Hmmm...starting off the trip standing in the windowsills. Maybe not a good sign!

 They stayed in the Disney hotel called The Art of Animation Resort. It featured characters all over the hotel from different movies, including The Little Mermaid, Lion King, Cars, and Finding Nemo. 

They were in a Little Mermaid room.

Perfect for them!

 My mom tried to emphasize how huge everything was compared to them. 

I can't imagine what it was like from their perspective!

 These pictures were taken on Monday afternoon when they arrived at the hotel. 

They ate at a Rainforest Cafe that night.

 This merry-go-round picture starts the ones from Tuesday at Magic Kingdom.

They stayed at Magic Kingdom both Tuesday and Wednesday.

There is so much to do even at this one park...no reason to try and park-hop with preschoolers!

 Papa rode, too!

 They spent some time playing games with Belle outside of the Beast's castle.

 And then rode in a clam shell on a Little Mermaid ride.

I've been told that Kate was nervous about the rides during the dark parts. No surprise there.

But they said she got over it quickly and enjoyed it as a whole.

 Popsicle break!

 Visiting Winnie the Pooh's house

 They came back both days in the afternoon to change into bathing suits and explore the resort's pools. Tuesday they spent time at the splash park.

 Fun!

Our beautiful princesses! 

Wednesday morning they had to rise really early and get ready for the breakfast with the princesses at Cinderella's castle.

 Waiting patiently for the princesses to arrive...my mom said they ate really well at this breakfast.

 Oooo...the anticipation!

 Aurora (Sleeping Beauty)

I don't think I ever knew in my life until the last few years that her name was Aurora. 

But now I just can't not know.

 To me, this picture is stunning. She looks like a perfect Snow White!

The girls said that every princess came to their table and were very sweet to them.

 Ariel

 Jasmine

 After the breakfast, they went straight to the merry-go-round again! 

They rode with the evil stepmother and stepsisters.

I've heard from everyone on the trip that this was a major highlight.

The stepmother was very talkative, and V and K were talking right back to her, asking questions and engaging her in conversation about Cinderella.

They said to me, "in the movie she is really mean but at Disney World she is really nice."

 My mom said that when the ride was over, the stepmother grabbed V and K by the hand and led them away. 

My mom and dad were trying to keep up! 

They took them to another area for a photo shoot.

 This isn't the greatest picture, but it shows a little of Kate's hesitation at first on a ride.

She and Papa were buddies, and Gramme and Vivian stuck together.

 Waiting in line for Dumbo.

Then they went to see some more characters. 

Notice that Vivian is still in her princess dress. 

Hmmm. 

No surprise there either :)

 So cute!

I'm glad that they didn't have any problems meeting the characters. 

You can see in the pictures up top that Kate was not there when Vivian was doing the games with Belle (she was standing close by, just watching). That was the first day...but when she had time to process things and figure out how it worked, she had no issues with approaching the characters.

 Buying a souvenir :)

Thankfully no one in my family is big on souvenirs so they only got this one thing, and an outfit for Hank! It was a perfect choice, too, because they can use them in their dress-ups.

Vivian was wearing this when she got off the plane on Thursday when I came to meet them and I got a little teary-eyed hehe

 Silly Papa!

 They took a train to another side of the park (I think so that they could find the fairies).

 Aladdin's magic carpet ride

 Rosetta!

She's my favorite fairy :)

If you have a little girl, I do recommend the Tinker Bell movies. They are so sweet and no evil characters.

 Is Vivian wearing her pajamas at Magic Kingdom!?

Ha!

Long story :)

Ready to go home! 

I think it was a tiring trip for my parents, but Disney is tiring for everyone, they said. 

There is so much to do and two preschoolers make it extra exhausting. 

But overall they had so much fun and were glad to take them. 

I enjoyed looking at these pictures last night with Vivian! She narrated it all for me!

Aren't you missing Christmastime?

Wouldn't you love to get a little Christmas spirit now, in April?

Here are some pictures and videos that Aaron took on his phone from the kids' Christmas program at their preschool. 

Better late than never.

Kate is in the middle, red shirt and black pants.

Gotta love the 3-year-old screamer lovin' all the laughs :)

This is short, not much of anything exciting...just will help us to remember that sweet morning with those sweet faces! Vivian is on the far left.

 Vivian was a sugar plum fairy.

 Actually, I love the way he smells all the time.

The after-nap smell.

Formula breath.

Baby lotion.

Maybe not while he's getting a diaper change, though :)

 We talked about it a lot leading up to the trip, and I made a countdown on the board in the kitchen.

Every morning when they came downstairs for breakfast, they saw the number and started squealing and jumping up and down.

We watched Finding Nemo together last week and discussed which princess dress they would wear for their breakfast at Cinderella's castle.

And I made a little goodie bag with Disney stuff in it for them to see on the morning that they left.

 Excited!

 Kristin helped me make these cute notes for their bags.

 She was so ready to go!

 Our neighbor Mrs. Duncan came over that morning to help with the chaos of getting everyone out the door, and she stayed with a napping baby while I took the travelers to the airport.

 I tried to be fun with Minnie Mouse and Princess breakfast plates, with Mickey pancakes :)

 At the airport...no time for long goodbyes!

They are having so much fun...my mom is texting me pictures every now and then. 

Hopefully I will have lots to share about their experience when they get back!

Meanwhile, Hank and I are doing lots of patty cake and this little piggy.

He is helping me with Spring cleaning.

And he is busy at work on his top front teeth :)

Hello dearest blog readers: family and friends! 

We are at last going to make the blog a private one. 

The girls are getting older and we want to keep them safe! 

We are sure that you understand.

What this means for you:

In about 2 weeks I will make the change. This will give everyone a chance to read this post so that you know it's coming.

At that time, when you come to the blog, you'll go through a process that will allow you permission to see the website. You'll have your email address and a password from then on to use whenever you want to view it.

However, once you log in the first time, or log into Google on your computer, you will automatically be able to get to the blog without having to enter your password every time. Basically, it will be stored for you. 

There has always been a problem with the html code on this blog, so going private won't affect your blogrolls or subscriptions because you've never been able to add it anyway.

One thing to note: I really hope that this will not hinder readers of the blog that don't necessarily know us. Please don't be embarrassed to ask permission. I completely understand the friend-of-a-friend, or friend of the family blog reader because I do the same thing with many other blogs! I also trust the discretion of family and friends that decide to share their own passwords with friends who are not willing to ask permission from us themselves. I certainly love sharing pictures of our kids with you all because it is a fun evidence of the gifts of the Lord. I am always encouraged by friends' blogs, and I have the same hope for this one, too. 

I know it might be a little inconvenient, but we really do want to be wise about our use of the Internet with these precious children that have been entrusted to us. 

Thanks!

 Mom stopped by and jumped right in on the brick-laying work.

 Kate tried to find matching sizes for the bricks in each row. 

Can't do that without eating chocolate chip cookies, right?

 Hmmm...look at those guns.

 "Take my picture, Mommy!"

 Vivian was friends with Angel for the morning. 

 Vivian was also very helpful. :)

Date night with Daddy a few weeks ago.

Harbor Inn Seafood.

Crab legs.

Love.

I know this video is low on action and long, but some family might enjoy watching the little dad in his efforts to get somewhere. 

I put several things on the floor that I thought might motivate him to crawl. 

Interesting choice, when you hold it up to a fresh bottle of milk and a pacifier. 

If you can make it this far, around 2:08 I zoomed in and it's a cute close-up of our baby boy. 

 Hank's first time in a swing like this.

He liked it but I could see him getting nervous a few times when he was going too high. It's amazing to think of what it would be like to experience things like this for the first time. That's how almost every day is for him. What an awesome thing to witness, too! :)

My sweet, sweaty, red-faced 4-year-old butterfly. We're going to play hard this summer!

Last week the girls and I hosted a Fresh Beat Band Dance party in our living room. 

We really like the show on Nick Jr...it's cute, goofy, and all about music! Possibly an embarrassing confession: I could watch an entire episode with them and be entertained :)

We didn't do anything fancy, just put up some balloons and got some inflatable microphones and guitars, and I made a "Groovy Smoothie" for a snack break.

We also printed off some Kiki, Marina, Twist, and Shout coloring pages for a coloring break. 

After about 4 or 5 songs, we had to take a break because I was so out of breath. It was definitely an eye-opener for me about needing to get in shape :)

Several weeks ago I downloaded the songs from the show on iTunes, so we played only Fresh Beat songs and the girls went wild. It was so fun to see them excited.

To be honest, we did have a few moments of drama about sharing the guitars. And a few moments of someone getting stepped on and crying. Or someone being shy or embarrassed and sitting out to watch. Such is the season of young girls.

But overall we all had a great time!

About halfway through this video, you can hear Vivian scream, "This is my favorite part!!" And I smile every time I see the end where Kate is playing her guitar.

 Yes, this blog has turned into baby Hank's blog.

I know I've been posting lots of pictures of him lately, but I couldn't pass up this opportunity (8 months old today) to take some more.

This is fresh out of the bathtub, folks. New pjs and everything.

Notable things happening for him these days:

Crawling. He can pull himself to just about anywhere he wants to be. I think he will be on the go in a few days or at least a couple weeks. Baby gates are going back up!

Laughing. He thinks it's hilarious when the girls jump up and down. He laughs every time Aaron tickles him.

Eating finger foods. Going slowly with this one, but he and I are both ready to be out of the baby mush food stage. He is getting the hang of picking up small pieces of food (loves puffs and yogurt bites) and getting them to the mouth.

Sleeping. He is sleeping all night, but waking a little too early...working on it! Starting to drop the 3rd nap.

Wheezing. He has another cold this week. :(

Anticipating familiar events and places. The routine is paying off because I can see the wheels turning in his little head...he knows when we're getting ready to do particular things.

Patty cake. Claps his hands when I start to sing the song!