Disney World 2014 Part one

On January 26th we flew to Orlando. The kids were awesome on the flight. They were SO excited!

We stayed at Disney's Caribbean Beach hotel in a themed pirate room. The kids loved the boat beds.

We ate at the hotel food court before bed.

The next morning, we got to Epcot bright and early. We rode Soarin, Mission Space, Maelstrom, Nemo and Friends, and went to the aquariums.

For lunch we went to the Akershus restaurant. Lilly loved meeting all the princesses and the food was pretty amazing.

At about 2:00 we headed over to Hollywood Studios. We rode Toy Story Mania and Star Tours. Then we watched Voyage of the Little Mermaid and Disney Jr. Live on Stage. Leo loved seeing all his favorite characters singing on stage. He was mesmerized.

By this point in the day we were all pretty tired so we headed back to the hotel. Lilly loved snuggling a tired Leo on the way.

 The next morning, January 28th, we woke up and headed to Chef Mickey's for breakfast.

We found out that Leo is terrified of people in costumes. He would try to hide under the table every time a character would come by. 

After breakfast we went to the pool. Lilly rocked the hula hoop contest they were having.

That night we roasted marshmallows and hung out on the beach.

Wednesday was Magic Kingdom day! It was rainy and we had to wear huge ponchos but it turned out to be a good thing because the park was empty. We never had more than a 5 minute wait. We went on Winnie the Pooh,Dumbo, and Under the Sea. Then it started to pour. So we stopped at Gaston's Tavern for a cinnamon roll.

 
After the rain died down we went on Peter Pan's Flight, Mickey's Philharmagic, It's a Small World, The Haunted Mansion, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, and Pirate's of the Caribbean. We used the Baby Swap on all the bigger rides. I would go with Lilly while Gus hung out with Leo and then we would switch and Gus and Lilly would go on the same ride. Lilly was pretty excited that she got to go twice on everything!

For lunch we went to the Crystal Palace. While we were waiting to get in they gave us hot chocolate.

Lilly loved meeting Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, Eeyore, and Piglet. Leo did not.

After dinner we watched a parade. At the end, they had all the kids come out and dance with them. It was really fun.

After the parade we headed over to Buzz's Space Ranger Spin and Space Mountain. Lilly is such a little daredevil and loved all the big rides!

After this we headed over to Downtown Disney to eat at Planet Hollywood. It had been a really long day and Leo was exhausted. He fell asleep before the food even came.

Christmas 2013

This year was only the second year to ever stay home for Christmas. I was a little nervous that I was going to be sad not being with our families, but it turned out better than I expected. It was nice to not have to lug our presents across the country and we actually didn't get sick. It seems like every time we travel, we all get deathly ill.

The kids didn't wake up until 9:30 on Christmas morning! Leo was cranky and spotted his iPhone before we could hide it, so the picture on the stairs didn't turn out great.  

Once we got downstairs, I implemented a new rule. The kids could open a present every 10 minutes. That way they would have time to look at the toy they had just opened. I thought it worked out great. 

Leo was still a little confused at how to open presents. Lilly made sure to help him out. :)

Lilly gave some good reactions when she opened her gifts. She also fake passed out multiple times.

Lilly's favorite part of Christmas is gift giving. A few weeks before Christmas, I let her buy whatever she wants for every family member. She loves it. Its sweet to see the thought that she puts into each gift. She knows her daddy doesn't leave the house without chap stick so she bought him a years supply.

We had a wonderful day playing with toys and face timing family members. We finished it off with some gingerbread house making.

23 Months

1- He is starting to enjoy nursery a little. He now only cries at the beginning and the end and does great in the middle.
2- He LOVES suckers. If he sees one, his life is over until he gets it.
3- He decided that he like playing in big piles of freshly raked leaves, as opposed to last year.
4- He is great at giving kisses. His sticks his lips out really far and says, "oooo" until you give him a kiss. Sometimes while he is playing with his toys, he will stop what he is doing and run and give me a kiss and then go back to playing with his toys. He is the sweetest little mama's boy.
5- He really misses his sister now that she is back in school. When he sees her getting off the bus, he goes crazy. He laughs, screams, and gives her a great big hug.
6- Him and Lilly play so well together now that he is a little bit older. She can always make him laugh the hardest.

22 Months

1- Whenever Leo sees a dog he makes a weird "eeeeheehee" sound. Whenever he makes it, you know he's seen a dog.
2- He has grown so attached to his stuffed brown puppy. He likes to stuff him in his neck when hes trying to fall asleep.
3- He loves to line up his cars. He will take every car, truck, or train that he owns and line them up in the windowsill. Then when he has done that, he will take them one by one and line them up in another windowsill.
4-  He has an obsession with his iPhone. He loves to watch his kids movies and flip through the home movies we have made. Its amazing how he knows how to get to his favorites and play them without my help!
5- He finally learned how to hold his own bottle!

21 Months

1- Leo is pretty dramatic. If he wants something and doesnt get it, he throw a huge fit. Whenever he is in the bathtub, he loves playing in the water as it comes out of the faucet. But if you turn off the water before he's ready, he flips out and screams like hes dying.
2- Leo loves watching Lilly do gymnastics around the house. He began trying to copy her and can now do really great somersaults.
3- When Leo is in his crib he loves to stand at the edge of his mattress and free fall right onto his stomach. He does this over and over for hours.
4- He usually takes really great naps. He sleeps for around 3-4 hours.
5- We have been having a hard time getting him to eat his vegetables. He never had a problem when he was younger and everything was pureed. We have started pureeing them again and hiding things in his green smoothies.
6- He goes crazy for his green smoothies. Whenever he sees us making one, he freaks out until that straw is in his mouth.
7- He loves any kind of fruit.