Disneyland

We spent 2 very full days in Disneyland.  It was the 2nd trip for both kids but Will's first "real" trip.  He was only 10 months old the last time.  We drove out to SD first and stopped over night - it was a horrible night.  Will had a nasty cold and that was his worst night.  He and I spent the night on the floor of my parent's family room so that he wouldn't wake anyone else up.  We caravanned up to Disneyland the next morning and here are the highlights in no particular order:

1. Sarah went on Space Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain and Star Tours.  Her comments:  "It was a a little bit scary.  I would only go on 1 more time Daddy.  I thought the comet was going to get me."  "I didn't like the dinosaur bones and I don't want to go on that again." AND after Andy tried to convince her Star Tours was real, she whispered to me half way through the ride, "Mommy, is this pretend?  I think this is pretend."  I promptly told Andy on the other side of her that his daughter totally just called him out!

2. Will grunting as he worked on turning the Tea Cups.
3. The wonderful addition of my cousin's family and her fantastic daughters who were a HUGE help, more than they know.  Sarah was so well behaved and just wanted to hold hands with the 10 year old.

4. Sarah's face after riding the little Go Go coaster with her cousins. 
5. Will and Sarah meeting Minnie.  They both loved her and Minnie gave Will a super cute nose to cheek kiss and he let her do it with a smile.

6. Will was not so sure about most of the story type rides (Snow White, Toad's Wild Ride, etc.).  He prefered the ones like Dumbo and the hot air balloon in A Bug's Life.
7. Sarah's loved the swings in the orange over at California Adventure.
8. Will shouting "Will's Turn" at the hot air balloon ride after he realized that rides are super fun and not having the patience to wait in a 20 minute line.
9. We missed the Princess Fair because Spring Break lines were so long.  Sarah was wonderful about missing what would probably have been her favorite part of the trip.
10. The cute Playhouse Disney show, that is wonderful for little ones, completely fixed Will's almost meltdown and kept him in a happy mood for the rest of the afternoon on Day 2.
11. My cousin's husband stating that Disneyland needs a Gammy Pass.  They so do but I don't know how they could police that.  My parents were a great help, especially my mom because she doesn't like the big rides much.  We were able to enjoy Pirates while Will was sleeping.  
12. I had a nice moment with my little man while everyone went in the Haunted Mansion.  He and I sat and listened to the music and watched the train come and go next to the ride.
13. Sarah informing her Gammy that they needed to stay up high on Dumbo so she could watch for her cousins who were off having breakfast.
14. Andy and the double stroller walking vs. the rest of us taking the train one stop to Toon Town.  Andy won by a good 15 -20 minutes.  The trains were running late, the line was long, they were not filling the trains and people were cutting in line.  It was very annoying and we felt a bit ridiculous for waiting so long when we were only going ONE STOP!
15. Eating LOTS of ice cream.
16. Our inability to get a family picture with everyone looking (forget the everyone smiling!).
17. Sarah's official favorite part (now a few days removed from the trip) was walking through Sleeping Beauty's Castle.  I have to admit they did a great job fixing it up.
18. Will's official favorite part was the spinning cups as he calls them.
19. Thinking we lost yet another hat of Will's at Disneyland only to find it the next morning buried in the stroller.
20. Will meeting Handy Manny and Goofy.  Unfortunately, Andy had the camera in another part of the park. 
21. The shocking truth that in 2 days at the park,  Sarah did not see 1 princess.  I think I had the only sighting with Cinderella as she hurried off to another part of California Adventure.
22. The surprise when we found out that the clock in our hotel room had not been changed for daylight savings and when we thought we had lots of time to make it to the park before opening, it was actually 8:45 AM!  That will teach us not to blindly rely on the hotel clock.  We had big plans to be at the rope on Main Street for opening. Oh Well!
23. Sarah telling me, like a pro, that I will love the Soaring ride since it was her 2nd time on and my first.  Hilarious!
24. Realizing that we probably shouldn't go to Disneyland when it's Spring Break (or summer for that matter).
25. We ended our trip on an evening ride on the railroad all the way around the park and then walked out of the park, pausing to watch the fireworks behind us.

All in all it was a fun trip and exhausting as usual.  I look forward to our next visit when there are not so many lines and people.

Family Meetings and More

This evening we had our first family meeting.  I decided that we would try to have one every Sunday evening.  I even made an agenda.  We set some basic family rules and I talked about why we're doing this.  Sarah gave lots of input and raised her hand every time (very cute!).  I want the kids to know how important the family unit is and also to know that they are truly a part of it. They (well, for now, just Sarah) get to give opinions and help make decisions.  I knew it was a success when Sarah raised her hand to ask if we could have a family meeting every night.  Our meeting was in 2 parts.  Part 1 was at the end of dinner and was required for those 3 and up.  Anyone young may sit at the table and participate until they get restless. :)  Then we had dessert and Part 2 was Mommy and Daddy only.  It was good for us too.  I needed to discuss a couple bills and some other small items of business with Andy.  It was a set time to do so and I was guaranteed to have his full attention instead of catching him right in the middle of something else.  So.... we will continue this every week and see how it goes.  Sarah has already decided that we will have pizza for our next meeting.

In other news, Sarah spent her quiet time today creating a classroom in her bedroom with the stool set up for the teacher and ALL her animals and dolls lined up in rows on the floor to be the class.  Surprisingly, she was not the teacher.  I was supposed to be the teacher because she's just a little kid and she was going to sit with her animals.  Although it wasn't exactly what I had in mind for a quiet time activity, she was quiet while doing it.

In still other news, Will is now scared of blowing leaves.  He squealed in the driveway today because he saw 1 LEAF blowing around near him.  It's hard not to laugh when he screams "A LEAF" but I guess it could be scary.  

Beds

I finally took off Sarah's grass skirt bed skirt.  Her room is a surfer's paradise so we put on a fun grass skirt when we got the room all together around when Will was born.  It was fun but such a mess. I found pieces of the skirt all over the house.  It has clogged my vacuum cleaner and now it is GONE.  HOORAY!!!  I ripped it off a couple days ago.  I am in the midst of picking out a new one.  For now it looks a bit empty and a bit too inviting for Sarah to take her pillow and blanket into the new "hideout".

Will is 2 now and Sarah was in a big girl bed by his age but.... I have no intention of moving him yet.  We moved Sarah because we needed the crib and because, when she was about 22 months old, we found her straddling the crib rail and shouting "I ride the Neigh (horse)!"  It was hilarious and nerve-wracking all at the same time.  Will however is a happy little guy in his crib.  I don't get many pictures of him sleeping but I snuck in the other night to get the following picture.  

I feel like it's almost a Where's Will picture since he is surrounded by his animals.  I love that he's only using half his crib.  He's usually only in the "top" half of his crib when I check on him before my bedtime.  He also has a ton of books in with him, a blanket and any number of animal friends.  Who knows where he would end up with a big boy bed - all the way up on the pillow??  We may eventually just take off a side of the crib but for now,  Will can stay my baby boy.

Yes - I know I'm loading today up with posts.  I started a couple of them over the last few days and was waiting to upload the pictures so there you have it.

Daddy Shirt

As many of you know, Andy mostly wears button down shirts (short sleeve or long sleeve).  It's what he's comfortable in.  Will now calls all his button down shirts Daddy shirts or says like Daddy.  It's adorable.  He keep picking them to wear because he wants to wear a shirt "like Daddy".

It's March

Since I thought it was such a fun idea of Colleen's to let the kids do a March Madness bracket, I pulled one out for just Sarah yesterday.  I figured that Will would probably just repeat every single name back at me instead of actually picking just 1.  Sarah and I sat down  with a placemat of the United States and a bracket and she picked her teams.  Some of her reasoning - places she's been, where Gammy lives, where we live, where her cousin Sofia lives, any state that is pink in her placemat and any resemblance to a Barbie song (Connecticut = Barbie Diamond Castle song Connected).

Here's her final 4:

Arizona

Connecticut (don't underestimate the power of sounding like a Barbie song)

Florida (pink)

North Carolina (pink AND she's been there)

She has NC winning it all.  

(PS to Pa-Paw she picked  OK 3 times - both teams)

I made a bracket as well and now it's a game to her.  I told her that if she has the most teams win then I will take her to Chuck E Cheese (her choice) but if I have the most teams win, she has to take me.  She thinks this is great.  She walked into my bedroom this morning to wake me up and asked if we could go see who won the game.  I had to explain that it's going to take awhile.  This may be a long couple weeks!  So far, I'm up 13 to 12 - pretty close match up!!

Tickle Me

I just listened to the following exchange:

Sarah "Will, may I tickle your feet?"

Will "Yes!"

Sarah "Tickle, tickle."

Will "Great!" (It didn't tickle him too much)

Sarah "Tickle me! Tickle Me! (lying on floor)

Will "Okay, tickle, tickle"

They crack me up.  I told Will he could say No Thank You to Sarah tickling him but instead he said Yes and giggled.  These guys are too funny!

So it begins....

We have entered American Girl territory.  Sarah's great grandmother (with the help of a wonderful neighbor!) purchased a Kit Kittredge (at least we think that's who she is) doll this weekend at a neighborhood garage sale, along with several outfits.  Personally I love the idea of American Girls with the stories that go along with the dolls.  I always thought Sarah would love that and now we can try it out without the crazy cost of brand new dolls.  I have a feeling we'll have to add to the collection but for now, Sarah has a doll that looks a bit like her to play with.  It will stay at Nini's house for the time being so that Sarah can play with her good friend Phoebe who also has a new doll and lives next door to Nini.  Hooray.  I will put up some doll pictures after Sarah has actually seen the doll. :)

Week or 2 in Review

I'm behind so here are some tidbits from the past week and then some.

Sarah decided to make Will a girl the other day.  She wrapped a blanket around him and called it a gown.  Then she went searching for a hair clip that she doesn't wear anymore to put in his hair. She informed me that she only likes girls and so she's going to make Will a girl because she likes him.  I had to tell her that she can't just make him a girl with a dress and bows.  I also told her that if he doesn't want the bow in, then she needs to listen and leave him alone.   Why I even bothered with this instruction, I'm not sure since I know that my little boy is always up for humoring his big sister.  And so, for the 2nd time in 2 weeks, Will ended up with a beeeee-U-tiful pink bow in his hair.  At least she left off the pretty Sleeping Beauty shoes this time.

The best picture I could get of the first time she dressed him up because he wouldn't sit still.  He just wanted the camera.

Parent/Teacher conferences were last week and I was happy to find out that my girl is a much better listener in class than at home.  She is doing great in most everything.  The teachers pointed out that she is very sensitive to other people's feelings and doesn't get involved in the whole "You can't play with me" game that some other kids do right now.  She plays with most people in class (I read that as just the girls!).  The best part was to hear that she's become quite the runner and really enjoys the class time with Coach now.  My daughter's athleticism has been slow to develop and it's nice to know that she's starting to enjoy more than just dancing and swimming, which brings me to....

A bump up in classes at swimming!  I know this sounds like she's doing the crawl across the pool, which she isn't, but this is mostly all about massive improvement.  As I have mentioned before, Sarah has never been scared of the water but she has lacked any sort of confidence in the water.  She started last fall in the 201 class and is now in 401.  She throws herself in the pool and I think they start working on some arm motion this session.  She also loves the mini kid slide which is very new.  Her beloved Coach Crystal even noted a week or 2 ago that she seemed so confident now.   That's a huge deal for us.  When Sarah's doing something new confidence is the big problem.  Swimming is the first activity (outside dancing) that Sarah loves to do.  I hope she continues.  I love to watch her at swim lessons. Hooray!

From swimming we go to the stage!  Sarah's class "performed" Beauty and the Beast (original story, not Disney) earlier this week.  Their teacher put on the book on tape and after a few rehearsals, the kids acted it out for a small audience.  Sarah was Beauty, the other girls in class were her sisters.  She LOVED it.  She was a little bit shy but just adored doing it and wants to know when they are doing it again.  Yesterday she informed that she would be putting on a show.  She asked her brother if he would be the handsome prince and told Daddy to direct.  I was just the stage hand and she would star.  She then informed me that we would be putting the show on at Target because they have a stage.  Hmmmm.... sounds like a much fancier Target than the one we go to.  She told me not to tell her teachers or anyone because it was going to be a surprise.  So cute.  I guess we'll have to do some little acting camp or class or just put on some shows at home.

Sarah being taken to the beast by her "dad" and then Sarah kissing the beast and turning him into a handsome prince.

2009-2010 registration for school is going on right now.  Sarah will officially be going to All Saints for Pre-K which is where Andy works now.  In surprising news, Andy learned that Sarah is already at the top of her class next year with the top admissions score. OK - read that again and then remember that she's 4.  It made me laugh too.  I'm proud of her but I also know that she's not a genius.  She went in for the 30 minute admissions test in January without Mommy.  Will and I waited outside.  She was very, VERY shy about it but I guess she did just fine. 

I turned in paperwork yesterday for Will to head into the pink door at Sarah's current preschool with the wonderful teachers that Sarah had last year.  That's a bit exciting because I have a feeling he will absolutely love it and he will have several friend already with him.  Which means.... I have about 5 months to get him potty trained!  Wish me luck.  

And - here are some more recent pics:

Sarah showing me the paper dolls I made for her to color and Will in Sarah's pink towel.