Baby Girl turns FOUR!!

Again, it has been forever since I have taken the time to sit down and right about our lives. I am going to regret the long absence as it is so hard to remember day-to-day life after it happens.
But, yesterday was baby girl's 4th birthday!!! We started the day with a few presents from Mommy and Daddy. Kaitlyn LOVES Frozen and there is hardly anything Frozen to be found these days. I waited in line for an hour at the Disney store a week ago to get 4 6" dolls and an Olaf book. CRAZY!!!
Anyway, Kait got the dolls, a Pink Shoe 4 doll Barbie set to go with a DVD she already has, the Olaf book, some legos, an Elsa dress that was made on Etsy since the Disney ones are impossible to find, and a doll outfit. Mimi send Kait some cash that she has already spent some of on a Beanie Boo that she has named Sparkle Pup and a Cinderella carriage that is actually a bubble maker. she and Colin have had a blast already playing with the bubbles. Gigi sent Kait's very FIRST AMERICAN GIRL doll. She was ECSTATIC!!! Her name is Caroline and Kaitlyn is loving changing her and caring for her throughout the day. :)
After presents, we played for a while and then went to the pool and Daddy went to get the kids Zaxby's which is a new fave of Kaitlyn's. We stayed at the pool about 2 hours, but Ryan and Mike left early because Ryan fought off a fever the majority of the day. Kait then got to spend an hour at her new friend, Sydney's house while I went to pick up her cake and the rest of the day was spent playing and going to get pizza last night.
Today we celebrated Kaitlyn with a friend Birthday party. It had a Frozen theme and Kaitlyn was thrilled. I worked hard getting all of the pieces together and got to the pool an hour early to lug everything in and setup. As soon as I got there, the skies turned a dark gray and the sprinkling rain started in. Nothing too heavy, but enough to keep me from setting up in the open area pool deck. The pool I chose was supposed to be notoriously empty here in our neighborhood, but I guess that secret is out because it was PACKED!!! 2 other parties were going on!! Because of the rain, I didn't get to start setting up until about 10 minutes before everyone got there. I wasn't changed in to my bathing suit...very behind considering I started off so early! I finally got everything set up about 3:45 and within 5 minutes I turn around and here yelling from a random mom to get out of the pool. We look down the pool length and there is a pool light out and hanging by a thread. I guess a child was climbing out and used it to get a boost and it worked loose?? Anyway, so 15-20 minutes into the party we were all sidelined indefinitely. UGH!!!
So, we got food and did Happy Birthday with cake and then just played around for a bit and then the party broke up about 4:30. Fastest birthday party in history. Then I told everyone that we would head to Osprey and take up there and what happens....but THUNDER!! I just can't win.
We finally called it a day with everyone at 5pm. Kind of anti-climatic that I spent all day preparing for her party and it only lasted 20 minutes. ugh!! Oh well...Kait didn't seem to mind and as everyone said...Check the box for Birthday #4. Invites - check, cake- check, friends - check, singing Happy Birthday - check. I guess the fact that we squished all of that celebrating into less than an hour can really be one for the books. AMAZING that we could move that fast through events. HA!
We ended tonight with opening of the friend gifts. Kaitlyn was thrilled with everything she got and cannot wait until tomorrow to get started playing. :)
Happy Birthday sweet girl. We love you to the moon and Back, "this much", and everything in between!!!

The Most Magical Place on Earth....DISNEY WORLD!!!

It has been FOREVER since I have updated the blog, but we did something truly momentous this past weekend...took the children to Disney World for the FIRST TIME!!! They were so excited and a little unclear as to what we were actually doing. :)
We surprised them Friday morning with Mickey Mouse T-shirts and away we went to Orlando. The kids were so funny because they just kept saying, "we are going to Disney Jr, we are going to Disney Jr." They just had no concept of what we were actually going to do.

We got there about 11:30 on Friday morning and got inside the park with our new annual passes and took a look around. Slightly overwhelming on your first time there with children...whew!

We started walking and ended up in the Circus area between Fantasy Land and Tomorrow Land. We went on our first ride, The Dumbo ride and got to meet our first characters, Donald and Goofy. Then we went on the rollercoaster over there. Kaitlyn and Ryan both LOVED it! After that, we walked a bit and checked out PeterPan, the teacups, It's a Small World, met Woody and Jessie, got a fast pass for Thunder Mountain, rode the Magic Carpet, went in the Swiss Family Robinson tree house, saw the Evil stepmother and step sisters, rode Pirates of the Caribbean, tried to find a Princess with no luck and finally made it until 6:45 at the park...7 hours and tired kiddos. We headed to a hotel right off of property and got ready to do it all again Saturday.

Colin woke us up bright and early at 6:45 Saturday morning and we were at the park by 8:45 and still had to take the tram monorail to actually get in. So we didn't see them opening the park. We went straight to meet Cinderella and Aurora, rode Ariel and Peter Pan, met Peter Pan, rode Thunder Mountain finally, had lunch at Pinochio's, rode Space Mountain twice (with Ryan in the front row BOTH times!!), rode the Buzz and Alien spaceship ride, and finally met Buzz. We had to leave at 3:45 because Kaitlyn passed out sideways in the stroller. It was time and the kids were exhausted!! We cannot wait to go back...maybe even this weekend. :)

 The kids just opened their surprise Disney Shirts

 We are HERE!!

 Our first ride on Dumbo

 Colin and Ryan got to meet Goofy

 Going Round

 and Round on the

 Teacups!!

 Meeting Jessie

 and Woody

 Awe, the Love for Cinderella

 And Sleeping Beauty!

 Peter Pan

 The only character that made Kait nervous...

 ryan on Thunder Mountain with Mike

 Waiting for the Buzz ride

 meeting Buzz Lightyear!!

Kaitlyn cashed out!! Can't wait to come back

my Mischievous Elves delivering presents to teachers...

September 11, 2013.

We are outside on the jumpy for the first time since we moved in. Ryan is off to his first soccer practice...ever. And I have to keep the little ones busy since they so desperately wanted to go too. This is Colin's first time in the jumpy. He had so much fun!! Permagrin marked his face. :)

Kaitlyn showed him how to do the jumping thing, but since he can't walk yet it wasn't working out as well as she hoped. Colin just crawled around and tried to copy big sister. Really was SO CUTE!