Anna Grace 15 month check-up

Anna Grace had a check-up this week. She now weighs 24 pounds and 4 ounces and is 30.5 inches. She is doing great in all developmental areas. Our doctor was very impressed that she picked up a book, started flipping the pages and making sounds. He said that might not seem like a big deal, but it is great that she is able to do these things at such a young age. Anna had to get three shots. She barely even cried.

Anna Grace is changing so much everyday. Her little personality comes out more and more each day. She loves to giggle and play with Brooke. She loves to give Brooke hugs and kisses too.

Anna is still a great sleeper. She always sleeps through the night and goes to sleep on her own with no problems. I was blessed with two great sleepers and I am so thankful since I love my sleep.

Anna Grace loves to play outside. She will stand at the door and cry until you take her outside.

I love watching this little girl grow up. I cannot wait to see what the future holds for her.

Weekend recap

We've had a pretty good weekend considering I have been sick all weekend. I woke up Friday with a sore throat, but went into work. I've been feeling worse as the days go by.

Trey has really stepped up. He's been doing more with the girls and letting me rest. I am so thankful for him and hope he doesn't get this cold.

Saturday we traveled to McDonough for a get together with my extended family. I really didn't feel like going, but I had not seen my family in several years. It was nice to get to spend a little time with my aunts, uncles and cousin. It was their first time meeting my girls. Brooke acted shy for about 30 seconds. Then she was her normal boisterous self. No one could believe that she is only three years old. Anna Grace had fun as well. She really liked one of my uncles and kept going back to him with her arms outstretched so he'd pick her up.

We were also planning to go to Oconee County's Relay for Life. The girls made luminaries in memory of my dad and in honor of Trey's mother, so we really wanted to get pictures of the luminaries. I was just too worn out and felt miserable. That is my only regret from this weekend.

It is Sunday morning and I'm still feeling pretty bad. Trey took the girls to church this morning. Hopefully, I'll turn the corner soon.

Playing outside

The weather was great last week. Every night we went outside to play after dinner. Anna Grace loves playing outside. We have to watch her constantly. She climbs up the stairs to the big slide by herself. She is definitely more daring than Brooke was at this age.

Nap time

Last weekend, Brooke fell asleep on the floor. Anna Grace was ready to play, though. I cannot believe Brooke slept through all this.

Disney Tips

To conclude our Disney posts, I thought it might be helpful to include some of our tips.  These are some things that we have learned in our 2 trips over the last couple of years.

1. Be flexible especially with young children.  I like to keep my girls on a schedule especially when it comes to sleeping.  Before our first trip in July 2011, I worried that 20 month old Brooke would not be able to handle any changes to her schedule.  She did great and even took naps in the stroller.  I was less worried this time with Anna Grace.  She also napped in the stroller.  She really loved staying up later too.  She was always in a great mood and seems to have gotten back on her schedule since we have returned home.

2.  Take your own food if possible.  We only took lunch to the park one day, but tried to eat fast food either before or after our visits on other days.  The food in the parks is ok, but it is just not worth the price in my opinion. 

3.  Don't bother with the park hopper.  We actually have never purchased the park hopper, but I really don't see how or why anyone would want to do this.  Maybe if you are only going to be in Orlando for a couple of days and want to do as much as possible, it is worth it. But if you are going to be in town for 3 days or more, I say stick to one park each day.

4.  Use the fast pass system.  Never wait in line for a ride that has a fast pass available.  Use the single rider line if that is an option. It is amazing how fast those lines move.

5. Don't put off a trip if you think your kids are too young.  Before our first trip, many people told us that we shouldn't go because Brooke was too young and wouldn't enjoy it/remember it.  It is true that she doesn't remember it, but we do like to look at the pictures for that trip and tell her about it.  As far as enjoying it, she had a blast as did Anna Grace this time around.  Now if you think you will only go one time in the next 20 years, you probably do want to wait until your kids are old enough to remember it. 

6. Consider walking from the parking lot to the park.  We noticed a few times that we seemed to be pretty close to the entrance of the park. Instead of waiting on the tram, consider walking to the entrance. This is especially helpful if you have young children in a stroller. It can be a pain to fold up a stroller and get into the tram with it folded up.

7. Decide what to do with your eyes, and not just your smartphone app.   A couple of times we made plans based on what an app told us our wait time would be.  We chose not to do something because it would take too long.   When we actually got to the attraction, the line was not as long as we were led to believe.  By the same token, go to the park YOU want to go to on the day YOU want to.  I think every day was a "red" or extremely busy day at the park we chose to go to.   The crowds and waits were never extreme.

8.  Know your restaurants ahead of time if you don't have reservations.   Our biggest moment of frustration was picking a place to eat Saturday. 

9.  Ask the cast members questions.  We found out about an unscheduled Snow White meet and greet just by asking a photographer.   Found out that Jasmine had a meet and greet scheduled that was not "on the board".   Don't be afraid to ask.

10.  Each park has a "Baby Care Center"    If you have an infant or toddler, know where it is, and use it.   Use it every time you get near it.  Sure you can change in the restrooms, but this is better....WAY better.  It is especially nice if you have more than one child.  We were able to take Anna Grace in to change her diaper and the other girls went in the play room and watched tv.

Mother's Day 2013

I had a great day. Trey cooked omlets for us this morning. Then I opened my gifts. I got a pedometer, coffee and jacket. We went to Buffalo's for lunch after church. Then we came home for a few hours before heading to some friends for a small group. I am so thankful for my two little girls. I also got several homemade gifts that the girls made at school and Sunday school.  Of course, these gifts meant more to me than anything else I received.

Brooke with the buffalo

Brooke made this at school. Not sure why she thinks my favorite drink is watermelon juice.  I love that she wrote her name by herself!

 

Another one from school

Anna Grace's school gift

Anna Grace's Sunday School gift

Brooke made this one in Sunday School. Her answers: we have picnics, she brushes my hair, she plays with me, she gives me hugs and she makes special things.

Happy Mother's Day

Great morning with my family. Time for church. I love being a mom to these two girls.

Disney Princess Pictures

Ok, I really need to finish the Disney posts.  This post will be all about Disney princesses. Our last post will be on Disney tips. 

When you have a house full of girls, meeting Disney princesses will be tops on the list of things to do at Disney.  I love it that the princesses always spend time with all the little girls. They talk to each of them and pose for several pictures.  And we also had autograph books for each girl.  Audrey isn't into the princesses as much now as she used to be, but she was great taking her little sisters to meet them.  Brooke loved them all.  The only princess we didn't get to meet this time was Merida.

The girls met Cinderella, Rapunzel, Aurora, and Snow White on Thursday morning when I was in my conference.  I hate it that I missed our on this special time with my girls. But Trey managed to get some great pictures.  I love it that the princesses always hold Brooke's hand i nthe pictures. So sweet.

 

We all got to meet Ariel when we returned to the Magic Kingdom on Thursday night.

 

We met Mulan at Epcot.

 

And also had our special moment with Belle at Epcot.

 

We saw Jasmine on Saturday at the Magic Kingdom and Aladdin was with her.  In the first picture, Aladdin is pointing and trying to get Anna Grace to look in the direction of the cameras.  Anna Grace starting pointing too and it was so cute.

Tiana and Prince Naveen.  They were also very sweet to the girls.  They gave the girls big hugs when they first walked up.  Tiana kissed Anna Grace on the cheek when it was time to leave.

Finally, Pocohontas at Animal Kingdom.

Disney World Day 5 - Animal Kingdom

We visited Animal Kingdom on our final day in Orlando. This was also our travel home day, but we wanted to spend a few hours at Animal Kingdom before hitting the road.  We also made reservations for breakfast at Tusker House. We ate their in 2011 and really enjoyed it.

We first went to the dinosaur area and rode the flying dinosaur ride.  There was another ride in that area that we wanted to ride, but Brooke was not tall enough so we skipped it.  As we were walking to the Pocohontas meet and greet, we went by Expedition Everest.  It is a roller coaster that has a single rider line.  The line was super short, so Trey and I took turns riding it. 

Then the girls lined up for Pocohontas.  While they were waiting in line, I went and grabbed fast passes for the safari ride.  After pictures with Pocohontas, we went to Tusker House.

We all got our picture made with Donald before going inside.

Daisy, Goofy and Mickey all made their way around the restaurant and stopped at each table.  Anna Grace loved all of them.  She loved touching them and smiled at them.  The kids also got to get up and dance around the restaurant with Goofy and Mickey.

 

After breakfast, we rode the safari ride. We got to see lots of animals close up. After the ride, it was getting close to 1pm, so we decided it was time to hit the road. We had a great trip and hopefully will be back in 2014 to celebrate Brooke's 5th birthday!

 

 

Disney World Day 4 - Magic Kingdom

Our final full day was spent at Magic Kingdom. The park opened at 9 and we made it there by 9:30.

Our first stop was the barber shop. Trey had read online that you can ask for pixie dust at the barber shop. I expected the pixie dust to be about the size of glitter, but it was actually more like confetti.  Brooke didn't want to lose her pixie dust and asked several times throughout the day if she still had her pixie dust.  It was pretty much gone by the end of the day.

 

Showing off their pixie dust

I really wanted to check out the new Belle attraction, but Trey wanted to go to Adventureland to see if we could find Jasmine. There was no wait for Aladdin's carpet ride, so the big girls and I got on. Trey and AG walked around until they found Jasmine's meet and greet spot. We got off the ride and had to wait a few minutes. Aladdin was with Jasmine. He was definitely more entertaining than Jasmine.

After meeting Jasmine, we headed to Pirates of the Caribbean. There was a very short wait. The girls loved it.

We finally made our way to the Belle attraction. There was a 40 minute wait. We decided to wait since it might be an even longer wait later on. It was worth the wait. Belle comes into the library and acts out a play with the kids. Belle gave the girls bookmarks at the end.

Waiting to go into the library in Belle's castle

It was time to eat lunch, so we made our way to the baby center to change AG. Then we wasted some time just finding a decent and not too expensive place to eat without a huge line. We ended up in Tomorrowland. By the time we got settled, both little girls were asleep in the stroller. We ate and put the little girls food away.

 

We went by Space Mountain and picked up fast passes. Then headed to the area with the dumbo ride. The girls woke up, so we let them eat. We picked up fast passes for the barn stormer roller coaster. Then we got on the train and rode around the park.

It was time to ride the roller coaster when we got back. We had to take turns since AG couldn't ride. Brooke and I rode first. I was a little nervous for Brooke. This was her first roller coaster ride. She loved it! At the end, she said "can we do that again". While Trey and Audrey rode the coaster, Brooke played in the new water play area. We would have brought the girls bathing suits if we knew about this area.

We then headed to Space Mountain. I felt a little guilty leaving the girls to ride something by myself, but it was so worth it. Trey took the girls on the Peoplemover while I was on space mountain. Trey took his turn on space mountain and the girls and I waited for him.

We took Audrey back to Adventureland to get beads in her hair. I went to the dole place to get a dole whip. I had to wait in line about 30 mins. By the time I made it back to the hair place, Trey and the girls were gone. I has been trying to communicate via text message and had called and left messages, but Trey was not checking his phone. I just found a table near the hair place an ate my dole whip. Trey and the girls finally showed up. They has a dole whip to share as well, but it had melted a lot by the time they got there.

Trey picked up fast passes for splash mountain and made sure Brooke was tall enough to ride. We then had time to kill so we went and rode the haunted mansion. We also made our way to Tiana's meet and greet spot. Prince Naveen joined her.

Our final ride was splash mountain. I tried to get Brooke to ride with Trey, but she insisted on riding with her mama. I really didn't know how she'd take the big drop at the end. I tried my best to prepare her as we waited in line. She enjoyed the small hills and everything else about the ride. As we approached the big drop, I warned her and told her that she would be fine. I watched her during the drop and she had a look of terror on her face. I just knew the screaming and crying were about to begin. But she was giggling and smiling by the time we made it to the end.

It was close to 8 and we still had not eaten dinner, so we decided to leave. We picked up KFC and went back to the hotel to eat. Audrey went to sleep immediately after eating. The little girls still had a ton of energy, though. They ran around the room while Trey and I packed up.

Silly girls playing in the hotel room