Sorry for the lack of posting. We had a fabulous trip to Disney over Christmas week. Unfortunately, I have had this major headache since we got home. But I figured I should post about Christmas before the year is over.

We spent our first night at Chef Mickey’s, a fun buffet style dinner where the characters come right to your table. Sweet Pea was enamored with the characters. Whenever he saw one he had this goofy grin on his face that you couldn’t wipe off. He just stared until it was time  for them to move on. Peanut was so exhausted from traveling that she slept through the whole thing.

Me, my brothers, my hubby, and my Papa got to do an Around the World segway tour at Epcot.

Lightning McQueen was everywhere and Sweet Pea was so excited. GG and Papa got him these ears and he has been wearing them ever since.

The kids riding around with GG.

Peanut snuggling with Uncle Ryan. She is wearing Sweet Pea’s hat because my mom and grandma were in charge of getting her ready that morning and they couldn’t find her pink one.

We had lunch in the country of Japan and Peanut liked gnawing on the edamame.

Turns out my dad is quite the baby whisperer. Every time Peanut was fussy he would grab her and she would conk out on his shoulder.

Here is Sweet Pea in our hotel room sporting a night gown that my aunt made for him. He started out in a crib by the bed, but ended up sleeping in the awesome king sized bed in our room. Both kids were so off in their sleeping while we were gone. I think they just knew they were not home. The good thing is when we got home they were both so relieved to be in their own beds they napped like champs.

One afternoon me, my brothers, my dad, and my papa went parasailing. So much fun! I highly recommend it if you ever get the chance. It’s an incredible feeling to be up so high.

This is a picture of my little brother on the Expedition Everest ride in Animal Kingdom. Charles and I were sitting right behind him and Charles was able to snap this picture right before we fell backwards.

Disney does a wonderful job decorating for the holidays. Here we are posing in front of one of the many Christmas trees. Four generations:

My family:

Charles took Sweet Pea to a light parade on Main Street in Magic Kingdom one evening. Here is main street before the parade:

Baby whisperer:

My mom did a fabulous job decorating our hotel room to make in feel more like Christmas. This was the first Christmas we have spent away from home and we wanted it to feel just right.

My mom made all the stockings…they all have little Mickey’s on them.

Christmas morning:

Peanut just chillin in her stroller waiting for the bus:

Sweet Pea playing with Uncle Josh on the bus. I think Sweet Pea had more fun on the public transportation than anything else. He was constantly asking to ride the monorail, the boats, and the bus. He still wakes up in the morning and asks if we get to go to the bus station.

Here Sweet Pea is examining the map of Magic Kingdom. He is quite the travel guide.

Tired Sweet Pea wanted a ride:

Playing in the Honey, I Shrunk the Kids playhouse:

And the absolute favorite….meeting Lightning McQueen!!!

These are just a few of the 1700 pictures my hubby snapped while we were there . So I might be posting more later…..and of course there are the pictures my mom took….and my papa…

On Sunday we make our annual trek to Disney World. We normally go in November when the crowds aren’t as big, so going at Christmas will be a whole new adventure.

Today we are looking back at the trip that started it all: my parents honeymoon. Back in July 1981 after they committed their lives to each other, they hopped on a plane, entered the magical world, and never looked back.

They spent three whole days exploring the world of the Magic Kindgom, as it was the only park open. Epcot was in the process of being built.

Here they are at the Pirates of the Carribean:

My dad, twenty-one at the time,  at the Polynesion Village, where they stayed:

My mom at nineteen:

Sharing a meal at Cinderella’s castle:

My dad:

My mom and pluto:

{See more fun flashbacks here!}

On Sunday we are leaving to go to Disney World for Christmas! We are so excited and really looking forward to the trip. Last week I was browsing stores on etsy and found these cute hats!!! I thought they would be the perfect way to keep the kids warm while at Disney!!! Josie, the store owner and maker of the hats, was amazing! She made them in one day so the kids could have them for our trip. Sweet Pea already  loves his and has been wearing it since we got it in the mail today.

She is having a buy 2 get 1 free special so we got this one for free!

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Journey back with me to 1985. My first Christmas. It isn’t something that I remember, but now that I have kids and get to experience all these “firsts” I finally understand how special it really is. Seeing little eyes get excited about Christmas lights or keeping little hands from yanking on the Christmas tree really is something to cherish. Getting to be a witness to a child learning about Jesus and how he was born is wonderful. These little discoveries only happen one time and I was blessed to have parents who cared about them. I also pray I can be that parent to my two children.

Now for the cuteness. Me and my older brother digging under the Christmas tree:

Our family picture in front of the tree. Don’t you love my pacifier?

Three generations (how awesome is it that now we have five?!):

Little family of four (little did they know 8 years from then they would add another baby…and what a great kid he is!):

Older brother tearing into the presents (with a little help from dad):

First visit to see Santa, but really he was Fr. Bill from church.

See more flashbacks here!

Life has been crazy busy.Charles is in his last few days of class and has finals next week. He also has a job contract that is due next week. Needless to say I have been here with the kids and going crazy and not having time to get on the computer. I was trying to figure out something quick to post so here it is. I realized I had over 200 pictures stored on my blackberry. So I loaded them all onto the computer yesterday. These are pictures of things I thought were cute, but didn’t have my camera. Isn’t it nice to have phones that take such great pictures?!

In this picture, Peanut was rubbing her eyes. But she was so tired that she fell asleep with her hand still on her face!

On our drive home from Thanksgiving we stopped for lunch. Sweet Pea wanted to hold Peanut during our little break:

I went shopping with a friend and Sweet Pea and her son wanted to ride together in the grocery cart:

Daddy and Sweet Pea watching TV:

More blackberry pictures to  come!

On a side note, here is something I never thought I would say: “No Sweet Pea, you can not brush your teeth one more time!!”

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Today we went to the mall to take a family picture in front of a Christmas tree for our Christmas card. First, this was a really silly idea because it took about twenty minutes to find a parking spot. Second, taking pictures with kids is…a challenge. One of them is always crying, needing a snack, and neither of them look at the camera at the same time. There is only one out of the 100 pictures that we took where we are all looking at the camera. And here it is:

Now lets take a closer look:

Kids make life exciting…what can I say?

Today I am going to flashback to our first Christmas as a married couple. We were living in Tulsa, as were my parents. The plan was to all go to my grandparent’s house in West Virginia for the holiday, but I had to work on Christmas day. So we had my family over for a Christmas dinner before they headed to West Virginia. We joined them a few days later.

We had a yummy sushi dinner. Of course my little brother doesn’t like sushi so he had a cheese and cracker lunchable.

Ahhh the days before kids where I actually decorated.

After dinner we shared gifts:

Charles and I decided to fill each others stockings for Christmas morning, so before I headed off to work we exchanged them.

We had such a great time!

Click here for more flashbacks!