Operation Christmas Child

Our MOPS group does OCC every year as our service project.  I told Kathryn about it this year to get her thinking about others and giving to those who need.  I told her we were going to pick out toys to send to a little girl her age some where else in the world.  She started asking what this girl looked like, where did she live, etc.  I told her that some one else would pick which little girl needed her box.

We went to the Dollar Tree to fill out her box (I already had a good stock pile in my craft closet).  She asked if there was a little boy that needed a box also.  I said yes and she went straight to the cars.

We packed our boxes this afternoon, mainly because all the stuff was on the stairs and we have small group tomorrow.

I think we are going to track them so I can show her where her box goes.  I'm so glad that she picked up on this so happily.

DISNEY (Part 2)

Wednesday (which was Eric's birthday) we spent the day at Epcot.  We rode Spaceship Earth first.  The kids loved it, not so much the dark part at the end, but Kathryn kept talking about the stars.

We went into "France" to find the princesses.  Kathryn met Sleeping Beauty, Belle & Marie (from the Aristocats).  We believe, can't be 100% sure, that when we met Belle again on Friday in the Magic Kingdom it was the same Belle.  If it wasn't, she sure acted like she remembered Kathryn.

We ate lunch in China, well Daddy brought food from Germany, but we ate in China.  Daddy & Kathryn rode Maelstrom while Andrew & I played around & made goofy faces.

We found Donald Duck in Mexico.

After a meet & greet with Mickey & Pluto we headed over to the The Seas presented by Finding Nemo & Friends (or it is called something like that...).  The kids liked the ride, but they really enjoyed the big aquarium full of fish.  We found Nemos & Doris.

After we left Epcot we headed to dinner with Eric's cousins.  We hadn't seen them since I was pregnant with Kathryn.  They now have a beautiful little girl and the kids loved playing with each other.

Thursday morning had to be Kathryn's favorite part of the entire trip.  We spent the morning having breakfast with Handy Manny, Special Agent Oso, Leo & June.  I think Kathryn would have peed her pants when she saw June if she didn't know that would have been a bad thing.  The restaurant had to be half empty so she got a lot of time with the characters.

I didn't post a pic of her with standing with June because this is what she really enjoyed.  Every 15 minutes or so the characters would get up front and dance to a Disney Junior song.  At one point she was the only child up there dancing with June.  She talked about that none stop all day.  Even now when she watches Little Einsteins she talks about how she danced with June.

We rode the Back lot tour.  There was a nice lady who offered to take our picture.  It may have been the best picture of us taken on the trip.

How Kathryn wanted to spend the entire trip....

We caught the Pixar parade.  A lot of the characters and dancers came by and said hi to Andrew & Kathryn.

Friday, our last day at Disney, the only thing that Kathryn wanted to do was meet Rapunzel.  So Mommy & Andrew started waiting in the line about 45 minutes before she was supposed to make an appearance while Kathryn & Daddy rode Dumbo.  She was so excited and Rapunzel spent a lot of time talking to her and complemented her shoes.  She loved it!

We had an afternoon snack, or at least the kids did.

We rode the tea cups.  Kathryn wanted them to go faster around.

We headed over to frontier land and found a Woody hat for Andrew.  We thought this was since we thought he was a little young for ears.

Once again we stayed for the fireworks.  This time we picked a spot out under where Tinker Bell flies off of the castle.  Andrew loved the "booms" and kept pointing to them.

We stayed in the Love Bug buildings but the kids loved to play at the Toy Story buildings.

On our way home Saturday morning we stopped at the beach in St. Augustine.  We (well... Eric & the kids) had a sea food lunch and then walked the beach.

We loved our week away.  And yes, it has been pointed out, that this seems like Kathryn's vacation, but Mommy & Daddy had a good time also and it was nice to not have to cook for an entire week!

DISNEY (part 1)

The end of August we took a family vacation to Walt Disney World.  This was our first real vacation without going to visit more family since Kathryn was 9 months.  It was time for a break.  We drove down on Saturday and spent the night in Orlando.  

Sunday morning we got up and were checking into the All-Star Movie Resort by 10 AM. We ate lunch at the resort and then headed into the Magic Kingdom.  The first thing we did once we entered the gates was to find Mickey Mouse!  Andrew was thrilled, as you can see, to be that close to a life size mouse.  Kathryn didn't really get too excited either at first, but as you will tell, she really got excited about meeting the characters as the day went on.

 

Daisy & Pluto were out front also.  We had to wait both times for each of them to "take a break" while we waited in line.

We rode a couple of rides and then headed back towards where Tinker Bell was supposed to be and happened to run into Peter Pan.  Peter asked Kathryn to go to Tinker Bell and tag her nose and say, "Peter says you are it!".  And she did!

Kathryn got a dusting of Pixie Dust from the nice lady guarding the entrance to Pixie Hollow.  She met Rosetta & Tinker Bell.  She did ask where the rest of Tinker Bell's friends were though.

We walked Swiss Family Robinson and rode Aladdin's Flying Carpet & Pirates of the Caribbean (it wasn't that great with the updates... just tied more into the movie, but it seemed shorter to me).  We stayed for the fireworks and then headed back.  It was a very eventful first day!

Our second day was spent at Hollywood Studios.  We were the last ones to meet Minnie Mouse at this spotting. 

We found the Disney Junior area.  Kathryn met Handy Manny and Leo & Annie from Little Einsteins.  We watched the Disney Junior Live on Stage.  Kathryn & Andrew loved it!

After the show we went to a building that had a few characters in it.  Kathryn was very excited to meet Mr. Incredible & Frozone.  I think she had watched The Incredibles every day for a month before we went.  When we first got in line, Elastigirl was with Mr. Incredible, but she had to leave.

We ate lunch at Pizza Planet which I think was Andrew's favorite part of the day.  There were aliens hanging from the ceiling and he got to eat pizza!

We waited in a long, but fun, line to meet Woody & Buzz.  Kathryn kept saying she didn't want to meet them because they were scary.  Andrew had a great time playing in the line.  Several photo ops were along the path.  By the time it was our turn for a picture both kids were crying and I forgot to give my camera to the photo people so we only had the Disney picture.

Tuesday was spent mostly at Animal Kingdom.  There were very few people when we first got there.  Kathryn & Daddy rode the dino ride three times and Kathryn kept asking to go back all day long.

There was a meet & greet spot that had Eeyore, Tigger & Pooh.  Kathryn didn't really want to meet them because it meant leaving the dino ride.

Family Photo Op

We watched "It is tough to be a bug".  Andrew screamed during the parts I couldn't shield him from.  It is 4-D so there's smells & poofs of air at various parts of the show.

After a safari ride & Rafiki's Conservatory we stopped for a snack.

We finally got to watch a parade. The first two days the parades were rained out.  Neither kid lasted through the entire parade and both were on our shoulders.

We left the park & headed to Downtown Disney for a little shopping and dinner at Planet Hollywood.

Stayed tuned for the second half of our trip...

she tried

Back in August we signed Kathryn up for dance classes.  Our local recreational center has classes for 3-6 year olds on Thursday afternoons for only $25 a month.  This is a steal compared to the actual dance classes around here.  Plus we figured it wasn't that big of an investment if it didn't work out. 

Thankfully, we went this option.  She lasted two months.  The last two classes she spent 95% of the time in the corner.  Late afternoons are just bad for her behavioral wise.  If she naps, she is nothing but energy.  If she doesn't nap, she is brat.  So 5:30 after a nap & a bite to eat, she won't stand still.  Yes, I know it is dance & she isn't supposed to be still.  But she would be lying on the floor or falling or jumping constantly. 

The last two classes I had to practically trick her into going.  Oh, if you go to dance we'll go to the coffee shop and get a treat... The last class she told the teacher she didn't want to come back.  I don't blame her.  Maybe we will try again next year.  Or maybe find a reasonably priced gymnastics type class where she doesn't have to be still.

But she was adorable in her dance clothes.

outside fun

Here are a few pictures of the kids playing outside. Nothing really exciting, and not all from the same day, but you can see them having fun.

yep, still around

I realized it has been two months since I've posted anything and we've done a lot... and there's more to come this month. I'll try to get a few new things up in the next few days, just don't hold me to it!