Ready for a new Adventure

She's done preschool!!  Audrey was Martha Washington at her school's end of the year program; and she did such a great job.  We're so proud of her and how she's grown this year...on to kindergarten...but first a nice loooong relaxing summer.

A Supercalifragilistic break from Reality

We just got back from Disney World!  It was the first time for the kids.  It was their first plane ride too; so it was a week of nonstop overwhelming adventure.  Here are just a few of our favorite memories; it's the cute and funny little things that will stay in my mind:

We got off of the plane and got on Disney's Magical Express bus to our resort...Zach was so excited.  Then it was all we could do to keep it together when Audrey stopped in the middle of Main Street staring at Cinderella's Castle for the first time.

Everyone loved Tom Sawyer Island; they could've played there all day; exploring, pretending that bad guys were robbing the Big Thunder Railroad--they thought it was cool that you could see it from the fort.

Sliding down a leaf

The "Honey I Shrunk the Kids" playground at Hollywood Studios was really cool.  Zach kept asking us, "Am I really tiny?"

Zach finally got to see the Swiss Family Robinson Tree House!  When we asked him what he'd like to see at Disney World, this was his top choice--he's been watching the movie a lot recently and was so cute pointing out everything that he recognized

Johnathan scarfing down a humongo cinnamon bun at the Main Street Bakery.  We stayed up late each night watching fireworks, hanging at Downtown Disney, and late night swimming;  so we slept in as late as we all could each morning.  This was so nice!  Breakfast was always a little later than we are used to, and everyone was always very hungry--good thing because Disney portions are big.

Audrey loved "It's a Small World";  she calls it "A world of Laughter"   It was so cute to watch our shy little girl come out of her shell a little this week and try things.  Sometimes she'd have lots of questions in line, "Is it fast?  is it dark? Is is going to be loud?"  and we'd tell her what it was going to be like and she tried most things--even the Haunted Mansion and the loud racecars! So proud of her.

Mom and Dad Friedrich came down for 3 of the days we were there.  It was really nice to share this time with them.  Poor Zachy got pooped walking all around; he slept through a few long lines and shows.  He was quite the little trooper though.  We didn't take a stroller down; so he walked a lot. 

We loved Epcot!  There's so much cool stuff to see and do--could have spent another day there.  The kids had fun making masks and getting stamps from all of the different countries and the Fireworks there were amazing.  Johnathan loved Mission Space--Scott will tell you not to do this on an empty stomach--took him a while to recover  :)--and Test Track--Johnathan's growing up way too fast!  It was cool to be able to go on the big rides with him.  The food at Epcot is also really good.  We had the quick service dining plan; which worked out really great. There is a place in the Land at Epcot called Sunshine Seasons--my fav.

Waiting for Indiana Jones to start.  Wish I would have gotten a picture of Jonhathan's face when Indy dropped down from the ceiling; it was so cute.

There were a bunch of rides that Zach couldn't get on because of height restrictions; so he was very excited to be able to get on Goofy's Barnstormer

Waiting for the parades to start.  We loved the parades!  The parades were a nice time to sit and talk, get a snack--because we had a bizillion snack credits and look at maps to see where we wanted to go next.  Its a nice way to see a lot of characters at one time--expecially for kids like Audrey who don't want to get too close.  Zach loved giving the charachters that were walking hi-5s.  He was so cute! He wore this pin that the resort gave him practically the whole trip--apparently when they see the "first time to Disney World" pin the characters and staff try to give you attention--so he was always getting hugs and tickles from the characters--his favorite was Stitch.

One of the kids' favorite memories was while we were waiting for the SpectroMagic parade to start one night.  There was a girl putting tape lines down to mark the parade route and they were watching her; she looked up and gave each of them a roll of tape and sat down in the middle of the road in Frontier Land with them and helped them make all sorts of maskng tape creations--snakes, robots, trees--other kids came over and joined in and they were all helping each other make this big scene while people were walking around them wondering what they were doing.  It was funny to watch, and the kids had a great time.

and the best memories of all--the whole family piling onto rides together, laughing together, talking about our favorites, feeling dizzy and ready for the next one

Life is busy around here; so it was so nice to take a break and just enjoy being together. We were so sad to have to come home.  Disney is an amazing place; the resort, the transportation, the take home mugs(funny what kids think is cool; they'd bring these to breakfast and refill them often) Disney got it all right; it was a perfect first visit.

All Fired Up

 

I had a fun day with some friends and my little buddy today at a local paint-your-own-pottery place called All Fired Up.  They have a storytime and then the kids get to paint something.  Today they heard "the Runaway Bunny" and then got to paint a bunny.  Zach chose green and blue for his little guy and now they'll fire it and we get to pick it up on Monday; he's excited that he'll have a decoration for his room that he made all by himself.  I'm loving having some time this year to hang out with Zach; we have so much fun together and I love that a lot of businesses are starting cool programs like this for little kids and moms.  If you are local New Jersian, this is so much fun, and this place does a wonderful thing that I want to try once Zach is 5--it's called PJs, Pizza & Painting--you can drop kids that are 5 and over off to have fun in their pjs--watching movies, eating pizza and painting pottery, and mom and dad can go have dinner at a nearby restaurant.  Highly recommend this place!

Boredom Buster--Print out Lego Building Instructions

Love this feature on the Lego Website. You can print out building instructions to most of their sets; so if you have a big old box of mixed up legos like ours; you can print out the instructions for something you want to build and try to make it with the pieces you have. Johnathan loves following the steps; so whenever he's bored we go look at these and pick out something he can build--keeps him busy for a while.

The Eye of the Tiger--Best Version I've Ever Heard

Whoa, Where did our front porch go?

We are snowed in!

So we're coming up with some fun things to do today and maybe for the next couple of days.

We are getting very excited about the Winter Olympic Games Starting on Friday; so we thought we'd watch Cool Runnings

Anyone remember the 1988 Olympics in Calgary? I do.  Everyone thought it was funny to see guys from a tropical island racing in a bobsled and then came their crash and they all got out and walked with their sled to the finish line--one of those famous Olympic Inspirational moments.  The characters in the movie are fictional but the actual footage from that crash is used in the movie.  So we'll curl up under blankets with some popcorn and get ready for Friday.

Along the Olympic theme, I saw this cute idea on Crayola's website; so maybe later we'll try this Snow Sports Craft

Here are some other fun snowy or Olympic themed movies that are good for families:

Miracle
The Cutting Edge
The First Olympics
The Mighty Ducks
Balto
Snow Dogs
Iron Will
Snow Buddies
Ice Age
White Fang
The Call of the Wild
Eight Below
Snowball Express
March of the Penguins


More Olympic themed Crafts that look fun:

Olympic Torch
Olympic Rings from paper plates, might be fun to ties strings to each side and hang it up
Olympic Medal Chart, keep track of which country has the most medals

And here is the website for this year's Olympic Games if you want to check it out:  Vancouver 2010

Valentines

We'll be busy next week working on our Valentines for school parties the week after.  It's cute to see the kids get excited to make things for their friends and teachers. 

 

Johnathan gave these out last year to his kindergarten class.  We got them from the Stubby Pencil Studio; $7.95 for 12 cards and envelopes.  They were great; he got to color each one and trace the dotted words at the bottom.  It is an amazing little shop and their colored pencils and crayons are so nice.

He and Audrey are giving these cute Valentines from the Land of Nod to their friends this year; they are $5.95 for 32--two in each pack are teacher cards. 

Johnathan picked Robots and Audrey like the animals.

Zach picked out these little color-your-own valentines one day when we were out running errands; he's not in school yet; so his are mostly for family, but he does have a few neighborhood friends he'd like to make one for as well.  We picked these up at the Christmas Tree Shops; I forget the price, but they come with crayons and candy. Cute for little guys.

love this card idea from the Long Thread

Etsy Love--Ninaivorm's Ceramics

Love the fun ceramics from Ninainvorm!

The kids got their Christmas wish

2 Feet of snow, a day off from school, sledding, snow forts and battles, and a fine looking snowman...who needs presents. 
Life is good!

Send Letters to Santa & Make Wishes Come True

We mailed our letters to Santa the other day at Macy's.  They have big red mailboxes just for Santa Mail.  There's still time to get  them written and off to the North Pole if you haven't done so.  They get to Santa right away and Macy's donates $1 for each letter to the Make-a-Wish Foundation; so write one of your own along with the kids--it's fun to write down crazy wishes; who knows, maybe they'll come true.  ;)  What would you wish for?   







*I wish that my kids will have a fun Christmas, that I won't get stressed over the small stuff and that we'll all be truly thankful for the best gift--Jesus Christ coming to earth on that very first Christmas.*

Have a Merry Christmas with your friends and families!

Here are some interesting articles about Santa, his origins, and kids:

Santa Claus
The Origin of Santa
The Claus that Refreshes