maclay gardens + disney day 1

Finally getting around to posting some pictures. So far...knock on wood...Kieran and I aren't sick and Shaun and Aislynn are feeling much better! We got our Christmas tree this weekend and started putting lights up on the outside of the house. It is COLD here too, brrr...but that just adds to the feeling of the season:) I take hardly any pictures on Thanksgiving every year? so don't really have much to share from that, but it was yummy and great to spend some time with Mimi and Papa:) We went into Tallahassee Friday and Shaun and his Dad went to see Harry Potter, while I took the kids to see Tangled. We didn't last long...K was into it (or rather, the cheerios I had snuck in for him!), but Aislynn wanted to leave about 45 minutes through. Saturday, we headed back to Tallahassee and went to Maclay Gardens. Here are some of the pictures from that...my battery died while we were there.

I could just gobble him up he is so stinkin' cute:) Daddy and Kieran

Mommy and Aislynn

This was the same place where that family shot was taken. I love her little shadow and the light coming through in this one.

She liked picking up all the different color leaves...

Hey, I didn't know Santa was going to be there:)

Mr. Stinker Pants *** Now on to the Disney pictures. We went to Animal Kingdom the first day, followed by Magic Kingdom since AK closed at 5. The first thing we did was go on the safari there. Kieran looooooved looking at all the animals. A said it was slow, although she did enjoy seeing the lions (even if they were sleeping). That was the theme for her at Animal Kingdom...she said the rides were too slow there (except for Expedition Everest!).

Here she is checking out some animals.

Pluto was the only character we met at Animal Kingdom. Aislynn was not shy at all, and Kieran was doing his flirty bit, where he totally pretends to be shy and coy:) Each of the parks have iconic structures, and at Animal Kingdom, it is the tree in the background, glad we got it into a picture:)

A family picture...might just be one of my faves from the trip.

I didn't go on this one...I was off in search of different shoes because I was getting blisters on both pinky toes. Aislynn and Shaun are the bottom people. They really didn't get that wet, but some people that were coming off the rides were completely soaked!

Expedition Everest is a roller coaster. Aislynn kept her eyes closed the whole time because she didn't want to see the Yeti:) She went on it first with Shaun, then with me but after that she said she was never going on it again:)

Aislynn took this picture of Shaun and I. After this, we saw the Finding Nemo show they had there...it was awesome! It was way better than I expected! We went into Dinosaur Land after that, but Aislynn wouldn't go on the dinosaur ride...too scary, she said, maybe when I'm 8 or 9. :)

Soft serve ice cream, yuuuum. We got one almost everyday...one day we got 2, hee hee:)

At the ice cream point, K was passed out in the stroller for the rest of the time in the park. This was the day where he had the most meltdowns. He was overall, pretty good...just lack of sleep, lack of being able to walk whenever *he* wanted to...made for a few not-so-happy moments.

Watching the parade...A was totally getting into it and dancing and waving!

After the parade, she hopped into the stroller and we headed off to Magic Kingdom. This was what they looked like when we got to our car:) Btw, one of the smartest things we did on this trip was rent a double stroller. Last year we brought ours for Kieran and A walked the whole time, which led to one tired girl, which led to one cranky, whiny girl. She was pretty well-behaved the whole trip, I was so proud of her! *** At Magic Kingdom, we got to do all of the rides in Adventureland (Pirates of the Caribbean, Jungle Cruise, and Aladdin's Magic Carpets) then we had dinner reservations at Tony's (from the Lady and the Tramp).

Gotta love how they deck everything out for Christmas at Disney!

K's newest obsession is "co" or coloring. Before I can even get him in the high chair, he is saying "co co co co co" when he sees the crayons.

After dinner, the kids fell asleep in the stroller again so we decided to head back to the hotel. I snapped this shot of Cinderella's castle before we left. I love how beautiful it looks with the lights.

Disney has photographers that take your picture, put the pictures on a card and then when you get home, you can go on their website and type in your code and it pulls up all of the pictures that were taken by them. The camera of the photographer by the castle wasn't working, so she offered to take some pictures with our camera, yay! Free, lol! To get the pictures they take with their camera, is is $15 a pop:( Anyways, glad to get a shot of S and me:)

And the end of day one:) (What's funny is that I have one of these pictures from everyday we were at parks, ha!)

we're back...

and we are all exhausted, plus S+A are both sick...taking A to the doctor tomorrow to take care of her sinus infection. But a few pictures to tide you over because I really don't know when I will have time to sort/edit/post them! The Saturday after Thanksgiving...we went to Maclay Gardens and a group of sweet high school girls offered to take our picture:) This needs to be put on a canvas if you ask me:)

Meeting "Mick-me" as Kieran called him:) One of my fave moments was when they met the characters and Aislynn held Kieran's hand when they walked up to each one:) Kieran really loved Mickey and Minnie...as you can see here with the kiss:)And this is what they looked like after every single night...I've got the pictures to prove it;)

Now to get settled in to the ole routine. Hoping to get full into Christmas this weekend with the tree and decorations:)

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

We are off to Mimi and Papa's house this afternoon and then Sunday are leaving from there and heading down to Disney. So looking forward to a week vacation:) I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving!!!

I snapped this about an hour ago while I was in A's room packing up her stuff, she was entertaining her brother:)This was the other day...I was putting all our Christmas books into the book basket in the living room and this guy immediately found the "Ta" book:) Aislynn has a Santa hat with her name on it, so I ordered one for Kieran too:) I think he looks pretty darn cute:)

I took both kids to get their hair cut Monday. You can see A's in the top picture, kinda. She wasn't cooperating Monday for me to take a picture, but it is a cute little bob, cut to her shoulders. K was so so good when the lady was cutting his hair:) He just kept babbling to her like he was telling her all his secrets or something;)

Hmmm, I wonder how this leaf tastes?Bleh...not so good:) Okay...off to finish packing...I wish everyone the BEST turkey day and I'll be back next week with tons of pictures:) XOXO

random snapshots from the week

A girl whose behavior this week Santa hopefully hasn't witnessed...

a crankster who is working on some new teethies...

and 2 little turkeys:) K was totally into wearing his "hat" as he said:) A kept saying "gobble gobble" and he would say "ga ga." Between A's lots of days waking up on the wrong side of the bed and K's usual toddler antics of getting into everything+cranky teething boy, this week has been kinda long. So looking forward to next week when we will be away from home for a week:) I think the change of pace and scenery will do us all good. When we get back from Disney it's jump right in to Christmas, which I am so ready for:)

this weekend

Well, from Thursday on...

• Art day consisted of me getting all the paints out and then 1 painting later, A deciding she was done
• Aislynn coming down with a fever Thursday afternoon, complaining of a sore throat, missing school on Friday, and finally feeling better today
• Even though she wasn't feeling well, she still managed to play and have fun:) She played "Pocahontas Shelter," which is why her little tee pee is up in her room and she dressed up like a movie star (in her words!) this morning.
• Made yummy yummy pumpkin cinnamon rolls (check out the craft blog for the link+a crock pot turkey recipe)
• Went to Watercolor today to walk around and enjoy the beautiful weather
• Kieran was his usual stinker self:) Good thing that boy is cute:)
• Remember how we postponed the Disney trip we were supposed to take for Aislynn's birthday? We are leaving the Sunday after Thanksgiving and driving back the following Thursday...Shaun and I feel like kids are supposed to feel we are so excited:)
• And really really pumped about this: Adopt an Angel We adopted 2 kids, the same age/gender as ours to get gifts/clothes for this Christmas. I plan to let Aislynn help pick out the stuff. She is already asking me if she can color the little girl pictures and wonders what her name is:) We are so lucky to not have to rely on charity to provide clothing for us or give Christmas gifts. This does not have to cost a lot of money...won't you adopt an angel too?

P.S. I think if you click on the collage you can see the pictures bigger:)

a messy boy and a happy girl

Aislynn has been hanging out with Daddy at night...Monday night Shaun taught her how to play Go Fish, and last night they headed to Seaside to pick up more coffee. They went on a walk and Aislynn told me she had lots of fun:) One on one time with us is so good for her. Here is a picture I snapped before they left:

They left me with this guy.What a mess!!! I have been holding myself back and letting him have fun with the spoon (even though he makes a terrible mess!) so that he will learn to eat on his own. Let's just say he will be eating with a lot less clothes on from now on, hee hee:)

Aislynn is off of school tomorrow, so we are going to try some baking and she declared tomorrow as art day...I guess I will find out more about that tomorrow;)

a day at the fair

This weekend was so much fun! We went to Tallahassee to stay with my Mom and we went to the Northwest Florida Fair, which I hadn't been to in ages. We arrived late Friday afternoon and Saturday morning I went to the Aveda Institute to get my haircut and get a pedicure. The students perform the services under the supervision of the teachers and because of this, the prices are waaaaaaaaay less then at a salon. The girl that cut my hair wasn't great, the teacher fixed it...but the girl that did my pedicure was fabulous! It was such a treat:) We then headed to the fair and here is a collage (I might be a bit obsessed with bighugelabs.com) of all the pictures: Riley and Aislynn were in heaven. They had soooo much fun together going on the rides and eating treats, they get along so well! Kieran was happy to watch everything going on...he particularly liked the bumper car ride where he just kept repeating "ca" (car). He did go on the carousel and loved that+he loved the animals:) We came home and the kids snacked, got baths, and went to bed while my Mom made lasagna. Here is Kieran with silly James (as Aislynn calls him!). Phillip and Josh also came over and we got to hang out with them for a little bit...Phillip hadn't seen he kids since K's birthday and couldn't believe how much he had grown! My Mom took this picture of me and my sweet boy Sunday morning. It was a nice weekend and we had beautiful weather! Hope everyone else had a great weekend too:)

this guy

has such a personality. I love when Aislynn is at school and I get to chase him and watch him play and tickle him and snuggle him and get kisses from him. He is such a joy even if he does like to play with the toilet paper:)Heading to Tallahassee this weekend to hang out with some family and friends and taking the kids to the fair:) Be back with pictures and stories Sunday:)

thankful+a dance party

Over on my craft blog, I am doing a little daily mini-album on what we are thankful for. I am hoping to get random shots to accompany the words and this was from yesterday:

Killed 2 birds with this one...A was thankful for Halloween candy (notice the sucker) and I was thankful for the pictures she makes for me. She likes to use my scrapbooking punches and scraps of cardstock to make collages and other pictures. This one was a fall tree:)

For today, I was going to write I was thankful for this guy...who runs up to the gate while I am in the kitchen and says "mmmmwah" and wants me to come over and give him a kiss. But (while I am so so very thankful for him) I am thankful for Shaun who put together my comfy computer chair I am sitting in right now, for taking out the trash (always) and for bathing both kiddos tonight:) *** I never posted pictures from A's Halloween party at school, which there are few. My camera was acting very crazy and uncooperative, plus I was wearing K in the Ergo and he kept grabbing the camera:) Here is A and her trick-or-treating partner and friend at school, Lilly. She is such a cute little girl and Aislynn is so much taller than her, lol!

Here is her class:

The little boy in the Spiderman costume is Matthew, who we carpool with. When we were driving to school, Aislynn told him that it was cool that his costume had muscles and that she liked them, hee hee:) Oh, and in circle time, Kieran sat in the circle with all the big kids and they just looooooved him:) He loved it too, all those big kids gushing over him and trying to make him laugh:) A was the proud big sister, telling them all about her baby brother:) *** Saturday was such a nice day. The weather was gorgeous and we spent the morning at the Farmer's Market, came home, and both kids took a nap. Shaun was out of town, so I told Aislynn if she took a nap that we could have a pajama party. So after K was in bed, we played games, watched Sleeping Beauty and had popcorn and colored. It was fun and she loved it:) She kept telling me how much fun pajama parties were:) Anyways, in the afternoon we had a dance party and here are the out-of-focus, blurry pics that I love:)

Good times:)

the force was with us last night

We had such a good night last night! The kid's costumes were such a big hit and we got waaaaaaaay too much candy. I took some shots of the kids in their costumes before we left so that way they could focus on trick-or-treating:) Introducing Princess Leia

and a close up of the buns:

Introducing Yoda:

The sleeves were a little long, but I decided not to hem them (out of complete laziness). The hat would not even close under his chin, so I chopped off the part that had the snap closure and sewed a piece of elastic on.

He kept calling his yoda ears a hat:)

First we went to Seaside because all the merchants were handing out candy.

Checking out the loot so far:)

There is a section in Seaside with little art galleries, and they had a guy playing a drum and a guy playing a flute. Kieran watched them forever:) This guy, btw, was totally content holding Daddy's hand and walking the whole time!

Then we ate dinner out, and came back home to visit a few of the neighbors.

When we came back home, I tried again at getting a picture of the 2 of them together, and this is what I got. I kinda like it better than a posed shot though:)

Then she had to check all the candy out and count it. The total?

155 pieces. We decided to let her eat as much as she wanted today, and then we are going to "buy" it from her and she can use the $ to pick out a toy, and we will throw it away, probably. That way I don't, I mean Aislynn won't eat it all:)