Happy Birthday, Anna

 It is so fun to be the birthday girl!!!

 Everyone sings to you,

 You get to make a wish,

 And eat cupcakes!

 And get presents.

 Yeah, it's good to be the birthday girl.

I love you, 5 year old Anna!!!

xoxoxo

Merry Christmas 2012

My babies are getting so big!

 

(I would like to point out that this is basically an amazing photo because they are ALL looking at the camera.)

Here they are waiting

to go down and see the

tree and the presents...

 

They were all so excited that they woke up at some ridiculous hour, like 4:30 am.  They knew they couldn't get up until 7, so they just turned on the lights and laughed and giggled.  

I think this might be the last Christmas when Barbies and Legos are cool.

Hazy was very happy with her light-up, chewable ball.  

 

And Anna loved her Happy Birthday Barbie.

 But I think Elliot and Dave were the most excited about the nerf guns.  

Guess which one is the grown-up in this picture?  

(That's a trick question.  They are both little boys at heart.  :)

 Thank you Grandma Nancy for the Animal Jam gift cards!!!!!

A neighbor asked Dave if he got anything nerdy for Christmas
and he said no.

Lessons from Disneyland

1.  Go with Kristin Smith

If you are going to spend the time and expense to visit Disneyland, you should go with this delightful lady.  She knows all the secrets of success and she never tires of the fun at the happiest place on earth.  Seriously, our vacation was so much better because of her.  She planned the order of rides, which rides the the little kids could go on when they couldn't ride with the big kids, and she taught us how to us fast-pass successfully.  Because of Kristin, we hardly waited in line, and we did way more fun stuff than we thought possible.  Thank you, Kristin! 

2.  You don't need a friend in the diamond business,
     You need a friend from Southern California.
It will probably save you more money...depending on how many kids you have!  :)

 

We were really happy that we were able to save $$ with the SoCal discount.

3.  Capture every fun moment with your camera!
This means you will be taking a lot of pictures.
(Kudos to those of you who have the stamina to look at all of ours.)

 

 

4.  If you are going to take a baby, take a newborn.
 They will sleep the whole time.

 This is one of two pictures of Hazel awake.  The rest of the time she slept in the front pack, like this:

(She is the baby you do not see inside the blue sling.)

4.  Visit with some characters.

 Elliot was a little too shy to meet this storm trooper face to face.

 ♪ ♫ I'm Chip, I'm Dale, we're just a couple of crazy rascals out to have some fun...♪ ♫ 

 

 (Molly was too busy coloring to have many pix taken with the characters.  So this one, Horace, sat and colored with her.  He drew the following picture for us, we just had to hand him the crayons.)

 

  5.  Take a nap in the middle of the day.

You really will enjoy the fireworks so much more if you do.  I promise.
We tried it both ways.  See #6.

6.  When the shoe falls in the water, go home.
If you should be so foolish as to not take a nap, and then you should ride Small World...this could happen to you:
We were waiting in line.  Anna was dancing around.  Her shoe fell off.  Into a boat.  The nice lady in the boat tried to throw it back to us, but she had terrible aim.  So it just bounced off a railing, into the water.  I muscled my way through the line to tell the ride operators.  They promised to rescue the shoe.  We rode the ride (I don't think I saw a thing in Small World, I was too busy looking in the water for that stupid shoe).  When we emerged from the ride, the cast members were holding the lost shoe.  I cheered.  Then I heard a collective gasp.  I turned to see Elliot fall out of the boat.  I am not making this up.  Aunt Kristin said, "I've never seen that happen before."  The night went downhill from there, culminating in me trying to carry two (crying) babies back to the hotel, only to find that I was locked out.  We had to wait to get into our hotel for 45 minutes.  I am sure all of that drama could have been averted if we had taken a nap.  :)

7.  Enjoy the details
This is for the grown-ups, the kids will be too busy having fun to even notice. 

 

There is actually a baby duck just outside the picture.  This momma had 13 babies.  My brood feels small by comparison.  

  

Total Fun: 10 grams

 

Jill used to say, "Bib Bodi da Boo."

 

This must have been how Elliot rode Small World.

 I want to live in Toad Hall.

 

Sugar, Salt, and Fat (truth in labeling).

7.  If you are going to go all the way to California, 
Don't forget to visit the beach.
If you are lucky, you might run into an awesome family called the Rudds.  I heard they go there every year. 

 

8.  Gratuitous Flashback Photos
You should take some of them.

 

Jill in December 2005

Jill (and co) in May 2012

Molly in December 2005

 Molly in May 2012