Where have we been?!

Why "The Most Magical Place on Earth", of course! :-)


We made the trek to the Magic Kingdom with Elleanor and Ainsley this past weekend and had a BLAST! We left Emerson and Abigail at home with Grandma Ann and really enjoyed our one-on-one time with Elleanor and Ainsley. We ran around Disneyland and California Adventure from sun up to sun down and the kids crashed each night when their heads hit the pillow! We took a TON of pictures which will take me forever to download, but here are a few to tide you over...

Elleanor and Joe on her favorite ride..."Splash Mountain"

Ainsley's favorite ride...The Carousel

In awe of Elleanor's favorite princess...Sleeping Beauty! Notice the huge grin on her face!

Other things have been going on around here, too...

Can you spot the surprise I found in my garbage can last week?

Gross, right?!

Yep, my oldest child decided to cut her hair for the first time because she wanted to play beauty parlor! And I had just told my neighbor a few weeks back that MY kids would NEVER do anything like that...They know better! Karma came back to bite me...sigh. You can imagine the lectures that have occurred at my house. Luckily it was just on the side of her hair and not the top...it just looks like she has layers on one side now.

As for Emerson and Abigail, they have just been busy being cute! Emerson is at such as great stage! I love communicating with her. Abigail is growing like a weed and loves to interact and watch her older sisters.

Oprah

"The High School Quarterback Who Became A Lesbian"

Yep...that was the topic of the show we attended...Sigh. It was a whole hour about transgender people.

But as my mom reminded me, we were there for the experience, not the show topic.

True, true, but it was a bit disheartening to know that the next taping she was doing that afternoon had Celine Dion as her guest.

All in all, though, I am very glad I went. I have always wanted to see her in person and that I did. She literally walked right past us. Oprah is actually quite thinner in person. She looked beautiful.

It was pretty surreal to sit there watching and looking all around at the set. It is much smaller than it looks on TV. Her yellow chairs are smaller, as well as the main stage. When Dr. Oz or Paula Deen has a display table on her stage, it must take up almost all of the room.

There really isn't a bad seat in the house. There were about 300 guests but it seemed much smaller. People started lining up before 6:00 am to get their first choice of seats. Although we had reserved tickets, it was first come/first serve for where you got to sit. My mom and her friend Karen had absolutely NO desire to be on camera, so we didn't go early. Our seats were about the furthest away from Oprah as you could get, but they were still not that bad. Needless to say, there is probably no way we will be see on television.

The show airs this Thursday. Watch with your own discretion. Don't say I didn't warn you! :-)

Thanks to my mom, Karen and Emily for scrambling their schedules to go with me. It really was an experience I will never forget.

Now, my next goal is to see Ellen or stand outside the Today Show. Any takers?

I'm leavin' on a jet plane...

to see the Oprah Winfrey Show...

in Chicago...

next Tuesday...

I'm so excited!

And So I've Begun...

Rachael's Wedding in May

+

Short, Black Bridesmaids Dress

+

Four Kids in Five Years

+

Wanting to FINALLY fit into all my old clothes =

FUN!

Wordless Wednesday

Happy 5th Birthday, Elleanor!

Five years ago today, our first daughter was born...and rocked our world! She took us by surprise, arriving almost a month early.

Joe and I had NO IDEA how unprepared we were to be first time parents, but we also had no idea how much we could love her. She has brought us so much happiness and laughter. These pictures are throughout the last five years and it is amazing to us how fast time has flown..

Tonight we had a "family party" at home with just the six of us. Elleanor was able to choose what she wanted for dinner.

Yes, that is a hot dog, frozen blueberries and a yogurt. Yum!

All in all, she had a great day doing crafts with her sisters and spending some down time at home. Here are a few more pics of her special day...

It's My Party and I'll Jump If I Want To...

Elleanor's 5th Birthday is on Monday and we had a party for her yesterday. All of her friends in the neighboorhood came and it was a blast!

We went to Pump It Up in Tacoma, which has six different bouncy houses to jump around and play in. It was so organized, clean and FUN! The best part for me...no set up or clean up! :-) I would definitely do it again!

Joe put together a really cool video with all the photos from Elleanor's party and we tried to upload onto here, but I think it might be too big. If anyone has experience with this, let me know...otherwise, these photos will have to do!

Thanks everyone for coming!

Whee!