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Happy Valentine’s Day

February 15, 2016

I hope you all had a LOVEly Valentine’s Day! We celebrated a little early with the kids’ parties at school last week. I was the party mom for both Maxwell and Spencer’s class so got to make our favorite Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Valentine M&Ms cookies! yum! I also put together little goodie bags for Maxwell’s class with heart straws, flashing rings, chocolate hearts and Valentine granola bars.

valentine

As always, we made the Valentines they took to their friends. We weren’t quite as crafty as in previous years (2013, 2014, 2015), but when I found these lion and tiger valentines on Etsy, I knew the boys would like them better than anything we could make! So, I bought the download, printed them on cardstock and then wrapped them up with some goodies that the boys chose.

animal valentine cards

Spencer’s had “o-o”s and suckers.

valentine cards lion

Maxwell’s had Kit Kats, suckers, and tattoos – snakes for the boys, rainbows for the girls!

valentine

valentine cards tattoos

The 2s teachers don’t really want the parents to come up for the parties – it’s too distracting – but the 4s teachers don’t mind. I loved getting to go up to Maxwell’s class and see him in his element.

valentine

class party valentine

valentine party

I sure do love my three little Valentines!!!

valentine

Love Love Love!

Would love to hear from you! 2 Comments
Filed Under: Holidays, MBB, school, SKB, SPB

back to the Magic Kingdom

February 12, 2016

Sunday morning came early after another night of Samantha deciding not to sleep in the hotel room. Oh well, at least the boys weren’t that bothered by it all. It’s amazing to me what kids can sleep through – especially this sleepy head!

sleepy head

Despite not sleeping well, we decided to let this little Minnie lover go with us that day!

minnie

We made it over to the Magic Kingdom early around 8:30 (the park didn’t open until 9:00) because we had breakfast reservations at Be Our Guest for 9:10. If you have breakfast reservations before 9:15 they’ll let you into the park early! The rides aren’t going yet but it really is neat to be in the park with very few people around. They did have the photographers out and we were able to get great shots in front of the castle!

wdw

wdw

wdw

We were then able to get into an early line to ride The 7 Dwarfs Mine Train.We were about the 5th group in line and it would have worked perfectly to ride the ride when it opened at 9:00 and then walk over to our breakfast reservation….if only the ride hadn’t experienced technical difficulties! They had to delay the opening of it so we had to abandon ship to go to breakfast. That was ok though because we had Fast Passed it for that afternoon!

We had a fantastic day in the Magic Kingdom. We rode Small World – which Samantha was honestly enchanted by!

small world

We rode the carousel which all the kids enjoyed…

carousel

carousel

and I clearly enjoyed too!

carousel

We went on Peter Pan, Pirates of the Caribbean, Splash Mountain (well, not Spence – he needs 2 more inches!), The Swiss Family Robinson Tree House and a few others I can’t even remember. We also visited the all-important face paint station again!

face paint

Two leopards!! or were they cheetahs? I’ll have to ask Maxwell!

face paint

We also visited some of our Disney favorites! Spencer was much more agreeable this time!

donald

doanld

goofy

goofy

We even managed to be over by Main Street during the afternoon parade and Maxwell and I had a front row seat while Samantha and Spencer slept in the stroller. It was just a great day all around. We ended the day with our last Fast Pass – The 7 Dwarfs Mine Train. It was a blast and well worth the wait! Through the magic of the our Magic Bands, these pictures showed up in my Photo Pass and I could not love them more!!

7 dwarfs mine train

7 dwarfs mine train

I mean…look at our faces! HA!

7 dwarfs mine train

and look at Spencer smiling directly at that camera here!

7 dwarfs mine train

It was the perfect ending to our Disney trip! We had one more night in the hotel and then it was back to Birmingham for Robert and on to Naples for the rest of us. It certainly was a wonderful trip to the happiest place on earth!!

Have a great weekend!

Would love to hear from you! 3 Comments
Filed Under: Family, MBB, SKB, SPB, Travel

Animal Kingdom

February 11, 2016

We all woke up Saturday morning refreshed from a good night’s sleep – except opposite. Samantha decided to scream for a good 2 hours of the night. I guess she didn’t like being by herself in a crib in the same room as me, Robert, Maxwell and Spencer so she did whatever she could to get us to pick her up! Oh well, we survived and were ready for a fun day at Animal Kingdom….without her! GJ and Daddo nicely agreed to stick around the hotel with the baby so she could get some good naps in. They’re the best!

We took the bus over to Animal Kingdom and the boys were really excited to see some lions and tigers!

wdw

Robert and I have laughed at that picture because we both look like such dorks – but we were proud to be there! ha!

Our first stop was the safari and we got to see tons of neat animals. It was a nice, cool morning and all the animals were out and roaming! Unfortunately, there are no tigers in the safari (or really anywhere in Animal Kingdom) which greatly disappointed Maxwell! But, it didn’t totally ruin his day – there was plenty of other fun to be had!

wdw

animal kingdom

We made our way over to Dino-Land where I had fast passed the Dinosaur ride for Robert and Maxwell to do. Maxwell had been talking about this ride non-stop – ever since we went last time and he wasn’t tall enough to ride it! Well, Robert took him and I think it was a little scarier than any of us remembered! Maxwell made it through but has no desire to do it again!

dinosaur

Love that picture with his eyes shut tight!!

We then explored the carnival area of Dino-Land and the boys played all the fun games. It was pretty funny to watch – and because we were basically the only ones there, they won every game and we came home with about 8 stuffed animals!

animal kingdom

The boys also managed to walk out of Animal Kingdom with some purchased toys too – a stuffed lion and leopard and this cool cobra and green dinosaur!

animal kingdom

We then went over to Tusker House for brunch with some of our favorite characters! Spencer wasn’t so sure about them all but Maxwell could not have been more excited!

No love for Daisy…

daisy

even when she tried to give him a smooch!

daisy

Donald at least got a smile…

animal kingdom

but Spencer wouldn’t get near him.

donald

Maxwell was happy as could be though!

donald

Spencer was a little interested in Goofy…

goofy

but still couldn’t be convinced to go stand next to him!

goofy

Maxwell and The Goof were fast friends…

goofy

and Maxwell loved showing him his new cobra!

goofy

Spence then had a slight change of heart and did give Goofy a high five!

goofy

We then met the main mouse himself and Spencer decided Mickey was A-OK and hopped right up for a picture!

mickey

After lunch, we had fast passed the Lion King show. It was fantastic and really worth seeing! We called it quits after that and headed back to the hotel to rest up before dinner. Except, when we got back, no one was interested in resting and so Robert and I took the boys to the pool. They started in the kid area where the Mad Hatter’s hat dumps water on you every few minutes. Spencer wasn’t quite so sure at first but then Maxwell convinced him to get in there and get soaked!

tea pot

tea pot

GF

We then headed over to the big pool where I took one for the team and got into the pool. The water was warm but the air outside wasn’t and I was freezing! It didn’t seem to faze the boys though. They were loving it and kept getting out to go get back in line for the giant slide. Maxwell was an expert coming down the slide…

slide

slide

and then Spencey came down like this!

slide

slide

hahaha!! That picture makes me laugh so hard. On his back – head first – here comes Spence!!

slide

After we dried off and warmed up, we went over to the Wilderness Lodge for dinner. It was fun to see another hotel. I can’t say I’ll go back but it was a good evening outing.

wilderness

wilderness lodge

We were all worn out from our day of animal and pool fun and were hoping for a good night’s sleep. Yet, again, baby had different ideas! No rest for the weary I guess! See you tomorrow!

Would love to hear from you! 6 Comments
Filed Under: Family, MBB, Robert, SKB, SPB, Travel

Disney!

February 10, 2016

We went to Disney last week and it was GREAT. The weather was perfect, the crowds were manageable, and the kids were excited! We really couldn’t have asked for better Disney conditions! We got up dark and early on Friday to catch a 6:30am flight to Orlando…

disney

GJ met us at the Orlando airport and were at the Grand Floridian by 10am! woohoo!

disney

We headed over to the Magic Kingdom and had a super fun day.

magic kingdom

Maxwell’s 2 things he really wanted to do in Disney were 1. ride the Dinosaur ride in Animal Kingdom and 2. get his face painted! So, our first stop was the face painting area next to Space Mountain. They didn’t have the exact tiger and lions on the menu that my boys wanted but, as always, Disney accomodated!

disney

We had fast passed some of our favorite rides but were able to get in several others too because the lines weren’t bad at all. Our first stop was Dumbo!

dumbo

We then used fast passes for Barnstormer. It was Spencey’s first time on it and he loved it! Listening to him belly laugh through the whole thing was worth the trip!

barnstormer

We then took a train ride around the park…

train

train

Hit up the Astro Orbiter…

astro orbiter

and used our Fast Passes to drive on The Tomorrowland Speedway!

speedway

Robert and I then tried to use our Fast Passes to ride Space Mountain but we got to the front and they had to shut the ride down for technical difficulties. That was ok though because we got two free Fast Passes that Robert used to take Maxwell on Big Thunder! He thought it was AWESOME! We also went on the Haunted Mansion and a few other rides but, we also found plenty of time to just play…

wdw

wdw

and eat treats!

wdw

By about 5pm, my tiger and lion were worn out so we headed back to the hotel.

wdw

They were excited to find some new Lion Guard pjs waiting for them (Samantha got new Minnie pjs!) and then enjoyed room service! Fun!

room service

We all got tucked in for a restful night’s sleep – or at least that’s what we were hoping for! Samantha had other ideas!! See you tomorrow!

Would love to hear from you! 3 Comments
Filed Under: Family, MBB, Robert, SKB, SPB, Travel

Iphone dump

February 9, 2016

I know, I know…Disney pics are coming at some point I promise! But, today, enjoy some old iPhone pics!

iphone

iphone

iphone

Have a great one!

Would love to hear from you! 2 Comments
Filed Under: MBB, SKB, SPB

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