The Happiest Place on Earth!

We had a wonderful trip to Disneyland a couple of weeks ago. This was Emma's (6 years old) first time there which made it even more exciting! Here is our trip in photos.........

Emma was so excited as we got closer to driving over the "grapevine" and I informed her that we would be driving over those mountains. They had closed the grapevine 2 days before our trip due to snow! Lucky for us it had re-opened by the time we got there and we got to see the snow that was left on the mountians.

My wonderful parents got to go with us. My dad drove the whole way!

We headed to Downtown Disney when we got there on Saturday. We never expected to see Cinderella's Carriage with a bride inside! It was so much fun to watch the carriage with the "horsemen" pull up and out came a princess in a beautiful wedding gown. I asked my hubby and my dad if I could have a re-do of our wedding. They both said, "no" :o)

After sitting and watching the wedding for a while we headed off to eat at The Rainforest Cafe. We had the option to wait an hour and a half to sit inside or we could be sitting right away if we sat on the balcony. We went for the balcony :o) They had large heaters all around so it was nice and warm.

DISNEYLAND DAY!

My mom bought the girls Disney Princess Dresses at the Disney Store for them to wear to Disneyland. The night before, when we were at Downtown Disney, my parents let the girls pick out "ears" to wear to Disneyland. of course they both went for the pink princess ears!

My mom also bought the girls "autograph" books so they could get all the characters signatures. If I ever had the chance to be a character at Disneyland I would want to be her --> Cruela De Ville! She gets to be sarcastic all day long! The first thing she said to the girls, in her snooty voice, was, "did your mother make you wear those princess dresses? I bet you don't even like the princesses." It was great. She kept the banter going the whole time. I loved it!

Now here's a bunch of characters!

Gilly wasn't to sure about the characters touching her or getting to close. But over all she did good. Emma, however, loved all of them!

Emma and I on "It's a Small World". They just re-opened it after all the re-vamping they did. It really looked the same to me. A couple of small changes but nothing that made us go "wow". Emma informed me on the ride that, "it really isn't a small world. The world is actually really big, mom."

All Gillian talked about in the months (yes months) leading up to Disneyland was "riding the horsies with Grandpa". She ended up riding the Merry Go Round 5 times that day! She was one happy kid . Gillian and Grandpa on the horsies
Emma and Dad on the horsies


The girls also got to have their faces painted.

And eat ice cream!

All in all we had the most wonderful time at the Happiest Place on Earth!

And we can't wait to go back and do it again next year!

The day after! Parents are worn out :o) but the kids are filled with many memories!

What we have been up to lately

Since my computer has been down for soooo long, I thought I would give you a quick glance at what we have been up to the past few months......Besides packing, cleaning, moving, cleaning, and unpacking!


--> My grandma took 4 of her great-granddaughter (2 of them being my girls) to Libby Lu on Christmas Eve. Did you know that Libby Lu is now closed? They closed all of them. SO it is now safe to venture back outside with your little girls :o) Gillian had so much funny getting all dolled up.




<-- We celebrated Christmas with a paper tree and decorations. (we were suppose to move the week after Christmas so I did not get all the decorations out.) The girls had a blast color and making the paper tree. We plan on making it a yearly tradition now. The paper tree will go in their bedroom! --> Emma practiced her laundry skills! What a goof. She was so proud of herself that she could carry so much at once. I was proud too!

<-- The girls and I took and over night trip to the Monterey Bay Aqaurium with some friends. It was so much fun!

--> Emma turned 6 and celebrated with a princess Tea Party. Funny Side note...I forgot the candles (the party was at my parent's) but my mom managed to find a few, but then we had no lighter and no matches! Emma was such a good sport about it though. She was more than happy to "blow out the candles" so I had a realistic picture :o)

<-- We took the girls to their very first Circus. Look at how goofy the clowns were there! Oh wait, I think those are my kids. oops :o) If you came early they let you go out into the circus rink and see everything up close, including trying on the outfits.

SO there is your glimpse into our lives for the past few months. Nothing to exciting, but we have been busy and having lots of fun!

This weekend we are going to Disneyland! It will be Emma's first time and Gillian's second. We are all so excited!

Does this count as a bad day?

Here is what happened within a 10 minute span.....might have been less:

-Went to the bathroom and saw that there were still ants trying to crawl on the toilet. Kill the little boogers.

-Sit to go to the bathroom and notice that the ants are now coming in from a different spot and are all around the shower. Kill the little boogers.

-Sort laundry. Decide to ask Gillian to put in a load (I show her exactly which load she is to put in) so I can start ironing hubby's clothes for tomorrow.

-Go to plug in iron and notice that the ants are now on the window sill in my bedroom! Try to stay calm while I go get something to kill the little boogers.

-Go to throw away the kleenex covered with dead ants in the girls bathroom and notice that someone did not flush the toilet. And yes, they did more than just #1 in there :o)

-Flush the toilet and it overflows! Start yelling at Emma to bring me all the towels she can find while I grab the plunger and get it unplugged.

-Want to cry but keep it together.

-Hear Gillian say, "Oh no what happened". This is her key saying for something is not going as it should.

-See that she has put all the laundry in I asked and is now filling the washing machine with a whole nother load that should not be in with first said load!

-Start freaking out as I pull out the clothes that are not to be in there while telling Gillian to just go play in her room.

-Emma, hearing the commotion, comes running down the hall asking what is wrong. I tell her not to worry about it. She keeps asking me what happened. I keep telling her not to worry about it. She keeps asking.

-I tell both of them that it is nap time and to go get on their beds. Emma (6 year old) starts crying because mommy is mad.

-Phone rings! Hubby is calling :o) I tell hubby that if he wants to talk to me when I am in a better mood he had better call back in an hour.

-Kill more of those little boogers here, there, everywhere! I even used the steam on the iron (while I was ironing hubby's clothes) to get a few down. (that helped a bit)

-Explain to 6 year old that when mommy says don't worry about it that means don't worry about it.

-Nicely put girls down for a quiet time.

-Grab a bottle of water and hubby's box of Hot Tamales he got for Valentine's Day. I figured they might cool me off :o)

I guess you could say that I am having a "Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day!".

~Caroline

Gillian's 10!

I can't believe I have 10 year old. A sweet, precious, loving, adorable 10 year old! This girl has blessed our lives and the lives of so many others in more ways than I count.

We celebrated her birthday on Saturday with a Mary Popins Party!

My mom made these adorable umbrela cookies (with one arm!)

(Gillian and I)

(Gillian and Emma)

(singing Happy Birthday)

In keeping with tradition I now give you Gillian's top 10 things of this year:

1)Mary Poppins

2)Dr. Beech

3)Mim's House

4)Marly (in-laws Cat)

5)Swimming

6)Swinging

7)Going in Daddy's Truck

8)Watching Barney and Elma at Auntie's

9)Rice and Beans

10)Spaghetti and Meatballs

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY SWEET GILLIAN!!