A lot...

This is a random picture of a volcano that Chloe built.

 Disneyworld 2014... a trip of a lifetime.
For the past 7 years, Brad and I have been doing this whole medical school thing and residency thing. We had been wanting to take our parents on a trip for that whole time; A trip to say thank you for all of everything they had done. Visits for new babies born, visits during the winter gloom, and fun visits when we were back in Utah. So, we got thinking...Florida in February. Perfect.
I actually can't believe the trip has come and gone. It was so fun.
We spent 2 days at Magic Kingdom, 1 day at Animal Kingdom, and 1 day at Hollywood Studios. We did have a couple of days of ugly weather but the good weather more than made up for it. Back home, in Peoria, they were experiencing negative temps and school closures, so this was a welcome retreat.

 Just some snap shots from the week. Lola always acts like a big kid and this trip was no exception. Brad pretty much carried her the entire week. She didn't love being in her stroller unless is was nap time. EZ on the other hand preferred to ride most of the time.

 We met a few characters. Luckily, our kids didn't want to wait in lines to meet them. So if we ran into them it was perfect. One morning we saw Sofia and Jake in their incognito spot. No traffic at all.

 Disney is magical with kids.

 And this guy...he was so happy all week. Always a big smile. He has put in so much work to get to this point in his career and it was nice to see him just relaxing and taking it all in.

 This girl was the funnest age to be there. She was tall enough to ride all of the rides, including the scary ones like Tower of Terror and the new Everest Rollercoast which went backwards in the dark and upside down.

 Everyone willing to stop and smile for my many picture moments. I am in the process of making a digital book on Snapfish, which is the only way to go for vacation memories.

 See Lola's face. She really loves Sophia.

 One of Chloe's souvenirs was a disneyland puzzle that she chose. On our day "off" we stayed at the condo and built the puzzle. I think I may pack a puzzle or two on future vacations because it was so fun to just sit around a build it together.

 The grandparents. They were having as much fun as the kids!

 And I got to ride a few rides with this guy!

 And then it was time to go home! Which involved a 5am-2pm day, which was supposed to be a 5am-10:30am day but atleast it didn't turn into a 5am-11pm day like it could have.

More posts coming soon. I still love to blog. Do you??

Merry Merry Christmas

I love Christmas. Love it, love it, love it. Enjoy the pictures of the season...

 Here is EZ singing in his first school programs. He turned around so we saw his back most of the time:) But the parts he did sing, you can bet, were outstanding!

 Sometime after Miss Belle stopped wearing shoes on her hands she started to only want to wear sweatshirts and dress ups.

 We slept under the tree on the 23rd. Actually, I slept in my cozy bed and they slept under the tree and loved every minute of it.

 Annual Christmas breakfast. It really was a ridiculous amount of food.

 Annual bowling. The alley was supposed to be closed, but I called just to see if maybe they might want to "be open". And they said they would!! Bowling is a tradition.

 The fun group. We're lucky to know so many great people.

 A Christmas Eve "appetizer" plate and the kids call it.

 I attempted a yule log!

 The elf brings the kids their jammies when we put the tree up. We had a gingerbread girl, santa, and a little reindeer.

 Christmas morning. This is how we'll remember her 2nd christmas. She wanted to have the clothes she wore during the pageant the night before. She pretty much didn't care about any of the gifts. The only thing she did care about was if the scarf and the blue blanket fell off.

 Coming in to get our gifts.

 Reading books on my bed after the excitement.

 The reason for the season. My mom gave us this as a wedding gifts because we were married a week later. It is one of my favorite things I own. Beautiful.

 And this...my favorite gift. When we went to visit Santa, Bluebird didn't really ask for anything major, but then she whispered to santa something else. She told me she had whispered something that she wanted him to bring to me for Christmas. I would ask her periodically if she would tell me what she asked for and she always told me, "nope, you'll have to wait till Christmas". She did tell B-rad though. So Christmas morning came and we opened gifts and she got what she asked for, but I could tell I didn't get the gift she asked Santa to bring me. I asked her if that was okay (seeing that she was happy with her gifts but a little disappointed that mine didn't come) and she said she was happy. She told me he'd bring it for me next year. A little while later she found a hidden gift. It was for me! Inside was this note with her picture and a baseball mit. You see, she had left my mitt out in the summer and it got rained on and it molded so gross. She loves baseball and she loves that I love to play catch with her. So she asked Santa to bring me one

Pirates!!!

EZ turned 4. We had a pirate party. He loves all things pirate.

 So glad she could be here to celebrate with us.

 EZ sporting his tradition "year" shirt I make.
EZ is a very easy going kid, still! He usually just goes with the flow but does have the occasional stubborn side. He is very patient with Lola. He loves for me to be right beside him. He loves hugs and kisses and being read to and sang too and cuddled. He is getting the hang of school and has some little friends. I love the energy a little boy brings to our home and I am so glad he is ours.

 She loved all things pirate, too.

 We went and visited the Abraham Lincoln home. It was so cool to go in his actual house. I love history and probably always will like these kinds of places. They asked us to leave though. The kids were to confined in the small spaces.

 I knew Grandma Ruthie would love the adventure of trying america's first corn dog. It's in springfield Illinois. The COZY DOG!

 And then we spent some time excavating at a museum.

Halloween 2013

Miss Blue is so fun because she lets me make her costumes. While I am no seamstress, I feel so proud when I make something that she can actually wear and it actually resembles something. Such is the case with the Mulan costume. She was part of the planning and shopping and fitting. I loved her with the black bun. She opted not to spray her hair black for actual halloween, just the trunk of treat at church.

 A Pirates Belle.

 We decided to paint the pumpkins this year and a fine idea that was.

 He is so fierce.

 Another variation on the pirate theme.

 EZ's preschool class. Chloe's school doesn't let them dress up.

 Halloween night. It rained ALL day. So i found myself at the store buying 3 umbrellas just so we'd be able to go trick or treating. It ended up calming down long enough for us to get a full bag of candy.

 Our friends the hosts of the party.

 The spoils.

 Hard earned...especially when I took his temp just before the picture and it was 103.5

 Gotta love the full size.

Happy Halloween.