The last of Florida

 Here are a few more pics from our trip to Florida. 

 Ellie kept asking to take a boat ride at our hotel. I might have been a little nervous about the sign by the water that said: "Danger! Do not feed the alligators." But Clay said he could wrestle a croc with the best of 'em, so we went for it.

 He just keeps getting cuter. 

 Cousin besties. They love their matching Cinderella jammers. {Thanks, Jen!} 

 We enjoyed some shopping at the premium outlets. 

Needless to say, we loved our little family vacation. A few days after we got home, Ellie said,

"Mom, you know where I wanna move when we live in a new house?"
I said, "Where?"
"Somewhere really special. Florida."

We can always hope!

Florida, Part II: The part where we go to Disney World

I'll be honest. I usually don't get too excited about theme parks. I would rather go to the beach. But when everything fell into place to take Ellie to Disney World for a day with her BFF cousin Kate, we couldn't pass it up. And I'm so glad we didn't. Let's just say all of Ellie's dreams came true.

This was my first time to Disney World and basically Disney anything aside from a hurried hour at Disneyland when I was on an acting tour 10 years ago, so I admit it was pretty fun for me too. When we walked into the park, every worker we passed greeted us as princesses and said, "Have a magical day." They really try to live up to their motto as the happiest place on earth. 

Because my sister is awesome, she treated the girls to Cinderella's Royal Table -- a breakfast inside the castle where all of the princesses visit each table. It was a great way to kick off the day. 

Our first ride: "It's a Small World." Had that song in my head all day. Ellie loved it and kept bringing my attention to everything she saw. 

Her favorite ride, by far, was Dumbo. 

The highlight of the day was watching Ellie meet her favorite character, Tinkerbell, and her sister, Periwinkle. Just to give you an idea of her love for all things fairy, her favorite movie is "Secret of the Wings," when she blew out her candles on her birthday she wished to be a real fairy, and all she wanted for Christmas was a fairy. 

As we were waiting in line to see Periwinkle Ellie asked, "Can I fly to her?" So she flapped her little arms all the way to her, and Periwinkle loved it. 

Aladdin's magic carpet ride 

Meeting Rapunzel was another huge highlight of the day. Ever since we told Ellie we were taking her to Disney World, she kept asking if "Tangled" was going to be there. I wasn't sure, so I kept saying "maybe" but we were so happy when we found out she was there. The girl who played her character was so genuine. Really liked her. 

 Love. 

Mickey was so cute. He was so playful and into his character. He was another one Ellie did not want to leave without seeing. Her souvenir of choice was a little Mickey stuffed animal. 

By 7:30, Ellie was all tuckered out and fell asleep in the stroller. As many of you know, I am usually super anti-waking-up-children-at-any-cost, but we hadn't seen the interactive story time with Belle in the new Fantasyland, so after a short nap, I took her into Belle's cottage and she woke up as she heard the characters talking. It was really cool. The wardrobe and Lumiere looked and talked just like the animated versions. When it was time to meet Belle, Ellie was still a little groggy, as you can see. Ha ha. 

 Kate, this picture is for you!
Ariel was the last princess we saw, and we were the last ones to see her that day. 

Ellie was obsessed with her fin. 

                     We hurried out of the park as the firework show was going. It was such a fun day. 

A little jaunt to Florida.

We were lucky enough to join Clay on a business trip to Orlando last week.

After we got the kiddos packed up and loaded in the car, we had a slow drive to the airport in the freezing rain, which was causing all kinds of accidents.

We made it to our plane just in time, but as we were walking on, the flight attendant said not to board because they had just closed to airport because of ice. After about four hours of chillin', we got on our plane and after they de-iced it, we were finally off.

When we got to our hotel, Ellie asked if we could stay there for 20 days. I wish. Eight days of sunshine was bliss.

 Our favorite baggage 

 NBD, just driving ON Daytona Beach. 

Beach writing by Ellie ("Mom," if you couldn't tell.) 

There was a splash pad at our hotel. I want to live there.

Because my sweet mama joined us on our trip, Clay and I were able to sneak out a few times. Here we are before going to dinner at our favorite restaurant, Bonefish Grill. (We happened upon it last year.)

My mom and my yummy boy

Next up . . . Disney World!  

Ellie's thoughts about her baby brother

I found this video of Ellie answering questions about her baby brother about a month before he was born. So cute.

My main squeeze

A few words to describe the little man in my life, who I have a major crush on. 

Happy. It is so easy to get this kid to smile and laugh. He has such an easygoing temperament, 

and I hope that sticks around.

Chunky. It makes me so happy to have a baby with fat rolls on his thighs. Don't even get me started on his squish-able bum. Poor kid gets squeezed and smothered with kisses about 90 times a day. 

Active. He rolls everywhere and gets up on his hands and feet, something Ellie didn't do for a long, long time (The girl crawled at 13 months). He tries to jump out of our arms and kicks like crazy. 

Hungry. It took months for me to help him nurse every three hours instead of every hour and a half or less. He recently started freaking out whenever he saw one of us eat, and he literally would grab food from my hands and quickly shove it in his mouth. We are slowly introducing some basic foods (since he is allergy prone) and his favorite so far is a chard and banana smoothie. 

Ellie is pretty obsessed with her "little chunky monk" as she calls him, and she is having more fun with him now that he is getting more interactive every day. She helps me a lot by getting things for him and keeping him happy while I try and get something done. My favorite is when they have laughing attacks together. Is there a better sound than hearing your own kiddos laugh? 

2013

Happy New Year! 

I love the fresh-start feeling of January.

I love making goals. 

This year, I am especially excited about limiting refined sugar, doing Cross Fit at least three times a week and  taking some time every day to read and study by myself. 

I am also determined to have an unusually happy winter. My last one was rough — but having pregnancy insomnia had a lot to do with that.

I hope your holidays were dreamy and that your 2013 has started off well.
Here are a few of my favorite moments from 2012:

Went to New York City for the first time with my sisters and mom
Took Ellie on a trip to Park City before her brother was born
Ran 3 5Ks as a family of four (I was pregnant for all of them and Ellie was in the stroller)
Clay ran his second half marathon
Gave birth to my sweet baby boy after expecting a long labor but having a short,
unexpected home birth instead
A special blessing day for Camden — I'll never forget the happiness and peace I felt that day
Went to Hawaii with my family and wanted to stay there forever
Had a memorable Christmas with family