and over the years has become a tradition for many family to come see the lights.) We got there and there was not anyone in site to carol with. I thought, is this a joke?
Did I show up on the wrong day?
Did I drag my kids out and it was canceled?
Instead of sit there and allow myself to get angry or dwell on the negative I decided to just let it be. We all walked around and looked at the lights and just enjoyed the moment. It was very cold so the moment wasn't all that long. Gracie did manage to find a huge chunk of ice she has named her "ice baby" ( Remember the snow babies from an earlier blog...I think they might be cousins) Gracie must be getting into the snow/ice adopting business because we will soon have an entire nursery of snow and ice babies in the yard.

Look how scared poor Gracie looks next to her crabby brother! Sorry you two it makes me laugh I had to share it :)

All in all we saw the lights, we sang songs anyway and it will be a memorable time. Oh, and for those of you wondering how the heck I got it wrong? I guess there was some information passed along that I'm not sure I got (or maybe threw away) we were to meet in a parking lot of a church and head out from there. Either way it was still fun!