Melts My Heart!

Last night when I was tucking Macey into bed I told her that I was so lucky to be her mom and she said "and I am so lucky to be your sweetheart"!

Meanwhile...

Although our blog doesn't reflect it we have been doing a lot more than just going to Disneyland :) Although since being home we watch alot of online videos of the rides so it is almost like being there and when we ride in the car Macey likes to pretend it is a ride...especially when we go down hills (or fally things). One of Macey's major pastimes lately is making notes and cards for us and her friends. She often cranks out five or so a day and we currently have a big stack on our counter that I am not sure what to do with but don't really want to through away! She is also filling up a lot of space with her artwork from home and school, we will have to change some of it up soon.

For at least a month or so Macey has had two imaginary friends hanging around alot, Dashi and Paja :) She has also been playing alot with her real friends and loving every minute of it! She is doing great at preschool and we have registered her for kindergarten-CRAZY!!!! We just had her IEP and they were so impressed with all of the progress Macey has made, she is amazing and she is reading up a storm! Her memory is amazing and she has an impressive sense of direction. Awhile ago we picked Dan up at a windshield place and went to Crown Burger for lunch, when it was time to leave she told us all of the turns we needed to make to get back to pick up Dan's car...wow! She continues to make us laugh all of the time with the things she comes up with. She loves to play "Sister and Mom" and be a Nature Explorer in the yard. We were having a Family Home Evening lesson on safety this week and when Dan asked Macey what safety meant she said "It means keep your arms and legs inside the ride at all times. And if you are on the Disneyland Railroad it means that smaller guests enter first and stay away from the openings"! Lately she has been a real Daddy's Girl and calls Dan her buddy. She has her first spring soccer game tomorrow and seemed to do much better at practice than she did in the fall so keep your fingers crossed!

Avery is talking up a storm and getting into everything! She is a bit mischievous and has started laughing when we tell her no and put her in time out...we need to nip that in the bud!! She is so sweet and affectionate and loves to give hugs and snuggle with her binky and blankies. She is starting to like nursery more, in particular she loves Brother Hustedt and he is holding her almost every time we look in! Avery always wants to do what her big sister is doing, and if Macey won't let her she thinks taking Macey's toy and running away while laughing is the next best thing! I love how much Macey and Avery love each other, and it is so sweet to see Macey take such good care of her little sister!

We really have been amazed by how much Avery is talking, especially since Macey was a little slow. She loves drinking her chocolate milk and asks for it almost every morning. One morning she was sitting on my lap eating some of my cereal and when it was gone she jumped down and ran over to Dan, who was eating the same cereal, and said "Yumm, Yumm" and then proceeded to eat his cereal too! Last week in sacrament meeting she put her hand on Dan's knee and said "Daddy, I pooping"! And anytime you ask her who she loves she says "Jesus!". She loves music and can sing most of "Once There Was a Snowman"...and you can almost understand it if you know what it is :) She still loves Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and fruit snacks and when she can't find something or someone she walks around the house and says "Kitty, where are you?", my favorite is when she is in her crib and she calls out "Mommy, where are you?".

Dan got a new calling as Young Mens Secretary and assistant to the Teacher's Quorum and I have been busy finding just the right stuff the finish off my laundry/mud room redecoration (pictures to come). We are loving playing outside in this wonderful weather, although I feel slightly jipped that we bought a new snow blower last year and only used it once!! I guess that's life :)

Last Disney Post :)

Sorry for the Disneyland post overkill but as a Disney lover myself I didn't want to leave anything out :) Of course in my attempt to categorize my millions of pictures into posts I had all of these left over, and they are too great to miss!

It was so great having Brook in Disneyland with us! All of Rob and Melissa's kids are great and definitely made the trip funner for our girls but Brook has a special way of helping Macey be calm and do things we need her to do. Macey was often her little shadow and was SO excited that Brook rode in our car to the beach!

On our first day in Disneyland in started to rain after lunch. I was sure that Macey would want to head back to the hotel and stay dry but to my surprise she was perfectly happy in her poncho, and with the combo of poncho and stroller Avery hardly even got wet! I guess fun rides are worth a little soggyiness :)

Let's go back!!!!

The Beach and One More Disney Day!!!

Our third day at Disneyland was Leap Day and they were having a big celebration called One More Disney Day! We all got special buttons when we entered the park and we saw a lot of people wearing shirts that said "I took the leap and didn't sleep!". In honor of Leap Day the main park was open 24 hours...crazy! We started that day with our breakfast with Minnie and then after a few rides met up with Rob & Melissa's family and headed to lunch and the beach. It was pretty windy and cold but the younger kids loved playing in the sand and some ventured out into the ocean up to their knees...they were brave, I think I only made it to my shins :) The worst things about our beach day was that we were way to far from the car/potty when we needed it! Oh well...having an accident at the beach is way easier to deal with than at Disneyland!

When we got cleaned up and headed back to the park we spent the evening at California Adventure (which had regular hours that day). It seemed a little busier than normal but we didn't think much of it. When California Adventure was closing our plan was to go back to our hotel, put the girls to bed and Dave and Jolynn would stay with them while we headed back to partake of some 24 hour Disney fun. Apparently we didn't realize just how big of a deal this day was...when we came out of California Adventure the line to get into Disneyland stretched from the main gates all the way back to the California Adventure gates!!! The park was filled to capacity!!! I can't even imagine how busy a filled to capacity Disneyland would be! So we put the girls to bed and got some ice cream instead :)

The Characters!!!

Seeing the characters was a highlight of Macey's Disneyland trip! Avery wasn't so sure about it :) She loves watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and knows all of those characters and when she first saw Mickey on day one (from about 200 feet away) she got SO excited and was yelling "Mickey, Mickey"! However when the time came to get close to the characters it was a different story! Some of the first ones we saw were the fairies in Pixie Hollow.

Avery didn't want to go see Tink and Vidia but Macey was very excited...and flattered when they complimented her on her signature boots! The Fairy Godmother also like them a few days later :)

We decided to take the girls to Breakfast with Minnie in the park so they would get some good character time. The breakfast was pretty crowded (but it was also on Leap Day so that might have been some of it) and we had to wait awhile to finally see Minnie, she was the last one to come to our table, but it was really fun! Macey wasn't to sure about all of the characters at first but she warmed up quick! We also saw the Fairy Godmother and high-fived Captain Hook!

Of course Toontown was a great place to meet the characters and Macey loved exploring their houses! We got an extra treat from Goofy who did the Hot-Dog Dance for us and Avery finally got sure enough about him to give him a high five!

We ran into Mr. Fox from Pinocchio later that day in Fantasyland and he was really cute with Macey. He kissed her hand and then walked her over to a flower garden where he picked a flower and gave it to her! He's a charmer!

The Rides!!!

Macey loved the rides at Disneyland...as long as they weren't fast, a lot dark, and didn't have any "fally things" (drops)! She had heard a lot about Space Mountain and really wanted to go on it first but we didn't think that was the greatest idea (part of her day one meltdown) and we persuaded her into Fantasyland where our first rides were the Merry-Go-Round and Dumbo. After that she only wanted Space Mountain so we decided to give it a go, and she hated it! After that she was very questionable about every ride we went on. She loved pretty much everything in Fantasyland, some of her favorites were Snow White, Peter Pan, Mr. Toad, Pinocchio and of course Small World. She was not a fan of Pirates of the Caribbean the first time but we rode it again our last night and she liked it a lot better. When you ask her she says it is her favorite but that might just be because it is Greta's favorite :) She tried Splash Mountain twice, she didn't like it the first time and we were surprised that she asked to go on it again the next day. She hated getting splashed and gave us one of the most memorable quotes of the trip when her face got wet as she exclaimed "Oh No! My eyes are all injured!". She also really like Winnie the Pooh, Toy Story and Ariel's Undersea Adventure. Avery liked most of the rides too, as long as she could sit on our laps (with the exception of Toy Story where she didn't mind sitting alone). As you can see in the Lady Bug Boogie picture she was not happy when they made her sit on her own!
And here are way to many pictures of us on the rides...in no particular order :)

Macey at one of Pooh's honey pots and holding Dumbo's magic feather!