Day at Disney

Thanks to a really sweet friend, we were able to go to Disney on Saturday! I told the boys on Friday and they were so excited. We looked at some of the rides and things to do online and they were very excited to do the Toy Story rides. We started our day at Hollywood Studios so that we could do the Toy Story Mania ride and meet Lightning McQueen and Mater. We got in the line for the Toy Story ride and then a few minutes later they made us leave because it wasn't working and they didn't know when it would be running again. I was so disappointed because that was the main reason we went there. So we went over and got in line to meet Buzz. The boys had fun taking pictures with some of the decorations while waiting in line. Austin was excited when he saw Buzz but then once we got close he wouldn't turn around for a picture. Rexford stayed back of course :) Next we went over and found Luigi's tire shop to see McQueen and Mater. The boys loved this but were a little nervous about the loud engine noises. They were so excited to find a penny machine there too and both got one with their favorite Cars characters. Then we took them over to the Honey I Shrunk the Kids playground and let them have fun on the slides for a bit. Then we decided to check the Toy Story ride again and it was open! So we got in line (50 minutes) and waited. I was surprised how well behaved the kids were for waiting in such a long line. They had a snack and were really good. It was a long wait but it was a really fun ride! You get to wear 3D glasses and ride around and shoot at fun targets. They loved it and wanted to do it again.

Then we left and ate lunch in the car on the way to Magic Kingdom. Rexford wanted to do the Buzz Lightyear ride first but ended up getting Fast Passes for those and then going over to wait in the race car line instead. Of course they loved the cars. I let Austin do all the steering and he did pretty well. It really wasn't too jerky at all :) Then we took a relaxing ride on the people mover ride and then did the Buzz ride. We did the Winnie the Pooh ride, Mickey's Philharmagic Show, the carousel, It's a Small World, Aladdin's Magic Carpet ride, and of course rode the train around the park because they love trains. It was so funny to watch the boys during Mickey's Philharmagic 3D show. Rexford reached out trying to touch something and Austin said, "whoa!" and they were both pretty amazed. We didn't take pictures with any other characters but we did get to see Jesse and Woody, Daisy, Minnie, and Pluto, and a few others around. We were all pretty tired and left around dinnertime but we had a really fun day together. It was a great day and we were so glad we got to go and have fun and let the boys see their favorite characters.

Austin and Rexford ready to have fun at Disney!

Playing in Buzz's spaceship

Sheriff Rexford

In the green suitcase headed for Tokyo

Austin meeting Buzz

Brian and the boys with Lightning and Mater

Mater and Rexford

Lightning and Rexford

making pennies

Rexford and Austin in front of Luigi's showing off their pennies

Going down a fun slide

Here I come!

Wheee!

Giant Play-doh (Rexford is covering his ears because it was making a loud sound putting out play-doh smell)

They loved watching Mr. Potato Head in line

Rexford wanted to pose with a monkey

Austin liked the monkeys too

Cool 3D glasses

So cute

Toy Story Mania

Brian and Rexford getting ready to drive

Having fun

Austin loved driving

Relaxing a bit

Buzz

Austin and Daddy

Rexford on the Buzz ride

Austin loved the carousel and wanted to keep going

Rexford

Happy Birthday to Me!

My birthday was fun (except that I had to wear my glasses because I had pink eye and I hate my glasses). Brian and I went to Longhorn for a yummy dinner on Saturday night, the YW at church gave me beautiful flowers and chocolate on Sunday, Monday(my actual birthday) Austin, Aly, Matthew and I went to Chuck E Cheese to use our free tokens(Rexford was at school but didn't want to go anyway because he is scared of Chuck E Cheese), and then that night we had dinner and cake at my dad's house. Rexford made my cake with my help and then he and Brian decorated it for me. We turned the yellow cake into a pink one since that is my favorite color and Rexford helped make some chocolate frosting. Brian was sweet and got Aly and my Dad to make dinner on my birthday so I didn't have to cook. It was a fun weekend long celebration! I postponed a pedicure with my January birthday friend Stacy because of my pink eye so now I'm better and looking forward to pretty toes soon!

Rexford is shirtless because we had just eaten spaghetti and were about to eat chocolate cake :)

Brian and Rexford were beginning to write Happy Birthday on the cake when the bag exploded and a big blob of icing landed on the cake so they improvised and just added more squiggles :)

Go Steelers!

The Steelers are going to the Super Bowl! Monday the boys wore their Steelers gear and I took some pictures. Normally Austin is hard to get a smile out of and he usually just sits there and looks at me. But that morning he actually smiled for me on command, without silly noises, faces or tricks on my part! After I took the first picture he wanted me take another one and gave me a huge silly cheese face. Here are my two wonderful boys!

Just Cute

This isn't really anything to blog about but he's just cute so here is my sweet little Austin enjoying an apple in the rocking chair. He sat there looking out the window and ate the whole thing :)

Austin's New Friends

Austin is in love with Toy Story lately. He still loves Cars too but lately Buzz and Woody have been his new friends. Usually Buzz is carried around all the time, in the car, to the store, to take Rexford to school, and he sleeps with him too. The other day he took Buzz and Woody and sat them on the couch and came to me and said, "Buzz, Woody watch Toy Story mom." Then he pulled me to the kitchen and said, "Woody, Buzz hungry. Buzz, Woody need popcorn." He wanted to put on Toy Story and pop some popcorn for Buzz and Woody :) It was so cute. He laid on the couch and watched the movie with them :)

Goodbye Caleb and Catie

Caleb's girlfriend Catie was homesick and decided to move back home to New Jersey so Caleb decided to find a place to live and move up there too. We got to visit with them since they were here for a few days finding a new car for Caleb and then they both boarded the auto train and left last week :( We took some fun family pictures before they left. We miss you guys! Here are a few of the pictures.

Rexford, Caleb, Dad, Matthew, Anderson, and Austin

Christina, Shannon, Caleb, me, and Alyson

Dad, Catie, and Caleb

Caleb, Rexford, and Dad

Hello Mr. Moose

One day at my dad's house, Austin, Rexford, and Matthew were playing together in the toy room. They all had play phones in their hands and were calling people. I'm not sure how it all started but they were having conversations with Mr. Moose (the IKEA rocking moose). Rexford would talk and Austin would repeat everything Rexford said. It was so funny and cute. Austin kept putting his hand in his pocket and was talking away on the phone :)

He always copies Rexford and wants to do everything he does

"Hello Mr. Moose"

Book Fairy Time

New Year's means a visit from the Book Fairy so we all woke up on New Year's morning with a new book! This year the Book Fairy brought us church books. I got an easy hymn piano book, Brian got the Primary Songbook so he can play some songs for the kids, Rexford got the Book of Mormon book with the pictures, and Austin got a little Bible story board book. I've had fun playing some hymns with my right hand, Brian's been playing too, and the boys have been reading their books. Thanks Book Fairy!

Rexford with his new book

Austin checking out his new book

Hard Work

I didn't want Rexford to forget how to write over the break so I worked with him on writing thank you notes for Christmas. The first ones were painful for him and me :) But the more we did it, the better they got and they went much faster and easier. I was so proud of him! He worked so hard and did such a good job! Here are some samples of his writing - so much improved since school began in August!