our trip to disney!

So when you last heard from me we were having fun in the sun in Florida.  As a part of this trip Drew and I decided that we wanted to surprise Asher with a day in Disney World!  We knew that Hadley was too young to enjoy it, so she stayed home with Grandma and Grandpa while lucky duck Asher not only got to visit with Mickey and the gang, he also got Mommy and Daddy all to himself for the day!  Woot!

Since Asher still has no concept of time we decided to wait until we were in the car and driving to the park to tell him where we were going.  The alternative was being asked "Are we going to see Mickey NOW??" every 15 minutes until the day came and I knew my mental health couldn't take that.  It really was so fun to surprise him that morning!  He was thrilled!!

After we got inside the gates the first character we saw was Pluto so we immediately got in line to visit with him.

{One thing you have to know about Ash is that he LOVES big characters.  It doesn't matter who it is - Disney friends, the Robin at Red Robin, the Chick-Fil-A cow, "Sparky" the firehouse mascot - it doesn't matter, they light up his world and he loves them all!  Because of this I knew we'd be spending a lot of our day waiting in line to meet his favorites.}

We were a little bummed that after waiting 15+ minutes we were next in line and Pluto got sent away for his break.  Nooooo.  It's hard enough for a 3 year old to wait in line - try telling him we have to wait longer because Pluto needs to get some water.

It turned out pretty great though because when the big guy came back guess who he ran right up to?

Yay!  Asher!

Oh my, Ash loved it.  He gave him big hugs and high fives and forgot all about the long wait.

After Pluto, we walked around Main Street, stopped for a cookie, and went on a few rides.

Can I just stop for a minute here to mention how EASY it is to have 1 kid!  I know it doesn't feel easy when you're doing it.  Believe me, I remember!!  But since having 2 whenever I'm out with just one or the other I realize it's so simple to just do whatever they want to do.  Drew took Asher to the bathroom and, you guys, I got to GO BY MYSELF.  Seriously, it was awesome.  Worth the $$$ admission for that alone.  ha!

Asher's favorite ride were the "Buzz seats" - it's this video game type ride where you shoot black light at the Emperor Zurg from Toy Story.  Ash would "drive the car" and spin them in circles while Drew racked up their score.  It was a dream team.

I rode in a car behind them and took pictures.  :-)

After riding "Buzz seats" a couple times we had to meet the man himself.  Asher loves Buzz Lightyear and was beside himself with awe at meeting him.

I was beside myself with joy at seeing him so excited!

This, friends, is the magic of Disney World - these sweet kiddos are over the moon because they are meeting the REAL Buzz Lightyear/Cinderella/Mickey Mouse.  It's adorable to see their little faces light up in wonder.

Meeting someone of Buzz's caliber really takes it out of a person, so A took a long snooze in the the stroller. Actually we had a hard time waking him up - he never, ever sleeps out of his bed so I was shocked when he slept this soundly.

Once we woke him up and convinced him the day wasn't over yet, we went to meet a few more characters…

including a really cool meet and greet with Mickey Mouse.  He talked to us and told some jokes and everything!

Later in the afternoon we did a couple more rides on Asher's favorite "neigh-neighs"…

and his other new favorite "the coffee cups" (I made Drew go by himself the last time.  Mommy is getting old and all that spinning was no bueno after the 3rd time)

We ended the day with the electrical parade!  Asher slept through the afternoon parade so he was really excited to see all of the Disney characters and princesses on the floats.

Bless his heart, he loves Cinderella.

We had the best day.  Really, the best.  Full of memories with our special guy and a fun time for all of us.  Now we can't wait for Hadley to get a little bigger so we can all go and really have a great time!

happy thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving from our family to yours!

In a lot of ways it felt like Hadley's first Thanksgiving since she was so much more aware and interactive this year.  She loved all of the food, but especially the cranberry relish!  Asher, on the other hand insists that "turkey is yucky."  Complete opposites, these two.  I'm thankful for them both anyways - ha!

Miss Hadley helped me get some decorations up this morning while the boys were out shopping.  We're slowly getting Christmas in place around here!

Happy Thanksgiving - and welcome December!

splashing and digging

You guys, this blog has become a laughable endeavor.  I've been so bad about updating it lately - there just isn't enough time in the day!  I do want to share our trip to Florida though because is was such a fun time.

One of our favorite things to do while visiting the Sunshine State is go to the beach and swim in the pool!  Even though we're able to swim all summer there's just something about doing it on vacation (in November) that makes it extra fun!

A few years ago we were afraid that Asher might never like the beach.  He would sit on my lap and cry the whole time we were near the ocean.  Not anymore!  This kid loves the beach and run right to the water to get his feet wet.

Unfortunately with the fall storms a lot of the beach was underwater but we did get in some sand time and a lot of feet splashing.

And, of course, there was pool swimming.

As I mentioned last time Hadley was a huge fan.  She's a total water baby!

H loved the pool but all that swimming wore this sweet girl out.

Up next:  a surprise trip to…Disney World!  eek!!  :-)

some time away

Sorry for the long break - I'm sure my 5 readers really missed us.  Oh wait, 2 of those readers are the grandparents who were with us, so to the remaining 3 of you - we're back!!  Last week our little family took a trip to the sunshine state to enjoy some time with Drew's parents.  We spent a lot of time swimming, eating, and just relaxing.  I still have a ton of pictures to go through but for now I'll leave you with these gems…

We discovered that Hadley's a total water baby.  She loved the pool most of all.

Asher spent a special day at Disney with Drew and I and was in complete awe when meeting his hero. This is the reason we went and I almost cry every time I see how excited and overwhelmed he was!

More pictures and stories to come!

second halloween

Asher's preschool didn't have any kind of Halloween party but they did have a Pirates and Princess Day!

Our teacher sent an email to the class a couple days before the party letting us know about the theme.  Suddenly I had 3 days to come up with a pirate costume.  This was the same week as Hadley's birthday party so I was stretched a little thin and didn't feel up to making an elaborate second costume.  Luckily pirates are pretty simple!

You guys - how cute is this little man?!  Arggh.

I took some old fleece pants that Ash had out grown and tattered the legs a bit to make them more swashbuckler friendly.  Who has a size 18 month waist?  Oh yeah, this guy.  ha!

His striped shirt is from Wal-Mart and the vest is a simple red felt number that I patterned after Asher's Cubbies vest.  The straps are hot glued on.  Pirates pull their vests over their heads - you knew that, right?

I love this boy - he made for one great pirate!  :-)

hadley's hot air balloon party

Last Saturday we celebrated one year of Hadley with a party!

Hadley's first year went Up, Up, & Away!

The forecast was calling for chilly temps and I was pretty worried since the plan was for everything to be outside.  Luckily it warmed up a lot (despite the early frost - yikes!) and the sun shone down on us all morning.

It might have been a little windy.  The balloons got ditched off the tables pretty quickly, but oh well.

I love to plan a party, but I am NOT a game organizer, so for the kids I took the easy way out and rented a bouncy house.  Hadley didn't get in too much, but Asher and the other bigger kids thought it was so fun!  (after everyone went home I got in too and they were right, it was a blast - haha!)

Since I made so many of the decorations I decided to keep the food simple.  I saw this idea for a gourmet hot dog bar on Jess' blog and thought it was such a fun way to elevate a simple hot dog!  We had hot dogs, homemade chili sauce (made by my Mom and got RAVE reviews!), veggies, a rainbow fruit platter, and chips.  Just when you thought summer was over the W's brought BBQ back.  woot!

Oh and there was cake.  Of course.  :-)

Every party needs a bit of drama and ours surrounded the cake.  I ordered this cake back in August and when I picked it up Friday afternoon it was perfect.  Exactly like I'd envisioned!  Well, on Saturday morning I checked on it and the top layer had shifted backwards - nooooo.  The woman who made it was out of town so I had no choice but to roll with it.  I was seriously bummed about my awesome cake (and centerpiece) being messed up, but the party was still great and everyone thought the cake was so cute.  

I made Hadley's "Happy Birthday" sign - it's fabric and I'm hoping it will be her sign for as long as she's living here.  :-)

One of my favorite decorations (bought from Etsy) was this sign that I used for a photo montage.  It was perfect that "Growing Up Up Up" has 13 letters - newborn through 12 months.  yay!

With all the excitement I completely neglected to get a family picture with the birthday girl.  Very bummed about that.  :-(  I'm glad I snapped a few of her alone though!

Miss Hadley loved her smash cake and was actually more gentle with it than I was expecting.  

Asher helped her get started - what a great big brother.

We asked for no gifts, but you can see how well everyone listened to that request.  ha!  So grateful for generous friends and family.  All of the kiddos got sent home with hot air balloon favor filled with bubbles, fruit snacks, a rainbow lollipop, and a twisty straw.  Kind of random, but the kids liked it.  :-)

It was such a wonderful day.  I'm so grateful for Hadley and love that we had a chance to celebrate her beautiful life!