Good perspective for the holiday season

When you feel like complaining about the holidays, read about this family:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/uc/20071121/cm_uc_crmmax/op_194440

Teeth!

Sammy has a tooth! Lower front, just barely peeping through this morning. Don't have a pic of it yet but will post one when I have it.

Sam's New Tricks

Just tonight Sam was up on his knees! He's rocking and still going backwards but he can get up on his knees. I also noticed today that he dropped something from his high chair and looked down for it. Yesterday he started clapping. He's just picking up something new every day!

Going to the second hand...

WAR EAGLE! We beat Bama for the SIXTH year in a row! My kids have never lost an Auburn-Alabama game. I guess Nick Saban hasn't made enough yet....

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a very mild day for Thanksgiving. The kids had a great time playing outside and enjoying the nice weather. (They'd better - it was 19 in KC this morning!) We spent Thanksgiving just the four of us (plus Jordan) and had a nice day. Robert made a great turkey and trimmings and we all took it easy. Hope everyone else had a great Thanksgiving!

Disney, Day Eight

Day eight was the day to go home. Boo! We did save one more bit of fun for this day. We had breakfast with Alice in Wonderland, Mary Poppins, Pooh, Tigger and the Mad Hatter. Gabby wore her Alice in Wonderland dress, which made Alice say she didn't know who she was anymore! She loved that! We then hit the Marketplace before leaving to do a bit of shopping. It was a very hot day so Gabby had to play in the fountains. Finally we had to go but we'll be back another time - we have to take Sam one day!

Disney, Day Seven

Our last full day of Disney fun. We were up and out before the sun was even up to Chef Mickey's for breakfast. We saw Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy, and Pluto. Then we were back to the Magic Kingdom, Gabby's favorite. We rode the carousel with Goofy right after we got there. Then we took Gabby on some new rides like Splash Mountain, Goofy's Barnstormer and Space Mountain. She loved Splash Mountian, although she wore her poncho so she wouldn't get wet. She learned how to raise her hands on a roller coaster on Goofy's Barnstormer. She was barely tall enough to ride Space Mountain (which came back to get us later).

We rode all the rides she wanted to ride. It rained in the afternoon and we found out that Dumbo is also a water ride. Yes, we rode it in the rain! I don't have any pictures - the camera was under the poncho for safe-keeping.

As our day came to an end, we had our worst moment. She wanted to ride Space Mountain as her last ride before we left. So we went back over and although her head touched the measure stick at the end of the line and front of the line earlier in the day (see picture), it did not at the measure stick in the middle of the line, which is where they were measuring at this time. The guy would not let her measure at one of the other sticks and would not let her ride. She was heartbroken and Daddy held her while she sobbed for thirty minutes. Meanwhile, our time was growing short and we did not want to end on such a bad note so we were trying to talk her into other things. Finally she was persuaded to visit Tinkerbell's shop to pick out something and then ride Splash Mountain before the park closed for the day. We went back to the room and all collapsed in the bed - worn out!

Disney, Day Six (Really SeaWorld)

So day six was SeaWorld day. A big thanks to the folks at SeaWorld for providing a free ticket to military members and their families. We had a great time!

We got there early in the pouring rain for Count VonCount's Spooktacular Breakfast where we saw Elmo, Bert, Ernie, Big Bird, Zoe, Count, Cookie Monster, and Abby. Gabby got up and danced with them, too.

Thankfully the rain stopped and we spent the day seeing the shows and riding the rides, first in the kid area and then riding Journey to Atlantis (a water ride) right before leaving. Gabby liked the funny Clyde and Seamore show.

Sam at Six Months

I don't think I ever posted Sam's six months stats. He was 18.1 pounds at the doctor a couple of weeks ago. Still no teeth but I keep thinking any day. Sitting up some but still tumbling over after a while. Robert saw him get on his knees once but he's mostly still pushing up on his hands and scooting backwards. Still sweet and full of smiles.

Disney, Day Five

We slept in a little on Day Five, heading out to Disney-MGM Studios fairly early. We caught the Playhouse Disney Live on Stage show with Johnny and the Sprites. Gabby is the little Tinkerbell there in the middle dancing along. We had lunch with JoJo and Goliath from JoJo's Circus and June and Leo from the Little Einsteins. We also made sure we saw Woody and the Green Army Man from Toy Story. Gabby was a big, brave girl and rode the Tower of Terror, although she didn't want to ride it again! We finally left the Studios and went back to the Magic Kingdom to see the evening parade and fireworks. We couldn't miss Tinkerbell's flight! We had another late night.

Disney, Day Four

Day Four was a big day! We headed out to the Magic Kingdom and hopped on some of Gabby's favorite rides early. Then it was on to see Ariel in her Grotto. Gabby gave her a seashell she had painted for her. We had lunch at the Crystal Palace with Pooh, Tigger, Piglet, and Eeyore. After a couple more rides we went back to our room and rested for a while. We went back to the Magic Kingdom to stay for Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party. Before that, Gabby was surprised with a visit to the Bibbidi Bobbodi Boutique. She chose to be made over into Tinkerbell. She had two Fairy Godmothers in Training that did her hair, nails and makeup and sprinkled her with pixie dust and the transformation was complete! She was more beautiful than normal! We spent the rest of the night enjoying the Halloween party. Gabby fell asleep on the way back to the room and this is how she ended her day.

Help the ASPCA fight puppy mills!

The ASPCA is trying to gather information to help fight puppy mills. They have a short survey on their website to help determine where people get their dogs. It only takes a couple of minutes to fill out.

http://www.aspca.org/site/PageServer?pagename=dogsurvey_thanks

Disney, Day Three

Day Three we were up bright and early again. We went to the Magic Kingdom for Little Ones Extra Magic Hours. Gabby was dying to ride It's A Small World, Dumbo and Peter Pan so we did those things. We saw the Fairy Godmother and Daisy Duck on our way out of the MK. Then we headed over to our scheduled park for the day, Epcot. We had big fun riding the new Nemo ride. We then went to the princess lunch in Norway. We saw Belle, Ariel, Mulan, Jasmine and Aurora and had a great meal. After lunch we rode a few more rides and then Donna and Gabby went to the hotel to rest. Robert stayed behind to ride Mission:Space. We slept for a couple of hours and ate some supper before heading back to Epcot. We rode Test Track a couple of times and Gabby loved it. It was one of her favorites. We then found a spot for the fireworks and enjoyed them before heading back to the hotel and bed.

Disney, Day Two

We were up good and early on Day Two (or our first full day). We had 8 AM reservations for the Donald breakfast at Animal Kingdom so we were there before the gates even opened. That's a first for us! We saw Donald, Mickey, Pluto and Goofy. After breakfast we were off to enjoy Animal Kingdom. We saw the great Nemo, Lion King and Pocohontas show. Gabby says her favorite ride was Kali River Rapids. We rode it last and got soaking wet! Gabby most of all (see picture). Thankfully I brought us all a change of clothes in the car. We changed our clothes and headed out to the Grand Floridian for the Cinderella meal. We saw Cinderella, Prince Charming, the stepmother and stepsisters. The step family was a fun addition to this meal - last time we went we saw the Fairy Godmother and the mice, Suzy and Perla. Gabby thought the step sisters needed some hugs to make them nicer. We rode the monorail around the resorts just for fun and then went back to the hotel to rest up for Day 3.

Carrots Win, Hands Down!

Election Day in our house found a clear winner so far on the food front - carrots! So far sweet potatoes have been met with like, sweet peas with tolerance but carrots are a love. He ate a whole container yesterday at supper. For reference, Gabby never ate a whole container of any baby food in one sitting. Looks like Mommy will have to get a job to pay for Sam's food!

Disney, Day One

We arrived at Disney World on Oct 15. We checked in to the All-Star Music resort and found Mickey hanging out in our bed! Gabby and Daddy went swimming for a little while. We then went to Port Orleans (the section formerly known as Dixie Landings) to eat supper and show Gabby where Mommy and Daddy became engaged. Daddy reenacted the scene with Gabby and we found someone to take a picture of us all. We tried to settle down and go to bed early so we could get up and hit the World with a vengence the next day. More to come!

Halloween and Six Months

Here are the kids from Halloween. Gabby wore her Alice in Wonderland dress to school (b/c it is easy to take off) and her Tinkerbell outfit from Disney for Trick-or-Treating. The Tinkerbell story is a whole other thing from our Disney trip that I will have to post at some point. Sam, of course, was a baby bumblebee. So cute!

Sam is six months old today. He's trying hard to sit up on his own and gets longer every time. He also got his first taste of sweet potatoes today. He's happy to be heading into the wonderful world of food! He is a hungry boy!

Will get moving on our vacation to Disney World, Camilla, Callaway Gardens and Auburn. Hope to get some pics up soon.