M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E

Right now I have about a million pictures on my camera and it's stressing me out that I haven't posted at all about any of them. So today is the day. Get ready for a long post of pics.

One weekend in February, we headed up to Orlando with some friends.

We spent some time at one of the malls up there. We didn't purchase one thing but Owen spent time checking out the water fountains:

And we spent time checking out this kid from Hogwarts (Stupid joke? Maybe... but seriously, why is this guy walking around in a cape and carrying an owl?)

The rest of the weekend was spent at the parks. We have only been to one Disney Park since we moved here two years ago so we figured that this year would be the year of Disney.

The first day we decided to check out Hollywood Studios:

Owen was in heaven with the Pixar Characters.

And then off to meet Kim and Bubba for some amazing pizza:

We also spent some time at Epcot, which we loved. We had a few people tell us it wasn't great for toddlers but Owen disagreed. He was all about it.

Free soda? We'll drink to that!

Mmmmmm... crepes. It may not look like I am enjoying them in this pic but I promise you, I was. Yumm.

Owen checking out the map to figure out where we were heading next.

  Oh man... I love this face. Love it. And yes, that is spit on her dress. I could blame it on her teething but this is pretty much how she's been since she came out of the womb. Darling and super slobbery.

One of the highlights for Owen... talking to Crush.

  We decided to wait in line to see at the "Character Spot" so that Owen could meet all the Disney characters and once we got there he wanted NOTHING to do with Mickey or Minnie. Who doesn't love Mickey Mouse? Loved all the others though. Especially Pluto and Donald.

This little lady was just happy to be there.

Look at this face. End of the day and he was feeling pure joy.

And so were we. Definitely a successful trips to the parks. Next time we're hitting up Animal Kingdom and Magic Kingdom. Who wants to join us?

Resourcefulness

Last night while I was making dinner I called to Owen to see if he wanted to help me. He came in, saw that I was cutting up some bread and told me he wanted to help but that he'd be right back. Obviously he knows he can't help cut the bread, we've had that discussion before. "Only mommies can use knives because they are super sharp".  BUT... this kid is resorceful. He figured out a way to make sure I couldn't say no to him cutting the bread.
I really love this kid.

I really love this one too. Love her.

Some other stuff happened in January

I mentioned in my last post that we met our newest nephew while we were in Utah but failed to mention that we were able to attend his blessing while we were in town. It was such a beautiful blessing given by Todd and as always, Carrie was the hostess with the mostest.

When we got back from Utah, we were excited to have made it back to warm weather and decided to spend some time out on the water. We called up some friends and spent a day on the taxiboat (thanks Jeff and Cait for the free tickets!):

 Can I just point out that when Owen gives a thumbs up, he uses his pointer finger instead of his thumb? I love this and hope he doesn't realize for a really long time that he's doing it wrong. 

 We saw some amazing houses

Hung at the beach: this is how we do snow angels in Florida... 

 Found a sonic (YAY for pebble ice! YUMMM)

 the boys were fans of sonic as well. Free toys? yes! 

 and Collette was just happy to be along for the ride. As always (have I mentioned this about her? Always happy.)

And then spent more time on the boat. 

Such a great way to check out Ft. Lauderdale. I'd totally recommend it for a Saturday activity.

Ft. Laudy daudy has had a super warm January (even though it didn't look like it in the last pics) so the next weekend we decided to head to the beach up in Delray with our friends Kim and Bubba.

We were super excited because the day we went up there, they were having an art festival on the main street. Sadly, by the time we got done at the beach, the art fest was over.

 Don't you worry, we still saw some pretty cool stuff. Like clocks made out of silverware (I'm just noticing as I post this pic that it clearly says "no photos please"... oops.)

 Also an adult who clearly had time to change out of her pajamas but didn't get around to changing out of her slippers. I don't get it. 

The kiddos were super good sports about just walking around the town. 

Side note: No need to buy a double stroller when Owen can just crawl onto the front of the thing and hold on tight right? 

Another reason the art fest wasn't a bust was because we ended up eating some amazing burgers at Burgerfi. YUMMM... 

I'll be honest, January isn't my most favorite month but this past one didn't shape up to be too shabby. 

You know what's great?

You know what's great? Having really creative friends that do fun stuff for your kids so that you don't always have to. Our group of friends here do a craft day once a month. We travel to each others homes and the person in charge figures out a craft for the kids to do, reads a book or two and provides a yummy something to eat. We've been doing this since October and it's been a huge success. The kids love it because fun is provided for them and mom's love it because fun is provided for the children while the mom's get to sit and chat it up.

This month my super creative friend Crystal was in charge. She text us all the night before to let us know that we better dress our kids for a mess. Crystal is such a great mom because she is all about letting her kids get messy as long as they are having a good time. I love mom's like that. They're the best (I have one of those mom's too).

We arrived and Owen was in heaven just at the site of all of the crafty things Crystal was providing.

 Some Guk to play with,

Some of whatever this fun flour mess is.

 Some painting... both with a brush

 and with hands.

Toward the end of the activity, the kids just starting mixing everything together to make their own little concoctions.

Collette wasn't shy about crashing the party.

 Crystal also provided a snack for the kiddos (ok, I admit I had one too. Who passes up oreos and gummy worms? Not this lady)

 Owen wasn't too sure about eating a worm in dirt but once he had a little taste, he was quickly converted.

So was Ella. Yummm.

 
The last activity of the day was story time.

Don't worry people, even when the messy part is over, the fun isn't. Once the kids were finished getting down and dirty, they all jumped in the hose to get cleaned up.

Craft day for January... success.
Thanks a lot Crystal for putting the pressure on the rest of us to provide more fun than running through the hose in your underwear. Is there really any way to top that?