Christmas at Disney World

Nathan and I had been planning this trip for 6 months. We booked it in July and had a really hard time keeping the secret! We are not good at keeping secrets! On Christmas morning, the girls each had a new rolling duffle bag under the tree with a bow on it. When you opened the bags, they each had a disney plush doll. (minnie, mickey and pluto) On the back of the plushes I attached a note that said.. "PACK YOUR BAGS!!!!!! You and your family are headed to DISNEYWORLD… today!!!! Be at the airport for your flight at 2pm! Merry Christmas and have a fun week in Florida!!"



My mother had obviously spent all of her free time this fall making cute outfits for the kids to wear on vacation! She made these adorable outfits to wear.



She also made the jackets that you will see in most of our pictures and a pair of disney princess jammmies for each girl! Thanks mom!

The trip to Florida was pretty uneventful. We got settled into our room at the Port Orleans Riverside resort (after several room changes, ... long story) and got into bed for the night.

The next morning we woke up, had breakfast and headed to the Magic Kingdom. The weather was freezing and drizzly! I had rented a mobility scooter to use for the week at the suggestion of my doctor. We unloaded at the bus stop at the Magic Kindom and by the time we reached the entrance, my purse was gone!!

Spending the morning in the Magic Kingdom security office was NOT what we had planned for our vacation but I have to tell you how amazing they were to my family. They settled the girls into a nice warm conference room, offered them hot chocolate, gave them crayons, and set about telling them about all of the greatest things about the park. In the meantime, we set about canceling credit cards and filling out reports. By mid afternoon, my purse had been located, minus 80$ cash and my iphone. It could have been so much worse so we were grateful.

Imagine our surprise when the operations department made all sorts of arrangements for us to enjoy the rest of the day. We were handed over 35 fastpasses for the attractions in the Magic Kingdom. We were given priority seating for the Holiday Parade that afternoon. We were given complimentary lunch. We headed over to Guest Services to cancel my current email account (which was accessible from my phone) and two of the cast members called us over to ask us if we were busy. We told them we hadn't been busy all morning!! They asked the girls if they wanted to meet some of their friends. When they brought them to a back room this is who they found...





Tiana and Cinderella visited with them for over 20 mins! It was so amazing and already the vacation was getting better. When we turned the corner, we were informed that there was NO LINE to meet Snow White! The girls got to meet 3 princesses in 30 mins!


We headed on over to the Holiday Parade and were greeted by an amazing cast member! She seated us on roped-off benches, gave each girl a free fleece blanket (with the disney castle on it), gave us all free hot chocolates and settled us in to watch the amazing parade.


After the parade, park operations had arranged a shuttle to take us directly to our dinner reservation at Ohana in the Polynesian Resort. We enjoyed our dinner and went back to the Magic Kingdom to watch the light parade and fireworks. It was a fun night!

The next day we had a good time watching all of the shows at Hollywood Studios. It was very, very crowded. We enjoyed seeing Beauty and the Beast stage as well as Ariel. We had dinner at the Sci-Fi Diner where you had your meal in your very own car. It was a good day.

When we got back to our hotel that night there was another surprise. The park operations office from Magic Kingdom had left three stockings full of disney souveniers for the girls. We were very touched and couldn't believe how kind they were.



We decided to get up early the next morning and take advantage of the extra magic hours at Magic Kingdom and were able to get on many of the rides we wanted to get on without waiting in any lines! We were at the park a little after 7 and by the time it was early afternoon the girls were ready for a break!

We managed to catch a few characters that day! Early in the morning the girls managed to spend a few minutes chatting with Aladdin and Jasmine.


Later, we waited patiently to meet with Woody and Jessie from Toy Story.



That night we had reservations to have dinner with Cinderella, Lady Tremaine, Anastasia, Drizella and Prince Charming. Unfortunately, as Morgan was loading up her plate at the buffet, she started to feel nauseous and lost her cookies right there in front of the carving board. I ended up taking her and Melody (who insisted on tagging along with her mom) back to the hotel while Maya hung out with the characters. She had a great time getting to know them as they circulated to the table.










The next morning we took it easy so that we could make sure Morgan was feeling ok. After a light lunch at the contemporary resort, she informed us that she was ok to get back out and have some fun. We had not used our fast passes and thought this was the best opportunity to use them. We went on rides until we couldn't ride anymore! The highlight for Maya was going on Space Mountain with mom!

That night we had reservations at Whispering Canyon. We took the boat over to the Wilderness Lodge resort and had a great time! They really entertained the kids there. They even had horse riding!!



Thursday was our last full day in the parks and we wanted to be sure to have a full day of fun! We were hard core! We were at Epcot before it opened at 8 and didn't get back to our room until around 10pm. We really enjoyed all of the rides, shows, and displays at Epcot. We lucked out again and managed to meet Belle without waiting!



That night we had dinner at CHEF MICKEY!!!






We finished up the night riding rides and using up the last of our fast passes.

The trip home was uneventful and we were so grateful to be able to have this amazing experience as a family!

Ethan

Santa Baby

Today we went to Melody's annual preschool Breakfast with Santa! Melody would not even give santa a high five.



Maya, on the other hand, probably would have gone home with him. She even went back to tell him how she ate all of her breakfast.





Morgan was mad that we made her pose but she got over it! :)

Sleepover!

The girls whipped out the airbeds and had their very own sleepover in the playroom upstairs last night. Silly girls!

Buc-ees!!!

Morgan and I went to Houston this weekend for the Texas USAG banquet. Rather than take a bunch of pictures of her getting her award (I did get some on my phone but actually forgot my real camera) I took video of the highlight of our trip, a newly built, cheesy but incredibly fun rest stop called Buc-ees! Morgan got extremely excited and took some video that i thought i would share with you. Enjoy.

Then, we saw the statue of Sam Houston... but we couldn't leave the buc-ee's issue alone...

Yes, we are a barrel of fun on roadtrips.

Maya's Dance Recital

Maya had her first recital this weekend and she did great! :)
The first video is of her tap dance and she is on the back row on the far left.
In the second video, she's doing her ballet dance and she's the last on the left in the front row.

Morgan's Talent Show Routine

Fashion Show!

I have told you before of the talent of my mother. I wanted to showcase some of the items she has made for my kids over the years.
Let the fashion show begin!
(pictures are courtesy of my sister, Sarah)
First we have a beautiful camel colored skirt modeled by the lovely Morgan.

Next we have some gorgeous summery polka dot dresses. Note that two of these models are enjoying each other's company while the third model had to join later following a massive break down. I think the little one likes her big sister.




This lovely ballerina is wearing a velvety leotard with matching skirt and hair scrunchie.. tres chic, no?

Our flexible gymnast is showing off her one of a kind neon pink zebra striped leotard made only for those that grandma adores! Sorry teammates, grandma doesn't love you!


For your little gymnast, there are sparkly leotards, fit perfectly to show your little ones' nice round little biscuits.



Siblings love to match!


And finally, summer is coming and what could be better but your very own sundress!!?


We love you mom!! You're the best!

We're famous!!

Ok, we're not technically famous, but this picture **IS** from the usa gymnastics website. The girls got to meet olympic silver medalist Chellsie Memmel and had a great time.

Greek Goddess

You too can have this look with an older sister and a fitted sheet (queen size).

Uncle Sam (and Morgan brag)

Nathan's parents and brother Sam are here for a visit and the girls have decided that they like Uncle Sam a whole lot.


And while I'm in the posting mood, I just have to let you know how proud I am of Morgan. She got all 4s (top grade) on her report card, passed the TAKS test with 100% and had her art work selected to be displayed in central office tonight. We are proud of how hard you are working, Morgan!

12th Anniversary

Today is our 12th anniversary. We spent it at a soccer game. We had a good time. At halftime the hubby surprised me with a sweet anniversary message on the big screen at Pizza Hut Park. Thanks Monster! Love you.. looking forward to many more years together.

Soccer Season has begun!!

We went to a pre-season game today at pizza hut park.
FC Dallas played CAP from Brazil. It was an entertaining game with a goal scored in the first minute. Sadly it was the only goal (thankfully it was for FCD) but the score was 4-4 on aggregate and it went to penalty kicks where we lost 5-4. We were fortunate to have some good friends join us and Morgan was able to bring her friend too. I didn't realize I missed the games so much. Next week is the season opener against the Chicago Fire. I am looking forward to attending with Nathan's family.

My Nephew Ethan

Jawbreaker Solar System

Morgan has a keen interest in space. She decided this weekend that she would make a jawbreaker solar system. I thought it was very creative.

Don't leave my children alone with your stuffed animals.

This is what will happen to them.

Let Us Eat Cake... Rainbow Cake! **Edited**

Idea and recipe credit goes to my good friend Michele!

Daddy and Daughters

Every year the city puts on a daddy daughter dance at the community center. All 3 girls got to go this year and daddy was EXHAUSTED! :)






Some other odds and ends...
This is entitled.. "the best afternoon ever"


and this one is called "Morgan and her mini-me"