Thanksgiving Daily

My brother passed on this Mormon Message to me this week and it reminded me of my very favorite scripture, Alma 34:38:   

That ye contend no more against the Holy Ghost, but that ye receive it, and take upon you the name of Christ; that ye humble yourselves even to the dust, and worship God, in whatsoever place ye may be in, in spirit and in truth; and that ye live in thanksgiving daily, for the many mercies and blessings which he doth bestow upon you.

I'm not perfect at this, but I try. I'm incredibly grateful for my many blessings, including my wonderful family and the gospel of Jesus Christ. 

A Few Months Ago...

We celebrated our darling girl's big 5th birthday. That was August. It's mid-November. Remember when I had time to do things like update our blog? I kind of can't. Fall is crazy anyway. This year, add on nesting for baby girl #3, a hubby in full-swing-trial-mode, doing work for Makenna's preschool, taking an impromptu trip down to Disney World, and one busy church calling, and we've been a tad bit busier than usual...to say the least.

But better late than never, right?

Makenna and her bestie, Neve, are less than 2 weeks apart. Her mama and I thought we would throw the best-ever ballerina birthday bash for the both of them and started planning it a year ago. We wanted to do the works, complete with fun crafts, cupcake decorating, a ballet lesson, a ballerina read-aloud, and darling outfits for each girl. I have to say, everything went off without a hitch and these two girls relished in all the attention together. No surprise there.

Setting the scene: pink and gray galore. Tissue paper pom poms hanging from the ceiling throughout the room. Tiered cupcake stand. Happy Birthday banner. Goodie bags for the girls. Pink and gray ensembles for each girl to wear during the party.

The backdrop for each girl's ballerina picture, which was printed and put into a personalized frame for them to keep.

Neve's mom, Brynn, and I are in YW together and we got one of our dancing Beehives to teach the girls a few ballet basics, which they were all quick to eat up! We made make-shift ballet barres for the girls to keep their balance on. 

 

Sisters. 

Lined up to practice their grande jetes. They each loved leaping across the floor and strutting their stuff!

A few didn't quite make it all the way across...

Ballet exercises. Oh, to be that flexible. I was tempted to get down there with them and show them what I was made of, pregnant belly and all... (NOT). 

Guess which party-goer took to ballet like a complete natural? (Hint: she was the only 2-year-old on the guest list.) I was 100% impressed.

Frame decorating with fancy jewels and accessories. We took a pretty ballerina picture of each girl doing one of the ballet positions, had them printed and put into these personalized frames. 

Makenna's favorite show is Cupcake Wars on the Food Network. Her dream party wouldn't be complete with a cupcake decorating challenge. She took it all too seriously, as evidenced by this picture.

Opening presents together. She loved all her ballerina gifts!

Hello Kitty Caboodle's kit with fancy lip gloss. 

Classic Neve and Makenna. I love this picture. They had such a fun 5th birthday together and we loved throwing it for them. Now the pressure's on for next year. Chuck E. Cheese's anyone?

According to Makenna:

Me (getting ready to read a book before bedtime): "Makenna, do you want to read this one (Howay for Wodney Wat) or this one (Stellaluna)?
Makenna: "Let's read Helluva-lunia."

Getting ready to drive on the bumpy part of their favorite road:
Makenna: "Hang onto your nickles!" (knickers)

There are a couple of sayings we repeat fairly regularly around our house.
Mable, Mable, get your elbow off the table.
and
I see London. I see France. I see Makenna's underpants.

She has a hard time keeping them straight, and the other day said to Drew (who was getting dressed in the morning):
Mable, Mable. I see Daddy's underpants.

Just this morning she said, "Well, Heavenly Father was looking down on me and saw that I was being such a good big sister to Addison that He said, 'I better give her another sister to take care of,' and that's because I'm all done with Addison. She's all big now."

Tonight, which is their first night on the bunk beds together (after 10 min. in the dark in their room), she comes down the stairs and says, "I think there's something wrong with Addison because she kept calling for mommy, so I told her she could call me mommy, and now I have to go up, down, up, down, up, down.  I really think she just needs a blessing, Daddy. I just need a single night's rest for church tomorrow. I don't know what to do because she keeps talking and talking and saying words. I really need one single sleep and I don't know what to do. Ugh."

This girl cracks us up. I find myself looking at her in amazement and thinking, "How on earth did we create someone so fascinating and original in every way?" And to think we've been blessed with (soon-to-be) two more little souls has me believing, without a doubt, that we are beyond blessed. Truly.

                                                                                                                                                                      

Disney World!!!

 

 WE WENT TO DISNEY WORLD!!! We drove the 13 hours there, leaving Thurs. night and stopping 1/2 way in North Carolina for the night, then finishing up our drive the next day. We spent 2 glorious, fun-filled, action-packed days there, basking in everything Disney, then left to drive home the 13 hours at 9pm on Sunday night. We stopped just into Georgia for the night, then drove the rest of the way all day Monday. This entire weekend was a small miracle considering Drew is in THE MIDDLE of a fairly big trial. Lucky for us, the judge decided to take a week off, freeing up a few days for a much-needed getaway for our family. It helped that the trip was nearly free because of an uber-generous interning cousin of mine who HOOKED us up. 

Makenna was singing a different song while meeting all the characters this time than she was when she was 2.

 Addison loved Minnie Mouse. She was all too comfortable kissing on her. But Mickie? No love there.

Makenna watched Mary Poppins a few weeks ago for the first time at a friend's house and has been singing "A Spoonful of Sugar" repeatedly. I loved how "in character" she was, offering to  snap a "photograph with the darling girls."

 Main Street, Disney. We were a little bummed they had a monstrous crane attached to the top spire of the castle.

 Makenna's already feeling the heat of the day. I was fooled into thinking the weather in Florida would be comparable to the weather in Virginia. Our humidity doesn't hold a candle to theirs, baby. 90 blistering degrees, plus humidity did a number on our little family, but we stuck it out, all in the name of Disney. Look how happy Addison is: every border-line boring ride had her attention and utter enthusiasm. Makenna was a good sport, but really just waited for the roller coasters. She's a thrill seeker, she is.

Princesses Take 1: Look at the complete and utter joy on my big girl's face. You'd think the heavens had opened up wide and dropped a boat load of jelly beans  right on her. Addison was taking it all in stride, being a completely good sport, but cautiously so.

Rapunzel was a rock star of a princess, engaging both the girls in conversation, giving hugs freely, and wrapping her hair around both of them (um, ew?).

Again, utter joy. If only she could muster that precious smile for every photo-op...

Jungle Cruise...oh yeah. Way cooler than I remember. Snakes coming at us, going under waterfalls, and wild hilarity from our tour guide.

Addison got stuck with me more than a few times while Drew and Makenna mastered all the big-kid rides (and non-pregnant rides). This picture was taken on our 19th time on Aladdin's flying carpet. Or maybe it was the 18th, since I'm still smiling.



Tomorrowland Speedway. Addison's a maniac at the wheel. After her driving it was apparent why they suggested prego mamas stay off the track. Look at that smug face behind the wheel, like she owns it.



And this is my fabulous cousin, Melanie, who's interning at Disney World this semester and scored us an entirely free weekend down there (minus a ridiculously cheap hotel and the PB&J sandwiches we ate our whole trip). Amazing, right? Free tickets for the entire family, free parking, tons of extra Fast Passes, etc. etc. She came with Mickie ears and T-shirts for the girls, even a pink diamond princess tiara for Makenna. She loved it so much she asked me to do her hair in a bun today so she could wear it to Walmart this afternoon. Needless to say, we absolutely would not have been able to come without my sweet cousin.
(This is us in front of her ride, Peter Pan, before she walked us to the front of the line with her fancy cast member pass.)

Princesses Take 2:
We didn't realize we'd be meeting the princesses or Mickey and Minnie the first day, first thing. The girls had brought their dresses and wanted to take pictures with their dress-up inspirations, appropriately attired.

Saddest part? Cinderella was MIA the second day, and which dress did Makenna choose to wear? Tragedy. Ironically, when we were in line to meet Minnie and Mickey for the second time, the cast member there told us Minnie was "baking a cheesecake" (a.k.a. MIA) and wouldn't be there to meet us. At the very last second before we reached the photo room, she walked in to save the day.

We also realized we totally passed by Tomorrowland the first day. So our second day, it was on our To-Do list, and boy, did we do it. Drew convinced Makenna to go on Space Mountain with him while Addison and I did the Speedway. Below, we took a ride on the People Mover, which I have to admit, I was impressed by.

Astro Orbiter. Totally high up there. I may or may not have been a teensy bit scared.


Teacups=mild vomit-op for yours truly. Always has been. I went on it...twice, to be a good sport, all the while Drew's winning "coolest dad award" with the girls because of his mad spinning skilz. So not fair.

How much do I love this sweet girl? She cracks us up and did a surprisingly phenomenal job walking without a stroller for 2 days. 10-12 hours/day...twice...in 90 degree heat. I got suckered into doing the Tea Cups with her because Addison was insistent on going with Drew. Makenna wanted to go 70 MPH in our cup. Being the good mother that I am, I appeased her by twisting as hard as I could, with both eyes glued to a central spot on the steering wheel without looking up the entire time. Good thing I snapped this before we started moving. I only "almost" fell over at the end of it.

Hollywood Studios (Day 2): Melanie suggested to us that we should hit up Hollywood since we'd spent the last day and a half at Magic Kingdom. We spent quite an afternoon there after literally walking in and up to the information stand, grabbing a map, then being approached by 2 young workers who asked nonchalantly if we'd like to be the VIP Family for the day. By agreeing to do so, we got THE.BEST seats (front and center, not sidelines) for the Pixar Parade, front and center VIP seats to Beauty and the Beast show, and VIP seating for the big Fantasmic light/water show that night. All we needed to do was go up to the workers, give them our name, and we were rushed to our seats. We did, indeed, feel like Very Important People.

Beauty and the Beast show. The girls (and Drew and I) were mesmerized by how amazing the show was. All the best songs, all the best lines, incredible choreography, the WORKS.

The only sad part of the show was that Belle unexpectedly Biffed it on her way up the stairs before the finale. It was undoubtedly so embarrassing for her, especially when the ENTIRE crowd inhaled their breath at the same exact moment, then exhaled, "Awwwwwww" and "OH NO!". 

Oh yeah. This is us getting our Hollywood on...right before it started down pouring. Truly. We ran into one of the souvenir shops to wait out the storm, all the while the girls BEGGING us for every.single.toy.they.had.to.offer. Torture. We were praying for the rain to stop, and not because we were excited to head to our next show. 

I should mention here that my sweet 5-year-old daughter lost her tooth our second day there. I was freaking out. She was assuring me it was fine since her best friend's 8-year-old brother has lost his teeth. I tried to tell her the difference between 5 and 8. She wasn't getting it. Looking back, I sort of feel bad for missing the boat on excitement. I know this was a momentous occasion in her little life (in mine too; my first-born lost her first tooth). But all I could think was, "How did this happen?" Don't worry. We made up for it in the days following, lovingly calling her Toothless (How to Train Your Dragon, anyone?) and telling her how pretty she was with one less tooth.

Trust me, and not this picture, that Addison actually did have a blast at Disney World. We all did. We feel extremely fortunate to have been here twice in the past 3 years, both times for extremely cheap. We figure our good luck has probably run out with scoring free or next-to-free tickets and the next time we go will probably be a ways from now. But for now, we have tons of pictures and videos to show the girls frequently and remind them what truly awesome parents they have.

Apple Picking

Every year we go apple picking as a family; it's one of the things I love best about Fall in Virginia. This year Drew has been working like a madman (especially as of late with his trial going on), so I thought our best chance of going was me, alone with the girls. There's a man in our ward who owns an orchard up on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, and every year he lets the ward members come on Labor Day and pick apples for free.

So I "Mann-ed up" and drove the 1 1/2 hours over there to go apple picking alone with the girls. Thankfully our friends joined us, which made the outing fun (but not quite up for repeating next year...more to follow). Besides being able to drive through absolutely beautiful countryside, we also drove through Amish Country, which was pretty awesome (picture 2, no make that 3, girls with their mouths wide open, staring for 1/2 hour straight at the bearded farmers plowing their fields in their black overalls, with their wives hanging laundry on the line in their yards, and little horse-drawn buggies trying to keep pace beside us on the road). Addison has never seen so many "hoseys" in her short life and thoroughly amused.

And the apple picking...great photo-op, not-so-great apple-picking-op. 

 See that apple? That was a beautiful, long-looked for prize. This orchard was au-natural, no pesticides, no fertilizer, no nothin'.  Organic to the max, baby. Fortunately for apple sauce making, blemished apples are more-than-ok. We were in luck.

 One preggo mama with her two good sports. They even steered clear of the poison ivy patches that were running rampant throughout the orchard.

 Makenna catching a ride back to the house with Mark and friend Mason.

I think next year we'll probably just spring for paying the money to pick apples at our normal orchard, where they're still organic, but much bigger and much less blemished. Call us apple snobs if you will. However, we did get 5 quarts of delicious homemade apple sauce out of our pickings, which the girls are devouring.