Disney Trip Day One

So on our first day to Disney, it was a lot of flying, but we still got to go to Magic Kingdom for awhile which was fun. Watch out, here are some STELLAR pictures on the airplane... :)

Let the Memories Begin!!! After we made it to the hotel and dropped off our stuff, we headed to Magic Kingdom to meet my parents and Laura + fam.

Right when we got there they were having a parade. So we hopped in line to watch. These girls were nice enough to let the kids sneak in front of them so they could have a front row view.

Jackson was in awe.

The characters got VERY close. Woody even came and patted Cooper's head because he was wearing a Toy Story shirt. I think a little too close for comfort. Right after this Cooper moved back by the grown-ups.

A much better view safe with Grandpa!

Then we toured the Swiss Family Robinson Tree House.

Then it was off to the Aladdin magic carpet ride! Both of the boys' first rides, and they loved it.

Before we left the park, Gma and Gpa let each kid pick their own balloon. Jackson kept seeing balloons the entire time we were here in Disney and so would constantly say "boon boon boon!"

Loving his Minnie/Mickey balloon.

Loving his Mickey balloon!

The beautiful Cinderella castle.

We stayed at the Grand Floridian which was absolutely beautiful. Here are a few pictures of our room/bathroom.

Jackson showing off his "first trip to Disney" shirt.

The four kids hanging out in our room.

Then we went to dinner, then to bed! A fun-filled day.

Disney World!!!!

I haven't posted in a little while because we have been at Disney World! An amazing, amazing trip my parents gave us for Christmas. It was the best time, we didn't want to come back to the real world (except for sleeping in our own rooms, that part is nice!). Here are a few sneak peek pics until I can get to downloading all 500 pictures I took while playing at Disney...

The boys in their adorable Mickey shirts that Laura's friend made us. See Cinderella's castle way in the background?
There was a photographer there who told the kids to look like they were holding something in their hands and looking surprised. Maybe they're supposed to be holding the castle? I missed that part. But Cooper sure knows how to put on his surprised face! :)

Hopefully more pictures to come soon!

Our Second Christmas

A few days after Christmas we drove to Kansas to have Christmas with Ryan's side of the family. The boys LOVE being with their grandparents and uncles/aunt so they were very excited to drive up. Cooper did great on the trip, Jackson did as well as can be expected :). We had a very relaxing time up in KS!

Here is Cooper bowling for his first time. We went bowling one day and had a great time. I am a horrible bowler and Cooper did better than most of the girls!

Then we had our Christmas morning. Here are Cooper and Jackson posing with their Uncle Chris and Uncle B.J. Ryan got the guys these shirts as a gag gift. You should have seen the one he got me, oh my!

The kids were very spoiled with all of the presents they received! Here Jackson is on a Buzz Lightyear car. This was definitely a favorite! Cooper loved it too.

Another favorite, the Blues Clues dog.

This was one of Cooper's favorite gifts, a kid computer! For all of you with kids, this is a really cool activity, it teaches math, reading, art, science, etc... but all on the computer and Cooper has lots of fun with it. It's called Computer Cool School and is made by Fisher Price.

Gma and Gpa got the boys these matching vests. Aren't they so cute??

The whole family!

Silly Cooper hamming it up!

all the boys.

Katie's two sisters came into town to visit us. It was so great to see them.

We didn't get to see nearly as many friends as we would have liked to, it's so hard when we're there only for a few days. But we were lucky enough to see a few of our high school and college friends. Unforunately I didn't take many pictures, but I did get one of my kids with Maya and Nolan (Gretchen and Darin's children). They turned two just about a week ago. They both had Elmo dolls like Jackson, so we had to get a picture of all of the kids with their dolls!

We had such a great time in KS, we always wish we could stay longer!


This is just a random picture of Cooper with his zoo his Gma and Gpa B got him for Christmas. It took forever to put together but he has a lot of fun with it!

More December Activities

Elizabeth and Ben came over to decorate sugar cookies a few weeks ago.

Jackson first had to enjoy a hug from his favorite Elizabeth!

Then they got busy decorating!

Another December activity was a Peppermint party that my mom and "her boys" (Cooper, Ben, and Jackson) hosted for a few of their friends (it was an all boy party except for Elizabeth!). Isn't this table adorable? My mom is so creative!

Here are the kids playing a BINGO game.

The kids posing with their candy cane ears.

Cutie Jackson outside while the boys all bounced in the bounce-house. They went a little nuts!

On to Christmas!

Christmas Part 1

We had great Christmases this year! We first celebrated with my side of the family. Here are the four grandkids in their matching pjs. Love them! My mom keeps trying to convince us (and our husbands) to get matching ones with them. Wouldn't that be cute, grown ups in long johns??!
Christmas Eve we let the kids each open one present. Of course Cooper picked the biggest one. It's a fire station set and he LOVES it. It squirts real water, which he demonstrated to me as I was laying down today! (he got me right in the face, quite a surprise!)

Here is my attempt at getting a picture of the boys with Lily. Poor Lily.

Awww...

Christmas morning! Had to show this picture at our sad tree. After only being up about a week the top 2/3 of the lights went out! We could not fix it so we spent a few weeks with a very poorly lit tree :).

Cooper finding his stocking.

and Jackson getting into the presents!

Jackson loved the shopping cart Santa got him...

and Cooper LOVED the bakugans (spelling??) Santa got him! Love this face. They're these Japanese anime things (I don't even know if I'm spelling that right!) but he likes them because they're balls, and when you throw them they open up to a little character. A friend had them and he loves them.

Inside his stocking was a giant chocolate football. He of course had to give it a try.

Jackson tried it too!

This is just a funny story. A week or two before Christmas we realized we had squirrels in our attic. Fun fun. We had some people come out to catch them and came out a bunch of times before we finally caught one. Well, another one was still getting in, so they left a few traps around for a few days. Well of course, Christmas morning, what do we hear?? A squirrel caught in a trap outside! We didn't want to call the pest control people since it was Christmas day, so Ryan and my dad drove it to a nearby park to let it go. At least we caught the thing!

After the squirrel episode we went to my parents' house for another Christmas. Yes, those presents behind them are pretty much all for the kids. They're very lucky (and kind of spoiled :))!

Jackson was in love with this reindeer and carried it around the entire morning.

Cooper loved this dump he got. He's very into Toy Story 3 right now.

Oooh, another favorite! His personalized cape from Uncle Ross! I love this face, he is ready to save the world!

Jackson even got a cape but I couldn't get him to pose with the kids.

This was Jackson's big present, a kitchen! I love it, Ryan made a little fun of it, especially with Jackson wearing this slightly girly outfit. I happen to think it, and him, are adorable! :)

Christmas morning family photo. Jackson doens't look too thrilled but I promise, he had fun!

Two days later we were on the road to Kansas! I'll post those pictures next.