Mickey's Very Merry Christmas

The kids have been looking forward to going to Disney for Mickeys Christmas Party for months!  Everyday they would ask "when are we going to Disney again?" .  Scott and I have become little kids again due to 2 little boys who LOVE Disney.  Its even more exciting now that Colby can ride more rides than before and Dylan is finally tall enough to ride Soarin, Test Track, and Big Thunder Mountain.  We have been measuring for weeks (with shoes on) to be sure he will meet the 40" requirement. 

First day we take them to Epcot to ride Test Track and Soarin.  Daddy takes them on Test Track and he is measured before entering the line.  The man says he is good to go.  I walk around with Abby and with in 10 minutes Scott calls me.  Surprised to already hear from him I answer and say "did he love it?' and Scott response was "they wouldn't let him on".  Apparently they remeasure once you are about to get on the ride and that disney man said no.  Scott is pretty upset.  How dare them disappoint his little boy.  I went back to the original man and asked what the deal was.  He measured Dylan again and said there should not be a problem and proceeds to give me 12 fast passes for us to ride all day.  So that the line at Soarin would get too long we went over there before trying TT again.  No problems at Soarin.  Dylan loves it.  We take a little Nemo ride and decide to go try TT again.  Now there is another lady at the front and she measures D and denies him!  We are all for rules but seriously how can one say yes and the other say no.  You could barley get your hand between the wood and D's head.  Poor Dylan said "but the man said yes".  So sad. 

Eating lunch and we need to see what time the bus picks us up to get back for naps (Mickey's Christmas party is that night).  Wonderful NO BUS til 3:30 and its only 11:00.  No way can we stay all day.  Scott cabs it back and I take the kids on the Mexico ride (this should be interesting).  As we are leaving the Mexico building I see that Abby is missing a shoe.  Really!!  Seriously!!  Me and 3 kids go back to the boats to see if they can find the shoe.  After 13 boats roll around finally a shoe!  Yea daddy is out front waiting on us. 

Now I am a mom on a mission!  We will not go back to the parks without Dylan getting on the rides.  I venture out to Target and buy him some "timberline" like boots to give him a boost.  Those Disney people will not say no to my little boy :).  It worked!

Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party was fun.  Its nice to be there with not so many people.  The cookies were delicious and the hot chocolate was perfect on this frigid evening.  Nana and Papa were back at the condo with Abby.  We rode almost all the rides, saw the firworks, and the parade.  We stayed to see the last parade which was 10:00 and poor Colby was so exhausted that he fell asleep in Daddy's lap as we waited on Main St for the parade to come around.  No worries he piped right up once all the music, snow and characters came around. 

This is a definte party we will go back to!

Few pictures from the weekend:

Thanksgiving

Im so thankful for so much in my life!  A wonderful husband, 3 beautiful children, a fabulous extended family that is suppotive, loving and kind, a job I can go to when I need/want to, great friends, and roof over my head.  God has truley blessed me with so much. 

Today the O'Sullivan's are coming to spend Thanksgiving with us.  Last year Abby and Liam were just a few weeks old and they come over so I think we might be starting a tradition.  Scott smoked 2 turkeys and Mark fried 2 turkeys.  I have never had a fried turkey and boy that was YUMMY!!!  Nikki and I decided that no ones favorite side dish would be left out.  So we cooked them all! 
Mashed Potatoes
Sweet Potato Casserole
Broccoli Casserole
Cranberry Sauce
Stuffing
Rolls
Gravy
4 Turkeys
All of this for 4 adults, 2 children and 2 toddlers!!  The kids combined only ate about the size of 1 adult plate.  Needless to say we had a ton of leftovers. 

We topped it off with wine, beer, apple crisp and brownie pie!!!  Love having Mark, Nikki, and Liam over.  No feelings of needing to entertain.  Im not even sure Mark ever changed out of his "turkey frying" clothes!  I loved it! 

Abby's Walking!!!

Tonight Abby walked from the family room to the boys room without falling.  Scott and I looked at each other like "did she really just do that".  Sure enough she came back around the corner walking into the kitchen.  She has finally done it!  She realizes she can get from A to Z walking and not crawling.  Before tonight she had only taken a few steps fallen and kept crawling. 

Im not sure who is more proud her mommy and daddy or her tow big brothers.  So exciting!

England Bound!

My best friend Joanna has had her first baby boy so my mom, Abby, and I went to visit her, Trevor, and Baby Sam. We didnt buy Abby a seat and were hoping for the bulkhead seats so we could get her the bassinet that hooks to the wall. We were fortunate enough to get the bulkhead but unfortunately one of the bolts were missing so there was no way for the bassinet to hang on the wall. Fabulous! Our flight didnt take off til 11:50 PM. She actually fell asleep in my arms for about 45 minutes but once the flights attendants were coming through the aisles to serve dinner....yes dinner at midnight REALLY!!!...she was wide awake. Now its 1:00 and she is about as awake as the night owl. 2:15 and she is still partying like she is a rock star although Grammy managed to go to sleep and left me to deal with her...hello I brought you on this trip for a reason it it wasnt to sleep on the plane if the 1 year old was awake :)! Finally at 3:30 she fell asleep on the floor of the plane at our feet. I have to admit Grammy FINALLY woke up and she was the one who got her to sleep...Thanks Grammy!!

We didnt do too much exploring since Sam was only 9 weeks old, the weather was cold & wet, but also because weve dont all the exploring already and now Jo and I like to spend as much quality time as we can.  Whenever we are together the week seems as if it flies by.  We ate lots and drank more wine than the vineyards could supply :).  Added a few walks in our day to help counteract the calories we assumed. 




Our walk and view to the Palace

Blenheim Palace

We had a small bump in the road come Sunday morning.  Abby had a radh from head to toe!!!  Sitting at the table eating  breakfast with Baby Sam, Trevor & Abby.  I say to Trevor "do you see that spot on Abby's head?" Trevor "Yes I do" as he sit next to his newborn child.  If  only you could imagine what wasgoing through my head!  Im in a foreign country staying with people who have a newborn baby and my child looks like a spotted leopard!!  I called the ER over in the States and talked to Dr Aboudan.  He asked me about fever....ugh i took it but they do there #'s in celcius could you please translate.....no fever, he asked about the rash and asked if there were bumps under her armpits.  Well yes there is.  OK you need to see a doctor ASAP it sounds like Scarlet Fever!  What???  How????  Oh and Janice she will be contagious to that little newborn!  OH boy! Im now freaking out!!!  Appt was made for 7:30 that night.  All I could now is pray that she is OK and we do not contaminate this house.  We now have 8 hours til our appt so the only thing we knew to do is go to the pub...what else right? 

Few drinks at the pub and back to the house for a lovely lunch over wine, candles and great friends.  Jonathan came over to visit and give us some great laughs.  He was so good to my mom, me and little Abby.

Abby's 1st English Beer :)

Its time to go to the doctor.  We are on our way to an acute care center which is a hospital with an ER.  The way they do their ER's over there is that they are color coded and you can only go to the ER that handles your time of illness.  WOW can we please start that over in America!!!  Plus I had an appointment.  Obviously they took walk ins too.  Basically I was at an ER that only took SPED patients.  Totally different healthcare there.  Children and adults see the same doctor.  There isnt a peditrician for the kids and your regular PCP for adults.  Of course I am panicking thinking they wont know what is wrong with me baby! The doctor thinks its chicken poxs.  Now Im more confused.  She just had her vaccination for them aprrox 2 weeks ago.  They dont vaccinate agaisnt chicken pox so they have no idea if this could possible be a reaction to the immunization.  Good news was since Joanna was immune and she was breastfeeding Sam was in the clear!!  When we got home I googled possible reactions to the varicella shot and less than 5% of children will breakout in a rask 2-3 weeks post shot and it will mimic the chicken pox!  Way to go Abby falling into the 5%!! The rash was gone in 2 days. 

Picture of the crew

Sam "Baby Trevor"

Grammy and Sam

Twins 30 something years apart

So in love with her baby boy!!



The Queens Quarters - Jo and Trevors House



Best Friends for 15 years!!

The Roninson Family

Brrr mommy its cold over here!! 

The Trout Inn - Best Pub Ever!

Leaving is always hard.  They are our family!  Its always unknown when we will see them again but know that we are always close in the heart. 

Now its time to beg for the bulkhead seat again in hopes that the bassinet will work on this plane (please dont be the same plane I beg).  As we are checking in the delta man says he has reserved the two aisle seats for me & my mom.  He has put a hold on the middle seat so that Abby can ride home in a car seat buckled!  I ask if they would allow me to that since I didnt pay for a seat.  The man said there shouldnt be a problem since the plane wasnt full.  So excited I say to the man "your the Bomb!" so not the right words to use while in an airport :) Thank goodness he had a good sence of humor. 

9 hour plane ride home and Abby slept 1 hour! Fabulous!  She never borke down just need constant attention or food. 

Abigail's 1st Birthday

WOW!! Its already been a full year since I received one of the biggest surprises ever - my baby girl. I truely couldnt believe it. I actually had a little girl and could finally see pink, purple, bows, dresses, etc in my future.

Abby you have brought so much joy to this family. The boys cannot get enough of you, your daddy has this sparkle in his eye when he looks at you and mommy could just eat you up.

Of course the theme was Pink Giraffe :) not only for mommy but because Abby has fallen inlove with her snuggie which is a pink giraffe. Aunt Lea made the cake and at last minute (due to mommy guilt) I made the cake for Abby to dig into.



My friend Nikki gave me the idea to make a banner with pictures of Abby from each month. It was fun putting together this and seeing how much she changed and grew in one year!




The party list consisted of:
Grammy & Pop Pop
Great Grandmommy
Nana & Papa
Aunt Lea, Uncle Grady and Aiden
Grandma and Grandpa
Aunt Grammy & Uncle Rick
Best friends Katie & Jackson couldnt make it along with your second mommy & daddy (Mrs Becky and Mr Trevor)
Boyfriend Liam was out of town :(

Here she is eating her cake!








She got a pink car from Nana and Papa which was a huge hit not only for her but her big brothers. If the boys tried to ride in it or play with it she would get so mad! It was hilarious!!




Grammy and Pop Pop gave her the traditional backpack with her name on it. Grammy picked one out with kitties on it....go fiqure :)


This 1st birthday was the hardest for me out of all three kiddos! Not sure why but seeingher grow so fast was bitter sweet! It was a fabulous day!

Abby's first Steps!!

Abby walked to mommy tonight!! Up until tonight she had only tried taking the step forward but would end up falling down to crawl. Daddy helped her get started and she took about 3-4 steps towards me. Way to go Abby!!!!

Happy 3rd Birthday Dylan

Happy Birthday Dylan!! I cannot believe you are already 3. Potty trained, sleeping in big boy bed and no pacifier before 3 year of age. You are such a joy to have around. Your personality is fun, loving, crazy, warm topped with a little but of slyness. Your eyes and smile are amazing!!

What you love at this age:
Your monkies
Trains
Planes
Garbage trucks/Recycle Trucks
Chick-fil-a
Chugginton
Curious George
Disney - especially the monorail
Choc Choc
Anything Toy Story

Mommy and Daddy love you with all our hearts! Super Giant Much!
When you tell us you love us you say "Love you with all your heart"

Wedding of the Year!

I thought I was walking the Red Carpet!! This wedding was AMAZING!! It was a black tie event....Dawn said optional but she really meant....Dont you dare come in anything less than a tux :). She has 12 girls in the wedding including 2 Jr bridemaids and 2 flower girls. We got to pick out our own long black dresses and jewlery. From the time we checked into the hotel to the the time we checked out we were treated like movie stars!! It really can only be told through picture so here it goes:

Hair done - check
Make-up done - Check
Hanging with our men at the Ale House all dolled up with a beer - check!!!

The BEAUTIFUL Bride!!!

Ice sculpture for the martinis
Notice the server with his tails and white gloves!!

Martini anyone?

Decoration hanging from the ceiling

Tables, centerpieces, and room

Upclose of the flowers

Three Amigos

 Let the good times begin!