When you’re best friends with your sister…

The playroom usually ends up looking like this:

But this mama wouldn’t trade it for anything.

Molly’s prayer

Molly’s parent-o-gram reported that she led the prayer in chapel today.  I asked her what she prayed about, and she said “my family.”  But if it went anything like her prayer at dinner tonight, it went something like this “Dear God, thank you for mommy, and daddy, and Jane Anne, and Paige, and my puppies, and for Daisy and Dudley, and for peas, and for macaronis, and for fans, and for windows, [at this point Jane Anne and Paige are laughing, which only encourages Molly more], and for doors, and for….”

Sweet, sweet girl.

Fun with Dad

The girls got Bill a Buzz Lightyear lego set for Christmas, so the other day they finally got around to working on putting him together.

New Family Ritual

One of our resolutions this year was to start a family ritual; we’ve decided on a few new things to integrate into our family, but the main one is a family walk every weekend — no agenda, no plan — just time to walk, talk, and collect rocks.  The first Saturday of the new year that we were home was very cold, but we braved it anyway.  We bundled up and headed out!  We had a great time, and this weekend the girls were talking about how excited they were to go on the family walk.

Here are a couple pictures from last week:

Well not all of us walked the whole way...

Aren't they sweet?!

Disney Magic

I just wanted to share some of my favorite moments that didn’t make it into the other posts:

Molly found a Lightning McQueen hat

Jane Anne waiting for the 3D Mickey's Philharmagic to start

The whole family with Cinderella

The girls getting to be part of the Lion King show -- I cried through the whole thing. The animals were so kind to the girls -- pure Disney Magic at work!

Dreams Come True show

Well, we were in Hollywood Studios...

Molly after her 100M dash -- she told everyone "I winned" because they gave her a medal

Jane Anne finishing up her mile -- she ran it in 11:19

Our last day there was cold and wet, but we hit the park anyway -- no wait for any rides! It was a great way to end the trip

Molly on the girls' favorite ride -- Goofy's Barnstormer

Disney Moments : Characters (Part 2)

So here’s some more picture of friends we made at Disney.  Counting it up, we saw about 30 different characters and saw some characters twice — Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Belle, Pooh, Tigger, Mary Poppins, etc…

We filled up 4 autograph books and, as you have seen, took tons of pictures.  Molly was so in awe of everyone.  She loved the princesses and Pluto the very best.  Jane Anne loved meeting Marie the cat, and I was thrilled to see my good friend Mary Poppins.  I’ll post once more about Disney in the next few days with a few more magical moments.  Thanks for indulging me 🙂

Alice

Mary Poppins

Princess Tiana and Prince Naveen (from Princess and the Frog)

Russell and Carl Fredricksen from Up

Lightning McQueen and Mater

June from the Little Einsteins

Goliath from JoJo's Circus

Leo from the Little Einsteins

JoJo

Rosetta the Fairy -- we had to have pixie dust sprinkled on us so we would shrink to the size of the fairies

Tink

Minnie Mouse

Donald Duck

Pluto -- Molly's very favorite!

Goofy -- that's not Bill, even though it looks a lot like him 😉

The Big Cheese himself (and my three favorite people in the whole world!!)

Disney Moments: Characters (Part One)

In the next two posts, I’m going to post lots of pictures and I’m not sorry.  Unless it crashes your browser, then I’m sorry.   Really.

The girls favorite part of the parks is the characters and getting to meet them is completely magical.  This is about half of the characters we meet, so I’ll post a few more in the next day or so.

Peter Pan

Ariel

Fairy Godmother

Marie from Aristocats

Sleeping Beauty/Princess Aurora -- Notice Molly is posing

Belle

Snow White -- In Cinderella's Castle

Princess Jasmine

Pooh Bear

Eeyore

Tigger

Pocahontus

Rafiki (Lion King)

Jiminy Cricket

Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique

On Monday of our trip, the girls got to go to the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique in Cinderella’s Castle.  They are greeted by a Fairy Godmother in training and get to pick out a dress and shoes, have their hair and make-up done, and get their nails done.  The thing that cracks me up  is how serious they both are through the whole thing.   (And a special thanks to Granny and Pappy who gave the girls money for their dresses!)

After they were done there, we went straight to the Castle dining room and ate lunch with the princesses.

With Cinderella before lunch

Molly getting her nails painted

Molly as Princess Aurora (Sleeping Beauty)

Jane Anne getting her hair done -- I need the Fairy Godmother to come help me at ballet recital time

Jane Anne as Princess Tiana (from Princess and the Frog)

Disney Moments: Rides

I thought I would have more internet access than I do here, so here’s a quick peek at some highlight, and I’ll post more when I get home.

Here are some favorite rides:

Mad Hatter's Tea Cups

Winnie the Pooh

Cinderella's Carousel

Dumbo

Thunder Mountain Railroad

And, of course, the Disney Bus System