Valentine's Day

Disneyland

Tim and I have been wanting to take the kids to Disneyland for a while now. We had a trip all planned early last fall (tickets booked, house reserved and paid for), but we were planning to go with the VanderStappens, and they backed out. So we cancelled the whole thing. The idea of taking all four kids to Disneyland with only the two of us to supervise just didn't seem reasonable.

So, new plan. In January I decided we were going to make it work. I wanted Mason and Brielle to go while they are still young enough that everything is real, but old enough to ride everything. The timing was just perfect. Instead of trying to find someone to come with us, we got our parents to take turns watching Ava and Eric. It was a good decision.

Mason and Brielle couldn't have been more excited and it turned out to be an amazing trip.

We left around 5:30 on Tuesday morning to catch an early flight. We could have left any time, though, because no one slept. We had excited little kids visiting our bed all night. They each got to pack a little backpack that we got from Get Away Today. Every little detail like that was so exciting and wonderful to them. They loved the flight. Bri was a little nervous to take off but they both did awesome on both flights.

As soon as we got to California, we rented our car (a tiny little toy car) and went straight to the park. We spent our first day at California Adventure. We made the mistake of picking the most intense ride in the park as our first one, and went on the Tower of Terror. Brielle was terrified. She was crying before we even got on the ride because the line was pretty spooky. I felt terrible. But she warmed up to the rides pretty quickly after that. And by the time we left, she said it was one of her favorite rides.They also loved Cars.

We had tickets to a princess lunch, but it was at an odd time so we tried to get in all the rides we could before it started and then we were starving and exhausted by the time it started. I think I may have been more excited to see all the princesses than the kids were.

The highlight of the day was probably the parade. At both parks, actually. We came across one by surprise, and Mason and Bri were so excited and enthralled. It was perfect.

We spent the next day and Disneyland. It was so different seeing everything through kids' eyes. It is a lot darker and more creepy than I remembered it being, and they both kept getting a little scared. They loved all the rides, but mostly Space Mountain and the Star Wars ride and Splash Mountain. I took Mason on Indiana Jones but he kept his eyes closed the whole time and I didn't blame him.

Mason was really into the characters. He got to meet Spiderman and spend a few minutes talking to him because there wasn't a line. He got to become Ironman, which was really fun. He went right up to Mickey and gave him a big hug and I though my heart might burst.

We waited for the night parade and I'm glad we did, even though the workers kept making us stand up. It was the perfect way to end the day.

It was also Brielle's birthday that day. She turned five in Disneyland which sounds perfect to me, but she said she just wanted everyone that she loves to come over and eat cake for her birthday. It's the simple things, I guess. She is just the sweetest little girl. She is loving and good and her mind is filled with so much wonder. Everything is special and amazing to her right now. Every day is the best day ever. It is really a blessing being her mom.

On the last day of our quick trip we went to the beach. We grabbed some sand toys and a few gallons of water to wash up, and headed to Santa Monica before our flight home. I could've spent every day of our vacation at the beach. I loved the parks, but...the ocean! The kids couldn't have had more fun, either, and none of us wanted to leave.

I was so happy to see Eric and Ava when we got home, I missed them so much. I can't wait to take them next time!

  

Ava is Three

Ava is now three years old. I feel like she has been three for a while now, because she was two by the time she was one. She's been in a hurry to grow up. Our little Ava is the sweetest little thing ever. She is so independent, so fearless. She climbs and runs and jumps around and cannot hold still. She is hilarious and always a surprise, but not really a surprise, because everyone knows that she'll do anything.

Ava is a professional cuddler. She comes to our bed bright and early every morning and crawls in between us and puts her little around a neck and just snuggles in tight. Usually she drives us crazy by kicking around all morning, but sometimes she comes in and goes right back to sleep. And that's the best because her hot breath on your face while she shares a pillow is pretty priceless.

Ava has some imaginary friends, usually Macy and London. They do everything together. And all day long she tells stories about her friends and their shenanigans. "My friends...." is phrase I hear a hundred times a day.

Ava is so good and kind. She just wants friends and she is trying hard to get along with the other kids in Nursery. She doesn't like to get pushed around though, so a lot of the time she plays by herself. When her friend Remi comes over, she is in heaven. It is all about friends.

I love Ava. I love her spunky personality and her tender spirit. She's the best.

Happy New Year!

For New Year's Eve we invited our friends Becky and Jeron Larsen and they little guy JJ over for the night. Actually, they probably invited themselves, because they are much better at remembering to make plans with friends than we are.

They came, we ate, we played, we talked. JJ slept in the pack'n'play in the boys room and that went great. It was fun hanging out with them, we miss living right across the street. And I won Blokus 4/5 times. So, success.

Christmas Twenty-Fifteen

Since we don't have a ton of room in our apartment for decorations, our Christmas was pretty simple this year. We set up a couple of small trees with colored lights and the decorations from the trees that were downstairs in the Perry house. There some other knick-knacks here and there.

We did get into the Christmas spirit, though. We saw Santa AND the Grinch. We listened to holiday tunes non-stop. We read Christmas stories. The magic of Christmas is so wonderful.

We had a little party with the Arbons like we do every year, but this year it was toned way down. We didn't do a cousin gift exchange because most of the cousins are old enough that they aren't that interested. We skipped the adult gag gift game, too, and just hung out and ate lasagna.

Christmas Eve was spent with the English family. We had the traditional Mexican food, sang Happy Birthday to Granny, and acted out the Nativity. The girls that that was so special. They took turns being Mary, and they've been pretending to be Mary for days since then.

We tracked Santa on our phones, which Mason loved. Then he came to our house! The kids took turns waking up throughout the night, but luckily no one spotted the big man! We record Christmas morning on the video camera, so there aren't any pictures.