The Magic of Disney

I have to admit I was more than slightly unenthusiastic about motoring our family to the happiest place on earth for a week. A 8 (9 with my kids) hour car ride followed by 5 days of stroller napping, nighttime room sharing, and eating on the go seemed like a recipe for disaster, or at the very least extreme exhaustion for all.

It turns out I was the most wonderful kind of wrong.

We all loved Disney World.

We laughed our way through rides, cuddled with Mickey and friends, satiated our taste buds with foreign delights, and left convinced it is a small world after all.

Livia was in awe of the festivities each day but still managed to nap in the stroller or the ergo baby on her usual schedule. She was even game for our somewhat chaotic eating on the go, and was a good sport about her limited mobility throughout each day.

I never could have imagined the reaction Landon would have to those giant characters. Landon, my Landon, who hates change, is terrified of even the fluffiest 4 legged creatures, and avoids all loud noises he isn't responsible for creating could not get enough. The bear hug he laid on Pooh was one of the highlights of the trip for me. Just pure, innocent, love for that silly old bear. Every morning he would wake up asking to go say hi to Mickey, and every night as we drove away he would  contentedly exclaim, "Mommy, Landon had fun at Disney World!"

Started the trip off right with a visit to Magic Kingdom

Shaking hands with The Mouse himself

Cheers for ears!

 Riding with Grandpa

We had to spend a day at Universal so we would walk in Diagon Alley, shop at Ollivander's, and sip some butterbeer. Hogwarts is in the background.  

 A little less formal with Mickey by day 3

Livia woke up from her nap just in time to smile for the camera

 My mouse ears ice cream cone on our kid-free afternoon

 A very Thing-ful couch

Squeeeeeze!!!

Even though we weren't able to escape the extreme exhaustion I was dreading, everything else about our trip to Disney World turned out to be, well, magical.

For Gina

Love...

Right?

A Wedding

President's Day weekend we flew to Colorado to be a part of my dear friend Melissa's big day. I've been waiting for her man to pop the question for like 3 years now, so when I finally got the call this summer, I was super stoked. My excitement intensified a few days later when she called back to ask if I'd be a bride's maid and if Landon could be the ring bearer. My answer was of course an enthusiastic "Yes!" on both counts, and that brings us to the big day in February.

We weren't really sure how Landon would do because, well, he's 2, and because large crowds aren't really his cup of tea. We decided to nix the pillow holding idea after he immediately drop kicked it on his first practice run down the aisle, but other than that he seemed qualified to perform the duty.

It was a lovely ceremony with the couple saying their vows before a spectacular window framed view of the mountains. And I'm so grateful that neither the bride nor the groom were disrupted from their matrimonial concentration by my son's repeated uttering of the mantra "Mommy's right here... Mommy's right here" as he hid behind my dress throughout the entire ceremony. After the kiss sealed the deal, the crowd went wild, which caused Landon to lose it completely. When it was time for us to recess he stood petrified and bawling in his spot until I eventually ditched my groomsman so I could pick him up and carry him back up the aisle. All in all, a big success.

After some pictures and food, the kids were packed up and sent back to my parents house with Auntie so Andy and I could spend the rest of the evening dancing and catching up with good friends. It was a fine time, and I'm so happy for my newly wedded bff.

 Caught in the act

 Pretty pleased with himself and his pillow kicking antics

 My dashing date

 Ladies man

 Death grip recessional 

 Me and my loves

Many congratulations to Schmelly and Rueb!

Real Quick

My goal is to make at least 2 posts a month so I'm going to get a quick one in so I'll make it for February. I have more fun stuff to share but no time to download the pictures right now.

Livia:
-Walks across the room using a push toy (for about 2 weeks now)
- Just got four teeth on top. Literally just. I found 3 of them this morning, bringing the total to 6
- Loves to give me cuddles by resting her head on me
- Is definitely going through the attached-to-Mommy phase. Cries whenever I walk out of the room and only wants me to put her to bed at night.
- Still thinks her brother is one cool cat
- Says "kee" whenever she sees Sushi. Potential first word?



Landon:
- Said "Good morning sweet Mommy" when I walked in to get him up a few mornings ago
- Can now hop with both feet off the floor - thank you gymnastics class!
- Asks to talk to anyone I'm on the phone with whether he knows the person or not
- Asks me to take pictures of him doing random things throughout the day; "Mommy, please take a picture of Landon standing inside the little circle and the big circle of the Thomas tractor."
- Still refers to himself in the third person
- Calls Thomas track "tractor"

My Funny Little Man

A few of my favorite Landon moments from this week...

He asked to play with his number puzzle while I was making dinner. I gave him the 1-10 cards and told him he could have the 11-20 cards after he put together 1 to 10. About 30 seconds later he told me he was finished and ready for the rest.

When I walked over, this is what I found. 

 Looks like I need to rethink my word choice in the future. 

This one speaks for itself.

Another Day at the Beach

One of the problems I have with keeping my blog updated is that I'll start a post and then get interrupted, and by the time I remember to go back to it, it really doesn't seem relevant anymore so I just start a new post, which then gets interrupted... you get the idea. So I have all of these unfinished posts just sitting there.
I came across the pictures I planned on using in a post back in October and decided that even though they are technically not an update, I (in hopes that it will entice more of y'all to come visit us) wanted to post them anyway.

These are the pictures from the last visit we made to the beach where the water was still warm enough for us (i.e. me and my thin blood... braver souls venture in much later in the year than this) to swim. This was in mid-October.  We met Andy there after work on a Friday evening, and it was really the most perfect beach outing we've had so far.

At our beach there usually is a sandbar that's shallow enough for Landon play on, but on this day the tide was out and the sandbar was high enough that it was actually out of the water. Landon could sit on dry land and build sandcastles in the middle of the ocean. So amazing.

 Andy and Landon playing on the sandbar

 Livia getting her toes in the water. You can see the beach behind them with the ocean in between.

 Livia footprints.

 Landon, Livia (in my arms) and me sharing the sandbar with some friends. 

Hamming it up on the beach. 

This is ten minutes from our front door. Really, why haven't you come to visit yet? 

Every single day Landon's pronunciation of words gets more accurate. Last night, while reading a favorite book, he changed, mid read, the way he said the word "sky" from "ky" to "sky". I mostly find this heartbreaking.

One of my favorite mispronunciations of his is when he says the word "silly". Right  now it's, "Landon is bein' so sirry. " I know it's only a matter of time before sirry will be extinct. And I always want to remember exactly how it sounds coming out of that little, earnest mouth.