Let's Talk Disney!! What would you like to know?

Life is moving along wonderfully right not but there's not always a lot of pics or new stuff to share during the week so the blog gets a little quiet.  Yesterday was warm and balmy here and hinted of spring but over night winter came back with a vengeance and it's cold, windy, snowy and nasty!  Ugh!!  (Thankfully today is Summer Day for Hannah at school so she's happy to be wearing her 'short clothes' again.)  Anyway, with all this cold and snow it makes me want to talk about my favourite vacation spot....

LET'S TALK DISNEY!!!

I guess I'm not the only one dreaming of warmer days as my email box is overflowing with emails from family and friends who are planning Disney trips!  Some are leaving as soon as this weekend (Have a great time Becky and Meigan!!!) while others are planning well into the summer.  It looks like the week we're going to be there WDW will be filled with family and friends!  So far 4 other families are booked and more families are hoping to book if a Free Dining offer comes out.  C'mon free dining!!

So, now I want to open the floor to you.  What questions do you have about Walt Disney World in Florida?  I don't have any experience with Disneyland in California and so far my Disney Cruise experience is only in the planning stages but thankfully that's going to change.  I'm learning lots about the cruise and getting more excited every single day!  Oy - it's going to be a long year!  Still am not sure when I'll tell Hannah but my current goal is after Christmas next year.  We'll see if I make it!  M3 tends to think I'll spill the beans far sooner than that and she could be quite right!  She knows me well!

So for now, what questions do you have about WDW?  I'm happy to share my experiences with you and help you as I can.  I just do this for fun and it sure is enjoyable to me.  The next best thing to our own Disney trips is helping others learn, plan, prepare and experience Disney!

Today's word on the street is that Disney buses are getting a makeover!  While I'm still a fan of the bus colours that are being faded out

I'm sure I'll get used to the new colours too.  Although, the bus I'm most excited about right now is this one:

It's fun to be planning for something so new and exciting for Hannah and I.  I've deamt of this for years and now it's becoming a reality!

For now though, are there questions I can try to answer or help you with? 

Let's talk Disney!!

3yo Cuteness!

I love 3!!  Even though babyhood has been left behind there is so much to enjoy about 3!  I’m sad that 4 is quickly approaching even though I know it will be just as wonderful and hold it’s own new moments to love and embrace.  I like to tease Hannah right now that it’s ‘Four and no more!  You can’t get any older than 4!’

Last week she surprised me and had me in splits when she said.   ‘You’ll have to talk to God.  He made me that way!’  LOL!!

I love the way her little mind thinks and the adorable things she says!  Some of the ones I’ve remembered to write down are:

‘Noah, you have the very best friend in the whole world!  You have me!’  (Heh, cute and humble too!)

‘Mommy, I need a Kleenex.  My nose is running out!’

When we left Disney World last summer I realized we’d been there a while when we sat down to supper at home and she said to me, ‘One moment please.  Your server will be right with you!’

Tonight we were praying for her friend who has the flu.  I prayed, ‘Please be with Noey and help his tummy not to be sick.’ and was gently corrected when Hannah said, ‘Mommy.  It’s not Noey’s tummy that’s sick.  It’s his mouth!’  LOL!!

The final one happened after tap last week.  There are twins in her class and Hannah said to me, ‘Mommy, those girls are twins like Ro and Ree.’  I asked them how she knew they were twins and she replied, ‘Because they were born from the same lap!’  Hehe!!  I guess that’s how she interpreted what was happening with my co-worker.  She met Miss Tracy recently and she’s having twins in a couple of weeks so I mentioned that she has 2 babies in her belly.  Voila  - 2 babies born from one lap! 

I love 3 and I love my 3yo SOOOO much!!

Take That Winter!!

The idea began slowly and then within a matter of hours the plan was formed! 

Wednesday when I was folding laundry Hannah asked, ‘Mommy, When will it be summer?  I want to wear my short clothes!’   This week we were stuck in a deep freeze for a number of days and then when the cold snap finally broke it was to drop a few inches of snow on us.

Thursday Hannah brought home a list of special theme days that she will be celebrating at preschool.

Thursday night as I headed to bed a plan was formed.  Saturday was going to be a pretty quiet day for us once we returned from gymnastics graduation so I decided we’d have a theme day of our own.

Today was, ‘SUMMER DAY!’ at our place!

I pumped up the heat and we dug deep in our dressers to find summer clothes.  What fun we had!    We started by baking sugar cookies together and decorated them to look like watermelon.

We enjoyed a picnic lunch on a blanket in the kitchen

which looked normal…until you looked at all the snow outside!

Hannah enjoyed her ‘spider dog’ but since she’s not a fan of spiders we changed the name to ‘octopus dog’ and all was right in her world once again!

We enjoyed a great day together and were joined by Uncle Dave, Auntie Trish, Makenna and Kallen for supper.  We made pizza for supper and although it’s hard to tell from this picture, we were on our way to the local community centre to go swimming!  Hannah and I hadn’t been swimming since last summer but it’s safe to say that my little fish took to the water like we’d never left!  It will soon be time to sign her up for lessons again and I know she’ll do well.

It was fun to switch things up a bit and welcome even a few hours of summer! 

Ahhh…Quiet Winter Weekends

After the busyness of the Christmas season Hannah and I have been happy to dial it back a notch and enjoy quieter weekends in January.  Last weekend was even a rare week off of gymnastics due to a competition being held at our gym.  Mommy enjoyed some time to work on cleaning projects around the home while Hannah took advantage of extra time to enjoy her toys, crafts and books. 

She started by ensuring all her Disney friends were healthy by giving them a check-up using her Doc McStuffins kit.

Next we played tic-tac-toe but you have to know that when Hannah creates the board it’s ummm…creative! 

Add to that the fact that it’s totally okay in her books for either person to write in the same square on top of the other persons ‘X’ or ‘O’

that’s let’s just say our games were a draw!

We did venture out of the house once to go to the mall and look for new shoes for Mommy.  I didn’t find any but Hannah tried to convince me that these were perfect for her!  Ummm…nope!  Not quite yet sweetie!

Later in the day we made hot chocolate and curled up on the couch together to read stories. 

Ah yes, a wonderful, quiet day together!!  Looking forward to more of the same tomorrow but Mommy has a fun idea for tomorrow!  More on that later!

Have a great weekend everyone and if you’re living near us – Stay Warm!!!  Brrrr!  It’s been c-c-c-cold around here!!!

Tap, Tap, Clap. Tap, Tap, Clap.

Hannah has loved to dance since she was a little baby!  This first video was taken when she was just 11 months old.  I can’t believe how little she was, and how clever!  I can’t wait to show her this video when she wakes up tomorrow morning! 

Hannah loves hearing about when she was a baby and looking at videos and pictures. Playing ‘Baby’ is something she enjoys doing and I love indulging her and remembering what it was like. I can’t believe she’s almost 4 already!! 

I like to offer her a variety of activities to try so when I saw an 8 week tap dancing class being offered at a local community centre I signed her up.  It’s casual and tap shoes are not needed but I knew my little girl would love the sound of tap shoes so I searched on Kijiji and we found a used pair that works perfectly for her!  It’s hard to catch her standing still (ok, nearly impossible!) so here’s the best I could do.

(Taken through the classroom door)

Here they were working on their ‘tap, tap, clap’ step.  Heh!  Love how hard she’s concentrating and the effort she’s putting into it!

This final video was taken during free dance at the end of the class.  (Note, Hannah was involved in a little crash at the end.  All were okay but she felt AWFUL!!)  This free dance captures my little girl to a ‘T’!!  She’d be happy to do this all day and when you see her in action this is much how she loves to move!

I love my little dancing girl and seeing the changes as she grows!!

Shhh....

It's a surprise for Hannah's 5th Birthday (yes, she's not even 4 yet!) but I'm super excited to have booked our very first Disney Cruise!! 

 I have dreamed of taking her on a cruise since before she was born (and have been saving for this about the same amount of time) and today was the day I finally made the booking!  I knew I wanted to take her when she was around 5 so figured what better way to celebrate her 5th birthday than on board 'Mickey's Boat?'

I'm already having lots of fun reading up about Disney cruises on my favourite site, 'DISboards' and am learning tons!  I know Walt Disney World well and am happy to help others book trips there but when it comes to cruising I'm a newbie so sought out expert help.  I'm working with a wonderful travel agent who works with Small World Vacations.  She's been really helpful and I know we'll share many emails and conversations over the next 13 months.  I already know what cabin we'll be in and that we'll be at the early dinner seating but that's about all right now.

Have you ever sailed on a Disney cruise?  We're sailing on the Fantasy.  What tips and tricks would you like to share with this newbie?  :o)

You know I'm counting!  

 

Now....I wonder how long I'll be able to control myself and not share this news with Hannah?  She knows we want to go on Mickey's Boat someday but I'm waiting to tell her the news.  She already tells me after she turns 4 she'll turn 5yo.  I can't imagine how excited she'll be when she finds out where she'll be when she turns 5!!

Already???

Today I registered Hannah for Junior Kindergarten.

How can it be that my 'baby' will start JK in September?  Already??  Wasn't it just yesterday she was learning to sit up, crawl, walk and talk? 

People told me it would happen and I believed them but still...
Time sure does fly when you're a parent! 

I want to enjoy every possible moment with her that I can!  So thankful I have this blog to record our special moments so we can share the memories as she grows up.  Already she enjoys looking back at pictures and videos and talking about 'When you were a baby you...'  I will be forever grateful that God brought us together when Hannah was just 8 months old so that we have so many early memories to talk about.

All too quickly we will starting sentences with, 'When you were in Kindergarten you...'

*sigh!*

My Little Sunshine

It was a rainy, dreary day yesterday but Hannah was my little sunshine as she walked to church carrying her new Rapunzel umbrella that Santa brought.

She also brought sunshine to GG and others when we went to visit him in his new home in a local nursing home.  He’s in a beautiful place and when Hannah saw it for the first time Hannah exclaimed in awe, ‘Mommy!  It’s just like the Little Mermaid rooms at Disney!’  It’s a nice bright room with huge windows so that GG can see outside.

While Papa helped GG get a nice clean shave

Hannah enjoyed a cup of hot chocolate. 

Hannah with Papa and GG.  Family.

My little sunshine!

Welcome 2013!

New Year’s Eve Hannah and I got together with special friends.  We did this to welcome 2012 and were excited to continue the tradition again.  It’s a pj party and sleepover so we’re not only able to ring in the new year together but the next day we share a delicious brunch before going our separate ways.

Our kiddos are the best of friends and enjoy sharing time together.

For supper each of the kiddos decorated their own pizza. 

My sweetie chose Mickey Mouse shaped pizza.  Surprise, surprise!

We tucked our little sweeties in around 8:30 and then enjoyed an evening of fun for the adults that included lots of delicious food, talking, laughter and hilarious karaoke.

The kids started the new year by enjoying a yummy gingerbread house.  Gotta love the holidays!

Hannah and I are SO blessed to have such special friends in our lives and we feel very much like family. 

Happy New Year everyone!  All the best in 2013!!