Princess for the Day!

Taylor is one lucky little girl because she got to cut school today to spend the day with her grandparents at Disney!  How awesome is that?!  We are very blessed to have this opportunity and to live so close to the most magical place on Earth!  My parents have annual passes to Disney, so they just love any chance they get to take Taylor there (since she’s still free and all :))  This was an especially exciting trip for Taylor because she is now REALLY into the Disney princesses and Minney, so she’s really getting what Disney is all about.  She went today with an agenda – to see Cinderella, the castle, and Beauty and the Beast.

And, Cinderella she met!  It almost brings tears to my eyes seeing the joy and excitement in her face.  I am so happy that she got to experience this and I know it won’t be the last!

 

And, Princess Aurora… aka “Beeping Beauty” as Taylor would say.

Best part of all… is she got to pick out a dress-up outfit/Halloween costume at the Disney Princess Store!  The second the tried that dress on for me, her hands turn up like a little princess and she moved so elegantly.  It was precious!  I look forward to seeing her all dressed up for Halloween.  She’s going to have a blast!

The day was all about her – my parents love to go to the park for just a few hours, so once Taylor got tired, they were happy to pack up and head back home.  I’d say it was a successful day!  Taylor got in a nap on the drive home.  Notice the arm next to her in the back seat??  That would be GrGr riding in the back with her to keep her company on the way home.  Isn’t that sweet?  They sure do give her the royal treatment!

Love you GrGr and Papa – thank you for a wonderful day that Taylor will never forget!

Mommy / Baby Birthday Weekend!

Two years ago, Taylor was my unexpected birthday present!  Forever and ever, we will get to celebrate our birthdays together!  This year was no different.  We spent a fun filled weekend at DISNEY WORLD!!!  I haven’t been to Disney with Taylor yet, so it was really special for us! 

She is such a fun age.  Still a little too young to really “get” Disney and to enjoy it all, but it was still so much fun seeing the excitement in her eyes.  Our good friends, Marc and Haden came along with us too.  They were good sports putting up with some of the “baby” stuff Tay and I wanted to do :)

 

Taylor appeared to be tall enough for the Goofy rollercoaster, but she apparently shrunk an inch after waiting in line, because when we got up there, they said she wasn’t quite tall enough to ride.  BOOO!  It was going to be scary for me to take her on it anyway – it’s kind of a big deal for a little kid rollercoaster!  Next time, Tay!

The kids at least kept us entertained in line…

It is an absolute must at Disney to eat your own Mickey Ice Cream, so I let Taylor just go to town on it.  As Taylor would say, she was a “MESS!”!  Chocolate was EVERWHERE!  That Minney dress was pretty much a total loss afterwards.

 

Should this not be the face for a Disney commercial?!  I know, as her mother I am biased, but I love the joy and excitement that I see in her face here…

and here… :)

  

Taylor met one of her favorites too – Daisy Duck!!  She even gave Daisy a kiss on the beak. That was quite a treat for her :)

We are just so thankful and blessed to have the opportunity to go to Disney.  It was a fun time and great memories were made!  Any day; happy or sad, rested or sleep deprived, bored or busy - is a day that I am thankful to be with my Tay Tay.  Believe it or not, I even thanked God for her as she was throwing a two-year-old fit and melted down from lack of sleep in the middle of the Magic Kingdom.  Good times! :)

December at a Glance

Wow, December was one busy month!

God is blessing me immensely and everything, though hectic at times, has been falling right into place.  I am so grateful!!

Let’s see… in December, I moved into my new house (much more to come on that soon.), my family and I went to California to visit my sister and her family, my bother and his family came to here for Christmas, lots of home improvements, work and work trips, Christmas and New Years, and lots LOTS more!  It was an exciting month!

Taylor went on her second trip to California this year to visit my sister and her family.  It is such a joy seeing our kids interact!  Taylor took to my sister immediately and wanted her to hold her everywhere we went.  It was a nice little break for me.  :)

Since we weren’t together for Christmas or Thanksgiving this year, we celebrated an early Christmas together one night we were there.  Anna cooked a big traditional dinner complete with turkey and all the fixins!

Taylor insisted on sitting in her stroller for the picture, so we just went with it.  What my baby wants, my baby gets, right?! :)

We took a day trip to Santa Monica – went to the pier, the promenade, had some delicious fish tacos (YUM!), and went to the beach.  I love love love getting back to California and seeing the Pacific ocean and just being a part of the unique culture that Cali has to offer! 

It was a perfect day on the beach.  We let the kids get all dirty and muddy.  Taylor had a ball playing in the sand in just her diaper. 

The kids cracked us up with their fun silly ways.  Aiden and Taylor played in his “fort” and built legos one lazy morning…

All that alone is enough to fill a month, but there’s more! 

John and his family came later this month to visit from Austin.  They haven’t seen Taylor since she was 8 weeks old, so it was a much needed visit!  We spent the whole week together  and had a blast.  Taylor got to see all of her cousins this month! 

One day, we headed to the beach and to Tarpon Springs for shopping and some Greek food!

We are so spoiled to get to enjoy the beach in December.  It was a beautiful day to walk around and find sea shells.  I couldn’t get Taylor to stay put for a group picture with her cousins, so I snapped this as she quickly crawled back to momma... 

 

 Taylor is doing her new thing – while riding in her stroller, she is all about holding hands.  She snagged up the hands of Claire and Avery here and is holding them tightly.  She is such an affectionate girl! 

Well that is about it for December – told ya it was a busy month!

My Travel Buddy

 

Taylor and I just returned from a great mommy/baby vaca to Cali!  I was in disparate need to get some quality time in with my girl and to see my sister and BFF, Brooke.  We had an absolute great time and Taylor was the perfect little traveler.  Traveling alone with a one year old across the country required me to be very prepared and organized.  Packing light was also a necessity because I needed to manage all my things - carry-ons, suitcase, baby, stroller, and car seat all by myself.

One successful trip doesn’t make me a pro-traveler by any means, but I did do a few things that worked really well for me and learned a few lessons along the way that I thought I’d share…

1.  Yogurt Melts!  The best tip to traveling with a toddler is SNACKS!  Lots and lots of snacks!  To be more specific, YOGURT MELTS!  These things are like baby crack.

2. In attempt to pack lightly, I doubled Taylor’s favorite snack case as storage for her yogurt melts and to use as a toy.  Tay loves to rattle things around, shake them, and hit the table with them, so, her Sesame Street snack case was a big hit.  During the trip, she even learned to open it up and carefully grab the yogurt bites to snack on.

3. Disposable placemats.  Since everything on the plane is nasty dirty, I used disposable placemats to cover the tray table.  I don’t even want to touch those things, so I felt much better with Tay using it covered.

4. Paci Clip!  I used to be so against these things.  I thought they were so dorky, but heck, I am such a believer in the paci clips now!  They saved me from having to constantly wash her paci and plus, I always knew where it was.  I would even consider using these dorky sippy cup leashes now too, especially on dirty planes or in restaurants.  Taylor is getting to be at that age where she will toss her sippy cup down as soon as she’s done drinking it, so I am usually under the table trying to find it.

                                                  

http://booginhead.com/product/pacigrip

5. Formula Packets!  Even though my big girl is past the formula stage, I didn’t want to have to worry about needing milk while on the plane.  I had Taylor drink a bottle at take off and at landing (if she was awake), so these pre-measured formula packets were perfect!  All I needed was bottle water and volia! I was a little worried if she’d drink the formula after being on milk for 4 weeks now, but she had no problem at all.

6. Food, glorious food!

Food was the key to keeping my girl happy and content throughout the 5 hour plane ride.  I packed a little cooler with fruit cups, nutrigrains, and lunchables.  Eating and swallowing always helps me pop my ears on a plane, so I’m sure it helped her too. 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              

 

 

 

 

Taylor is a huge fan of these Lunchables!  I know they aren’t the healthiest, best food, but heck, when you are on a trip, you want easy and convenient!  She ate these on my lap and was happy as a clam!  I even stole a few bites.

 

7. Comfy Clothes.  I dressed Taylor in these sleepers on the flights.  This way, she could nap comfortably and we weren’t ever messing with shirts riding up, or missing socks, etc.  It worked very well and she was cute and comfy!

 

http://www.carters.com/carters/carters-baby-girl-1-piece-pjs,default,sc.html

 

 

Weekend in LA – part 1

This past weekend, I got to hang out with my sister and her family!  It was great catching up with them and the kids and just relaxing at their house.  I got in a lot of fun camera time, because I had such cute subjects to photograph.  Here are some of my favs…

 

This shot wasn’t even posed!  I just found him like that looking super cute.  I think we have a future model on our hands!

I snagged this picture during snack time, so please excuse the yogurt on her face :)

I never knew sliding down a grassy hill on cardboard could be so much fun!