Thanksgiving 2013

We had quite the busy Thanksgiving like we always do!  Thursday morning we headed up to Monterey, IN and spent the morning there.  We left around 1:00ish and headed to my parents house for my family's Thanksgiving.  

The kids in Monterey at Scott's Grandparent's house (I was bribing them with candy for a picture)….

 
Cousins at my parent's house

 I look at this picture and all I can think is….poor Connor….he's the only boy!

 Friday, Scott and the kids spent the morning at his parent's house while my mom, sister and I did some black friday shopping in Indy.  We spent the rest of the day on Friday at my parent's house recovering from black friday shopping.

Ice cream with Cousins

 Saturday morning, we went back down to Indy for the Lindvall Thanksgiving.  We were the first ones there and Connor immediately went to the train.  He's beyond obsessed with trains and this kept him occupied pretty much the whole day!

 The cousins had a lot of fun at their table eating….

 Scott and I went out for a quick date night on Saturday while Scott's parents watched the kids.  We headed back home to Columbus after lunch on Sunday!!

Potty Trained

Connor's been going on the potty since May, but every time I decided to do 'underwear only' he'd have a messy accident and I'd put the pull-ups back on.  Towards the end of October I decided enough was enough and that we were giving up the diapers/pull-ups for good!  Lucky me, the first day I decided to do this, he of course had the runs.  We powered through it though and I'm so glad we did.  Since he had been going pee for so long on the potty, it didn't take him much time to get the hang of wearing underwear only…..#2 was another story.  For about 2 weeks, I cleaned up more poo than I'd like to remember.  At one point I told Scott that I'd buy him the whole store of toys-r-us if he'd just poo on the potty….and I was totally serious.  Luckily, it only cost me a $15 dollar thomas the train track before he did his business on the potty.  We had about 2 more accidents of poo after that….then one day at nap time I caught him before he went….stuck him on the potty and told him it was ok and that everyone did it.  He then went through almost everyone in the family reassuring himself that it was ok that he was going "Daddy goes, Uncle Ross goes, Nana goes, Papa goes…."  He then began cracking up every time one went in the toilet saying things like "That's a little one.  There's a mickey poopy. I see more."  He then made me shout "It's out, It's out" (I'm not joking….he made me say this).  He still cracks up every time he goes….he thinks it's the funniest thing!  He has been officially potty trained for a couple weeks now.  I'm sure we'll still have some accidents in the future and he does need reminders to go, but it feels soooo good that we are diaper free (with the exception of diapers at night).  He's been in underwear at naps for about a month now with no accidents.  And I'm happy to report that he woke up dry this morning after bedtime!!!!!!  Yay Connor!!!!

(By the way, I know no one cares about potty training, but I wanted to keep a record for  our sake)!

Disney-Day 4

We spent our last full day at Epcot and magic Kingdom.  The kids woke up earlier than they had been, so we were able to be one of the firsts in the park at Epcot.  This was my favorite day at Disney!!

While Papa took the kids to go see Pluto and to a boat ride, Scott, Nana & I rode on Soarin'! 

 Then we went to ride a 'Finding Nemo' ride

 Next, we went to see Crush...

 The kids then got to meet Mickey….

 Kisses for Mickey

 Goofy….

 Minnie….

 And Chip & Dale…..

 Connor could have stayed like this for the entire day….He loved all the characters!

 Nana & I took Connor on the boat ride

 Papa & Scott semi snuck Elli on Soarin' (she wasn't quite 40 inches, but they let her on anyways)

 After the rides, we ran (literally) over to Norway where we had reservations to eat lunch with the Princesses!

 Waiting to go in….

 First, we all got our picture taken with Belle (the picture of all of us is not on my computer…).  Belle kissed Connor on his cheek and he instantly fell in love….really!  During dinner, they were blowing each other kisses from across the room.  She came over to him and told him he was a little 'beast.' :)

 The Princesses took all the kids around the room.  Connor got to hold Princess Aurora's hand (I will try and post a video of this soon)...

 All the princesses came around to talk with the kids and take pictures with them….

 Connor had just fallen off his chair when Princess Aurora came up!  He recovered quickly!

 Big Hugs!!

 One last picture before heading out to Magic Kingdom.  As you can see, we're starting to enter into the stage where you say 'smile' and Elli gives a funny face.

 Elli wanted to get a picture by herself!

 Back at Magic Kingdom!

 We went to Pirates of the Carribean Ride…..And got stuck on there….

 We then did the Jungle Boat Cruise.  After that, Elli, Nana & Scott went on Barnstormer while we took Connor on Dumbo….

 Elli made it to ride Dumbo….

 Next, we did storytime with Belle.  This was really neat, but I'm not sure I'd wait forever for it….we did a fast pass and didn't have to wait in the long line.

 We did some shopping then rode a Winnie the Pooh ride.

Next was Buzz Lightyear….

 Nana & Papa were really into this game!

 Nana & Papa took Connor and Elli on a ride while Scott and I rode Space Mountain.  We ran back over to Fantasy Land and rode 'The Little Mermaid' and then ended our day at Magic Kingdom on the carousel.

 We rode the monorail to Epcot to finish out our evening.  Connor is now borderline obsessed with monorails.  We figured out the other day he was dreaming about one, as he woke up and kept telling me he wanted his monorail and he knew exactly where it was.  After talking to him a little more and a phone call to Scott, we realized he dreamt he had gotten a new, blue monorail that he had put in his cubby.

 We had dinner & watched the fireworks show at Epcot.

We really had the best time on this trip!  Elli's favorite things were the princess lunch, The little Mermaid Ride and Barnstormer.  Connor pretty much loved everything about this vacation.  He was such an easy, easy kiddo; even though, he didn't get much sleep.  After most rides he'd say 'I go again.'  And when we talk about Disney, which we do every.single.day he says 'I go again.'  It was fun, memorable, exciting, and yes….Magical!!  

Thanks Papa & Nana for a for an extremely wonderful vacation!!