Friday, February 29, 2008

Disney World - Day 7 Magic Kingdom

This was our last day to spend at the parks and we always like to end our trip back at Magic Kingdom. We knew this would be a day that we would let Ella meet as many characters as possible. That was our goal.

There are only two ways to get to Magic Kingdom, by Monorail or by Ferry. This morning, the coldest morning we had all week, we choose to take the Ferry. We were freezing, but Heath got some good snuggle time with Ella because of it.






In line to see Minnie Mouse!!




It's Minnie!


Doing the "happy dance" together!




Next up was the much anticipated moment of meeting The Disney Princesses!
Sleeping Beauty was first.




If you watch all three of the videos, notice at the end of this Sleeping Beauty one and the end of the Cindrella one, that Ella is so excited to move on to meet Belle. It was all about Belle. So funny.


Then Cinderella!






And then the one we didn't even know Ella loved the most until that morning, Belle.








Grandad and Ella in line to meet Donald, Goofy and Pluto.






Heath's favorite stuffed animal when he was a little boy was Donald Duck, so Heath had to get a picture with him. All together now..."Ahhh"






Family photo opportunity.


Unfortunately, we didn't know the Universal Cheerleading Assocation National competition was at DW that weekend. This day happened to be their fun day where ALL 3,000 cheerleaders went to Magic Kingdom to play before their big day of competing. At first, I was secretly kind of excited because, yes in deed, I was one of those cheerleaders in my younger days. So I thought I could relive some old cheerleading moments, but alas the overwhelming amount of people in the park that day because of it made me want to run and hide. It did make me a little happy when I saw this one particular group of girls doing a stunt and taking a picture in front of Cinderella's Castle. I couldn't help but think that would have been me if our squad would have competed at Disney World, and the people walking by would have been thinking, "bless their hearts."

So with our need to escape the craziness, my dad (with his mad researching skills) quickly figured out a place we could eat lunch and get away for a while. He stumbled upon a restaurant called The Whispering Canyon at Disney's Wilderness Lodge. He called and they said they would be able to get us in at 1:00. We immediately headed that way.

You may recognize this picture of the lobby from Jon and Kate Plus Eight! It's where they stayed, which made me a little giddy because I love them so. If you don't watched this show, you really should. It will make so grateful for so many reasons.


Grandad entertained Ella while we waited for our reservation.




This restuarant was amazing. I totally recommend it for any of you going to Disney World. It's one of those kind of places where the wait staff is kind of rude, but not in a way that is disgusting. It's in the way that gives you stomach cramps because you're laughing so hard.
Another great thing about this restaurant is they have a family style meal where they bring unlimited amounts of MEAT. So if you are a meat lovin' family like ourselves, this is the place for you.

Apparentely, this is the one day thus far in our daughter's life when she actually became a meat lover. It's that Disney Magic people.




"Another rib, please!"


"Seriously, you even have to take pictures while I'm eating." Somebody (maybe it was Ella) told me in a comment that I need to have another baby so I won't take a picture for every second of the day. And I say, yes, that is true.


Okay, I know that it seems like we've celebrated her birthday 5,000 times and that we are CRAZY and have overdone it just a tad! But in my defense, okay I don't really have one. But Disney gives Birthday pins for kids to wear who are celebrating their birthday there and they get lots of attention and special treatment. Of course, the waitor saw the pin Ella was wearing, so who are we to deny deliciousness in the form of brownie...


ice cream...


and gummy worms!




After watching the nightly fireworks show, we took a moment to say goodbye to Disney World and Cinderella's Castle! *tear*


"Bye, bye Mickey."


You can send some praises up because I only have one more day of Disney World fun to report. I know that must make you happy. But I think my favorite pictures are yet to come. :-)


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Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Pre-Birthday Party

Every year, (haha it's only been two years, but that qualifies as a tradition, right?) Laney and Joshua throw Ella a little birthday party! It's always a lot of fun and very special.

Here's the picture from last year! They look so young and those cheeks! Oh my word. I want to go back in time and kiss those cheeks over and over and over!


Joshua was a great helper to Ella while opening her gifts.


This precious pink dress is from Laney!


Ella was very exciteed about her new green shirt and white jeans from Joshua!!




The birthday cupcake and candle. There were no tears. Total of 2 out of her 4 birthday celebrations this year were without tears when the candle was lit and the birthday song was sung. Not too bad, right?








"Hey Laney, you have a little something on your face."


A fun thing that Joshua and his daddy do at home is stand at the front door and then race all the way down the hallway to the couch in Joshua's room. Ella jumped on board with this idea immediately!


Joshua would not race one more time without his daddy doing it with him.
"Ready, Set, Go!"






Ella was trying to give her water to Baby Gabriel! She is very motherly like that. At home, she loves to hold her baby doll in the cradle position and try to give her sips of her milk. It's precious. She'll be so good with Baby #2, whenever that happens in 5 to 7 years. :-)



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Monday, February 25, 2008

Happy Birthday to Ella and Jackson!

Saturday was Ella and Jackson's combined birthday party!!! We had such a good time. We did it at Pump It Up which is basically two HUGE rooms with several different kinds of Bounce Houses. The kids LOVED it.

The Birthday Boy and Girl were very pleased with their party! Ella is so blessed to have Jackson in her life!





Ella's Dada is so silly!




Check out the handstand my girl is doing! This is not the first time she has attempted this. I'm convinced she's a gymnast at heart.




Funny sliding baby picture #1: Joshua


Funny sliding baby picture #2: Jackson


Funny sliding baby picture #3: Ella






Angela and Jonas. His red hair is awesome!


One of the many obstacle courses that Dada and Ella went through.


Yes, Ella is on Heath's shoulders while he is climbing up this. And yes, it stressed me out.


Laney and Ella laid out with fun!


Laney and Kristin going down the slide.


There are 3 things about this video that make me smile:
1. Heath and Ella playing so sweetly.
2. Melissa and her precious baby Gabriel sleeping soundly in his sling.
AND
3. Amanda and Curtis bouncing in the background!!!!


Here's a picture of Melissa and Gabe and the cuteness of the sling.


Amanda and I getting our sneak peak at the room before the invasion of The Tods. We were SO pleased by the way the workers decorated it!






The Birthday boy and girl with their Pablo cake!


The Birthday Girl once again cries when we sang Happy Birthday. For some reason she has some sort of negative attachment to this song or BIG groups of people loudly singing and staring at her. Don't we all want to cry and climb into a hole when a group of people sing that song to us?


We lit the candle twice so both Tods would get a chance to blow it out.


More blue mouths!


Ella was not happy having to share the balloons and chair with Jackson. Can anyone say naptime?


She much preferred to be Queen all by herself.






It was such a fun day! We were so honored to be able to celebrate Ella's birthday with sweet Jackson!! I'm thinking this could be a new tradition.


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