Friday, December 27, 2013

Christmas!

We had a wonderful Christmas filled with lots of fun activities, family gatherings and presents!

We made sugar cookies for Santa.  Santa ate 4 cookies (and left a few crumbs).

 All dressed up for Christmas Eve service.
 Christmas morning...lots of fun presents to unwrap.
 Maggie got a purple ukulele from Kate.
 Galloping princess toy was a huge hit with both girls.
 Barbie horse!!! A much desired and anticipated toy for Maggie.

 The girls were given a cardboard pirate ship fort.  They get to color it too!
 Decorating Jesus' birthday cake.
 Signing Happy Birthday to Jesus.

 The day after Christmas we headed to Babushka's house for brunch and presents.  Kate and Uncle Peter played a few games of air hockey and hung candy canes on the Christmas tree.


Thursday, December 19, 2013

Kate singing "Away in a Manger" with preschool



Skip ahead about 1:50 to get to the singing...the director of the preschool talked before the performance and I did not have a chance to edit this part out.

Sunday, December 15, 2013

Kate's First Tap Performance: "I want a Hippopotamus for Christmas"

December happenings

Every year we decorate a gingerbread house.  In years past we have used graham crackers and homemade frosting.  This year we used a kit and it was so much easier and turned out way cuter!  The girls loved decorating the house and sneaking tastes of the candy and frosting.


Kate had her very first tap performance yesterday.  This picture was taken at her dance studio before she performed.
 After her tap dance, we headed back home to celebrate Christmas with Dedushka, Grammalene, Uncle Peter and Auntie Megan.  It was also Will's birthday so it was a busy and fun day!

The girl were gifted with this AMAZING doll house from Dedushka and Grammalene.  It is taller than the girls and even has an elevator!



After a delicious dinner at Buckhorn Steakhouse, we headed back to our house to sing Christmas Carols.  Will played his new ukulele that he received for his birthday.  Great memories!

Happy Birthday Will!  We bought him a cheeseburger cake for his birthday! :-)
 Maggie LOVED the frosting!

Saturday, December 7, 2013

Disneyland!

We just got back from taking the girls to Disneyland Resort.  We drove down on Tuesday, went into the parks for 2.5 days and drove home on Friday.  It was a wonderful trip!  The girls were great and really enjoyed their time!

We started our first day in Disney California Adventure. 
 Kate loved riding on Goofy's Flying School roller coaster but Maggie preferred the carousel.  We rode the carousel at least 6 times.

 One of the highlights was meeting Lighting McQueen and Mader in Cars Land.  The cars actually talk, move, drive and interact with you.  It was very cool!
 Waiting in line to meet Lighting McQueen.
 Christmas Mader

 One of our favorite rides was the Luigi hover tires.  They are huge hover craft bumper cars that change with direction with the shifting of your body weight.  Maggie was so delighted to ride these and giggled so hard when we would bump into Will and Kate.
 We got to meet the Firetruck "Red" and he talked to us too!  It made Maggie a little nervous.
 Maggie thought these spinning tractors were "too scary!"
 Pixar parade


 Cars Land lit up at night

 Silly Maggie
Ice cream snack at the Cozy Cone Motel


World of Color...special Christmas performance.  Very cool!

 Tired Maggie...fell asleep in line for Toy Story Mania.
 Kate was very excited to wear her 3-D glasses on Toy Story Mania.


On our second day we headed into Disneyland.  We stopped in Tomorrow Land first and let Kate ride Space Mountain for the first time.  She loved it and ended up riding Space Mountain 4 times!  After Space Mountain we headed to Nemo Submarines and Autopia.  Maggie was excited to hold her Autopia drivers licence and ride in the cars.

 Kate was able to steer her yellow car with Will.
 After a delicious lunch at the Blue Bayou (and Monte Cristos) we met Tiana!
 Then we headed to Pooh Corner and met Tigger, Rabbit and Eeyore.
 Maggie did not like Rabbit.  Can you tell?

 We took the girls to Pirates of the Caribbean and while we were on the ride it broke down.  We were stuck on our boat for about 15 minutes listing to the same pirate saying 'here kitty kitty, have some rum..." over and over again.  Finally they decided they needed to evacuate the ride since they couldn't fix the problem. We were rescued from our boat, escorted through the back lot of Disneyland and guided through their huge underground kitchen and popped up inside the park again.  They handed out ride passes so we could instantly hop on another ride due to the inconvenience.  We decided to use the pass on Jungle Cruise since the wait was over 30 minutes.
 Maggie doesn't like posing for pictures.
 Christmas gorillas.
 After Jungle Cruise we headed to the Tiki Room.  Maggie LOVED the water fountain in the waiting area.
 Sleeping Beauty's's Castle decorated for Christmas.
 Dumbo


 Tea Cups

 We met Pluto in Toon Town.
 The girls enjoyed some pink cotton candy.  Maggie devoured hers and was covered in a sticky pink mess!

 Small World lit up with so many Christmas lights!

 Inside it is a Small World was decorated for Christmas too.  The music was even a mix of "It's a Small World" and "Jingle Bells."
 We headed back into Toon Town after It's a Small World so Kate could ride the small roller coaster 3 times with Will.  Maggie and I hung out at Chip and Dale's treehouse.

 We were headed out of Disneyland to our hotel when we caught the magical fireworks show by chance.  There was a perfect, uncrowded place to watch the fireworks down on Main Street.  Kate was amazed by the show and I was too!
 After the fireworks ended, it snowed!  Main Street was being snowed upon (foam, bubble type snow). It was a beautiful surprise!
 Will and Kate tried to catch the snowflakes.

 On our last morning in the park we made it a "stand in line to meet characters" day.  We met Mickey, Minnie and some of the princesses.

 Maggie actually was excited to meet Minnie.  She approached her all by herself and posed for a picture!  It was so cute to watch!
 Waving "goodbye" to Minnie.
 We headed over the princess meeting place and there we met Arial.

 Sleeping Beauty

 Sleeping Beauty walked Kate to the last princess
 The last princess was Cinderella!  They twirled together and curtsied together.  It was super cute!

 The end.  We bought season passes so we will be back again!