Disney World and TIRED!

To begin, I know that I am late with the photos on the blog. This may surprise you, but Leah has been sick all week. She came down with a nasty cold on Tuesday and in the midst of that she got a horrible stomach virus complete with a high fever and vomiting. Once the air cleared with the stomach muck she was left with an ear infection from the cold. Lovely. Next, I know that I posted a ton of pictures from our vacation...but please allow me to explain: We took 175 photos, I narrowed it down to about 100 keepers and only posted about 25- that is pretty good for me.
So now the down-low on WDW...phew! I am tired! We got home on Sunday and we were all exhausted. We went hard for six days. The little kids napped when and where they could. Up late every night and up early every morning. Fortunately we had Uncle Ben to entertain us and Nana to spoil us.
My advice to anyone planning to travel to WDW. First, do not take 2-yr-olds. I know what you are thinking, "How obvious!" But apparently not to many MANY parents. For every 5 screaming children we encountered at least 4 were 2-yr-olds. Next, only take children who either do not need a nap or can nap out and about. We just made it on both accounts. Isaac can go several days in a row without a nap and Leah is still young enough to nap just about anywhere. Grace and Uncle Ben could have gone from sun-up to sun-down- however the rest of us were done after about 6 hours. Then, have your vacation planned out. You need to know what rides and activities you are going to do b4 you get into the parks or you really will waste valuable time walking around and waiting in lines for not-so-good rides/shows. Finally, be prepared to wait. We waited in lines for rides, to meet characters, to get food, to go to the bathroom, to get strollers, to catch the shuttle and to get into the parks. Lots of waiting and for little ones the day can get long fast. So to get through all of the waiting make sure you have a stroller; yummy, unhealthy, Disney World snacks; some souvenirs to play with; and of course an Uncle Ben to keep everyone entertained. Speaking of which, here is Uncle Ben now outside of Hollywood Studios doing a weird human strength trick on the "Line Begins Here" pole. Of course Grace and Isaac are fascinated. Well probably we all were.

And then the hi-lite of Isaac's trip, meeting Buzz Light Year. You know that I am that crazy mom who brought that costume all the way from NC with our carry on luggage (so we wouldn't risk losing it) so that my kid can be dressed to the nines when he meets his hero. He was so freakin' adorable.

On our second day we went to the Magic Kingdom. Leah and Grace loved sharing the stroller together. Plus it was a great place to eat Mommy's caramel/nut apple.

Family photo outside of Cinderella's Castle.

Uncle Ben fits right in.

So Grace took about 20+ "character" photos during our week. This was one of her favorites with Princess Aurora/Sleeping Beauty. Grace and I had a very special luncheon at Cinderella's Castle where she got to meet all of the princesses (except Snow White). She was so excited and we brought her Princess Aurora dress and accessories just for the luncheon. Grace wore her dress the rest of the day and loved the attention the WDW cast members (aka employees) paid her. It was quite evident that little girls dressed at princesses (and there were a ton of them!) were to be given special attention and addressed as princesses. It was adorable.

One of our favorite activities...shuttling back and forth from hotel to parks. haha.

In the Magic Kingdom there is a special ceremony for taking the flag down in the late afternoons. Grace got to say the Pledge of Allegiance for the ceremony! Isaac is standing up there too with another brother and sister. We were so proud of Grace. She said it perfectly!

Late night at the MK. Isn't the castle neat?

We had some rain on day 3 and decided to head to Epcot where there are lots of indoor rides. The best "ride" was the stroller wars between Sid and Uncle Ben.

And we got to meet Beauty and the Beast!

And of course no amusement park vacation is ever complete without a ridiculously large lollipop. This time Isaac did not fall asleep while eating it.

On day 4 we headed to the Animal Kingdom for a brunch with more characters. No I am not referring to Uncle Ben. I had a great time with my brother who I hadn't seen in two years. We talk, text, and email, all of the time, but it's just not the same. I miss him.

Poor Nana had to sleep with Isaac and Grace. She actually shared a bed with Grace which I warned against. Grace would wake up in the middle of the night, then wake up Nana and make Nana massage her! Of course Nana did. Nana had a taste of my life and what it is like to never sleep through the night!

And here is Nana and Loo. Loo got a cute little Minnie Mouse fleece.

Family photo before brunch with Donald Duck. Love it and I think it is the only one we have with all seven of us.

And finally Grace's hounding for some face painting was granted.

On our last day we headed back to Hollywood Studios. Here I am with the petrified Storm Troopers. Except they were not so petrified as one suddenly turned to me with gun pointed. Grace and Isaac almost wet themselves.

Loo, Isaac, and Uncle Ben getting ready to go on the BackLot Tour.

Isaac and Grace with their cheerleaders. Seriously. So apparently there was some huge cheerleading (CL) competition on Sunday/Monday and the CL were pouring into WDW by the billions (more than Obama's stimulus package). I know what some of you are thinking, "Serves me right." But other than the giant bows (and you know I love a good bow), the TONS of make-up and matching outfits I am starting to have a little more respect for the cheerleading activity. Seems that nowadays you may actually have to have some skill and talent rather than just wealthy, over-involved parents. Anywho, Grace and Isaac latched on to these two girls who played with them for about 45 minutes in the 'Honey I Shrunk The Kids' play area.

Sid and Loo in play area.

In HW Studios there are lots of shows. Here Grace and Isaac are dancing with a bunch of teenage singers/dancers. Kind of like the Fresh Beat Band. If you have no idea what I am talking about be thankful.

This is Leah walking in the hallway of our hotel. She loved to do this. We never figured out why. But she would cry when we would finally drag her into our room and shut the door.

Our gorgeous hotel. I highly recommend the Animal Kingdom Lodge, Jambo House Villas. There really is a Savannah with zebras, giraffe, etc right outside your balcony.

And finally. Uncle Ben needed a companion so he bought a monkey that wraps around your neck, and he wore him everywhere! Of course Isaac had to have one.....

...and so did Grace.

Happy Birthday to our littliest princess!

There is a small part of me that feels I should apologize for blogging so infrequently- but life just happens. The good news is that I finally got my computer back on Friday so now I am willing to download pictures. The really good news is that my kids seem to be getting better now that all three are finishing up their antibiotics. Yes, all three were on antibiotics at the same time. Grace and Leah had sinus inf with double ear infections and Isaac had (and still has) a sinus infection with a terrible cough. Isaac is strangely resistant to antibiotics even though he has only been on them 3 or 4 times in his life. It has been a long 3 weeks with all of them pretty sick. Of course I am now sick for lack of sleep. There was at least a straight week where I averaged about 4 hours of sleep a night. It was awful. I am so tired of cold/flu season. My kids have been almost constantly sick for 3 months. You would never know that they are not in daycare (Leah is not even in preschool) and were all breastfed babies. On the bright side my kids don't have allergies...so I do have that going for me. Anyway, we are all tired and just trying to recover.


Fortunately we have had Leah's 1st birthday to get ready for and look forward to. Grace and I have been working diligently on the princess theme that Grace deemed suitable weeks ago. All I am going to say is tiaras, pink feather boas, and pink, pink, pink! Her birthday and party were yesterday. Leah had to have her own personal ball pit for the party and she did enjoy it. The big kids had a little too much fun and we finally had to cut them off. Nana and Aunt L came up for the big event. Thank goodness! I kept Nana busy with the big kids and put Aunt L on the decorating committee, pre-party. I don't know what I was doing...a little of everything and all of nothing!

Here is the beautiful dining room table complete with pink roses, carrot cake, cupcakes with princess atop, fruit tray, pretzels, chips/salsa, and peanut butter celery. Note the boa in the chandelier.

I had everyone autograph Leah's plate, and guess how many kisses were in the dish. Aunt L painted this beautiful picture of Leah's party invitation. It was amazing.

We had lots of fun drinks for all ages, confetti on the table and a pinata for color.

And here sits the princess's throne. Yes, her high chair has a pink cover and a skirt for the tray. We had to have the most adorable polk-a-dot balloons and her tiara awaits her on her tray.

This is the show-off table. I have her birthday pictures up next to an infant picture and of course her scrapbook which is almost completely up to date!

We started the party off with some yummy food from Moe's catering. It was a big hit and I will definitely use them again.

Then a little game of pin the tiara on the princess.

Then time for the big event. I made Leah a very special carrot cake cupcake-from scratch. Her FAVORITE! (and it really is her favorite- she loves carrot cake!)

Big brother helped to blow out the pink polk-a-dot candle.

And then she digs in with her birthday cake bib.

And then I added some heath bar ice cream and of course that was a huge hit too.

Oh ya.

My two princesses. Grace was all about wearing her tiara too.

Our next event was the pinata. You are probably thinking that this is a weird event for a 1 yr old's party...but just wait.

The one-yr-old loved it and was very upset when she had to take turns!

We ended up staying up way past bedtime. But a great time was had by all. Nana and Aunt L did all of the clean-up which was the best gift of all as I was pooped! Leah was by far the best behaved child and literally did not fuss one time. I am kind of sad that she is growing up so quickly...that they all are growing up so quickly. But I guess that is what happens.

I know it's been forever...but...

...I really do have two good excuses! My first excuse is emergency related. Literally. Two days before Thanksgiving Isaac was "playing" on a wooden bench that sits at our kitchen table. I told him to get off of it. He jumped off backwards causing the bench to teeter and fall backwards...onto his big toe- and it nearly took off his toe. The lip of the seat part of the bench fell right below his toenail and took off all flesh except for about 1/4th of an inch of flesh that was hanging on the underside of his toe. It was bad-very bad. At first I thought the bench had hit his shin, but he was really crying and I was confused. I had already picked him up when I saw his toe. Blood was EVERYWHERE and when he saw it he panicked. I was cool, though. I kind of got the flesh back over his toe and gently got a towel around his foot. The baby was eating dinner and Grace and Isaac were about to eat. So I had Grace feed the baby while I got on the phone. After 10 minutes I did start to panic a little- I couldn't get Sid on the phone after many calls and texts and none of my neighbors were home. Sid was running late (:-)) and was in the one dead zone area by our house stuck in traffic. I didn't know where he was or when he would be home and I couldn't imagine taking all 3 of them to the ER; but it was looking like that was my only option. Isaac was in a lot of pain and bleeding. Finally my neighbor with the 5 kids got home. The daddy stayed home with the girls and the mom drove Isaac and me to the ER. Fortunately Sid got home about ten minutes later as I had left no instructions for the baby. We got to the ER and they took us right back. Took x-rays (nothing was broken) and did some "surgery" to repair the nail bed and sew on the bottom of his toe. They went ahead and took off the top. Seriously. We were in and out in two hours. My baby was in extreme pain for the next three days -he had serious pain meds that helped a lot. He slept with me and had a tough time for the first week. He crawled around after about 5 days and started walking after about 2 weeks. He just started wearing shoes again about 3 days ago. It's been fuzzy Crocs a size too big until now. The doc says Isaac is healing great and his toenail should eventually come back- though he makes no promises as to what it will look like. At least he is a boy- can you imagine if this happened to one of my girls and their big toe was forever maimed? Plus, Isaac is SO MUCH tougher than Grace. It broke my heart a hundred times to see his frightened face in surgery (they did it with him awake and restrained- it took too long and they said they should have put him under- yikes.), and the pain he was in had to have been worse than any labor pains he put me through- but he was still happy and resilient and NEVER complained. Never. That's my brave boy.
My next excuse is that my computer died. It died - I took it to the Geek Squad who had it for 5 days and they couldn't get the virus off of it- so we sent it into the IT guys at Sid's company. They still have it. Sid brought home a loner laptop for me. I am not supposed to load any software on it (ie no camera software so no pictures.) But since I still don't have my computer back (and it has been a month!) I did load the camera software so I could post some pics and work on my scrapbooks.
So those are pretty good excuses huh?! So below is a month of photos...with short captions. Here is Grace and Isaac's school Christmas program. Isaac is on the far right. Unless you know where he is you will never be able to see him, but you can try if you want to. Grace is not up yet.

The Kindergartners got actual "parts" in the program. Grace was the cow in the nativity. Here she comes....

And here she is singing some song I had never heard except for the 5000 times she played it on her karaoke machine at home in preparation for the program.

Grandpa came for a visit. This is the only picture I took! That is terrible. But all of the kids had lots of fun with him. Grandpa actually babysat for all 3 of them while Sid and I went to a Christmas party one night. Grandpa slept late the next morning.

Then we got a little bit of snow and of course that meant immediate sledding gear on and out the door.

Uncle Will came in from Arizona for Christmas. Cousin Margaret came over for dinner a couple days before Christmas.

Here is Leah on Christmas Eve morning. She is opening one of Sid's presents. So damn cute.

"Oh here you go, Mom. I am helping."

Christmas Eve...

In our Christmas pj's and ready for Santa!

Okay! Now it's Isaac's turn to hold Leah. (Everyone pray!)

Happy Birthday Jesus! And thank you Santa! Wow- check out the lute!

Leah loves the trampoline. Definitely a winner with all of the kids.

Grace and Isaac help Leah with her presents...b/c the 500 they just opened of their own were not enough.

Leah loves her puppy Violet...on the trampoline.

Grandpa got Isaac these giant blocks. They were also a huge hit.

Santa brought Grace an Easy Bake Oven. Here is her first masterpiece. Looks delectable doesn't it?

Santa brought Isaac some glow-in-the-dark stars...I am attempting to put them on the ceiling. It was a very big event.

All of the kids are now tired and ready for bed. Whatever.

And the biggest surprise for Christmas is that it began to snow that night. The next morning was a beautiful winter wonderland. Isaac and Nana built this snowman. And that is the end of our Christmas holiday story.