Cabin Fever

After this crazy, snowy winter, the novelty of the snow has worn off and we are officially ready for spring! We just want to play outside, go to the park or take a little walk after dinner. We still don't have access to our sidewalks because of all the inches of snow still on the ground. We have had plenty of fun playtime as well though... Here is A with a penguin she made at preschool last week.

Aubrey spends a lot of time coloring. I loved this picture she drew of herself and Will, both holding lollipops! None of her pictures are complete without some hearts and a rainbow. This was her first attempt at a unicorn, too.

We've been trying to schedule a couple playdates a week, especially with Aubrey's bff from her preschool class last year. After dressing up, they asked if they could have a tea party with popcorn and pink lemonade.

Aubrey plays with all her various ponies and animals all the time. She loves to dress them up with all her bows and jewelry!

Aubrey & Will hid in the game cabinet during a game of Hide & Seek.

They had lots of fun in there!

We still play Legos everyday and they've also been building with these cool new blocks Nana sent them!

Watching some Olympics and snuggling on the couch.

We got to take a tour of the fire station for Will's neighborhood playgroup on Monday. First the firefighter gave them a fire safety lesson, followed by a climb through a firetruck and then snacktime with all his friends. Will loves his plastic fire hat and had a great morning out! He's still not cooperating with taking pictures lately, so I didn't get too many. We really enjoy this playgroup and look forward to hosting this coming week.

Character pics

This year, we didn't seek out meeting as many characters as we did last year. The only three Aubrey really wanted to meet were Daisy Duck who we somehow missed last year, Tinker Bell (the line was too long last time) and Princess Tiana from the new Disney movie. All the other characters here we met at our day at Hollywood Studios with little or no waiting. Aubrey loved them all and still says that meeting Tinker Bell was one of the highlights of our trip. Will's favorite was the dog from UP, who he named "Underdog"??? That boy cracks me up.

Two Blizzards, Mickey Mouse & Some Germs...

...That about sums up the past week and a half for us. Here's the longer version. The kids and I made it out of VA last Friday morning at 10:10. All flights were canceled at noon and our area got a grand total of 34 inched of snow on Friday and Saturday! We weren't too sad to miss it, since we had already witnessed two feet of snow back on December 19. We were tired of being inside and thankful to be in not warm, but warmer Florida. We had a smooth flight and the kids did very well for me in the airport and on the plane, thankfully. Friday night we took the kids on a ferry boat from our hotel and went to Downtown Disney to eat at T-Rex again. The kids had still been talking about it from last year's trip. The food is average, but the kids love all the moving dinos and meteor showers, etc. Saturday, we headed to Magic Kingdom and had a great day. Sunday, we went to Hollywood Studios for some more fun. About an hour after the kids were asleep Sunday night, we heard the horrible sound of Will throwing up in his pack 'n' play. Nightmares started running through my head of the terrible stomach bug we all had two years ago. I thought the rest of out trip would be spent with all four of us stuck in the hotel room with trash cans nearby. I am thankful that it didn't turn out that way. Will only had that one sick episode and slept the rest of the night. The next day, Rob & Aubrey went back to magic kingdom and I did stay home and rest with Will. He was jumping from bed to bed and acting like himself, but I tend to be on the cautious side when my kids are sick. Tuesday we all four went to Epcot and enjoyed doing lots of different things than we did there on our last trip. Tuesday night though, Aubrey and Robert came down with the "extra magic stomach bug" as Aubrey referred to it. By this point, we had already heard that our flight home was canceled the next day, due to yet another blizzard! I was actually glad it was canceled so that Rob and Aubrey could take a day off on Wednesday and not have to fly while they were sick. Again, the stomach bug was short lived and I was able to avoid getting it. Thursday, everyone was well and we went back to for our last day at Disney. We were able to use all five days of our tickets with the flight cancellation, so it all worked out fine in the end. The other nice thing about the timing is that Aubrey didn't miss any preschool, we didn't miss any church and Robert didn't miss much work since the whole area was closed down the entire time we were away. We got back on Friday night and our driveway looked like it had two walls of snow on either side from all the shoveled snow. We had a good vacation despite the extra magic germs, but we're glad to be home. Here are just a few of the hundreds of pics we took. I'll post more soon...
Our last night at Disney right before the fireworks. You might notice a theme of Will either looking sideways or completely away from the camera in all the pictures. The camera was not his friend on the trip. This was the best we got.

A little game of peek a boo in line. Will was being silly and wearing the strap to his mouse ears across his nose.

Aladdin's flying carpet ride.

Will is actually smiling here becasue I caught this candid picture of him watching the afternoon parade at Magic Kingdom.

It's a Small World... Will looking away.

A little more line-waiting antics.

More sledding...

I just realized that I hadn't posted anything in a couple of weeks. I guess we haven't really had anything big going on since the holidays. We've just been in our normal routine for the winter... We don't get out and do as much in all the cold weather, so I don't have all that many exciting pictures or stories. The kids are doing well though -- Aubrey still adores preschool and spends most time at home coloring and playing with all her ponies. Will is the Lego man and builds multiple creations every day, all day. We had yet another snow day on Saturday, but we didn't even go out to play because it was 18 degrees. Sunday afternoon, the temps were up to about 30 and our good friends came over to do some sledding with us. The girls had a blast and then came over for lunch and we enjoyed some good company. This morning, we took Robert to the airport for a week long work trip in Tampa. We are used to Robert being away for a night every now and then, but the week long trips only happen about twice a year. We're just staying busy this week and actually going to fly down and meet him in Florida on Friday for a long weekend. You can pray that I survive the airport and flight with the kids on my own! We are looking forward to some family time and a trip back to Disney. More pictures to come...

Will was excited about the big game and ran to get his Bevo for a picture.

Hook 'em Horns!

Singing "Texas Fight"!

Aubrey had her Christmas program at preschool on January 11! Their last day of school before Christmas was cancelled due to the blizzard, so they had to postpone it until after the break. We still really enjoyed watching Aubrey sing with all the other cute kids. She's in the back row here.

Aubrey with a good friend after their performance.

They got to enjoy lots of yummy snacks and then had a fun book exchange. We are very thankful for the wonderful experience Aubrey has had at her preschool. Will can't wait until it is his turn in the fall when he's a big three year old!

"Wocket Wun"

We have all had so much fun sledding with all the snow we've gotten this year. Not only was it a new experience for the kids, but Robert & I have never really done much sledding growing up in Texas. After the big snow, we went back each day for about a week to sled some more. The kids couldn't get enough of "Wocket Wun" (Rocket Run) -- their name for the sledding hill, I think they got it from an episode of Max & Ruby? They climbed up that hill all day and went again and again. My legs were tired by the end, I'm sure their little legs had to be. We definitely broke in the new sleds that Nana sent for Christmas. We're looking forward to the next big snow!

Birthday Party

We finally had Aubrey's birthday party on January 2. I guess that is one of the inconveniences with having a Christmas baby. She hasn't seemed to mind celebrating her birthday either early or late so far, and in a way she gets to extend the celebrating over a few weeks. We were torn about what kind of party to have this year. Aubrey really wanted to invite her whole preschool class, some neighbors and a few friends from church. I wasn't too keen on having the chaos of 20 kids in our basement, since it is too cold to go outside. We ended up going with Pump It Up, so all kids could run around and play. It turned out really well and all the kids had a blast! I like how they have two smaller party rooms, so the kids aren't so spread out. They get to interact more that way, and also the parties are private there so there aren't any bigger kids trampling the littler ones. We all had fun bouncing and celebrating Aubrey's big 5th birthday!

*Can you tell Aubrey has a black eye in the pictures? She got hit with a light saber at a neighbor's birthday party the Wednesday before her party. :(

Ice Skating

Since we didn't travel this Christmas, we tried to go on a few outings that we don't do regularly. One afternoon, we went out for some ice skating. It was only Aubrey's second time and Will's first. Will LOVED walking around on the ground in his skates. He would march and almost jump around in them all over the place. He wasn't quite as enthralled with actually skating on the ice, but lasted for about thirty minutes. Aubrey, on the other hand, loved skating and did it for the full two hours. I was surprised how serious she was about it and how she kept going and going, even after a few spills. There's a picture here of a little girl who skated with and encouraged Aubrey almost the entire time. She was such a sweet little girl who had had some skating lessons. She kept giving Aubrey tips and telling her, "Wow, I'm really impressed" or "I'm so proud of you" or "You've really got the hang of it now!". I think we may try to go more often since Aubrey enjoyed it so much.

The boy can draw

On our trip to Miami in November, we noticed that Will's little Magnadoodle kept him occupied on the entire two hour plane trip, there and back. That's when he really started to draw recognizable pictures. Since then, he brings his Magnadoodle in the car and to church every Sunday to draw away. Here's a "jellyfish" he drew on our trip, inspired by all the real ones we saw washed up on the beach.

This picture is of a frog, according to Will.

Yesterday, he drew this bear and I was very impressed at the detail for his age.

Today, he drew this one. I don't think I can draw a circle that well.

He draws lots of other stuff too, including "ghosts", "monsters", "aliens", "beasts", etc...

Christmas a little late...

I had issues uploading these pictures in order and intended to go back and fix them. At this point, I am just posting them all out of order...

Aubrey asked to make a birthday card for Jesus. I love how she uses all 98 of her crayon colors on just about all her pictures these days. The girl loves rainbows.

Singing "Happy Birthday to Jesus" on Christmas day. This was after dinner, notice how Aubrey is still in her pajamas!

Our little Christmas dinner for the four of us. We didn't go all out, but it was fun to use our Christmas dishes for the first time.

New stickers from her stocking. Aubrey loves to add stickers to her sticker book, or her face!


This is from our Christmas Eve dinner at a friend's house from church. We had a nice meal before heading to the candlelight service.

Stockings on Christmas morning -- Will has a Yoda peeking out and Aubrey has two ponies.
This big horse was Aubrey's favorite present! She named her "Queen Pony."

Will was excited about his spiral race track for all his new matchbox cars and trucks.

Back to Christmas Eve at our friend's house. The kids were checking out the train that went around their tree.

Opening up one gift on Christmas Eve right before bed.

Christmas tree on Christmas morning.