Goodnight my boy

When Noah Red wakes up tomorrow, he will be 2! What a blessing he is to our family! I have to be honest and say his last day as a one year old was not fun! He woke up so sick in the middle of the night with an episode that scared the bejeezes out of me. He was shaking and his temperature got very high very fast. Febrile seizure? Maybe. If it happens again, you will find us in the nearest ER. So, today started with a trip to the doctor complete with throat swabs and blood draws. Not a good start. They took blood from his sweet little finger, and of course he cried. The nurse put a bandaid on it, but he kept screaming and screaming and screaming. Just harder and harder. I finally asked him if he wanted me to take the bandaid off, and he cried, "OFF!" So, I took it off and set it in the window sill by where we were sitting. He stopped crying immediately. Then he kept pointing his finger at the bandaid and saying "NO Hurt!" He was so mad at that bandaid for hurting his "fergner."

Anyway, the rest of the day consisted of round the clock Motrin and Tylenol to keep his fever down (Just a little fever virus... he will be better for his party!) He just laid around and looked for his sissy all day. He would cry when I would say, "Noah, sissy is not here. She is at school." Very sad. He didn't eat dinner tonight, but did perk up to play with Sissy. She is standing behind me when I took these pictures, which explains the awesome grins I haven't been able to capture in a while. Don't worry, I made the mental note of remembering to ask her to help me get him to smile from now on!

Of course I got a little sad putting him to bed. I remembered sitting in that rocking chair each of the last 2 April 28ths, thanking God for my Noah Red. Tonight was no exception. Only tonight I realized that next April 28th, I won't be putting him to bed in that crib in that room. He will be sharing a room with Sissy, and his baby sissy will be sleeping in that bed. Whoah. One day at a time. :)

Baby Shopping

It was fun.

Disney Day 1 - Epcot

We rode the bus to Epcot this morning. Getting a bus was way less chaotic than imagined. Everyone is just a little bit more laid back at Disney, I think. We met the Steele's before the park opened so we could validate our tickets together. It was so fun to see them! Hope got a button when we checked in the Hotel that said "Happy Birthday Hope!" That was one of my very favorite things about the trip! EVERYWHERE we went, people said "Happy Birthday Hope!" She heard Happy Birthday literally hundreds of times while we were there. That is a pretty special 5th birthday if you ask me! Walking into Epcot was super magical. This was our first Birthday greeting. All the Disney cast members are out and high fiving and shaking hands. Even maintenance men and women, I mean everyone! So cool. I am sad to admit this, but Day 1 was the only day we made it to a park before it opened. I have no one to blame but the kids and my husband! All 3 were hard to wake all of the rest of the days! Not kidding! Anyway, there is definitely something special about walking in as the park is opening. In the rush to get to the rides, we passed Daisy Duck, who is probably Hope's favorite character. I just knew we would find her again... but, we didn't! Apparently she is rare to see! I didn't know!

Here are some pictures of the few hours we had with the Steele's before Austin got sick, bless his heart!

The first ride we all actually got on was Living with the Land. Hope loved every second. have you ridden it? It is hands down the longest, most boring ride in the history of the world, but my child? LOVED it. Here are Noah and I learning about agriculture...


Nemo was also a big favorite with Hope.


We walked through all the different countries, deciding what to eat for lunch. Guess where we landed? AMERICA. No shock there, right?


We enjoyed the walk along the way. We found Donald...

Played the drums....

(Definitely a highlight for Noah Red!)

And... We spotted our first PRINCESS!!!

People, it was like straight out of a Disney World commercial magical. There was no line, she was just standing there! Hope ran up, and Snow White was per.fect. Girl was awesome. I might have teared up, I'm just sayin'. Hope's Mimi made her an awesome autograph book, and Snow White loved finding her picture to sign by. She asked Hope who made it, and Hope told her, "Mimi." Snow White said, "Oh, is Mimi a Queen?" Hope loved that!

This little man was awesome on Day 1.

We went to watch Honey I Shrunk the Audience. Hope was nooooot pleased. We also watched Turtle talk with crush. I have a clip that I have got to learn how to get onto the computer. Crush talked to Hope! He said, "Who's that little dudette with the bright blond fur on her noggin?" They brought the mic to Hope, and she told him her name. Then he asked her to say, "Totally Sweet Dude!" She did. It was so fun.

Hope's favorite things of the day when asked:

1.Seeing Donald and Snow White

2. Taking a picture in a sharks mouth

3. The pixie dust on the ground at night

This was the scene in our hotel room that night...

Life is good!

Disney World Day Zero - Travel Day (and how to do Disney on the cheap!)

Yes, my friends, the time is here. The time to share some Disney stories. Yes, we went in November, and yes, now it is April. My Bad.

Traveling with two young children is a scary thought. Our trip was noooo exception. I am not an organized person. I am just not. That said, I knew that Disney World would not be enjoyable is there wasn't SOME planning and organization involved. I did a ton of research before our trip. A TON. We were doing Disney on the cheap. I have had several people ask me how we did it so cheap, so here is my story... We were asked by our friend's, the Steele's, if we might want to go the same week as them and enjoy some very discounted, totally awesome, military park tickets. It worked out so well that we could make that week work. They were super nice to include us. You know we love you, Steeles! Sadly, our time with them was very limited due to little Austin getting very sick with H1N1. Our plane tickets were paid for with John's many frequent flyer miles, so that was a huge cost taken out of the equation. Then, for the hotel. I knew we really wanted to stay at a Disney resort, and knew that the Value resorts were probably the best route for us. Someone told me to pick Pop Century, because it was the newest, and it has it's own bus route. I was really excited when I booked our preferred room (closer to the main building and dining and buses!) for $89 per night. Then, one night doing some late night research, I found a code for $59 per night. I called and asked if I could apply it to our room. I did, and it saved us almost $300 dollars. WooHoo! Do your research! By staying on Disney Property, we didn't need any additional transportation. They picked us up at the airport and took us to whichever park we needed to get to. We did not choose to do the meal plan. I think if our kids were younger, it would have been a smart choice, but as young as they are, I shared my meals with Hope, and John shared his with Noah. It was plenty of food. And was much cheaper than the meal plan would have been for us. We did splurge on two meals. The first was Cinderella's Breakfast. And it was worth every penny. I would have even paid more. The second was the Tusker House dinner. Not our kind of food, so I was pretty bummed we spent that much money. Oh well, live and learn.

Back to travel day... So, I was feeling pretty organized. Bags packed, lists gone over, good night's sleep. I cleaned up the Joovy stroller and set it by the car. My mom came and picked us up to take us to the airport. John packed her car up. So, we get to the airport in plenty of time, feeling pretty good, I get in the back to get the stroller.... and.... IT. IS. NOT. THERE. To say I lost it a little bit would be a fair statement. Disney world without a double stroller? No sir. No thank you. I am very aware that you can rent strollers there, but also (because of all the research, people!) I knew they were not made for wiggly 18 month olds who you need to keep contained, not to mention nap, in the stroller. My mom, bless her heart, drove back to our house in an effort to get the stroller, but, she just missed us. We were sitting on the plane, and they wouldn't let her get it to us. Dang good airport security! I was so upset. I didn't want to spend the money that this was going to cost us, not to mention the lay over and getting to our hotel without a stroller with bags and small kiddos. There were tears, people. Ridiculous, I know. But the Disney trip was not going well at this point (5 minutes into it!) John promised it would be ok, so I did relax. Wasn't much else I could do at that point! Then, Noah flipped out. All but thirty minutes there. After we got to Disney, I sent this email and picture to a few people:

"Before everything went wrong. Noah made it here, but we aren't sure we are going to bring him back. He screamed all but 30 minutes. " Of course I was kidding.

Here are Daddy and Hope on the plane:

The only peaceful 30 minutes on the plane. Please notice that by this point, I have "the crazy eyes!"

We made it to the hotel, and we were ALL completely frazzled. Our bags didn't get picked up by the hotel, we lugged them and babies (WITH NO STROLLER) through the Orlando airport to our hotel bus. First step, buy a stroller. They sold umbrella strollers in the hotel gift shop. I do not even want to tell you what an umbrella stroller costs in a Disney hotel gift shop. Not to mention two. But, the problem was solved:

We ate and got back to the room to settle down. John was wise enough to go to the poolside bar and bring me back one of these. It helped.

Thankfully, things were just absolutely perfect after Day Zero.

Hope's Peter Rabbit Play

The day finally came! Thursday was Hope's Senior Play! Her school has put on the most precious Peter Rabbit play every year for a very long time! Julia was Cottontail Rabbit when she was 5, and Riley and Clara were both Mopsy Rabbit back in their day. Hope was Cottontail, and man was she cute! I cannot even tell you guys how hard their teachers work on this play. They are just so wonderful. All three of my nieces wore this same costume that Mimi made for Julia. The tail needed a facelift, so Mimi "Hope-ified" it with lots of sparkles! Hope did her part perfectly and loved every minute of it! (So did I!) I am so happy everything went so well, despite our house being broken into earlier that day, and Noah getting sick at the end of the play (into Aa Aa and Zeke's camera bag, I might add...sorry!) John and I were just so proud of that silly girl!

Hope and Zeb





Mama Rabbit,
Cottontail,
Flopsy,
Mopsy,
and Peter

Dump Everything!

I am up way. too. late... but, for good reason. I have been working really hard on these invitations! I cannot believe my baby is turning 2! Wow! What do you think?

Tomorrow is a big day for our family... Hope's theatrical debut! Ha! She will play the role of Cottontail Rabbit in her school's Peter Rabbit play. We are all pumped! Should be a great night!

Our Easter 2010

Happy Easter! We had a great day with family enjoying our favorite traditions. There were also some new aspects as well. For one, this was the first Sunday since Hope was born that I haven't worked at a church in some capacity or another. It was strange to not have a million responsibilities running through my head. (I mean, of course, outside my little family!) I even had time to make the green bean casserole and some cookies before we left for church. It was crazy! We went to my sisters' church which was fun to be with the whole Sullivan crew. This meant we walked to and from church after we all met at Mama Bee and Paw Paw's house. How cute are all the cousins lined up? (including Rosalie and Zeb!)

Hope was so very proud of her dress this year. It was extra twirly. Isn't the bandaid lovely?

Most of the cousins... (Miss you, Wade!)

After church, we went out to Nenny's house for our annual festivities. John won the egg contest with his "Eggs-ercise." it was a dumbell, and was pretty cute. Just for the record, I didn't enter this year (I was so sick yesterday. Blah) so, pretty sure I would have kicked his tail once again had I taken the chance.

Comparing the loot

Noah is a terrible Easter Egg hunter. After his first hunt, he figured out that good things are inside those eggs, so this is egg hunting Noah style (no basket needed.) First you find the closest egg. Open it. Stop and eat whatever is in the egg. Throw the empty egg on the ground. Find the next closest egg and repeat the process. This morning, Hope just took his basket and filled it for him after we told her she had enough!

Fun day worshiping our God and spending time with our family. We are blessed!

Sweet Dreams

Mom and I just ordered the baby's bedding! I have never ordered baby bedding before, my mom has made both Hope's and Noah's, but I know it is not her favorite task! I was on ebay the other day and just typed in "Emmy" just to see what popped up. (On a side note, I do this ALL the time with Hope and Noah to see what kid books pop up, or monogrammed outfits, etc. I was playing around with the possible baby names to see what popped up with their names. It's fun, try it.) Anyway, when I typed Emmy, several Pottery Barn bedding items popped up. So, I went directly to Pottery Barn hoping to see the whole collection. The best thing ever happened... it was all on clearance! Wahoo. I have always loved the pink and orange combo, and you know we love monkeys around here. Mom looked at it and loved it too (Possibly because it meant she wouldn't have to spend hours at the sewing machine again!) Anyway, I am just excited. It's the first big purchase for the baby girl.

We have decided to put Noah and Hope in a room together for at least the first year. Baby will have her own room. We are buying white bunkbeds for Hope and Noah that will eventually unbunk for twin beds for Hope and baby whenever we move them in together. Now, any tips on how to declutter the mass of toys so that we can actually fit two kids in the same room would be greatly appreciated!