11.4.13

DISNEY!!!!!

(O.M.G......this is so long...prepare yourself)

I am trying to contain my excitement as I'm writing this one......it was just SO FUN!!

Ok I am not going to give you the low down on every detail and I don't know all the secrets of Disney World....I have seen things on Pinterest for that stuff.  I'm just going to share all about our trip and how we did it :)

October is a pretty ok month to go to Disney....it wasn't too crazy crowded and we had 2 really great weather days.  The 3rd day was brutal.  The day we left Orlando, which would have been our 4th day but we decided not to do any parks would have been TORTURE....it was just so hot again.  We were so lucky that we had a little cooler weather for the few days we were there.  

We did not stay at a Disney resort.  My parents let us use a whole week of their timeshare, so we had a condo/townhouse type property very close to the park.  It was great b/c we weren't all crammed into a hotel room.  But I will say after going multiple days and doing multiple parks each day, that staying at a Disney Resort is probably worth it.  Parking is $15 per day and the whole parking situation is a real pain in the hiney.  We were lucky to have a Diamond Parking Pass (thanks to our friend Becky) that allowed us to park like in the very first row...but you still have to walk a ways to get to the Monorail or the Ferry just to take you to the Disney Park!  Next trip we will definitely stay on property so we can just hop on a boat or the Monorail.  

We left for Orlando on Friday afternoon, so we had the weekend to just hang out before we did parks on Monday.  We bought the Florida weekday passes....it wasn't our original plan to buy annual passes but it was like the same exact price as a 3 day pass...so why not!  We totally drank the Disney kool-aid the whole weekend though.  Saturday evening we went to Downtown Disney after dinner.  I had been there before but somehow I missed the little train and the whole Carousel thing?!  

Sunday we decided to do one of the character breakfast. I thought it would be a good idea to do this on a day we weren't going to the park.....I knew it would be hard to just get to the park early enough for opening....so I didn't want to do a really early breakfast that day too.  Side note, if you want to do a character meal (or just any of the restaurants) make your reservations EARLY.....like up to 6 months early!  I had the hardest time finding anything available for character meals but we got lucky and were able to get reservations.  We got a reservation for the breakfast at the Cape May restaurant at the Beach Club.  It was so fun!  Character meals are awesome b/c your kids are entertained the whole time you are there.  Piper loved it and I would definitely recommend doing that one. At first she wanted me to hold her to see Goofy, but after that she was comfortable and not scared of the other characters we saw there.  After breakfast we walked outside and took a little boat across the water to the Boardwalk.  It's another resort but there are shops and restaurants all along the boardwalk.  Also, if you stay there you can literally just walk right into Epcot.  I had no idea all this time that we could just make reservations for Disney restaurants or character breakfasts when we weren't staying at Disney resorts or visiting parks.....honestly, never really thought about it.  There is so much you can do without ever actually going into the parks.  

Awesome family photo courtesy of our waiter :/

(Piper's Miley Cyrus face)

Monday we went to Magic Kingdom.  It opens at 9, so we  I, wanted to be at the gate before then...they do a little thingy with the characters at the front...it's cute.  That means, you have to have parked...walked or rode the little tram thingy to the area where you get on the Monorail or Ferry and then to the actual gate.  I think we left at like 7:45 and we had the special parking pass so we were literally parked in the very first row and didn't have to walk that far. I was really worried about bringing my nice camera, I was still debating as we were walking out the door.  I just wasn't sure if it was too big...or if something bad would happen to it.  I left it.  I went with the Iphone for all our pics the first day.  I braved it the other days but I'm kinda fine with the fact that I didn't have it the first day. 

 We brought our own stroller...I hear the Disney ones are great but they didn't look very comfortable to me.  We also packed our own lunches, snacks and water bottles.  It wasn't just about saving the money....I really didn't want to eat a whole bunch of crap for a week.  I am so glad we did that.  It was just so easy and quick to grab snacks or sit and eat our lunch at a little table. And plus I kinda felt like we had healthy nutritional food that fueled us up and helped us have energy to keep going! I know that sounds so silly but I can really feel a difference by eating junk vs healthy snacks. And I took a backpack...I didn't like the idea of leaving anything in the stroller while we were on rides...I have heard that people's get stolen.  I'm sure that doesn't happen a lot though....geeze, at least I hope not. 

I had been told by quite a few people that they weren't able to see a lot of the characters when they visited.  I don't if they have changed anything but we saw every character at least once each day!  When you first walk in the Disney park, Mickey is located in the Town Theatre, which is the pretty white building to the right...immediately when you walk in.  He is there all day so we waited and stopped by there on our way out that day....just in case the line was crazy in the morning.  I also saw some of the characters in the courtyard in front of the Town Theatre another day....but we didn't stop to see them.  We didn't see any of the princesses the first day.  Those were the longest lines...and most of them don't have FastPass, so we saved that for another day and just did mostly rides the first day.  The first thing Piper asked to do when we got in the park was to do "It's a Small World"..haha...I was like really?!  Pooh and Tigger are by the Pooh ride. Minnie, Daisy, Donald and Goofy are in Pete's Silly Sideshow which is in the Circus area of the park.  For the Dumbo ride....don't get a FastPass.  There is an indoor play area for while you are waiting for the ride but you can only get into it if you go in the regular line.  I think they give you a buzzer or something like that if you are playing and it's your turn to ride.  We did the FastPass so we couldn't play that time :(  The Goofy's Barnstormer roller coaster is in that Circus area.....Piper met the height requirement so I didn't think anything about it.  It was a little intense I think for a little person that size!  It was just fast and had really sharp turns....her face was so surprised and funny.  But after the ride she said "Let's go again!"   We did pretty much everything in the Fantasyland that morning and after lunch....and then Piper passed out in the stroller!  So we just kinda hung out and then waited (and Kyle went on Space Mountain)...and she woke up just in time to have ice cream and watched the parade.  After that we just did a few other things around the park that we really wanted to do that day.  Just an FYI skip the Jungle Cruise in Magic Kingdom....it's.so.lame.  It's just so old and cheasy.  I was actually annoyed that we wasted time on it..haha.  After that we were all so tired.....so we got a $12 balloon that Piper had been wanting all day....stopped to take some pics with Mickey and headed home for the evening.  I don't think I have ever slept as good as I did that night!  

Not even kidding.....she embraced Pooh for a good 60 seconds :)

 Sorry this post was so long....and I still have 2 days left to cover ;)

11.5.13

Halloween :)  

Just snapped a few pics of Piper right before we went trick or treating.  Kyle had basketball practice so he couldn't join us....and well she wasn't really into the picture taking.  I had big plans for making her costume this year....she was going to be soo cute.  But a few days before, she kept telling everybody she was going to be a bumble bee...."what the heck girl?!...since when?"  So we went to Target and bought a bee costume.  She was happy.  I didn't have to make anything.  It was kinda nice actually.  Except that the costume was "pokey" and so she told me the night before Halloween that she wanted to be something else.  I honestly don't even remember what she said.  But she did wear her Bee costume to Trunk or Treat and to music class.  I still need to get pictures of her in it, didn't get any cute ones.  So for actual halloween, she was Shirley Temple.  I showed her some pictures and videos of her on Youtube.  She thought it was cool beans!  

I put the sponge rollers in her hair....it totally would have worked but she ripped them out during her nap....some of the ones in the back stayed in but the front just went back to her normal curls. 

Then I got a few of these.....

And a whole lot of these....cause you know...taking pics for mom is boring!!!

And don't ask me why we took pictures in front of the door....probably b/c that was the only place I could pin her in for pictures!

There you go....from the good ship lollipop!

With Love,

Shirley :)

10.22.13 Pumpkin Patchin It!

I am posting backwards from our family vacation mainly b/c I have sooo many Disney pics to sort through and b/c I have  A LOT to say about Disney.  

After a few days in Orlando, we headed north for Georgia.  We stayed at my parents for 1 night and then headed to Atlanta.  We visited some friends and stayed for 2 nights.  I really was hesistant on going to Atlanta after a few intense days at theme parks. Part of me wanted to say it was too much and the other part of me said "Sure why not....as long as we can go to a real pumpkin patch :) "  

We found one that wasn't too far from Atlanta or the interstate on our way back down. Southern Belle Farms.  It was a really great place...kind of expensive....but totally worth the money if you have hours and hours to spend.  Unfortunately we just didn't have time to do everything b/c we still had such a far drive ahead of us.  It was really chilly that morning when we left Atlanta....but by mid afternoon, in the sun, at this place.....we were dying!  My wool sweater wasn't the best choice.  Piper had a blast but you could tell she was hot and tired towards the end.  She wanted nothing to do with anymore pics.....and just wanted ice cream....haha!

There were so many things we still didn't get to do...I was a little disappointed we didn't get to do the Corn Maze.  Maybe next year.

This girl seriously loves animals! I can't believe how fearless she is sometimes around them.

Kyle did not like this thing.....he said is was weird!  haha

Inside this little barn the walls were painted with chalkboard paint and there were about 1,000 pieces of chalk in there to write with!

It was a little crowded here....I had a really hard time getting photos sometimes b/c of my lens,  I have to stand so far back. People would just walk or stand right in front of me.  It's just not ideal for every situation.   I am thinking a new lens would be a really great Christmas present...hint hint ;)

You can clearly see a difference between the next two photos.  I decided to start doing some very light editing of my photos....clearly I have no clue what I am doing...haha...I would love some tips and pointers if any of you have any!

And right about here is where she was DONE!  It was getting late, she was tired and hot and just wanted some ice cream. 

(you can see my pumpkin I picked out......LOVED the light peach color)

and these are just a few of my photos from my phone.  I took a lot here on my phone but I'm pretty sure you have seen enough already!  

Shorts, boots and lace bow found here: 

Hunter Girls' Shoes · Zara Girls' Shorts    Lace Bow

10.3.13

It's been so long I think I forgot how to write these things.  Hmm...where to start.  Piper is quite the little social lady these days.  She loves to say "hello" to everyone, everywhere we go.  She introduces herself and then me "This is my mom, Georgia."  We like to call her Pipsqueak, and she was introducing herself as "Pipesqueak" there for a while. It makes us all giggle :) 

We played outside with the water table for a little while this morning.  Then we checked out some berries and random "natury" things outside.  

This is serious business.

Then she told me it was time to pour it out....."I'm too hot...I need to go inside and watch Octonauts."

9.26.13

I'm Back! And I won't promise that I will keep up with this little blog either.  I have learned a few things over the last few months.  You can't have it all....a balanced life doesn't exist and that some balls will be dropped...always.  There is just not enough time to do everything.  I have learned to prioritize my duties and time.  There won't be time for everything and I have learned to say "no".  I have made peace with the things each week that are neglected.  Because I chose to do the things that were important to me.  Some weeks it may be my workout that is neglected or my cleaning isn't kept up.  But the other things...the important things like giving my daughter the time she needs (and deserves), healthy family meals are prepared (didn't say that they were amazing but they are made), putting aside time for a daily devotional and giving myself time to take care of "me".  Not in the spa day, pedicure "me" time.  I just simply mean, getting a somewhat decent amount of sleep and making sure I am in good health "me" time.  If I am not healthy, it is pretty difficult for our family "system" to function.  I wasn't doing this a few months ago and I was not in a good place.  My sanity and health were failing me.  I was overwhelmed and not putting my health first.  I had back issues that I ignored for way too long that left me barely able to function and then I got... Shingles.....I mean what 28 year old gets the Shingles?!  I think that was my breaking point!  

But I am back...feeling a little less crazy, a little more healthy and a whole lot happier. It's all still a learning process but it's working for us...for now.  Our days are long and busy.  Piper is taking ballet class, music class and we have started a "Mom and Me" program....it's just one day a week and I go with her until January when she starts going all by herself :)

I'll catch up soon, but we really didn't do a whole lot this summer and didn't take a whole of pictures either.  But I do have some to share and I will soon.  Here are the most recent pics I have taken.  

Our Tiny Dancer