Patience Prayer Service

 On Monday Leah's Pre-K class hosted the monthly prayer service at IHC Primary. Leah practiced her reading part a ton and she did so well in front of a packed gym. I was so proud of her and she looked stinking cute too.

 It is very hard to believe that the year is winding down and soon we will be done with IHC altogether. It is very bittersweet.

I love this picture of Leah's class. It made my day when I saw it on their bulletin board.

Happy Birthday Lisa

 We haven't had friends over in forever so we decided since it was Lisa's birthday that we would have them over and celebrate. We had a mini shrimp boil since the Castana's won't be here this summer for our annual boil, we taste tested six different types of cupcakes in honor of Lisa's birthday, played a little Rock Band and the kids tore the house apart. Just kidding, the kids played, ran around and had fun.

Last Week

 Last week is now a blur. Roland was gone for four days last week so the kids and I kept busy and caught up from our busy vacation. Leah  started swim classes again even though she was extremely scared. She doesn't like water on her face and the first thing they asked the kids to do was bob ten times under the water. I was secretly dying inside laughing because I was ready for her to have a major freak out, but she just smiled and tried to look cute so her teacher wouldn't make her go under. It worked for one week, but we will see what this afternoon brings.

Last Wednesday was also kindergarten FOSPA night at Knick. Leah was super excited and she was even more excited when her friend Teagan from soccer travelled from table to table with her.

Easter '14

 Nothing like a flying trip to FL and back and then throw in Easter. It's enough to test a mom's limits. Let's just say that two nights after Easter this mom was in bed and asleep by 8:30pm. Back to Easter...the kids successfully found their baskets, loved the contents and had smiles from ear to ear.

 Leah asked for the movie Frozen constantly while we were at Disney and I kept putting her off because I had already bought it for her for Easter. She was so excited to see it in her basket.

 GQ kiddos

My parents hid 84 eggs at my grandparents and the kids had a blast finding them all over their huge yard. It was the perfect Easter with our amazing family.

Thank you weather gods for a fabulous weather day too.

Welcome Invitations

 I received a text while I was in FL from my very best friend from high school Alex. He said that he and his wife would be in town for Easter and could we come to a baby shower for them. I was thrilled at the invite because I haven't seen him in a year. Alex lives in Virginia and works for the FBI in DC. His new wife lives and works in LA and they are having their first baby in August. It has been a whirlwind romance, wedding and now baby on the way for them. They are so happy and excited and I was thrilled to be able to make the shower.

 No Storino event would be the same without some alcohol so when they said we were doing a game where we put our favorite drink in a baby bottle I was on board. Why not, you only live once right? Not to brag, but I finished my 6oz. of wine first and won that game pretty quick. It was tons of fun and tons of laughs.

 All of the men in the room complained that their beer was thicker coming through the baby bottles so that is why they lost. Ok, whatever. I won. :)

It was great to see all of my favorite Storino's as well as Alex's new wife. What a wonderful afternoon.

Thursday Night ~ Magic Kingdom

 We let the kids play in the big fields at the resort on Thursday evening knowing it was our last moments at Disney. Seth loved every single aspect of the resort. Score 1 for Mom.

 Then we headed back to Magic Kingdom for a trip on the train (Leah's request) followed by the fireworks and the electrical parade.

 We got to the parade route super early and got seats for both the fireworks and the parade. It was a long wait, but worth it in the end. We had a great view.

 Friday morning we loaded up and headed home, with NO delays.

Rocky survived at his new boarding location and all was well with the world.

I am so grateful for this trip, the time with my family and our ability to make so many wonderful memories. Next up is the Shutterfly book I'm working on to commemorate it.

Thursday ~ Hollywood Studios

 Our last day of hopper passes included Hollywood Studios in the morning and then back to Magic Kingdom for the finale of our trip.

 We really enjoyed The Toy Story ride, it was a ton of fun.

 We even saw Disney Junior Live on Stage for Beaner.

 Then the kids explored the Honey, I Shrunk the Kids play land.

To be perfectly honest, I would probably not take the kids back to Hollywood Studios. There were not a ton of rides, but more so shows and for our family it didn't pack the punch we were looking for. I wish we had gone back to Magic Kingdom for that day. The kids had fun so that is all that matters though.

Wednesday Afternoon ~ POOL

 After our busy morning of eating then biking we decided to come back to the resort and relax for the afternoon. Well, the afternoon turned into the evening and before we knew it we had spent from 1pm-8:30pm at the pool. It was such a wonderful afternoon. They had kids activities from 2-6 and we had a blast playing games and participating in different activities.

What a day.

Wednesday ~ Chef Mickey's, The Boardwalk & Pool Time

 We knew we wanted to make reservations for one character meal instead of waiting in lines at the parks to meet the Fab 5 and we decided that breakfast was the best idea for us. We went to Chef Mickey's and it was fantastic. The food was amazing and the kids met their favorite characters up close and personal.

 After breakfast we decided to check out the Contemporary Resort a bit. It is one of the older resorts, but it was still beautiful. We walked out by the lake and took in all of the scenery.

 Then we headed to The Boardwalk and rented a four person bike to bike around the surrounding resorts. IT WAS A BLAST. This was my second favorite part of the trip. We biked around 4 times and laughed our heads off.

Such an amazing morning.

Tuesday Night ~ Magic Kingdom

 After a solid nap we all showered and headed to Magic Kingdom for a few more rides and an amazing dessert party that we had booked. Roland's only request was that we go on the ride called "People Movers" so that was the first thing we did when we got there Tuesday night.

 After that we stumbled upon a dance party...how perfect. It was called The Incredible's Super Dance Party and the kids really enjoyed it.

 After that we decided to drive some race cars. Seth was in his glory. He had a hard time with the gas peddle, but I decided to do that for him and he only had to steer. He loved it.

 By the end of this ride we decided that it was too late to eat dinner, but almost time for our dessert party so we said, what the heck let's have a super sized dessert instead of dinner tonight.

This was one of the BEST parts of the trip. When I was making reservations six months ago I thought it would be different and fun. Who doesn't like an all you can eat dessert party on the terrace overlooking Cinderella's Castle? They had a giant sundae bar, endless fruit and about 25-30 different desserts in small portions so you could try them all if you wanted. I pretty much did. Then we had the perfect view of the light show on the castle followed by the fireworks. It was such an amazing night. I still dream of the desserts. Ahhhhh...

Monday Night ~ Downtown Disney

Magic Bands UNITE.

 

As if we weren't tired enough after a day at the park and then swimming we decided to venture out to Downtown Disney on Monday night for dinner and a performance.

 We knew that the WHS Select Chorus was performing at DT Disney on Monday night, but we also knew they didn't take the stage until 11pm. We hadn't planned to stay because we were exhausted, but once we saw people we knew we realized that it was the chance of a lifetime to see our friends perform. We are SO happy we stayed. It was a fantastic performance and they even sung our favorite Pitch Perfect song.

We got back to our resort around midnight and decided we would sleep in on Tuesday morning. We had our Fast Passes reserved so we didn't stress about getting to the park too early.