Disney World Day 1 - Downtown Disney and Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party!

Tuesday 9/21: We woke the girls up at 6:30 a.m. to surprise them with a package full of balloons, clothes to wear, Disney World coloring books and a letter telling them to hop in the car - we are going to DISNEY WORLD! They were a little groggy, but so excited!


Arrived in Orlando about 1:30 and checked into our hotel. We did not have tickets to the park for that day, so we started off by driving around and checking out Downtown Disney. We got back in the car for naps and the girls almost immediately fell asleep and took about an hour long cat naps!
Went back to the hotel and met up with Mimi and Papa! Changed the girls into their Halloween party Minnie costumes and headed back to Downtown Disney for dinner! We decided to eat at Rainforest Cafe and it was such a fun restaurant to kick off our trip! It looked like we were outside and there were animals and fish everywhere! At first the girls were a little scared of the elephants and monkeys (Rhodes sat down across from the monkeys and got a big pouty face - very unlike Rhodes unless she is REALLY scared - and said "monsters!" - it didn't take long until she was laughing every time they started talking and a storm started, though!)

We jetted out of there before we got the check (thanks Mimi and Papa!) and headed to the Magic Kingdom for Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween party. We had all intentions of getting there early but didn't get there until right around 7! The girls were such troopers since that is usually around their bedtime - but it is Disney World and schedules were definitely off this week!

On our first (and only) tram ride to the Magic Kingdom!
Our first (and only) ferry ride to the Kingdom!
We made it!!

The Halloween party was such a neat experience - spooky music played, the Kingdom and entrance were lit up with different spooky lights, pumpkins were everywhere, a special Halloween Boo to you parade, trick or treating throughout the park, etc etc - plus, short lines! We had a ball!


Dancing in line for our first ride - Dumbo! (Probably their favorite ride!) Ali loved pushing it all the way up so we could see the whole kingdom, all lit up!
Rhodes was checking it all out! (and a little sleepy!)
So excited/nervous!
Here we go!

And on to another favorite...the Carousel! We must have ridden both of these at least 5 times each!

Cinderella's carriage all lit up for the party...
Finally bit the dust....




More to come from the rest of our trip!

Our Magical Vacation!

We got in town last night from my favorite vacation ever....DISNEY WORLD!! It was a trip I will never forget with too many pictures to post in one blog post so I am going to make a goal to record it in multiple blog posts over the next few days! My heart is sad it is over - I teared up a little as we pulled away :) - nothing like being with a few of the people you love the most in the world for a few days in the most Magical place on Earth! :) Lots of together time doing lots of fun things and seeing lots of smiles, laughter and amazement in the girls eyes is pretty priceless! I can not wait until our next trip back...I am already starting to plan!! Stay tuned for more posts to come from our fun and magical vacation! :)

Go Big Blue!

I love living where we live! (Have I mentioned that before?) I know the time will come when we need to move and have more space and I will miss little things like this....

Walking to the Marietta High School football game and seeing so many friends! I love living in a community where you can just go to the game and see so many people and then can walk home from the game and even hear the band from our house...these little things I take for granted!

Here are some pictures from our first game this year - MHS started a new tradition this year called the Blue Devil Walk. Everyone lines Polk Street in front of West Side Elementary (a block from our house) and the band plays, the band and cheerleaders walk through and everyone gets fired up! It is such a fun new tradition and I loved getting to take the girls to their first game this year! (Ali has been before - this was Rhodes' first game ever!)

On the sidewalk for the Blue Devil walk...


High school version of game day!Little buddies hanging out at the True Blue tailgate....
Ali and Ryan
Where's Rhodes?
Peek a boo!
We (barely) made it through one quarter - and I was so proud! Can't wait until our next game!

Rhodesy's last few days as a 1 year old!!!

I can not believe that in less than a week my baby will be turning 2! Time is flying! Rhodes is the joy in our lives - she makes us laugh, has such an easy going personality and is fearless! She is talking so much these days and such a little person...not so much a baby anymore! :( One of the funniest things she does that makes us laugh is if we ask her what her name is she goes "ummmm...Connie!" - I will have to get it on video tape for the full effect! :) It started a few months ago and as much as she knows her name as Rhodes, I think she was confused by our question :) and just wanted to give us an answer - we have no idea where the name Connie came from...but now that is our nickname for her! :) She is such a big girl this year - going to school from 9:30-1:30 two days a week and she has started gymnastics and we have family music together. She knows all of the family music songs and she is loving it this go around especially b/c Ali is in choir the whole time so she has me all to herself!

We will be enjoying every second of this last week with a 1 year old - know we have a lot more fun adventures to look forward to with this one as she gets bigger and bigger (and funnier and funnier!).

Eating Rita's after Ali's first day!
First day of gymnastics...
Cupcake lover!




She dives into everything (including cupcakes) headfirst and is such a character! Love this little face!

Ali - Countdown til 4!

I can't believe how close my oldest baby is to being 4 years old! She is such a BIG, busy girl! She loves all of her friends and constantly wants me to call them up and ask their Mamas if she can come over to play :) - especially her friends she doesn't get to see at school every day like Bennett (she misses him soo!), Libby and Caroline! She is absolutely loving school this year and all I hear about are her friends Mary Mac and Lucas in her class! She also gets to see some of her old friends from her class last year at Lunch bunch on Tuesdays & Thursdays! She goes to school on M/T/Th and every day when I pick her up, she is a chatterbox in the best mood - makes a Mama feel good! She is also busy doing ballet this year, choir and starts cheerleading in a few weeks! I am constantly checking my schedule to try to figure out where I am supposed to be at what time - I guess I better get used to it as I'm sure it will only get crazier as the girls get bigger and bigger. We are loving life these days and the girls are the best of friends!

Just a few pictures from the last few weeks...

Sweet sisters driving around the backyard... (I love when they play well together - we have our share of bickering around here these days, too!)
Ali and one of her bffs, Libby - all dressed up and driving around town!
Rita's to celebrate the first day of school!
Love these sisters!

At Libby's ballerina princess birthday party (The girls loved it!) with her fun friend, Maggie Beth!
My ballerina princess
They even had a little bridal ceremony where the girls were bridesmaids and Libby was the bride (she walked down the aisle to meet her dad) - it was too cute!
Practicing for 20 + years down the road :)
Last weekend, Ryan wanted to play golf and he let Ali go with him to ride in the golf cart! She was SOO excited - I think they will do it more often b/c he said she was perfect! She was in Heaven - plus, her Uncle Ty and Papa were there so she got lots of special attention and loved riding in the golf cart!
Unfortunately, Ali wears a lot of dresses and doesn't own many shorts so she got caught wearing white shorts after Labor Day!


A little bit of a chocolate face...
She told me she wanted me to take a picture of her making a "mean" face - she is quite the sass these days!
Laying around and just being pretty! :)

Love this three year old so much! Four sounds so old to me so I am clinging to the fact that my sweet Ali is still 3 - at least for another month! :) Love her so!

First day of ballet!

Ali started her first day of ballet this year! We ended up switching ballet programs this year in order to find a time that worked for us - and with friends in the class - and are now taking at Ruth Mitchell on the square! Works out well because we get to stop by and see Daddy and Papa at their office too - an extra treat! It is such a cute little class and I can't wait to watch these ballerinas grow this year!

Ali and her daddy pre-ballet class - she was SOO excited!
Waiting for ballet class to begin with Gracie and little Mimi! I think Ali looks so big in this one!! (we also like to look at everything but the camera when Mama takes pictures...working on this one!)

Labor Day 2010!

We were thrilled to get to spend our Labor Day this year in Sea Island! We went down with our Supper club to our friend's, the Brumby's, house on the island and it was a fantastic weekend. There were 5 couples (10 adults), 5 little ones (3 and under - Ali was the oldest) and a few babies on the way - and we all got along great and had so much fun together. It's so nice to have friends like this to go away with and have an easy weekend where everyone is comfortable and fun! The boys had the treat of playing golf at Ocean Forest and despite the chaos that comes with chasing little ones around, it was just so peaceful/quiet there and nice because we had our own pool and really no where we had to be. We didn't even leave the island until the last night to go to dinner - and we ended up getting an impromptu babysitter that night and had a fun parents night out to end the weekend! It really was the perfect Labor Day weekend and hope we make a tradition of taking a yearly trip (somewhere!) with these dear friends!

We were all planning on going down on Thursday night but plans changed last minute - but we had our car all loaded up so we decided to go ahead and head down there and just stay in St. Simons at my parent's beach house, hoping the girls would sleep on our way down. Not the best night sleep I've ever had, but it was so nice to wake up at the beach on Friday morning and be able to do our own thing, eat breakfast at the Sandcastle and just take our time. We went on a morning stroll on the beach and Ali was walking in front of me and would stop and write her name in the sand every few feet. I especially liked this one.....
(in the top right corner it says "Mama" - pretty good for a 3 year old, I think!)

A few shots of the girls running around by the pier after our walk on the beach....

Of course, when we got to Sea Island about noon that day - I took our my camera to find the "Replace the batteries" message pop up....my luck! I'm hoping some of our friends took some pictures that I can add here later!

The rest of the pictures are from my iphone....we headed out to the beach on Sunday and it was completely empty - on Labor Day!! I was in Heaven!! It was so peaceful and relaxing - plus, my parents ended up going down with some of their friend's to their house in Ocean Forest and they stopped by for a visit and played with the girls. I actually found myself sitting in a lawn chair, drinking an adult beverage and relaxing on the beach! Talk about a treat! :)

Steven brought his pontoon boat and took Harry out. Of course all of the kids were fascinated and then wanted to take a trip out! When he first brought the boat out, all of the kids hopped in and I asked Ali where they were going on their pretend trip and she said "Ummm....maybe McDonald's??" Wow!

The girls were screaming with excitement when they saw Mimi and Papa show up and surprise them on the beach!
Ryan taking Ali out on the boat!
Rhodesy and her fun friend, Lee!
Papa taking care of Rhodesy while she waits for Ryan and Ali to get back from their short trip!
Papa and Ali playing! She loved hunting for seashells and we even found some sand dollars!
Ryan relieved to be back from his trip with Rhodes. He said it was so funny taking the girls out - Ali sat still in his lap patiently on their boat ride and Rhodes was about to climb out, moving all over the place on hers...talk about opposites! :)

The four amigos...Best pals!


I am so disappointed we did not get a group shot of the crew - hoping we'll have many of these trips to come and watch the kiddos grow up! Can't wait until our next trip! :)