Late Thanksgiving Post

I finally got the pictures off my camera!
We had a great turkey day this year. We stayed home and made our first turkey dinner, just the 4 of us. It all turned out wonderful! Zach helped with the pumpkin pie and he was very proud of himself!

Zach stirring the pumpkin pie filling:


Zach checking on his pie:

I'm the princess!!!

"Oh, you think you are cute? You aint got nothin' on me Tinkerbell!"

Disneyland!

I am finally getting around to posting about our trip.
We had a great time. I was very surprised how well the kids did. Before the trip, we'd showed him lots of pictures and the website for Disneyland. Most days when we asked him about it, he would say "No Nineyland, I no go, I stay here". So we were a little worried about how he would be and if he would get overwhelmed and shut down. We really thought that he would be scared of all the characters since he is always scared of anything like that. I knew he would enjoy them from a distance but we were pleasantly surprised.

Our first day there we went and checked out Mickey's house. When you get to the end you go through and wait in line to meet the Mouse himself. When walking in, the cast member told us to wish Mickey a Happy Birthday. When Zach saw Mickey he started shouting "Mickey Mouse", he was SO excited. We waited our turn (we were at the end of probably 3 groups of people) and when it was our turn Zach ran up and hugged Mickey. He told him Happy Birthday and gave him several hugs and high fives. He stepped off the stage and said "I sing to Mickey". All the other guests had left so it was just our family and we all sang Happy Birthday to Mickey. It was awesome. It's a wonderful memory.

The park was so empty most days we were there. We never had to wait in lines for more than 5 minutes. Friday it started to pick up as expected, especially since it was the first day of the holiday festivities.

Here are lots of pictures, in no particular order.



Zach's first ride was the carousel and he LOVED it


The teacups were another big hit with him




Hannah in Mickey's house


Meeting Mickey Mouse!!!




Hannah wasn't too sure about Mickey, but Zach was still ecstatic, as was my niece (but don't tell her I told you that)


The kids loved to chase each other while we waited for the shuttle




According to Zach, this is his favorite ride, he rode it a couple times. Here he is showing off his feather


Zach driving Daddy


Zach hanging over the side of this big rocket to say Hi to Daddy on the ground


Zach loved the jellyfish ride. He was giving Chris and I heart attacks by leaning over to say Hi to me on the ground


Man that kid is flexible


Hannah enjoyed surfing with Daddy


Hannah never gets to ride in front so she was enjoying the front seat


Me and Mimis on one of my favorite rides there


Hannah wasn't too sure of the characters, but she did seem to like Tigger and Pooh






Pixie Hollow had just opened and it was beautiful. We were able to meet a couple Fairies, including Tinkerbell! I think Hannah will enjoy it more when she is older


Zachary LOVES Handy Manny. On our last day there, we discovered that there was an actual Manny character that hangs out in the back lot at California Adventure. Zach was so excited to see him. When he first saw Manny though, Zach wouldn't go up to him, so he stood back and watched as other kids met Manny (including Hannah who is a big fan as well), once Zach warmed up he was giving hug after hug and talking to Manny asking where his tools were. I was so excited that Zach got to meet him!

Hannah meeting Manny


Zach playing hard to get (this is one of my favorite pictures of the trip)


'It's really him!'




Hannah and Zach on the other carousel


Disneyland is breathtaking at Christmas time

Sneak Peek

I am still sorting through the hundreds of pictures from our trip to Disneyland, but I wanted to post a little clip of Zach dancing to his favorite pal, Handy Manny. When I have some pictures narrowed down, I will post them. Stay Tuned.

Help, Manny?

Lately Zach likes to "call" Handy Manny. He will hold out one hand and with the other, pretend he is pressing phone buttons.

Yesterday Zach was on time out for hitting his sister in the head. While sitting in the corner, I quietly hear him talking. He was pressing pretend buttons on his hand. Puts one hand up to his ear and says in a sad voice... "Hi Manny? ... Baby Head, .. Ya... Bye"

Silly Kid. I wonder what Manny's response was.

The Result....

... Hannah's room

Pack rat Anonymous

Today I spent the day cleaning out Hannah's room. I am surrounded by boxes as I type, trying to finish it up. Before I got pregnant with Hannah, we made this room an office/guest room. It was also the catch all room for anything I/we didn't want to deal with at the moment. We planned to keep the kids in the same room once Hannah was born. Once she was here, and we decided it was time for her to move from the bassinet in our room, to the crib, I decided I wanted them to sleep in separate rooms. So we put the crib in the office. All she did in there was sleep, then she came out and the door got closed. She played with Zach in his room. All her clothes are in Zach's closet since "the office" has no closet. It is a tiny room.

A couple months ago we sold the huge desk. When we did, everything got crammed into boxes and stacked around the room. It also became the dumping ground for bags of grown out baby clothes, large baby items when not in use, toys that were annoying us, or anything that didn't have an immediate spot. It was not pretty.

On to my "Pack rat Anonymous" point.

I keep everything. I have finally decided that there are some things I need to purge. Cleaning out the garage last month really got me going. It is ridiculous how much I have. A lot I can't bring myself to get rid of yet, but I am starting. I have every paper from every day Zach has been in childcare since he was 14 months old. You know how they give you the reports with what they eat, when they sleep, how their day was, etc. Well I have them ALL. In binders. Organized by date. And now with Hannah in daycare I get 2 a day. AND Zach has been in preschool for a year and a half.

You should see my kitchen table by the end of the week.

So I have artwork from school and from daycare and now Hannah is starting to do art at daycare also. I had to start looking at things and deciding what I really need to hang on to. I don't NEED to keep every paper he ever colored on. But I do. I evaluated the quality of the work and started recycling some. I still have way too much, but in a year or so I will probably go through everything and purge some more.

Right now I have stuff organized in binders with sheet protectors and bigger stuff in a plastic storage drawer thing. Whenever I go through them, I see pieces and think "I should totally pull that out and put it up at Xmas/Halloween/spring time" .. But I don't. I like to think someday I will.

It takes so much time to save and organize this stuff, but there is something comforting in knowing that I can look back and know exactly what Zach ate on September 8, 2005. Or how his mood was on January 17, 2006. Or what his sleep patterns were in month 21.

It is a sickness I know, but I am working on it.

Baby Steps.

Cutest Player Of The Year

Yesterday we had the end of year party and awards for Zach's soccer team. Zach got "cutest player of the year" award.

Of course he did!

Here is a picture of Zach receiving his award:


Here he is running back to his seat:


After Zach's award, he watched patiently while his teammates got their awards. Clapping and cheering them on. One of the older players was standing near him after he got his award and Zach walked up to him and put his hand out to shake his hand and said "Good Job!".

That kid melts my heart

Pigtails!

Happy Halloween!!

The kids were not very cooperative when it came to taking pictures, but ... here goes...

My little monkey:


My beautiful ballerina:




The kids did great trick or treating. Hannah was such a trooper chasing after her big brother.


Who knew a bee and a monkey could be such good friends: