Happy Disney

My parents are always sad that we can't spend Thanksgiving with extended family, so this year they decided to shake things up with a quick trip to Disney!

There are a few reasons to love living here- one is the weather this time of year, and the other is being a short drive away from the Magic Kingdom when it's decorated for Christmas.

If we can't be with family, we'll settle for Goofy!

 

Ryan was NOT feeling the love for any of the characters...

But he was mesmerized by It's A Small World.

Because we are generally awake at the crack of dawn every day, we were able to get to the park pretty soon after the gates opened, making it easy to hit all the good rides.  We even got on Ariel's new Under the Sea ride in the New Fantasyland. 

We rode the "CHOO CHOO" for Ryan, and then stumbled on Woody and Jessie.

Ryan hated them.

He was ready for a nap soon after that.

Dad asked if I wanted to ride the Teacups, and my quick reply was "I don't want to throw up".  After he stopped laughing, he convinced me to ride with him.

Probably the second most awesome moment of the trip was meeting Merida.

She just kept talking in her Scottish accent, "Change your feht", "I love archery", "Me and me Mum like to pick flowers".  I totally clammed up and was too shy to ask her any of my prepared questions.

Merida was only the second most awesome moment, because my favorite was FACE PAINTING!  I hope my parents decide to make Disney our new Thanksgiving tradition every year!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Mom asked what I am thankful for this year, and nearly cried when I replied "my brother".  Then she nearly cried again when she found my very first official Thanksgiving picture from 2008: 

Good luck getting Little Man to sit still long enough for any official Thanksgiving picture!

Our holiday was close to perfect, especially when the "BEEP BEEP VROOM VROOM" showed up next door! Our neighbor is friends with the local firefighters, so they let us look at the truck close up.

Ryan was obsessed, he loves those Beep Beeps.

We got to play outside, collecting "squirrel hats" (acorn tops) and "balls" (acorns).  Ryan thinks everything is a ball... grapes, blueberries, raspberries, dog food.

Mom worked nights this week so she had a good excuse for not cooking this year.

We ordered an awesome dinner from one of our favorite restaurants, so all we had to do was make was the whipped cream for the pumpkin pie. 

We were sad that Dad couldn't do his annual apple pie, but Ryan and I were happy enough with the whipped cream by itself.

Mag and Mox seemed content with juicy restaurant turkey instead of homemade.  They agreed that this was a good day to reflect on all of our blessings.

Ducks and Tackle Hugs

Ryan's technique for feeding the ducks is to yell at them "DUCK! SHET!": Duck Sit.  This approach fits with his Full Speed Ahead philosophy on life and preference for hugging via tackle: Tackle Hugs.  As for me, I am focused more on the funny tooting noises ducks make, and I love Little Man's hugs.

Night Night

Ryan loves to help with the bedtime routine: Night Night. 

Perfect Saturday

This is why we love November. We can run in the park all afternoon, playing our version of soccer, which is basically chasing Dad with the ball,

and teach Ryan the rules of the game, like Don't Sit On The Ball.

Then we get to wind down with a picnic: 

 yummy fresh guacamole

and Ryan's first slider.

Earning Magnets

 
Being a big girl is hard work. You are expected to avoid using bad words like "butt", help clean up your toys, and stay in bed without getting up 100 times at night.      

My parents help me stay on track with my new magnet chart.  I earn magnets every day that I keep up with my responsibilities, like getting dressed in the morning without drama and tears. 

Our toughest issue was going to sleep before 10pm so I'm not this exhausted every day:

The best part of the chart is that I get a nickel for every magnet earned.  Why a nickel and not a penny or even a quarter?  Ask my Dad, he's doing all the math.  At the end of our first month, I saved enough to go to the Disney store and get my new favorite character!

He seems to like living here because we have his book, 

and his fairy friends.

Animals and Cell Phones

We're trying to keep track of Ryan's development these days, but life seems to move at lightning speed with the second child. Plus, our boy moves too fast to catch his best moments on camera! Meanwhile, I will happily take credit for his new vocabulary, since I love reading to him.  

His favorite word is "Uh-Oh".  He's also working on: "oh?" (universal for help, open), "shah" (share/give me that NOW), "down", "bite", "shit" (sit, to Mag and Mox), "mm-bra" (zebra), "raff" (giraffe), "ibbit" (ribbit/frog),.  Here's what we could catch: Animals and Phones.  The best part of this age is how he watches me carefully, then copies everything I do:  Ryan on the Phone.

Meow and Bye Bye

Little Man has become a constant source of entertainment as his language development and word recognition explodes.  He will repeat almost anything we say:  Meow and Sinister Laugh. 

He loves to do grown up things like reading books, brushing his teeth, and taking my babies for a jog through the house:  Bye Bye Kiss.

Nutcracker Tea Party

My teacher at school has gotten us excited about a story called The Nutcracker.  It's about an ugly toy that is secretly a ballet dancing prince from Toyland.

He has a friend named the Sugar Plum Fairy who throws tea parties around the holidays.  It's a great time to take pictures of friends with the iphone,  

practice ballet dancing,

and eat ballet slippers made of icing.

The Sugar Plum Fairy and Clara read the story of the Nutcracker to us, then the real characters came out to surprise us!

My favorite character was the Rat King, but the Snow Queen was pretty cool too.  Mom said she hopes we can make this one of our Girls Days every year.