California Adventure day 2

Day 2 we headed to California Adventure! The crowds were horrible the day before, but I guess everyone stayed up partying late on New Years Eve. We got there early enough to stop in at Disneyland first to go see Pixie Hallow! Honestly it was not what I expected! It was such a cute little fairy land. Everything around you is gigantic like the grass, flowers, etc., so it makes you feel like you are small like a fairy. I was expecting to see several fairies, but there were only 2 there! The girls thought it was super cool, but didn't get to see their favorite fairies.

Meeting Vidia (her personality was right along with the character)

Iridessa

After that the girls got their faces painted, and we headed over to California Adventure for lunch with the princesses!

The girls changed into their princess gear, and we had a great meal. The food was awesome at Ariel's Grotto! When we walked in we met Ariel right away. That was a great start since she is Mackenzie's favorite! Then once we sat down they started announcing the princesses. Luckily princess Minnie and Sleeping Beauty were there that day which are Presley's 2 favorites!

The rest of the day we did several rides, and Mackenzie rode the Tower of Terror with dad and Rondi! She begged and begged to do it but was not such a fan! Later we watched the Color of Wonder show after dark. Presley fell asleep right after the show started and slept the entire rest of the night!

When we got to the hotel we carried all the kiddos up, and this is what we had...

DISNEYLAND day 1

Our flight to Los Angeles started with me realizing I forgot my new iPad at home which I had spent an hour downloading shows for the girls to watch on the plane! Then as we got Emmie out of her carseat at the airport she had a huge blowout and her clothes were covered. Kevin had gone to park the car, so the girls and I spent our time waiting on him in the restroom with Emmie!

The flight went well until they came over the speaker at landing time and told us we were being diverted to Ontario airport because of heavy fog at LAX. When we landed they let us off the plane and said to report back in an hour. 2 hours later we were reboarding for the 7 minute flight to LAX. That flight went well too! Thank goodness! I am a nervous wreck traveling with kids on a plane!

Once we met up with my parents we picked up our suburban and headed to our hotel in Pasadena. We went to see some of the floats for the Rose Bowl parade being constructed. It was pretty neat to see how they do it and how many people are working on them!

The next day was Disneyland day1.

We started with breakfast with Minnie & friends. We sat out on the patio and ate while the characters come around to visit you at your table. Presley insisted on meeting Minnie about 4 times. She was terrified of the other characters, but Minnie was the greatest thing ever! Mackenzie had to get autographs in both her & Presley's albums.

my little Mouseketeers

Chip or Dale??

watching the parade from Rondi's shoulders

flashback to January 2008 in Disneyworld (Mackenzie and Rondi watching the parade)

strong daddy

We had a great New Years Eve at Disney! Mackenzie rode her 1st roller coaster, and the girls enjoyed riding rides, watching fireworks, & watching the Fantasmic show! We made it back to the hotel with 15 minutes to spare before we welcomed in 2012!

4 months

Little Miss is 4 months old! She continues to be extremely smiley! Emmie is finally laughing. I have been waiting to hear this since she was born. It makes my day! She is our dinner centerpiece in her bumbo at every meal. Poor baby has decided her car seat is not her friend. She screams about 95% of the time she is in it, gags, chokes, and then repeats. It breaks my heart! If she was my only baby I would stay home constantly to avoid the car seat, but she is not, and we are on the go from sun up to sun down :(

Santa Came!!

After a month of being on their best behavior for Mr. Snowflake the Elf, Santa came to visit 3 very good little girls!

Before the girls saw the loot

The big gifts of the year for Mackenzie were a LeapPad, lite sprites, & a squinky zoo.

For Presley they were a LeapPad, lite sprites, a Minnie shopping cart, & Sleeping Beauty dress.

For Emmie it was a little snail with a mirror for her to see herself in.

Later in the morning we had round 2 of presents to open! These were gifts from us, Marmi, & Rondi.

Kenz was so excited about the gift she picked out for Presley. She wrapped it in 2 different types of paper and seemed to be more excited than Presley!

Marmi wrapped up some Minnie ears, Minnie shirts, stuffed Minnies, & a big Minnie suitcase for the girls with this note for Mackenzie to read!

The girls were so excited! Mackenzie was jumping up and down saying, "this is the absolute best Christmas EVER"!

Christmas Eve

When it was time for church on Christmas Eve we had 2 kiddos sleeping! So knowing it would be a late night we decided to let them sleep. Kevin, Mackenzie, & I headed to the children's service at my parents church. When we got back family started to trickle over! Everyone in the family was there this year except for Jeff who was on-call and couldn't leave his town.

We had dinner and then the kids put on a play of the Christmas Story. Me and my cousins did this at Christmas when we were little, so my aunt came up with the idea for them. Tori & Lexi directed the little ones for their performance. It was precious! Maclyn was a shepherd & Joseph, Presley an angel & a sheep, Mackenzie was Mary, & Tori was a donkey or some sort of animal that Mary rode around on???

We then opened presents and set out cookies and milk for Santa!

little Shepherd & Angel

my Christmas pumpkin

should have taken these before Emmie's bedtime

so sleepy she crashed out on Katie

loving her froggie hat

loving her doggie purse

preparing a plate for Santa

Sister Love

Paintbrush Cookies

Kevin had a business trip the week before Christmas, so we all drove to Lubbock together, and he flew out of Lubbock. We were so excited to get to spend a week before Christmas with family. It gets lonely around the holidays when there is no family around!

My mom makes paintbrush cookies every year for Christmas. They are unique, because you paint them before you cook them. The girls have never been there to help until this year! They did a great job painting and decorating. Hopefully we can make it a tradition at our house too!