Disney 2015 {Days 1 & 2}

Disney! Need I say more. We had the best "whirlwind" vacation last month! We arrived at Disney World on a Friday and left on the following Monday. We covered two parks in two days.

We tried our best to make our Disney vacation a surprise for the littles, but a slip from a well-intentioned family member...ahem...Lola...and the littles were onto us. They knew the trip was coming, but didn't know the date, so they were still pleasantly surprised on the morning of the trip. I surprised them with Disney-themed goody bags and these tees to announce our trip.

Mom fail: I took off my everyday lens to take the picture above and left it on our dining room table. We were almost an hour into driving before it hit me. Chris offered to drive back home, but I knew that it would put us almost two hours behind schedule. Therefore, almost all of my vacation pictures were taken with my phone:(

We jumped right into our vacation once we arrived at Disney World, or should I say, we jumped into our hotel's pool. The littles insisted on going swimming that night before dinner. I snapped this picture during their thirty-minute swim. Other than sleeping and getting ready to go to the parks, this was the most time that we spent at the hotel.

That evening, we had reservations at Chef Mickey's for a character meet-and-greet meal with Mickey and his friends. The character meals are a great way to meet Disney characters without having to wait in long lines.

This picture was taken while we waited on our table.

We were also celebrating a very lucky girl's 7th birthday that weekend! She received a birthday card with the autographs of the classic Disney characters and a cupcake to celebrate.

We met some our favorite Disney Characters!

...and, the mouse of the hour, Mickey Mouse!

The littles had a great time celebrating!

The following morning, we woke up early to spend the day at Epcot...but not before taking a few pictures at our hotel.

Epcot!

Lots of pictures were taken during the day and I can't possibly explain what was going on in each of them, so I'll just share:)

As you can tell from my photos, Evan was my little ham...and I loved every minute of it:)

After reading several Disney blogs, I decided it might be fun to let the littles trade pins. I ordered a lot of 20 pins from Amazon. Chloe enjoyed trading pins with the cast members. (Evan wasn't into trading.) However, Chloe lost at least four pins during the trip. The backs would fall off or they would fall off during rides. It was a real chore to keep track of them.

I gave the littles a roll of quarters each and pennies to make pressed pennies during our trip. There were pressed penny machines everywhere, so even when the littles didn't purchase something at a store (and believe me, there was lots to purchase), they still felt like the got something. It was the best $20.40 ($10.20 x 2) spent on the trip.

I could do a blog post about the food at Disney alone...but ain't nobody got time for that! Let's just say that the food was delish! We purchased the standard Disney Dining Plan, so I made sure that we maximized every dollar spent on it.

We ate lunch at Sunshine Seasons. The staff was sweet enough to wish and sing "Happy Birthday" to Chloe.

We dined with Disney princesses at the Akershus Banquet Hall that evening.

After being led in, we met Princess Belle.

We also met Cinderella,

Snow White, - She was our favorite. Chloe said that when she dies that she'll be the next Snow White:/

Princess Ariel,

and Princess Aurora, A.K.A Sleeping Beauty, a girl after my own heart.

After dinner, we took these pictures.

Another blog post could be the hats of Disney...but ain't nobody got time for that, so I'll just share these pictures.

After dark, I didn't take quite as many pictures. We headed home during the Illuminaries to avoid the mass exodus afterwards. We made it twelve straight hours at Epcot, so we were pretty tired. We spent the following day at the Magic Kingdom, which I will share in an upcoming post.

Chloe's Baptism

Chloe recently made the decision to be baptized. She had asked if she could be baptized about a year ago after saying the prayer of salvation in Sunday school. However, I wanted to be absolutely sure that she was making the decision for the right reason and that she truly understood what her decision meant, especially since she was so young. She asked again this past August. After talking to her about it, I knew in my heart that she was ready. We decided that she should be baptized on the last Sunday in September, allowing us time to invite our family to her baptism.

Chloe with our Children's Pastor, Pastor David, before her baptism

I was so nervous and excited for Chloe as she was baptized. I had to take off the heels that I had worn to church that morning because my legs were shaking. It was beautiful to witness.

We like celebrations in our household and what better reason to celebrate than Chloe's public declaration of her faith. We invited the family over for a simple reception after the church service.

(Note to self: Turn off the chandelier before taking family pictures in the dining room.)

What celebration would be complete without a cake?

Chloe received this beautiful cross necklace from Aunt Dana and Uncle Tommy as a baptism gift.

We couldn't have asked for a better Sunday, sharing faith and spending time with family.

Evan's a Kindergartener

It's official. Evan's a Kindergartener!

Yes. My sweet, shy, insightful boy started Kindergarten. He has such a reserved personality (in public), it makes me smile to see what he wants to be when he grows up. He chooses such bold professions. If you remember last year's first day sign, he wanted to be a policeman when he grew up. He's my thinker, always analyzing a situation, so I know that he will do great in lines of work that require fast thinking. I guess we will have to wait and see...

Evan met his teacher, Mrs. E, and his new class on Monday, August 17th, during a "get acquainted" hour at school. He was so nervous the night before. We sprinkled some jitter glitter under his pillow and read a poem that was given to me at Open House by his new teacher. It must have worked because he did great.

It's so rare that Evan and I have one-on-one time, so after the meet-and-greet, I decided to take the rest of the morning off of work to spend it with him. I didn't plan a breakfast like I did for Chloe, but I thought it would be fun to have a picnic in the park. We had some time to kill before lunch, and Evan decided that we should go to the Dollar Tree to pick out a toy to help pass the time;) Afterwards, we stopped by Burger King, Evan's choice, to pick up lunch.

Then, we headed we headed to Blount Cultural Park to enjoy a picnic and morning in the park.

Evan is loving Kindergarten. He seems to be much more confident this year compared to last year. It probably helps that four of his classmates from last year are in his class again this year. I love hearing stories about his new friends and to see how he is coming along academically. He's definitely coming into his own. I'm so proud of you my handsome, sweet, shy, analytical, and witty boy!