Pitiful Sam Nolan

This is what Sam Nolan looks like when he's sick (Paci is ONLY for bed unless we're puny) :) ...

Pitiful boy. At 21 months, he's a fun loving, always running (from his sister mostly) and cuddling with his Mommy (pretty much only) little boy. He has started MDO on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 9-1. Thus, the cold. But over the past 2 weeks of going, he has cried less and less each time at drop-off. On Friday, I asked the teacher how he did. She said he didn't want to be touched by the girls and didn't like anything on his hands (paint, dirt, etc.). Well...good. :) His typical day: *New* Waking up from his toddler bed (we may resort back to the crib): 4:00ish. He comes in our room and cuddles and falls back to sleep. When he wakes up (6:00ish) he always says, "Eat!" I'm going to the grocery store WAY more often these days. He is now using his fork for most meals including pancakes or Greek yogurt on most mornings. After breakfast, we watch cartoons and get ready. I use to think 9:00 was late, but now by the time I get both kids dressed, teeth brushes, hair combed, shoes on, etc. I barely have time for my bath. Oh well. When he doesn't go to school, we play in their rooms and Delaney does her "learning" as we call it. She reads stories and answers the questions that go along with it. LOVE the book that we're using! It really has everything from math, science, to higher order-thinking/questioning. LOVE it! While she's learning, he's playing or coloring. He enjoys making messes. After that, we go to the grocery store, get Mommy coffee or just get out for a little bit going to the park, etc. At lunch, we love to eat corndogs, fruit, yogurt. They both LOVE corndogs. Yuck for me. :( We love being outside during the fall weather months, so our afternoons involve outside play riding bikes and toys. At this age, he loves to sing, "No more monkeys jumping on the bed!" (his favorite part is making the finger like the momma). He also likes dancing with Delaney and copies everything she does. When she gets excited, she gasps. Now, when he sees something scary or something that he likes he gasps and says, "Ooooh." If you see my kids together, it will more than likely look like this. Delaney running after him, poking him, or just bothering him...and him running away. :) Siblings.

Disney World (Part 1) from my phone

This post contains the MOST pictures of any of my other posts...be aware!! :) They are straight from my phone since the ones from Disneyphotopass aren't ready yet. Blurry, off center, and red eye but they still tell our Disney story. :) To start off our FIRST trip to Disney World as a family, we had to put on our official outfits.

 I wore a lady and the tramp shirt because we would be eating at Tony's that night (Lady and the Tramp themed restaurant). SO excited about our adventures to come!

 

 

 To say it was easy/fun to keep the kids occupied during the "down time" would be a lie, so I won't be saying that...instead, it was VERY, VERY eventful.

 Before we left home...still refreshed.

 Thank you to the Birmingham Airport for this little jewel of an area. They could play, slide, and run around without any stares from others. Perfect.

 On the plane. Delaney looked out the window, opened her mouth wide, and was so excited when it took off fast. She played on my Iphone during the ride and loved it.

 Daddy has Sam Nolan on the trip down...he was AWESOME and ate the entire time.

 Walking in the Orlando airport.

 We stayed at Port Orleans-Riverside resort. We had a princess room, complete with a light up headboard.

 Sam Nolan checking out the bed.

 I'm not sure if I was just too tired to take pictures, but I didn't get any from Tony's restaurant. We ate dinner, rode one ride, and came back to the resort to rest up for our first full day at Disney. Bright and early...ok, we were the first ones there. We took this picture and then about 15 minutes later, we were at the Guest relations trying to get our "Magic Bands" situated since it was saying we weren't allowed in the park. Oh, the joys of glitches.

 We knew we would be visiting princesses today and seeing Cinderella, so Delaney wore her dress with Cinderellas on it.

 Sam Nolan wore blue and white Mickey.

 Delaney is showing off her new Minnie that the princesses brought her the night before.

 

Sam Nolan got a Mickey! They loved coming back to the room each night to find what surprises were waiting for them. Later, Delaney told me that the surprises were her favorite "moments" from the trip.  

We had reservations at Winnie the Pooh and his friends!

 They had the cutest little Mickey waffles!

 Sam Nolan was shy at first, but not for long!

 

 Loving on Pooh Bear.

 

 Delaney REALLY got into loving on the characters that morning. Sam Nolan just wanted to touch all of them.

Eric even got some Tigger love. This Tigger was VERY energetic.

 

 We were SO glad to have our pillowcases as our "souvenir" for the trip. We had each character sign it, and Eric REALLY got into the hunt for signatures. :)

 First stop. Cinderella's castle.

 We fastpassed most of the attractions, and this one seemed to be the most popular at the part. It was a must, so we braved the line to see our princesses.

 The only one I took on my phone was Snow White. The photographers were there to take pictures for our photopass, so it was wonderful to just sit back and let someone else take the photos!

 We met some hilarious characters!

 And tried to ride some rides.

 But this was the face that Delaney had when we walked into the Haunted Mansion, so a cast member and Nana quickly took her out of the ride.

 After that, we perked up and got happy again seeing all the sights!!

 Riding teacups. Sam Nolan was busy eating, running around, and stayed with Nannie, Pop, or Nana when we needed to take Delaney on a ride. It was wonderful to have them with us!!

 Nothing like Mickey hats and cotton candy to end our busy day.

 This is the kind of fun surprise the mousekeeping would have in our room when we returned.

 That night, Delaney also had a new Belle dress and Gaston doll waiting for her! Sam Nolan got a pirate outfit that he wears during the trip, too. :)

 But this is how he looked that first night. Snacks in the bed with Daddy.

 Can you say EXCITED??

 The second morning, we ate breakfast at 1900 Park Fare with Alice in Wonderland, Mary Poppins, and the Winnie the Pooh characters were there, too!

 HE LOVED THE ALL YOU CAN EAT BUFFET!

After walking around Animal Kingdom, watching Lion King, and getting a little hot, the grandparents took the kids back to the resort. When we came back, we swam a little.

And rested a little. 

 Then got right back out later to go to Downtown Disney.

 It was an AWESOME night! The kids had so much fun dancing and listening to the music. We ate Godiva icecream (thanks, Pop!) and walked around the shops. It was one of my favorite moments from the trip!

 The next morning we were dressed in our pirate gear for a breakfast with Jake and the Neverland pirates and all the Disney Jr. characters.

 Agent OSO!

 Handy Manny!

 June from Little Einsteins!

 Keeping occupied on the bus trips to and from Disney were always entertaining.

 Riding the Dumbo RIDE!!

 This is what Delaney looked like at the end of the day.

WAKE UP, Matey!!

 On our last full day at Disney, we went to Epcot (which turned out to be FABULOUS with no crowds, beautiful weather, and all the princesses you'd ever want to meet).

 They both rode the Figment ride and LOVED it!!

 Then we rode the Nemo ride!

 She finally met her favorite princess...Pocahontas!

 Sam Nolan liked her, too. :)

 Ariel

 Traveling the countries.

Feeding the ducks.

 Sam Nolan was in SHOCK when he met Pluto. He loved every minute of it.

 For our dinner that day, we ate at a revolving restaurant.

 And met more characters.

 Officially DONE with our pillowcases!

 This was her face in the line at Soarin'. She was scared.

 This was her face after. :)

We went back to the room and Eric took Sam Nolan to walk around. This is what happened 5 minutes after they left.

 The boys came back with this!

 On the morning we were leaving, we stayed around the resort, ate breakfast and rested.

 Then played in the arcade.

 We went to the park to run some energy off before our flight.

 We go from smiles...

to this...

 Exhausting as it was (emotionally and physically) we absolutely had the BEST vacation ever! I am so glad we came at this age (and with grandparents to help). I found myself tearing up on quite a few moments from being so happy and overwhelmed with emotion at how my two babies are amazing to watch at times like these. When they are happy and healthy and loving life...doesn't get any better. Their eyes lit up at most everything they saw at Disney. Delaney loved the parade and kept pointing at the floats and directing them to "come on little buddy, come on." Sam Nolan kissing the characters and splashing in the pool was priceless. This has been one of the best times of our life. Here's to planning our next trip to Disney World in 3 years. :)