Wednesday, February 27, 2008

disney highlights!!!

well, i am still working on the 800 photos (literally!) that we took at disneyworld...so i don't have any pics ready to post. but, i thought i would write out a few of our favorite moments to tide you over!

  • i fully expected sarah to be mesmerized by the princesses...what i WAS NOT expecting was drew's reaction! he was a smitten kitten! he just stared at them--his first crush! and it wasn't just one princess...it was every single one! that boy had so much lipstick on his cheeks from kisses from the princesses! he was in heaven!!!
  • sarah was truly upset when we arrived at our villa (which was AWESOME, btw!)...she thought we were literally sleeping in the castle with the princesses every night!
  • both kids were so confused about the concept of disneyworld...when we were at disney, they kept saying they wanted to go to disney. i finally realized that they thought the magic kingdom, and more specifically the castle, were the REAL disney!!!
  • our resort, the villas at wilderness lodge, was across the lagoon from magic kingdom, so most times we went there, we took the boat. the kids LOVED the boat...but every time the whistle blew, drew thought it was a train and started saying, "CHOO CHOO!"
  • drew was a NIGHTMARE on the plane...that kid HATES planes. he screamed the first 20 minutes we were on the plane leaving memphis. we weren't even airborne. he was just so mad to be contained! guess its a good thing that he turned TWO yesterday and will always have to have his own seat from now on!!!
  • sarah wanted to wear her princess gowns EVERY SINGLE SECOND we were at disney! forget comfort, she's a true diva :) she was also very into her princess flip flops that she got at the bibbidi bobbidi boutique...poor thing got huge blisters from them, but STILL wanted to wear them!!!
  • our kids woke up every morning about 7:00am-ish and went strong til about 3:00pm-ish...at that point, we would go back to the hotel for nap time. the kids slept anywhere from 3-4 hours, then they went strong til 10:00pm or 11:00pm each night!!! it was SO the way to go for our family. the kids were in a good mood 99% of the time! now, the grandparents, well, they were worn out :)
  • on that note, we saw SO many pitiful kids at the parks whose parents just drug them around from sun up til way past sundown! we saw zoned out kids, sleeping kids, cranky kids, etc. the way we saw it, it wasn't worth it to kill our kids being at the parks every single second! they really enjoyed disney on our schedule!!! the only downside...one night tim overheard a caricature artist say, "that is what happens when kids have too much caffeine and too much sugar" referring to our kids...NOW had i heard him say that, he would no longer be employed by disney. and he would have received an earful about how my kids just happened to be well-rested and happy...guess he doesn't see well rested kids very often. as you can tell, it really ruffled my feathers. and i AM going to mention this in the online survey that i am filling out later tonight!!!
  • drew said, "LOOK!" a lot on the trip! it was so funny! i guess he picked up on us telling him and sarah to look at the different things we were seeing and thought he needed to tell us the same!!!
  • sarah adopted a new (really annoying to me) habit on our trip! she constantly plays with her hair! JUST LIKE ARIEL!!! every time we saw ariel she was either touching her hair with her hands or running a fork through her hair...and now miss priss does the same thing! in half of our pics she is touching her hair! hope that fades away soon :)
  • our trip was as MAGICAL and AMAZING as we had hoped! it really was great to see the kids' reactions to everything!
  • i promise i will get pics from the trip up as soon as i can!!!

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

wait!!! i forgot anna's birthday party...2.16






the night of drew's birthday party, we went to anna's party! our exhausted and filthy kids came home from drew's party and DID NOT NAP!!! what?!? so, we drug them out of the house again to go play in the gym at the collierville ymca! they had a great time, but clearly were FALLING APART by the end of the party! we headed straight home and got into bed...still filthy :) they headed straight into the shower as soon as they woke up the next morning!!!





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okay...now you're all caught up!!!

so i have posted a bunch of times in the past few days to get all caught up before we head out for disney...so scroll down to see all the pics!!! i have already been chastized for not having pics from drew's 2nd birthday party up the SECOND we got home from the party...so i don't want to get in trouble again when we get back from florida :)

sarah is SO EXCITED!!! her teacher said she was "keyed up" all day! she was NOT a good rester today for sure!

and drew's teachers said he cheered and jumped up and down when they talked about mickey and disneyworld--which they thought was hilarious since he is too young to really know what is going on!!!

we are ALL super excited to get down there and experience disney through the eyes of a child again! and we are really happy that uncle andy is meeting us at the airport in orlando from arizona for the trip!!!

drew's birthday party (too many pics...for my franklinton fam)...2.16

drew's 2nd birthday party was held at pump it up...an inflatable slide/bounce house place. we went ahead and had drew's party before disney so that i wasn't stressing over it while we were on vacation. plus, both of my kids' birthdays are close to the end of the month, and somehow, it just seems wierd to have a party the month after your birthday month, even if it is the next weekend after the birthday...follow all that?!? sarah, anna, and kate watching the "instructional video" about safety
tim and the kids heading back to the fun!!!
sarah and her buddy griffin
anna leigh just decided to lie down and take it all in for a while...
dustin and ava the boxer
carter models the world's stinkiest boxing head gear!!!

tim and the kids sliding together!
singing "happy birthday"
blowing out the candles

mason and his cheesy grin





the kids had SO MUCH FUN!!! drew was fearless on the slides! this place was MADE for him! all of the kids amazed us with their courage! even the little bitties went down the slide! and drew went down the slide so many times that the last time he went up with me, he said, "mommy, i tired...carry me"! everyone was exhausted after the party...kids AND adults!!!

drew's birthday party eve...2.15




drew thought that he had hit the jackpot when tim blew up all the hopper balls for his party!!! (drew gave the hopper balls as party favors to his friends who came to his party!) drew and sarah played and played and played...til mean mommy made them go to bed so we could wake up bright and early for drew's party!!!

sarah's preschool valentine's day party...2.14

sarah was so excited to see her daddy at the party!
daddy brought a balloon for each kid in sarah's class--they were a huge hit!!!
hammin' it up with daddy!
sarah and her valentine...evan
sarah, evan, gracie, and joe
passing out her valentines to her friends
she finally agreed to let me take a picture of her looking at the camera!
big hugs with mommy!
smilin' with her little friend lily!!!