Snazzy Girls

For Sarah's 5th birthday party, she invited some girls and had a dress up party at a local party boutique. You could tell by the look on her face she enjoyed EVERY MINUTE of it!!! They picked out fancy clothes, had mini-makeovers, played a couple of games and had a fashion show. It was the first time she had on makeup other than lip gloss. She loved it!!!

Traditions

Every year I have the kids' photo taken in front of our Christmas tree in matching Christmas pajamas. I'm not sure why I do this. Maybe I want to remember how they looked on Christmas Eve or Christmas morning. Maybe I want them to stay little forever. Maybe I'm just trying to do it one more year, hoping this year won't be the one the 6-year-old starts to protest. Anyway, it's become one of our traditions. So here is this year's pic of the kids in their matching PJs. This might be my favorite one!

Disney World 2011

We just returned from taking the kids to Walt Disney World! It was their first visit and we had an amazing trip. They were the perfect age to do everything and still have it be magical for them. It was the perfect time of year and the weather was amazing. We even got to swim in the pool at the resort a couple of days. But, we spent most of the week riding rides and visiting characters in three of the parks. We went to the Magic Kingdom, Disney's Hollywood Studios, and Animal Kingdom. Trevor is the fearless one, and wanted to ride every wild roller coaster. He even rode Expedition Everest at Animal Kingdom and wanted to ride it again (Dad said no). Sarah loved visiting with the princesses at lunch at Cinderella's Castle and getting dressed up at the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique (Trevor got to be a pirate for the day at the Pirate's League). They filled up their autograph books and we had to buy each of them another one. Another highlight of the trip was going to Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party at the Magic Kingdom and seeing the Christmas parade and the fireworks at the castle. It was an amazing sight. Even though Mom and Dad have both been there before, it is impossible to go to Disney World and not be impressed by the costumes, the Christmas decorations, the landscaping, and all of it. Even the shows and the safari at the Animal Kingdom were spectacular. It was an exhausting week--which by the way, we managed to do with a 4-year-old without a stroller--but we all had a great time and the kids already want to go back. Since Fantasyland was under construction and they are building another castle, we already want to go back. We're already missing hearing the phrase, "Have a magical day!" We must have heard it 2,000 times that week.

Halloween 2011

The kids had great fun at Halloween! This year we did something we haven't done before, and went on a hayride with some friends who live in another neighborhood. We skipped out on our usual thing and did something that turned out to be a lot more exciting. A friend made a hayride out of his trailer which he pulled behind his SUV. He had Halloween decorations, which included blinking skeletons, hay, and Halloween-themed music. It was hilarious to see the looks we got from everyone, as the music blared and the kids jumped off and ran from house to house. They were on and off of that trailer that rockets. It was great fun and wore the kids out!!! There were probably 12 or so kids on the trailer. Add spooky music and lots traffic, and well, you can just imagine. Definitely a night to remember! Oh, and Trevor was Boba Fett from Star Wars and Sarah was Cinderella. Even cuter because several of our friends' kids were characters from Star Wars.

Yodakin

Today was the annual Fall Fest at Trevor's school, which is the biggest fundraiser held by the PTO. All of the money raised this year was going towards new equipment for his playground. As part of the event, there is a dinner, live and silent auction, fall photos you can purchase, face painting, and a pumpkin decorating contest. He entered a pumpkin in the pumpkin decorating contest. His pumpkin was supposed to be Yoda from the Star Wars movies. It turned out really cute and got a lot of great reactions from people. Naturally, we thought it was one of the most original ones until we found out someone did Yoda last year. Of course, we didn't go last year, so how were we supposed to know?! Anyway, prizes were awarded for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place and he didn't place. Fortunately, he was fine with it and already wants to enter a pumpkin in the contest next year. We had a blast!!!