Disney on Ice!

A couple of months ago we bought tickets to see Disney on Ice when it came to Memphis. We decided not to tell Caroline and make it one of our "surprise trips" I must admit that Dave and I were a little giddy with anticipation to see her face light up!



We told her we were going on a surprise trip and she kept guessing where, but of course she had no clue until we were actually there. It was pretty fun! Before the show they had a Princess "Pre-show" which was different princess' displays with their dresses and there were two real Princesses - Belle and Cinderella - there to wave and say hi to the kids!


She had this cheesey grin on her face the whole time! She was loving it!

In this picture she was saying, "I have that dress!!!"

Our seats were on the first row of the upper-level which I loved. There was glass in front of us, so Caroline could stand up throughout the show (because really, do you think she would have sat the whole time?)

(This one is a stock photo. I'm not that good with a camera. And it was hard to take pictures of the show because they were constantly moving!)

Caroline said her favorite part was Tinkerbelle. It really was good. The costumes and skating were very impressive.

Clutching her precious bag of over-priced cotton candy, but hey, how often do you eat cotton candy?! This is probably her second time ever!

Mater was slow enough to get a picture of!

My favorite character was Ursula because of her awesome costume! I couldn't believe how huge it was for one person to move so well!

"Wow!!!"

It was a great time and I'm so glad we did it. Maybe this will hold us off for Disneyland for a while!

Caroline did great. Really, I thought this could go either way. Either she could love it and be so into it that it would be all smiles and magic, OR she could be tired (it was during her usual "quiet/nap time") overstimulated and whiney. I was relieved she was the former! It was amazing for her and impressed David and I too!

inner fashionista

Caroline has quite a few dress-up clothes. Princess dresses, fairy, cheerleader, ballerina, and so forth. But her newest favorite character to dress-up as is: "Mommy". So she goes to my closet, picks out a shirt and shoes and some jewelry and struts her stuff.

Then she turned the camera on us and told us to pose. So we did.

Wow. Sadly, Dave is the best model in the family.

My new "job"

I recently started watching our friends' one-year old daughter, Morgan.

Isn't she a doll?! We have Morgan 4 days a week and so far it's been great! (I took this picture of Morgan, because we have the same picture of Caroline in the same booster seat!)

Caroline loves having someone over to play with, to boss, to hug, and to make laugh. Caroline has been a good helper and is my official "diaper throw-awayer"! Sometimes, she's a little too confident with Morgan and tries to carry her around. At these times, Morgan promptly bops Caroline on the forehead with the palm of her hand - and that's that!

Archie is especially appreciative of Morgan's presence, as Morgan thinks it's pretty funny to throw food on the floor. So Archie has learned to hover around her chair when she's eating. If you look close, you'll notice something on Archie's back. Yeah, it's a chunk of banana.

Some sweet, silly girls having fun.

I'll admit, two kids are harder than one. I've been reminded of some things about caring for a one-year old. Baby-proofing, diapers, binkies, strollers, all these things I haven't had to think about for a year or two. But, it's honestly been so fun too. Mostly, I think, because Morgan is such a sweet little girl and is in such a fun stage right now. She's big enough that she can walk, but she's still little enough that "Wheels on the Bus" is hilarious.

What a great job!

Old Fashioned Block Party

This weekend we had a neighborhood block party! Since we live on a cove (we call 'em cul-de-sacs back West) We all just set up tables and chairs at the end of our street and had a grand ole time!

Caroline loves living near other kids. She plays with these boys every day!

We had smoked bbq, hotdogs, potato salad, and all that good stuff. Caroline's favorite part was probably that she had free access to the soda box! She had probably about 3 cans! (I can't say I blame her, it was pretty hot!)

It was a great chance to hang out with neighbors, and meet some we hadn't met yet. We have several neighbors that have lived here since these houses were built. Their children and grandchild came to the party on the street where they grew up and had a little reunion of their own - which I think is pretty neat.

It's nice to have nice neighbors that will watch your dog when you're out of town, loan you milk or eggs when you bake, and just hang outside and talk with! It reminded us a little of when we'd get together with our friends at our apartment complex in New Mexico. You can't really choose your neighbors, so when you live next to people that don't absolutely drive you crazy, it's a blessing!

Short messages, Big help

Maybe I'm behind, but I recently discovered the Morman Messages channel on YouTube. It has several excerpts from General Conference talks put to music and videos. They are about 2-3 mins. long and completely awsome. Sometimes it's hard to remember to find time in busy days to fit in spiritual moments, but this has helped me. It feels great to these hear short, inspired messages and have a little reminder in the middle of my day. I really need reminders, I'm finding!