This afternoon, before we went to church, we got together with friends for an egg hunt.

We had a great time letting the kids play & hunting eggs.

Papa & Honey came too! Honey was the official photographer of the day.

Silly Will! He has never been big into egg hunts and this year was no different. He prefers to pick up one egg at a time, eat whatever is inside and then move onto the next egg.

Thomas thought hunting for eggs was wonderful. He liked putting them in the basket and then pulling them back out over and over again.

Lila checking out her eggs.

Nate running around and collecting eggs.

Brayden had a full basket.

Teagan

Charlotte

Will immediately got into the chocolate.

Our handsome boys.

All the kids at the Easter egg hunt (plus 3 more babies that can’t sit up yet!)

{ 1 Comment }

Yesterday, the boys started Mother’s Day Out at Bayside Baptist. They were both excited about “school” and we actually got there WAY early and had to wait a few minutes for the teachers! I’m sure that will never happen again.

Thomas’ teachers are Mrs. Julie and Mrs. Carolyn. They reported that Thomas was “happy and playful” all day long, ate all of his lunch and took an 1.5 hour nap. So proud of my big boy for having a great first day and only crying for a minute when I left.

Will’s teachers are Mrs. Sylvia and Mrs. Becky and he also had a great first day! He said that he had fun playing on the playground and with cars. He ate all of his lunch and wait for it…… he took a nap! I about fainted when I got to his classroom and he was sound asleep on the floor. I let him take Mickey Mouse to school for rest time so he would have something to entertain himself while he had to lay down never imagining he would actually sleep.

Photo by: Rachel Nichols

I got to spend last weekend with 12 of my newest friends. And it was a blast! The girls from our small group left ALL 26 of our kids with their daddies & grandparents and spend the entire weekend talking, eating, talking, shopping & talking. We even squeezed in a baby shower while we were there. It was a really fun weekend and I hope they don’t wait 2 years to do it again

And a double bonus – I get to mark my first item off the 30 by 30 list!

1. Run a 10K
2. Run a 15K
3. Run a 1/2 Marathon
4. Take a West Coast road trip
5. Own a mini-van
6. Become a foster parent
7. Makeover kitchen
8. Clogging Performance
9. Read through the Bible chronologically
10. Get up to date with scrapbooking
11. Do Project Life (2013)
12. Be a guest blogger
13. Wear earrings at least 5 times
14. Host Dixon Family Christmas
15. Lose my “muffin top”
16. Plant a garden
17. Take family to NYC
18. Go to New Orleans
19. Take boys to the county fair
20. Read 10 books for fun
21. Shoot a gun
22. Read 1,000 Gifts and record my own
23. Buy at least 1 Pinterest inspired outfit
24. Learn how to use camera in manual mode
25. Make a loaf of bread
26. Do a Sprint Triathlon
27. See 4 movies at the theater
28. Go on a “girls weekend”  (3/30/12 – 4/1/12)
29. Read 4 books to learn
30. Go 1 week without eating fast food or at a restaurant

Hollywood Studios is my favorite park for “big kids” because it has some of the best rides but it also had a lot of things that Will really enjoyed.

Mom, Dad & I rode the Rock N Roller Coaster – it’s one of my favorite roller coasters ever. And I must mention that Disney’s “single rider line” has to be the greatest thing ever invented.

We got to the park when it opened and went straight to the Toy Story ride (we only had to wait about 10 minutes and when we got off the estimated wait was 45!)

Will thought he was one cool dude in his Toy Story glasses.

Of course, one of Will’s favorite parts was the “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids” playground and it was pretty fun!

Both boys enjoyed sitting on the giant ant and Will had everyone climbing a “spider web” made of ropes over and over again. Bill and Will did it at least 10 times and Bill admitted that it was pretty fun.

Early in the week my Dad sat beside a 13 year old girl on a roller coaster and she told him to to make this face when they took the picture, of course, he continued posing like a 13 year old girl for the rest of the week.

We (Mom, Dad & I) also rode the Tower of Terror – again, a lot of fun! {Plus, I was pretty impressed with this picture that I took!}

Both boys also enjoyed the Disney Junior: Live On Stage show that included: Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Little Einsteins, Handy Manny & Jake and the Neverland Pirates. Will just sat, stared and bit his fingers the whole show so I wasn’t sure if he like it but he talks about it all. the. time. now. So, I think it was a hit!

We had such a great time at Disney World! Will keeps talking about what we’re going to do when we go back and has already started saving some spending money. We stayed at the Pop Century resort and it had a great food court, nice pools {that many people were swimming in} and efficient, clean rooms.

Walt Disney World: 2012

Magic Kingdom     Dinner with Pooh     Animal Kingdom     Donald’s Safari Breakfast     Epcot     Chef Mickey’s     Hollywood Studios

Our last full day at Disney, we ate a late breakfast at Chef Mickey’s. We ate here a couple of years ago too and I think it’s my favorite food for a character meal. Yum!

Mickey and Mickey

Thomas’ favorite character was Pluto, he wasn’t afraid of a dog

But he was most interested in the food!

Will’s hugging Goofy and Thomas is screaming. Classic.

So, Goofy snuck {is that a word?} up behind him for a picture.

Thomas and our very own, Mickey Mouse!

Walt Disney World: 2012

Magic Kingdom     Dinner with Pooh     Animal Kingdom     Donald’s Safari Breakfast     Epcot     Chef Mickey’s     Hollywood Studios

We spent 1/2 a day in Epcot. Will was enamored with the “big ball” and wanted to ride the “roller coaster” inside of it. So, of course, we did. We didn’t spend anytime going around the World Showcase this trip – maybe when the boys get a little older they’ll enjoy it.

We waited a LONG time to see the characters but it was worth it to see how excited Will was.

He gave everybody the biggest hugs!

Will bought a telescope and hook to be like Capt. Hook.

Will and Daddy in front of Peter Pan & the crocodile.

Will’s favorite, Capt. Hook

Will spotted a few more things to do including: Test Track {Papa’s favorite ride!} and Finding Nemo. We had a fun morning at Epcot and after lunch headed to HollyWood Studios.

Walt Disney World: 2012

Magic Kingdom     Dinner with Pooh     Animal Kingdom     Donald’s Safari Breakfast     Epcot     Chef Mickey’s     Hollywood Studios

Sunday morning we woke up bright and early and went to Donald’s Safari Breakfast at the Tusker House, inside Animal Kingdom. It had good food, fun characters and we were able to get into the park before it opened.

Big smiles from Will, of course!

Mickey and Thomas – Thomas was way more interested in the Mickey Mouse waffle

Happy boy.

Everyone enjoyed breakfast – topped off with a chocolate glazed doughnut with sprinkles!

Towards the end of breakfast they played a song and had all the kids come up and dance. Goofy was the character in our room and boy could he dance!

Will and Honey shaking their groove thangs

Walt Disney World: 2012

Magic Kingdom     Dinner with Pooh     Animal Kingdom     Donald’s Safari Breakfast     Epcot     Chef Mickey’s     Hollywood Studios

We spent our first full day, Sunday, at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. We started the day with Donald’s Safari Breakfast, and were ready to go when the park opened. The first things we did was ride Kilimanjaro Safaris and Expedition Everest. Neither had long lines {less than 5 minutes} which was really great.

Honey kept trying to get Will to sit in her lap so he could see the animals on both sides of the truck.

But Will was really more interested in sitting on the edge all by himself. Part of the ride the driver says that “we’re getting in trouble” for going to a part of the “reserve” not on the tour. Will thought that was the greatest thing – to get in trouble!

Thomas was on the lookout for some wild animals.

After our safari and riding Expedition Everest twice, we headed to the DinoLand area on Animal Kingdom. I don’t know if it was because it had rained that morning or it isn’t the most popular area but it was basically empty!

Will rode the TriceraTop Spin about 10 times.

There was no wait, he loved it and rode it with each of us several times. We also rode Bill’s favorite ride in Animal Kingdom a couple of times, The Primeval Whirl.

I thought these two were just two handsome, walking back from a ride on the TriceraTop Spin.

Will also enjoyed an iconic Mickey Mouse ears ice cream bar. He was disappointed that it was just a chocolate shell and not all chocolate!

After snack, it was time to play in The Boneyard. The Boneyard is a play area with a ton of slides, area to run, bridges and tunnels. Thomas thoroughly enjoyed crawling all over.

I think that grin tells how much Will enjoyed playing.

Our family in front of the Tree of Life. I saw a documentary on how they designed and built the tree and it was so fascinating – those Imagineers are incredibly smart and creative people.

After playing we headed over to see The Festival of the Lion King {it might be my favorite show in all of Disney World} and meet some characters at Camp Mickey and Minnie. I could NOT believe that Thomas left Chip hold him! This day the boys shirts had Chip & Dale on them and it was funny that the characters pointed themselves out.

Silly Thomas.

Will was excited to see Thumper and his “girlfriend” {anybody know her name?}

Looking back I can’t believe that we did all this before lunch! We had a delicious lunch at Flame Tree Barbeque of chicken and ribs. I think it was my favorite “quick service” meal of the week. After lunch we took the train out to Rafiki’s Planet Watch and spent a few minutes at the Affection Section aka petting zoo. To end our day I “made” everyone stop and watch the parade.

It was a great day at the Animal Kingdom!

Walt Disney World: 2012

Magic Kingdom     Dinner with Pooh     Animal Kingdom     Donald’s Safari Breakfast     Epcot     Chef Mickey’s     Hollywood Studios