The Happiest Place on Earth

 Our first day in Orlando we visited downtown Disney.  It was raining and thunder storming all day but we still had fun at T-Rex Cafe and all of the stores at the marketplace.

 Our second day we went to Magic Kingdom and had perfect weather.  We were at the park right after opening and stayed until 11:30!  The kids did so great!  As we were leaving the park after the fireworks, Perry said "so what are we doing next?"  He wanted to continue to go on rides until the park closed at 1 am.  5 minutes later he was asleep in his stroller.  I have never seen the park so busy.  The longest line we had to wait in was to meet the princesses.  Kaden was a trooper and waited with us even though he had no desire to meet the princesses.  The only ride we missed out on was Splash Mountain b/c no one wanted to ride it with me.

Our third day we went to Hollywood Studios.  We enjoyed the parade with all of the pixar characters and Perry loved getting to meet so many characters.  Emerson's favorite was the Beauty and The Beast performance and the Ariel show.  Perry's favorite was the Playhouse Disney show and Kaden's was the Indiana Jones Stunt Show.  I took Kaden on Tower of Terror and I don't think that he will be going on it again anytime soon.  It is a bit too scary for a 7 year old!

Christmas 2010

We had a great Christmas this year, full of lots of different celebrations.  Here are some of the highlights.

Christmas Eve @ Grama's

 Christmas Eve Eve w/ Grandpap

 Cookies for Santa

Reading the Night Before Christmas

 Santa's been here!

The kids and their treasured pillow pets!

 Perry and Grayson @ Granny's on Christmas Day

Usually we open presents before we eat but this year dinner was ready earlier then expected so we had to delay opening presents till after dinner.  Perry and Elise didn't like that idea so when the entire family was still eating, they snuck downstairs and decided to open up the presents on their own.  Luckily they didn't get too far before they were caught.  Perry was pretty upset when it was actually time to open presents and he didn't have anymore to open:)

Elise, Isabelle, & Emerson

The annual cousin Christmas pj picture.  Next year we'll have to get Milana and Evee in it too.

We ended the night by having a dancing competition playing dance central on the kinect.  We all had so much fun.  Everyone from Perry to my grandparents were dancing.  I'll have to post some video on a separate post.

Gingerbread Making Party

Every year Blythefield has a gingerbread house decorating party before Christmas.  Last year we went and wasn't really sure what it was all about.  We were very surprised to see a GIANT 5 foot high gingerbread house when we got there.  We knew we had to go again this year b/c the kids had so much fun.  We invited Perry this year since he was old enough to join in on the fun.

The finished product!

Santa Brunches

We went to 2 Santa brunches this year.  It is really nice b/c I don't have to fight the crowds to take the kids to the mall, stand in line to see Santa, and then pay $20 to get a picture with him.  The first time around didn't go so well for Perry.  You'll see in the picture the closest that he would get.

 They were all smiles afterwards with their new puppies from Santa.

What a good looking group:)

Meeting the Santa at Blythefield went over much better, all thanks to Mrs. Claus.  Perry went right to her and posed for a quick picture before jumping down.

Thanksgiving 2010

 Emmy at her Thanksgiving Feast at school.  She was excited that she got to be an Indian and wear her hair in braids.

 We headed to Mansfield, OH again this year for Thanksgiving.  We had a great time and were spoiled by Rod and Lydia.  We took a few spins on the carousel, did some shopping, practicing our swimming, and stuffed our faces.  It was a good couple of day:)

 Emmy's turkey dress that I made her

Kaden with his big turkey leg!

A picture recap of our halloween festivities

Emerson's Young Fives Class

 Emmy and Perry watched the whole school halloween parade

 Kaden's Mrs. Mast 1st Grade Class

 Halloween Party @ Blythefield

Whooooo is 5?

Emmy turned 5 in November and she wanted an owl themed birthday party.  When she first requested it, I thought that it would be difficult to plan but I had so much fun planning her owl party.  Since I haven't been up on my blogging, I am just posting a ton of pics and letting them tell the story.