Lilly & Mamie: January 2011

We decided to take our first trip to Disney in January to celebrate the girls' birthdays--Lilly turned 6 while we were there and Mamie will be 4 in February. I had not been since I was 5 years old, so I was almost as excited as they were. We drove, and barely beat the snow going through Atlanta. We were planning on leaving on a Monday, but the snow was predicted for Sunday evening, so we left Sunday around lunchtime as soon as Jon could get home from work. About an hour past Atlanta, we heard that the ice had hit Atlanta and the airport was already closed. It was the craziest timing--we thought Lilly was going to miss a whole week of school, and she ended up without a single absence! It was VERY COLD at Disney for the first two days, but it was great. There were no long lines for anything, and we could not have picked a better time to go. We walked right onto rides like Dumbo and Peter Pan, that usually have a long wait. We all loved it and couldn't get over how sweet all of the princesses and characters are. I think we're all ready to go again. It was even better than I had anticipated. We went to Tampa first to visit my sister and her family for a couple of days, and then drove to Orlando. I wish we could have stayed longer, but we had a great time.

Almost as much fun as Disney World--IKEA!!!!! I was so excited and took pictures of everything. You can spend all day in that place. I LOVED it.

Had to take a picture of the adorable little eating area they have for kids in the restaurant inside Ikea. They even had games for them to play, movies to watch while they ate, bibs, bottle warmers, kid dishes and silverware...it's like a dream store :) OH, and did I mention the FREE 45 minutes of childcare? I'll be going to Atlanta soon...

The sweetest 14 year old nephew on earth. He had his friends playing duck-duck-goose and hide & seek with the girls. They adore him.

Holding his sheet music while he practiced his trumpet :)

EPCOT--Day 1

Outside the Nemo ride

Our first Character happened to be Mickey Mouse

And Mamie's favorite was next...PLUTO! She calls him "ploodle."

I look like I have a spaceship coming out of my head, but at least we got one family shot :)

You'll notice that all throughout the trip, Lilly has her birthday button on that they gave her when we checked into the hotel. EVERYONE told her happy birthday and called her by name, from the attendants on every ride, to the people cleaning the bathrooms. She loved it. Every time she took her jacket off or put it on, she would move her button. She was serious about it.

Lilly is sulking in the stroller with her arms crossed after riding "test track." It was a great ride--I screamed like a little girl the entire time on the track and in the picture of us at the end, I had both of my feet up on the dashboard like we were going to die. Lilly HATED it, but Mamie loved it. She was tall enough to ride everything at the parks except space mountain.

Mulan

Viking Carmans

With Sleeping Beauty at Akershus for dinner in Norway. It was awesome.

All the little girls paraded around the restaurant with the Princesses.

Jasmine

Snow White--she saw it was Lilly's birthday and had Dopey make a cupcake for her ;-)
Lilly is still talking about what a good baker Dopey is.

Ariel. She was so pretty and sweet.

With her cupcake from Dopey

Leaving after a long day...

MAGIC KINGDOM--Day 2

One of the highlights of the trip--the characters from Tangled! Rapunzel & Flynn Rider. Lilly can't stop looking at his pictures. I couldn't get over how much he looked like Flynn from the movie.

Flynn is holding Lilly's hand in this picture (swoon).

Daddy and Mamie on the Pooh ride.

Daddy on the teacups--If I had gone on that ride, we would have had to leave the park for the day. Makes me sick thinking about it...

Sitting on Minnie's couch

the people mover...which stopped twice while we were on it and was more like the "people stopper."

The girls' first roller coaster--Lilly wanted a picture of it. Goofy's Barnstormer. That's about the scariest ride I ever want to go on. I do not mind holding purses and sitting on benches :) I screamed a little too much on this one.

Princess Tiana and Naveen

Leaving the Park to go to Dinner

1900 Park Fare--We LOVED this character meal. The stepmother and stepsisters were hilarious.

Anastasia...

The "royal" couple dancing :)

Prince Charming was so sweet to the girls.

Drizella

Mamie told her she shouldn't have torn up Cinderella's dress. She said it just "Fell apart when she touched it because it was made by mice." She asked the girls if any of their clothes were made by rodents.

Sweet Cinderella

MAGIC KINGDOM--Day 3

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. I decided we "needed" some pictures of them ON the ride so I could get out of having to ride this one. Yes, my 3 year-old is on it.

I need a zoom lens so bad...

Lilly came out saying "that was AWESOME!"

Mamie, not so much.

On Tom Sawyer's Island

At Chef Mickey's on our last night. Mamie showing off "Ploodle."

If you are thinking of planning a trip to Disney any time soon, I highly recommend Liana Blackburn. She planned our whole trip for us and we could not have been happier!

I am sooo behind! December flew by with all the fun things to do, class parties, snow, and time with family.

Gingerbread Houses

Gingerbread houses at Richland. Jon actually got to come this year! We missed Hollis and Kim.

They were out of town :(

Daddy and Lilly took theirs very seriously. They got a couple of compliments on the way out and Jon bragged about it for quite a while ;-)

I let Mamie put so many giant gumdrops on the roof, that it ended up falling off.
I am normally a control freak about crafty things, and had to try very hard to just let her do it all by herself.

Thanks Sassy!!!

Snow!!!!!

Bundled up for the snow--before they got tired of playing in snow!

Trying to sled at the farm with Ellie.

Mamie's First School Christmas Party & Program

Sassy came to see Mamie sing her Christmas songs. She was so excited to go up on stage.

When your daddy works at a grocery store...

He just might come home with a GIANT inflatable sleigh!

The girls had so much fun playing in it--you can't tell from the picture, but there were blinking lights along the top. It took up the entire playroom--it is huge.

Santa & his Reindeer

It was so cold this day that we almost couldn't stand to wait in line.

Christmas

Lilly, Hollis, and Mamie

Sassy showing Mamie her BIG gift that was hidden in a closet--

a HUGE horse. It could pull the HUGE sleigh!

She loves it. Mamie is one horse-crazy little girl. All she kept saying she wanted for Christmas was "a real horse." This was as close as we're going to get for a while.

cousins. TROUBLE.

our only family picture of the season--i know it's dark.

Our tree on Christmas Eve...

and our house on Christmas Eve! I had to get a picture--who knows when we'll have another white Christmas? It was so neat waking up to snow on Christmas day.