Thursday, December 31, 2015

Disneyland Day 1

On Saturday Dec. 19th we headed for Disneyland.  The plan was to meet at our house since we had Sadie and Macey coming with us and all our kids to gather.  I had sent out a group text to Tim, Mollie, and Sadie saying "let's change leave time to 8:30 due to a slow start". Apparently it caused some confusion...
Here is how the conversation went
Tim: Running about 10 behind
Sadie: On our way
Tim: Where?
Sadie: To your house
(Right here I was worried it may cause a problem but then the texting continued and I thought for sure Tim knew he was talking to a teenager) so it continued...
Tim: K
Sadie: Potassium
Tim: Ooh! Chemistry!
Sadie:  Yeah I've been acing my test lately
Tim: a thumbs up emoji
(then later...)
Tim: Still on the way here?
Ha!  I thought for sure he knew he was talking to Sadie, especially since I have not been taking any chemistry classes lately.  Turns out Tim and Mollie were sitting at their house waiting for us so I called and let him know he was talking to Sadie and they headed on over, we packed up, and away we went.  We took our time getting there and overall it went really smooth.
The next morning we were on our way to Disneyland.  I had a pretty negative attitude especially while waiting in line with our antsy kids and watching thousands and thousands of people enter the park.  The good thing was since I expected the worst the day went really well, ha!
Kids waiting "patiently" to get into the park:
Standing in line
and we are in!
The first stop was the Jungle cruise in Adventureland.  Amelia was excited to watch the ducks swimming in the water while we waited.
Then she was just crazy and wanted to leap in with them.
Then we climbed Tarzan's jungle gym
Next up was Pirates of the Caribbean.
Colin absolutely hated it, because it scared him at the very beginning of the ride and he was ready to get off! After that ride we decided to split up for a bit.  Liam was ready for some bigger rides, so we grabbed some fast passes for the Haunted Mansion and took Liam on the Thunder Mtn Railroad, while G&G, Colin, and Amelia rode the train around the park.
Liam right before his first big roller coaster ride
Liam LOVED it!  His face was the absolute best the whole ride!
There was some relaxing but we decided to just go until the kids completely pooped out.
Colin has been into Dumbo lately so of course we had to stand in line for an hour to ride on it.  The worst part was when we were about five minutes away from getting on, Colin said he had to pee!  He decided he could wait and he did fine.  Here are the boys at the very end of the line. They did pretty well for as long as we waited and considering it was right at their usual nap time.
Colin ready to fly with his daddy, Liam rode with me.
After the ride they wanted some suckers.
We made an attempt at Tomorrowland but it was ridiculously crowded particularly since the new Star wars movie came out that very weekend.  So the boys did the Buzz lightyear ride and Grandma took them shopping in the store.  It was Colin's dream store with plenty of R2D2 toys but Liam likes Yoda and they really didn't have much for him.
Liam was ready to ride Thunder Mtn again, this time grandpa rode with him and they got the very front of the train.
We made our way over to Toontown which this gal was very happy about.  She finally got to run around instead of be strapped down in a stroller or on someone's lap during a ride.
They checked out all the cool stuff
and we got to meet Pluto!
Colin showed him his R2D2
Amelia lifting weights
There was a little roller coaster in Toontown and Colin was willing to go on it.  So we took him.  His very first roller coaster!
It was a good thing the ride only lasted 30 seconds otherwise I am not sure if he would have liked it. After this we all went to dinner.  Michael and Noel were around most of the day also but I failed at picture taking.  Sadie and Macey met up for dinner also, which was the first time we saw the teenagers the whole day! Then we all split up again and the teenagers, Chris, Liam, and I went on the Matterhorn.  Liam was so stinking cute.  When we finished the ride which he did like he said "It was so fast the abominable snowman couldn't get me!"
Trying to get a picture with Liam and the lights but Liam cannot handle any flash from a camera, ha!
Grandpa taking Colin on the Dumbo ride again as we were returning from the Matterhorn.
G&G took all three kids back to the hotel and Chris and I stayed back with Sadie and Macey.  I didn't want them riding the shuttle back to the hotel by themselves so one of us was going to stay with them but luckily we were both able to stay and have a little fun.  We all rode the Matterhorn again, then Chris and I showed them how to properly spin a tea cup, and we did Autopia. 
We stayed for the fireworks show and it was awesome, not that I took any pictures but here was the castle at night.
The hubster and me
The only other picture I got of these two, ha!
When we got back the kids were OUT
Even sweet Amelia didn't flinch to any noise.
It really was a great day.  The lines were not completely ridiculous and we did get to do quite a bit and the kids never really threw any tantrums, which was amazing!  Up next Day two!

Sunday, December 27, 2015

Christmas Program

Wednesday evening (the 16th) we had Aunt Mindy, Great Grandma, G&G Casson, and Grandpa Snay over for pizza before the big Christmas program.  The boys were so excited they were singing the songs for the program at home all week.  Colin especially loved singing "up on the roof top..." Unfortunately, Colin has had a rough time at school due to some girls being mean (I'm not sure if it was more than one occasion).  Anyway, I will go into that later but regardless he was still very excited for his 1st Christmas program!  The one thing I love is all the kiddos wear their PJ's.  Amelia joined the crowd.
Boys ready to go!
They call each class up one at a time.  Colin went the minute the first kid started walking up.  We tried to hold him back initially but then just let him go a little early.
Liam was pretty pumped.  It was so hard to get pictures because they were basically on opposite sides of the stage.
Sweet little Colin.  He was very focused.
Kiddos, Liam far left, Colin far right
Ready for Jingle Bells
Liam was singing at the top of his lungs (his voice could be picked out from the very back of the church).  At one point he was a little ahead of the verse during Jingle Bells and it was hilarious!  He did realize it and quickly jumped back to the correct verse.
He was also having fun with his buddy next to him
This boy was pretty focused until the last song.  He jumped right in and was really enjoying himself.
After the program it was cookie time.  Colin had waited all day for a cookie!  He really wanted one when we had to drop them off at school, but  I told him he had to wait until later.  That's tough on a three year old!
Aunt Mindy and Grandma with the kiddos
and another
This guy had two cookies and wanted mine, I said no way, then he sneakily took it with this wicked cute face.
It was a great night watching our babies perform!

Angel Dash

Wednesday, Dec. 16th was a very busy day!  The kids had story time with a craft (which I dread but luckily I had Aunt Mindy and Great Grandma to help!) then we had to run some errands, then the angel dash, and lastly the boys' Christmas program.  Here are some pictures from the Angel Dash.
The boys were so excited the minute they entered the gym and started jumping around.
They eventually put on there angel gear
This little lady just had the halo
Ready to run!
All the kiddos!
Colin and Hadley began and finished the race holding hands!  I just love these sweet 3 year olds!
Amelia watched the kids and would run a little to but didn't make it too far :)
Liam finishing up
Hadley and Colin finishing up and they were greeted by Santa Claus!
My angels
Telling Santa he wants some Star Wars Legos
Colin showing Santa what was on his shirt, ha!
My loves!
Then they were off to decorate and of course eat cookies.
Colin enjoyed eating frosting.
Amelia did lots of climbing
More climbing and running
The kiddos had such a great time and I am so thankful Anna puts on these little events for our kids in the community.