Monday, February 13, 2012

The Mother of All Posts...Disneyland!!!

I'd like to claim that I had some huge life event that delayed me in posting for the last two weeks...but not so much.  Mostly life just goes on and with 4 very busy little ones under foot, it goes on in at a very quick pace.  Anyway, here's our Disneyland pics from our trip in January when we went with Spencer's family.  His parents were sweet enough to pay for everyone's park tickets and hotel while we paid for our own transportation and food.  It was absolutely so, so much fun going and sharing the whole experience with them!  Anyway, from this post on out, I won't be playing catch-up, so yay! yay! for that!  And now for the mother of all posts...

Enjoy!

Every girl's dream house

 Me and the girls


 Aunt Leslie and Miss Scarlett

The kids were ridiculously in love with this bug's life ride

...we went on it like seriously half a dozen times in a row

Aunt Heather and Miss Georgie

My kids suddenly had a crazy-huge appetite every day after walking around all the time

Grandma, Grandpa, and Aunt Leslie were the BEST about watching the kids while Spence and I went on our fair share of adult rides.  They made the whole trip a bazillion times better and more enjoyable!

 yay! for the babysitters!

 Spence's little brother, Eric.
(Isn't he a cutie?  Watch out, Girls, he's single!)

This has got to be my favorite picture of the entire trip.  Grandpa was so cute with Scarli, endlessly taking her around to all her little rides and carrying her back to the hotel asleep every night.  They were the best of friends.

Aunt Kim, Georgia, and Ezra on the old school dumbo ride

Aunt Leslie and the chilluns' waiting for the parade to start.  If you ever do the Disneyland thing, you HAVE to catch the parade at least once.  It was fabulous!

Oak is SUCH a Mama's boy!

Happy Oakie after a stroller nap

Scarlett was oh-so-happy to stand next to a measuring stick that she actually COULD meet the requirements for.

Real men eat fruit snacks and drink from juice boxes.

 It's a small world after all, it's a small world after all, it's a small world after all, it's a small, small world!

 
The girls were soooo excited while waiting to meet the princesses

Daddy and Oakie
(poor boy was too little to know he was waiting in line for princesses)

Sleeping Beauty

Cinderella
(She was the nicest of all the princesses.  She sat and chatted with the girls for a good long while)

Belle

 Ariel

 Ezra showing off his scary face

 Gee trying out Minnie's bed

Miss Georgia, Miss Scarlett, and Miss Minnie

 
Scarlett loved all the cars in Toon Town.  We couldn't even get her out of them!

We were in Mickey's house and all of the sudden we found ourselves in a super-short line for a private Mickey meeting.  It was crazy and so much fun!
 Scarli clinging onto Dad for dear life on the ferris wheel.  It was adorable.

Overall, I gotta say, I was pretty impressed.  Neither Spence nor I had every been to Disneyland and I was pleasantly surprised to find that it is, in fact, the happiest place on earth.

On our last day in California we spent the afternoon at the beach while the big boys (Eric, Isaac, Spencer, and Kyle) went scuba diving.  It was a little chilly, but that didn't stop the kids from getting wet and wild.  Can't say I blame them, it's not everyday one gets to go to the beach in January!

 I love this picture of Georgia in the waves.  It looks so idyllic.

 Spence in his gear

Oak's first feel of the ocean
(that little section of my very white leg is the only proof I have that I was ever even at the beach at all.)

Ezra was the first to strip down and get in his suit.

Georgia quickly followed.

Scrawny Miss Scarlett couldn't handle the cold as much as her heartier siblings.  She attempted to stay dry as much as possible (that might also mean she's the smartest of the group too ;)

 Daddy and and a very tired Oakie


I had to get a picture of Kim and Georgia.  They were absolute BFF's the entire time.  Georgia has a way of picking favorites and ignoring the rest.  Hopefully she'll grow out of that eventually...

Ezra Emil and Eric Emil
These two were attached at the hip.  No way would we have gotten Ezra on so many big scary rides if it wasn't for this guy here.

Well, that's a wrap, folks!  I'm (in Georgie's words) super-uper-duper-impressed if you made it all the way through.  Gold star for you!

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Christmas Catch-up part II

Welcome to the 2nd and final Christmas catch-up post.  Enjoy!
 
Christmas Eve "Jesus Food" Dinner
We have the tradition in our not-so-little family of eating semi-traditional biblical food for Christmas Eve to remind us of Christ.  We typically do flatbread, grapes, dates, honey, etc.  We're working up to fish and locust (which are pretty much samesies to my offspring).

The chillins showing off the goods

Oak's pseudo-Jesus food

Christmas Jammies
Sometimes during our Christmas Eve program (which isn't as involved as it sounds. promise.) Santa's elves drop bedtime-inducing goodies off on our doorstep)


They were so darn excited to open the first Christmas gifts of the holiday

A little help from Dad

 As Georgie would put it, "nice and comfy."

Christmas Morning


The eternal stair-waiting

Oak enjoying his gift from Santa

Ez tearing into his Lincoln Logs from MiMi and Grandad
(heaven knows how we've made it 6 years with our little builder without having a set of our own)

The much-anticipated Lalaloopsy dolls

Sssssstrike a pose!
Vogue. Vogue. Vogue.
(cheesy, I know...I just couldn't resist)

Rootbeer-Concocting
After picking up 9 dozen free beer bottles off craigslist a few months back (there's lots of home-brewers 'round these parts) and getting a bottle capper for Christmas, Spencer was eager to follow in his father's footsteps and start brewing some yeast rootbeer of his own.

Georgia using her muscles for the cause

Offical Taste Tester Ezra.
He didn't die, so we knew we were safe.

The Maiden Batch

Spencer quickly learned what happens, however, when you leave too much room for expansion in the bottles.



Phew!

The End.

Ok, faithful followers....I think I might actually be all caught up from Christmas.  yay! yay!  Now I just need to fill y'all in on our recent travels, which, hopefully will be sooner than later.

Christmas Catch-up part I

 Meeting The Clauses

Ezra

Georgia

Scarlett

Oak

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

gettin' my Sweet Caroline on

In honor of the Great Neil Diamond's birthday, here's a playlist to help you celebrate...


Get a playlist! Standalone player Get Ringtones


what?
you're not cool enough to have a dance party to celebrate Bro. Neil's birthday?



too bad for you, huh?



Now go get an open-necked, sparkly shirt on and start shakin' those hips!

ps-if you want to see what a proper Cracklin' Rosie birthday party looks like, here's a link to last year's celebration.

pps-a big ol' HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my adorable nephew, Cooper too!!!