Mardi Gras!

Ever since we left New Orleans, we have always planned on going back to visit during Mardi Gras. But with Maisy being so little, we felt 8 hours in the car might be too long. So instead, we took a 3 hour road trip to Shreveport.

 Jeff's manager graciously opened his home to the Dallas district team members for a crawfish boil.

Check out Maisy and Afton's faces- they were so scared of the crawfish in Jeff's hand.

If you ask Afton, one of the best parts of the trip was the hammock. Ha! Both girls loved being rocked.

 

After we ate lunch and polished off a king cake, we headed down to the parade route. We situated ourselves near the end of the route and played until it reached us. There were 7 kiddos in our group, so lots of action!

 Afton is a huge fan of Mardi Gras. What girl wouldn't like to go to a parade where they throw out free jewelry?!

Maisy had a lot of fun too. She watched all the commotion, ate crackers and danced.

Both girls were happy the entire night. They left with a ton of loot. So Afton took beads to school for all her teachers and classmates. Of course the rest she is keeping for dress-up :)

Let the good times roll!

Warm Weather

The weather this past week has been beautiful. After all of our snow and ice, we've been craving some warmth. The girls and I have been outside everyday. After school on Friday, we decided to picnic in the backyard and break into the sandbox.

 Afton loved getting her toes in the sand- pretending she was at the beach.

Maisy saying "No". Of course "No" is her favorite word at the moment :) 

Then she saw these and repeated "Eyes, eyes, eyes" over and over.

 I love this little stinker!

And my dear Afton was content to dig and dig, working away in her "Sand Bakery".

 Afton was even nice enough to make Maisy her own sandbox!

See Penny in the background? She is licking her lips because she just polished off Maisy's entire lunch. (Peanut butter jelly sandwich, puffs, and strawberries.) 

We are excited for spring in Texas! Lots of fun days ahead.

Disney Trip on YouTube and all the fun Details :)

** I made a 12 minute long movie- tons of photos and video clips of our Disney Trip. You can see the movie by clicking here : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dlSMNbA5Tk
Read below for the details of the trip and some cute pics!

We took our princess to Disney World. The trip was a marathon endurance event- rides, dresses, shows, and of course lots of pictures. Since our Maisy is still so young, we opted to leave her with Grammy. So Afton got a special 'big girl' trip all by herself. We were lucky enough to bring a few 'princess loving' friends along too- aka "The Parker Family".

This was our first time doing Disney as adults. There was so much to plan, learn and do! But with a general itinerary and a good map of the park, we set out to do it all.

Day 1- We arrived in Orlando after a long delay and plane change. Our day was cut short, but we made the best of it. We headed to "Hollywood Studios" and saw "Beauty and the Beast", "The Little Mermaid" and rode a few rides.

The girls loved the "Toy Story" interactive ride and Afton even braved "Tower of Terror". (She screamed all the way through, but now tells everyone that it was her favorite thing at Disney!)  We also got to buy some cute ponchos :)

Day 2- Princess Breakfast in Norway. This was awesome! The food was good, the girls were elated, and the princesses were so sweet. We ended up spending the whole day at "Epcot". There was so much to see and do. We loved "Soaring", "Test Track" and "Mission Space". We saw lots of characters and collected autographs. The "Nemo" attractions were delightful too. We even took in "Captain EO"- long live the 80's! That night we had a few drinks and took in the fireworks. This was Jeff's favorite day.

Day 3- The weather cleared and we headed over to the main event- "Magic Kingdom". Right when we entered the park a jitney picked us up and took us to the castle. We felt like movie starts, rolling into town on our own special ride :) The girls danced on the palace steps and then we watched "Dreams Come True". The music and actors at Disney are spectacular. It was so fun to sing along and see the girls' favorite movies come to life. We spent most of the day taking in the popular rides- "Dumbo", "Small World", "Peter Pan" etc. This was Afton's favorite day.

Then we decided to spend some time in "Animal Kingdom"- thanks to our Park Hopper! In my opinion, this is not the best park- but there was a great roller coaster, the safari tour, and a great dino attraction. Afton was tall enough to ride every ride at Disney. She was so brave! (And of course it helped that we rewarded her bravery!)

That night was our fancy dinner with the characters of Cinderella at the Grand Floridian. I was so impressed with this meal as well. Lots of quality time with the characters, good food, and plenty of dessert!

Day 4- We headed back to the "Magic Kingdom" for our appointment at Bippidy Boppidy Boutique. The girls were pampered with nails, hair and make-up. It was rainy that day, but of course, a little rain couldn't ruin our parade. We got our money's worth when it came to those ponchos!

We took in the rest of what the Kingdom had to offer and even saw a parade. We felt fortunate to see "ToonTown" as they are preparing to tear it down and add some new attractions.

Since we came in the off-season, there really weren't any waits for the rides. The longest wait we experienced was to see "Tinkerbell"! That night we went over to "Downtown Disney",  had dinner and shopped.

Day 5- Travel home to see our Maisy Lou!

Our trip was truly magical. Afton was the perfect age. And being alone with her gave me a chance to appreciate what a sweet, kind, big girl she is growing to be. I loved every minute with her. She was appreciative, enthusiastic, and so cooperative! I was surprised that we never had a melt down or any cases of ' the gimmies' (probably because we have sooo much Disney stuff already!). Jeff and I had a lot of fun playing in the park and marveling at our "almost 5 year old".

Jennifer and I realized that we could probably become cast members at Disney- if there is ever an opening for a Belle or Cinderella- give us a call! We sang our hearts out and were probably just as (or more) excited as the girls for this trip. You couldn't miss our Texas-size excitement for Disney!

What a trip!

We Got our Snow Day!

Afton got her wish, she woke up this morning to snow.  (And ice, and wind, and freezing temperatures!) But beggars can't be choosers and we were delighted to have a chance to bundle-up and play outside.

Did I mention it felt like 3 degrees outside?

 Of course Afton did not mind!

 

The icy snow didn't pack well, but apparently it did taste good :)

Maisy has had enough- she's headed back to the house!

Penny enjoyed running around in it. Can you imagine how cold her paws must have been?

 And finally back inside our warm house.

Yes, much better in here for sure! 

Happy Snow Day! XOXO