Disney Trip 2016 Day 3

We spent the morning of day 3 at Epcot.  Connor's magic band fell of the night before somewhere (either at the park or on the monorail).  We were able to get him a new one that morning and made it to the park within a few minutes of it opening.  

 We immediately went to Test Track and waited in line for it.  We also did Journey Into Imagination with Figment, The Seas with Nemo & Friends, Talking with Crush, and Spaceship Earth.  Elli and I  really enjoyed Spaceship Earth- that was the first time we had been on that ride.

 After we rode the rides, we walked around the World Showcase and got on a boat to Hollywood Studios.  The boat ride was a bit of a stressful part of the trip for us, as Elli and I got separated from Connor and Scott briefly.  We all met up at Hollywood Studios.

Our good friends, Kelli, Garrett & their kids, live in Orlando.  We've been able to meet up with them each year for the past 3 year since they moved from Ohio to Orlando.  It was soooo good to see them…we miss living near them so much!  The kids loved seeing each other and had so much fun playing with together!

 Waiting in line for The Great Movie Ride.  This was our first time on this ride and I loved it!

 It was a little scary for the kids, hence the ear covering! After the ride, we went and saw a Car Show and rode Toy Story Mania.

 After Toy Story Mania, we went to the Star Wars ride!  Connor was so excited for this since he's really into Star Wars.

 Waiting for the ride to start….

We grabbed a quick dinner then rode The Tower of Terror.  We're not really sure why we let the kids ride this, as it's a little intense.  Connor says it's his favorite ride and Elli said she didn't want to get back on it :)

 Kelli & Garrett gave us some of their fast passes to watch the Fantasmic show!  This was our first time watching this show and we loved it!

It was a late night, but we had such a good day.  We absolutely loved spending time with our friends and are looking forward to seeing them hopefully sooner rather than later!!

Disney Trip 2016 Day 2

We spent our second day at Magic Kingdom.  We woke up early and made it to the park within about 10 minutes of it opening.  We did so many rides at the start of the day, as the lines were not very long.  Elli wasn't too interested in seeing the princesses this time we went, so we didn't really have to wait in line for any character meetings.

 We got to the park early enough to ride Big Thunder Mountain (twice) without waiting in line.  We were also able to ride Barnstormer….these are two of the kids favorite rides.

 In the boat ready for It's a Small World.

 Waiting for Astro Orbiter to start.  This is the first time we had ever been on this ride.

 I witnessed the scariest ride of the trip, which was Tomorrowland Speedway.  Elli is by far the worst driver I've ever been in a (fake) car with.  She kept saying "mom, it won't let me drive because it has that big line in the middle of the road."  Um, yes Elli….that's what is keeping us alive right now.  I'm pretty sure I got whiplash from this ride!

 We caught a quick show at the castle in the afternoon!

 We waited for Storytime with Belle which was one of the longest waits we had there.  Connor was a part of the story and was one of the plates.

 The only picture we got with one of the princesses.

 We got stuck on Walt Disney's Carousel of Progress, which I didn't even think was possible.  During this trip, I realized that I'm getting old because I really enjoy 'rides' like this.

In Magic Kingdom this day we were able to do the Little Mermaid ride, Big Thunder Mountain twice, Mickey's PhilharMagic Show, Dream Show at the Castle, The Haunted Mansion, Tomorrowland Transit, Enchanged Tales with Belle, It's a Small World, Peter Pan, Astro Orbiter, Barnstormer, Country Bear Jamboree, Swiss Family Treehouse, Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, Move It Shake It Dance & Play Street Party, Carousel of Progress and Disney Festival of Fantasy Parade.  After Magic Kingdom, we got on the monorail just so we could ride it once.  We had such a good day and so much fun!!

Disney Trip 2016 Day 1

Before leaving Columbus, we had some great mentors from our church come speak to our life group.  One of the couples suggested taking a family vacation or doing a long weekend away with just your spouse and kids each year.  We loved that idea and decided that we'd do that every year.  Elli and Connor are perfect ages for Disney, so we decided to take them on a long weekend that they didn't have school.  Emery went to stay with my parents at the beach in Florida and she absolutely loved it!  

We told the kids a week before the trip where we were going.  We picked them up at school on Friday and headed straight for the airport.  

 The kids loved the Indy 500 car at the airport.

 I sat with Connor and Emery (I'm really not sure how I ended up with the most difficult child) on the airplane.  Emery did pretty well on the way there (the way home was a different story) and slept for about 25ish minutes.  We told her the plane was about to get loud and she covered her ears….

 My parents met us at the Orlando airport and took Emery as soon as we got our luggage.  We took a Disney bus from the airport to our resort. We were so excited to be there.

 We dropped our stuff off at our room and decided to head to Disney Springs for the night.

Valentine's Day

 We did a quick, pre-Valentine's Day photoshoot since we weren't all together on Valentine's Day!  Four of us spent Valentine's Day at Walt Disney World and Emery spent it at the beach.

It's so hard to get a good picture of all 3 kids because this usually happens…..

Happy Belated Valentine's Day

4.5 years old

Connor officially turned 4 and a half years old on February 16th!  He's growing and changing so much!  

 Connor loves all things boy!  He still loves trains, airplanes, boats, cars, trucks, and tractors.  He has recently become obsessed with Star Wars despite never seeing the movies.  His favorite show is Superwings and Jake and the Neverland Pirates.

 These days, Connor loves to sword fight and play mariokart on the wii.  He often wins when he plays against Elli and always has a smirk on his face when the race is over.  Connor still loves riding bikes, driving his gator, and being outside.

 Connor has pretty much completely given up his nap.  The only time he takes one is when he's been up late the night before or if he is sick.  He goes to bed around 8 at night and sleeps until about 7:30 or 8:00 in the morning.

 Connor has adjusted pretty well to his new school.  He stays pretty close to his cousin, Avery, at school.  They have become best buds since we have moved here.  He started basketball in January and really enjoys it.  He's definitely improved since he's started.

This kid is so much fun to be around!  He's pretty shy, but acts so crazy at home.  Connor's constantly wanting to have a wrestling match with Elli or Scott.  We feel so blessed to have this boy!

17-18 months old

It's so hard to believe that the baby of the family is now 18 months old!  This girl has quite the personality and loves doing things with her big siblings.  She loves giving out hugs and kisses (to me and sometimes her dad) and has the biggest smile!

Emery still loves staying close to my side during the day, but tolerates not being with us. She still loves Connor.  She didn't see him for about 4 days a few weeks ago and just loved on him for a good 5 minutes while we were on a bus ride to the airport.  Elli has been doing pretty good playing with her lately, but Emery has started doing this scream when Elli gets too close to her.  

Emery is slowly starting to talk more.  She has about 15 words that she says.  They are mainly prompted by me.  She is saying 'mom, more, ball, boat, dog, cat, up, down, yeah, hot, dad, bath' and a few more that I can't think of right now.  Her newest word is 'love.'  It's so funny to see her say this, as she really gets her tongue moving.

Emery is a decent eater and loves to dip all her food in ranch or ketsup.  We adopted this habit after her 15 month appointment where we were trying to get additional calories in her.  I'm happy to report that she gained a little more than 2.5 pounds and is back on the growth charts!  She loves using utensils, but is an extremely messy eater.

We saw a new surgeon a few weeks ago here in Indy.  He believes her hernia is gone and that the cosmetic part of the surgery was never performed, which might be best for her development.  We need to just keep an eye on it in case it comes back.

Emery loves playing with her toys.  Her favorite things are boats, airplanes, and animals.  She loves being outside and has recently been listening for airplanes in the sky.  She has started doing summersaults and just took her first gymnastics class on Friday.  Emery is sitting for a little longer while watching T.V.  Her favorite show is Superwings on Sprout.

This little girl is growing so quick!  We love watching the new things she learns each day!

Birthday Parties

This year, Elli's birthday fell on the exact day that we were moving into our house.  We planned ahead and had two separate birthday parties for her since we couldn't fit both sides of our family into our apartment.

The first party was at Nana and Papa Lindvall's house!  We stayed the night at their house and had a breakfast lunch for Elli on Saturday with her favorite foods.  They also got her an ice cream cake and the kids got to decorate her big cookie!

The second party was on the kids' day off of school!  We went to build-a-bear and let the kids make a stuffed animal!  We also had pizza, ice cream and presents after gymnastics that evening!

Elli requested Max and 'Erva's' (Erma's) for dinner on her birthday.  We had every intention of fulfilling  that request, but things got a little overwhelming and stressful the day we moved into the house!  We randomly bring up the fact that we still need to go there for dinner and soon we will!