spring is in the air

It's not just me who's hoping to see flowers pop up 'round these parts.

 

It's amazing how something as simple as a drawing can remind you how much your kids are growing up. Gone are the days of random lines and scribbles. I actually can figure out what E is drawing some most of the time.

disney: the blog post

Day 1 - Saturday
After a fairly uneventful Friday night arrival, we woke up early on Saturday morning and got ready to head out to the park. We packed our backpack with snacks and hopped on the shuttle bus for the park, arriving a few minutes before opening time (as many of you told us to do). Well, none of you told us about the little opening number that they do to open the park with the singing and dancing and arrival of characters! The girls were bouncing up and down and screaming like pint-sized groupies at Mickey and his friends. I must admit that I got a little teary when I saw how excited they were.

We took the train to Frontierland (since Mickey's Toon Town didn't open until 10) and walked over and did It's a Small World, Dumbo and the Teacups and had met Ariel and Alice (aka, Allison to E..."you know, Allison Wonderland") all before 10 o'clock. We then hit the cars where I made the rookie mistake of letting E drive our car. She apparently has not figured out that turning the wheel violently left and right over and over and over again will make the car lurch left and right (and Mommy a little nauseous). But she had fun and I was able to steady the wheel somewhat with minimal resistance from her.

After the cars, we headed to Toon Town where we tried to distract them from the mass quantities of stuff they wanted us to buy them. We got in line to meet The Princesses and were immediately grateful that our girls had no love for The Fairies, which was totally packed. A quick 20 minutes later and we were in the presence of royalty (Cinderella, Belle and Sleeping Beauty, to be exact).

John and I were cracking up at E because she wore her Ariel t-shirt, which clearly signaled to the other Princesses that she was not E's fave. Also, we marvelled at how well A did at these things. She did *not* want to go with her sister. And she totally made herself at home with Sleeping Beauty, climbing up on her bench while SB signed her book.

After The Princesses, we met Mickey and Minnie, and then headed to lunch. After lunch we did the Carosel, Mickey's Philharmagic movie and a couple of more rides and walked around a bit before calling it a day. We headed back and got the girls to take naps.

In the evening, we headed to Epcot for beer dinner. We hadn't made reservations anywhere, so this entailed wandering around to the several countries to see what was available. We were going to do the German buffet, but since it was a beautiful night, we opted for some brats and frankfurters and pretzels (and more beer) instead. We then caught the fireworks and headed home.

 

Day 2 - Sunday
On Saturday, we had reservations for lunch with The Princesses in Norway at Epcot. (In the interest of full disclosure, we actually didn't get these reservations well in advance of the trip. We lucked into a cancellation on Wednesday night. Yep. We were slackers. Who knew?) Anyway, since we were eating at 11:20, the girls dressed in their Princess dresses and we headed straight to Epcot after breakfast.

After running into Stitch (my kids were like "Who?" and I was all, "Lilo. It's from a movie that doesn't have Princesses in it"), we went to the Nemo ride. E is still on this terrified-of-the-dark kick so she didn't enjoy it, but John, A and I did. After that we went to the Turtle Talk interactive thing which was really cute. It's the turtle from Finding Nemo (who sounds a lot like Spicloli from Fast Times at Ridgemont High, if you haven't seen Nemo). At one point he asks for questions from the audience, and E's hand shoots up. I'm immediately wary of what she's going to ask, with good reason. Her "question" is,

"I'm going to lunch with The Princesses. And this is my sister, A."
The turtle answered, "I totally know the answer to this question. Yes, you are."

After that we headed over to Norway where we found out that our reservations were for 11:20 AM...on Saturday. Yep. Our hearts dropped about a mile. Luckily, they were able to squeeze us in and thereby saving us from being the Worst. Parents. Ever.

The lunch was good. The girls were excited to see the Princesses. John was excited to order beer with lunch. Truly a win-win. At one point during lunch, A had spilled some salt on the table. When I said something to the effect of A making a mess, E told me,

"Don't worry, Mama. I see Cinderella's here. She can clean it up for us."

Before we knew it, it was over and we headed over to the Magic Kingdom on the monorail. After saying "Hi" to Daisy Duck, we headed to Frontierland where we met up with The Donald (Duck) and saw a parade. Again, the girls were bouncing up and down with excitement, waving to the characters and screaming like...well...like little girls.

We then rode the Aladdin Magic Carpet Ride (the motto should be "Like the Dumbo Ride, but with a shorter line!") and walked the Swiss Family Robinson Tree House. As we headed back toward the main gate, we finally relented and bought E the Tinkerbell she had been begging for since Saturday and A a pair of Mouse Ear teedly-boppers.

Since we didn't nap that day, we made a dinner reservation at the Italian place in our hotel for 6:15. By about 6:45 the girls were d-o-n-e. We finished up our delicious meal and headed to our room. The girls passed out and we watched some of the Oscars before doing the same.


Day 3 - Monday
On Monday, we got up and got out the door ready to hit the park right as it opened. The shuttle bus was a little slow, so we chatted with another family as we waited. E immediately became best friends with their daughters, who were twins that turned 5 in December. When the bus finally arrived, it was crowded so we ended up standing next to each other and chatted some more. Once we hit the park, they took the train with us to Frontierland where we all rode It's a Small World together. The mom and one of the girls went to Haunted Mansion, while the dad and the other girl rode the Peter Pan and Dumbo rides with us.

We then split up as they went on while we rode the carousel. We then hit a couple more rides, including the Goofy roller coaster, before heading back to Main Street for lunch. We caught another parade, rode some more rides and bought the girls ridiculous hats before it was time to call it a day. We headed back where everyone took naps.

For dinner we headed over to the Boardwalk, which was the resort next to ours. We ate at the Brewery, which was nice and then walked the boardwalk before catching the Epcot fireworks. Before we knew it, it was bedtime and our First Ever Slacker Trip to Disney was over.

I've said it before, but your tips really did help out a lot. We followed most of them, with the big exception being the bringing a stroller. We decided to go without, and were pretty glad we did. We did end up carrying the girls a bit (A has perfected her technique to make you pick her up which involves standing in front of you and grabbing both of your legs rendering immobile until you relent), but we didn't have to deal with parking the stroller and finding it after every ride, which was nice. I think it helped that my kids aren't big stroller riders (despite my love of researching and buying cool strollers).

So there you have it. I feel like this post took longer to write than our actual trip to Disney. We definitely had a blast on our trip and will definitely go back again. E threw a coin in one of the fountains at our hotel and wished "to come back to Disney on my birthday." I doubt that will happen since I can't imagine doing Disney in the heat and with the crowds...but we'll see.

we came, we saw, we met some princesses

We're back from a whirlwind trip to Disney. It was great, and your advice was wonderful to have. More to come...but I have laundry, groceries and all that "real world" stuff to contend with.

 

You know...like trying to remove chocolate from a couple of Princess dresses.

rollin' rollin' rollin'

So my New Mom's Group friend, Kelly, outed herself as a blog stalker after reading yesterday's post and seeing the pictures of her cutie and mine. (Hi, Kelly!) She sent along another great pic of E and Cooper, which I just had to share.

The picture reminded me that, despite being the 2nd youngest baby in our little mom clique, E was known as the group bully. She was always poking and pulling and rolling over the other kids. Apparently, Cooper was just a speed bump in getting to the toy that she *really* wanted.

The picture also reminded me of that adorable ladybug outfit that E's wearing and how I have to find it and send it to Kiki. Nonna had bought it for E in 9 months...but it ran a little small so by the time I pulled it out for both of the girls to wear, it was a little snug on them and they only got to wear it once or twice. Since Cousin Slacker's birthday is about 6 months earlier than the girls...I'm thinking she'll be able to wear it come this fall. But those blue and green Robeez? Yeah...those things have been destroyed.

before and after

So the playdate on Monday was tons of fun. It was great to get back in touch with some of the ladies that I had lost touch with. And it was crazy to see all of the babies as big kids. I think it's a lot like losing weight...you don't really notice that someone's dropped 10 pounds if you see them every day because the change is gradual; but you'll immediately see it on someone you see every now and again. Some of these kids I hadn't seen since they were *crawling*...so to see the difference now? It was mind boggling.

There were 17 kids there total as everyone had a second (and a third, in Marathon Mom's case). We didn't take a picture until the very end, so we didn't capture all of the madness. In the picture the 5 boys and E are the original babies (Julia and A were the only sibs that wanted to get their picture taken.

The Kiddos on Monday

Halloween 2004 with Cooper and Brian (the two boys standing above)

Halloween 2004 with William (in the red pants above)

March 2005 with Cooper (In the UVA shirt above...can you tell his parents are 'Hoos, too?)

June 2005 with William

I will say this...I am *not* a fan of babies. Sure, they are cute and all but the crying, not doing anything and lack-of-sleep-thing just doesn't do it for me. But give me a toddler and I'm in hog heaven. After holding the always-happy Baby Meredith, playing with the 13-month-old son of my friend and looking back at the pictures from E's first year...I *so* have toddler fever right now.

Too bad kids don't come out of the womb at 11 months old.

when bad clothes happen to good people

This is the outfit that E came up with when left to her own devices on Saturday. Sadly enough, it makes total sense if you look at it through E's eyes. Daddy was wearing his "Power of the T" shirt for the Tennesee v. Auburn game that was coming on, so she wore her Power of the T garb. I told her it was warm enough to wear a skirt or a dress, so she picked her spring one that she hasn't been able to wear in months. It was Valentime's Day (as she likes to call it) so the tights were a given. And we are going to Disney next week, so the Disney crocs have been in heavy rotation.

 

The girls and I have today off for the holiday. We're off to a playdate (or as A and E keep calling it, a playMate ... gotta lay off the Girls Next Door around them!) with the New Moms Group that E and I went to when she was just born. It's an almost 5-year reunion. Hopefully...we'll get some cute pictures and I'll post them with the oldies of them as well!

pyt

At the ripe old age of 2 and (almost) a half...A is practically a woman. She got dressed this morning, and John gave her a compliment.

"Aw, A...you look so cute!" he told her.
"NO, Daddy! I not so cute! I so pwetty!"

Someone who is decidedly *not* pretty right now is me. I am a victim of The Great Left Eyebrow Massacre of 2009. I actually have 2 left eyebrows right now, as the eyebrow murderer lady who waxed them actually left a bare spot in the middle where eyebrows should be.

How bad is it? Well, it's bad enough that even John noticed it. Sure, I had to mention it to him first...but rather than tell me, "Honey, you're crazy. They look fine." He said, "Wow! You are right! I mean, your left eyebrow is gone."

Tonight we are headed to Tarjay to pick up Valentimes (as my girls like to say) for the great card exchange tomorrow. The school would prefer that the students sign their cards. That's fine for A, since she just scribbles and we call it a signature. But E? She painstakingly writes each letter. And there are a lot of letters.

I should have named her Ed.

blech

I'm not going to lie to you, I'm in a crappy mood today. Getting E to get dressed today was a major battle. A spilled chocolate milk all over the floor (yes, I know, chocolate milk at 8AM ... don't you judge me!). Work is just no fun right now and there's way too much to do. And, to top it off, the woman who waxed my eyebrows last night apparently felt like having a left eyebrow was "optional."

I do have some pictures from Monday to post. We met Marathon Mom and her brood at El Tio for some mexican food and face-painting. 'Cause nothing says "Ole!" like a sparkly-farkly unicorn on your forearm. And, I'm also going to annoy you again with a Disney post...since we are going in a week(!) and I oscillate between excitement and panic of all the crap I have to do to get ready.

But until then...make me feel better and help me procrastinate by leaving me comments. Really, it's the least you can do.

watch out, williams sisters!

On Saturday morning, John took advantage of the beautiful weather and took the girls to play some tennis while I worked (blech!) and did a little shopping (yay!). They had tons of fun and the girls actually learned something...as evidenced by the fact that they would strike a pose and yell things like "Ready position!" and "Swing through!" randomly throughout the weekend.

 

 

 

The rest of the weekend was relatively quiet, but good. We had some fantastic doughnuts and watched as our girls immediately went into sugar shock (we're talking sprinting-round-the-restaurant sugar high). We grocery shopped. We spent a lot of time outside yesterday, too, enjoying the unseasonably warm weather.

The only downside of the weekend was that when John and the girls went to Target to get A her own tennis racket (E already had one), he bought E a Hannah Montana microphone. One that lights up and plays a 20 second clip of what could quite possibly be the worlds most annoying song ever. And E brought it with her everywhere this weekend and played that #&$^%(#)@*@ song every 20 seconds. E loves it. A loves it (and is now running around yelling "Anna Ontana! Anna Ontana!") The only bright spot in this is that John is more annoyed by the damn thing than I am...which is good because he who buys the annoying toy should suffer greatly for it.

another peek-a-boo

A's plumber's crack is on constant display 'round these parts. I really can't help but give it a tickle when I see it. Here they were on Thursday night eating a little ice cream for dessert. Note the vast difference in pants height.

 

Once they heard the click and saw the flash...they wanted to get those cute little mugs in on the action.

 

peek-a-boo

As I've mentioned many times before, Fridays are known as "Something Else" days in the Slacker house. It's the day that E can legitmately something other than her uniform to school. (Seriously, the prospect of not having to wear a uniform every day is the main reason E is psyched for Kindergarten next year.) Since Tuesday, E has been telling me how she wanted to wear her Valentime's outfit from Nonna and Pop-pop. Of course A followed suit.

But trying to get pictures of them this morning looking cute? Damn near impossible. I've included the Before and After shots so you can see what I'm up against. The things I do for you guys...

movie night

Last weekend, John headed to Knoxville for his 2nd Annual trip to watch the Vols play basketball. Since it was just me and the girls, I thought we would do something fun on Friday night, so I suggested movie night.

After dinner, we all headed upstairs to put on our jammie-jams. E told me I had to put on my Flamingo jammies since they had pocket like hers did, and then told A that she had to put on her monkey jammies since hers had monkeys as well. We then headed to the kitchen to make a big batch of popcorn and a couple of chocolate milks. (Note: if you put a 1/2 cup of popcorn in the bag, it will bust the bag open and spill popcorn all over the microwave, much to the delight of your preschoolers.)

Then we considered our movie choices. A suggested "Dough-da" (aka, Dora)...E suggested "Princesses" (no specific one...just Princesses). Using the Mommy Veto on both those choices, I settled on Happy Feet.

As with our previous movie experiences, the girls were enraptured by the movie until the snacks were gone (in this case about 40 minutes in). Luckily, since we were in the comfort of our own home they were able to run and play and cause a ruckus while only annoying me (and not any paying customers). I was able to capture a few pics and, using the magic of the self timer, even managed to get myself in a picture.

Two Little Monkeys Sitting on a Coffee Table

A Pajama Mama and her Two Cutie Pies

All in all, our first movie night was a big success. In fact, they've already been asking me when our next one is.

using the term "accident" rather loosely

Yesterday when we picked A up from school, she was wearing pants that we did not drop her off in. I was pretty shocked because A is kicking ass on the potty training front, especially at school. In fact, she had been accident-free in 2009 including nap-time.

"She had an accident?" I asked her teachers, thinking that maybe she had spilled her yogurt or something.
"Yeah, she had an accident," the teacher replied. "Well, she and Addison were playing in the gym. All of the sudden, she squatted down and peed."
"Uh...WHAT?!?!?" I asked.
"Yeah, she just squatted in the middle of the gym and started to go. Addison was pulling down her pants and squatting, too...but we were able to stop her."

I sat there a little dumbfounded. I mean, she purposely peed on the floor. There was really no accident involved in this. The teacher knew it. I knew it. And when I looked at A and asked her if she peed on the floor and she started saying "Let's get E! C'mon, mama!" So, it's safe to say she knew it too.

Thankfully, on her Day at Glance chart, they don't have a Vandalism option on her daily potty log. Otherwise, we would have been in trouble.

maybe i need my ears checked

At 4 AM today I heard A moan in her crib. Over the monitor -- that, let's face it, is turned so low I can basically hear her down the hall better -- I hear her say,

"My...ear...hurt."

I immediately started to panic about taking another kid to the doctor and how that would fit into the day and who would take her and would she she go back to sleep after I gave her Motrin or would she end up in my bed for the rest of the night. Then, she started yelling for me...so I went in to check on her. She said,

"My Ear-ee-ul fell." (Translation: My Ariel fell.)

I picked up her Ariel, sang her a song and all was well in the world.

On the one hand, whew...dodged a bullet there! On the other hand...I'm dragging my ass out of bed at 4 AM for a freaking plastic Princess figurine?!?!? That monitor? Totally off tonight!