holiday fun {disney style}

Disneyland at Christmas time is pure, over-the-top, amazingness. Decorations everywhere (my favorites were the decorations in toon town- big, colorful, lots of fun), lights galore, and snow (ok, soap, but it looked like real snow floating from the sky- the girls learned the hard way that it didn't taste like real snow, but they didn't care)! It lived up to all the hype. We went before schools got out for winter break (one of the few joys of not having any children in school yet:), so we didn't have to battle crazy crowds. Plus, it was forecasted to rain the entire time we were there, which probably deterred a lot of people as well. It worked to our advantage. We basically walked on every ride in both parks, all day long. The weather held out- sprinkled a little bit, but for the most part we stayed dry.... cold, but dry.

We rode lots of rides including several we had never been on before because the lines are usually ridiculously long (LOVED Toy Story Mania so much we bought the Wii game to play at home), talked to Tinkerbell through the hedges, the girls batted their eyelashes at Poppi until he took them to get their faces painted, sang along to the parade music, visited with minnie every chance we got, plugged our ears during the fireworks, marveled at the "snow" falling from the sky, woke up way too early, stayed up too late, missed our bus back to the hotel and walked a distance in the dark with 3 kids and no strollers, added to our baby princess collection, sat on santa's lap, got some good laughs from the green army men, froze our faces going on Screamin' several times in a row in the rain, scared the tar out of Finley having her go on the matterhorn with us (she is not a big fan apparently, but we tried)... we maximized every minute and

had a wonderful time at the happiest place on earth!

christmas in a glass

I. LOVE. THIS. STUFF! It is like nothing I have ever tasted before. Since we discovered it a few years ago, it has become our holiday drink of choice (it is NON-ALCOHOLIC of course). It is only available once a year, so we load up. Unfortunately, it is not easy to find around here (we first found it in the bay area). I searched high and low at every store in San Luis Obispo. I finally found it at Albertsons in Arroyo Grande. I cleaned them out of all they had. I currently have 8 cartons in my fridge. Yes, it is THAT good, but don't worry... I won't be drinking it all myself. I have to fight Paul and the girls for it. 'tis the season! If you come across it in the store (it has to be the vanilla spice flavor in the RED container), pick it up, take it home, try it. You won't be disappointed. I promise.

why not?!

Anyone who says sunshine brings happiness has never danced in the rain.

{author unknown}

When it was pouring rain, the girls were continually begging to go outside and play. I repeatedly said "no." Then I thought, why not?! We got coats and boots on and I grabbed my camera. They got COMPLETELY soaked and had an absolute blast doing it. It lasted a whole 15 minutes before they realized they were wet and freezing cold. We stripped off wet clothes at the door and they got straight into a bubble bath to warm up.

Oh, the simple joys of being a child.

happy thanksgiving

We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures. ~Thornton Wilder

I am grateful for SO much, but these 3 top my list.

Happy Thanksgiving!

dancing diva

Avery's dance class performed a "nutcracker" dance for their winter presentation (they danced to a selection of nutcracker music and a small wooden nutcracker made a brief appearance, however that is where the "nutcracker" similarities ended). Avery has been dancing since she was itty bitty and has put on countless "performances" for us at home, but this was her first actual dance recital. The other studio she attended prior to this class had one BIG show a year, up on stage, with lights, $35 tickets and was always held on a Sunday. Someday maybe, but for a 2, 3, 4 year old, this more casual recital atmosphere seemed much more appropriate.

Avery loved every minute of it. She loved dressing up, she loved having her own little cheering section- YaYa, PaPa, Bubba, Gramma Lee, Pa, Mom, Dad, Finley, and Emerson were all in attendance, she loved performing her routines... she was completely in her element. It was so fun to watch her do something that she loves so much.

Her favorite part of all.... receiving flowers from her adoring fans! She thought that was just the greatest thing ever. "Just like Angelina Ballerina," she said. Avery did prep me for days ahead of time, wanting to make sure that we would have flowers to give her after her show :) Can you say high maintenance?! Even still, her reaction was just priceless and made it well worth the covert mission we sent YaYa on at the last minute to grab the forgotten flowers.

princess, flower, and tiger, oh my

Halloween has come and gone. It was not my most creative year- no coordinating, handmade costumes, but we all survived. Also, after the one night we set aside to do pumpkins turned into a night of mishaps, one after another, we threw in the towel and didn't carve a pumpkin at all. I do love Halloween and all that goes along with it, but this year I had to let go of something- hours of costume fashioning and pumpkin creation crafting were unfortunately the first to go.... I plan to come back with a vengeance next year:).

Avery wanted to be Belle from Beauty and the Beast. Easy enough. We had a Belle dress up dress already. Add a crown, gloves, and a red ribbon necklace and we are done. For trunk-or-treat at church we did not have the gloves yet (finding kid sized gloves, when you want them or course, was a challenge) and Avery refused to be an "incomplete" Belle, so she went as a ballerina- we came straight from dance class... convenient:). She did go as Belle (after I got her the appropriate "accessories") to Tiny Tigers on Thursday, Pismo trunk-or-treat on Friday, and on Halloween night at the Rober's (thanks for inviting us and accommodating Paul's Oregon football obsession :). Avery LOVED all the festivities, trick-or-treating, and the windfall of candy (of course).

The day of trunk-or- treat I set out 4+ full costumes for Finley to choose from... minnie mouse, a butterfly, a fairy, and a ballerina. She refused them all. She was insistent that she wanted to be a tiger. I didn't have a tiger costume, so we quickly fashioned a cowgirl costume, complete with a stick horse. She ended up staying in the back of the van the whole night because she was too scared of all the "monsters"....everything is very REAL to her at this point. We went and got a tiger outfit for her to wear for our other events, but when we got it home she decided it was too scary. She did end up wearing it (without the head and paws... those were the scary parts) for the Pismo ward trunk-or-treat and on Halloween.

Finley loved the candy, but was not thrilled about how you go about getting the candy. She was done after trick-or-treating at one house... "can we go home now?"

Emerson went as a flower dressed in a green track suit and a $1.00 flower headband I got at Target a few years ago at Easter time. She was cute, and I have no pictures.

Paul dressed up as a tourist for work on Friday- madras plaid shorts, yellow Hawaiian shirt, black socks, sandals. It was a good look for him.

I went as a tired, overworked, underpaid mom of 3 small children. I have yet to take off my disguise:).