The Crew

This is our little crew in line at Small World.  Ugh, look at how dirty and bedragled those women look!  Disney'll do that to you.

Ellie Glued to her Auntie

Obviously, one person can't do Disney alone with two small children.  I'd never even think about attempting.  Anyway, we worked it by having Anna basically in charge of Ellie all day long and me in charge of Charlie.  Poor Anna!...talk about hard work.  Ellie was on her BEST behavior all day long, amazingly, but still, she's a lot of work...and really heavy, too!  Noni got her workout for the day in, for sure.  Ellie loved riding every ride with Noni; they were the cutest together on Pirates (Ellie was FRIGHTENED and rode the entire way with her head buried in Anna's armpit)!

Auntie Noni's Here!!!!

I feel so loved by my family; they all conspired to surprise me with a wonderful visit from Auntie Noni.  For about two and a half weeks, Joe, my mom and Anna were all working together to plan Anna's unannounced arrival to Orlando.  On Monday, Joe had told me that he was going to go get his oil changed on his way home from his day at the stadium.  When I heard his truck pull up, I ran to the door with Charlie expecting to greet Joe...instead, Anna just walked in and stood there.  I just froze and immediately started to cry.  What a wonderful surprise and gift! 

Annie even got to go upstairs and wake Ellie from her nap.  What a happy little toddler we had on our hands.

We wasted no time and headed to Disney first thing the next morning (yesterday), and we had a ball.  Ellie was pretty scared before and on every ride this time, but she was so proud of herself for having done each one after we were done.  

Horsey Daddy!

Ellie loves riding her Daddy like a horsey.  This time, though, we stuck Charlie up there with her for some pictures, and it was awesome to see how much more fun they had doing it together.  She loved being in charge of "holding him on," and he just adored being held by her (his idol).  Wish we'd recorded the giggles coming out of the two of them.

These two kiddos have been such a challenge for me this week (teething, nasty fits, no naps, poop in bed (Ellie!), etc), but moments like this one make it all more than worth it.

Beefcake!

Hello, Muscles!!!

Sassy Pants Charlie

Because Ellie is such a ham and always creating perfect photo opportunities with her constant dress-up games, etc, poor Charlie-Roo oftentimes gets overlooked by Photographer Mommy.  Look at this guy now, though.  He's turning into a ham, too!  Gotta keep up with that sassy sister of his if he's going get the attention he deserves.

Thank You, Auntie Noni!

A package arrived in the mail this week from Auntie Noni.  Ellie got some sweet Valentine's Day gifts from the dollar section at Target... woo hoo!!  I cannot begin to tell you how happy these gifts made/make her.  She is absolutely OBSESSED with her Strawberry Shortcake magnets.  She spends hours at a time lining them up perfectly on the stove, then moving them to the fridge to line them up there, and then back to the stove, etc, etc.  The stickers got us all the way through mass on Saturday!, and she LOVES admiring herself in her ballerina shoes.  Aaaaah, life is good!