The VayKay

And it's over! My head is spinning. Trying to get out of the Disney bubble we've been in and dive back into busy life is TOUGH! Thankfully we have plenty of memories, souvenirs and pictures to get us through. There's no way I'll be able to post ALL the pictures on the blog, so only my favorites will make the cut.

We had such a fun time, it's hard to believe it is over.

It was fun seeing the kids' excitement as they experienced new things. They saw their cousins (who are semi-pro at the whole Disney thing) hugging characters and getting autographs, going on new rides, so they followed right along.

Dillan Highlights: Saved $100 from recycling and couldn't wait to spend every last penny...which he didn't. He came home with pirate toys, race cars, and a bunch of make-up school work. Dillan favorite rides were Test Track and Soarin' @ Epcot, Thunder and Splash Mountains @ Magic Kingdom, DINOSAUR @ Animal Kingdom, and Star Tours @ Hollywood Studios. He was selected by Crush the Turtle during a show, and got to talk with him on the screen. Then Crush bonded with Mom as we talked about our off-spring. So FUN! He loved swimming in the pool at the hotel, walking backwards through the parks, studying the maps at every park, and being with Roxy and Dono.

Leah Highlights: Drank her weight in chocolate milk, daily. Turning 4 while in Florida, and having the most magical birthday breakfast with the princesses! She must have been sung to a dozen times, each time with a cupcake and candle! She loved wearing her princess dresses and crown with Roxy. She chose a baby Minnie Mouse doll for her birthday present, a character she's come to love recently. Leah also took some long strides forward at the hotel pool, she bravely swam to the side farther than she ever has before! Leah's favorite rides were: Finding Nemo and
Turtle Talk with Crush @ Epcot.

Drew Highlights: Perfect baby, never cried or complained even with no naps and stuck in a hot and sticky stroller. Discovered Dum Dum Pops and begging. Charmer to everyone he met, everywhere we went. Slept through the night every night. Probably won't remember a thing about the trip, but he'll be fun to take next time!

Daddy Highlights: Good Food. Nice relaxing in the pool. Fun being with family and seeing the kids excited about being there. Randomly selected by a Disney Researcher to take part in a survey and given a $150 gift card to spend (we bought some Christmas presents).
I wasn't convinced it would really be a vacation more than a lot of work, but I was pleasantly surprised. We loved everything about our trip, especially being with family, and we plan to do it again in a few years!

Thanks Honey for lugging your laptop all the way to Florida, when I whined and begged that I needed to stay caught up on the blog during the trip......oops.

And it's FINALLY time...

Our counting chains are gone!

We've arrived!

After just a day and a half, it's like a whole different dimension. This place is huge! And hot.

The kids are eating up everything thrown at them. They love the hotel, the pool, all the ways to get from here to there, and of course COUSINS!!!

Little Drewby boy had his 6 month check up before we left.
His stats:

Length: 25 inchesWeight: 15.5 pounds (9th percentile)

4 shots in the thighs and something given orally

He likes to roll over, especially off mommy and daddy's bed. He loves to eat big boy foods and try new tastes. He gets up on his hands and knees and has figured out how to flop around like a seal to get to where he wants to go. It's amazing to think he could be mobile anyday.

He's been on It's A Small World and Pirates of the Caribbean. He doesn't make much noise and melts plenty of hearts with his adorable smile wherever he goes.

He shoves his entire right hand in his mouth, but prefers his left thumb when it's time to rest.

He's absolutely perfect and sweet and we love him so much!

One Smart Cookie

It was cookie week for 1st graders. They read If You Give A Mouse A Cookie, got to bake cookies at school, and did some yummy activities!
On Friday, parents were invited to see a small performance during flag salute by all the delicious looking cookies!

They were pretty cute and did a great job reciting their cookie poem in front of the entire school plus a big group of parents!

During the flag salute, certain first graders were recognized for having passed off all 100 1st grade sight words. We had found a list from the school website the day before school started and tested Dillan on them. He got 100%. He has been tested every week since and for some reason missed 2 and then 1.
Finally last week Mrs Hall sent me an email saying Dillan had passed all 100. There were only about 15 kids from the entire first grade, so Dillan felt pretty special. He was given a dog tag that says "Star Reader" and then later in the day, his teacher gave him a school dog tag plus the chain. He only took it off once to go swimming. He's pretty proud of himself.

Great job Dillan!

Dance Class!

Leah has been looking forward to dance class for a loooooong time! We signed up back in May and it's been a long wait. When we found her leotard and some tights, she put them on and showed me her dance moves. Same thing when she tried on her new ballet slippers. Then they were packed away to wait till now.

We walked into the large room where other little girls were waiting for class to start. It was pretty quiet except for one little girl who was in tears with her parents and didn't want to stay. Once the teacher, Miss Kelli, called the girls over, Leah took off. When her name was called, she raised her hand and was all smiles.

She was a great listener during the class. She noticed how some of the other ballerinas were not always following directions and didn't listen to Miss Kelli.

She worked on pointing her toes, walking on her tip-toes, reaching high like a giraffe, and keeping her feet turned out. At the end of class, the girls were given ribbons and got to dance like princesses! The class wrapped up with a ballet-shoe stamp on the hand! Can it get much better?

She loved it and keeps asking when her next class is!

Girl Time

With Dillan at school all day and while Drewby naps, Leah and I have had some fun moments together.
To start, we've started our own little "homeschool." We read stories, we practice our letters, writing her name, coloring, and finish up with lunch. Hopefully we'll get a little more sophisticated as we go along, but it works for now. She loves calling me teacher, and asking when its lunchtime.

Other times we dress up princesses or browse the computer, looking at dresses. She's been concerned about what she is going to dress for Halloween. She changes her mind every few minutes, but keeps coming back to a princess of some kind.

She talks about any and all things her little mind registers. She discusses Disney World and the Princesses she wants to see. She talks about going to school with Dillan someday and the kind of backpack she wants. Just random ramblings. And we love it.

Her lesson in Sunbeams must have been about being thankful because she came home with a 2-sided picture of the two things she is most thankful for:



Yup, that's my girl!

1st grade

1st grade. It means all day at school. It means leaving the sheltered little Kindergarten world behind and venturing out to the rest of the big school. We're at a different school this year, and we don't really know a lot of people! But he's ready!
We tried to get a few school year traditions going this year. The first was a father's blessing. Dillan and Leah both got blessings. In the morning we made a special breakfast and Dillan got to choose what we had for dinner. Something new we tried was we made a big cookie for the first day and decorated it with the year in school for a surprise dessert.
Dillan's teacher this year is Mrs Hall. On the first day we lined up with other parents and kids, so we could meet the teacher and give her our info and paperwork. Dillan found his desk, slapped on his nametag and got to work like he'd done it a million times.
Many of the parents lingered, but we skedaddled and left our big first grader to his coloring.

When he came home, he said he was exhausted because he had done sooooooo much work at school. He talked about the boy he sits next to in his class, and the rule for using the bathroom. We look forward to a great year!

Leah, unfortunately is NOT going back to Ms Carol's school this year. It was a difficult decision, but we're confident it was the best choice. And if not for the move, we'd be part in a joy school, the two of us. Darn. So, on Dillan's first day, she got dressed and put her backpack on because she was ready to join in the fun, too. As we were walking to Dillan's school I explained to her how she's not in Kindergarten yet, but next year she will be. She then asked, "So what school am I going to?" I asked her what she would think if Mommy was her teacher. She jumped up and down with excitement. Totally not expected. When we got home, she sat at the table and started calling me Teacher. She asked what we were going to do today. Ummmm, Mommy's not EXACTLY all the way organized to figure that out, so I told her to color a picture. Then she wanted more. She called me teacher all morning and kept asking when lunch was. So, I promised by Monday I would have something figured out and we would get started. Officially. I figure it's a good home schooling experiment to see how much she will let me do with her in getting ready for Kindergarten. I know we will definitely have to get some play dates organized, so she'll have more fun. She's pretty social anyway.

Lots of fun times!

Last Fling of Summer

To celebrate the end of summer, we decided to take the 2 big kids to Knotts Berry Farm. We were fortunate to have a sweet friend take care of little Drewby for the whole day! This was the kids and Chris' first trip to the park, not counting Mrs Knotts restaurant. In the car, Leah asked where we were going. I said "Knotts Berry Farm." She replied, "Oh we're going Not Very Far?" "No, Knotts Berry Farm!" "Yeah, Not Very Far." Chris and I were rolling.
I hadn't been in a VERY long time. We had a blast!
The kids loved all the little kiddie rides and rode all of them at least twice.
We wondered over to the bigger rides, but weren't quite tall enough for the roller coasters (not that they minded.) Then we found the log ride. Oh the log ride! Leah sat in front the first time and got soaked, especially in the face. She also said she didn't like the parts in the dark. She did NOT care to ever see that ride again. Dillan, on the other hand, could not contain his excitement. He loooooved the ride! It's all he wanted to do the rest of the day!
Eventually the day winded down and we were getting ready to leave. Chris was convinced he could get Dillan to go on the one roller coaster that he was tall enough for. It wasn't huge, so it would have been a good test for him. He threw a fit for about 10 minutes on how he didn't want to go on it, but the log ride instead. What seemed like forever, we finally convinced him to do the coaster and we'd hit the log ride one last time.
Leah and I waited for them and when they saw us Dillan ran right up to us and said "That was AWESOME!" Chris said he loved it. Of course he did! I was so proud of him and I think he learned that it was okay to give new things a try. Hopefully his courage will hold up!