Hunter enjoyed his first New Years Eve  He was sound asleep when the ball dropped though.

Hailey had so much fun!  She had really been looking forward to seeing Aunt Ellie and Uncle Matt.

Hailey playing “Don’t Wake Daddy” with Aunt Ellie and Uncle Matt.

My dad… I can’t remember the name of the game and we didn’t actually play it, but we had fun calling out answers rather than playing by the real rules.

We all made it until midnight (except Hunter).  Hailey fell asleep about 2 minutes after the ball dropped.  It was a fun party… I just wished I had felt better.

Looks like Santa was at our house

Hailey was pretty happy to see the presents under the tree!

(I was happy because Hunter did two 3 hour stretches of sleep the night before!  His Christmas present to me.)

Hailey passed out all the presents.  She enjoyed making her pile of presents.

Hunter was not sure what to think of his presents.

Hailey opening some of her presents:

Lalaloopsy doll

Strawberry Shortcake Bitty Market

UDraw for the Wii

Barbie Townhouse

Then it was time to go visit the grandparents.

Hunter all ready in his Christmas outfit.
He was too tired from all the excitement from the morning fun to keep his eyes open.

Hailey all ready in her Christmas outfit.

Hailey really loves her little brother.

First we went to Rich’s parents’ house.  I didn’t take any pictures but Hunter got to meet all of his aunts and uncles on Rich’s side that he hadn’t met yet.

Then we went to my parents’ house for a yummy dinner and more presents.

Hailey was pretty excited about getting a Happy Napper

She also loved her new Polly Pockets toy

Hunter, Hailey and Brooke

Hailey and Pa played hide and seek- Hailey hid in the wrapping paper.

Pa’s turn to hide

Story time

We had a wonderful Christmas!!

Hailey had been waiting to make cookies for Santa, so that was one thing I had to make sure we got done:

Mixing up the dough

Rolling it out

Putting frosting on the cookies

Then it was time to head to Aunt Winnie’s house for Christmas Eve.  I was still not allowed to drive because of my c-section and Rich was too sick to go, so my dad had to come over and drive us.

Hailey was so excited to get the Lite Sprites Tree of Lite

We had a nice time at Aunt Winnie’s house.  I didn’t take many pictures though.

When we got home it was time for Christmas Eve presents- new pajamas and a new book.

Hailey and Aveena (her American doll) with their new matching pajamas.

Hunter in his new pajamas

Hailey picked out her 3 favorite cookies for Santa and left some egg nog for him

Hailey was so excited about Santa coming.  Every time she talked about him, her eyes would just light up with excitement.  It was so magical to see how excited she was.

My little man cub

Hanging out with Pa

I love this one

Grandma must have said something pretty shocking…

And here’s a few of my pictures:

So cute!  Not that I’m biased or anything.

An early Christmas present under our tree

Tired out from helping Santa.

Hunter also had his first doctors appointment on December 22nd… so I just have to remember a few stats.  When he was born he weighed 9 pounds and was 20.5 inches long.  When we left the hospital on December 19th he was down to 8 pounds, 3 ounces.  At his appointment on Dec 22nd he weighed 8 pounds, 8 ounces and was 21.25 inches.  I’m not sure if he really grew 3/4 of an inch in 6 days or if someones measurements weren’t quite right.

Proud big sister Hailey holding her new brother Hunter.

Hailey brought some presents for Hunter- she’s showing him the Lion King stuffed animal she got for him.

Hunter’s other big sister Brooke stopped by to visit him.

Hunter had some other visitors too.  These were his gift to Hailey and she thought they might like to see what he looked like.

One of the really neat things about Hunter’s birthday is that on the very same day- 12 hours and 20 minutes later, his cousin Britany was born down the hall!

Hailey and Hunter  We are very blessed!!

Hailey and Hunter with Pa.

Hailey made several pictures for Hunter and hung them on his crib.

Hunter all ready to go home!

]]> http://livinwithme.com/2011/12/hes-here/feed/ 0 http://livinwithme.com/2011/11/thanksgiving-2011/ http://livinwithme.com/2011/11/thanksgiving-2011/#comments Tue, 29 Nov 2011 01:16:38 +0000 Melanie http://livinwithme.com/?p=5110 Hailey’s class had a cute little Thanksgiving Fruit Feast:

My Little Miss

Her class said the cutest little Turkey Poem!

“Gobble Gobble”

Hailey enjoying her feast.

On Thanksgiving Day we enjoyed a very yummy dinner at my parents’ house.

The table wasn’t quite ready yet- but I took a picture to show the cute place cards that Hailey made.  I never did take a picture of everyone at the table.

Hailey posing for a picture.

Happy Little Miss

After dinner Hailey and Pa enjoyed a nice book.

The wishbone- Pa won!  He wished that the baby would arrive a little earlier than December 16th… let’s hope he didn’t jinx the wish by telling what he wished for!

Yummy breakfast!  Hailey loved sitting at the little table that they had set up for the kids.  She sat there all by herself, looking way too grown up.

A little hula hooping in the lobby on the way to the pool.

Time for some swimming:

We had a blast at the pools!

Goodbye Pop Century… we made reservations before we left and we are staying at a different resort next year.  As much as we have liked Pop in the past we didn’t think it was as good this year.  The food court used to have amazing food but the selection and quality had both declined.  Plus we paid very close attention and the lines for the buses for Pop were always the longest at the end of the night.  Other resorts may share buses but their lines move much quicker.  Plus the other guests at Pop made us want to stay somewhere else.  So we’re trying a new resort next year.

Hailey on the Magical Express on our way back to the airport.

Playing at the airport while waiting for our flight.

We had a great trip to Disney World, as always, and can’t wait to go back!!

We were at Hollywood Studios for the rope drop.  As soon as the rope dropped Rich took off to get us fast passes for Toy Story Mania while Hailey and I got in line for the ride.

We love this ride!

I love the theming!

Hailey and Lightning McQueen

Hailey and Mater

Hailey meeting Ferb

And now meeting Phineas

Posing with Phineas and Ferb

A nice healthy breakfast- a cookie as big as her face.

Hailey and Rich had a last ride on Tower of Terror.  Then we went to see the newly refurbished and just reopened Little Mermaid show.

Hailey got to welcome everyone to the Little Mermaid show!

Ariel and Eric

We went on Toy Story Mania one last time

Me on Toy Store Mania

Then we headed over to Magic Kingdom

I love the castle!

This was the only day we experienced big crowds.  The crowds were pretty low at Hollywood Studios, but it was super busy at Magic Kingdom… it doesn’t look too bad here but it was really crowded.  It was the day before Labor Day, so I’m sure that was part of the reason.

Hailey found a Hidden Mickey- she became quite the little expert in finding them!

We rode on Snow White and then headed over to Splash Mountain

Hailey on her favorite ride (Splash Mountain).

After a ride on the Haunted Mansion it was time for our early dinner reservation.  We had originally had a dinner reservation at ‘Ohana but decided to change it.  We were worried we weren’t going to have enough time at Magic Kingdom on our last day, so we switched to the Liberty Tree Tavern.  I was really disappointed we didn’t go to ‘Ohana as that is my all time favorite.  But, I wanted to make sure Hailey had enough time to do all of her favorite rides again, so we wanted to be able to stay in the park.

Hailey coloring while waiting for our table.

Liberty Tree Tavern ended up being Rich’s favorite meal of our whole trip.  I liked it too, not my favorite, but still good.  I was glad we made the decision we did.  But next year I’m not missing out on ‘Ohana!

After dinner we went to the Laugh Floor… always a good show and different every time.

Hailey on the People Mover.

After the People Mover we went on Stitch’s Great Escape.

Stopping for a minute to make a little music.

Then it was time to go on Splash Mountain again… and again…

Riding on Buzz Lightyear

One last time to capture Zurg!

Then we rode Peter Pan and got off the ride just in time to see the fireworks.

So pretty!

Then it was time for Extra Magic Hours and the crowds did go down a bit, but it was still quite busy.

Waiting in line to ride Pooh

A yummy sundae for a late night snack and then we went to see Mickey’s Philharmagic again.

I love the castle all lit up!

In line for our last ride of the trip- The Haunted Mansion

Goodbye Main St.

]]> http://livinwithme.com/2011/11/disney-vacation-2011-day-9/feed/ 0 http://livinwithme.com/2011/11/disney-vacation-2011-day-8/ http://livinwithme.com/2011/11/disney-vacation-2011-day-8/#comments Fri, 18 Nov 2011 17:54:15 +0000 Melanie http://livinwithme.com/?p=5125 We were able to sleep in today!  We had a breakfast reservation but not until 10am, so it was nice to have a slow morning.

Hailey posing with her various toys she had gotten during the week.  Each morning she set them up in the window so that they could watch for us to return at night.

We took a nice boat ride over to the Grand Floridian for our breakfast reservation.

Hailey checking out the Grand Floridian

Such a beautiful resort!

Us at 1900 Park Fare for breakfast- this is my favorite picture of us!  We are all smiling and I don’t look like a huge pregnant whale- and if I do then just keep that to yourself so you don’t ruin it for me.

Mary Poppins was the first to visit Hailey.  Right before Mary Poppins came over, Hailey wasn’t happy about something (I don’t remember what) and I love how when the characters see that a child isn’t happy about something they do their best to fix that right away.  And it worked!  Hailey was happy after a little chat with Mary Poppins.

Next up was Tigger and he was so funny!  He had us laughing pretty hard.

A big hug for Hailey

Checking out Hailey’s breakfast

A yummy Mickey waffle

Hailey talking to Alice in Wonderland

Belle and Hailey… we love Belle but she was there because the Mad Hatter couldn’t make it.  I was disappointed that he wasn’t there because he was my favorite character last year and one of the reasons I wanted to go to 1900 Park Fare for breakfast.  He made me laugh so hard last year.  So we love Belle but we were a little disappointed not to see the Mad Hatter.

Hailey and Pooh

After our late breakfast we headed over to Epcot.

This was going to be our last visit to Epcot for this trip so we wanted to redo some of our favorite things.

Hailey loved the Great Piggy Bank Adventure, so we made sure to do that first.

She was so happy at the end that we saved up enough money in the game.

Another one of Hailey’s favorites- The Universe of Energy

Hailey and Rich went on Test Track

See the Hidden Mickey they found on the tool bench?

Time to see some characters- Minnie and Pluto with Hailey.

Minnie and Hailey

Hailey did this really neat game where she got to be a part of a video game- here she is setting up the video game.

That’s Hailey on the screen as part of the game.  It was soooo neat!

Hailey on Spaceship Earth

Hailey and me in the future

Rich and Hailey working on powering a city.

We tried doing a Kim Possible Mission for the first time.  Hailey was so excited!!

Hailey with her Kim Possible phone

Watching the fountains

We had dinner at the Electric Umbrella- this was my delicious burger.

Last time on Test Track

Goodbye Epcot

We spent the evening relaxing at the pool.

Big jump!  So much braver than she was at the beginning of summer.

So we got up bright and early on day 7 to head to the castle for an early breakfast reservation.  We were all pretty tired at this point in our trip.

Main St was mostly empty when we arrived at Magic Kingdom.

I love being in the park when it’s empty!

Us in front of the castle with a mostly empty park behind us  Love my little princess.

Another one of us in front of the castle.

Walt and Mickey

Hailey getting Cinderella’s autograph inside the castle.

Posing for a picture on our way upstairs to the dining room.

The dining room where we had breakfast.

Hailey had her eyes closed and was making a wish… she wished for a puppy.

Hailey and Aurora

Hailey and Snow White

Hailey and Belle

Hailey and Ariel

It’s really neat to get to eat inside the castle… we had dinner in there 2 years ago and it was a lot of fun.  We wanted to try breakfast since I’ve heard the food is better at breakfast.  The food was amazing!  I had stuffed french toast and it was so delicious!  It’s expensive to eat in the castle and if you’re on the meal plan you have to use up 2 meals to eat in there.  But the experience of eating inside the castle is well worth it to me, and seeing the look Hailey’s face is priceless!!

After breakfast Hailey had to stop and try to pull the sword from the stone again before we headed off to some rides.  She wasn’t able to pull it out.

Getting ready to ride on Dumbo

A little peek at The Beast’s castle that is being built.

In front of the Beast’s castle is a new ride they are working on- I think this is going to be the new Snow White and Seven Dwarfs ride, although I’m not positive.

New Fantasyland is being worked on behind that wall.  I can’t wait to see what it’s like when we go back!

Next up we rode Peter Pan, then headed over to Splash Mountain.  When we were at Magic Kingdom earlier in the week Splash Mountain was closed and Hailey really wanted to try riding it again (it scared her last year).  So we got there early before the line got long so Hailey could see if she liked it.

Waiting to get on

Rich and Hailey in the 3rd row back.  Hailey’s face doesn’t look very happy but when she got off she said she loved it!  So they rode again

Meeting Jessie

A little dance with Woody.  Hailey asked Woody if he had a snake in his boot.

Then Rich and Hailey rode Splash Mountain again!

Rich and Hailey in the front- Hailey with both hands in the air!!

Very happy on Splash Mountain

She loved Splash Mountain!

Next we went to the Enchanted Tiki Room- it had been newly refurbished so we had to check it out.  We aren’t really big fans of it though.  It was just okay, not something we wanted to go on again.

Just had to post this picture of what we had on the back of Hailey’s stroller.  Since everyone with young kids has a stroller in Disney World it can get hard to find your stroller in the stroller parking (especially since the Cast Members are always rearranging and organizing the strollers, so it’s never where you actually leave it).  Having this little sign made it so much easier to find Hailey’s stroller!  I think this trip did her stroller her in though hahaha…  it definitely has a lot of miles on it from 4 trips to Disney World!

Next up we met some fairies:

Hailey meeting Terrence

The scepter, which Hailey was very excited to see.

Hailey and Tinkerbell

After a quick snack it was time for more rides!

Waiting to go on Magic Carpets of Aladdin.

In line at the Jungle Cruise… Hailey had gotten tired of walking (we had parked her stroller), but Rich didn’t want to carry Hailey.  He told her that she was too old to be carried but if she could find another kid that looked to be about her age being carried that he would carry her.  Well it only took about a minute and she saw a boy who was the same size as her being carried by his dad.  She was quite pleased that she won and Rich had to carry her.

Country Bear Jamboree… always a good place for me to take a quick nap… hahaha

Rich and Me

Hailey taking a nap.  I love that she was able to nap in her stroller when she needed to.  That was one of my favorite things about having a stroller with us… we actually debated bringing one this year since she was almost 5.  But I needed somewhere to keep all our stuff (drinks, autograph books, medications, etc) and I love that Hailey could nap in it when she needed to so we didn’t have to go all the way back to our hotel for naps.  Plus when you average 10 miles of walking each day it’s nice not to have to make a child do that much walking.

After Hailey’s nap we rode Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin.

Can you see the Hidden Mickey we found?  It’s on the planet Earth if you need some help.

Rich and Hailey on Tomorrowland Speedway

We were getting hungry at this point so we went to Pinocchio Village Haus for dinner… we sat where we could watch the “It’s a Small World” ride and enjoyed our dinner.

We went to Mickey’s Philharmagic after dinner and found lots of little Hidden Mickey’s on this wall.

Then we headed back over to Splash Mountain so Hailey could ride it again… and again… and again!  She rode it 6 times all together in one day

View from Splash Mountain

Next we went on the Haunted Mansion

Love the new queue they have there!

Little Miss

One more ride on Peter Pan

Good night Main St

We went back to our hotel and went to bed “early” at around 10:30 pm.

Hailey’s favorites: Ride- Splash Mountain

Character- Sleeping Beauty