Dancing in Disneyland! (cont...)

So to keep the tradition alive...Saturday had a clothes color assignment too. It was "grey day." To start off the day we got ready to dance! We were so thankful that our time slot to dance was first thing in the morning (well, late morning, but the first show). It made it easy to just get ready in the morning to dance, and then we had the rest of the day to enjoy in the Park. The girls all danced really well. Good job, Katelyn!

Waiting with the group to enter the Park with their Disney escort.

Megan is too young to dance at Disneyland, so she started climbing letters while we waited to drop off Katelyn.

I love this picture of Katelyn and her sassy dance moves. She's the cute one on the right of the picture. Swing those hips, Katelyn!

 The rest of the day was spent enjoying the Park again. Here's the "grey day" collage.

This was a pretty adventurous day for Megan and me. To preface this story, I have to say that I don't do the rides that have a big drop. I don't really like them. As I drop and am in the free-fall state, I kind of hold my breath and stop breathing. Not a good idea, but I'd have to say, better than throwing up! I learned this as a teenager and have avoided those kind of rides ever since. I don't mind going on fast roller coasters, and I don't mind going upside down. It's just that free fall that gets me. So, now the story. One of Megan's favorite rides is the Jumping Jellyfish in California Adventure. It's an easy drop. Just enough to have your stomach do a little jump but not enough to get scared. For some reason, I mentioned to her that the Tower of Terror was like the Jumping Jellyfish, just bigger and faster. Well, then she wanted to go on that ride. We tried to convince her that she would not like the ride and that it would be too fast. I think Chris and I were hoping that she'd be too short to ride the ride, but as it turns out, she's not. There was no good reason to not let her go on the ride, so we said we could try it. So, of course Megan wanted me to go on the ride with her. I told Chris he had to come too to help me! In the end, for me the ride wasn't too bad. Not my idea of fun, but I'm still breathing! Megan on the other hand said she never wants to ride the Tower of Terror ever again. She held on to Chris pretty tight and screamed her way down. I think she'll be sticking with Jumping Jellyfish from here on out.

Dancing in Disneyland!

Katelyn is finally old enough to dance in Disneyland! I know, your thinking, "but weren't you just in Disneyland in August." Yup. Thanks to Jeanne's School of Dance and Katelyn and 2 amazing sister-in-laws who teach dance, we got to do Disneyland a second time this year. The dancers were scheduled to dance on Saturday morning, so we got to the Happiest Place on Earth Thursday night so we could have one whole day in the park. If you know my family, you know we dress in the same color. So much easier to find your group in the crowd! So, Friday was "red day." Then I had the happy surprise to find out that my family had decided to celebrate my birthday. When we met at the fireplace at the Grand Californian, I was given a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse style adventure to collect my presents throughout the day. It was so much fun!

Here's our best family picture as we wait to enter the park. (Megan really was excited to be there even though she's not smiling in this picture, and Adam just wanted out of his stroller already!)

Here's a picture of all the birthday treats and presents I got throughout the day. Thank you Kaley and Amy for your crazy, fun, creative brain! It made me feel special all day!

I just love seeing the kids in Disneyland! Here's a collage of our fabulous "red day."

One of the presents I got was to have 3 hours with just Chris in the park and the rest of the family would watch my kids. We chose to leave just after dinner and enjoy a date! Chris chose to take me to Captain E-O because I had never (to my recollection) seen it before. It was definitely interesting! We then went on some rides. What a difference it is to stand in line without kids!

Super Halloween

This year for Halloween I decided to go themed. I somehow convinced the girls they wanted to be superheros to match Adam who was Superman. Katelyn chose Wonder Woman and Megan chose Supergirl. I think in the process I agreed to let Katelyn get a Dorthy from Wizard of Oz costume sometime in the future. I think all she really wants are the red ruby slippers. That's easy.

It was a little tricky with Halloween falling on a Sunday this year. Saturday we just pretended it was Halloween. The girls really didn't know any different and we were able to keep our Sabbath day just for Church and family. So, Saturday, we finally carved our pumpkin to start off the Halloween festivities.

Then we went to Chris' parent's neighborhood Halloween party. It is always fun, hot dogs, chili, and carnival games for the kids. Even Adam figured out that if he did the cake walk he would get a cupcake. Then we chose about 10 families from our Ward that we knew would let trick-or-treaters come on Saturday and let the kids go trick or treating. They had fun and it was so nice to not have a huge load of candy at the end of the day. Turns out when you only go to about 10 houses you only get about 10 pieces of candy! Then our last trick or treat stop was Chris' grandparent's house. I think the kids had a really good time.

Then Sunday, we went about our day like a normal Sunday. After Sunday dessert night at Chris' grandparent's we let the kids dress up in their costumes again so they could show my parents on Skype their Halloween attire. In the process they were able to help pass out candy to trick or treaters that came to our door. Again, it was a great hit and the kids didn't even ask to go out on Sunday. They were satisfied with passing out our candy.

Dance, dance, dance

Along with the new school year, Katelyn and Megan have started a new dance year. They both grew so much as dancers last year, I'm excited to see what this next year will bring. The first two performances in the fall are the Zoowalk for Autism and the AZ State Fair. Chris had to brave the Zoowalk by himself with the kids this year playing the part of "dance mom." I had to be at the Primary program practice since I'm in the presidency and funny thing is I haven't figured out how to be in two places at one time! The girls performed dances from last year, so I tried not to feel too bad that I missed a show. Chris did a great job being a dance mom and the girls did a great job.

This year at the AZ State Fair, we got the royal treatment. Amy (Chris's sister and director of the dance company) road in our car with us and so we got the special fancy parking pass that let us park pretty much right next to the stage. We were there early and got to watch the other studios dance before it was our turn. I may be a little biased, but I think our company is the best! The girls had a great show. Then after the show we let the girls pick a couple rides to go on and they all got snow cones while the adults got pineapple ice cream....yum....can't wait for more of that next year!

Cute Megan getting ready to dance her favorite "Tiana" dance.

So, not the best picture of Katelyn, but it was a sunny day! I realized I didn't have any other good pictures of Katelyn that day in costume.

Adam enjoying a snow cone after the show. I love the look on his face. It says, "really Mom and Dad...yellow snow?"

A much happier Katelyn. And who doesn't love having blue teeth!

Katelyn turns 7!

Wow, Katelyn. 7. Really?! Here's my Katelyn at 7. Beautiful, tall, kind, friends with everyone, possibly a wee bit emotional (can't wait until 13!), a wonderful helper at home, smart, and loving. I decided that I didn't want to do "friend birthday parties" every year, so my plan is 5, 8, and 12. Random? Maybe a little bit. :) Nonetheless, even without a big friend birthday party celebration, we still had a lot of fun this year. Katelyn requested that I come have lunch with her at school and bring Sonic. It was so much fun to see her at school with her friends, and she was absolutely beaming that it was her special day to eat lunch with me and Megan and Adam. We invited Chris' family to come over for a family party the night of her birthday. Katelyn chose the family favorite Texas sheet cake for her birthday cake, so after opening presents, we enjoyed wonderful cake and ice cream.

Then Saturday I let her invite 2 friends over for a "late night" movie night and girl fun in lieu of a big party. Katelyn loved it and I love that it was no stress and way low key. I love the late night party. It's the fun of a sleepover in pjs but none of the staying over at someone's house (which isn't allowed in our home.) Katelyn and I went to Wal-mart and bought pretty much every movie candy she liked. Then when the friends arrived, we played for a little bit, then we did pedicures (OK, I did the pedicures...not too bad) then we watched Barbie in the 12 Dancing Princesses, ate more candy than we all should have and then ate popcorn. I'm not sure how much movie was watched, but I know all of the girls had a great time!

Megan's parent program - Space unit

At Discover Club at the end of each unit, they have a parent program. This is where they can tells us all about what they have been learning and show us around their Club room. I love Discovery Club! Megan has grown so much over just a short time. She loves going to Club. She is learning so much. She has learned the names to all the planets in order, she's learned about gravity, astronauts, and so much more! And she's finally learning how to write her name...and she's wanting to do it! I was feeling a little bit like it was my fault as a parent that she couldn't do that yet, but really, she didn't want to do it and I didn't want to push her and make her hate it. Yeah for Discover Club for showing her that she can do it and it's fun!

Each day when they come home from Club, they bring home an information sheet. On this paper, there are questions we can ask about the things they learned that day. It is so nice to have that instead of the usual "What did you learn today?" (kid responds) "I don't remember, or nothing or I don't know." I'm amazed at all the kids are learning.

Here's some pictures of her club room. I also have some video of a couple songs in the program. Megan is in a pink BYU shirt with the big Y on the front.

Megan is in the pink BYU shirt with the big Y on the front. Here the kids are getting ready to start their program.

This is a special playroom off the main Club room. It is changed for each unit. This one is the space ship. Inside the cabinets there are space suits for the kids to put on. So fun!

The ceiling was covered in the kids foil body outlines. This one is Megan, of course.

Happy Birthday Grandma Long

Chris' grandparents took the entire family to Red Robin for Grandma Long's birthday. It was, as always, a huge hit. Chris didn't get there in time from work to eat at the restaurant with us, but we got him a to-go box. I'm always a little nervous at a restaurant with small kids because you never know if it's going to be good or bad. Today was good! I had Bradley next to me helping with Adam. He was a huge help because Adam loves Bradley. I think it's the first name Adam learned how to say besides mom and dad. It's still not completely understandable to someone on the "outside" but it's definitely his name.

After Red Robin, we went to Chris' grandparent's house for cake and ice cream. The kids played outside and the adults got to visit. So as to not break the nice silence of the kids playing outside, each great grandchild was invited inside one by one to get a picture with grandma and her cake. Then they each got to blow out the candle with her.

Then Saturday, the girls got to go out to our favorite restaurant Crackers. It was great food and great company. And the best part is spreading out the birthday celebration over 2 days. Happy Birthday Grandma!