November 2014

November had several very special events for our family in it!
We celebrated baby John's first birthday at our house.  We invited all of Kristin and John's friends over to celebrate with our little man.  He had a bounce house in the back yard, Kristin did a great job decorating, and everybody came to enjoy time for John!  I cannot believe he is already one!  He is one lucky boy to have so many people who love him so much!  I am definitely one proud aunt!!

I was so thrilled to be asked to go as a chaperone on Brooklyn's first field trip through school!  They went to Art Days and got to watch Cinderella with the Opera To Go, visit the library and do a tour, and take a tour of a museum in Spring.  I never get asked to do things like this because I am a working mom, so I was thrilled to be asked.  I took the day off and went with her.  It was hard to take off the teacher hat...especially with some of her classmates this year, but it was a blessing to be able to experience this with her!

Colson ended yet another soccer season with the Cheetahs!  He had a wonderful season with 4 goals which is a record for him!  He had some wonderful assists and the boys are really learning how to play as a team and not just follow the ball like ants!  Coach Foudy had us all over to his house for the end of the season party.  The boys played, ate pizza, and got roudy for sure.  Every season, our coach does something very special for the boys.  He comes up with a paper plate award for each kid.  They get a trophy every season but then get a paper plate that is something funny that they were known for or was noticed about them throughout the season!  Colson's paper plate award was "Most likely to have his girlfriend come watch him score a goal" and "Best smile after a goal!"  We all know that Colson shows NO emotion after a great play but the last game of the season, Colson had an assist that helped us score a goal to win.  He flashed his first smile ever after that play!  Such a great team of kids and parents!

Colson just knows he is going to marry sweet Peyton....so cute!

Aunt Cynthia gave the kids early Christmas presents in November this year because we are off to DISNEY WORLD!  She gave them each Disney Gift Cards to spend in Disney when they want a souvenir.  Such a great idea and truly came in handy on our trip!

Curt and I have been planning a trip for the family in Disney World for over a year now!  And the time was finally here!  We all took off 3 days of work and school and went the Wednesday before the Thanksgiving holidays started!  The crowds were awesome and very low and we had great weather while we were there with only a little rain one of the days we were there.

It was the first time that Brooklyn and Colson had been on a plane!

Our resort was Pop Century!  It was awesome!  We stayed in the '60s section and we would definitely stay at the Pop again!

The first park we visited was Magic Kingdom.  It was breathtakingly beautiful all decorated for Christmas!  The parades are beyond what you can imagine, the rides are each separate experiences in of themselves, the characters and princesses are beautiful, the food was magnificent, the people are the nicest people ever, and the experience was one that no one could have put into words.  MAGICAL to say the least!  Our favorite ride was Big Thunder Mountain, Splash Mountain, Peter Pan and we loved watching the firework display at night!  Brooklyn's favorite was definitely It's a Small World.

 Colson's favorite park was Hollywood Studios!  I think he loved the variety of rides but the best was the Jedi Academy School that he got to attend.  He was able to fight Darth Vader after some training from his master.  It was a neat experience to watch.  We loved eating at the Prime Time 50's Diner where the home cooked food was wonderful and the atmosphere was like being at Granny's house in Memphis!  We spent one and a half days at Hollywood and then went back another night for the Osborne Light Show Spectacular which was phenomenal and complete with snow!  The kids LOVED Rock N Roll Roller Coaster, Tower of Terror, Toy Story Mania and Star Tours.  I LOVED Rock N Roll Roller Coaster, Tower of Terror, Toy Story Mania and the Beauty and the Beast and Frozen Sing Along Shows.  It, again, is full of magic!!

Our next magical experience was in Animal Kingdom where we spent one full day.  The beauty of it was there were extra magic hours so we were able to arrive at the park at 7:00 in the morning!  We were there when it opened and watched It's a Bugs Life all by ourselves in the theater and got to ride Expedition Everest 3 times in a row without standing in any lines!  By the third time, I was motion sick and rode Dinosaur sick.  That made for a rough morning for me but didn't steal my joy!  It was full of awesome shows, fun rides, and great characters!  We ate at two wonderful places Yak and Yeti and Flame Tree BBQ....both phenomenal!  Our favorite here was Finding Nemo Show, the Safari, and Expedition Everest!

Our last stop was Epcot!  We spent a day and a half in Epcot where we got to explore different countries, ride awesome rides, and see a show at the end of the night!  The first day we were there was a rainy day so that slowed us down a little but not too bad.  The next day we were there we stayed into the night and even got to meet up with friends that were there too....it was great to see the Randolphs!  Our favorites were Soarin, Test Track, Mission Space (kids), and Brooklyn loved Spaceship Earth!  Brooklyn's favorite was meeting Mulan who is her one Disney character she adores.  She was beautiful and so sweet to Brooklyn.  She was in heaven.  Our food was phenomenal at the character dining Akershus and Teppan Edo in Japan.

We were so sad to leave but will definitely be back in a few years!!!

We got home on Tuesday and Colson came down with the flu on Wednesday.  We were told no human contact out of the house for him until he went back to school on Monday.  Thanksgiving was interesting because Curt took Brooklyn to the Alford home and then I took Brooklyn to the Lewis home where we had our Aunt Linda and Uncle Ed in town from Kansas.  We had a good time but wish Colson was there.