Getting Crafty!

Boy did I score some Mommy points for putting this guy together! I saw it somewhere a year or so ago and decided I had no excuse this year. I thought I'd be able to find a plastic green tablecloth at the Dollar Store but they didn't have green so we used this green wrapping paper instead. My kids are obsessed with it!  YEAH for me!

My birthday date with my Mom & kids

Tough Mudder fell on my b-day.  I told Ben that so long as he comes home uninjured he could do it.  Then I found out that Fairytale Town was having a FREE day so I talked my Mom into coming with us.  We had a great time and since it was free we didn't feel like we had to stay forever.  After we enjoyed some play time, we made it over to Vic's Ice Cream (they make the ice cream right there!!) for lunch and ice cream.  Really we only ate ice cream--we shared 2 sandwiches and they all had our own dessert.  The kids had a blast...every one shared their flavors.  And it was super funny because while we were sitting there my Mom heard a voice she recognized!  Turns out her sister had gone out with friends so we sent Xander over to surprise her.  He walked over and said, "Hi Aunt Judy." She did a double take wonering why Xander was there and all. We got a good laugh! 

It was a great day.  We got home and I ran some errands while every one napped and then I went to the RS Broadcast with friends.  Life is good!

Tough Mudder

Ben, brother Seth, Cousin James and my little brother Jake formed a team and took on Tough Mudder in Tahoe!  Despite some setbacks in training, they finished and had a great time!  Talk about training for next year have already been overheard! :)

They are growing TOO fast!

Once upon a time, there were 3 LITTLE girls

And all too soon, they weren't so little any more.

(And don't even get me started about their super adorable, amazing older brother!)

I must be going through something right now because I'm SUPER emotional about how big these kiddos are getting.  I'm starting to GET why people say it happens too fast. Yes, it is HARD!  VERY VERY HARD most days. I am EXHAUSTED, FUSSY AND UNDERPAID but there is something about it. (Did I mention that as a joke, I restarted my mileage counter when I filled up on Thursday...yah, by Saturday we'd traveled around 70miles!)   I cannot put it into words.  But life is so much BIGGER than ME.  And I feel very blessed to be a part of God's plan.  I WISH I was a more fun parent, I WISH I was OK with a little mess, I WISH, I WISH, I WISH and then there was none.  I am trying really hard to not focus on what I could be BUT instead on what I AM. I have a few talents and I need to focus on those because maybe that's what these sweet spirits need help with.  They won't have cute rooms because I don't decorate and they don't know what being spontaneous is all about BUT hopefully they know that I LOVE THEM.  They will know that they are STRONG.  They will know how to cook.  They will know that GOD LOVES THEM.  And really, isn't that all that matters?

The end.

BEACH DAY!

 PHOTO BOMBED by Lainey! 

We really wanted to go and see both of my sisters after D-land but we were EXHAUSTED and needed to get home.  Kayley talked us in to staying and meeting her at Huntington Beach for a couple of hours.  I am SO glad that we did.  It was SO MUCH FUN!  Thanks Kayley for sticking to your guns!  We finally left around 2PM and made it home just before 11PM.  The drive was uneventful and the kids were happy throughout the drive.  It wasn't long ago that someone would cry for the entire drive...I'm grateful we are turning a page and moving on from some of those habits...maybe we'll get to have more adventures!

Day 3, Disneyland 2

This was the most important day at Disneyland. It was going be Ben's first time ever riding Space Mountain~and we seriously mapped everything out the night before.  We walked in on this 3rd day like pros.  Ben took half the kids & tickets and went to get Fast Passes for Space Mountain, I took the other half to get FP for Splash Mountain and then get in line for the Haunted Mansion (neither the Mansion nor Space Mtn had been open all week so it was today or nothing) which does not do FP's.  It all worked too well!  Ben and the 2 little girls met up with us just as we were entering the house and we all got to ride. At first the kids thought they'd be scared but we told them not to focus on that part but instead on the details of how Disneyland might have made the things.  They really ended up enjoyed them!  The Mansion had just been decked out in the Nightmare Before Christmas and both Ben & I appreciated it a little more than normal.  During the ride, I thought back to that poor guy who got stuck in It's a Small World and thought, wouldn't this be the worst ride to get stuck on with my little kids? Sure enough, we stopped right after that!  Thankfully it was only a 30 second pause.  But I about died!  :) After the ride was over we headed off to other parts of the park to explore other areas, find Princesses and be crazy!

We made it to Toon Town today.  The kids loved it! We could have spent more time there but decided instead to go to the Mickey's Magical Map show. (We would all REALLY recommend that show--it was phenomenal!)

  

I was really surprised how MUCH the kids LOVED It's a Small World.  We could have ridden it all day and they would have been happy.  Mom & Dad opted for 2x's.  

The Mickey's Magical Map show was part character part movie. 

Surprise confetti shower at the end of the show--made some kids VERY happy.

 Obligatory try at pulling the sword out of the stone...I think one day, they really should let a kid pull it out. I'd love to see their reaction! :)

We found some more characters that were on our priority list! 

 The new princess set up is quite impressive! The princesses were wonderful.  The girls were in HEAVEN! I didn't realize how magical it all really would be.  Xander wouldn't go near the princesses, that is except for Cinderella.  He has a soft spot for her, always has. 

It took awhile to find Donald but Ben & the girls stumbled on a Halloween Party while Xander & I were riding Splash Mtn.   Donald still puts a bad taste in my mouth--you can ask what happened another time but I don't want to dwell on it here.  But the kids were so glad that they got to see ALL of their favorite Disney characters!

We finally made it to the front of the castle and I was super bummed to find that there were no camera people at that time...so this is as good as it gets for our family's castle picture.  Ah well.  Next time.  Right after this picture, the melt down came.  Poor Violet lost it.  It was 5PM and we had just made the decision to leave the park to get some dinner.  Our plans quickly changed as we knew she was just hot & tired.  There was a restaurant right there so we plopped down, ordered and ate.  I have to admit, it was REALLY good.  And since we wanted to catch the parade, we got really good seats!

 Waiting for the parade (for nearly an hour) but the kids were happy and content dancing in the streets!

The parade was great!  Princesses, animals, and lots of music--how could you go wrong!

 

We made it in the park from 10AM until 10:30AM.  And despite the one meltdown, we had a fabulous time!  Even Ben did.  Our family really needed some time away and with the kids at the ages they are, this really is a great vacation place.  We stayed for Fantastmic...it was awesome.  Then we watched the Fireworks over the castle with Tinkerbell flying through the air.  I was hoping to catch the villains on the way out (it was Friday the 13th so they usually have a dance party) but they weren't set up yet.  Oh well, next time!

To finish off our time in the park, we let our kids pick out their one souvenir.  Xander picked the "make your own" light saber and the girls each picked a hat with their name embroidered. Everyone was happy, and Mommy was stoked because all the souvenirs made it home. (last time we bought everyone their own souvenir, we lost some of them along the way)

Xander said his favorite things about Disneyland were Star Tours (he rode it 4 times!), Finding Nemo, Peter Pans ride, and Space Mountain and Splash Mountain, Astro Blasters, Astro Orbiter, Pirates and Tarzan's Treehouse.

Eliza said her favorite things about Disneyland were Star Tours, Matterhorn, Splash Mountain, Astro Blaster & Orbiter. Fighting Darth Vader and finding characters like Ariel, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella and Snow White to sign her books. I also like Goofy's house and I loved watching the tea cups. (She never rode them)

Violet said her favorite things at Disneyland was Mickey's Magical Map show and Astro Blasters.  Violet also enjoys telling people about the dog in the Pirates ride that kept the keys from the pirates.

Abby says that she likes to "shoot the bad guys" (that's Astro Blasters).

My favorite part was being together as a family, uninterrupted and with no schedules.  I loved seeing my kids get so excited about everything going on around them.

Ben's favorite part was no fighting or arguing or crying from the kids.  :)  I liked the shows, seeing our friends and cousins and the Cars Land rides are unique, I like that.

the Traegers!

We got so lucky that the Traegers were able to come to D-land at the same time as us. They were really close friends of ours from our Thunderbird days.  It was fun to see the boys play!  I can't believe how big they are.  We did dinner on Thursday night and Fantasmic on Friday night.  Becky and I could have talked FOREVER...lOVe you Becky!  We need to schedule another vacation where we 'meet up'!

Day 2: Disneyland, Day 1

Thursday was our Magic Morning entry and we did not waste any time! We were there before the clock struck 8 AM.  We had a mission!  Our first ride was Finding Nemo-great ride, especially since there was no wait!  After that Ben took Xander & Eliza to ride the Matterhorn and Star Tours and grab parent passes for later.  Abby, Violet and I rode some of the other rides in Tomorrowland.  Then at 9:00 the park opened so we split up our tickets and ran and got fast passes for the big rides: Indiana Jones &  Star Tours.  After all that running around (which there was a lot of because Mommy got a little lost) we were ready for a break--which was perfect because we had reserved a spot at Minnie's Breakfast on Main Street!  The breakfast was AWESOME!  There were about 9 characters in all that came to us.  The food was great!  We met up with Ben's cousin and his family and enjoyed a full buffet complete with Mickey waffles.  It's definitely a fun thing to do! And it made our whole trip less stressful because seeing Minnie was a very important part of the experience for our girls.  (I had asked each of the kids before we got there what was important to them and Eliza & Violet said meeting Minnie!)

The characters had a lot of fun playing with us...Chip surprised Eliza when he covered her eyes with his paws.

 

The Fairy Godmother is a great addition to the regular characters and as you can see from our little Cinderella--she is quite good at helping with glass slippers (or sneakers).

Tarzan's treehouse

We spent a lot of time doing things we didn't think we would want to stand in line in on Friday since we knew it would be busier than today.  We spent a lot of time in Fantasyland riding the "must rides" of Disneyland-

At the end of the day (which was our short day since the park closed at 5) we were slowing down...but not before we made it to the Jedi Academy show.  We got there early and bought some fries to snack on (minus the breakfast which was budgeted for separately, we got out of the park for under $20 again! go Me!)


The Jedi Academy show was very important to Xander and so we got there. It was the perfect showing to go to--during a parade at the end of the day.  There were only about 20 kids there and so all 20 got picked.  Xander & Eliza got to participate and they both had a great time.  In the end Xander fought Darth Maul and Eliza fought Darth Vader.  Darth Maul had fun scaring me while I was trying to take pictures--it's too bad nobody got that on video (or maybe it is?)  This is the kids waiting (girls were dancing) for the show to start:

Training:

Again, it was an amazing day!  There was a LOT of love going on. Ben commented several times that he had never seen our kids go so long without arguing.  It was awesome.