Fall Disney Trip - 2016 - Day 1

This trip was an extra exciting one for us! It took place over the last days of my maternity leave and we went with our cousins! Sarah, Leroy, and her their two children Beau and Adrianna joined us. It was am AMAZING trip - we had so much fun and I hope it turns into a yearly tradition! 

Details: We stayed all together in a two bedroom suite at the TownPlace Suites. That hotel is so nice - its brand new, includes breakfast, is located right off Disney property, and has a wonderful pool area. 

The first day of our trip started off with Brian in DC and me getting the car and suitcases all packed! I woke up extra early while my mom was still home to go for a quick run - and I do mean quick! I got a gorgeous sunrise view as I headed home and my pace was something I am very proud of right now!

The girls and I got up, got dressed, and we were on the road just after 10am to pick Daddy up at the airport at 11! 

Our first stop was Animal Kingdom. We had fast passes for the safari, Lion King show, and the river rapids!

Caidyn was her usual adorable self and used my phone to take some pictures on the safari. My favorite that she took was also probably her favorite - Ellie with a real elephant! It was the cutest thing to see her get so excited! The whole safari car started laughing with us!

We then headed to the Lion King show which was fun for all of us! Caidyn really enjoyed all the dancing and Ellie liked the bright colors! We had to capture Ellie with the elephant again :)

Our sweet girl had fun dancing in the streets to the fun music playing and trying to hats with daddy while we moseyed our way to the rapids. 

The beauty of September Disney days are the low crowds. So after we went on the rapids we saw our friends Mickey and Minnie before we left for the hotel!

When we got to the hotel both girls did some tummy time and we unpacked and relaxed. Dinner that night was in our room but brought up from the on site restaurant (surprisingly delicious and reasonably priced!) while we watched some Thursday night football and let the kiddos play! 

So I'm actually 28 now...

Every year in about June or so I forget how old I am. I mean I quickly remember, but I start to think about the age I'm approaching and then have a momentary panic attack and think "wait, did I already turn that?" This it was  by far the worst it has ever been. I would tell people I was 28 when they asked how old I was... not yet having been 28.

But alas, I turned 28 this past Tuesday. It was a really enjoyable day! Brian took the day off of work. We brought Caidyn to school, voted in our local election, and met my Dad and Anita for breakfast. Ellie, Brian, and I then headed up to a Best Buy just north of us to their "camera experience center". It was sort of a let down (they had the exact same stuff as our local best buy) but we were able to narrow down our camera choices! We decided to purchase a Canon Rebel T6i - and it arrives very soon!

That evening we met up for our usually Tuesday night family dinner. This week we went to Tijuana Flats and it was delicious as always! We had tiny cupcakes to celebrate and enjoyed a wonderful time.

I dressed the girls in my favorite set of their matching pajamas and we had a relaxing evening together. 

Yesterday I had people over to hang out in the pool to celebrate. I realized as I was approaching this birthday that I usually have someone else watch my kiddos when I celebrate so this year I wanted to celebrate with them. I told my friends to bring their littles too and it was such a nice time! I am blessed with a truly great group of friends :)

It is great to be twenty eight!

#UCFamily

Let's go UCF!

Football season opens today for our UCF Knights!

We had a rough (to say the least) season last year but we underwent a ton of changes in the off season and I'm sure this year will be great!

If for no other reason than...

-the year Caidyn was born her first game was against a team from South Carolina and we had an AMAZING season (won the Fiesta bowl!)

-this year Ellie's first game is against a team from South Carolina! I'm not saying we are heading for a BCS bowl... but being bowl eligible would be nice!

We had to dress Ellie in the same outfit Caidyn wore for her first game!

Let's go Knights! Charge On!

Snaps and Updates

Life has settled into a sweet time that I know will be short lived. The last few weeks of maternity leave - Ellie has settled into a routine. We can feel this magical summer starting to slip away from us - the sun is setting earlier and back to work and the hustle and bustle of the fall season is quickly approaching.

We are enjoying the ease of and relaxed nature of these days. Very few formal pictures just a lot of quick memory captures.

 Caidyn had her first dentist appointment and I could not have been prouder! She did so great and was so brave. The dentist could immediately see that she was a paci user and since Ellie hasn't taken to one we decided it was time to take Caidyn's away. The paci fairy came and traded her paci's for the "fishy toy" she had asked for!

I do have to share how specific Caidyn was. We looked up the synopsis of the paci fairy book and started explaining it to her and she seemed to get it so we saved ourselves the money and figured we didn't need to get the book. Well the night the fairy came she got very specific and we just had to roll with it! "What baby is getting my pacis?" Um... a needy baby. "Whats the babies name?" Um... Jessica? "What baby did my pacis come from?" Um... we don't know they just appeared. "Did the paci fairy come for Ellie?" No, We used your pacis for Ellie but she didn't like them. "Oh ok. Will the paci fairy take Ellie's pacis and she can get a toy, too?" Um... sure. Lets please go to bed now! Lesson learned - just spend the money and get the book. 

Mostly our days have been filled with cuddles and pool time - the perfect ending to our summer of sweetness!

PS: Why does it look like Caidyn is 9 in this picture? Such an independent girl! Also - all of the kiddos at her school right now have Star Wars backpacks! It strikes me as so funny for a preschool!

Things I want to Remember -August 2016

I decided to start a monthly post topic highlighting little things I want to remember. 

This month it is all the little flowers (and sometimes weeds...) Caidyn gives to me. She usually pulls them off of places she shouldn't, taking too long to do so, and hands them to me as I'm trying to grab 293848 other things. 

And I love it. It is the perfect reminder to slow down and take in the little things and appreciate the beauty that is all around us. 

Its so funny because she'll ask about the flowers hours later. I try to keep them places she can also see, but it is hard because they are literally so small! She is such a sweet girl and always thinking of others. I hope giving flowers is a trend she will continue - just learning to be more careful and cautious of where she is getting the flowers from. 

Ellie is 2 Months Old!

Two quick months! 

We put away her newborn clothes just after she turned one month old. It made me so sad to give so many away as the plan is that this is our last little baby. I saved way more than I probably should have but I just couldn't part with it yet. 

She fits into her three month clothes comfortably now, and 0-3 is getting tight (the onesie in this photo is a 0-3). 

So many more smiles! We settled into a really great pattern this month. I accepted the fact that she is a cat napper and it almost felt like as soon as her vision and alertness increased she went from being fussy often to seldom fussy. She just wanted something to do. She loves her play mat and her big sister. 

At her 2 month appointment she was 12 lbs 6 oz, and 23 1/2 inches tall! She grew exactly 2lbs and 2 inches! 

We love this little girl so much and are so glad she is a part of our family! She's got a big month next month with another Disney trip and starting school! 

Ellie's First Trip to Disney

When Ellie was 6 weeks old she made her first visit to Disney. We have annual passes and were going to be in Orlando for another reason so we decided why not. I will say - when going to Disney in August with an infant a "whatever happens" attitude is what you have to have. We literally only did our fast pass and reserved activities and that was pretty much it. When it wasn't crazy hot it was rainy. But, we had a wonderful time!

Our first evening there started out a little later than expected - as we were literally buckling Ellie into her car seat I got a call my mom had a seizure. Caidyn and I went to the hospital to check on her and Brian and Ellie waited for us.

I have to share - Caidyn was so adorable in the car on the way there. She knew we were supposed to be leaving for Disney so when we didn't go we explained that Grandma was in the hospital and we had to make sure she was ok. I got out of the car as Brian was dropping me off and Caidyn was crying and adamant she was able to come make sure Grandma was ok, too!

After we made sure my mom was alright (the seizure was a complication of a sinus infection she was having - something common in people already prone to seizures) we were on the road. A few hours later than planned, but we were able to move our fast passes for that evening around to still make all our rides.

The highlight of that evening was Caidyn riding Star Tours! She was finally tall enough and her dad was so excited to take her! The ride lets out into the Star Wars store where Caidyn picked out her very first light saber!

She chose a custom purple light saber and of course Daddy had to get some pictures of her with it!

We also did rider swap for the first time that evening with the Toy Story Mania ride. It is actually "handheld infant" allowable, but as we were in line we saw some of the cars and it seemed a little more jerky than we wanted to hold Ellie on. It worked out great for Caidyn as she got to ride twice and it was nice for us that we could both enjoy the ride fully with Caidyn, not have one of us have to just hold Ellie while the other enjoyed the ride. It was definitely a rougher ride though - Caidyn's 3D glasses had gone sideways by the end of the ride!

I was wearing the perfect shirt for all of the drama that day. And of course, when I tried to get a cute photo of my girls and I they cranked out and made the photo even more perfect!

The shirt was a custom design from my favorite instagram shop - Gray Anchor Apparel! We also got our first family of four photo in a Disney park! They made it into a cute little video! Brian and Caidyn's shirts are from another favorite shop - especially for Disney gear - GlitterEverAfter! 

We ended up in our hotel room around 9:30 that evening and ordered take out Chinese for dinner. It had been a crazy day and we just wanted to relax. Plus, we had a big day the next day! Lunch reservations at Be Our Guest!

We got to the Magic Kingdom parking lot about an hour before our reservation, which should have been plenty of time. But of course Ellie needed to eat right as we arrived so we paused for that. The boat was closed for maintenance so we had to wait in a long line for the monorail, and, to top it off, it started pouring as we arrived to the park entrance. At Disney if you don't make your reservation they charge you $10 per person so we were running for it! Brian took Caidyn in the stroller through no bag security and Ellie was in the carrier and we waited to have our bag checked and then hopped from covered area to covered area making our way to the Beast's Castle! Lunch was actually really wonderful and Ellie hardly had a drop of water on her (the rest of us were soaked!). 

We tried the Grey Stuff, and it was delicious!

The rest of the day was relatively cool after that rain shower! We met Mickey, Cinderella, and Rapunzel, rode the carousel and the Winnie the Pooh ride, and saw the new castle show about friendship! 

The next day we went to Animal Kingdom. This was much easier to get to, but was MUCH warmer! Our first stop was the Baby Center - which was amazing. Air conditioned, right by a Starbucks, and had Frozen playing for Caidyn! I fed Ellie and we cooled off before our first fast pass - Finding Nemo! We also had a fast pass to meet Mickey and Minnie (Caidyn loves to meet characters! She actually plays pretend being characters and asks if you want to come meet her and then poses for pictures - its adorable!) and ride the safari. After Nemo we had an ice cream snack and hung out in the dinosaur area for a little bit so Caidyn could play! We then met Mickey our characters and had some lunch. The skies looked threatening after lunch and after being caught in the rain the previous day we decided to skip our safari fast pass (since it takes about 35 minutes + to do the whole thing) and went to the car. It turned out to be a great call since right after we got buckled and in the car the sky opened up! 

We had a super fun first visit to Disney with Ellie! We are going back next month for Caidyn's birthday with our cousins which will also be fun! Plus it is a weekend that is supposed to be one of the least crowded of the year - always a plus with toddlers and babies!