Such a Big Boy

Will is just really becoming a big boy. It seems like every day, he is less and less like a baby and learns new big boy things. That's great, but it also is a little hard for me. I feel like the time with him as a baby has just flown by. I can't believe that he'll be 17 months old next week. Wow!

I took him on Thursday for a big boy haircut. He had the penny haircut from Jellybeans back in the fall just to trim the edges, but this time he needed a real haircut. So we went to Great Clips for the $9 kids cut. He sat in the big chair with the cape on. He hated it....cried and cried until the lady gave him a lollipop! He then settled down until she used the clippers to trim around the edges. You would think she was cutting his ear off or something. But he survived.

The finished product: a Big Boy haircut! He looks like a little man (except for the fact that he's wearing Catherine's orange necklace, but oh well).

This is his new trick he learned today too. He climbed up here all by himself to get a banana. He was so proud of himself, but I may have to move the fruit bowl. He was trying to eat the banana with the peel on. Man, I love this kid.

The Magic Kingdom

On Saturday afternoon/evening, we headed to the Magic Kingdom. They say it's magical for a kid and it really was. Even though Catherine and Will have no idea what the majority of Disney World is about, they were so excited! Catherine had those big eyes of wonder at everything, even the water fountains. She thought the tram ride and ferry boat to get into the park were part of the whole experience. When we first entered the park, the afternoon Celebration parade was finishing up. She thought they were singing just because she was there. It was really fun just to watch them take it all in!

Finally in the castle, looking at Cinderella's shoe.

Daddy with our Princess and Prince in front of the castle

Watching the fireworks as we were leaving with Mimi and PopPop

The trip was really a lot of fun. I'm not sure if we'll try to do Disney again until they're a little older and we can stay long enough to enjoy the parks, but we'll see. For now, their curiosity has been satisfied (and Mom and Dad are tired!).

Meeting the Characters

Our best chance to meet some of the Disney characters was actually on Friday night at the Northwestern Mutual kids dinner. There were only about 100 people at the dinner (a lot less than in Disney World!) so it wasn't too crowded.

Catherine finally got to meet Cinderella! She was so excited when Cinderella first came that night that she wouldn't eat her dinner because she wanted to meet her right then. She wouldn't say anything to her, but just smiled so big. When we walked away, Catherine said, "I met Cinderella!"

The whole family with Mickey and Minnie (and yes, Jay's eyes are 1/2 closed...oh well!)

Belle read a story to the children. You can see how excited Will is about this! He kept walking right up and would stand in front of Belle. Thankfully she didn't seem to mind.

Catherine and Will with Belle. Catherine was a little disappointed that Belle wasn't wearing her yellow dress, though.

Downtown Disney

We just got back from Jay's Northwestern Mutual regional meeting in Orlando. I have quite a few pics from our trip and for some reason my computer only lets me put on 4 pics for each blog entry, so I'll just do a few separate entries.

One of the most entertaining and "free" activities was going to Downtown Disney. This was just 1/2 mile from our hotel and had lots of restaurants and activities for the kids. They didn't really know that it wasn't the real Disney World, so we kept them entertained with it for a day or two.

One of the best Disney "bargains" is the $2 carousel ride. It was Will's first time and he loved it. He smiled so much the whole time that his nose crinkled! There was also a little train to ride that he really liked.

They also had fun fountains to run and play in. Will first discovered these while we were in a shop. He ran over to the window and was pointing and grunting (his only form of verbal communication these days). They both ran and played and were soaked in the fountain. Nothing like some spontaneous water fun!

There were a few spots with character statues around. I thought this one was really cute of the 2 of them.

Catherine also posed with the princess statues (notice she's carrying her princess purse with her). We were on the search for princesses all week. She has lots of the princess paraphanlia at home--purses, dress up clothes, toys, coloring books, etc. Cinderella is her favorite. We found this one outside of the Princess store. Luckily Catherine didn't realize that the things in the store were for sale, so she never even asked to buy anything. She kept just walking around saying how pretty everything was, like it was a musuem. And I wasn't about to tell her any differently!

Valentine Treats

My friend Jennifer hosted our Mentor Mom group for Valentine treats at her house yesterday. We had a great lunch and play time. Then we iced and decorated Valentine cookies. It's always fun and crazy to have 10 little ones with icing and sprinkles.

Most of the kids: (clockwise from top) Bella, Will, Catherine, Luke, Lily, Lucy, and Olice.
Harland, Georgia, and Katie Hays were in the kitchen.

Olice and Lucy having lots of fun at lunch.

Catherine enjoying her big Valentine cookie

Will didn't care so much for the cookies. He just wanted to eat the icing with his spoon.

Happy Early Valentine's Day!

Cancun

Jay and I just returned from a long weekend in Cancun. We had a great time being away just the 2 of us (along with 30 other people from Northwestern!) and being in some warm weather. This was a reward trip from Jay's Charlotte regional agency for meeting a certain goal last year. Neither of us had been to Cancun before and it's probably not somewhere we would have picked on our own to go, but we really enjoyed it. Everything is so "Americanized" that we hardly felt like we had left the United States.

The view from our hotel balcony. We stayed at The Aqua Hotel. It was very nice and spa-like, had 7 pools each with a different temperature, and good food. We really enjoyed the accommodations.

Jay in the white sand and beautiful blue ocean. I love, love, love the color of the ocean.

We ate one night at a Thai restaurant (one of our favorite foods). The tables were in individual little huts out on the ocean. It was really cool.

I enjoyed the sun. We had a day or two of rain and clouds, but Sunday and Monday were much better. I could sit outside and read all day. Actually, I did. I read one book on Friday, one on Saturday, and one on Monday. On Sunday, Jay and I rode jet skis in the ocean and went snorkeling. Lots of fun for a quick vacation!