Disney World Review

Patrick's parents gave the whole family a trip to Disney World for Christmas this year.

Maggie rocked the plane as usual--not so much as a tiny squeak out of her. There was LOTS of squeaking out of her parents though when we landed to find half our luggage had not made the trip with us. After settling in the cousins open their gifts from each other (except Eamon since his gift was sitting in our lost luggage). Maggie got a big My Little Pony.

After shopping to replace some stuff from the lost suitcase we headed to the Magic Kingdom. Man, oh man, did we pick the exact wrong time to enter the park!! The Christmas parade was headed down main street and could barely claw our way through the crowds. We finally sunk into a gross burger joint that happened to sell yogurt (for Maggie). After the parade ended I looked at Patrick and told him I was about to cry. This was insane!! He agreed with wide eyes.

But....the rest of the day was smooth and worked out to be quite fun. Maggie enjoyed the ducks and such at the pond/rose garden, she went NUTS over the birds flying around the park eating everyone's dropped food (she just kept saying, "peep, peep!" and pointing), she loved the kids play area and even enjoyed the carousel.

We spent the next day laying low at the resort swimming and such. Our luggage finally joined us in Florida! Maggie took a while to warm up to the idea of swimming but finally remembered she loves the water.

Saturday morning we spent more time just hanging out at the resort's sand box and playground before nap. Maggie also busted out with a new one--she said her name for the first time! It was so sweet and both Patrick and I looked at each other and asked, "did she just say her name??". This was Epcot Center day.

After another exhausting day of nonstop fun we crawled back to our condo and quickly packed up to leave bright and early the next day for home.

Sunday night we all slept like ROCKS after a long day of travel and Maggie rejoiced anew over her Christmas gifts. Now we can all take a deep breath and start a new year.

Christmas Review

Christmas eve was spent with the Crapo's who fixed a lovely turkey and ham dinner. It was very nice and everyone had a great time. I was to bring stuffing. I make mine with lots of extras like wild rice, water chestnuts, dried cranberries, etc. Patrick was so sweet to put some on his plate even though I know he won't eat it--he's not an "extras" kind of guy.

Maggie spent much of her evening begging Micaela's sister to read. Oh, well. It kept her happy.

Christmas morning was, of course, very exciting. Maggie never did get the hang of opening gifts. She would get lost on one toy and not want to open another.

She did get some really cool stuff though. Here are some of the highlights:

She got some adorable vans from Natalie.

A beautiful little glass jar with her name painted in it from Samantha (she had it made while on a trip to China!).

The Mickey Mouse I rode as a child. It was the first thing she spotted as we came down the stairs and immediately started saying, "rocker, rocker, rocker".

A chair of her very own.

I got some beautiful earrings from Karla. And Patrick, again, hit the mark with some family videos (including my all time favorite Mary Poppins!).

We had a lovely Christmas breakfast. It's one of the few meals I make each year. Maggie had her first taste of german pancakes and loved them.

I put Maggie down for her nap and we had our first "fall" out of the crib. I thought we'd lucked out and she wasn't going to be a climber since all of her friends had done the "fall" much earlier. I could hear through the monitor that she had not gone directly to sleep and was babbling away (I'm sure about her big excitement that morning) and singing "E-I-E-I-O". I then heard her say "binki....binki" and then the THUD and crying. I ran in and found her on the floor inches from the binki she had climbed out to retrieve. Now what?? The mattress was at the lowest possible position so I'm not sure how to keep her in there.

Patrick went to work on a turkey dinner for that afternoon. We had our neighbors over for the meal and it was tons of fun.

After the meal it was packing time. We had to be out the door very early for our trip to Disney World in Florida!! I think I'll do a separate post dedicated to just that trip since this is awfully long on it's own.


Having Christmas day in our own home was so great. It was relaxing and peaceful. We had a great day as a family.

Happy Holidays

See ya soon...

Yummiest Pears Ever

Patrick got a gift box from his boss from Harry & David. I immediately dug in. There were scrumptious truffles, carmel corn, cheese, meat, apples, and pears.

OH. MY. GOSH. I have never tasted such perfect pears in all my life. Please, go out and get yourself some.

Bundle Me Toddler

I really want this for the new year. It's a very warm stroller insert to keep toddlers toasty. Living in Colorado provides lots of sunny, clear days all winter long. They're just freezing cold. I think, in an effort to remain active this winter, I'll buy this for my jogging stroller. Perfect, no?

I'll make a resolution to take Maggie out a couple of times a week. Think I'm hard core enough? I'm kind of a pansy as of late....

Weekend Review: Final Holiday Stretch

Friday was a very mild fifth anniversary. We hung out at home, put Maggie to bed, cracked open some sparkling fruit stuff (my attempt at celebrating the big day), and watched tv. We're so wild.

Saturday we tried to get as much cleaning done as possible. I hadn't lifted a finger since coming back from Utah (more feeling sorry for myself) and the house was getting bad. Real bad. We took a break to go out for lunch and I over stuffed myself with the biggest bacon cheese burger ever.

Maggie spent the night transfixed by her dad's slippers.

and his hairy legs

Sunday was great for Maggie, again. She just walked into that nursery like she owned the place and didn't even look back at me. I'm posting yet another picture of her in the poncho because it was the cause of a major traffic jam in the church halls with all the admiring comments. The poncho was a gift from my friend Samantha (thanks Sammy for the big hit).

And this is just the cutest picture ever of Maggie admiring the tree.

Sunday afternoon was lazy. Maggie was completely entranced by the Wizard of Oz on tv. I wrapped the last of the presents.

Then she played like mad with her daddy. He walked around with her on his shoulders...

...and then flipped her around.

Fifth Anniversary

Today is the day. We have officially been married an entire five years!! I can honestly say they have been the best years of my life.

Happy Anniversary--Love ya babe.

And because I can't resist (no matter how atrocious I look in this).

One photo that did NOT make the Christmas card.

A Regular Old Thursday