Happy Birthday Old Lady

There is nothing sweeter than telling your Mom on her birthday, "Happy Birthday Old Lady!"  She had a funny expression, but I thought I was being extra kind and sweet on her 35th birthday.  Mommy's birthday was on Wednesday, so this is how we celebrated her.

 Cold Stone Creamery mint/chocolate cake and enchiladas/mexican "feast" made by our awesome Daddy.  Grammy came to celebrate with us that night.

 We both lept at the chance to blow out her candles- thankfully we did not catch on fire.

 We smothered Mommy with kisses and sweet nothings, such as "Happy Birthday!  Are you like a zillion years old?" 

 Papa and Grandma Sharon sent Mommy a birthday package with some cute Florida wear- including this huge sunhat.  She now can go incognito on the beach :)

Cooper tried it on for size, at least we think Cooper is under there!

We took Mommy to our favorite restaurant for a special birthday lunch date at McDonald's.  We ate the usual and Mommy ate the same ol' boring salad, even though it was her birthday, snore.

 Heather had the class participate in a little birthday fun for Mommy too.  They called her (it was not her teaching day, bonus!) to sing, "Happy Birthday" and did an estimation of how old Mommy was.  Some wonderful and sweet guesses included, 82 (this child need a lesson on numbers), 47, 23, 7, 35 (that kid must be gifted), and so on.  Here is a sample below (notice the child erased 83 and put 13!?!?)  So funny!

 The Kindergarten team celebrates birthdays by bringing in lunch, treats and Heather sent Mommy this cute balloon bouquet.  Mommy really loves the Kindergarten team and had a fantastic day celebrating.  Thanks Heather for making Mommy feel special, especially with that estimation activity.  She can't WAIT to celebrate your birthday in 6ish weeks!

 Cooper started Camp Come and Play, which is 2 year old preschool.  It is at the same preschool that I attend- he goes 1 day a week for 2 hours.  Mommy has 2 hours off in the middle of the morning and is not sure what to do with herself.   Anyhow, this is Cooper smiling away, ready to play.  This was me, on my 1st day just two years ago.

Cooper is such a show-off.  He loves to play with the trucks, paint (see his first painting below...it's a snowstorm according to him), and he has learned to lead prayer.  This is Cooper's latest dinner prayer..... "Jesus, God, Mary, Donkey, Amen!"

This weekend we went to Grandma's house for a day with extended family.  We celebrated Christmas with our great-grandparents and Mommy and cousin Lexi's January birthdays.  Mommy forgot her camera, so she only snapped one picture with her phone of Cooper and Jimmy in full Wild gear.  It was the Wild's big debut game that night and they are undefeated so far.  Go Wild!

Speaking of the NHL, I received my first, official hockey team photo.  In the group picture, I am the 2nd kid from the left in the front row.  My individual picture is kind of a mix between happy and tough guy.  Mommy promises she will never be "that Mom" who wears her child's sport photo button on her coat.  Ever.

On Sunday night, we went to open skating with Grammy, Kyra and Bennett.  Kyra and Bennett were visiting, so we went skating together.  The rink has open skating once a week and the place was a crazy zoo on Sunday night.  We still had fun and I am getting much faster on my skates.  I can now do a pretty good half shuffle/glide motion.

Bennett plays hockey in MN.  Since they moved back, they figured hockey is the thing to do in MN.  He is 5 years old and is pretty speedy!

Cooper is able to stand and balance on his own and is doing much better with pushing a chair with little steps.  He really loves it when we push him ON the chair- lazy boy!

Great-Grandpa and Grandma bought me a John Deere wooden tractor and trailer for a Christmas present.  I was really excited to paint.  My parents were in disbelief as I actually worked on this for an hour or so.  I think it turned out beautiful.  I now put my farm animals in it and zoom it around the house. I love it!

Maybe I will be artistic, just like my Papa.  My Mom is just happy to see correct form as I paint... see no fist grasp.  I am getting ready for Kindergarten!

My preschool hosted Parent Activity Day on Monday.  Preschoolers rotated to different rooms where Moms planned a special snack, craft or activity.  Mommy read a poem, counting story and taught us how to play a penguin/goldfish counting game.  We had fun.  You can see that "me too" came along and participated in the activities (he was given permission to rotate with the preschoolers since he is a very good listener)... show-off.

A parent brought her own violin and a child sized one too.  She taught us how to pluck the strings carefully as she played "Pop Goes the Weasel."  Mommy thinks the photo of me with the violin might cause her to run out and buy one.  Look how cute I look! 

Thanks for tuning in this week.  Stay Warm!!

Where Dreams Come True!

It has been a vacation in the works for about a year now.  Papa and Grandma Sharon treated us to a 5 day Disney Dream Cruise to the Bahamas!  We are so thankful for their generosity and love as this trip was truly a dream come true.  We went on the newest Disney ship; for months we watched the Disney Dream video (click on the link below for an awesome glimpse and details of this ship!)

Disney Dream Video

There were 18 of us that went- Papa and Grandma Sharon along with our family, Auntie Stefanie/family and Uncle Jimmy/family and Sharon's two children Kim and Jeramy/family.  It was so great as Sharon's family lives in Indiana so we only see each other once a year.  Papa and Grandma Sharon bought us personalized t-shirts for the cruise so yes, we looked like one big, happy and dorky family :)

As we set sail from the port, the ship has a huge send-off party.  Everyone on the ship is dancing and singing along with the characters.  The ship blasts it's horn to various Disney tunes and everyone on shore waves wildly at us.  It was.....amazing.

Our stateroom was on the 9th floor, mid-ship.  Mom/Dad wore the sea patch behind their ear even though the ocean was smooth sailing.  Our room was big for a stateroom!  Cooper and I had bunk beds that pulled down from the wall, and since our staterooms were all next door, our veranda's opened up to make one huge deck for us!  Mommy loved how they turned the pillow over at nighttime, "A dream is a wish your heart makes, when you're fast asleep...." and we often returned from evening activities to find silly towel animals.

 Yep, we have coordinating jammies reminiscent of our Halloween costumes :)

 The food was delicious on the ship!  We stopped at the port-holes by the restaurants to lounge before indulging.

 Kid food included Mickey Waffles, Mickey Ice Cream, Mickey Ketchup (displays) and more.  I miss that food!

The Disney Dream is the only ship that boasts a lazy river ABOVE ship.  It goes around the top of the ship and even off to the side, over the ocean, in an enclosed tube.  Cooper and I were a bit too short (only 1 inch for me, boo!)  Daddy and Uncle Jimmy are in the above photo and Mommy and Auntie Stefanie are in the below photo.

 We had so much fun with our cousins in the Mickey Mouse pool, Donald Duck waterslides, glass-bottomed hot tubs (yikes!), and NEMO sprinkler park for younger kids, like us!

And these two pictures are really not what they seem.... the bottle was empty and Cooper was falling asleep from all of the FUN in the SUN!

We had our photo taken with the ship's captain.... I then asked him, "Who is driving the ship while you are taking a picture with us?"  My parents were quite impressed with this revelation!  The captain quickly said, "Captain Hook, of course!"  I chewed on that for awhile.

Disney Characters

 One of the major perks to the Disney Cruise was the characters were everywhere!  We were able to talk to them and get our photos with each one with little or no lines at all.  The characters often dressed up based on the theme of the day (princess/formal, pirate, beach, etc....)

We always gave big hugs and high-fives to the characters.  I loved Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck the most and Cooper blew kisses at Cindrella and Minnie Mouse.  He kept saying, "Cinderella PRETTY!"  I think he has his first BIG crush.

 Ports of Call- Bahamas and Castaway Cay (Disney's Own Island)... first stop was Bahamas and Papa and Grandma Sharon organized a day at Atlantis Resort.  It was simply AMAZING.... beautiful weather, super fun waterpark area, beaches were gorgeous= a perfect day in paradise!  In case you are wondering, yes, Mom and Dad DID go down the waterslides that are enclosed yet surrounded by sharks.  In their words, it was "scary and cool!"

 Kiddie Area

 Beach

 Castaway Cay- Disney's Island (they actually own it and it is in the Bahamas area).... fun sprinkler park for kids

 White sand beaches and super snorkeling (Mommy and Daddy went snorkeling)

 Cooper and Papa worked on sandcastles- well Cooper actually destroyed them.

 Mommy saw someone do this on Pinterest, so she had to try it (it is supposed to look like she is holding up the ship, um, OK).

Yes, I have hugged a tree today......  We absolutely loved our cruise and want to thank Papa and Grandma Sharon for the unforgettable trip.  We will cherish the memories forever!  We can't wait to put a favorite photo inside of this photo matte that Mommy had the characters/princesses sign on the ship!

The party didn't stop there, Mommy and Daddy gifted us two extra days at the Animal Kingdom Lodge.  Cooper and I were so excited to go to Disney World!  Our first day we went to Animal Kingdom Park

 First stop, Africa for the safari ride.....

 Yes, we wore our shirts once again.....

 Cooper was a little apprehensive about this gorilla.....

We attempted a Bug's Life in 3D, but Cooper freaked out;  I was right on his heels the minute a tarantula came at us in the movie (within 3 minutes of the beginning despite our parents telling us it was NOT scary, whatever.) 

 In Animal Kingdom, we were SO EXCITED to see Russell and Dug from our favorite movie, UP!  Look closely at my expression below....priceless!

 Cooper was "into" kissing the entire trip

 Dinosaur Land

 Tree of Life (or something like that) in the background and yes, my parents rented a double stroller and said it was a MUST for little kids and the tons of walking we did!

 Digging for fossils

Thinking it was funny that Donald Duck (statue) didn't know he had a lizard between his eyebrows :)

 

We attempted to NOT stand in any lines for character photos unless we didn't get a picture on the ship with that specific one.  We realized we didn't have a Donald Duck photo, so we waited the longest ever (10 minutes) for this one!

 Before heading back to our resort, we watched the Animal Kingdom Parade

 This was our backyard view at Animal Kingdom- complete with giraffes, zebras, ostriches, and more!  That night, Cooper woke up and threw up all over the bed.  We weren't sure if he had the flu or ate something from the African themed restaurant.  Anyhow, the next day, we managed to get an early start at Magic Kingdom.  Notice the nice blue skies!?!?!?

Nice, our family photo in front of Cinderella's castle is off-centered and we all look blinded by the light.  Oh well.

 Thanks to the holidays being over, the lines were short!  We only had to wait less than 10 mnutes per ride.  First stop, Mad Hatter's teacups. 

 You would never had thought Cooper was sick the night before......

 Dumbo Flying Elephants

 Goofy's Silly Rollercoaster ride (one of my favorites!)

 The carousel, of course!

 Mommy's favorite ride- It's a Small World (we went on it twice because we loved it so much!)

 The only other character we were patient enough and THRILLED to see- Buzz Lightyear and his super fun, laser ride!

 We took a few hour break this day (NAP TIME!) and when we returned that evening, it was a soggy scene.  We bought Mickey Mouse ponchos and carried on with our plans.  We still had a great time on all of the rides and stayed until after the 8:00 firework display!

 See that little light in the sk?!?  That is Tinkerbell as she repelled across the night sky from the castle- the Fireworks display set to music and words was beautiful and breathtaking!  Our expressions below captures our amazement.

We had the most amazing trip and are so blessed and grateful for everything.  Since we have been home, I got the flu (thanks Coop!) and we have been watching the Disney Dream video and asking our parents when we are going next year (and our parents just laugh about this).  Happy New Year!