Santa Pictures {2015}

As she does every Christmas, Lola (my mom) took the kids to see Santa at our local mall.

Here are the pictures from their meeting. 

I think that they turned out adorable! 

You might recognize Evan's outfit from last year's Santa pictures. What can I say? Evan loves how sharp he looks in this outfit:)

2014

2013

2012

2011

I think crying Santa pictures are so cute, but my mother does not, so Evan had a 3-year Santa dry spell.

Merry Christmas!!!

Bake Day with Nana & Aunt Sara {2015}

Chloe and Evan continued their annual Christmas cookie baking tradition with Nana and Aunt Sara!

Here was a little sneak into their day! (Photos courtesy of Nana)

The kids made this cookie jar for their Nana earlier in the month . We had a Christmas gathering at Aunt Dana and Uncle Tommy's the night before, so they gave it to her there. It reads, " Nana's Kitchen: Where memories are made and grandkids are spoiled."

I asked Chloe why her apron was covered in flour, while Evan's apron was clean. She told me that she did the hard work, while Evan just sprinkled the cookies. You can't see it because it's covered by the apron, but Evan's shirt reads "Official Cookie Tester"! I guess he was taking his title seriously;) Ha!

This was Nana's snowman that she won in a raffle. It almost made it home with us on Christmas Day, but Daddy vetoed the idea. Once we get all our Christmas stuff stored away in the attic, maybe we can convince him that there is just enough room for a snowman;)

  
As you can see, the kids enjoyed their day with Nana and Aunt Sara. I love that they have this tradition and spend time making these memories. They will cherish it forever.

Bake Day 2014 
Bake Day 2013 
Bake Day 2012 

Disney 2015 {Days 3 & 4}

On day 3 of our vacation, we visited the Magic Kingdom.

This was a sight for sleepy sore eyes.

First things first. We stopped one of the photographers on Main Street to get a family photo. I believe there is some rule about visiting the Magic Kingdom and taking a picture in front of Cinderella's Castle;)

 
Despite our best efforts to get into the park before the first rooster crowed, we didn't manage to make it in until after 9am (maybe 10am after parking, waiting in line, and riding the shuttle), so the place was pretty crowded.

First on the agenda were the rides, so we headed straight to Tomorrow Land.

Oh yeah, and trying on more hats:)

We spent our morning riding rides. Then, we ate lunch at Columbia Harbour House.

This was probably the point in the day where we all could have used a nap. A few snide remarks from Chris, and I was in tears. He was tired and grumpy. And, I was tired and emotional. We had spent the  previous day at Epcot and woke up early to spend the day at the Magic Kingdom. So, yes! I cried in the middle of the the Most Magical Place on Earth. Just keeping it real!

We arrived at The Pirates League for reservations soon after my episode. I had planned for a Jake (and the Neverland Pirates) makeover for Evan and mermaid makeover for Chloe. However, Evan didn't want to do it and Chloe insisted that she wanted to be a pirate, not a mermaid

All's well that ends well.

Chloe and Evan were given their pirate names.

Evan was persuaded by the pretty stylist to become Jake.

And, Chloe was transformed into a Pirate Princess (wearing a mermaid-inspired outfit).

They were officially sworn in as pirates and led into the secret room. (We weren't allowed to takes pictures in the secret room.)

 
It was really hard to get a decent picture in the Pirates League because of the dim lighting, so these were taken outdoors.

Afterwards, Chloe participated in Captain Jack Sparrow's Pirate Tutorial.

Chloe kept Chris and me entertained on the Magic Carpets of Aladdin.

No trip to Disney World would be complete without a ride on It's a Small World.

We walked into Cinderella's Castle. There was a lot of renovation going on in the castle, but we enjoyed the shade and these wall mosaics for a bit.

We ate dinner at the Crystal Palace with Pooh Bear and his friends. (Chloe decided that she was more comfortable in her t-shirt outfit later in the day, but I had a hard time washing off her eye makeup from her Pirate's League makeover. Please ignore the runny mascara.)

Chris's grandmother loves Pooh. In fact, she has given each grandchild a Pooh Bear as a baby, so Chris jumped into this picture:)

Later that evening, we watched the Main Street Electrical Parade. I was able to score fast passes, so we had a great spot to view the parade.

 We followed the parade to our next stop where we met Anna and Elsa!

Anna was my favorite. It tickled me when Chloe told Anna that she had the Frozen CD. Anna's response was, " What's a CD?"

We went outside just in time to watch the fireworks.

We had most of the park to ourselves by this time since it was so late in the evening. We rode the Mad Tea Party,

Dumbo the Flying Elephant,

and tried on more hats!

We lasted 15 straight hours in the Magic Kingdom. Our feet were sore, but our hearts were happy...and exhausted;)

The next morning we checked out of our hotel and headed to Disney Springs for lunch before our trek home. We walked around for a bit to window shop and enjoy the sights.

We had a amazing and tiring trip to Disney World! We can't wait to do it again in a few years!