First Day of School

I am getting closer to being caught up! Just 3 birthdays left!

Today I have pictures of the first day of school. Kyler is a 2nd graders. The twins are 1st graders. And my "Baby Laynee" started Kindergarten. I had such a hard time this year. I am SUPER sappy and this was the first year that they were all in school. Three days before school started- it hit me. It hit me hard. I just laid there in bed balling. And sniffling. It was pathetic. I kept thinking about the day that each of the kids were born. I thought about holding their little bodies. And I thought of all the things I would have changed if I had a second chance. I would have kept them home with me every single darn day. I would have yelled less. I would have played more. But too late now....they spend their days with their teacher and not me. I warned you that I was sappy! I cried for about 4 days. The 1st day was hard!!! I did ok with the big kids. But Laynee....a whole other story. I remember leaving the school crying like a baby. Scott decided to take me to breakfast a s a distraction. The poor waitress must have thought I was crazy!!! But the good news....the kids love school. They love their teachers and are excited to see their school friends again. I will make it through the first week!

I was crying...but the kids sure weren't!

Here is Laynee with her teacher, Mrs. Williams.

Laynee was not very excited about starting school. She kept telling me that she didn't want to go because she would miss me. But there weren't any tear. (From Laynee.) And I know she is gonna love Kindergarten!

I made it through the first day. Now I have 3 birthdays to cry through!

The Happiest Place on Earth- Part 1

It is our 1st day in Disneyland and it is my 30th birthday!!! I can't think of a better place to spend my birthday! We start the day with breakfast at Goofy's Kitchen. This was our 1st time eating here and we loved it! The characters spent a lot of time with the kids and the food was tastey.I loved that every time a character came near Laynee- she would giggle. She was so happy!

Scott is doing the Twist. Aladin was dancing with the girls. Super cute!

Never too early for a cupcake right?

Time for rides!!! And we road lots of them!

Do you like my birthday shirt? I think that about 200 random strangers wish me a happy birthday! It was fun!

Star Tours!!!

Taking a nap in Pluto's bed inside Mickey's house.

We road tons of rides and saw some characters. Then we watched the parade. Did you know that my birthday is also Disneyland's birthday?! How cool!!! The parade was awesome....but it was mighty hot!!! Right after the parade, we went to Downtown Disney for some birthday dinner at Tortilla Joe's. Fun!

After dinner, we road a bunch more rides! And then we saw the fireworks. I love Disney fireworks! Every year I am amazed! What an amazing way to end a super fun birthday! And a great way to start our 4 days in Disneyland!

The Happiest Place on Earth- Part 3

Day 4. Our last day :(

We started with a couple rides and meeting the princesses in Disneyland. And then finished our trip by hitting a couple of our favorite rides (Little Mermaid and Toy Story!) in California Adventures. Not too many pics....we were all tired of the camera! But I do have to show off the kids' last outfit....

Minnie liked my shoes!

And it is time to head home. It is always sad when a vacation ends.....but I feel blessed to have such special memories! It was a fantastic way to end an awesome summer!

The Happiest Place on Earth- Part 2

I was super excited about our 2nd day in Disney! The kids dressed up as characters!!!! Kyler was Captain Jack Sparrow. He was so darn cute!

The girls got to go to Bibbidy Bobbidy Boutique to have their hair and make-up done!

Poor Makenzie was so excited about getting her hair done. But while we were getting ready in the hotel room that morning, she managed to pull an iron down onto her head. It was so scary! She didn't burn herself, but she did cut her head. Since it was bleeding, she couldn't get her hair done :( But we got her the Rapunzel wig and they did her make up and pixie dust. Sill fun!

We took some pictures back in the photo studio. Danika is the Cinderella bride. Makenzie is Rapunzel and Laynee is Tinker Bell.

Jessie is Danika's favorite character!

The Toy Story Mania ride in California Adventures is my very favorite ride!

Buzz is still one of Kyler's favorite characters and he was super excited to find him!

We took the girls to the Princess Coronation. We had never done this before and I have no idea why not! The girls loved learning how to be a princess! While we were waiting for the show to start, the girls started posing and asking me to take their pictures. Especially Danika who is my little model!

I love the look on Danika's face when Cinderella walked out...

For dinner we went to a very fancy restaurant called the Blue Bayou. It is actually inside of the Pirates of the Carribean ride! It was great food, awesome ambiance and the kids were so good! No pictures because it was way too dark.

Day Three: FAMILY T-SHIRT DAY!!!

The Tea Cups are a family favorite!

Tigger was very goofy with the kids!

The story of Splash Mountain: Everyone but Makenzie wanted to go on Splash Mountain. We waited until the 3rd day and just told her that we were all going. She wimpered the entire time we were in line. Then as we got closer, she started crying. By the time we were getting in the boats, she was screaming bloody murder. During the ride she was screaming "Let me off this ride!!!!" I actually wondered if she was going to jump! After the ride, she says "We can go on that again." WHAT?!!! LOL! And so we went on it again the next day! I love all the scraed looks on our faces!

Dinner on the 3rd night was delicious! We went to a BBQ place. Hungry Bear BBQ??? Anyway, it was outside, all you can eat and messy! The kids were in the BEST mood of the entire trip. We took lots of pictures just because we were having so much fun smiling together! Here is a look at some of the food...

After dinner, we had to start our 2 1/2 hour wait to see Fantasmic. One adult would save the spot while the other took the kids. And then we switched. I though the kids would be upset by it all....but nope!

And it doesn't hurt that we gave them ice cream!!!

Fantasmic was awesome!!! I had not seen it since Disney World for our honeymoon. Why did we wait so long?! The kids loved it! And we had perfect seats for the fireworks afterwards as well. Amazing night!!!