Disney World Day 3: Hollywood Studios

Our 3rd Disney Day was spent at Hollywood Studios. We started the morning off with breakfast at Hollywood and Vine's Play and Dine. It was another character meal that featured Disney Junior Characters. Avery loved it because she really knew all the characters. And again, the food was delicious, another buffet but everything was very fresh and well seasoned.

 After breakfast, we headed over to the Frozen area. There was Wonder Oaken's Trading Post, which had ice skating and real snow! The girls were able to play in the snow and we were able to cool off for a bit.

 After that we watched the Frozen Sing Along show. Avery was in heaven. Its been all Frozen all the time around here and they sang every song that she knew by heart.

 We got to meet a lot of character this day.

 Avery was hilarious with the Monsters Inc. characters. I thought she might be scared of them, but nope! She jumped up there and started scaring right along with them.

My mom, Josh and I all got to ride the Rockin' Roller Coaster, this is the only picture I can find though. We had an early dinner at Mama Melrose Italian Restaurant and ended the night at the Fanstasmic water and light show. It was another magical day and we were exhausted by the end of it!

Disney World Day 2: Epcot

 

Vacation Day 2, which was my actual birthday, was spent at Epcot.

We started the morning off with a Princess Character Breakfast at Akershus.

The girls were being sweet while we waited.

Avery got to meet Belle when we first got there.

Alexa is still not digging the characters. The meal was really good. It was buffet style, but there was lots of meats and cheeses, pastries and breakfast goodies to choose from. While we ate the Princesses came around to each table.

After breakfast we headed out for a day of touring. We got to do Soarin' which Avery rode, but was not too fond of. We didn't make it around the world, the weather was pretty rainy.

 But everyone had a great time, we had a late lunch at Sunshine Seasons, met a few more characters, then headed to the resort so Avery could swim.

That evening, my mom watched the kids so Josh and I could experience the Food and Wine Fest. Each county in Epcot offers food and wine that corresponds to the country. The food was amazing and we made it around the world without getting drunk :)

Its hard to think of anything that will top this birthday, it was truly a special day.

Disney World Day 1: Magic Kingdom

I turned 30 this year! Josh and I had discussed taking a trip to celebrate the occasion. I started pricing different vacation ideas (Las Vegas, New York, Napa Valley) and everything was crazy expensive. Then I started looking at Disney World, the trip was originally going to be for Josh and I, but I couldn't dream of going to Disney without taking the kids. So on September 24th, we packed up and flew to the Happiest Place on Earth. We stayed at the Coronado Springs Resort, everything was absolutely wonderful. We arrived at about 10 Wednesday night and our magical vacation began.

 Everyone was excited to be heading to Magic Kingdom.

 One of our first Meet and Greets was with Ariel, Avery FAVORITE character. She was so excited to meet her. Alexa was not! She was terrified of all the characters.

 Our first Magic Kingdom day was kind of hectic. I had done touring plans and fast passes, but actually being there and walking around, plans changed. Our first stops were Dumbo, the Teacups and the Carousel.

 We had lunch at Be Our Guest, which is absolutely beautiful. We watched the Parade on Main St. and finished the night with Dinner and Kona Café and watching the fireworks on the beach of the Polynesian.

 The girls we total troupers, the double stroller is a must and both girls were able to ride and nap.

Day 1 made memories to last a lifetime.

August 2014

In order to catch up on the poorly neglected blog, I am just going to do monthly highlights of the last 5 months.

 

August was a busy month. We spent the first half of the month soaking in the last few weeks of summer. We went to the Children's museum in Hammond, we ate lots of snowballs, we swam at the pool and at the Russo's, and we visited with the neighbors, family and church friends.

August 15th we rechecked Alexa's weight, since she hadn't gained since her 9 month appointment. Little Miss had LOST more weight, She was at 18#10oz from 19#. Dr. Mula sent us over to Quest for a CBC, CMP and thyroid panel. Thank God everything was normal. We think she just thinned out when she started crawling and becoming more active. She also wasn't nursing as much and she didn't really like the cows milk at that time.



August 18th Avery Yvonne started Pre-K!

She is in Ms. Charlene and Ms. Brittany's class. This picture was taken after am early morning tantrum by both Avery and mommy about 1st day of school picture taking. But we got our shots, she was happy and she headed out the door! The rest of the month was spend getting back into a school routine. Avery goes Monday, Wednesday and Friday. On Tuesday she has a gymnastics class at 9:15. And Alexa is just along for the ride!

Alexa's First Birthday Party!



 

We celebrated our little firecracker's first birthday with a 4th of July themed party.

I love Albertson's cakes!

We had all her favorite foods. Including blue berries and gold fish, we also barbecued for the grown ups.

The Harris family drove in the day of her party to celebrate and spend a vacation with us. We were so happy to have them there!

Our sweet family.

It was  a sweltering July day, so we had a water slide for the big kids and baby pools for the little ones.

Singing "Happy Birthday" to our sweet girl.

She was not happy about being put down.

 Until she realized there was cake!

 She definitely knew what to do with her smash cake!

Sissy got in on the action too!

She loved opening her presents.

It was such a sweet day. We only invited family, so it was a low key affair, but I think everyone had a good time. And we got to celebrate our littlest angel.

 

Alexa Claire is ONE!

Alexa Claire you are 1 year old!

 You weigh 19 pounds, which is the exact same as you weighed at your 9 month check up! We will be keeping a close eye on that!

You wear 9-12 month clothes and a size 3 diapers.

You are saying "Momma" "Dadda" and "More"

 You are starting to use the sign language we have been teaching you!

You can sign "more" and "please"

You wake mommy up bright and early at 6:30 in the morning,

but still take a morning nap and an afternoon nap.

You are still nursing 3-4 times a day.

We have tried to start you on cows milk but you have not been that interested.

You are standing now and cruising around the furniture.

You also love to climb! You definitely keep your mommy and daddy on our toes!

Your favorite foods are macaroni and cheese, blueberries and spaghetti.

You favorite person in the whole world is your sister, you laugh at her constantly and light up when she walks into the room.

 

We love watching your personality develop.

You have definite opinions and let us know what you want.

You are also a little teaser, you will act like you are going to kiss us and then turn your head.

You love to pull everything out of mommy's purse, over and over, everyday!

You are a water baby and we have enjoyed spending the summer in the pool.

We thank God everyday for adding you to our family. The love you and your sister share is so special. We love to watch you two together. We also love the times we get to love and cuddle you all by ourselves. You are the sweetest little thing and we love watching you grow!

 

Alexa Claire: 10 months old!

Alexa Claire you are 10 months old!!!!

Holy cow baby girl, this first year is flying by. We celebrated your first Easter this month.

You were not a fan of the Easter bunny. You started screaming shortly after we sat you on his lap.Easter morning you were excited to get your basket with bubbles, goldfish and "real life" play keys

Your sleep patterns this month are pretty good. You will sleep from about 8 pm-5:30am. Mommy will nurse you when you wake in the early morning and a lot of times you will fall back to sleep until around 7. You are still taking 2 naps a day. You LOVE bath time each night with sissy. Y'all are the sweetest things to each other. It makes my heart so happy.

This was at your check-up. No shots this time, yay!

Mommy took your pacifier away this month. We kept losing them, and you were never really attached to them. So we dropped them cold turkey. I feel like maybe it was a little too soon, because you will nurse on momma for comfort now instead of a pacifier. You are very resilient though and always so happy!

This was a big month for you verbally. You started saying "Momma" and "Dadda"

You can do the sign for "thank you" you are so polite :)

You are also blowing kisses. So sweet!

You are army crawling all over the place now! We love it when you crawl to the shower while we are bathing. You start sticking your hands under the curtain and next thing we know you are halfway in the shower with us.

 

It so exciting to watch you grow and interact more. You are definitely stronger willed than Avery and its interesting watching you try to get what you want. We love your sweet toothy smile and all the personality you exude. Thank you for blessing our family Alexa Claire!