Forever Sisters. Always Friends.

 The next day we went back to Magic Kingdom and first up was, of course, metting the princesses.

I know I am 36 but there truly is something spectacular about the princesses...they are so sweet and never break character.

 We saw parades everywhere we went and they continued to be a favorite occurance.  Here is Reesie waving to someone in the parade...beyond cute!

 A little Swiss Family Robinson action...visitng their tree house...

 We spent time at Belle's castle and the girls got to be in a show with her.  Ashlyn was Mrs. Potts (I think that's right) and Reese was Chip.  Laney was the magical mirror.  It was cute.

 We enjoyed lots of rides, like this Little Mermaid one, too.

More to come, but just looking back at these pics makes we want to go back again as a family.  We truly had such a wonderful time!

Our first big family vacation- part I

This truly was such a wonderful trip.  Everything about Disney was fabulous, and I'm so glad we went with the girls at their ages.  Reese could do most things, didn't have to stop and take a nap, loved every minute of it and will be able to remember things.

 The big girls loved every minute too (okay, there were a couple of roller coasters Laney wasn't fond of)!  I loved that Ashlyn could still enjoy this trip as a little girl even though she is definitely a tweener.  She whole-heartedly would love for this to be an annual trip (as would we all!!)!

 We got in Thursday early afternoon and had tickets for Christmas with Mickey.  We thought we wouldn't be able to get in until 7pm but found out we could get in with those tickets anytime after four.  So off to Magic Kingdom we went!!!

 First stop...Mickey, of course!!

 The girls loooooved the parades each day!

 I think I would choose to go this time of year (early December) every time!  The Christmas lights and decorations were incredible, the weather gorgeous, and the crowds very minimal.

 We didn't leave the park until almost 11 and so we rode tons of rides, saw fireworks, saw the parade...

 They make it "snow" on main street, and also gave out free hot chocolate and cookies for our

Christmas parade.  (Side note: the food is very reasonably priced at Disney...we were so surprised and thankful!)

It was an incredible start to an incredible vacation!  Magic Kingdom ended up being our favorite park.  It truly is magical just as its name says.

A Magical Surprise

The Sunday after Thanksgiving we had a surprise for the girls.  It's a surprise that Jason and I, and his parents had been dreaming about since the beginning of the year.  To help us spill the beans we recruited this guy...

 There were notecards that led the girls on a scavanger hunt around the house for clues. 

 The first clue was found in a Disney DVD case.

 Another clue was found in the hidey hole where it can feel like "a small world after all."

 They even got their Christmas pj's along with a clue, which included these fun little hats with Mickey Mouse ears.  This was clue 6 and was where they started figuring it out, which was perfect because there was only one clue left...

 The clues weren't in order.  They had to do that on their own.

 The final clue was in this big box that was hidden in the back of Papa D's truck.  Jason and his dad acted like it was extremely heavy when they lifted it out, but inside were these fun balloons.

 And the last clue attached to the balloons happened to say this...

 We videod their scavenger hunt and responses too which was priceless!  They were jumping up and down hugging each other.  It truly was a priceless moment I will never forget.

It was such a fun surprise for such a fun, magical, perfect trip.

  More pics coming soon of the actual trip, I promise!



Thanksgiving before Christmas

You know, since Christmas is less than a week away I thought it'd be appropriate to actually blog about Thanksgiving :).

 One of my favorite traditions that we started 4 or 5 years ago is our thankfulness tree.  Your heart can't help but be full when you begin to list all the blessings in your life.  Below is a leaf off our tree from each of my precious girls.

 One blessing was getting to spend Thanksgiving with this crew....my spunky and fun nephew and neice...oh yeah, and their mommy and daddy!

 One thing I consider such a gift is having family that are dear friends and dear friends who are like family.  Andy and Kelly are so fun to be around, are great parents, and even though I didn't choose them to be family...God did that...I am so thankful He did!

 As a belated birthday present, Andy took Jason to the TCU vs. UT football game Thanksgiving night.  Kelly and I held down the fort and yelled loudly at the TV!!  No worries, they still liked each other after the game.

 The greatest joys of my heart which bless my heart and make it so full of thankfulness each and everyday (even if they do create more laundry for me) are these people.  Ah, God has been so good to me!

 Very blessed indeed!