They say eight is great and it sure started out that way for this little miss! After her birthday she got to enjoy the week hanging out with her cousins. Everyone loved when we visited the Clearwater Aquarium this summer so we took them Tuesday to see the Mote Aquarium and spent a fun morning and afternoon with the
fish, we took a break in between the two sides and had a nice lunch at
the Old Salty Dog and got to sit outside along the water to eat. J loved showing everyone her favorite animals, especially Huck, Pippi and Jane the otters. The boys golfed
Wednesday morning while the girls hung out at home then that afternoon
we all went to see what the Frozen 2 hype was all about, we all loved
the movie, and everyone is singing Into the Unknown on repeat!
Thanksgiving day started with the Turkey Trot for mom and dad while the
rest of the crew stayed home to sleep in and watch the Macy's Parade.
After some breakfast and once they saw Santa end the parade we headed
for some pool time since it was beautiful outside! The kids enjoyed
swimming, playing some Tenzi (a new dice game everyone got hooked on)
and painting their turkey cookies Nana had brought for them. None of
them pardoned their turkeys and instead gobbled them down pretty fast!
We got dressed up for some family photos and then ate our weight in
Thanksgiving dinner, it's amazing how fast dinner gets gobbled up after
all the preparations! It was a nice low key day full of family and fun.
Friday morning after breakfast we had to say goodbye to the crew (minus
Nana who was staying for a few more days), it was another fun week of
memories made, and surprisingly no teeth were lost, until next time!
The Sunday after Thanksgiving we took a day trip to Disney to celebrate J's birthday yet
again, in this family you can't have a birthday without a trip to Disney! Her request this wear was to park hop so we parked at Epcot and took
the monorail over to the Magic Kingdom to spend the first half of the day there. With park hopping came no stroller, it was our first time without it and how amazing it was! We
enjoyed the morning at MK and seeing the Christmas decorations, we rode a
few rides, of course J had to ride Thunder Mountain and got to ride it twice since C decided she didn't want to. We had a nice lunch at Tony's, can't be a
birthday without a meal and some pasta from there and then headed over
to Epcot for the rest of the afternoon. We rode Soarin and saw Mary Poppins, Aurora and Winter Belle. J was happy and that is what matters. We had a nice day together and are already
looking forward to our next trip back in a few weeks!
School was busy and flew by this month. The PTO (my mom crew and I) put on our first Winter Event and it was a success, our principal even dresses up as Buddy the Elf! Daddy brought the girls and they got to meet Santa, do some arts and crafts, get their faces painted and hang out with their friends that were there. C left early to go to a party so J stayed out and hung out with me. She helped me sell tickets for face painting, count the Gingerbread house votes and keep decorations from flying away, it was a windy day! Their school does an angel tree for some of the students who are in need, this year we chose an eight year old girl and took the girls shopping to pick out items from her list. They had a fun time running around Target and Claire's picking things they thought she would like, of course she needed a pair of boots! I got to help in J's class for her holiday party, the kids had fun doing some arts and crafts, dancing and making gingerbread houses, well I'd say they ate them more than they made them, they kept falling over and candy is better in the tummy than on the house anyways! She is doing great in math, she keeps coming home proudly with 100%'s on her tests and she was able to move up to the next section of books to check out in the library.
We took a quick trip to Disney two weeks before Christmas to visit the big guy and Mrs. Claus, seeing them at Epcot has been our tradition that last couple of years. With all of the traveling daddy has been doing we were able to score a room at the Swan hotel, the girls were excited and it allowed us to ride the boat and walk to the parks. We ventured to Epcot Saturday morning after driving over and rode our three FastPasses, we all love Soarin so it is a must each trip! We went and had some lunch off property and then headed to check into the hotel, the girls were upset we didn't get a suite and just a regular room but J was excited they had a revolving door! I was able to score FastPasses for Tower of Terror and some how we convinced them to ride it so we took the boat over to the Studios. The had no idea what to expect, it was dark, the elevator car was moving and they were already freaking out, I was internally laughing saying to myself "just wait!". Then the elevator started to go up and boom, the ride started and so did the loud screaming! I think everyone in our car was paying attention to J and not the ride. After the first drop she started screaming that she had to go to the bathroom and I spent the rest of the ride, which seemed like an eternity, trying to calm her down and keep her from having an accident. When the ride was over we quickly raced to the bathroom, no accidents thank goodness and she said she was NEVER riding that ride again! We've said they need to try some of the bigger rides, maybe this one was pushing it! After all the trauma we took the nice leisurely boat ride back to the hotel, changed them into their Santa outfits and then walked over to Epcot for the evening. We waited in line for what seemed like an eternity to see Santa, the park had never been this busy to see Santa, I guess having one less weekend between Thanksgiving and Christmas this year is why. After waiting over an hour (we haven't waited for a ride that long with them) it was finally their turn to tell them their wishes, they laughed and talked about wanting unicorns and mermaids, I was happy when Santa said he can not bring mythical live creatures to kids. Seeing their eyes light up when talking to Santa and Mrs. Claus was worth the hour wait, we believe! We had pizza for dinner in Italy and then tried to go and see Anna and Elsa in their new outfits, something must have been going on as we didn't move in 10 minutes and decided to try in the morning. We rode Soarin again and then watched the new nighttime show from the back entrance area before we headed back to the hotel, it was a fun day minus the tower!
Sunday we headed to Epcot at park opening and were one of the first ones to see Anna and Elsa. The girls were excited to see them and talked their ears off. Of course when we left they both said that they needed the new outfits, maybe they should have asked Santa for the the night before! We found them some GIANT donuts for breakfast and then headed towards the Skyliner to take us to the Studios. We stumbled across Mickey, Minnie and Goofy at the back entrance and of course had to stop and take pictures with them. Very rarely do you see these characters out and about in the park like old times, I had to explain to the girls that when I was little this is how you saw the characters and not in a specific area with props! After we saw everyone we hopped on the Skyliner, at first I think the girls were a little apprehensive about it but we all enjoyed the ride and seeing things from above the trees. When we got to the Studios the first thing both girls said was "we are not going on Tower of Terror!". We laughed and asked then if they wanted to ride Aerosmith instead, J said maybe next time she would! C wanted to see the Disney Junior show so we sat through that, J said it was for babies and wouldn't get up and dance! We challenged each other on Toy Story Mania, daddy always wins, mommy can't seem to beat him on this one! And then we went and saw the Frozen musical, we all signed our hearts out and at the end of the show there was a surprise, they had about a 10 minute extension singing holiday songs, it was a nice treat to the normal show and really got you in the holiday spirit. Afterwards we had some lunch, J and I shared some ribs which were really tasty and then rode Toy Story once more before we headed home, mommy still didn't beat daddy! Besides the traffic from an accident we got going home we had a great weekend, it was just what we needed!
J had her check-up this month, she is doing great and growing like a bean pole, tall and skinny! She is enjoying her art classes on Mondays after school and loves learning how to draw new things and use the different mediums. The girls got to go to a nighttime art class (J had a class to make up from her birthday) and painted some cute little Christmas gnomes, of course J insisted on showing C the ropes since she thinks she is a pro at the art studio since she takes classes there! The girls got to meet daddy's cousin and his family that was visiting from Brasil (their second and third cousins), they were boys so they really weren't into each other too much, but we did manage to get a picture of them for proof that they met! J is back into puzzles again, we got one at a white elephant Christmas exchange and she couldn't wait to get started on it.
Before we knew it school was over for Winter Break, we were baking cookies, making rice pudding and it was Christmas Eve. We spent Christmas Eve day home and I think the girls hung out in their jammies until after lunch. We went over to G&G's for dinner and presents, it was all the girls asked about all day, when they would get to open some. They got their gifts from us and from G&G and were happy campers. I went with the "something for their bedroom" theme this year, J got new bedding, unicorns and rainbows which are her new favorite things, out with the princesses! She was happy to give me the gift she picked out for me, some funny socks, she loves when daddy wears his and said I needed some too! Then the doorbell rang and they went screaming to the door, the tradition we have started for the big gifts! They opened the door and two bags were there waiting for them, they were so excited and couldn't wait to tear into them, daddy had to help get the bows and he couldn't take them off fast enough! When they saw the box and what it was they were ecstatic! They have been wanting the big AG dolls and their wish came true thanks to G&G and Uncle G and Auntie V for accessorizing them. They opened the clothes and accessories first and were confused and thought Auntie V bought the wrong ones for their smaller dolls! Our dance off with their Georgia cousins continued, we didn't get through too many rounds as they were too buys opening gifts and playing with their dolls! We had a yummy dinner, there was nothing left and no one had room for dessert! We had a nice night and they were asleep
pretty fast when their heads it the pillow, they didn't even hear Santa
come in!
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