Mommy's Magical Birthday

All I wanted for my birthday this year was to give the kids something extra fun to do! We surprised the kids with a trip to Disney. They opened up new Mickey shirts Saturday morning. Thomas turned to us and asked, "Are we going to Disney????" They were so excited to go and I have never seen them get ready to leave the house so fast!



We first went to Animal Kingdom. We were amazed by the Tree of Life at the center of the park. It was so huge and full of amazing detail. A worker said that there are 325 animals carved on the tree. We rode the safari ride first. We couldn't believe that there wasn't a barrier between the animals and the safari jeep. We saw so many animals grazing and enjoying the sunshine. After the safari ride we went to the Finding Nemo Musical show. It ended up being Thomas' favorite part of the day. It was so neat and the puppets were just like the animals in the movie. We walked around the park and ate lunch there. Then we headed over to The Magic Kingdom.

Thomas thought it was so funny that the duck wanted his cookie. I love this picture!

Nathan spied another duck in the bushes.

Family photo while we waited for the Nemo show to start.

Birthday Ears.

The Magic Kingdom was celebrating it's 40th birthday. We got there just in time for the special birthday parade. I felt bad that Nathan was napping during the parade and missed seeing some of his favorite Disney characters. We then went on the Buzz Lightyear ride and then got a snack. We went on some more rides before it was time to grab some dinner and get a spot for the electrical parade. Oh, and of course visit the souvenior shop.

Having Mickey lollipops on the Ferry over to The Magic Kingdom.

Another of my favorite pictures!

Nathan napping during the parade.

Splashing a little while we waited for our Fast Pass to be ready to use.





The park was decorate so pretty for Fall.

Woody Ears.

We also conquered potty training while visiting a theme park. Nathan did super! He was dry all day with his big boy underpants and even went #2 in the potty! So...it was a magical day indeed, since that was the first time that ever happened. I have to say that seeing the excitement in the boys' eyes was the greatest gift of all. They had a blast and it was lots of fun being a kid with them.  

At 3am Thomas woke me up and whispered, "Did we really go to Disney?". I smiled and said, "Yes, it wasn't a dream." It melted my heart knowing that his day was so wonderful it could have been a dream!

The Animals of Animal Kingdom

We couldn't get over the anount of animals at Animal Kingdom. I know that sounds weird. I guess I was expecting a better version of a zoo. Boy, was I wrong! We loved the theme park and know we'll go back especially to go on the rides that we didn't get to! We loved the safari ride even though it was super bumpy. Here are some pictures of the animals we saw.

Hippo

McKinley is ONE!

This weekend we had lots of fun celebrating McKinley turning ONE! It's hard to believe a year has already passed! There were lots of wonderful sweets to eat in honor of their little "sweetie". Happy First Birthday, McKinley!

The guests helped decorate a set of wooden blocks. When McKinley plays with them she'll see special decorations from the guests.

Daddy making a watermelon block.

Papa making an apple block.

Thomas making an octopus block.

Nana and Nathan reading while McKinley opened presents.

I think she liked the bouncy turtle we got her so much that she just had to sit on the box!

Birthday Girl and her wonderful Mommy

Trick or Treat Sneak Peek

The other day we got Nathan's Halloween costume in the mail. He's such a cute "Mario". Can't wait to see him with the mustache. The boys are going to be so cute as "Super Mario Brothers".

Potty Training Progress

Last week Nathan came home from school showing us a new trick. He can go pee-pee in the potty! He must have learned it at school since several classmates are potty trained. On Saturday we bought some pull-ups to make the process easier and he loves them. He doesn't want to get them wet. He had 3 "accidents" the entire weekend! His teacher said that she'll use pull-ups this week and next week he can wear big boy underwear (and bring changes of clothes!) We are so excited that Nathan is becoming such a big boy.

Go Patriots!

On Friday we went to the Oviedo vs. Lake Brantley football game. My nephew Christian plays trombone for Lake Brantley's marching band. They have almost 400 members of their band! It was enormous! I took Thomas and Nathan since Ken was working. Nana, Papa, Uncle Mike and Aunt April were there, too. Having extra hands with Nathan was very helpful, since I was still feeling blah from a sinus infection. The boys had more fun watching the cheerleaders than the football game! Ken was proud. The band did great and we hope to see them perform again before football season is over.

Homework Time

Each week Thomas brings home homework. Every Thursday we practice his spelling words in fun ways. The first time we used washable crayons on the shower wall. This past week we used sidewalk chalk to write them. Nathan wanted in on the fun! Thomas got his words written quickly so they could have fun drawing on the sidewalk!