Hollywood Studios

Hollywood Studios was even less crowded than the other parks. We felt like the only people there with small children. We got both Gracie and Ash Mickey ears at Magic Kingdom. They loved to wear them around the hotel room. This is early that morning before the fun began!

Gracie's favorite ride was the Toy Story ride. You got to wear 3D glasses and spin around in a car shooting at things. It was a fast paced midway ride. Ash also loved the ride.

Gracie told us she wanted to meet a prince, so we met Prince Caspian. Needless to say he was not what she nor Johnny expected. You can tell by her face she was ready to get out of there.

Gracie saw Stitch and wanted me to take a picture of him. She didn't want to wait in line to meet him, just wanted the picture. After we saw him we were waiting for the High School Musical 3 performance and she saw Stitch walking across the courtyard. She yelled out Stitch as loud as she could, except Gracie has problems replacing sounds and made a B sound instead of the S sound. We had everyone there staring out us. It was just too funny.

Johnny and Gracie in the Honey I Shrunk the Kids play area. She had so much fun sliding down the slides!

Ash and I meeting Lightning McQueen. Gracie was too busy pitching a royal fit at Johnny's feet.

This is on the tram back to the car. It was only 2 or 3pm. They had both had enough after three days of going non-stop. Johnny had to collapse the stroller to get in the tram, so I was stuck carrying both of them. Once we got back to the hotel they were wide-eyed and ready to do it again.

Animal Kingdom!

We figured we would venture out away from the castle and see Animal Kingdom. We only convinced Gracie of this after telling her we would see all kinds of animals, and we did! Animal Kingdom was not near as packed out as Magic Kingdom. We rode several rides. Gracie was dying to ride a roller coaster, but she was about a foot too short. Here a few pictures from our day!

Magic Kingdom

We have had so much fun at Disney! So far we have only visited Magic Kingdom and there are so many things we missed. We left early yesterday morning to start our trek to Disney... six hours later we had finally arrived. Aiden got sick in the car, Gracie had several pit stops to some interesting gas station bathrooms, and I made Johnny detour in Valdosta to see my old college apartment. Once we got here we figured we would go ahead and go to the park. I am glad we did because we were able to get the parade and fireworks out of the way. Gracie cried during the parade when she saw Cinderella. They both watched memerized by the lights. Gracie of course passed out in the stroller on the way back, but Ash was wide awake for a majority of the trip back to the hotel.

Gracie was so excited about the castle!!!!

Pooh's honeypot... there were kids going everywhere!


The light parade.... I enjoyed it so much!

Today we ventured back out to Magic Kingdom. Gracie rode a couple of rides and had a chance to meet the princesses. I was so proud of her. She walked right up to them and answered all their questions. She told Cinderella she was going to save her from the witch. (She was bothered by the witch in the performance in front of the castle.) All in all we had a good day. We did have a few melt downs because of the uncomfortableness of the heat. Tomorrow we plan on tackling Animal Kingdom. Gracie is looking forward to riding a horse, but I doubt they have that there.

Our family picture minus Grouchy Gracie. (She is too much like me when it comes to pictures.) Gracie, Ash, and Daddy on the Dumbo outside the ride... the line was too long!

Ash fell asleep in line for the Small World Ride.

They both loved the tea cup ride!

Gracie answered all of her questions, I was so proud of her!Gracie was so mad it wasn't her turn yet with Cinderella.

I absolutely loved the way Disney had it set up with the princesses!!!! Thank you Disney for an awesome experience. I was so scared Gracie would cry and pitch a fit while meeting the princesses, but they made the experience so personal that it was a pleasure!

Party!!!

Ash loved his cake. It took him awhile to get past the icing, but he tore it up after that.

Happy First Birthday Ash!!!!

I can't believe that Tuesday was Ash's birthday! I don't know why, but he is still just a baby to me. I think since he has yet to walk I don't see him as being one. Gracie was running around on her first birthday, so I'm just not used to it. He has made some progress towards walking. I know he can do it, he just doesn't want to. Maybe I have him too spoiled.

Since I have class on Tuesday nights Johnny and I decided to take the day off for Ash's birthday. We had a family fun day in the middle of the week. First we ate at Pizza Hut for lunch and then went bowling. I was suprised Gracie remember so much from our last bowling trip. After we played the arcade and bowled a game, Gracie and I went to pick out a birthday gift for brother. She had so much fun picking it out. She was determined to get him a batman toy. She told that is what he wanted. Then she told me I needed to get him a princess toy.

Like any little boy he just wants to play with the ball!

This is face I am getting used to seeing way to much. Ash's world has fallen apart the past few weeks and any little thing can set him off. He has moved rooms at school which means no morning nap, he is cutting more teeth, and mommy has cut him off from the never ending tap of milk.

DNOW weekend

Last weekend was so busy for us. We had a blast though. Every year since we have been married (except last year due to me being in the hospital) we host a group/band at our house. It was so much fun this year. We had 10th grade girls. The group leader was actual a girl I remember from Centerville First Baptist when she was in the nursery, Katie Hartzog. She did an awesome job leading those girls through the whole weekend. They were so well behaved and I think they really heard God speaking. It is truly amazing when you can open your home to youth so that they can be closer to God. I think it is a blessing to our kids to have such wonderful role models. Here are a few pictures from the weekend.

As you can tell Gracie didn't hesitate around the "big kids."

Ash had so much fun too. I cooked mac and cheese Saturday night and he chowed down on it!!!

Getting so big

I just got a new HP Touchsmart computer. Since it is very compact we have it on the bar in the kitchen. Gracie thinks that it is her new computer. She loves to sit and "play" on it while I am cooking dinner. It is great though because in our house everything centers around the kitchen. Johnny and I cook dinner together most nights so Gracie and Aiden normally stay right at our feet. This allows Gracie to be in the kitchen, but not in the kitchen. Check out these pictures of her doing her "work."

Let it Snow!!!

I can't believe the weather. Saturday it was nice and starting to get warm. I let Gracie wear a cute spring skirt out to eat Saturday evening. We heard predictions of snow for Sunday, but I just didn't think it would happen, but low and behold it SNOWED!!!! By the time we got ready to go to church it was sleeting outside and we didn't feel like dragging two small kids out in the weather. By 11am it was snowing outside. For awhile it was coming down quick. It was so pretty. We let Gracie go outside and play in the snow. Her first time out she got upset since it was so cold, but later that day she enjoyed running in the snow. She and Johnny made snowballs and threw them in the pool. That would melt almost as soon as they hit the water. Needless to say we had a enjoyable Snow Day!

We offically have four teeth

Ash now has four teeth. He cut his first tooth the week of Thanksgiving. It seemed like it took forever for that tooth to come through the gum. Since Christmas he has had three teeth that have been wanting to poke through. Finally all three have broken the skin. I am amazed that he has not been fussy or cranky. I guess I just need to be thankful. I tried to get the best picture I could, but do you know how hard it us to take a picture of teeth. Every time he would smile it would be just halfway. I just had to try to make him laugh which meant he would throw his head back.

Ash also went to the doctor last week for his 9 month appointment. He weighed in at 18.5 pounds and was 27" long.

Ash was giving me the look. He makes this face all the time. It has sort of evolved the past few weeks. He will make the face and growl when he doesn't like what I am doing, or he will grunt while doing it if it is funny. I love watching kids grow up and change, because they do change so quick.

HAPPY LATE 31ST BIRTHDAY JOHNNY!!!!!

Johnny was born Christmas day. I know it sounds like a ton of fun, but because of the chaos of Christmas we always end of celebrating his birthday about a week later. Normally it turns into a a whole weekend celebration through the new year. Last night we went out with the Hayes' to celebrate his birthday. We thought it would be fun to make a birthday cake for the occasion. Johnny wanted a cake with fondant icing. I had never used the icing before, so it was a fun experience for us all. I made the cake and icing and he got to color and decorate the cake. It was a lot of fun and actually turned out pretty cool. Johnny was going for a plaid cake, but go frustrated with the icing and this is what we got. I thought it looked awesome and surprising enough the icing tasted pretty good. It was made of marshmallows and powdered sugar.