Top Ten to Catch Up

There's no way to catch up on all that's gone on in 3 weeks, but a top 10 list will hit the high points.  We've been busy, and at the end of the day, blogging has sadly been low on the list.

Of course during all this time, we've been playing.  iPads, Barbies, and even some time with Chester over a snow holiday.  It has either been cold, rainy, or snowy, so thankfully everyone has been able to keep busy and relatively happy inside.

Avery had a tea party at Bible Zone before Valentine's Day.  She loves any excuse to get dressed up and have some treats.  The princess dress had to come off for some singing and dancing.

We had snow roll in one Wednesday afternoon before school let out, causing quite the problem.  We started packing the kids to go around 2:30 p.m. but didn't send the buses off until around 3.  I had my worst drive ever trying to get home.  Snow covered even the major road I take home, and my speed of 40-45 mph made my trip take about an hour.  Thankfully, my only issue was sliding sideways as I tried to turn into our neighborhood.  And I was even more thankful that Sam had stayed home with Ned because Jennifer was off.  We ended up with 4-5 inches, but rained washed enough away that I only had a delay the next morning.

If I had been snowed in in the car, I'm sure I could have rounded up something to eat.  Usually the only time the kids eat in the car is if we're on the way to my parents' after nap.  Sam has started leaving Jennifer's with snack in his had, and he proceeds to hold it most of the way home.  He just wants the snack in his hand.  I picked Avery up from school one day with a mini-muffin surprise in her seat, and it made her day.  I think everyone has enjoyed these car treats except for my poor car.

We celebrated Valentine's Day with treats for our friends, teachers, and even for each other.  We had a quiet night at home with take-out, The Jungle Book, and then Sleepless in Seattle for me.  It was the perfect way to celebrate.

The Saturday after Valentine's Day we had a school make-up day from 8-1.  My sweet Kindergartners thought we would be playing with make-up, but they weren't too disappointed when we did workstations most of the day.  I was nervous as to how the day would go, coming off of Valentine's Day and with a full moon in the sky.  Everyone held it together until lunchtime, and then it was almost time to go home.

Ned experienced his first solo kids' party while I was at school.  He took Avery and Sam to Wyatt's Thomas the Train party.  He kept them in one piece, got them lunch, and even managed to eat something himself in between bouncy house fun and balloon animals.  They got home just before I did, and after naps, we headed to Makinley's Dora party.  There was more bounce house fun and more party food.  Sam had 2 meltdowns over too many kids in the bounce house, so we headed home.  We managed one picture from both parties.

The Monday after Saturday school, we celebrated the 100th day of school.  So that was Valentine's Day, Saturday school, full moon, and the 100th day in a 4-day time span.  It was still a fun day, made possible by my husband who helped make 100-item trail mix for my 19 kids.

Avery and Ned went to open house where Avery will be attending school next year.  We already knew she would be attending there, but when we went before it was after school.  This time Avery and Ned were able to see kids in class and kids moving around the campus.  Avery said her favorite part was getting a muffin, but Ned said she was very intrigued by the SmartBoard, gym, and cafeteria.  Avery should have my Kindergarten teacher as hers, and we couldn't be more thrilled.

Finally, we had beautiful weather this weekend.  Yesterday, we had a family trip to Walmart, lunch at The Palm Tree, then headed outside after naps.  We strolled, fed the ducks, played, and finished the day off with hot dogs on the grill, baked beans, and deviled eggs.  I'm now longing for the easy days of summer {minus the Virginia humidity} but with snowflakes on my weather app for next Monday, I think I have a wait ahead of me still.

23 Months

Dear Sam,

You turned 23 months old on Friday, March 7.  That means that we have less than one month until your 2nd birthday.  And less than a month to get ready for you party!  Time is flying, and it's so hard to believe that soon we won't be telling your age in months.

We still do not have height or weight measurements.  I just know you're heavy and tall.  You are growing out of your 24 month clothing, and it's time for a size 7 shoe.  You are wearing size 5 diapers. People constantly remark how big you are and constantly are surprised that you're almost as big as Avery.

You're sleeping and eating habits remain the same.  We are thrilled about the sleep and making the most of your eating as a mainly fruit- and dairy-tarian.  You still get a cup of milk in the morning and before bed.  We'll see how you tolerate the switch to 2% after your birthday.  You drink only water other than that.  If we're out and a juice comes with your meal, we will let you drink it, especially if Avery chooses to drink hers.  I took you both out to lunch yesterday and had to chuckle over how things change with a 2nd child as I handed you your juice box and bag of Doritos.

You are chattering up a storm these days and coming up with new words all of the time.  You have been putting 2-3 words together awhile now to say a few phrases, and you are putting together more and more.  Sadly, it's things like "stop it" or "go away" but that's just a part of your age.  I heard the "go away" yesterday for the first time as you sat in the tent by yourself.

Playtime still involves whatever toys are around.  You especially love little figurines, which anyone could have guessed if they counted how many Disney pictures featured your tiny Buzz.  You and Avery are playing more and more and having so much fun.  I don't know how much you understand what she is doing, but I looked the other day and she had you covered up on the living room sofa and you were laying as still as could be.  She had evidently at least got the sleep message across.  You love outside but it has been either cold, snowy, rainy, or a combination of those for the last month it seems.  You even took the Gator for a surprise spin in the garage the other day since we just can't get outside.  TV is most certainly your weakness.  You want it on all.day.long. to a show or movie you approve of.  You and Avery can be playing in the front of the house and I will turn the volume down and try to change it to the weather, and you come yelling.  I really think it's a comfort habit for you, because you really fall to pieces if we don't change the channel or turn it on.  We're going to work on cutting this back majorly, especially as the weather improves.  Right now your favorites are all of the Toy Story movies, Despicable Me, and Mickey.

Two is coming, and while we've been in the pre-two behavior for awhile, it hasn't been too bad.  Hopefully I didn't just jinx myself.  You use "no" a lot more than Avery did, and you can make yourself go limp if you don't want to be picked up.  You will lightly hit yourself or another object if you're upset, and I could almost laugh.  It's so obvious that you're just trying to show that you're displeased and don't have enough words to do it.  You have been very much a Mama's boy lately, even crying if Daddy tries to put you to bed.  It's just another stage that we know will pass soon.

Sam, you keep us laughing and on our toes all day long.  Today you sat on the pew for the children's sermon instead of being held, and I couldn't decide if I needed to hold my breath or giggle as I watched.  Life is meant to be explored and enjoyed as far as you're concerned, and we're having so much fun watching you.  As busy as you are, you still love to rock-rock and cuddle, and you are rarely too busy to lean in for one of your signature forehead kisses.  We love you and can't wait to keep experiencing this life with you.

Love,
Mommy and Daddy

Disney Details

I always love to read posts where bloggers tell what worked for them and what didn't with travels, baby gear, etc.  I also love a good Disney post.  So, I wanted to record {for my memory} and share some of our Disney details.  Of course, not all of these things will interest you or work for your family, but this is what worked for our family for the stage we're in now.

Travel Agent:  We used a travel agent through Small World Vacations.  I picked this agency after looking online because they are authorized Disney vacation planners.  I filled out the information online, then a travel agent near Virginia {she was in North Carolina} contacted me to plan our trip.  She booked our hotel, reserved our tickets and dining plan, and made our dining reservations.  I mainly needed her for the dining reservations but was thrilled when she found us a better deal for our resort.  We had initially planned to stay at the Art of Animation resort, but she contacted me in the fall with promotions, and we were able to stay at the Port Orleans Riverside resort for literally only $10 more.

Resort:  As mentioned before, we stayed at the Port Orleans Riverside resort.  We were very pleased with it, although we were not going to Disney for the resort experience and did not spend much awake time in the room.  We were most excited to be a little closer to the parks and to have queen-size beds.  The resort was very large.  We were luckily close to the parking lot {for getting our bags in} but were about a 5 minute walk to the main areas including dining.  That didn't bother us since we did our eating in the room or in the park.  It seemed like we shared buses with Port Orleans French Quarter to Hollywood Studios and Epcot but had our own for Magic Kingdom.  We never had a bus arrive at the hotel full, but we did have to wait at Magic Kingdom one night when we could not get onto a bus.  We were 5-10 minutes from the parks we went to, and additional bus stops at our resort added a little time.

Dining:  We were on the Disney dining plan and were allotted one table-service meal, one quick-service meal, and one snack per person per night of our stay.  Since we stayed 4 nights and did 3 days in the park, that gave us a good amount of meals.  I'll be honest when I say I have no idea if it saved us money or cost us.  I do know our table-service meals were costly.  It was just really convenient to have it take care of already.  Sam was not on a meal plan because he was free in the park.  He ate for free at the table-service restaurants, and we bought him meals when we had quick-service lunch or dinner.  That was all we had to pay for, other than gratuity at two of our table-service meals.  We only ate snacks in the morning usually, and I packed those, so we had lots of snack credits left on our last day.  We had several snacks that night, and I used our last 2 in the sweet shop.  Ned and I didn't take drinks in the park, so we used snack credits when we wanted a drink in the morning.  I doubt that's the best use of them but it worked for us.  Breakfast in the room with groceries I brought from home saved us money and time.  We filled the kids' water bottles in the room in the morning, then they were given water bottles with quick-service meals so we could fill them again.  Ned, Avery, and I received the refillable mugs with the dining plan, but because of the distance to the food court, we only used them the first night and last morning.

Memory Maker/Photo Pass: I purchased Memory Maker in advance to save $50 and to be able to add it to our bands before we got to the park.  It is expensive, but we ended up with about 80 pictures, and by purchasing Memory Maker, I was able to download all of those pictures instead of printing in the park for a hefty cost or buying a package later.  Ned and I were both pleased that we did this and I would do it again, because we have pictures with all 4 of us.  With that said, nothing is perfect.  We only rode one ride that took pictures, the picture was bad, and even though the man sad it was added to our account, it was not.  For the character meals we did {Cinderella's Royal Table, Akershus, and Chef Mickey's} the photographer was only at the entrance.  Our princess meals included the printed picture, but with Memory Maker it was also added to our account to download.  The printed picture was not included at Chef Mickey's and was just with the statue, but it too was added to our bands.  I had hoped photographers would be walking around during the meal.  Also, the focus is not great in some of the pictures, but most people probably wouldn't notice that.  We stopped for pictures as often as we could and I'm thrilled with the ones we got.  I also carried my big camera around and either kept it on my shoulder or in the backpack that Ned carried.

Magic Bands/FastPass+:  We loved the Magic Bands and had no issues with them.  We also LOVED FastPass+.  I had them reserved before we left but could always use the app to change them around.  Because of FastPass+, we literally had no wait for rides.  Ride times were always low in the morning, and I did let one FastPass go to waste when we didn't need it.  I should have switched it for something later, and I did that for things our last day.

Stroller:  We rented a double stroller from Magic Strollers.  It was identical to ours, we just didn't want to use up car space.  Our agent would have booked that for me too, but I had a coupon from the Disney planning book I bought.

Avery:  Avery was at the perfect age for Disney.  Everything was wonderful, from the characters to the rides to the buses.  Even the toilets had perfect timing with their flushes, she said!  She rode in the stroller while we walked to move faster and to keep up with her, and she did great standing in line.  She handled dark rides fine, which surprised me.  I had done some planning and knew what rides/shows we would like to do, but we followed her lead a lot, along with our FastPass schedule.  We were not far from our normal sleeping schedules, but she hung in fine.  She even rested 2 days in the room.  She did want lots of the awesome Disney souvenirs, but she didn't ask much.  Each child ended up with ears, an autograph book, and two toys.  I just really think 4.5ish is the perfect age to go.  And as I said on Facebook, we don't know if she or Sam will remember the trip, but we were more worried with living right then and making memories in the present.  We have lots of pictures, and we'll be back!  I can't imagine waiting until I think she'll remember it the rest of her life.

Sam:  Sam did phenomenal at Disney and exceeded all expectations.  Not going to lie....I was nervous.  He slept all night and napped each day in the room, which was my biggest fear.  He held it together in restaurants.  He only complained in the stroller at bus stops.  He never fussed while we held him in line for something.  Our lines were usually short or non-existent, but we had two 30 minute waits for characters.  Our issues with doing Disney with a 22-month-old were diaper changes {and they weren't real issues}, taking the time to buckle/unbuckle with the stroller, and having to stop for naps.  Not stopping for me wasn't an option, and we knew this going in.  I think we all enjoyed the break.  We also passed on nighttime parades, fireworks, etc to ensure he was rested.  I hadn't planned on it, but I knew our days depended on his rest.  You can do a lot at Disney without veering too far from a schedule.  You just have to know you won't do it all.  He had only a handful of "moments:" once on our first night when he was tired and hungry, and once on the bus heading back for nap.  But, his little face as he quietly took in the rides was priceless.  As was his joy at Chef Mickey's.  He enjoyed himself so much, and we wouldn't have done it without him.  So, while this age would not be one I would choose to take to Disney without an older sibling {solely based on how much easier it is when they're older}, it's still wonderful.  There were couples walking with just a baby, just a toddler, etc.  It is the best place ever, and if you want to take your child, do it.

Whew!  That was a lot of words!  I'm no Disney expert, and these aren't even tips.  I bought one book, pinned some blog posts, and then lived it with my family.  The main thing I planned and read up on was where to eat.  There are not enough wonderful words to describe how this trip was for our family.  I'm still in sad it's over, still checking the app and looking at wait times, and already planning our next trip.  Ned and I may not take an adult trip for a long, long time, but it's our plan to be a Disney family as often as we can.

Week in Review ~ 2/1

We've had a snowy week!  So much for getting back in the routine after Disney.

I woke up with a terrible headache Sunday morning, which I think was the result of the changing weather and Disney fatigue finally catching up with me.  Sam started with a cough, so we stayed home from church.  That night, we had the Millers over for dinner one last time before they moved.  Anna brought her cupcakes with the yummy chocolate cream cheese frosting to celebrate my birthday.  The kids played so well and we hated to see the evening end.

It was back to work and school for everyone Monday morning.  Avery had a hard time when Ned left her then didn't want to stay for Bible Zone at church that night.  Between Disney and Christmas, we've been off schedule for awhile.

The big news Tuesday was the impending snow.  The students at my school went home at 1:00 p.m. since we were making up a day on what should have been a workday.  We had to stay until 3:30, and it was snowing by the time I got to Jennifer's.  It did not start heavily until I got home, thank goodness, because once it started it stuck.  It never got very heavy before bed, but the ground and roads were covered.  School was cancelled for me and Avery on Wednesday.

The kids and I stayed home Wednesday, and Ned worked a half day.  It was too cold to get out in the morning, so we enjoyed some snow cream.

After naps, we met the Millers at Ned's parents' and let the girls play and sled down the hill.  Sam went inside with Mimi because he was still coughing.  Ned made several speedy slides down the hill, going straight toward the frozen pond.

I called it quits for everyone when Avery's mittens were wet and my feet were frozen.  We rarely buy snowsuits but will be investing in some waterproof mittens.  After we dried off and warmed up, we met the Millers at the Mexican restaurant for dinner to say good-bye before they left Thursday.

Sam and I were home again Thursday, but Avery only had a 10:00 a.m. opening.  The YMCA is good about working hard to be open, but I hated Avery wouldn't be home, and so did she.  Before she and Ned left, I discovered that the pipes to my sink in our bathroom had frozen.  I'm lucky enough to have the only sink on an outside wall.  Ned spent some time under the house, but it wasn't much he could do.  We left the faucets open, and the hot water broke through then the cold.  Sam and I met Ned at The Palm Tree for lunch but otherwise stayed home until we picked up Avery.

Avery went to school at 10:00 a.m. Friday, and I had a workday and had to be there at 11.  I got Sam to Jennifer's even though there were some bad spots on the road.  I was back out of school at 3:30 to get us all home.  We had pizza for dinner and watched the end of the movie.  Both kids are hooked on Despicable Me in addition to Toy Story.  Ned put Sam to bed then did the grocery shopping while Avery and I played Sneaky, Snacky Squirrel.

Ned got up with the kids Saturday morning.  We had a lazy morning at home, then Mimi came at 11 to watch the kids so that Ned and I could go to lunch.  We had sushi and I picked up my birthday present, a Pandora charm to remember our trip to Disney.  I didn't want it on my birthday for fear I would jinx our trip.  It was good to get away and even better to get back with over an hour of nap time left.  After everyone woke up, we took dinner to my parents' and visited with them.  We had a series of unfortunate events when we got home.  I had my phone in my lap in the truck and forgot it, so it fell into the leftover snow and puddles, making the sound seem low.  I then got Avery out of the truck and put her down in the same snow and puddles, forgetting she had taken her boots off.  Then we made it inside to find that our cat had gotten sick in several places.  That's life, though, and happily everyone and everything has recovered nicely.

Disney Travels-Heading North

As you can tell by the delay in posting, talking about coming home just isn't as fun.

Sam was up early on Thursday, but we didn't get up and moving until about 7 a.m.  After we got ready we tried out the resort's food court for the first time at breakfast.  We made the walk over and I used the time to take some pictures.  We were on the Alligator Bayou side of the resort, which is why the shot of our building looks swampy.

We had a good breakfast, filled our mugs, and returned to the room.  Ned started loading the car, and I took advantage of the slightly tidier room to take some pictures.

The vanity area was separated from the room by a curtain and made the perfect sleeping area for Sam in his pack-n-play.  We did have to have our teeth brushed early in the night, but once he was asleep we could slip by him to use the bathroom to the left.

Our room also featured a "fun" pull-down bed.  We stacked a lot of our bags on the bench to keep Sam from climbing, like you see below.

Once we had everything packed, we drove around to the main building to check out and leave our stroller, and we were on our way.  Let me tell you, that Disney magic disappears soon into the drive and does not reappear until you are home and rested.  We did not start a movie right away, and Sam seem to need something every 5 minutes.  I finally put on a movie and he got better.

We found that St. Augustine had a Chick-Fil-A, so we decided that would be our lunch destination.  We traveled down several odd streets for finding a Chick-Fil-A before I realized I still just had St. Augustine as the destination in my phone from where I had been checking how many miles we had to go.  I just knew things would be calmer after a good meal and nap.

The meal was good, but only one of our two children napped following the meal, and it was not the child that actually needed the nap.  Avery slept for TWO hours and Sam didn't sleep a bit.  In fairness to him, he was pretty quiet, but I knew after all we had done over the last few days that he needed rest.  I checked our time at some point and saw that we had about 8 hours to go, and when I mentioned it to Ned, he said we could go all the way home.  I had been hoping we could, and it was music to my ears. I knew it would be a late night, but it would get everyone home in our beds, we wouldn't have to lug into another hotel, and I'd have a bonus day at home

We stopped once in the afternoon at a rest stop then stopped in Santee, SC for dinner.  We had prayed for a Panera, but there was none to be found.  Subway sounded like a good second choice until we pulled up, so we ended up at Pizza Hut.  It definitely added to our time but was good.  We put the kids in their pajamas in the car and started the ride home.  Everyone was pretty happy to ride and watch movies.

We made one more stop for gas and coffee before the kids fell asleep.  I finally turned off the DVD player around 9:30 so that they would sleep.  Poor Sam could not get into a good sleep; he is just not a car sleeper.  He tossed and turned every few minutes.  We were thrilled to arrive home around 10:30 p.m. and hurried everyone off to bed.  It was a long day of travel but so worth it to be back in our home.

Disney Day 3-More Magic Kingdom

Our last day at Disney started bright and early with reservations at Chef Mickey's {or Mickey Chef's, as Avery liked to call it}.  We were out at the bus at 6:41 a.m. since they started running at 6:45.  We didn't get a Magic Kingdom bus until about 6:55, though.  Then it was a cold walk from the bus the the Contemporary resort in the cold morning temperatures {low 40s with a wind}, and I was feeling extremely low on blood sugar, but we made it about 7:30.  We had no issues running late, got seated, and got our food from the buffet.  Everything I tried was delicious, and the Mickey waffles were the best.

This was most definitely my favorite character meal.  The characters' interactions were no better than the princesses, but to me, these characters are what Disney is all about.  Avery was hugging and talking and Sam was staring and high-fiving. 

I took about 10 pictures before he ever stopped looking at Mickey.

Sam loves Donald and these just make my heart smile.

There is a fun celebration every so often with a song and napkin twirling.

Luckily we had seen Pluto on our first day at Magic Kingdom, because I watched him slip out during his rounds, and when we left 30 minutes later he was just coming back.  Our waitress said he was having a moment.  That kind of slowed us up, but we hopped on the Monorail, and after visiting the Polynesian resort and The Grand Floridian, we were at Magic Kingdom once more.  We went right to Pirates of the Caribbean, since I hadn't done a FastPass thinking Avery would be afraid.  We had no wait and everyone thought that was fun.  Then we made our way to Peter Pan's Flight.  That was my favorite, and I see now why the wait is always so long.  Thank goodness for FastPass.

Avery wanted to ride It's a Small World again, so we walked over and hopped on.  After that we got in line to meet Rapunzel.  That probably tied with our wait to see Buzz and Woody, and those character meetings were the longest of our trip, but they were well worth it.

Snow White was in with Rapunzel so we saw her again too.

We people watched with some popcorn and then rode Under the Sea-Journey of the Little Mermaid.  That was another great ride and lots of fun.

We caught Mickey's Philharmagic, a fun 3D show after that.  Sam wouldn't keep his glasses on but still really enjoyed it since it featured Donald.  After that busy morning, it was time for some lunch.  We ate at Pecos Bill's, and Ned had a cheeseburger while I had the taco salad.  Ned says his was fine for a burger, and I enjoyed mine with lots of toppings from their big topping bar.

After lunch we took a ride on The Magic Carpets of Aladdin.  Thankfully it had warmed up a bit at this point.

We stopped for 2 more photo opportunities on our way out for naps.

We hurried right back to Magic Kingdom after naps and were thrilled to find that the barber shop on Main Street only had a short wait.  I wanted to do Sam's first haircut their but didn't want to make an appointment and tie up our time.  Just as Sam sat in the chair, the Move It! Shake It! Celebrate It! parade started right outside the barber shop door.  Avery watched from the door, and Sam was entertained from his chair.  I had asked the lady only to cut off the back, but she knew better and gave him great cut all over.  Sam did so good and only cried when they took the light-up Buzz away.

The parade was making it's way back down Main Street when we finished, and we had a great view.  I was so happy we saw this several times, since we skipped out on the lighted parade at night to get Sam in bed.  This parade was so happy and fun, and I'm still humming the songs.

We took another ride on the carousel since that's one of Avery's favorite things.  Then we walked around and enjoyed ourselves until dinner.

Dinner was at Pinocchio Village Haus and we were lucky enough to get a window seat overlooking It's a Small World.  Ned and had the barbecue chicken flatbread and I had the caprese flatbread, and both were good and filling.  We enjoyed our meal while watching the boats take off.  Avery wanted to do the ride again, so we did!  Luckily, Avery's most requested ride never had a wait.  For some reason, she decided that the girls with dark hair were Lizzie dolls, like Tiger Lily in Peter Pan, except of course her name is Tiger Lily.  But we kept hearing about these Lizzie dolls and she kept pointing them out in the ride.  So she decided Pocahontas was like Lizzie {whoever that is} and she needed a Pocahontas doll.  I will say I saw new things each of the three times I road It's a Small World.  Sam's little face was so peaceful and interested {and quiet and still!}.  Not sure Ned was a huge fan but he would have ridden it 10 more times for Avery.

We then walked around because I wanted a churro and a Dole Whip.  I found the churro cart first but had to wait because they were out.  While I waited, Ned found the light up Buzz for Sam.  I enjoyed my churro then purchased my Dole Whip float.  I got the pineapple ice cream and it was delicious.  It was not an ice cream weather kind of night but I didn't care.  Avery requested another Mickey ice cream sandwich, so we walked around until we found a cart of those.  Can you tell we were using up snack credits?  Despite the cold, Avery ate every bit of her sandwich.  Ned walked to get Starbucks, and the kids and I watched a show that had started at the castle.

We took one more picture with the castle, then went back to the Emporium for Avery's Pocahontas.  We said goodbye to the magic and walked to the bus.

We were shocked to find long lines waiting for buses and sad to see a long line for our resort.  It had been my best day at Disney, even though they were all wonderful, and I wasn't going to let my waiting/people issue ruin it.  A bus came soon and everyone in front of us was able to squeeze on.  I needed a spot to sit with Sam and there was no squeezing the 4 of us and a double stroller.  The next bus wasn't too much longer coming, but we had to pack in again.  We were at least sitting and Sam was calm, so I couldn't complain.  We got back to the hotel and it was time to turn in for our last night at Disney.