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!

Terrrrrrrible

I have really, honestly enjoyed all the stages of Noah's sweet life. It has just seemed to get better and better. However, I am having a little trouble warming up to the monster stage he is currently in. Every.thing. I do (or don't do) results in a growling, "NO MOMMY!" Seriously, where is that sweet boy? If I ask him if he would like a drink it's "NO MOMMY." I have made an extra effort to respond to him as sweetly and calmly as I possibly can to try to coax the real Noah Red back out. This only seems to aggrivate him even more. I might even get a "STOPIT!" He screams, hits, kicks even when I am trying to do something for him that he really wants.
Sweet, right? He is certainly asserting his independence whenever possible. Diaper changes, eating, riding in the car, baths, EVERYTHNG has become a huge battle. He has also becom pretty aggressive towards Hope. He has shoved her to the ground on more than one occasion, and cannot stand for her to hug him. This is just crazy to me as he has always been so loving to her. She has cried saying, "He doesn't like me anymore!" This monster stage has not been fun for any of us. Can I just pray that he will come out of this before, oh, I don't know, AUGUST 8th!

Love Bug

Isn't she lovely? We think so. Does she have a name? Not officially. Will I officially name her before we see her face? Probably not. Do we have some ideas? Yes. Will I share them? Some of them are Emmy, Annie, Merit. Do we have a favorite? At the moment, yes. But, it may change. Do I want opinions? Sure, but know that opinions don't phase me because I would totally name a boy Rock even though most of you thought it was awful! Actually, it kinda made me want to name a boy Rock even more! I'm funny like that. But, I guess you don't have to worry about me naming the baby Rock, at least for now! Ha! (Someone get my sister some water because she just fainted when she read that sentence.)

Our sweet love bug even waved to her big sister during the ultasound.

The kids and I just got back from Branson with my family where the littlest one scored lots of tiny pink clothing. So much fun.

It's A(nother)...

GIRL!!!!

We are over the moon excited about this soon to be new addition. Most importantly, she is perfect. Measuring a little big, but I have suspected my due date was a tad off anyway. Hope has said from day one that she knew this baby was a girl. Now, I am sure that was just 5 year old girl wishful thinking, but still, she couldn't even talk about it being a boy. We had a very long talk last night about how we would not be sad if we found out it was a boy. She put on a brave face, but right before the ultrasound lady told us what it was, she was really nervous! Then, when she said (actually, I said it first! There was no mistaking it!) you could not wipe the smile off of her face! Then she proceeded to jump up and down so much, that Mimi had to remove her from the room! It was a cute reaction for sure. Poor Noah has no idea what he is in for! As far as what did I think the baby was, well, I am 0 for 3. I thought this baby was for sure a boy, just as I thought that about Hope. I was also pretty sure Noah was a girl. John flipped last night and said he thought it was a girl. Now I can continue to say that Noah is the sweetest boy on the planet.

We continued our tradition of going to the Toggery after the ultrasound to buy the coming home outfit. My mom is always so sweet to buy the babies' first outfits. Let me tell you that this little miss will be well decked out on her way home from the hospital. I will try to put up a picture later.

Once upon a time

Once Upon A Time...

We went to Disney World for the most fabulous vacation ever.

We accomplished amazing feats....

Made a lot of silly faces...

Met some magical friends...

Discovered some amazing things....

And one day... I might just tell you about it all!

Funny Boy

Makes me laugh all. the. time. I don't remember what was happening when I took this, but just now going through pictures, I laughed out loud when I saw this. He is truly the sweetest boy on the planet, buuuuut... we are seeing this face more often these days. Oh yes, terrible twos are on the horizon my friends.

(And it can't be good that I totally think he looks just like me in this picture, can it?)

The Bad Guys

I have been so fortunate to not have many run ins with criminals in my lifetime. Hope, unfortunately had her first run in with "The Bad Guys" this weekend when my purse was stolen from me in the parking lot of a large chain grocery store. She saw them before I did and screamed and screamed. At them. She was very traumatized and went through about every negative emotion from mad, to scared, to sadness. She tells the story with great detail about what they looked like and what they did (she even tells where the guy put his hands on my purse.) Our purse snatching story has a pretty happy ending. They were arrested and I had most everything returned to me. The police in my little town were awesome! There were 2 instances of them being in the right place at the right time just for our little story. They made such a big deal about how great Hope was in helping catch them. I am very proud of my little do-gooder!

The Royal Ball

First of all, can I just say how completely upset about how my pictures at the Royal Ball turned out. I was a tad bit frazzled between balancing being a mom of a Queen and a teacher, as well as trying to film so her daddy could see it. I really messed up some settings on my camera and as an added bonus, Hope was a bit overwhelmed herself and wouldn't smile for the camera.

To back up, the Royal Ball is a huge tradition at Hope's school. It is something that some crazy parents plan for for a year or more. I am not even kidding. Some moms order their dresses a year in advance. And it's possible that one child's dress even came from Paris this year. Some mom's even go as far as to have their hair stylist come in early that morning to do the girls hair and nails. I did mention crazy, right? Ok, good. Lucky for me, I have a mom and sister that keep me pretty grounded! :-) When Julia was Royal Ball age, my mom took her to pick out fabric and made her a dress for the ball. The tradition continued on through Jennifer's girls, and now through Hope. So fun. Mom took Hope to pick out her fabric. I don't think anyone doubted that it would be sparkly and pink. In the store she announced that if she said the word "ROYALTY!" it meant that she had found the fabric she wanted and that we should come see it. I cannot even tell you how many times we heard the word! Needless to say it was a very difficult decision to narrow it down to 2 sparkly pink fabrics. Mimi ended up having a hard time with the dress, and I am pretty sure she never wants to see pink sparkly fabric ever again. But, after seeing Hope and how proud she was of her dress, surely she doesn't regret it.... Don't answer mom. Thank you so much for making her the perfect sparkly pink, twirly dress of her dreams!

It is easy to get caught up in the costume craziness of the Royal Ball. However, it is a special day for so many more reasons. I can't even tell you how many hours it takes those teachers to prepare for the ball. They are all so good and so creative. So many details that I would never think of. The kids spend about 2 weeks learning about kings and queens and princesses and princes and knights in medieval times. Hope can tell you some gross and disgusting things about moats around castles. It is just one more thing that makes her school so special.

On to the pictures. Hope wanted curly curly hair for the ball. I purchased sponge rollers. Can I just say that there should be a warning label on those things. Her hair was soooooo curly, and it would not calm down!

The Royal Menu...



Hope with her knight in shining armor, before their royal introduction!

Queen Hope and knight G. (He is handing her a rose!)

Taking their bow....

made her hat fall off!!!


Dancing with sweet Zeb...

The Royal Table